Chapter 211: The first battle of Wei-Chu confrontation: Battle of Shangshui! [Two in one]
In February of the first year of Wei Zhaowu, Wei and Chu were at war. The king of Chu, Du Shouying, appointed Pingyu Jun Xiong Hu, one of the Three Pillars, as the "chief commander of the armies in western Chu to attack Wei". He was responsible for leading all the armies in western Chu to attack Wei together.
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When attacking Wei from the west of Chu, the target of the attack is undoubtedly Wei's "Shangshui City", which is Wei's first line of defense against Chu.
This commercial water defense line covers many areas. It starts from "Yique" in the west, which was the residence of the Ling tribe of the Sheang tribe. Later, after it belonged to the Wei State, in order to effectively expel the Jie tribe in the Yishan area, the Wei people collapsed.
The soldiers then built passes in Yishan - the mountain road "Yishan-Yangzhai" later became an important road for merchants to travel from the hinterland of Wei to Sanchuan County.
Going east from Yique Pass, passing through Yangzhai, then passing through "Fenxing Fortress", "Wall", "Xuxian County", "Zhaoling", and finally connecting to "Shangshui County", this is the complete "Shang Dynasty of Chu".
"Water Defense Line", the entire defense line is nearly 350 miles long. There are many sentries, city walls, fortresses and local Wei army camps along the mountains and rivers. Compared with the Fenxing built 20 years ago to resist the Chu State,
The defense capability has more than doubled.
In mid-February, Xiong Hu, Lord Pingyu of Chu, led his "Pingyu Army" and stationed at the border between Wei and Chu, "Shangcai".
Shangcai has been a deserted land at the junction of Wei and Chu decades ago. The abandoned city "Cai City" standing in this wasteland has always been home to a group of outlaws.
Before Run and Chu Gong Zixiong started smuggling, this was the most important smuggling channel between Wei and Chu.
Returning to this strange yet familiar land again after twenty years, Pingyu Jun Xiong Hu could not help but feel a little emotional.
Because twenty years ago, when he and Xiong Tuo attacked Wei for the last time, they sent troops from Shangcai. Xiong Qi, Lord of Biyang, restrained Fenxingsai's army, and then Xiong Tuo and Xiong Hu led an army of 160,000.
Launched a sudden attack on Wei.
At that time, the war started very smoothly. Xiong Tuo's three generals, Zi Cheyu, Zaifu Gen, and Lian Bi, together with Pingyu Jun Xiong Hu, conquered Wei Guoqi in just over two months.
I remember that Xiong Tuo and Xiong Hu were very proud of this at that time: at this rate, in about a year at most, they could attack Daliang, the capital of Wei at that time.
But they never expected that their ferocious offensive would lead to the emergence of a remarkable figure in Wei State, namely Wei Gongzi Run, or in other words, the current Wei King Zhao Run.
"Twenty years...?"
Sitting in the commander's tent in the Caicheng military camp, Pingyu Jun Xiong Hu recalled the battle that year, and then he felt a dull pain in his legs.
This was actually a psychological effect. After all, his legs were not injured, but it could not be denied that after capturing him, Mr. Wei's son Run stabbed his legs through with a dagger.
He has never forgotten the childish yet frightening face of Wei Gongzi Run, who was only fourteen years old back then.
"Zhao Run...if you think about it, he's quite handsome."
With a sneer, Pingyu Lord Xiong Hu stood up and walked towards the outside of the tent.
It's strange to say that the war is about to come, but Pingyu Jun Xiong Hu is thinking about Wei Wang Zhao Run's cousin-in-law, and his sister, Wei Queen Mi Jiang - he feels that his brother-in-law and sister are really very close.
A good match.
Brother-in-law Zhao Run is certainly a hero, but sister Mi Jiang, even if she doesn't smile, she is a cold-faced beauty. Once she smiles one day, it will surely make the country and the city fall. Beauty and hero complement each other.
As he thought about it, Pingyu Lord Xiong Hu thought of his nephew, the Crown Prince of Wei, Zhao Wei.
Compared with Xiong Tuo who has been staying in Shooying these years, Xiong Hu has actually been paying attention to the conditions of Mijiang, Zhao Wei, mother and son, and even Shen Yu, the Wei general in Shangshui County opposite, sometimes sends some Mijiang. Come over with letters or portraits of mother and son.
It has to be said that Pingyu Jun Xiong Hu never thought that Wei Gongzi Zhao Run, who stabbed him twice and almost left his legs disabled, would later become his cousin-in-law, let alone that he Xiong Hu's nephew turned out to be the Prince of the Eastern Palace of Wei State.
This is really...
"...God's will is unpredictable."
Standing in the camp, Pingyu Jun Xiong Hu looked at the direction of Shangshui with his hands behind his back, sighing secretly in his heart.
At this time, a young man wearing armor came from a distance, walked up to Xiong Hu and clasped his fists, saying, "Father... no, my father is handsome."
Xiong Hu turned to look at the young man.
The young man in front of him is none other than his third son, Xiong Miao.
Xiong Hu had four sons and three daughters. The eldest son was called Xiong Jun, the second son was called Xiong Yi, the third son was called Xiong Miao, and the fourth son was called Xiong Kui.
Among the four sons, his favorite was his third son, Xiong Miao, because this son was clever and smart. Unfortunately, this son was destined to be unable to inherit his hereditary title of "Pingyu Lord". Therefore, Xiong Hu favored the general. The third son, Xiong Miao, was recruited into Pingyu's army and focused on his cultivation. He hoped that this son could live up to his trust and obtain a fiefdom on his own, so that his "Pingyu Xiong clan" could become more prosperous.
This was also the expectation of his father, who died early due to alcoholism.
"Miao'er, there is going to be a war with Wei State soon, are you afraid?"
Xiong Hu called his son Xiong Miao to him and asked.
"Father is handsome, the child is not afraid." Xiong Miao shook his head, but from his eyes, Xiong Hu could still see a little panic.
It's no wonder, after all, this is Xiong Miao's real first battle.
"There is no need to be afraid. This time we use troops against the Wei State, I, Chuxi, can gather at least 200,000 troops..."
Having said this, Pingyu Jun Xiong Hu paused, and after thinking for a moment, he lowered his voice and said: "Remember what my father told you, if you can't fight, run away, if you can't run, surrender, those people on the opposite side of Shangshui , you can also be called an old acquaintance of my father, they will not make things difficult for you... Remember, never act out of your own whim."
"Father is handsome..."
Xiong Miao looked at his father with a wry smile and muttered to himself: In your capacity, is it really appropriate to say this?
He blinked and said with a bit of ridicule: "Father, did you do the same thing back then?"
"Bastard!"
Xiong Hu patted his son on the head and said angrily: "Dare you make fun of your father?"
Saying this, he felt a little sad in his heart, because Xiong Miao was only born a year after he was released by Zhao Run. In other words, if Zhao Run really killed him back then, not only would he not be able to survive until now, but his preferred His son, Xiong Miao, could not be born either.
After being patted on the head by his father, the young Xiong Miao chuckled. Then, as if he had thought of something, he whispered: "By the way, handsome father, I'm here to report to you, Biyang Lord Xiong Qi." Your Excellency has arrived."
"Oh." Pingyu Jun Xiong Hu nodded, and just as he was about to speak, he heard a burst of footsteps behind him. When he turned around, he saw Biyang Jun Xiong Qi leading a large group of people heading this way. Come.
Seeing this, Xiong Hu immediately lowered his voice and said to his son: "What my father just told you must not be revealed."
"Are children that stupid?"
Xiong Miao rolled his eyes.
Later, Xiong Hu led his son Xiong Miao forward to meet Xiong Qi, Lord Biyang.
He and Xiong Qi, Lord of Biyang, were also old acquaintances. When Xiong Tuo attacked Wei State, Xiong Qi, Lord of Biyang, was responsible for containing Wei general Xu Yin who was stationed at Fenxing Fortress.
In fact, the Xiong nobles in Western Chu have a very good relationship with each other, especially when they jointly fought against the Xiong nobles in Eastern Chu.
"Good brother."
"Brother Xian."
After greeting each other, Pingyu Lord Xiong Hu and Biyang Lord Xiong Qi held hands and laughed.
They haven't seen each other for several years. The reason is Chu Xi's "Bashu Strategy". Although Xiong Tuo and Xiong Hu are in control of the overall situation, the person who implements it is Xiong Qi, Lord Biyang.
In the past ten years, Biyang Lord Xiong Qi has gone to Bashu more than once, continuing to play Xiong Tuo's old trick of "supporting one group and suppressing the other" to provoke internal wars in Bashu. By supporting a certain party, they In exchange for Bashu's war horses, ores, slaves and other resources.
This is why Chu Xi resents the Jie people in Nanyang Wandi, because many times the small Bashu country they support will be attacked by those Jie people. To put it bluntly, those Jie people are like fighting against Chu Xi. Steal business.
As the saying goes, when colleagues meet, they are extremely jealous. If the backers behind the Jie tribe were not the Sichuan-Luo Alliance or even the Wei State, I am afraid that the former would have been destroyed by Chu Xi's army long ago.
"This time I sent out troops, I specially brought two thousand war horses..."
"good!"
Pingyu Lord Xiong Hu was overjoyed when he heard this.
To be honest, although Bashu's war horses have good endurance, their frames are very short, and they are far less tall than northern horses such as Sanchuan horses and Hetao horses. But in any case, no matter how short a war horse is, it is better than nothing, especially for those with very few cavalry. As far as the Chu army is concerned.
After a while, Xiong Hu invited Xiong Qi to the handsome tent.
At this time, apart from the two of them, there were only Xiong Hu's son Xiong Miao and Xiong Qi's personal bodyguard in the tent. Neither of them were outsiders, so Xiong Qi, Lord Biyang, said in a somewhat complaining tone after sitting down. : "I thought that our generation would never see the war between Chu and Wei..."
"Haha." Pingyu Jun Xiong Hu smiled and said nothing.
In fact, he had similar emotions in his heart.
To be fair, he has no objection to starting a war with Wei, but the problem is that once the two countries go to war, the people who will confront him on the battlefield will be his old acquaintances.
Just like Shen Yu, the Wei general who was stationed in Shangshui County. As the former chief of the imperial clan of Wei King Zhao Run, Xiong Hu often went to Shangshui to drink with Shen Yu in previous years. There were even several times when Xiong Hu was intoxicated. Hu also intends to marry his unmarried daughter to Shen Yu's son.
Anyway, in his opinion, although Shen Yu was just the son of an ordinary military household, his identity as "the former clan guard chief beside King Wei" was more useful than any other king, let alone Shen Yu's replacement for King Zhao Runtong of Wei. Yushangshui County.
Unexpectedly, before the marriage between the two families was settled, a war between Chu and Wei was triggered.
Pingyujun Xiong Hu also had some regrets about this.
Just like what Xiong Qi, Lord Biyang, said, the war between Chu and Wei came too early. It would be better to wait another ten or twenty years until their generation is buried, then - no matter what they are.
It’s a matter of this generation.
"We should do our best to live up to the emperor's salary and be loyal to the emperor. I don't think those people on the other side will be merciful to us." Pingyu Lord Xiong Hu said with a smile.
Biyang Lord Xiong Qi nodded.
Strangely enough, neither Pingyu Lord Xiong Hu nor Biyang Lord Xiong Qi seemed very worried about the upcoming war.
Maybe they all have their own little thoughts in mind, but they are indeed very familiar with the people in Shangshui County of Wei State.
"Speaking of which, how should we fight this battle?"
After chatting with each other for a while, Biyang Lord Xiong Qi finally brought the topic down to business.
Seeing this, Pingyu Lord Xiong Hu stopped joking, spread the map flat on a table, and said to Biyang Lord Xiong Qi: "Shangshui County, you and I both know what the situation is... Wei Jun's
The deployment of troops is nothing more than
It is Shangshui, besieging the city, and Fenxing fortress. There is also Yangzhai of Yangzhai King Zhao Jing... The Fenxing fortress is easy to defend and difficult to attack. It is not a good place to start a war. I suggest that I fight Shangshui.
To besiege the city, you attack Yangzhai."
"Yang Zhai..."
Xiong Qi, Lord Biyang, pondered for a moment.
It has to be said that due to the smuggling and trade exchanges between Shangshui County and Pingyu Yi in the past years, the details of each other have been almost unknown for a long time. The problem is that even if the military deployment of the Wei army is clearly known, it may not be possible to take advantage.
Just like Fenxing Fortress, it is located at the strategic intersection of Wei, Chu, Baqian and Guizhou. However, this fortress is located in a dangerous location and is easy to defend and difficult to attack. Biyang Jun Xiong Qi fought for several months, but not only was it not captured
Fenxing Fortress was also defeated by Wei general Xu Yin who was stationed at Fenxing Fortress at that time.
The same is true for the "siege city". It is located between Fenxing Fortress and Shangshui County. If this fortress can be captured, the connection between Fenxing Fortress and Shangshui County can be effectively cut off. But the problem is that the Shangshui Army is operating in the siege city.
For more than ten years, the siege city has been built into an impregnable ground, which is not inferior to Fenxing Fortress. How could it be so easy to conquer?
"How about trying to attack Xu County by surprise?"
Xiong Qi, Lord Biyang, thought about it and suggested.
As far as he knew, Xu County was an important rear granary for the merchant water defense line, maintaining the food and grass supply for the Fenxing Fortress, the siege city, and the adjacent Great Wall garrison. Although the capture of Xu County could not completely cut off the food supply for the merchant water defense line.
Road - because Shangshui County itself built many large granaries for war - but it can effectively increase the burden on the Wei army's food road.
"Well——"
Xiong Hu, Lord Pingyu, thought for a moment and felt that he might as well try this plan.
Anyway, the worst result is failure, and losing some troops is nothing.
In the next two days, Pingyu Lord Xiong Hu still stayed in Shangcai, waiting with Biyang Lord Xiong Qi for the arrival of "Gaoling Lord Xiong Xiang" and other Lords of the Xiong clan in western Chu.
About four or five days later, after waiting for the princes of the Xiong clan in western Chu to gather their forces in Shangcai one after another, the Chu army finally began to take action and move towards the Wei state.
According to the strategic deployment of Pingyu Jun Xiong Hu, "Xianyang Jun Xiong Ping" took the lead in pretending to attack the siege to attract the attention of the Wei army.
After receiving the order, Xiong Ping, Lord of Xianyang, led about 30,000 troops under his command and headed towards the siege of Shangshui County.
The guard who besieged the city was the veteran Wei general Wuma Jiao, one of the first Chu generals who surrendered to Wei Gongzi Run. However, twenty years later, Wuma Jiao had already regarded himself as a general.
Wei people.
On February 16, Shangshui soldiers wandering around the besieged city found out about the Chu army's attack and immediately reported it to the guard general Wu Majiao.
It is undeniable that Wu Ma Jiao's intelligence is mediocre compared to Zhai Huang and Sun Shuke, and his military force is mediocre and far inferior to Wu Ji's. He is just a middle-aged man.
To put it harshly, he and Gu Liangwei were just the "horse bones of a thousand gold horses" that Wei Gongzi Run used to recruit the generals of Chu to surrender, but having said that, he also knew how to be grateful.
He knew very well that with his ability, if he had not been lucky enough to meet Wei Gongzi Run, he might have been just a general of Chu State with two thousand men in his whole life. Even three thousand generals were not enough, so how could he be so lucky?
As he is now, he has thousands of military power in his hands, and he is also lucky enough to obtain the noble status of the Wei State, and he barely squeezes into the category of the aristocratic class of the Wei State.
Therefore, when he learned that "Xianyang Lord Xiong Ping" was coming to attack the besieged city, Wu Majiao secretly reminded himself that he must use a hearty victory to repay the kindness of the current Wei King Zhao Run - by the way, with this military merit
If you want to be able to raise a title, it is best to get a hereditary fiefdom and leave it to your children and grandchildren.
When he thought of the fiefdom, this veteran general who was over fifty years old felt his heart was burning. He immediately took his eldest son Wu Mahui out of the besieged city and prepared to block the army of "Xianyang Jun Xiong Ping" in the upper reaches of Ru River.
Shangshui City is the home base of the Blue Crows. Trying to hide it from the eyes and ears of the Blue Crows in this area is simply a fool's errand.
Even though the march route of "Xianyang Jun Xiong Ping" was still secretive, by the time he reached the upper reaches of Ru River, the troops of Wuma Jiao and Wumahui's father and son had already been waiting strictly on the other side of the river.
At that time, Xiong Ping, the king of Xianyang, had 20,000 to 30,000 soldiers under his command, while Wei general Wu Majiao only led 5,000 soldiers. However, the battle across the river ended with Wei's complete victory.
It’s no wonder, after all, although Xiong Ping, Lord of Xianyang, has 20,000 to 30,000 men under his command, at least 78% of them are just soldiers recruited for food supplies - what role can such a ragtag group of people, who can’t even be called a miscellaneous army, play in front of the Wei army?
After just a few rounds of volleys of bows and crossbows, the besieging army under Wei general Wuma Jiao defeated the Chu army on the other side and fled in panic.
Looking at the chaotic Chu army on the other side of the river, Wuma shook his head anxiously.
He felt that even after twenty years, the Chu State was still so stagnant. What effect could a ragtag army like peasant soldiers have on a real battlefield?
Especially when the two armies are separated by a river, not to mention 20,000 or 30,000, even with several times the number of troops, Wu Majiao has full confidence to block them on the other side of Ru River and prevent them from advancing even an inch.
Of course, as a general born in the Chu State, Wu Majiao also knew the Chu State's war methods very well.
Regardless of the fact that he repelled the army of Xiong Ping, Lord of Xianyang, and shot to death many of the latter's grain soldiers, in fact, this caused almost no loss to Xiong Ping, Lord of Xianyang - there were many strong men in the Chu State.
On the contrary, the Wei army spent a lot of crossbows and bows in order to block Xiong Ping's army.
"It seems that to capture the thief, we need to capture the king first."
Looking at the defeated "Xianyang Lord" flag on the other side of the river, Wu Ma thought to himself anxiously.
As a result, Wumajiao deliberately pretended to be elated after winning the battle, and happily led his troops back to the besieged city. At the same time, he sent people to contact the local Qingya people to ask them about the Chu army on the other side.
He felt that Xiong Ping, Lord of Xianyang, suffered a defeat today and would probably try to sneak across Ru River at night.
Just as Wu Majiao guessed, Xiong Ping, the Lord of Xianyang, did not take this defeat at all in the daytime - his Chu State's grain-recruited troops faced the Wei State's army. Even the local army of the Wei State could not win.
What are the chances of winning?
The advantage of recruiting soldiers with food has always been the human sea tactic. On a battlefield where this advantage cannot be reflected, it is quite normal for them to be defeated by the Wei army.
The only thing that surprised Xiong Ping, Lord of Xianyang, was the reaction of the Wei army. He thought that the marching route of his army was secret enough, but he never thought that he would be caught by the Wei army.
"Try sneaking across at night..."
After learning that Wumajiao's army retreated happily after winning the battle, Xiong Ping, Lord of Xianyang, thought to himself.
At midnight that day, Xiong Ping, the king of Xianyang, ordered his general Chen Xi to lead his army to sneak across Ru River.
It has to be said that a tactic like a sneak attack is really not something that a ragtag group of soldiers can pull off. No, when crossing the river, the Xianyang Army made a lot of noise. This not only made Xianyang
Jun Xiongping secretly
Worrying, even Wu Majiao, Wu Mahui and his son, who were preparing to ambush the Chu army on the other side of Ru River, were secretly anxious, fearing that the Chu army would see that the situation was not good and give up crossing the river, leaving them to defend the ambush point in vain.
One night.
Fortunately, Xiong Ping, Lord of Xianyang, did not give up crossing the river in the end, but unfortunately, because his soldiers made a lot of noise while crossing the river, Xiong Ping, Lord of Xianyang, considered that it was likely to be noticed by the Wei army, so he did not dare to cross the river himself.
, just sitting near the river bank, looking at our own army from a distance.
This made Wumajiao unable to catch the big fish of Xianyang Jun Xiong Ping in the end. Instead, his son Wu Mahui took advantage of the Chu army's panic after launching an ambush and shot Xianyang Jun Xiong Ping with a crossbow.
Chen Xi, his general, immediately killed the latter and added a military merit to his merit list.
In the afternoon of the next day, Pingyu Lord Xiong Hu received the battle report from Xianyang Lord Xiong Ping and learned the outcome of the battle.
However, just like Xiong Ping, Lord of Xianyang, Xiong Hu did not care about these defeats. He simply said through the messenger: "Tell Lord Xianyang to set up camp first, and then continue to attack the siege and put pressure on Shangshui."
After that, he continued to lead the army towards Shangshui County.
One day later, when he was leading his army and was about to approach Shangshui County, he suddenly received news from the scouts ahead: "Several Wei military camps were discovered ahead!"
After learning about this, Pingyu Lord Xiong Hu immediately ordered the entire army to stop advancing. Then he climbed a nearby hill and looked to the north.
Shangshui County is located in the plain area washed out by the Yingshui River system. Therefore, the terrain in this area is flat. Except for a few rivers blocking it, there are actually no natural dangers to defend.
It is for this reason that on the plain terrain south of Shangshui County, the Wei State established several camps about ten miles apart, facing each other and guarding each other, forming a corner-to-corner situation.
But Pingyu Lord Xiong Hu knows very well that the defense strength of Shangshui County is probably the strongest in the entire Shangshui defense line, because an army "Shangshui Army" is stationed here that has not been defeated in twenty years.
, and the biggest natural enemy of his army's Zhongliang Recruitment, "Shangshui Youma".
Looking back at his own dark army of hundreds of thousands, and then at the neighboring Wei camps with the words "Shangshui" erected in the distance, Pingyu Lord Xiong Hu took a long breath and looked extremely solemn.
Although he knew that his side had the absolute upper hand in terms of military strength, to be honest, he didn't have much confidence in this battle.