On July 15, Zhao Hongrun led 20,000 Yanling troops, 20,000 Shang Shui troops and 15,000 Fenxing troops, detouring northward and arriving at Yangxia County.
Yangxia County is one of the border cities and counties on the border between Wei and Chu. The rugged and muddy hilly and swamp areas on the south side have become the natural border between Wei and Chu.
On top of the inaccessible barren area on the south side and further to the southeast, there is Guling of Chu State, which is the fiefdom of Xiong Wu in Guling County. To be precise, it covers almost the entire middle reaches of the Guohe River. The fiefdom borders Pingyu County in the southwest.
According to less reliable information, the land around the Guohe River was originally under the control of Xiong Tuo, Lord of Yangcheng. However, more than ten years ago, Xiong Tuo, Lord of Yangcheng, who was very happy with his success, joined forces with the Wei State to attack and destroy them. During the Song Dynasty, he was manipulated by Emperor Wei, so that his reputation in the Chu Kingdom plummeted.
At this time, Xiong Tuo's younger brother Xiong Wu took the opportunity to propose to the King of Chu and volunteered to take back the Song Dynasty, which should have been the post-war gains of the Chu Kingdom. Therefore, the King of Chu gave Guling to Xiong Wu as a fief. Yi, canonized him as Lord Guling.
Perhaps it was for this reason that Xiong Tuo had long-held hatred for Xiong Wu, so two years ago, when he and Zhao Hongrun signed the "Zhengyang Peace Treaty of Chu and Wei", he ignored Gulingjun Xiong Wu's results in the Song Dynasty and did not hesitate. He sold this younger brother's credit.
Of course, Zhao Hongrun has no way of knowing whether this news is true, but one thing is certain, the date when Xiong Tuo was granted the title of Lord of Yangcheng was indeed before Lord Xiong Wu of Guling.
Furthermore, the relationship between the brothers Xiong Tuo, Lord of Yangcheng, and Xiong Wu, Lord of Guling, is not very good to be honest. This can be seen from their strategic intentions for more than ten years: after the battle to destroy the Song Dynasty, Yang Xiong Tuo, the king of the city, frantically harassed and attacked Wei; but Xiong Wu, the king of Guling who had a fiefdom not far from Xiong Tuo, never sent troops to help Xiong Tuo. The latter's strategic intention was just the Song Dynasty of Wei. county.
In fact, according to the information that Yangxia Black Crow had inadvertently learned in the past, Guling Lord Xiong Wu secretly created trouble for Pingyu County, which bordered his fiefdom, and secretly held back Lord Pingyu Xiong Hu.
After learning these gossips, Zhao Hongrun was in a really good mood, because various signs showed that the overt and covert fighting among the sons of the King of Chu was far more intense than the court fighting in Wei.
It's a pity that Zhao Hongrun's plan to provoke Xiong Tuo, Xiong Wu and other Chu princes to fight among themselves was just on the right track when it was broken by Qi King Lu Xi's strategy of Qi, Lu, Wei and the Three Kingdoms to attack Chu.
Another day later, the army arrived at a small county called Shou.
This small county is not eye-catching, but the only special thing is that to the east of this small county is a group of hills called Xinling, and further to the east is Suiyang.
It is one of the six garrison battalions of the Wei State and the city where the Suiyang Army is stationed. It is also the place where Nangong, the surrendered general of the Song State, is located.
The 55,000-strong army slowly moved toward the east along the Sui River south of Suiyang.
As the commander-in-chief of this army, Zhao Hongrun stood on the bank of Suishui River, looking at the letter in his hand.
Because when Zhao Hongrun left Daliang a few days ago, major changes occurred in Daliang, but Zhao Hongrun knew nothing about it. Therefore, in order to prevent this from happening again, Zhao Hongrun left ten people in Daliang before leading his army this time. Several Qingya people are like building a secret branch of Shangshui Qingya in Daliang.
However, since Daliang was the territory of the eunuch, Zhao Hongrun did not want to cause any misunderstandings, so he arranged for the dozen or so Green Crows to work as clerks in the Su's Chujin store under the name of Prince Su's Mansion.
He did not ask these people to spy on any important information. He only asked them to collect the daily happenings or news in Daliang, select the important ones, and send them to the Hidden Thieves Village in Shangshui County, and then send them to the Hidden Thieves Village in Shangshui County.
The latter sent someone to deliver it to Zhao Hongrun.
No, within a few days, the Green Crows sent a piece of important news: the imperial court consecrated the ninth prince Zhao Hongxuan as King Huan, and he served as the deputy commander-in-chief of the Northern Xinjiang Supervision and Defense, assisting the East Palace Prince Hongli to guard Northern Xinjiang.
I have to say that Zhao Hongrun was a little surprised when he first saw the contents of this letter.
Because as far as he knew, his brother Zhao Hongxuan should go to Sichuan Luo as an envoy of the imperial court. Why was it suddenly changed to Northern Xinjiang?
However, after thinking about it carefully, Zhao Hongrun gradually understood the reason.
What a Luo Yao, he actually dared to use Hongxuan to break the situation. I'm afraid Brother Yong Wang might not have expected such a move, right?... Speaking of which, his father actually gave him the royal title "Huan". Could it be that the East Palace and Yong Wang were in court?
The fight in the hall was so ugly that it touched my father's bottom line?
A trace of confusion flashed in Zhao Hongrun's eyes.
No wonder, after all, the weight of the word "Huan" is extremely heavy. It has the meaning of conquering the land and conquering the distance, and ruling the four directions. It is better than Zhao Hongrun's Wang Haosu. To put it bluntly, Zhao Hongrun originally thought that he
My father would keep this word for himself as a posthumous title.
I never thought that it would be given to my youngest son.
Unexpectedly, when the East Palace competed with King Yong for profit, it was Xiao Xuan who benefited...
There was an elusive smile on his face, and Zhao Hongrun was quite dumbfounded.
He was not worried about whether his younger brother Hongxuan would encounter any danger when he arrived in northern Xinjiang. After all, the interests of the East Palace and Hongxuan, no, and King Huan were consistent at the moment. He was just a little worried about his mother-in-law, Concubine Shen Shu, who was in the palace.
Because her two sons are not around, Concubine Shen Shu is bound to feel lonely.
Therefore, selfishly speaking, Zhao Hongrun did not want his younger brother Zhao Hongxuan to leave Daliang, but comparing his feelings to his own, as the elder brother, he could not accompany Concubine Shen Shu, so who had the right to speak against his younger brother?
"call……"
Taking a long breath, Zhao Hongrun once again turned his attention to Suishui, which was very close at hand.
For a long time, while nurturing his mouth towards Suiyang City in the distance, he asked Wei Jiao, the Zongwei Chief: "Wei Jiao, you said that the Sui River should be widened and dug deeper, would Nangong agree?"
Although Wei Jiao was upright and impulsive, he was not stupid. He smiled brightly when he heard this, and his meaning was self-evident.
Expand and dig deep Suishui?
Nangong was guarding the court day and night, how could he allow it?
You know, the Suishui River in the south of Suiyang actually goes straight to Daliang, but the river is not deep enough. But if the Suishui River is widened and deepened, it means that if the imperial court wants to deal with him in the future, it will use transport ships to carry troops.
Come here, he doesn't even have a chance to react.
Both the imperial court and Zhao Hongrun would attack Nangong sooner or later, but not now.
The army slowly moved eastward.
At some unknown time, several groups of scouts appeared on the river beach south of Suishui River, numbering about a hundred people.
Discovering this situation, Wu Ji, the general of the Shang Shui Army, deliberately slowed down his mount and signaled to Zhao Hongrun: "Your Highness, look over there..."
Zhao Hongrun turned his head to look at the south bank of Suishui River and glanced at the scouts.
The Chu army... no, are they the sergeants of Guling Lord Xiong Wu?
Zhao Hongrun said calmly: "Continue on your way, don't pay attention."
As far as he knew, Suishui was under the control of Nangong, but there were several groups of soldiers under Gulingjun Xiong Wu on the south bank. This was not surprising. After all, Song County and the fiefdom of Gulingjun were originally Chengdu.
In a stalemate, the national boundaries in this area are not very clear.
But having said that, the soldiers under Gulingjun Xiong Hu's command have all appeared, but Nangong of Suiyang County has not made any comment so far, which makes Zhao Hongrun really unhappy.
Why do you say that your Nangong is now also a general of the Wei State. The dignified King Su leads his army through your city. You should at least send someone to greet him? Is it necessary to be so tight?
snort!
Zhao Hongrun snorted coldly, then rode his horse and set foot in Song County, setting foot on the territory of the Wei State that did not belong to the Wei State.
At this moment, Xu Yin, the general of the Fenxing Army who was leading the way at the front of the team, sent a message: Nangong Yao sent his eldest son Nangong Chen (hen) to express condolences to the army.
At this time, Zhao Hongrun finally understood that the Song Dynasty's surrendered general Nangong was called Nangong Yao.
Note: Yao (yao) refers to a high mountain.
Zhao Hongrun frowned slightly, ordered Wu Ji to continue leading the army, and then led the Zongwei and a few Green Crows to slowly move towards the front of the team.
After about an hour of burning incense, Zhao Hongrun saw a group of cavalry rising up from the front. From a rough visual inspection, it looked like there were about twenty cavalry.
Since Zhao Hongrun was accompanied by a group of Su Wang guards holding high the flags of Wei and Su Wang, the twenty or so cavalrymen quickly found the direction and came to Zhao Hongrun. They dismounted from their horses, clasped their fists with their hands, and knelt on the ground with one knee.
"Last General, Suiyang County Guards Nangong Chen, come to see His Highness King Su!"
The leading young knight saluted loudly.
"Get up." Zhao Hongrun said lightly, holding the riding crop lightly.
"Thank you, His Highness Prince Su."
The group of knights stood up.
Zhao Hongrun looked carefully at the young leading knight, and saw that he was about twenty years old, with fine features and handsome features, and he was indeed somewhat handsome.
"Are you the son of General Nangong?" Zhao Hongrun asked.
"Yes." The young knight, no, it should be Nangong Chen, bowed his head and responded.
Zhao Hongrun nodded and then asked: "Where is your Majesty, General Nangong? In Suiyang?"
Hearing this, Nangong Chen clasped his fists and explained: "Please forgive me, King Su... My father has often heard of His Majesty King Su's illustrious name, and he admires him in his heart. Two days ago, I heard that His Royal Highness King Su personally led an army to the Qilu area and was going to pass through our Suiyang territory.
My father was overjoyed and had prepared to welcome His Highness early. He didn’t want to accidentally fall off his horse and break his leg, so he ordered me to welcome His Highness on his behalf.”
…
Zhao Hongrun's eyebrows couldn't help but tremble slightly when he heard this.
A dignified general with tens of thousands of troops in his hands actually broke his leg while riding a horse. Is there any worse excuse than this?
Furthermore, Nangong Chen's words about "our territory in Suiyang" also made Zhao Hongrun feel unhappy.
Does Suiyang County belong to your Nangong family?!
Zhao Hongrun was secretly angry.
However, he did not have an attack. After all, there was no point in breaking up with the Nangong family at the moment.
Thinking of this, a smile appeared on his face, and he pretended to be ashamed and said: "This is really... makes me feel sorry for myself."
The army is still moving slowly towards the east.
Zhao Hongrun and Nangong Chen, on the other hand, were talking meaninglessly.
Although the latter kept talking about condolences and rewarding the army, however, he never asked Zhao Hongrun's army to go to Suiyang to rest, let alone bring some wine and meat for the soldiers of Yanling Army, Shangshui Army and Fenxing Army to share.
So Zhao Hongrun understood.
Nangong Chen was clearly sent by Nangong Yao to test him.
In other words, he came to monitor the movements of his troops.
I want to see if Zhao Hongrun is really leading his army to Qilu, instead of playing a trick of pretending to attack Guo. (To be continued.)