The time goes back to a month and a half ago, when Pingyu Lord Xiong Hu had just received news that he had ambushed troops in the "Qu?" area, and successfully used Wei Guo's repeated crossbows to sink Chu Shuijun's boat, forcing the latter to dock.
Shore, turn to the land route.
After learning about this, Pingyu Jun Xiong Hu was stunned, and secretly thought: Did Chen Li miss it?
Because according to his instructions to his general Chen Li, he asked Chen Li to try to destroy Chu Shuijun's ships. Only if Chen Li failed, Pingyu Jun Xiong Hu's army ambushing in the "Qu?" area would personally
Take action and use war weapons to sink Chu Shuijun's boat.
The main purpose of such a double insurance arrangement is to avoid lying. Just as Chu Shuijun later saw through the true identity of the 'rebellious army' who attacked him at a glance, in the western part of Chu State, only Pingyu Jun Xiong Hu could get Wei.
Therefore, as long as the Pingyu army under Xiong Hu's command used the machine crossbow, it would be inevitable for someone to find out the truth.
No, within two days, Chu General Doulian learned the news that Chu Shuijun's boat was sunk by the "rebellious army", and came to test Xiong Hu personally. Xiong Hu spent a lot of energy before sending Doulian away.
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It’s no wonder, after all, Chu Shuijun’s status in Chu State is unusual. Dou Lian was afraid that the former’s attack would implicate him, so of course he had to inquire about the situation clearly, until Xiong Hu hinted to him that the incident had nothing to do with him, Dou Lian
Only then did Lian give up.
It has to be said that in order to kill someone with a borrowed knife and create an opportunity for Zhang Qigong and Mi Rui to ambush Chu Shuijun, Pingyu Lord Xiong Hu took great pains.
But what worries Pingyu Lord Xiong Hu is that he doesn't know where Zhang Qigong, Mi Rui and his party are hiding at this time, and whether they can successfully intercept Chu Shuijun who has abandoned the ship and landed. Therefore, he
After pondering for a while, he decided to send an ambush in "Guluo County". If Zhang Qigong and Mi Rui failed, he would do it himself.
The Guluo County (Zhijiang) area, just southeast of Wushan, is where Wei Queen Mi Jiang led the Shang Shui Army to ambush Chu Shuijun a month and a half later.
But what he didn't expect was that just as he decided to send another army to ambush Guluo County, he received urgent battle reports from the "Xiangyang" and "Fancheng" areas, and learned that Wei soldiers had come out of Nanyang to attack these two cities.
Xiangyang and Fancheng are located on the south and north banks of the upper reaches of Xiangshui River. They were cities built by Pingyu Lord Xiong Hu in the early years to contain the Nanyang Jie tribe.
I remember that in the "Five Directions Conquer Wei" campaign, the Jie people who once lived in Sanchuan County were defeated by the then Wei Gongzi Run and his deputy Sima An. Among the three major tribes of the Jie people, except for the "緷" tribe, the rest surrendered to Wei.
Both the "Jie" and "Ling" tribes were defeated by the Wei army. These remaining Jie tribesmen were forced to leave Sanchuan and fled south to Nanyang. They have survived on this land ever since.
At that time, Nanyang was also filled with local forces, mainly Ba people and Qian people, as well as some bandits.
In order to work together to resist foreign enemies, the two Jie tribes, Jie and Ling, merged into one. In view of the fact that the leader of the Jie tribe, Batulu, and the leader of the Ling tribe, Actun, were both killed in this war, the remaining Jie people elected
Acton's son "Kayatu" was appointed as the leader of the new tribe.
Because the Jie people suffered too heavy losses in the war with the Wei State, the Nanyang Jie people initially suffered a defeat in the war with the Ba people—mainly the Xiang clan of the Ba State who expanded northward.
At his wits' end, Ke Yatu, the leader of the Nanyang Jie tribe, thought of his compatriots in Sanchuan County, hoping to get help from the Sanchuan Jie tribe.
At that time, the Sanchuan Jie tribe was mainly divided into two parts. One part was the "羷 tribe" who surrendered to the Wei State. Because the leader of the tribe "Erdemo" was always close to the Wei State, after the war, this part of the Jie tribe was not
The people targeted by the Wei State even later joined the "Sichuan-Luo Alliance"; while the other group of Jie people were the losers of the former Jiejiao Tribe Alliance, and their leader was Gu.
According to ancient times, the governor was Boxi Le. Because of their defeat in the war, these Jie people served Wei Gongzi Run for ten years for free. After ten years, they established the "Northern Sichuan Alliance". Among them, the governor Boxi Le later served as a general of the Wei State.
He led the Jiejiao cavalry and was active in the "First Melee of the Central Plains Kingdoms" and the "Second Melee of the Central Plains Kingdoms", becoming the only Jie tribesman who served as the commander-in-chief of an army in Wei.
However, when Ke Yatu, the leader of the Nanyang Jie tribe, asked for help from his compatriots in the Sanchuan Alliance, Bosile was not yet a general officially awarded the rank of general by the Wei State, and he did not have much say in the "Sichuan-Luo Alliance" that ruled Sanchuan County at that time.
The leader of the Zaiyi tribe, Erdemo, interceded with the Qingyang tribe and the Lun tribe, which were the most authoritative in the Sanchuan Alliance at the time, for the sake of both being Jie people.
Amutu, the old patriarch of the Qingyang tribe, is Oona's biological father, and Lu Balong, the patriarch of the Lun tribe, became Wei Gongzi Run's loyal lackey after the war. Erdemo wanted the help of the Sichuan-Luo Alliance.
The Nanyang Jie tribe must convince these two people.
Amutu was a friendly elder, and considering that the Qingyang tribe had no big grudges with the Jie tribe, he agreed to the matter. However, the leader of the Lun tribe, Lu Balong, strongly opposed it.
The reason is very simple, because the Wei Gongzi Run whom he is loyal to is very disgusted with the Nanyang Jie people who are unwilling to surrender to Wei. As a loyal lackey of Wei Gongzi Run, how can Lu Balong secretly help the Nanyang Jie people?
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In this case, Ke Yatu, the leader of the Nanyang Jie tribe, made a proposal to the Sichuan-Luo Alliance, that is, the Nanyang Jie tribe would rob the Ba people and use the Guizhou people as slaves in exchange for food and weapons with the Sichuan-Luo Alliance.
At that time, Wei State was in the stage of rapid rise. Both the Wei State court and private chambers of commerce lacked a large amount of labor. Therefore, after Lu Balong considered it again and again, he reported the matter to Wei State.
At that time, Wei Gongzi Run was not in Daliang, and the person who received the report was Wei monarch Zhao Si. As soon as Zhao Si heard that the Nanyang Jie tribe was preparing to attack and plunder the Ba people, Zhao Si acquiesced to the matter.
In this way, the Nanyang Jie tribe reconnected with the Wei State after the Sichuan-Luo Alliance, and their power rapidly increased. Lu Balong's Lun tribe also transformed into the largest slave intermediary in Wei State, purchasing slaves from the Nanyang Jie tribe.
, exclusively sold to the Wei court and Wei merchants, became rich overnight and became one of the richest tribes in the Sichuan-Luo Alliance.
After obtaining the military-style weapons and armor made by the Wei State, the Nanyang Jie people finally showed their ferocity as Jie people, and within a few years they defeated the Xiang clan and the Zheng clan of Ba State back to the south of Bashan.
, basically controlled the Nanyang area.
At this point, Nanyang became the horse herding land of the Nanyang Jie people.
The expanded Nanyang Jie clan has a wider attack range, extending to the Fan clan, Xiang clan, and Zheng clan of Ba Kingdom in the west, and to Xiying County of Chu Kingdom in the east, including Qiandi, Wujun, and Duchen in the middle.
The hunting ground of the Nanyang Jie tribe.
In view of the fact that when the Nanyang Jie tribe harassed and attacked Xiying County several times, due to their nomadic habits, they always liked to move along the flow of Xiangshui River. Therefore, Xiong Hu, Lord of Pingyu, built Xiangyang on the south and north banks of the upper reaches of Xiangshui River. The two cities, Fancheng and Nanyang City, are here to monitor the movements of the Nanyang Jie people, and they are also here to contain the Nanyang Jie people.
As long as these two cities are not lost, even if the Nanyang Jie tribe tries to bypass these two cities and attack Xiying County of Chu State, Chu Xi can still send troops out of Xiangyang and Fancheng to attack the Jie tribe's tribal land "Wan".
In the view of Pingyu Lord Xiong Hu, although the Nanyang Jie tribe is fierce, they are just a nomadic tribe after all. Although they are stronger than guerrillas and harassers, they will definitely not be his opponent in Chu Xi in a head-to-head confrontation.
Sure enough, after several wars between the Nanyang Jie tribe and Chuxi, the Nanyang Jie tribe considered that the losses from attacking Chu would be too great, so they turned the focus of their looting to Ba and Qian.
So far, there have been very few accidents involving the Nanyang Jie tribe in Xiangyang and Fancheng.
Unexpectedly, the Wei army actually sent out of Nanyang today and tried to attack Xiangyang and Fancheng. This made Pingyu Lord Xiong Hu break into a cold sweat.
Forget about the Nanyang Jie tribe, they are just a tribe that relies on nomadic cavalry to fight. The Central Plains countries have always had means to fight against these nomadic tribes, but Wei is different. If they capture Xiangyang and Fancheng, Wei can take advantage of that area Build warships and train naval forces. In time, the Wei naval forces trained here can go down the Xiang River and directly attack the back of Pingyu County and invade the weak areas in western Chu.
How can Mr. Pingyu Xiong Hu not be surprised?
Therefore, on the day he learned the news, Pingyu Lord Xiong Hu summoned Xiying Lord Xiong Tao and Chu General Doulian. After some discussions, it was finally decided that Doulian would be stationed in Jiangzhou, and he and Xiying County Xiong Tao took the lead in returning to "Xi Ying (Jiangling)" and tried to resist Wei's attack.
However, the power of Wei's actions greatly exceeded Pingyu Jun Xiong Hu's prediction. Soon after he and Xiying Jun Xiong Tao arrived in Xiying, they received "Fan City" and "Xiangyang" were both captured by the Wei army. Bad news of the breach.
After learning about this, Pingyu Lord Xiong Hu was shocked.
Xiong Hu, Lord Pingyu, was aware of the strength of Wei's army, but he would not conquer the two fortified cities of Fancheng and Xiangyang so quickly, would he?
Thinking of this, Pingyu Lord Xiong Hu summoned the defeated Chu army soldiers who fled from Fancheng and Xiangyang to Xiying and asked them how the two cities fell.
One of the 500-man generals replied: "Somehow, a group of thieves sneaked into the city, killed the guards patrolling the city gate at night, and put the Wei army into the city... As for the Wei army, it seemed like they were fighting It bears the banner of "Shangshui", oh, and there is also a general's flag with the words "General Wei"."
After hearing this, Pingyu Jun Xiong Hu's heart skipped a beat.
As for who in the Chu State knew the Wei State best, then it was him. Even though this 500-man general's statement was very one-sided, Xiong Hu still picked up some clues from it.
In his opinion, the group of 'thieves' who attacked the city gate at night were either the Green Crow Crowd or the Black Crow Crowd, and the "Shangshui" flag and the general flag of "General Wei's Corps" Needless to say, it must be Wu Ji, the chief general of the Shang Shui Army.
You must know that the Shang Shui Army of Wei General Wu Ji is one of the absolute main forces that the Wei State has dispatched most frequently in recent years. As the Wei army that once swept through the Central Plains under the command of Wei Gongzi Run, the Shang Shui Army was in the Central Plains, especially in the Chu State. The reputation spreads far and wide, and the Green Crows or Black Crows are the two secret assassin organizations under the Wei Kingdom's Tiance Mansion. These people join forces with the Shang Shui Army to attack Xiangyang and Fancheng. To be honest, even if these two cities are indeed strategic In this place, Pingyu Lord Xiong Hu did not expect Wei Guoguo to mobilize troops and mobilize people like this.
"Is this going to be an all-out war?"
Pingyu Jun Xiong Hu couldn't help but shed a few strands of cold sweat on his forehead.
In view of the fact that after the second melee between the Central Plains countries, Wei State did not make peace with Qi, Chu, Yue and other countries at all. Even on the battlefield of Daliang, Wei King Zhao Run once again declared war on the countries in full view of the public.
Therefore, he could not blame Wei for going to war without declaring it, he just felt it was a little strange.
Because at the end of last year, the State of Wei had just overthrown the State of Qi. Logically speaking, it should have lost a lot of food. It had to survive this year's autumn harvest and wait until next year to start a war with the State of Chu. But it was already around July.
There are only two or three months left before the autumn harvest. Pingyu Lord Xiong Hu really can't figure out why Wei can't even wait for these two or three months.
However, because he couldn't figure it out, Pingyu Lord Xiong Hu also gave up the idea of taking back Xiangyang and Fancheng. After all, the leader of the Wei army opposite was Wu Ji. Xiong Hu was very worried about whether he would be defeated by Wu Ji once the two sides faced each other.
To be captured and killed.
So, he sent someone to invite Xiong Tao, Lord of Xiying, and discussed with him: "Wei has sent troops to attack Xiangyang and Fancheng. I believe there will be follow-up actions. I must return to Pingyu immediately to try to resist the Wei army. Here in Xiying County
, and leave it to the king."
Xiong Tao, Lord of Xiying, nodded and said: "Please rest assured, Lord Pingyu, no matter how brave the Wei army is, they are destined to be unable to defeat Xiying."
Seeing Xiying Jun Xiong Tao's arrogant appearance, Pingyu Jun Xiong Hu hesitated to speak, but in the end, he still refrained from attacking the former's confidence. He just repeatedly told Xiying Jun Xiong Tao to be cautious and stick to the city.
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Not two days after Pingyu Jun Xiong Hu left Xiying by boat, bad news came again from the battlefield.
It turned out that after conquering Xiangyang and Fancheng, the Wei army did not build water forts and train naval forces in the waters as Pingyu Jun Xiong Hu had guessed. Instead, they quickly led their troops south and captured Xiang almost at the same time.
"Yan County (Yicheng)" on the west side of the water and "鄀(nuo)yi" on the east side seem to be heading towards Xi Ying.
After learning about this, Xiong Tao, Lord of Xiying, was shocked and angry.
A few days later, the troops he had earlier ordered to withdraw from Ba gradually arrived in Xiying. Therefore, Xiong Tao, the king of Xiying, led the army that defeated Ba and went north to block Wei's merchant navy.
A few days later, Xiong Tao, Lord of Xiying, led tens of thousands of Chu troops to Dangyang, about a hundred miles north of Xiying. At this time, Wei general Wu Ji also arrived with tens of thousands of merchant navy troops.
, a war broke out between the Wei and Chu armies in Dangyang. In the end, the Chu army under the command of Xiong Tao, Lord of Xiying, defeated the Chu army of Ba, but was defeated by the Shang Shui army under Wu Ji.
At this moment, Xiong Tao, the king of Xiying, realized that the strength of the Wei army was no nonsense. He immediately changed his proactive tactics and led the defeated troops to retreat into Xiying, trying to use the walls of Xiying City to resist the Wei army.
But what puzzled Xiying Jun Xiong Tao was that after the Wei army captured Dangyang, they did not send their troops south to attack Xiying directly. Instead, they turned southwest and went to "Guluo County (Zhijiang)". This made him
I can't figure it out.
Guluo County is located on the riverside road from western Chu to Ba. The Wei army's capture of this county can effectively cut off the land connection between Chu and Ba.
"Could it be that the Wei State felt uneasy after learning that Da Chu had captured Ba State, so it sent troops to try to cut off the connection between Da Chu and Ba State?"
Xiong Tao, Lord of Xiying, felt anxious.
After all, the autumn harvest is around the corner. After the grain harvest from Ba State is harvested, it will be shipped to Chu State in large quantities. If the Wei army blocks the connection between Ba State and Chu State at this time, this will indeed be a fatal blow to Chu State.
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Although the Wei army was only infantry, if they were well prepared, they could have used ropes, iron locks and other objects to block the river, making it difficult for grain ships to transport grain from Ba to Chu in the future.
"It seems we have to take back Guluo County no matter what."
Xiong Tao from Xiying County thought to himself.
But to his surprise, the Wei army seemed to be poorly prepared, or in other words, the other party had no intention of blocking the river. In short, Xiying Jun Xiong Tao sent people to monitor the Wei army for a long time, but did not see the Wei army.
What obstacles are placed on the river?
Even after about ten days, the Wei army retreated to Dangyang.
Xiong Tao, Lord of Xiying, felt puzzled by this: What on earth is this Wei army doing?
So he once again sent many scouts to the Guluo County area to inquire about information, and then he learned that the Wei army was stationed in that area just to ambush a group of people.
"Chu Shuijun?! Ba Wangcheng?!"
After pondering for a moment, Xiong Tao, Lord of Xiying, suddenly realized.
As for Lord Chu Shui, Xiong Tao, Lord of Xi Ying, as a Xiong family member of the West of Chu, would certainly not have a good impression of the former. Therefore, although he did not support Lord Pingyu Xiong Hu's attempt to kill Lord Chu Shui with the help of Wei people,
But he also acquiesced to this matter.
After all, once upon a time, Xiong Hao, the king of Runan who ruled Western Chu, was also a distant uncle whom Xiong Tao respected.
Xiong Tao just thought this thing was a bit strange: the Wei merchant navy came all the way to capture Xiangyang, Fancheng, Yanxian, Oyi, Dangyang, and Guluo, just to ambush Lord Chu Shui?!
Confused, Xiying Jun Xiong Tao sent someone to tell Pingyu Jun Xiong Hu the news.
At this time, Pingyu Lord Xiong Hu had just arrived in Runan County. Although he had not returned to Pingyu County, he had not heard about the Wei State's large-scale attack on Pingyu County. Just when he was feeling puzzled, he received a message from Xiying Lord.
Xiong Tao sent someone to send news about Wei General Wu Ji's behavior in the "Guluo County (Zhijiang)" area.
After learning about this, Pingyu Lord Xiong Huban suddenly realized: Maybe the Wei army mobilized troops like that just to ambush Lord Chu Shui.
There is only one person in Wei who can do this, namely King Zhao Run of Wei.
"It seems that Ajiang is indeed favored in Wei..."
While shaking his head and laughing, Pingyu Lord Xiong Hu continued on his way, hoping to get back to Pingyu County as soon as possible.
Although in his opinion, the main purpose of the Shang Shui army's dispatch this time was probably just to ambush Lord Chu Shui, but his Chu Kingdom also lost several cities such as Xiangyang, Fancheng, Yanxian, Eyi, Dangyang, etc.
This exposed Xiying County completely to the eyes of the Wei army. Once the Wei State officially used troops against Chu State in the future, Xiying County would inevitably bear the brunt of the Wei army's attack.
But now that the matter has come to this, Pingyu Lord Xiong Hu has no choice but to once again tell Xiying Lord Xiong Tao to defend Xiying. Otherwise, if the Wei army captures Xiying County, even if the Ba Kingdom has been occupied by his Chu Kingdom,
But it will lose its strategic significance.
"Wu Ji is in Xiying County, so our opponent in Pingyu County can only be Shen Yu..."
When he thought that he once hoped to marry his daughter to Shen Yu's son, but the two of them were in hostile positions one after another, Xiong Hu, Lord Pingyu, was also quite moved.
As Pingyu Jun Xiong Hu guessed, the Wei army's attack on Xiying Jun this time may be just a small episode. After ambushing Chu Shuijun, Wei General Wu Ji took no other actions for the time being and just devoted himself to Consolidate the defenses of Xiangyang, Fancheng, Yanxian, Poyi, and Dangyang, and try to use these cities as the rear for his future attack on Chu.
After that, there was brief peace between Wei and Chu again until October of that year.
In October of the eighth year of Wei Zhaowu, Wei King Zhao Run issued an order in the name of Tiance Mansion to worship Shen Yu, the governor of Shangshui, as the "coach of the west road", to worship Sima Shang, the governor of Song Dynasty, as the "coach of the middle road", and to worship Leyi, the governor of Beihai, as the "coach of the east road". ”, together with Wu Ji, Huan Hu, Chen Shou, Xu Li, Ji Wu, Tian Dan, Tian Wu, Tian Kuo, Yan Kui, Li Ji, Cai Qinhu and dozens of Wei generals, they jointly attacked Chu.
In the spring of the ninth year of Wei Zhaowu, the State of Wei officially launched a three-pronged army to attack the State of Chu, and the "War of Wei and Chu" broke out.