Liu Xiu shook his head and said: "As long as the battle between the two sides is not over, the outcome of the two sides will never be determined!"
As long as the war continues, anything can happen. This is Liu Xiu's experience.
On the eve of the Battle of Kunyang, 400,000 Mang troops faced off against less than 20,000 Han troops. At that time, no one thought that the Han army could win this battle. Everyone thought that the Mang troops were sure of victory and could win easily.
But what happened? The 400,000-strong army was completely defeated, disintegrated, and completely destroyed. Wang Yi and Wang Xun fled in despair.
This time, his side had 2,000 soldiers and horses, against Wang Lang's army of 20,000 to 30,000 men. In the end, Liu Xiu didn't know whether his side would win or lose, so he could only watch while fighting.
Geng Yan raised his hands and said, "My lord, the general will return to the upper valley immediately and ask for reinforcements from my father!"
Liu Xiu nodded and said seriously to Geng Yan: "It's not too late, Bo Zhao needs to leave as soon as possible!"
"I will obey your orders!"
Liu Xuan gave Liu Xiu the official title of "Da Sima". Now, Liu Xiu has removed both the "行" in the front and the "thing" in the back, and calls himself Da Sima.
As the Grand Sima, Liu Xiu could assign official positions to his subordinates openly and openly. Geng Yan was currently named a partial general by Liu Xiu.
Among Liu Xiu's subordinates, the official rank was as high as a partial general, and the only one above him was Deng Yu, who was named a former general.
Zhu You, Feng Yi, and Gai Yan were all partial generals. Yao Qi was named the Thief Cao Yu, and Wang Ba was the Meritorious Cao Ling. It is worth mentioning that Yao Qi's Thief Cao Yu was a completely empty position.
As the name suggests, thief caobu is an official responsible for thieves and bandits. But now Liu Xiu doesn't even have land, so where can he catch thieves and bandits?
Yao Qi was named Thief Cao Yu, and his job was actually to collect intelligence. Liu Xiu gave Yao Qi a secret order, asking him to send all his spies to carefully investigate all the officials and nobles in Jizhou and Youzhou who were leaning toward Wang Lang.
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By doing this, Liu Xiu was preparing to settle accounts in the future. Let’s not say for the moment. Now he had to understand who was on Wang Lang’s side, who was a centrist, and who was leaning towards himself and the reform of the court.
Only by knowing yourself and the enemy can you fight a hundred battles without danger. In the face of a formidable enemy, he must at least be able to distinguish between ourselves and the enemy.
Liu Xiu was in Lunu and began to actively prepare for war. At the same time, Peng Ning's troops in Zhuo County invaded Zhongshan with overwhelming force and successively captured Anguo, Lucheng and Anjian counties, and the army was approaching Lunu.
Anxian is on the north bank of the lower reaches of the Qishui River, and Lunu is on the south bank of the upper reaches of the Qishui River. The distance between them is less than a hundred miles.
Liu Xiu judged that Peng Ning's army would definitely cross the river from Anxian, reach the south bank, and then advance towards Lunu. He decided to lead Lunu's two thousand troops to the south bank of Anxian, where he would block Penning's army from crossing the river.
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Before leading his army to leave Lunu, Liu Xiu repeatedly told Liu Jun that during his absence, he must strictly guard the city and seal the whole city. No matter who came to Lunu, they were not allowed to be put into the city until he came back.
Liu Jun repeatedly agreed, patting his chest and promising: "Uncle Wen, don't worry, even if the King of Heaven comes, I will not let him into the city!"
Liu Xiu nodded and finished explaining everything that needed to be explained. Then he led Lu Nu's two thousand county troops out of the city and headed straight for the safe other side.
These days, Liu Xiu is no longer hiding in Lunu, and he and Liu Jun go to the market almost every day to recruit new soldiers.
In just a few days, the two of them recruited hundreds of strong men. When Liu Xiu left Lunu, he did not take these hundreds of strong men with him, but left them with Liu Jun, plus the government officials in the city.
, there are six or seven hundred soldiers who can fight. In Liu Xiu's opinion, it is enough to defend the city.
Speaking of Liu Xiu, he led two thousand troops and horses all the way east. The next day, Liu Xiu's troops arrived at the safe south bank.
The soldiers and horses led by Liu Xiu were arrayed on the south bank of the Qishui River, while the soldiers and horses led by Peng Ning were arrayed on the north bank. The soldiers of both sides faced each other across the river.
During the day, the temperature rises and the Qishui River becomes choppy. But at night, the temperature drops sharply and the river begins to freeze.
Liu Xiu speculated that Penning's troops did not have a naval force, so he did not dare to cross the river during the day. The most likely possibility was that Penning's troops would take advantage of the ice to cross the river at night. At night, Liu Xiu sent a large number of scouts to keep a close eye on the river.
Movement on the river.
What surprised Liu Xiu was that even though the Qishui River had frozen over at night, Penning's troops still stood still and the entire army huddled in Anxian City, unprepared to cross the river.
At dawn the next day, Liu Xiu summoned Deng Yu and others in the Chinese military tent to speculate on what kind of medicine was sold in Penning's gourd.
Liu Xiu said: "Peng Ning's military strength is several times that of our army, but now it has stopped at safety and stopped moving forward. What exactly does it mean?"
Zhu You scratched his head and said, "Maybe it's because Peng Ning is not sure of winning the battle yet!"
Deng Yu nodded, agreed with Zhu You's words, and said, "Peng Ning may be looking for the weakness of our army."
Liu Xiu asked: "Where does Zhonghua think our army's weakness is?"
Deng Yu was silent for a long time, frowned and said, "Lu Nu!"
When Liu Xiu heard this, his mind suddenly moved. After thinking about it carefully, Liu Xiu believed that Deng Yu was right. His weakness was indeed Lu Nu.
The two thousand soldiers they are leading now are all county troops, and most of the county troops are locals from Lunu. Once Lunu is lost, the morale of our army will be in chaos. When Peng Ning leads the army to attack, our army will be in chaos.
Defeat is inevitable.
Zhu You muttered: "But the main force of the Penning Department is in Anshang on the opposite side. If the Penning Department mobilizes a large army, our army's scouts will definitely notice it. But if you want to hide it from our eyes and ears, only send a small team."
Even if we use our troops to sneak attack Lunu, it will be difficult to break through Lunu’s city defense!”
Everyone present nodded, feeling that Zhu You's analysis was reasonable. If Peng Ning wanted to sneak attack Lu Nu, it would be useless if he sent too few troops. If he sent more troops, he would be discovered by his own side. If Peng Ning wanted to successfully sneak attack Lu Nu, it would be too difficult.
Difficult.
Deng Yu also understood the reason behind this, but the only weakness he could think of at the moment was Lu Nu.
Liu Xiu thought about it for a moment, then turned to look at Yao Qi and asked, "Secondly, what's going on over there at Anxian?"
Yao Qi said seriously: "My lord, Peng Ning has recruited county soldiers from Anxian, Lu Cheng, and Anguo. At present, Peng Ning's troops have expanded to nearly 7,000 people."
Liu Xiu murmured: "Those who are many times stronger than me, but they still stand still. This Peng Ning can hold his nerve!"
Zhu You said: "My lord, in my opinion, Peng Ning may be waiting for the arrival of Yan Feng's tribe." After a pause, he looked around at the people present and said solemnly: "There are 20,000 Yan Feng's troops.
Now Penning's troops have expanded to 7,000. Once the two armies merge, the total strength will reach 30,000. If there is a two-sided attack on our army, it will be really difficult for our soldiers to deal with it!"
The Lunu County Army is different from the Han army under Liu Xiu's previous command. The Han army finished fighting in Nanyang and went to Yingchuan to fight. There are many veterans in the army, with extremely rich combat experience and strong combat power. However, the Lunu County Army has not been able to do so before. After fighting and being dragged onto the battlefield, all of them are considered new recruits. Fighting two thousand against thirty thousand is like throwing an egg against a stone.
Liu Xiu rubbed his chin and said: "Peng Ning is eager for quick success and loves great achievements. Now that he has a great advantage over our army, he should try to annihilate our army before the arrival of Yan Feng's troops so that he can monopolize the great achievements."
But the problem is that Peng Ning is too stable now, which is completely inconsistent with his character. Either there are experts around him to help him, or he must be plotting something secretly.
Liu Xiu thought for a while, but couldn't figure out what Peng Ning was planning. He said to Yao Qi: "Next situation, continue to send more spies to the other side. If there is any trouble in the safety, I will know about it."
"Yes! Lord!" Yao Qi agreed simply.
After the meeting, everyone exited the Zhongjun tent. In the end, only Zhu You remained sitting in the tent without moving.
Liu Xiu also ignored Zhu You who stayed behind. He leaned in front of the desk and looked at the map spread out on the desk attentively, swiping his fingers on the map from time to time.
Zhu You glanced at Liu Xiu, got up, walked to the stove nearby, picked up the kettle on it, and made a cup of tea for Liu Xiu. Then he put it on the edge of the table and whispered: "Master, drink tea." "
Liu Xiu thanked him, picked up the tea cup, his eyes still on the map, and took a slow sip of tea absentmindedly.
Zhu You cleared his throat, and then coughed a few more times. Liu Xiu put down the teacup helplessly, looked at Zhu You with raised eyebrows, and asked, "Ayou, what's the matter?"
"Hehe!" Zhu You grinned, rubbed his hands, knelt down by the table, and asked: "How are you thinking about it, my lord?"
Liu Xiu was puzzled by his unclear words and asked: "How are you thinking about it?"
"That's it...that's what Liu Taishou said."
"What's up?"
"Tsk!" Zhu You blinked at Liu Xiu and whispered, "It's about the lord proclaiming himself emperor!"
Hearing this, Liu Xiu's face suddenly darkened and he said displeasedly: "Don't mention this matter again in the future!"
Zhu You said unwillingly: "No matter how virtuous or capable his prince is, he can proclaim himself the emperor here in Hebei. My lord is a thousand times more powerful than the prince, so why can't he proclaim himself the emperor in Hebei?"
Liu Xiu frowned, and the displeasure on his face became stronger. He glared at Zhu You and shouted in a deep voice: "You still say that?!"
Zhu You shrank his neck, waved his hands repeatedly, and said, "Master, don't be angry, I won't say anything anymore!" As he spoke, he stood up, shook his head and sighed, turned around and walked out.
Liu Xiu was almost amused by his sad face. When Zhu You was about to walk out, Liu Xiu raised his hand to stop him. Zhu You turned around and looked at him in confusion. Liu Xiu pulled out a large piece of sheepskin from behind. He handed it to Zhu You and said: "The weather is getting cold, so wrap this around your body when you patrol outside!"
At that time, the cotton-padded clothes for winter were all made of linen or gebu, and the cotton-padded clothes were not stuffed with cotton, but with shredded linen, old silk, etc., which were not very effective in keeping out the cold. The best cotton-padded clothes had to be made of leather. .
Zhu You took the leather handed over by Liu Xiu, took a closer look, grinned widely, and said, "It's lambskin!"
Liu Xiu said: "Boyu gave me some pieces of leather, you can use this piece!"
"Thank you, Lord!" Zhu You put the leather directly on his shoulders and walked out happily.
Outside the camp, Deng Yu, Yao Qi, Feng Yi and others did not leave. When they saw Zhu You coming out, everyone gathered around and asked, "Xian Zhong, have you mentioned it to the lord?"
Zhu You curled his lips and said: "I mentioned it, but it would be better not to mention it. After mentioning it, I got a scolding from my lord in vain!"
Liu Xiu is their lord. Whether Liu Xiu has the ambition to become emperor is directly related to their future. Of course, everyone is very concerned about this matter. After listening to Zhu You's words, everyone looked at each other, and in the end they all shook their heads in despair. .
Deng Yu looked at the leather draped on Zhu You's shoulders and asked, "Xian Zhong, your leather is pretty good!"
"Really? This is lambskin!" Zhu You took off the leather draped on his shoulders, showed it to everyone around him, and said proudly: "My lord gave it to me!"
Deng Yu also smiled and asked curiously: "Did Zhongxian ask for it from the lord, or did the lord give it to Zhongxian on his own initiative?"