By the beginning of March, the intensity of the four forces of "Qi, Lu, Wei, and Yue" in attacking Chu had once again returned to the intensity of last autumn.
In addition to the "Main Battlefield of the Qi, Lu, and Wei Armies" where the coalition forces performed triumphant songs, the coalition forces in the other two battlefields also made good progress.
On the East Yue side, Shaokang, a descendant of the King of Yue, led tens of thousands of "Dongou Army" and joined forces with the "Yushan Army" led by Qi General Lu Qiutai. They once suppressed Chu State's "Zhaoguan" and defeated the Chu State General who was stationed in Zhaoguan.
Xiang Kuan was tired of coping.
On the fourth day of March, Wu Qi, the general of the Dongou Army under the command of the Yue Lord Shaokang, broke through the "Que'an (Ferry)" in Diyang and occupied this Yangtze River port.
On the seventh day of March, Wu Qi crossed the river to attack Diyang County. Xiang Kuai sent his uncle Xiang Qian with 20,000 troops to support Diyang County. The Chu and Vietnamese armies fought fiercely for a whole day. The Chu army retreated and the Vietnamese army occupied Diyang.
At the same time, another general of the "Dongou Army", "Gu Zhang", led his army to attack "Yuan Ling".
At this point, "Yuezhang", "Yanling", "Que'an", and "Diyang", the four important cities in Diyang City, have all fallen, and the hometown of Diyang Lord Xiong Shang was confiscated.
After that, because Shaokang, the leader of Yue, was still unable to conquer Zhaoguan, which was guarded by General Xiang Kuan of Chu, he decided to change his strategy and attack Jiujiang County in a roundabout way.
After hearing the news that the Vietnamese army had invaded Jiujiang County, Penglijun Xiong Yi was greatly frightened. He sent General Sun Gu to lead 40,000 Pengli troops to quickly enter Songyang to resist Wu Qi's Dongou army. This led to an outbreak that lasted for three years.
The Battle of Songyang in Japan.
Three days later, Wu Qi, the general of the "Eastern Ou Army", could not attack Songyang for a long time, so he detoured to the north and attacked "Tong County". It took two days to capture the county.
During this period, Lord Zhangyang Xiong Zheng sent 30,000 Chu troops to fly over a long distance to "Qian County".
As a result, the Yue general Wu Qi took "Zong County", and then the Huaiyi Campaign broke out, which lasted for eighteen days.
The Yue army sang a triumphant song and prepared to attack all the way north to Shouying, the capital of the King of Chu. However, at this moment, Xiang Kuan of Zhaoguan sent a surprise force to cut off Wu Qi's rear food route.
However, this move angered Yue general Wu Qi, who caused Wu Qi to turn back and attack "搐(tuo)Gao" behind Zhaoguan.
At this time, Xiang Kuan was the leader of the Yue State Shaokang, followed by the Yue general Wu Qi, and from the side was the "Yu Shan Army" led by the Qi general Lu Qiutai. It can be said that he was surrounded by enemies on three sides.
However, Xiang Mo's cousin is indeed the leader among the Xiang family's children. With one against three, he was still able to defend Zhaoguan and Lugao with all his strength. Not only did he curb the momentum of the "Eastern Ou Army"'s Northern Expedition, but it also allowed
Qi general Lu Qiutai returned without success many times.
Qi General Lu Qiutai, who attacked Qi State's Yushan Fortress all the way to Zhaoguan, has never made any meritorious service and has almost been reduced to a soy sauce role.
Let’s talk about the war situation in West Vietnam. The strength of the West Vietnam rebels is far inferior to that of the “East Ou Army” led by the Yue Lord of East Vietnam. When they raised their troops last year, they were defeated by “Shou Ling Jun Jingshe” and “Xiling Jun Qu Ping”.
People are suppressed to death.
At the end of last year, Shouling Junjingshe withdrew his troops and went to Juyang County to resist the Wei army. This move finally gave the West Vietnamese rebels a breather.
It's a pity that although Shouling Lord's Jingshe has left "Nanyang County", Xiling Lord Qu Ping is still here.
Qu Ping, Lord of Xiling, whose fiefdom spanned "Nanyang County" and "Jiujiang County", suppressed the West Vietnamese rebels in the west, and curbed the momentum of the Northern Expedition of the "Eastern Ou Army" in the east. Between "Pengli Lord Xiong Yi" and "Zhang Zhang"
With the assistance of "Yang Jun Xiong Zheng", although they were unable to launch a counterattack to regain the lost territory, they were able to securely defend large areas of "Nanyang County" and "Jiujiang County".
It has to be said that from the beginning to the end of this battle, apart from their small contribution of containing Qu Ping, Lord of Xiling, the West Vietnamese rebels did almost nothing in the entire battle. They were completely reduced to a soy sauce role, and their role was not as good as that of General Lu Qiu of Qi.
The Yushan Army led by Tai.
As for the main battlefield of the Qi, Lu, and Wei coalition forces, since Zhao Hongrun led the Wei merchant navy to the suburbs twenty miles northwest of Shouxing, the capital of the Chu king, in late February, the coalition forces and the Chu troops stationed under the capital of the Chu king
The army started a melee on the outskirts of the city that lasted for more than ten days.
The scale of the melee ranges from a scout team of dozens of people to an army of nearly ten thousand people.
But in general, the coalition forces still maintain relative restraint because they are stepping up their efforts to build siege equipment.
During this period, as the Yanling Army and the Shangshui Army retreated from Zhi County one after another, Wei General Xu Yin had no choice but to lead the Fenxing Army to retreat to Zhi County.
Fortunately, before Zhao Hongrun led his army to leave, he had sent an order to the "Northern Sichuan Cavalry" and "Youma Cavalry", ordering Bosile and Youma to cut off the grain road transporting grain to Fangzhong from Juyang County, causing Fangzhong to
The hundreds of thousands of troops under Xiang Mo, the general of the Chu State, were always in a state of hunger. Otherwise, if Xiang Mo was allowed to get enough food, Zhi County would definitely be captured by him within a few days.
On the other side of "Caixi County", the fierce battle between the Yanling Army and the 80,000 Chu Army became more and more intense. During this period, Caixi County was even attacked from "Haoshang" County, but the Yanling Army's deputy general Yan Mowen
He firmly defended the city and allowed the two Chu armies to return without success.
But the most glorious one has to be Qu Cheng, the commander-in-chief of the Yanling Army. In the eyes of Zhao Hongrun, this was a concubine born from a branch of the Qu family of Mi in Chu State who was extremely ambitious. Not only did he successfully ambush the "Shouling Junjing"
"She", and after that, he repelled several attempts to unite with the other two local Chu armies to recapture Jingshe County of Caixi County, and actually fought evenly with Jingshe, one of the three pillars of the Chu Kingdom.
.
I believe this incident is probably the most shocking and eye-catching event for the Chu people in this battle so far.
After all, Qu Cheng is still a descendant of the Qu clan, and no one is sure whether his rise will cause the Qu clan of Chu to have other thoughts.
You must know that so far, several clans with the Mi surname in the Chu State, the Xiong clan, the Jing clan, the Xiang clan, and the Ji Lian clan, have all contributed their strength one after another, either by actively sending troops to block the enemy forces invading the country, or by sending troops to support the king.
In the capital of Shouying, only the Qu family and Qu Ping, Lord of Xiling, led troops to the expedition. The rest of the Qu family's descendants have not made any move so far.
But it's no wonder, after all, among the several clans with the surname Mi, the Qu clan is the one that suppresses the Xiong clan the most. Their hatred for the Xiong clan has probably reached an undying level. Therefore, except for "Xiling Lord Qu Ping"
This Qu clan member, who is famous for his loyalty and virtuousness, is willing to contribute to the country. I am afraid that few other Qu clan members are willing to wade through this muddy water.
After all, the Chu State today is dominated by the Xiong clan: the Chu State is the Xiong Clan, and the Xiong Clan is the Chu State.
By mid-March, the siege weapons of the Qi, Lu, and Wei allied forces were almost complete, and the strength of the Chu soldiers outside the city of Shouying, the capital of Chu King, was gradually understood through the recent melee.
, so that on March 19, King Lu Xi of Qi finally sent an order to Zhao Hongrun and Tian Dan, telling them that they would launch a general attack tomorrow!
"Finally here, the last battle..."
On March 20th, when Zhao Hongrun led tens of thousands of merchant navy troops to Shouying, the capital of the King of Chu, and formed troops on the outskirts of the city, he was really excited.
After all, this national war lasted for several months, and the outcome was determined by the outcome of this final battle.
If the allied forces attack the capital of King Chu, Shouying, the vitality of the Chu state will be severely damaged. As long as King Lu Xi of Qi can still persist, the state of Chu may be in danger of subjugation; if the allied forces are defeated, all the previous hard work will be in vain.
As for Zhao Hongrun, he could only flee back to Xiangcheng in despair with the remaining defeated soldiers. Apart from taking away some civilians of the Chu State, it was difficult to gain any benefit from the Chu State.
That day, the weather was sunny, and the sun hanging in the sky had gained some warmth, shining warmly on people.
Looking into the distance at this moment, there is no longer a vast white snowfield, because the ice and snow have long since melted, leaving only some residues of ice and snow.
However, because of this, the land on the outskirts of the city generally looks muddy and slippery. No, the hoofs of the horse under Zhao Hongrun's crotch have slipped many times. Fortunately, his riding skills have improved greatly. Otherwise, if he fell off the horse in full view of the public,
, this is really a shameful and embarrassing thing.
Compared to Zhao Hongrun, Mi Jiang's riding skills were much more difficult. Seeing her frowning and concentrating on driving the horse under her crotch, Zhao Hongrun couldn't help but want to laugh.
"It's really hard... How about you come to my place?"
After a few times, Zhao Hongrun pointed in front of him and said as if teasing.
Mi Jiang glanced at Zhao Hongrun, her pretty face turned slightly red, and she didn't know whether it was because of anger or because of Zhao Hongrun's teasing.
But what she said was full of ridicule.
"Before the battle, you were still in the mood to tease me. It seems like you have a winning chance."
"Are you sure of victory...?"
Zhao Hongrun chuckled softly when he heard this, and then he couldn't help but turn his head and look into the distance. He saw in the distance in the direction of Shouying, the capital of the King of Chu, on the outskirts of the city, there were countless "black tides" that stretched from heaven to earth.
The exhausted Chu soldiers, with their heads surging, seemed to have gathered into a vast ocean.
"With this amount...if the Shang Shui Army rushes in, they may be swallowed up without even a bubble popping up."
Zhao Hongrun took a breath to dispel the tension in his heart.
No wonder he felt nervous, because the number of Chu soldiers deployed in the western suburbs of Shouying, which he was responsible for attacking, was so large that it gave him trouble.
It made him realize more deeply that even if it only had the advantage of having a large population, Chu State was not something that his current Wei State could compete with on its own.
"Your Highness."
Wu Ji, the chief general of the Shang Shui Army, rode up to Zhao Hongrun. He looked at the "black tide" in the distance, licked his lips and said, "It will be... a fierce battle."
"..."
Zhao Hongrun glanced at Wu Ji, because he felt that the general he had single-handedly promoted could not help but be a little nervous or even timid at the moment.
Not to mention the meaningless sentence in Wu Ji's sentence just now, it is very problematic to simply say that the young general came to him at this moment instead of preparing for the formation of troops.
You know, if we say that Zhao Hongrun is the "main commander", then Wu Ji is the second-level "commanding general". In a war with a very wide geographical span in World War I, how could the primary and secondary commanders stay together? Is there anything else like this?
Is it necessary to establish a deputy commander?
However, Zhao Hongrun didn't say much. After all, let alone Wu Ji being nervous, even if he was him, wouldn't he feel hesitant and uneasy at this moment?
However, as the commander-in-chief of the Wei army, Zhao Hongrun must not show off.
After thinking about it, he did not follow Wu Ji's words, but said in a deep voice: "We will win this battle!"
"..." When Wu Ji heard this, he glanced at Zhao Hongrun in shock. He looked relieved for some reason, nodded and said, "What your Highness said is absolutely true, we will win!"
After that, he hugged Zhao Hongrun and left.
Not long after, the Shang Shui army behind Zhao Hongrun heard murmurs one after another.