On the New Year's Eve of that year, Zhao Hongrun failed to rush back to Daliang, the capital of Wei. He only invited many of his generals to have a banquet similar to a New Year's Eve dinner.
For this arbitrary request, the Qi State's army responsible for logistics and transportation must have hated Zhao Hongrun to death. They actually asked them to transport an extra batch of wine and livestock during the coldest period of the twelfth lunar month.
Fortunately, although the road leading to Wei Jun's ice city was very difficult, there was no sneak attack by the Chu army on the way. It seems that the Chu army was too lazy to set out in such terrible weather.
After unloading pigs, cattle and other livestock as well as carts of wine in Bingcheng, Qi's transport troops left cursing behind their backs, while the Wei soldiers in Bingcheng were very happy. After all, in recent times, the Wei soldiers
Although I didn’t meet the grain
There is a problem of food shortage, but in the final analysis, the food is not good. They pickle vegetables and meat in the morning and pickle meat in the evening. Now I heard that His Highness King Su asked the Qi army to transport a batch of pigs to celebrate the New Year.
Cattle, livestock and wine, everyone was happy.
On the last two days of December, the Wei army temporarily stopped the snowball war, which had not yet been completely determined, and turned to the intense preparations for the New Year. Thousands of pigs and cattle were slaughtered, and the broth maker
The fragrant smell spread for miles around, making the Chu army scouts in Juyang County salivate when they passed by Bingcheng from time to time and monitored every move in Bingcheng.
Putting this incident aside, there is almost nothing worth writing about on the West Road battlefield. After all, both the Wei army and the Chu army exercised restraint during this period to avoid conflicts in this cold winter weather. Therefore, even the scouts from both sides
When they meet on the snowfield, they will leave each other in a tacit understanding.
In this way, Zhao Hongrun spent a new year in a land thousands of miles away from Daliang, the capital of Wei. At the age of seventeen, he entered the nineteenth year of Wei Hongde.
In the first month of the 19th year of Hongde's reign in the Great Wei Dynasty, the West Road battlefield was still blocked by ice and snow, and the roads were not smooth. However, the wind and snow that frequently hit the road gradually became less frequent, although the icy sun hanging in the sky still did not have much warmth.
It is true that sunny weather is gradually increasing.
Fortunately for the Wei army, Zhao Hongrun came up with the idea of snowball fights, which can not only exercise the muscles and bones of his soldiers, but also boost their morale. Therefore, the physical fitness of the Wei soldiers has not slackened due to more than a month of idle time.
The morale among the people is still maintained at a relatively high level.
In comparison, the situation on the Chu Army's side is not very optimistic.
The first is Xiang Mojun of Fang Zhong.
As Zhao Hongrun had expected before, Xiang Mo's army, which was extremely short of food, indeed lost many people in the heavy snow.
According to the reports of the Qingya people who went to investigate from time to time, Xiang Mo's army at least died of freezing and hundreds of thousands of people starved to death. Most of the remaining Chu army was in a state of half-death due to hunger and cold. A large number of soldiers escaped, and some
Some surrendered to the Wei army, and some fled back to their hometowns, and then died on the way, so that now the number of soldiers under Xiang Mo's command was less than half of the original number.
But at this point, I have to mention one thing, something that Zhao Hongrun admires a lot, that is, Xiang Mo strictly abides by his previous promise, and when he gets some food, he always gives it to his subordinates first.
The soldiers and generals of the Chu State still have tens or hundreds of thousands of Chu soldiers supporting the Chu State general to this day, but it has also caused the Chu State general to be infected with the wind and cold due to hunger and cold.
I was bedridden for a month.
In the spirit of sympathy, after Zhao Hongrun learned about this incident, he specially sent Zongwei Lu Mu to lead a team of King Su's guards to Fangzhong, and also brought two pigs and a cow to Xiang Mo.
After all, regardless of the hostile stance between the two parties, Zhao Hongrun still respected Xiang Mo very much. After all, Xiang Mo, like Shouling Jun Jingshe, was one of the few virtuous people in the Chu Kingdom.
Afterwards, Xiang Mo personally wrote a letter to Zhao Hongrun, probably to thank Zhao Hongrun for his generosity. Of course, in the second half of the letter, the Chu general still inevitably used a large amount of content to persuade Zhao Hongrun to retreat.
Do not "help Qi to harm", thereby affecting the diplomatic relations between Wei and Chu.
Zhao Hongrun laughed at the letter and then threw it into the bonfire inside the house and burned it.
In fact, he could also use this letter to alienate King Xiong Xu of Chu from trusting Xiang Mo by cutting off the second half. However, this behavior would be too shameful and easily criticized.
As for whether the three animals ended up in Xiang Mo's belly, Zhao Hongrun had no intention to pay attention to it. After all, he had already done what he should do as a nobleman, which showed that he was the concubine of Wei State with the surname Zhao.
The air of a nobleman.
After all, using three animals to win the friendship of General Xiang Mo of Chu State was a good deal in Zhao Hongrun's opinion.
Although this friendship will not make Xiang Mo turn to Wei, let alone Xiang Mo in the subsequent war, at best, when Zhao Hongrun is unfortunately defeated and falls into the hands of Xiang Mo, Xiang Mo may miss him
Today's friendship does not kill Zhao Hongrun.
But in Zhao Hongrun's opinion, this was enough. After all, this move only satisfied his wish to make friends with a hero like Xiang Mo. It was not an extravagant hope to instigate the rebellion of the Chu State general with just three animals.
Compared with Xiang Mo who was in a difficult situation, the situation at Shouling Junjingshe was much better, but what made Zhao Hongrun secretly chuckled was that although Shouling Junjingshe secretly learned a trick from him and used snowball fights to exercise
The Chu army used a trick to keep the morale of the Chu army up, but the effect was not very good.
It's not that Shouling Junjingshe's reputation among the Chu army is not as good as Zhao Hongrun's among the Wei army, but because the two armies - to be precise, the two countries have different systems.
In the Wei State, although soldiers are essentially consumables on the battlefield, they still have a certain status, especially soldiers who have fought in foreign wars. They basically enjoy hero-like treatment in the Wei State, even if they unfortunately die in battle.
, and their family members can also receive corresponding pensions.
Because of this, Wei soldiers generally accept the concept of "sacrifice for the country". Even the former Chu soldiers like the Yanling Army and the Shangshui Army who surrendered to the Wei State gradually regard the Wei State as their "home" that must be defended.
But this is not the case for the soldiers of the Chu State. Whether they are the county divisions of the Chu State or the regular army of the Chu State, many Chu people join the army just to make a living. Defending their home and country is too far away for them.
Just as Zhao Hongrun put it bluntly in his slogan a while ago: Chu State is only the home of a small group of Chu nobles headed by the Xiong family, not the home of all Chu people.
It has to be said that more and more Chu people recognize Zhao Hongrun’s remarks.
Because of this, those Chu soldiers who surrendered to the Wei army did not think that they had made the wrong decision to surrender to the enemy and betray the country, and those Chu soldiers who were still under the command of Lord Shouling Jingshe did not think that they were fighting to protect their family.
The Patriotic War.
There are many, many people who just can't help themselves.
When talking about the word "involuntary", we have to mention one person, that is Caixi County Duke Cai Hou, the governor of the 30,000 Caixi County Division.
For more than a month, Cai Hou's life was not easy. He spent every day in his military camp without thinking about food and tea, and was worried day and night.
This is no wonder, because in the last month of the eighteenth year of Hongde's reign in the Wei Dynasty, three thousand-man troops of the Wei army suddenly attacked Caixi and captured the county. I remember that when he heard the news, Cai Hou almost fainted.
Why?
Because all the Cai family, young and old, are in Cai Xi, and now that Cai Xi has fallen, it means that all the family members of Cai Xi have fallen into the hands of the Wei army.
Although Cai Hou angrily led his army back to Caixi in an attempt to recapture Caixi County from the thousands of Wei troops, when he saw the Wei troops in the city pushing his father, mother, wife, children and children up the city wall, Cai Hou was heartbroken.
Terrified, he gave in.
From that moment on, Cai Hou had been waiting for negotiations with Wei Gongzi Ji Run.
Because so far, various signs indicate that Wei Gongzi Ji Run does not kill the nobles of Chu indiscriminately like Tian Dan of Qi, but tends to adopt a method of coercion and inducement, such as the Nanmen clan of Qixian County.
The entire clan surrendered to that Wei Gongzi Run.
Therefore, Cai Hou speculated whether the Wei Gongzi Run would send someone to negotiate with him and coerce him into surrendering to the Wei state. After all, Cai Hou had 30,000 Caixi county divisions under his command, which still had some value.
However, unexpectedly, after waiting for a full month, Cai Xi did not wait for Wei Gongzi Run to send someone to negotiate with him. On the contrary, Shouling Junjingshe, who was in Juyang County, had already sent people twice.
His confidants came, hoping to temporarily take over his military power.
Although he admired Lord Shouling Jingshe, it was still impossible for Cai Hou to hand over the military power in his hands to the former. After all, if the military power was handed over to him, what value would he have in the heart of Wei Gongzi Run? In this way,
How to ensure the safety of his Cai family who fell into the hands of the Wei army?
Therefore, Cai Hou ordered his people to detain the people sent by Shouling Junjingshe and refused to hand over military power.
Because of this incident, Cai Hou is now in a precarious situation, because not long after he detained the people of Shouling Junjingshe, Zhou Zheng, the chief general of the 50,000 Zhangyang army who had attacked Caixi with him a while ago, now
They also began to target him, and they have probably judged him Cai Hou as a "thief who surrendered to the enemy".
This made Cai Hou very unjust, and he felt quite embarrassed that he was a double-dealing person.
After waiting until the end of the first lunar month, Cai Hou finally received a solicitation letter from the Wei Gongzi Ji Run.
The content of the letter is very clear. Although the Cai clan is now in the hands of the Wei army, the Wei army will not harm the Cai clan. Of course, the premise is that Cai Hou has the sense to help the Wei army win this battle. As long as this can be done,
That Wei Gongzi Run will ensure the safety of his Cai family and promise that the Cai family will have a place in Wei in the future.
Cai Hou, who had the leverage in Zhao Hongrun's hands, was helpless against this coercion and inducement.
So, in early February of the New Year, Cai Hou took the lead in launching the first battle on the West Road battlefield after the New Year, planning an attack on Zhou Zheng's 50,000 Zhangyang army.
In this plan, he first gained Zhou Zheng's trust and made an agreement with Zhou Zheng for the two armies to attack Caixi. Then, he secretly contacted the Wei soldiers in Caixi City and jointly attacked Zhou Zheng's Zhangyang army.
Together with the Wei soldiers, they defeated the Zhangyang army.
During this period, Yangxia Black Crow leader Mang Ya, who had been staring at Zhou Zheng's head, took advantage of the chaos and cut off Zhou Zheng's head.
The first battle on the Xinlu battlefield after the New Year started in a shocking way. The Caixi County Division rebelled and the 50,000-yang army from Zhouzheng was defeated. This meant that the road to Haoshang was open to the Wei army.