In the handsome tent, Chu Shuijun was pacing back and forth with his hands behind his back.
There are various indications that after the Wei State's Huling Navy retreated from Weishan Lake along the Lianglu Canal to the Dingtao area, they did not stop at all. They were going down another waterway, the Jishui River, in an attempt to attack Qi State.
This was something Chu Shuijun never expected.
It’s not that he is short-minded, but the situation shown by the Wei State before is too confusing - abandoning more than a dozen cities in one go and giving up half of Song County. Anyone would think that this is what the Wei State has considered.
Song County's military strength was not enough to resist the Chu army, so it decided to close the defense line and gather troops.
Who would have thought that the Huling navy killed a carbine and went to Qi State, which was weak in defense at the moment. This is really...
Chu Shuijun must admit that this move is indeed quite clever.
"Did Wei Guo predict that Qi State would send troops?"
Chu Shuijun frowned and thought.
Originally, if Qi's army was still in Qi's territory at this moment, a sneak attack like that of Wei's Huling navy might not be successful. But the bad thing is that since Wei general Shao Hu led Wei Wu's army to withdraw from the Taishan area,
After Dongjun was defeated by Yan, Qi State ordered Tian Dan to lead the army in response to Chu State's call to attack Wei State.
He led the five armies that originally defended Mount Tai, including the Langya Army and the Jimo Army, and advanced westward. They met with General Xiang Mo of Chu State in Wuyan County and even led the army to Changyi after some time.
Participated in the "Four-Nation Allied Forces Alliance" established by Chu Shuijun in order to strengthen his own power and crusade against Wei.
What's even more embarrassing is that even Qi General Tian Wu led several armies through Lu, preparing to participate in the joint crusade against Wei. This left only one available army in Qi territory.
The Northern Navy only has 20 to 30 thousand men, and its defense strength is unprecedentedly weak.
As he thought about it, Chu Shuijun had a flash of realization in his mind: Could it be that Wei State deliberately showed weakness by abandoning half of Song County in just half a month, just to lure Qi State's army to leave the country and go on an expedition?
"..."
Chu Shuijun frowned.
He felt that if all this was a war strategy formulated by the former Wei Gongzi Run who swept across the Central Plains, then the current monarch of Wei would be really terrible.
"Someone is coming!"
After thinking for a moment, Chu Shuijun called out loudly.
As soon as he finished speaking, two women walked in outside the tent. They were seen wearing witch costumes and white scarves on their heads. They were dressed the same as the current Queen Mi Jiang of Wei when she first met Zhao Run. However, Mi Jiang was not that different at that time.
The witch clothes on their bodies are tattooed with red flames, while the witch clothes on these two women are tattooed with blue and blue patterns that look like water patterns.
Obviously, these two women are the mortal enemies of Mi Jiang, Mi Rui and other witches from the Zhurong lineage - witches from the Gonggong lineage.
Chu Shuijun looked at the two witches in front of him and said in a deep voice: "You two will leave the camp immediately. One of you will go to Wuyan of Song County to inform Tian Dan of Qi State; the other of you will go to Huling and Tengdi.
Notify Tian Wu of Qi State and tell him
We, the Huling navy of Wei State, are going down the Jishui River, trying to sneak attack Linzi, the capital of Qi State, and tell them..." At this point, he suddenly paused, and after thinking for a moment, waved
He waved his hand and said, "That's it, go ahead."
"yes!"
The two witches looked at each other, turned around and left with expressionless faces.
Watching the two witches leave, Chu Shuijun stood in the tent with his hands behind his back and let out a long breath.
It is undeniable that the sudden pause just now was due to his mood being affected by the actions of the Wei State's Huling Navy. To put it more bluntly, the actions of the Huling Navy completely disrupted the strategic arrangements he had originally planned to implement.
According to his previous thoughts, he would hold an alliance of "the armies of Chu, Qi, Lu, and Yue" in Changyi to boost the morale of his own coalition forces and dampen the fighting spirit of Wei. But now that the Huling navy has done this, Qi's
The army will definitely not be able to arrive at Changyi to meet the alliance as scheduled, and the territory of Qi State may even become the second battlefield.
I have to say, this is a bit scary.
You know, although the food and grass for the Chu army are still provided by the home country for the time being, if you think about it, you will know that the Chu country, which relies on the human sea tactic to fight, consumes food and grass in each foreign campaign, which is simply an astronomical figure. If it goes on for a long time, I am afraid that
Even Chu State itself could not afford it.
Therefore, when the battle progresses to the second half, when the Chu State is about to face a shortage of food and grass supplies, the Qi State Congress will be fully responsible for all the food and grass supplies of the "Allied Army Against Wei" - this was the previous responsibility of the three countries of Han, Chu and Qi
This was discussed in the alliance agreement.
But now, Wei's Huling Navy sneak attack on Qi. Even if this Wei army does not ultimately capture Linzi, the capital of Qi, as long as the grain and grass collected by Qi for the coalition's crusade against Wei are destroyed by this Wei army, then
, this time the four-nation coalition's campaign to attack Wei may not be sustainable for a long time.
"What should I do..."
Chu Shuijun paced back and forth in the tent.
At this moment, there were only two choices before him: either ignore the sneak attack by Qi and continue to attack the western part of Song County; or divide his troops to assist Qi in expelling the Huling navy.
After thinking for a long time, Chu Shuijun finally decided to divide his troops and rush to aid Qi. After all, it was the second half of the battle, and the entire rear granary of the Wei coalition army must not be lost.
Thinking of this, Chu Shuijun summoned several more witches and ordered them to go to Wuyan and Huling respectively, to find General Xiang Mo who was stationed in Wuyan area, and General Xiang Juan who was stationed in Huling area, and ordered the two brothers.
Stay put for the time being and pay attention to the current situation of Qi State at any time. If Qi State loses to the Huling navy, immediately rush to the aid of Qi State.
To be fair, if Qi's generals Tian Dan and Tian Wu could return to Qi in time to support the royal capital Linzi, they would actually be enough to withstand Wei's Huling Navy. However, Chu Shuijun was afraid that something would happen. After all, Wei's Huling Navy had strong ships.
The artillery was so powerful that it defeated the navy led by Xiong Li, Lord of Diyang, in Weishan Lake. However, Qi's army had never dealt with the Huling navy. In case they underestimated the enemy or something else, they were defeated by the Huling navy.
Defeat would be very bad.
Just as Wei Wang Zhao Run guessed, Chu Shuijun was still a very cautious person, or in other words, very wise.
"We can only let Xinyang Lord Xiang Pei and Shouling Lord Jingyun put pressure on Wei..."
Chu Shuijun thought secretly.
On May 17, Xiang Pei, Lord of Xinyang, quietly arrived at Changyi with dozens of cavalry guards to spy on the city from a distance.
It has to be said that the Chu army's offensive in the past month has been so smooth, but this smoothness seems a bit strange: in just over half a month, the Chu army did not fight a single battle, and it gained more than a dozen cities in Wei for nothing.
Dare you imagine?
Although I don't understand what Wei is doing, since Wei is willing to give up those cities, Chu's army will certainly not be polite and take them all without saying a word.
Even Xinyang Lord Xiang Pei got the credit for "captured Dongmin" for no reason a few days ago.
To be honest, he almost didn't even see the shadow of Wei Jun at that time.
However, after the Wei army in Song County retreated to Changyi, the situation seemed to change again, because the county troops who retreated from the eastern part of Song County seemed to have gathered in Changyi one after another, and even the Wei army
Two camps were also built outside the city.
It seems that the Wei army has no intention of retreating anymore.
No, Xiang Pei, Lord of Xinyang, took a look at Changyi with dozens of cavalry guards today, wanting to see what was going on in Changyi County. However, he found that the Wei army was actively preparing for war. The originally empty city was now filled with people.
It is full of obstacles such as horses and deer antlers.
"Why not continue to tighten the defense line?"
Xinyang Jun Xiang Pei is a little regretful.
He was not one of those generals who longed for war. If he could capture Wei's city without any bloodshed, he would certainly be inclined to do so.
But unfortunately, Wei State does not seem to intend to give up Changyi.
Could it be that Changyi is located on the middle line of Song County, and after Wei gave up the eastern part of Song County, it did not want to give up the western part of Song County?
only……
"Are these troops enough?"
Xiang Pei, Lord of Xinyang, thought to himself.
It’s not that I look down upon the defenders of Changyi County. In fact, after gathering half of the county troops from Song County, Changyi County has gradually pieced together a force of 20,000 to 30,000 people. In addition, Chengling King Zhao Shen and other Wei state troops
The private army of the nobles, today's Changyi, has almost 60,000 to 70,000 defenders at full strength.
However, in the view of Xinyang Lord Xiang Pei, these troops were still far from enough to withstand his Chu armies - the Chu Dong army they dispatched this time reached a total of 800,000.
In front of this 800,000-strong army, how many days can a mere 50,000-60,000 people in Changyi hold out?
At least that's what Xinyang Jun Xiang Pei thinks.
Returning to Dongmin County that night, Xiang Pei, Lord of Xinyang, ordered his troops to prepare for the attack on Changyi and waited for the arrival of the remaining friendly troops.
Because he had received an order from Chu Shuijun a few days ago, and the latter intended to hold an alliance of the "Allied Forces of the Four Kingdoms of Chu, Qi, Lu, and Yue" here after the capture of Changyi.
But until May 19th, Xinyang Jun Xiang Pei did not wait for the other armies.
He was very puzzled by this: What's going on? Didn't we agree that all armies would meet in Changyi? Where are the people?
In the afternoon of the next day, Chu Shuijun sent a witch to explain to Xinyang Lord Xiang Pei the reason why the other armies were delayed in arriving.
"What? The Huling navy of Wei State went to sneak attack on Qi State?"
After learning about this, Xinyang Jun Xiang Pei was also shocked.
Only then did he understand the reason why the friendly troops from other routes were delayed in arriving even though they had made an appointment to attack Changyi together.
Not to mention the armies of Qi and Lu.
"Chu Shuijun ordered the princes to take the lead in launching an offensive against Changyi and continue to put pressure on Changyi." The witch relayed Chu Shuijun's order expressionlessly.
Xinyang Lord Xiang Pei nodded, accepting the order, but there was unavoidable hesitation in his heart.
It is undeniable that he also has hundreds of thousands of troops under his command, but only 30% of these troops are composed of regular troops, and the rest are just soldiers recruited for food.
If hundreds of thousands of Chu troops attack Changyi together, then Changyi will definitely be unable to withstand it. But if he is asked to attack Changyi with this army, to be honest, the chance of victory is really hard to say.
Regardless of the Wei army in Changyi, it was actually just a ragtag group of local county troops from Song County and noble private armies. But the problem was that 70% of the hundreds of thousands of troops under Xiang Pei's command were soldiers with only one weapon.
When it comes to recruiting troops, the Wei army in Changyi may not be as bad as Xiang Pei's army.
What's more, the private armies of Wei nobles such as Chengling King Zhao Shen also possess war weapons like Wei Liannu. Although these are only eliminated by the regular army of Wei, they are still valuable to Chu soldiers who generally lack armor.
A terrifying weapon that cannot be matched.
Not to mention that the Wei army also had the city walls of Changyi City to provide assistance.
But since the armies of Xiang Mo, Xiang Juan, Chu Shuijun and others were destined to be unable to reach Changyi as scheduled to join forces, Xiang Pei, the king of Xinyang, could only bite the bullet and try to attack the city.
After all, it will be difficult to disobey the order.
On May 20th, Xiang Pei, Lord of Xinyang, led an army of 100,000 people and carried hundreds of long ladders for siege, and marched towards Changyi in a mighty manner.
As he had guessed before, the Wei State did not intend to abandon Changyi after abandoning more than a dozen cities. No, when it was discovered that Xinyang Jun Xiang Pei led his army to attack, the defenders of Changyi County immediately
He took up the posture of defending the city.
"Sure enough, it's just Xinyang Lord Xiang Pei and his troops..."
On the east city gate tower of Changyi County, Chengling King Zhao Shen, whose temples were gradually graying, was holding on to the wall and squinting at the Chu army outside the city.
And beside him stood Cui Yong, the "Special Envoy to Fu Song".
Cui Yong smiled and said: "It can be seen that the Chu army has learned that our Huling navy has diverted from Dingtao and headed straight for Qi... This move really hits the opponent's weakness."
"Hehehehe."
Chengling King Zhao Shen smiled.
I still remember a few days ago, when the Tiance government ordered them to garrison Changyi, Chengling King Zhao Shen was still a little panicked. After all, there were hundreds of thousands of Chu troops on the opposite side. Even though he had gathered county troops from the eastern counties of Song County in Changyi,
Together with the private armies of these nobles, they could barely muster a force of fifty to sixty thousand, but how could they withstand the attack of hundreds of thousands of Chu troops?
Not to mention the armies of Qi and Lu.
But what he couldn't understand was that the secret letter from Tiance Mansion clearly stated that not only the armies of Qi and Lu were temporarily unable to attack Changyi, but even more than half of Chu's army was probably unable to reach Changyi as scheduled, which was called Chengling.
Wang Zhaoshen and the others can defend with confidence.
Zhao Shen and Cui Yong were very puzzled by this and why Tiance Mansion was so sure.
It wasn't until they received the news that the Huling navy, which had retreated along the Lianglu Canal to Dingtao, did not stop at Dingtao but immediately went down the Jishui River, that they suddenly realized it.
After suddenly realizing it, they sincerely admired Tiance Mansion... no, they admired the outstanding strategic plan of their Wei monarch Zhao Run.
"A single Xiangpei with 100,000 troops also wants to capture Changyi?"
Chengling King Zhao Shen snorted coldly, seemingly confident.
Although his army in Changyi only had 50,000 or 60,000 soldiers, and they were not as elite as the Shang Shui Army and the Yanling Army, they could not resist the fact that the Chu Army on the opposite side was even worse than them.
A bad army versus an even worse army. What is there to fear?
Facts have proved that the confidence of Chengling King Zhao Shen is not without foundation.
No, Xiang Pei, Lord of Xinyang, invested a total of 40,000 troops that day and launched six attacks on Changyi, but in the end, let alone capturing the city, he could not even attack the city wall.
On the contrary, the private armies under Chengling King Zhao Shen and other nobles performed extremely well by relying on the armaments they purchased from the imperial court and were eliminated by the regular Wei army.
Until around dusk, Xiang Pei, the king of Xinyang, moodily ordered the withdrawal of troops and returned to Dongmin.
Being defeated by Wei's regular army, Xiang Pei was not so depressed, but being defeated by a group of county troops from Wei's local counties and the private armies of several nobles was something he could not accept.
But he was a little reluctant to ask him to join the regular army under his command. After all, the Wei army's crossbows were too dense today. Even if the regular army was sent, it would be difficult to capture the city.
After much deliberation, Xinyang Lord Xiang Pei finally sent someone to Fang Yu to ask Lord Chu Shui about one thing: When can Xiang Mo, Xiang Kuo and others lead their troops to Changyi?
One day later, Chu Shuijun sent a reply: The two generals would not lead their troops to Changyi to join forces until they were sure that Qi was safe.
This reply made Xinyang Jun Xiang Pei very depressed, but he was helpless. After all, he also understood the importance of Qi State.
So he could only bite the bullet and attack Changyi again.
However, after failing to attack the city for three consecutive days, he couldn't bear it anymore. He sent someone to tell Chu Shuijun: The strength of Xiang Pei's troops alone is not enough to capture Changyi. I hope Chu Shuijun will send reinforcements immediately. If reinforcements are sent,
As it was still late, Xiang could only hold his troops back for the time being.
These words soon reached Chu Shuijun’s ears.
Chu Shuijun certainly understood that Xinyang Jun Xiang Pei wanted to preserve his strength and avoid unnecessary losses, and he didn't want to blame anyone. After all, he also felt that if all the county troops from the dozen or so counties in the east of Song County were transferred back to Changyi
County, then, coupled with the private army of Chengling King Zhao Shen and the Wei nobles, the number of Wei troops in Changyi County is already very considerable. Xinyang Lord Xiang Pei alone may not be able to capture it.
After thinking about it, Chu Shuijun simply agreed to Xinyang Lord Xiang Pei's request to hold his troops temporarily.
In the final analysis, it was Wei's Huling navy's sneak attack on Qi that completely disrupted Chu Shuijun's strategic arrangements, forcing the four-nation coalition of Chu, Qi, Lu, and Yue to slow down the process of conquering Wei.
"Let Wei Guo take a breath..."
Chu Shuijun could only comfort himself in this way.
Two more days passed like this, and Chu Shuijun suddenly received the battle report from Shouling Lord Jingyun.
After seeing the contents of this battle report, he was shocked.
Shouling Jun Jingyun's army was the partial force responsible for encircling Song County from the south. After passing through "Xiangcheng" in early May, it headed straight for Suiyang.
Unexpectedly, more than ten days ago, that is, around May 11, after Shouling Lord Jingyun and his general Yang You led their troops to the Suiyang area, they were suddenly attacked by a foreign cavalry force.
"There are actually foreign cavalry in Wei Kingdom?"
Shouling Jun Jingyun was very surprised at that time.
But immediately, he quickly realized: Wei State did have a foreign cavalry, named "Jiejiao Army".
Due to his hasty response to the battle, Shouling Lord Jingyun suffered a defeat that day. Fortunately, the number of Jiejiao cavalry who attacked him was not large, probably only three to five thousand. This allowed his general Yang You to still lead the army.
The regular soldiers of the Jiejiao cavalry drove away these Jiejiao cavalry in time, and used the grain trucks accompanying the army to escort the grain and grass. They built a line of defense in time, and finally avoided the fate of being repeatedly attacked and harassed by the Jiejiao cavalry until they collapsed.
After the defeat, Shouling Lord Jingyun was depressed, but in fact, he was very lucky, because just a few days ago, Wei general Boxi Le, who was originally stationed in Suiyang, learned that the Chu army had attacked
After arriving in Changyi, he led most of the Jiejiao cavalry to Changyi for support, leaving only five thousand cavalry to garrison in the Suiyang area.
If Wei general Bo Xile and his cavalry were still in Suiyang County at that time, Lord Shouling Jingyun might have followed in the footsteps of Lord Xiong Wu of Guling and been defeated in one battle by about 40,000 Jiejiao cavalry.
But having said that, even though there were only 5,000 Jiejiao cavalry left in the Suiyang area at that time, Lord Shouling Jingyun suffered heavy losses.
Especially when setting up the camp, the endless harassment from the three to five thousand Jiejiao cavalry made the Chu army miserable. In the end, it took twice as long to build the fence of the camp.
Seeing this, the Jiejiao cavalry retreated and hunted the Chu army's sentries and scouts in the wild.
The crisis was temporarily lifted, and Shouling Lord Jingyun could now relax and think about the Jijiao cavalry he encountered.
At the same time, he also thought of Guling Lord Xiong Wu.
"Where is Xiong Wu? Isn't he here?"
Lord Shouling Jingyun couldn't understand. Not long ago Lord Xiong Wu of Guling led an army of hundreds of thousands to attack Suiyang. Could it be that he still hasn't been able to conquer that city?
General Yang You also felt that this matter was a bit strange, so he sent out his men to investigate.
After inquiring, they learned that the army of Guling Lord Xiong Wu had long been destroyed by the Wei army in Suiyang County and the Jiejiao cavalry. Even Guling Lord Xiong Wu himself had died.
here.
Even the Qu clan, which competed with the Xiong clan for the throne, colluded with Guling Lord Xiong Wu and betrayed the Wei state this time, and were massacred by the Jiejiao cavalry led by Wei general Bosile.
Today, Gulingyi has become the territory of Wei State.
"Xiong Wu...is dead?"
Shouling Lord Jingyun was so horrified that he immediately sent someone to send the news to Fang Yu County and reported it to his coach Chu Shuijun.
After all, Lord Guling Xiong Wu is also the son of the late King Xiong Xu and the brother of the current King of Chu, Xiong Tuo. It is unimaginable for Lord Shouling Jingyun that such a noble son of the Chu Kingdom could be so easily dismissed.
A Wei general was killed.
About seven or eight days later, Lord Chu Shui met with the confidants sent by Lord Shouling Jingyun in Fangyu County, and received the news that " Lord Guling Xiong Wu died in Suiyang in battle, and his army was almost wiped out."
When he saw this letter, Chu Shuijun's face suddenly darkened. He dismissed several of his generals who were still in the tent at the time and stared at the letter.
"This idiot..."
A full half time passed before two words burst out of Chu Shuijun's mouth.
No one would know that Chu Shuijun ordered Shouling Jun Jingyun to lead the army to attack, not only for the strategic arrangement of surrounding Song County, but also in the hope that Shouling Jun Jingyun would have insight and help Xiong Wu.
After all, once upon a time, Chu Shuijun supported Gulingjun Xiong Wu, even now...
But unexpectedly, Xiong Wu died in Suiyang.
"..."
Staring at the letter, Chu Shuijun's face changed color, as if he was weighing something.