Chapter nine hundred and eighty-eight attack alone
With the help of Wang Zun, Ma Yuan and others successfully left the city, and then marched all the way southeast, heading straight for Chang'an. When Ma Yuan, Lai She and others rushed to Chang'an, one hundred thousand Han troops led by Liu Xiu
We just arrived in Chang'an.
There are many palaces in Chang'an. Among the large palaces, there are Weiyang Palace, Changle Palace, Jianzhang Palace, and small palaces such as Beigong, Guigong, Mingguang Palace, etc.
Among them, Weiyang Palace, Changle Palace, and Jianzhang Palace are the main places where the emperor works and rests. These three palaces are also called the "Three Palaces of the Han Dynasty" and the "Han Family Palace".
However, this kind of name is somewhat inappropriate. After all, the Han Dynasty was divided into Eastern and Western Han Dynasties. The capital of the Western Han Dynasty was Chang'an. Weiyang Palace, Changle Palace, and Jianzhang Palace located in Chang'an should be called the Three Palaces of the Western Han Dynasty, while the capital of the Eastern Han Dynasty was Luoyang.
, the imperial palace in Luoyang is the North and South Palace.
Liu Xiu visited Chang'an in person and chose Weiyang Palace as his place of stay. Weiyang Palace was the main palace of the Western Han Dynasty. It was built under the supervision of Xiao He and was also called the West Palace because it was located in the west of Chang'an.
There is no specific explanation for the word Weiyang, but in ancient literature, Weiyang usually appears together with blessing words such as long live. From this, it can be inferred that Weiyang should have the meaning of blessing.
Liu Xiu summoned Lai She and Ma Yuan, who had surrendered, in Weiyang Palace.
Just as Lai She promised, Liu Xiu was very happy about Ma Yuan's defection and treated him as a distinguished guest. Liu Xiu greatly appreciated Ma Yuan's betrayal and rewarded him with many gold, silver and jewels.
However, Liu Xiu only gave rewards, but did not grant officials or titles.
Liu Xiu did this because of two considerations. First, Ma Yuan had just surrendered. Whether it was sincere or fake would take some time to examine. Second, although Ma Yuan brought all his immediate family members to Chang'an, there were many people outside his immediate family.
His relatives are all still in Liangzhou. If Ma Yuan is granted an official title and a title in the Han Dynasty, the furious Wei Xiao may take out his anger on Ma Yuan's relatives. In the end, he may not be able to survive.
No less than a few people.
Ma Yuan had no complaints about Liu Xiu's actions, and temporarily lived in the house Liu Xiu gave him.
On this day, Liu Xiu summoned his generals to the palace to discuss military affairs.
After Geng Yan's generals and ministers had all arrived, Liu Xiu ordered a large map of Liangzhou to be spread on the ground in the center of the hall. He stood up, stepped down from the throne, came to the map, and took a map from Long Yuan's hand.
He pointed at the map with a wooden stick and said: "Our soldiers originally planned to use the Long Road of Kaixiao to go south to Shu and fight to the death with Gongsun Shu, but Kaixiao instead sent his confidant Wang Yuan to garrison Longdi and cut down the trees.
, piled up rocks and soil, blocked the road, their actions are abominable, and their intentions are worthy of punishment. Therefore, our army officers and soldiers should attack Weixiao with all their strength to punish the disobedient!"
Ma Wu, Wang Ba, Ji Zun, and Fu Jun all raised their hands and said: "Your Majesty, please give me the order. I am willing to take the lead!"
Seeing that the generals under his command were full of energy and fighting spirit, Liu Xiu nodded with satisfaction. His eyes fell back to the map on the ground, pointed with a wooden stick, and said: "To attack Xiliang, we must first capture Hanyang."
Longdi. Take Hanyang County. To the west, our army can attack Jincheng and Longxi County. To the north, our army can attack Wuwei County. To the south, our army can attack Wudu County. As long as Hanyang is captured, our army can advance.
You can attack, retreat or defend, take the initiative!"
"Your Majesty, I am willing to take the lead!" the generals said in unison again. In recent years, the Han army has been going smoothly militarily, destroying Deng Feng, Qin Feng, Peng Chong, Liu Yong, Pang Meng, and
Dong Xian, destroy Zhang Bu...etc.
In this series of foreign wars, even if the Han army lost, it only lost partial battles and never lost the entire war.
These glorious achievements made the Han army officers and soldiers proud and high-spirited, but they were somewhat inflated.
Even in the face of Wei Xiao who dominated the west, people did not take him seriously at all. They thought that Wei Xiao's tribe was completely a mob and vulnerable to attack. Even when their own army arrived, Wei Xiao's soldiers and horses would be defeated.
The birds and beasts disperse.
Among the many generals of the Han army, Geng Yan was relatively calm. He said to Liu Xiu: "Your Majesty, according to our intelligence reports, Wei Xiao is constantly transferring troops and horses into Hanyang. The enemy army in Hanyang has no less than 100,000.
And the terrain of Hanyang is steep and difficult to defend and difficult to attack. If our army were to attack Hanyang by force, we would probably suffer heavy casualties."
In Geng Yan's view, it was too risky for his side to attack Hanyang with one hundred thousand troops.
Liu Xiu rubbed his chin, thought for a moment, and asked, "Where is Gongsun now?"
Geng Yan said sternly: "The Western Expeditionary Army is fighting in the Quanyin and Quanyang areas of Bingzhou!"
"But the westward advance is blocked?"
"It's not that the westward advance was blocked, but that the remaining 50,000 Jia Lan troops were trapped between the two cities of Quanyin and Quanyang. Given time, the Western Army can completely annihilate the enemy army!" Geng Yan said: "Your Majesty, I'm sorry.
The minister believes that our army does not need to rush to attack Hanyang, but can stay in Chang'an and recharge its batteries. After the Western Expeditionary Army has annihilated the remnants of Jia Lan's troops, we can then join forces with the Western Expeditionary Army to attack Hanyang in two directions. The 200,000-strong army will be enough to defeat Hanyang County.
Destroy everything and completely annihilate the enemy!"
In Geng Yan's view, it would be very difficult for his own army of 100,000 troops to attack Hanyang County, but if the Western Expeditionary Army led by Feng Yi arrived, the battle would be much easier.
Before Liu Xiu could speak, Ma Wu glared and said, "Do you think Bo Zhao thinks our army can't defeat Hanyang?"
Geng Yan said seriously: "I think that with our current strength, it will be very difficult to attack Hanyang, and our soldiers will suffer heavy casualties."
"No matter how difficult the battle is, we have fought it. Since it is a war, casualties are inevitable." Wang Ba continued.
Ma Wu and Wang Ba are both militants, and only when they ask for a fight will their opinions be highly unified. On weekdays, their opinions are always tit for tat, and they will become red-faced and thick-necked.
Liu Xiu pondered for a moment and asked: "How long will it take Gongsun to lead his troops to Hanyang?"
Geng Yan was about to speak when Ma Wu answered: "Your Majesty, from my humble perspective, it will take at least a month. Even if Gongsun leads the Western Army to Hanyang, it is impossible to join the battle immediately. The soldiers have traveled such a long distance.
, it will take ten days and a half to rest and recuperate.”
In other words, if we wait for Feng Yi to lead his troops to join the battle, our soldiers will have to wait for a month and a half. In such a long time, Wei Xiao's army will definitely be fully prepared to fight, and our westward march will be
More difficult.
Liu Xiu tapped his forehead and fell into deep thought. Ma Wu and Wang Ba said in unison: "Your Majesty, we can't wait that long! The morale of the soldiers is high now. If they stay in Chang'an for a long time, they will avoid Wei Xiao's army.
If you don't, the morale of the soldiers will only be gradually worn away."
After hearing what they said, everyone present nodded in unison, indicating that Ma Wu and Wang Ba's opinions were not unreasonable. A war is fought only with the spirit. Once the spirit is gone, how can the war be fought?
Liu Xiu looked at the generals, then at Geng Yan, who had objections. Finally, his eyes fell on the civil servants and asked Lai She, "Come, doctor, what do you think?"
Lai She was a civil servant and did not know how to fight, but as far as his original intention was concerned, he was willing to launch an attack on Kaixiao immediately.
He said sternly: "Your Majesty, the news of Wei Xiao's rebellion will soon spread throughout the world. If the imperial court cannot quell Wei Xiao in time, countless people in the world will raise troops to follow suit. This will be extremely detrimental to the imperial court!"
Liu Xiu remained silent. Lai She continued: "Wei Chen thinks that General Ma and General Wang are right. Now we should take advantage of the lack of preparations of Wei Xiao's army. Our army should immediately launch an offensive. As long as we conquer Hanyang in one fell swoop,
Just as Your Majesty said, our soldiers can advance to attack, retreat to defend, and maintain an invincible position!"
It is rare that now even the civil servants agree with the generals and request to attack Hanyang immediately. Liu Xiu thought about it again, nodded and said: "Okay! According to your opinions, our army will attack in three days."
Hanyang!”
"Your Majesty, your Majesty!" All the ministers bowed and saluted. Geng Yan did not think that now was a good time for his side to attack Hanyang, but Liu Xiu had already spoken, so he said no more.
At this time, what is most needed is the unity of one's own side. Any opposing opinions and voices will cause internal friction on one's own side.
Liu Xiu set the time for the attack, and the ministers left the hall and went to prepare separately. After the ministers left, Liu Xiu ordered the map to be hung up. He sat cross-legged in front of the map, looking at it and sketching it in his mind.
The Battle of Hanyang is a battle that affects one's success or failure. It is of vital importance. To put it bluntly, this battle can only be won, not lost.
Liu Xiu sat in front of the map for more than an hour. Luo You walked forward slowly, handed a cup of ginseng tea to Liu Xiu, and whispered: "Your Majesty, please have a cup of ginseng tea!"
"Yeah!" Liu Xiu's eyes were still on the map, but he responded absently, waved his hand to the side, and motioned to Luo You to put the tea aside.
Luo You also wanted to persuade Liu Xiu to take a rest for a while, but Zhang Kun winked at her and signaled her to stop talking. Luo You had no choice but to walk out of the hall, stood outside, looked back into the hall, and whispered
: "Your Majesty has been sitting there motionless for almost two hours."
Zhang Kun said: "Your Majesty always does this on the eve of a war."
Liu Xiu's success in fighting was not due to luck. On the eve of a war, he would have worked out several plans in his mind in advance. He had a complete set of ideas in his mind about which plan to use in any situation.
With our current 100,000 troops, we are going to attack Hanyang, where 100,000 enemy troops are stationed. As Geng Yan said, this battle will be very difficult, but difficulties are difficult, and our side is not without a chance of victory.
Our side can use the tactics of dividing the troops to fight, so that the enemy's main force can be dispersed throughout Hanyang to the maximum extent. This way, we can have the opportunity to defeat them one by one.
It's just that this division of troops is also very dangerous. If it doesn't happen, it will turn into losing the rice instead of stealing the chicken, putting our own soldiers into great passivity.
Liu Xiu sat in front of the map for more than two hours before he stood up and stretched his muscles. All the joints in his body made creaking sounds.
He walked out of the hall, and the sky outside had darkened. He looked to both sides of the hall door. Zhang Kun and Luo You were standing on one side and one on the right. These two were standing on the ground, but their eyes were closed. It seemed that
, fell asleep standing up.
Seeing this, Liu Xiu was angry and funny, and coughed dryly.
Zhang Kun and Luo You were shocked and immediately opened their eyes. When they saw Liu Xiu standing in front of them, they were startled and hurriedly knelt down and said, "This slave (servant) deserves to die!"
Liu Xiu waved his hand and motioned for the two of them to get up. He had been in a hurry for a while and was very tired, not to mention Zhang Kun and Luo You. He said, "You two can go down and rest."
"His Majesty……"
"Just ask some of the chamberlains to come over and take care of you."
"Your Majesty has been very tired during this period, and you should rest early." Zhang Kun reminded in a low voice.
Liu Xiu smiled and said, "I have to look at the map again and think about it carefully." He waved to Zhang Kun and Luo You, indicating that they could leave.