Chapter 155: The stalemate of the Civil War [two in one]
In the blink of an eye, it was early September, and the Eastern Army and the Western Army were still in a stalemate in the Maling area of Weiguo.
The terrain in the Maling area is relatively complex. First of all, Maling is not a county seat, but a hill with dense vegetation. It is roughly located at the intersection of "Fan County", "Juancheng" and "Leping" counties. Leping County is further west
, which is Puyang, the capital of Wei State.
Two months ago, Wei Gong Ziyu took the lead in leading tens of thousands of Eastern troops to the Maling area. When passing through "Fan County", the county town surrendered. Since then, the Eastern Army has used Fan County and Maling as strongholds to wait.
With the arrival of the Western Army.
About a few days after the Eastern Army arrived in Maling, Tanyuan Hou Wei Zhen led his army to Leping County, blocking the Eastern Army's westward advance. Shortly afterwards, in Juancheng, southeast of Maling, there was also a man in charge of the Juancheng Army.
Hou "Wei Yun" launched an offensive from the side against the Eastern Army under Wei Gong Ziyu.
Objectively speaking, the eastern and western armies each have their own advantages and disadvantages.
The advantage of the Western Army is that the strength of its soldiers is relatively reliable and its weapons and equipment are relatively complete; its disadvantage is that although these troops are named the regular army of the Patriotic State, they have been away from the battlefield for a long time, and may not show any signs of dispatch except for security and theft.
What's more, it may even be due to lax military management, which inevitably leads to lax discipline and low fighting spirit. To put it simply, these soldiers who defend the country have gradually turned into veteran soldiers.
As for the Eastern Army, its weapons and equipment were relatively imperfect, but this army was young and passionate. Not only did it participate in the confrontation with the Korean general Sima Shang, but he also served as the main force in attacking Qi State's Dongjun. Although the initial abilities of the army's sergeants were not as good as those of the Western Army.
, but after each battle, they gradually gained some experience. More importantly, this army had a strong desire to win.
In the two months of June and July, the Eastern and Western armies engaged in six small- and medium-sized confrontations. Generally speaking, the performance of the Western Army on the frontal battlefield was still weak.
There is nothing we can do about it. After all, the Western Army is a new army founded by Wei Gong Ziyu, and it does not have the support of the Wei State like the Su King Zhao Run. Why did the Shang Shui Army fight fiercely? Is it not because the entire Wei State is behind it?
There are both the Smelting Bureau and the Military Casting Bureau to tailor weapons, equipment and war weapons, and the Ministry of Household Affairs and the Ministry of War are responsible for distributing pensions and rewards.
If it were just one person, the Shang Shui Army would never be able to become famous all over the world.
The embarrassment of Wei Gong Ziyu lies in this. His father, King Fei of Wei, not only did not like Zhao Si, the first king of Wei, who valued Zhao Run, but also asked for Zhao Run, the successor he cared about. He even did the opposite.
He regards Wei Yu as a thorn in his side, so that Wei Yu can only find ways to raise funds on his own - this is why he protected Xiao Luan before: he was short of money!
With almost no help from the country and his father, Wei Yu naturally did not have the financial resources to arm his Eastern Army, so the equipment of the Eastern Army was generally backward and outdated. Even though he gained a part of the Qi Army's equipment during the attack on the Qi Army in Dongjun,
Equipment cannot completely change the backward equipment strength of the entire Western Army.
But the Western Army, not to mention how excellent the weapons of these regular Patriot troops are, they have everything they should have, especially long-range weapons such as bows and crossbows, which are undoubtedly the biggest threat to the Eastern Army.
It has to be said that the Western Army was able to gain the upper hand even though it was absolutely lagging behind in terms of numbers, and it indeed took a huge advantage in terms of equipment.
However, the advantages of long-range weapons actually come at a price. For example, the Marquis of Juancheng, Weiyun, whose troops almost completely suppressed the Eastern Army in the first few battles, even though the number of Eastern Army soldiers on the battlefield was several times theirs.
However, after several consecutive battles, due to severe consumption of arrows and crossbow bolts, the Juancheng Army regained its previous advantage.
After all, in the Eastern Army, rangers with outstanding personal strength account for a large proportion, accounting for about 20 to 30% of the total number of 890,000 Eastern Army. These people already have the foundation. As long as they adapt to battlefield combat, they will naturally perform better than ordinary civilians.
outstanding.
Just like the infiltration of the Juancheng Army's scouts into the Maling area, those scouts who tried to spy on the Eastern Army's intelligence or to harass the Eastern Army were almost all beaten up in the hills and forests by the Eastern Army's soldiers who were rangers.
A one-sided pursuit - in terms of outfield intelligence, the Juancheng Army did nothing, so much so that Juancheng Hou Weiyun did not know the specific distribution of the Eastern Army.
However, despite its excellent strategic vision, the Eastern Army still could not conquer the two tough bones of "Juancheng" and "Leping".
Regular armies like the Tanyuan Army and the Juancheng Army may not rank high among the powerful armies of the Central Plains countries, but it is not a problem for the defensive side to stop the Eastern Army, which is far behind them in weapons and equipment.
No, Wei Yu's fierce general "Meng Ben" personally led his army to attack Juancheng and fought two battles. In the end, he couldn't even attack the city wall of Juancheng. Meng Bi was so angry that he cursed outside the city, trying to use vulgar and slanderous words.
The humiliating words provoked Hou Weiyun of Juancheng to leave the city.
As a result, Wei Yun, the Marquis of Juancheng, looked down upon Meng Ben's provocative generals - Who are you, Meng Ben? How dare you invite me to fight in front of the powerful Marquis of Wei Yun?
It is worth mentioning that during the confrontation between the east and west armies, King Fei of Wei in Puyang was not idle and issued several royal orders in succession against the prince Wei Yu.
At the beginning, Wei Wangfei's words were relatively restrained, and he did not kill Wei Yu, his son who was not like himself, from a moral point of view. After all, the virtuous name of the young master Wei Yu was there.
If you slander Wei Yu, the Wei people will definitely not believe it.
Therefore, King Fei of Wei did not directly target Wei Yu. He pointed out in the king's order that there must be some treacherous people instigating the young master Wei Yu, which made Wei Yu do the following things that were disobedient to the emperor and his father. This kind of rhetoric is
It was relatively easy for Wei people to accept it.
After all, the young master Wei Yu did indeed act against his father and led his troops directly to Maling.
In this era that emphasizes filial piety, it is absolutely not allowed for a son to disobey his father - even if the fault is actually his father, the son must admit his mistake obediently.
This may sound a bit foolish and filial, but it is true.
In comparison, Zhao Si, the first king of the Wei State, killed his father and seized the throne, and later was able to secure his position as the monarch of the Wei State. This is indeed an extremely rare example in this era.
Of course, this also shows that Zhao Si did have the means to force the clan and Wang Gui of the Zhao family to acquiesce in this matter.
Wei Gong Ziyu was not as decisive as Zhao Si, but he also fought back: he claimed that his father Wei Fei believed that his disobedience was purely slander, and gave detailed examples of Wei Wang Fei's inability to govern the affairs of the country and his debauchery and immorality.
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But obviously, in this age where filial piety is emphasized, it is inappropriate for a son to say bad things about me, even if these bad words are true.
No, although it was a self-defeating counterattack under forced circumstances, the words of Young Master Wei Yu still gave some people who had previously remained neutral a bad impression of him: Don't you, the crown prince who defends the country so dignified, not
Do you understand the principle of "a son never complains about his father's faults"?
As a result, some people were gradually misled by public opinion, so that the virtuous reputation of Prince Wei Yu inevitably showed some stains.
Due to misunderstandings about Wei Yu, some people in the country who originally supported him remained neutral, and those who originally remained neutral also slightly favored Wei Wang Fei in public opinion. Even among the Eastern Army, there were some rangers.
And civilians chose to leave because of this misunderstanding - of course, this is only a small number of people.
Only then did Wei Yu truly realize that the situation was far worse than he originally predicted. At the same time, he also truly understood the meaning of his cousin Zhao Run's words: Have you awakened?
What happened in Wei during this period was also reported to Wei by the Green Crows and sent to the hands of Wei King Zhao Run.
After learning about King Wei Fei's method, Zhao Run smiled and said to Gao He, the eunuch next to him: "If this trick was really thought up by King Wei, then I really underestimated him..."
The great eunuch Gao He echoed with a smile: "After all, he is the monarch of Weiguo..."
Zhao Hongrun nodded with deep understanding.
Although in his impression, King Fei of Wei always appeared as an ignorant lord, but after all, he was also a person of his father Zhao Si's generation, and besides, he had been in power longer than his father, King Zhao Si.
It will take longer. Is it really that easy to deal with?
"If you continue to break, you will suffer chaos..."
Thinking of his cousin Wei Gong Ziyu, Zhao Hongrun shook his head slightly.
I remember that when his cousin Wei Yu came to consult him for advice, Zhao Run could tell that his cousin had not realized anything.
In this regard, Zhao Run's father Zhao Si was very decisive - regicide, killing his father, imprisoning and killing his eldest brother, and exiled his younger brother (the King of Nanliang). When the clan government and the Zhao family in the country reacted,
, the wood has become the boat, the rice has become the cooking pot, even if some people oppose it, it will be of no avail.
Compared with Zhao Si, Wei Gong Ziyu's current approach is very stupid - in fact, it can't be said to be stupid, it can only be said to be too indecisive.
Indecisiveness is not completely considered a deficiency, but at certain critical moments, it can lead to failure or even kill you.
This is like the civil war in the country.
From Zhao Run's point of view, what are you, Wei Yu, explaining to Puyang? Wouldn't it be over if you just fight them? Although a forced confrontation with the Western Army will definitely cause heavy losses to the Eastern Army, you must know that this kind of thing will take longer and longer.
The longer you grow, the more disadvantageous it will be to the young master Wei Yu.
However, Wei Yu looked forward and backward, and actually delayed the civil strife for two months - even after two months, Wei Yu still failed to take the initiative.
I have to say that this slightly lowered Zhao Run's evaluation of his cousin Wei Yu.
Two days later, Zhu Jin, the left minister of the Ministry of Rites, came to consult Zhao Run on the issue of defending the country.
After all, unlike Qin and Chu, Wei State is both an ally of Wei State and a vassal state dependent on Wei State. Therefore, as the suzerain state, Wei State naturally cannot turn a blind eye to Wei State's civil strife.
Logically speaking, the State of Wei should support King Fei of Wei. After all, it is well known that King Fei of Wei is friendly to the State of Wei. However, the young master Wei Yu is Zhao Run's cousin. Therefore, the Ministry of Rites did not dare to make its own decisions, and specially sent Zhu Jin, the left minister, to come.
Test the young king's tone, and then decide what attitude to take towards Wei Wang Fei and his son Wei Yu.
But to be honest, Zhao Hongrun really doesn't care about this matter, because no matter which side wins, it will have no direct impact on his Wei State: Wei Wang Fei will never and dare not abandon the Wei State, and the young master Wei Yu will not either
He made the stupid decision to betray Wei.
Therefore, Zhao Run told Zhu Jin directly not to interfere in the internal affairs of Wei State - after all, this was Wei Yu's previous plea.
Now that we have received instructions from King Zhao Run, Wei will certainly not participate in the affairs of Wei. Even though King Fei of Wei specially sent an envoy for this matter, the Ministry of Etiquette of the Wei Dynasty only said euphemistically: This is your country's affairs.
It is inconvenient for our country to interfere in internal affairs.
Since Wei State did not intervene, the civil strife in Wei State lasted until September.
However, as the civil strife continued to stalemate, Duke Ziyu of Wei gradually realized that any further delay would be extremely detrimental to the defense of the country, so he and his general Xia Yu devised a method to defeat the Western Army.
It has to be said that although the young master Wei Yu did not have much experience in using troops, he was a genius who was familiar with the art of war. After thinking hard for several days, he actually came up with a strategy.
In order to implement this strategy smoothly, Wei Yu remained stationary for the next half month, and deliberately asked people to collect food from Fan County and the counties in the east, creating the illusion that the Eastern Army's food supply was out of supply.
Within two days, Juancheng Hou Weiyun learned the information that "the Eastern Army was short of food" through his detailed operations in Fan County, and he was convinced of the matter.
Think about it, excluding the troops stationed in the eastern counties of Wei State, the army led by Wei Gong Ziyu to Puyang this time totaled 40,000 to 50,000 to 50,000 soldiers. The daily ration consumption of these 40,000 to 50,000 soldiers was not a small amount.
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On that day, Juancheng Hou Weiyun came to Leping County in person and met with Tanyuan Hou Weizhen.
He said to Tan Yuanhou Wei Zhen: "According to Fan County's detailed reports, Gong Ziyu has sent people to various counties many times to urge for food. It must be that the army cannot continue to supply food and grass... This is a God-given opportunity."
Tan Yuan Hou Wei Zhen remained silent. After all, unlike Juancheng Hou Wei Yun, he did not reject Wei Gong Ziyu from the bottom of his heart. Although Wei Gong Ziyu's political orders in recent years had indeed caused losses to his family, Wei Zhen also
Clearly, Wei Yu did this just to make the country strong.
But unfortunately, it was difficult to disobey the king's order. Even if he was unwilling in his heart, he could only follow the instructions of King Fei of Wei, defeat the army of the young master Wei Yu, and bring the young master Wei Yu to Puyang for questioning.
"What's the plan of Marquis Juancheng?" Wei Zhen asked.
I saw Juancheng Hou Weiyun thinking for a while and said: "We can send strange troops to sneak attack on "Fan County" and other places, set fire to the crops outside the city, and completely cut off the vitality of the Eastern Army..."
Hearing this, Tan Yuan Hou Weizhen glanced at Juancheng Hou Wei Yun in disbelief. It was simply unbelievable.
It is undeniable that Juancheng Hou Weiyun's idea is good. On other occasions, it can indeed be called a clever plan. But the problem is that the current battle is a civil war within their country. As fellow defenders, they should think
How can we resolve conflicts and escalate the war?
He could even imagine setting fire to the crops in the fields outside Fan County and other counties!
If this happens, won't the people in Fan County and other counties all starve to death?
Thinking of this, Tan Yuanhou Weizhen firmly opposed it, and eventually the two broke up on bad terms.
After waiting for Juancheng Hou Weiyun to leave angrily, Tanyuan Hou Wei Zhen hesitated in the house for a long time. Finally, he summoned a confidant general.
After telling the latter about the poisonous plan of "Grain Outside the City", he told the latter: "You should immediately disguise yourself and go to the prince's military camp, report the matter to him, and tell him to be careful."
The confidant was shocked when he heard this and said in fear: "Your Majesty, what you are doing is tantamount to collaborating with the enemy..."
Of course, Tanyuan Hou Wei Zhen knew that his move was inappropriate, but how could he sit back and watch Juancheng Hou Weiyun succeed in his trick and let him successfully burn the grain in the fields outside Fan County and other places, causing the people in the counties to face famine?
"Go quickly!" he insisted.
After hearing this, the confidant general stopped persuading him and sneaked out of Leping County in disguise that night. He ran to the military camp of the young master Wei Yu and was captured by the patrolling soldiers of the Eastern Army before Wei Yu.
After meeting Gong Ziyu, Tan Yuanhou's confidant general told Juancheng Hou Weiyun's trick and called Wei Yu and Meng Ben. Xia Yu and others frowned.
Meng Ben even cursed loudly on the spot, scolding the Marquis of Juancheng, Weiyun, for being so vicious and ignoring the safety of the people of several cities for the sake of victory.
After the confidant general left, Wei Yu discussed with Meng Bi, Xia Yu and other generals.
In fact, according to his previous plan, in the next few days, he would use the illusion that "the Eastern Army is short of food" to evacuate to Fan County, luring Tanyuan Hou Weizhen and Juancheng Hou Weiyun to lead the pursuit.
, so that he could ambush the two Yihous in Maling.
However, he never expected that Juancheng Hou Weiyun was so vicious. In order to kill the Eastern Army, he actually came up with such a vicious plan. Thanks to Tanyuan Hou Wei Zhen's upright heart and kindness, he secretly sent someone to reveal it to him, otherwise,
If Juancheng Houwei Yun's poisonous plan succeeds, not only will the 40,000 to 50,000 Eastern Army be in real trouble, but it will even harm the people of Fan County and several other counties.
"Since Marquis Juancheng has such a vicious heart, we don't need to be polite to him. We might as well use his tactics to his advantage..." General Xia Yu suggested.
Wei Yu thought carefully about the character of Wei Zhen, the Marquis of Tan Yuan, and felt that the Marquis of Yi would not use this trick to deceive him, because it was pointless - even if he deceived him to divide his troops and strengthen the defense of Fan County, could the Western Army take advantage of the opportunity?
Have you defeated the Eastern Army in the Maling area?
Unlikely.
Therefore, Wei Yu believed that Tan Yuan Hou Wei Zhen secretly leaked Juancheng Hou Wei Yun's poisonous plan to him for the sake of the people in Fan County and several other counties.
Facts have proved that Wei Yu's judgment of Tan Yuan Hou Weizhen was not wrong, and Tan Yuan Hou Wei Zhen's judgment of Juancheng Hou Weiyun was not wrong at all - Juancheng Hou Weiyun, he really led an elite force,
An attempt was made to bypass Maling and attack Fan County.
Being prepared but not prepared, Juancheng Hou Weiyun's vicious plan was destined to fail. The troops he sent were ambushed by Meng Ben, the general under Wei Yu's command, and were defeated on the spot.
The general who led the army was also captured alive by Meng Ben.
On the night when the Juancheng army was defeated, Meng Ben asked his soldiers to pretend to be the enemy and attacked Juancheng.
At that time, the Marquis of Juancheng, Wei Yun, was sleeping. Suddenly he heard a cry of killing in the city. He suddenly knew that something was wrong and immediately tried to abandon the city and escape. Unfortunately, Meng Ben caught up with him and captured him alive.
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In one day, Juancheng changed hands. Perhaps even Tanyuan Hou Weizhen did not expect that he revealed Juancheng Hou Weiyun's vicious plan to the prince Wei Yu out of benevolence and righteousness, but in disguise he contributed to Juancheng Hou Weiyun's defeat.
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Now, Juancheng was captured by the Eastern Army, and the Juancheng Army was also incorporated by Wei Gong Ziyu. On the way of the Eastern Army's westward advance, only his Tan Yuan Army was left alone.
A few days later, the Eastern Army troops came out of Maling and used their superior strength to besiege Leping County.
I remember that a while ago, the Eastern Army also made a move to besiege Leping County, but at that time the Juancheng Army was on the side to respond. But now, Juancheng Hou Weiyun has been defeated by the young master Wei Yu, and no one around here can
Give him a helping hand.
"Do your best and let fate depend on you."
After sighing, Tanyuan Hou Wei Zhen ordered his soldiers to defend the county seat.
But to his surprise, the Eastern Army did not attack the city. Even the next day, Prince Wei Yu entered the city to meet him with only General Meng Ben.
After meeting each other, Wei Yu first thanked Tan Yuan Hou Wei Zhen for his previous "righteous help", because if the Yi Hou hadn't secretly asked someone to report the news, the Eastern Army might have suffered a big blow from Juancheng Hou Wei Yun this time.
Losing money and retreating in a disastrous defeat.
After that, Wei Yu sincerely explained to Tanyuan Hou Wei Zhen the reason why he sent troops to Puyang: it was not that he was disobedient, but that his father, Wei Fei, was pressing hard, forcing him to take this action.
"...I, Wei Yu, wholeheartedly defend the country for me, but my father cannot tolerate me and sees me as a thorn in his side. Wei Yu is leading his army to Puyang this time, not to usurp the throne...I hope Marquis Tan Yuan can help me.
"Wei Yu said sincerely.
Tan Yuan Hou Wei Zhen hesitated for a long time, but was finally moved by Wei Yu's ideals and ambitions for the country and his sincere attitude, and led eight thousand Tan Yuan troops to defect to Wei Yu's command.
The defection of Tan Yuan Hou Wei Zhen meant that there was no other obstacle for the Eastern Army to go to Puyang, and they even received the help of 8,000 regular soldiers in full armor, which greatly increased the momentum of the Eastern Army.
When the news reached Puyang, King Fei and Prince Jie of Wei were shocked.
They never expected that Tanyuan Hou Weizhen and Juancheng Hou Weiyun, two Yi lords who knew the military affairs of their country, would actually be defeated and the other surrendered, allowing the Eastern Army to completely open the road to Puyang.
What should I do?
King Fei of Wei was shocked - in fact, he didn't need to be in such a hurry. After all, Puyang was still garrisoned by his most elite Puyang army, which could not be conquered by the Eastern Army in a short time.
On the other hand, Gongzi Jie, who is as fatuous and timid as King Fei of Wei, although he is a little panicked, is not like his father, because he also has a secret trick, which is Xiao Luan who goes by the pseudonym Gongyi - Xiao Luan
He had previously warned that he would give Wei Gong Ziyu a fatal blow at the critical moment.
Gongzi Jie still had great trust in Xiao Luan, whose pseudonym was Gongyi. After all, no one in the group of people around Gongzi Jie could match Xiao Luan's talent and vision.
In early October, Prince Wei Yu led the Eastern Army, including Tan Yuan's army, to the gates of Puyang City, preparing to use force to force his father, King Wei Fei, to hand over power.
However, at this moment, Xiao Luan, who had been standing still, finally took action.
Just as he said when he comforted Young Master Jie, Xiao Luan led the Dunqiu Army and captured Fan County with lightning speed, occupied the Maling area, and completely cut off the Eastern Army's food route.
After hearing the news, even Wei Yu couldn't help but feel shocked.
Only then did he realize that Xiao Luan had already sensed that he was about to take action against him, so he took the initiative to attack him - he had stood still before, just to stab the Eastern Army hard at the critical moment.
It has to be said that during the period of dealing with the civil war, Wei Gong Ziyu relaxed his vigilance too much towards Xiao Luan.
He also did not want to think about the fact that Xiao Luan, the Crown Prince of Marquis of Nan Yan, who once stirred up troubles in the Wei Kingdom and almost overthrew the Wei Kingdom, even if the tiger fell in Pingyang now, how could he just surrender and wait for death?