Deep in the Xuanjiao Ridge, there is an ancient plank road built in the Spring and Autumn Period, which connects Huzhou and Runzhou by land.
Although shipbuilding in the Jianghuai region has improved rapidly since the previous dynasty, the water in Taihu Lake is murky and it is difficult for small boats to withstand the wind and waves. Therefore, this ancient plank road deep in the Xuanjiao Ridge is still an extremely important land transportation link between the two states of Hurun.
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Sitian Dun seems to be closed, but it is located on the side of the ancient plank road. Since the previous dynasties, it has been a prosperous commercial port and densely populated.
However, after the Chuzhou army crossed the river and took control of Runzhou, Huzhou governor Huang Hua sent troops to block the south entrance of the ancient plank road out of Xuanjiao Ridge, but he had not yet thought of sending troops and horses to station within Sitian Dun.
The defense of Sitian Dun was mainly carried out by the Xu clan, who had occupied the elders for a long time and held the position of township assistant, and gathered his family soldiers and soldiers from the left and right villages.
No matter how elite the soldiers of the Xujiaji Village were cut off from the outside world, and no matter how strong the Xujiaji Walled City was, they only had obvious advantages in preventing and resisting bandits.
The Qiuhu Army, which has cultivated bravery for many years, is a bit unsatisfactory.
The Wei family and other families had fallen to this point. At this time, they gave up their scruples and other small thoughts, and fought for a foothold in Sitian Dun. When Wei Huang and other disciples attacked the Xu family's stronghold, they behaved
He was much more active than when he was guarding Lishui City more than half a month ago and fought a contact battle with the infiltrated Nanya Imperial Army.
The Xujiaji Village was built on a low mountain, and the terrain of this low mountain was relatively stable, so the Qiuhu Army did not need to build city climbing vehicles or ladders. They could directly attack the north wall of the village by climbing up the short mountain to the north.
Wei Huang, Tian Wenzhong and other members of the Lishui family led the attack first, exhausting the defenders as much as possible. Feeling good about the defenders, two hundred defenders even came out of the north wall, hoping to drive the Qiuhu army down the short mountain in the north.
At this time, Li Qi led the county prince's palace to fight out from the side and killed all the two hundred defenders who came out of the north wall to counterattack on the short hill.
The defenders' will to resist also collapsed at this time. They opened the gate of the village and chose to surrender...
The Chuzhou army may have known about the conflict between Han Qian and Li Pu, but Huzhou governor Huang Hua didn't know much about it and didn't dare to take the risk.
The Qiuhu Army occupied Sitian Dun and surrendered more than 4,000 soldiers and horses. Once they broke out from the south entrance of the ancient plank road at Xuanjiao Ridge, they would directly insert themselves between Jiudu Mountain and Changxing City, threatening Jiudu from behind.
Mountain, five thousand Huzhou soldiers in Xianshan Lake.
Huang Hua, the governor of Huzhou, did not dare to let these 5,000 soldiers and horses bear the risk of being attacked from both sides and cut off their retreat. Seeing the fall of Sitian Dun, he could not wait for the Qiuhu army to fight out from the south entrance of the ancient plank road, so he could not wait to mobilize Huang Tianxing's troops.
Return to Changxing County.
However, Gao Shao effortlessly led his troops to control the Jiudu Mountain-Xianshan Lake area...
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Wang Wenqian stood on the back of the black dragon at the northern foot of Maoshan Mountain. More than half a month later, he could still see the mess in the camp at the foot of the mountain. There was no one around. Who could have imagined that more than half a month ago, the Chishan Army was located in the northeast of Maoshan Mountain.
A main village at the foot of the mountain.
In the end, Han Qian led his troops to move southeast.
Of course, if Han Qian really led the Chishan Army and 200,000 to 300,000 old, weak, women, and children, directly into Huzhou, Wang Wenqian would not be so worried - after the Chishan Army and the state soldiers from Huhang and other places fought to win, they would have long been with An Ning
The palace is divided into winners and losers.
The key is that Han Qian broke up so many women and children and evacuated them into Fuyu Mountain, while Han Qian led the main force of the Chishan Army to huddle between Fuyu Mountain and Jieling. It seemed that he had withdrawn, but he was only a hundred meters away from Maoshan.
In Yuli, there is a possibility of fighting back from the southern foot of Jieling Mountain at any time.
Jieling Mountain stretches for more than a hundred miles from east to west and is located in the south of Runzhou. It is the dividing line between Runzhou and Xuanzhou. The mountainous terrain cannot be compared with Fuyu Mountain and Yishan Mountain. Especially there are large and small gaps on the west side, which can allow the Chishan Army to infiltrate.
Coming in, this means that the Chuzhou Army's troops stationed in Liyang and Yangyang counties need to divide their troops and garrison more villages at the pass to form a complete line of defense.
Of course, the Chuzhou Army's troops on the south bank have expanded to 100,000, which is relatively sufficient. The problem of dedicating an additional three to five thousand troops is not serious. The more critical issue is that the situation in Jiangnan has been disrupted and confusing by Han Qian. Wang Wenqian
I was so worried that I could no longer see clearly what Han Qian's next intention would be.
"The Chishan Army has limited supplies. I also think that Han Qian's next step should be to open a gap in Huzhou and win more living space for the Chishan Army between Huzhou and Hangzhou..." Yin Peng stood next to Wang Wenqian and said
his judgment.
"Not necessarily! To the west of Liyang and the two counties of Lishui and Pingling, the grain is already empty. No one can raise grain. Han Qian will lead the elite main force of the Chishan Army to fight back from the western foot of Jieling Mountain. Even if it is unlikely.
If he really comes back, we can deal with it. After all, An Ning Palace will be under greater pressure then. This is no different from our original intention of blocking the Chishan Army on the west side. However, will the Chishan Army attack Xuanyuan?
Huzhou, we must not speculate about Han Qian based on common sense, let alone arbitrarily conclude that the main force of the Chishan Army will definitely enter Huzhou!" Wang Wenqian frowned and shook his head.
"Before His Highness and An Ning Palace decide the winner, Gu Zhilong obviously cannot go to Yueyang, which is thousands of miles away; and Han Qian destroyed the local foundation of the aristocratic family, and actually cut off the relationship between Han and Feng.
The connections and influence of his family in Xuanzhou allowed Gu Zhilong to better control the local forces - Xuanzhou was a small city and the city was strong. Even if he could attack by force, he would be defeated miserably. There was not much food in stock. Why did Han Qian want to gnaw on this hard nut?
"Yin Peng believed that even if the Chishan Army did not attack the big cities in Huzhou such as Changxing in the next step, they would divide their troops and infiltrate into Huhang at the eastern foot of Fuyu Mountain.
As long as the Chishan Army can raise sufficient grain in Huhang, the time is actually on the Chishan Army's side.
Compared with the Chishan Army, they face many hidden worries and variables. On the one hand, they are worried that Xu Mingzhen, who is currently staying on the north bank of the Yangtze River, will bypass Hongze Lake and launch a large-scale offensive against Chuzhou and Yangzhou. On the other hand, they are worried that
I am also worried that after the situation in Liang Kingdom stabilizes, Liang Jun may move south in large numbers to invade Shouzhou or Chuzhou at any time.
In addition, in addition to the growing shortage of food reserves in the hands of the Chishan Army, except for Han Qian who sent Zhang Ping and Feng Yi to Langxi City to negotiate a peace and compromise, the Chishan Army made no move to rebuild the city walls or consolidate the city defense after occupying the remaining city of Guangde.
, this also shows that Han Qian does not want to waste extremely scarce resources on the northern foot of Fuyu Mountain.
Seeing that Yin Peng was not alert enough to the Chishan Army, Wang Wenqian sighed in his heart, knowing that it would be even harder to convince His Highness, Rao Geng, Ruan Yan and others. But then again, even if he was alert enough to the Chishan Army, in the current situation
Under such circumstances, what can they do?
Send more troops to the southern front?
Even if Han Qian was forced to give up his plot against Xuanzhou and the main force would advance honestly into Huhang and other states east of Fuyu Mountain, all this would not only delay the Chuzhou army a little, but also cause other problems.
What are the benefits?
In the final analysis, they can only hope that the Xuanzhou soldiers and Huzhou soldiers can perform better at this time and curb the current rapid expansion trend of the Chishan Army.
Han Qian had a good sense of proportion. At this time, the Chuzhou Army had no choice but to make up its mind to let An Ning Palace go and target the Chishan Army.
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In Yueyang in early July, the sultry weather was drenched by a heavy rain, and the people who were agitated by the heat calmed down. Watching the ticking of raindrops from the eaves, the distant mountains were full of light green.
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In addition to the croaking toads and frogs, the disturbing cicadas also stopped after the rain.
Qingyang rolled up her silk sleeves, revealing an inch of snow jade-carved arm, holding her beautiful face, staring into the distance of the courtyard, a pair of smart and beautiful eyes like a deep and clear spring.
A letter sent from Yuzhou was being opened and spread out on the desk.
A few days ago, Yuzhou soldiers and horses finally captured a very important Linjiang stronghold for the Wu Liao people in Banan. This also means that her eldest brother Wang Yong's strategy of conquering Banan in accordance with his father's will has made key progress.
The Sizhou soldiers' attack from the upper reaches of the Qianjiang River to the north is also progressing quite smoothly. It is very likely that the Qianjiang River waterway will be opened after this autumn. By then, Yuzhou will not only be able to open up connections with the central Guizhou area, but also cut off the private salt supply of the Liao people in southern Sichuan.
Source, curb the expansion of the power of the Liao people in southern Sichuan, and lay the foundation for fundamentally solving the problem of the Liao people in southern Sichuan.
In this process, the warships and war equipment built by Xuzhou played a great role. The fusiform ships of the Wu Liao people were vulnerable to Xuzhou's warships.
The shipbuilding yard in Yuzhou also tried to imitate a new warship in June.
These are great news, but Qingyang was somewhat absent-minded. His beautiful eyes as deep as spiritual springs stared in the direction of Chengyun Hall. When he saw Du Qiniang coming over, he asked: "My lords are in Chengyun Hall, can we discuss this?"
What decision has been made?"
"My lords have not left the Chengyun Hall yet. Any news will not come out so soon." Du Qiniang said, looking in the direction of the Chengyun Hall rather tangledly.
In mid-May, the news that Han Qian had recruited slaves in Jinling to join the army and promised to grant land reached Yueyang, which caused an uproar in Yueyang at that time.
Although including the concubine, the direct generals who stayed in Yueyang from the Xinchang Hou Mansion, the Zheng family, the Zhang family who surrendered, and even Han Qian's two biological uncles Han Daoming and Han Daochang, many people strongly opposed Han Qian's move and the family.
Some people even advocated drawing a clear line with Han Qian, but Shen Yang, Xue Ruogu, Zhou Zang, Chen Jingzhou and others who came from the Shanzhai forces more or less believed that the Chishan Army was in such a difficult and dangerous environment with enemies on all sides.
If you want to survive, and even want to further develop the situation, recruiting slaves to expand your troops is a last resort and expedient.
Of course, the generals are outside, and the emperor's orders are not given. More people see that no matter how controversial the Yueyang side is, there is currently no effective way to save the Chishan Army far away in Jinling.
After the dispute, Yue Yang finally refused to express his position, but due to the objections of Zheng Yu, Zheng Chang and others, he temporarily refused to provide additional support to the Chishan Army.
Most people probably still have a wait-and-see attitude, thinking that Han Qian will not hesitate to make enemies with the family members, recruit a mob that is not useful, and eventually suffer a lot under the strong resistance of the Jiangdong family members.
In the next two times, Han Qian mainly transferred manpower and some scarce resources from Xuzhou, or transferred ships and boatmen from Xuzhou, and ventured into Jinling through the waterway blockade of Jiangchi and Chizhou to make up for the shortcomings of the Chishan Army.
The Chishan Army's capture of Shangjia Fort proved that recruiting slaves into the army was not that unbearable. Many people's attitudes changed more or less subtly, but it was not very obvious.
What was even more exciting at that time was that Li Xiu and Li Qi led the brave guards of the Prince of East Zhejiang Province to Jinling to join Li Pu.
Even though Li Pu captured Lishui City and recruited the soldiers of various families in Lishui. At that time, there were less than 2,000 soldiers and horses under the direct jurisdiction, but Yueyang still unanimously decided to grant the banner of a town to this army in addition to the Chishan Army.
This can be seen as the people in Yueyang were deeply dissatisfied with Han Qian, and it can also be seen that the influence of the prince's palace in Dachu was enough to dominate a town by itself.
Now when Jinling passed the news again, the Chishan Army had gathered nearly 300,000 old, weak, women and children and moved south to the northern foot of Fuyu Mountain. The Qiuhu Army then evacuated to the area between Jieling Mountain and Fuyu Mountain while protecting more than 20,000 Lishui County residents.
between.
Han Qian sent someone to deliver the message back at this time. It was still kept secret from the outside world. However, Qingyang and Du Qiniang, who mainly served Qingyang during this period, also saw the secret message yesterday when Tan Wang Yang Yuanpu stayed at his desk all night to think.
Content.
This time Han Qian hoped that Yueyang would actively win over Gu Zhilong, the governor of Xuanzhou. This move was not only to relieve the huge pressure from the Xuanzhou soldiers on the Chishan Army from the west, but also to win over Gu Zhilong to be loyal to Yueyang and win over
Xuanzhou soldiers can be used by Yueyang.
Once this move is successful, it will mean that Yueyang will be the first to grasp the possibility of reorganizing the country of Chu after the Jinling Incident...