When Cao Gan arrived at Jinling, he was ignored all the time. He thought it was the Chu court officials who deliberately ignored him. In fact, it was the day he arrived in Jinling on an official ship that Chu gathered troops from Shuzhou and other places to officially launch an offensive against Chaozhou.
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Jinling faces Chuzhou and Chaozhou across the river. The soldiers and horses stationed along the south bank of the Yangtze River are also in panic. The Sixth Academy Department is operating at full capacity like a machine. Almost everyone is paying attention to the movements on the north bank. Who can do it at this time?
Are you free to take care of the Shu-Chu peace talks?
Just drag it.
Nearly 100,000 soldiers and horses gathered in Shuzhou, and it took nearly half a year to launch the offensive against Chaozhou. In terms of the overall situation, it was quite unfavorable to the Chu State.
A large number of generals and soldiers stayed in Shuzhou for a long time with the army and civilians. During this period, the extra food and grass consumed reached millions of dan.
Choosing this time to launch a full-scale offensive against Chaozhou coincided with the spring plowing and sowing season, and a large number of strong men were in the army. As a result, the military offices in various places lacked sufficient labor force, and the spring plowing was bound to be seriously affected.
Of course, for Dachu, which controls Jiangdong, Jiangxi, Hunan, Jingxiang and other places with a population of more than 12 million, this negative impact can still be tolerated.
In comparison, after the Anning Palace rebels withdrew to Jiangbei, it seemed that the number of elite soldiers and horses was still maintained at 100,000, but their food and fodder supplies could only rely on the original population of only six people due to the long-term impact of the border war between Liang and Chu.
The four states of Shou, Chao, Chu, and Huo, which cost about 100,000 yuan and had large areas of uncultivated land, were truly a torment.
It was delayed until the spring of the second year of Yanyou. In order to maintain the necessary supplies for the army, An Ning Palace could only search and exploit the area under its control and use all kinds of methods.
Under such a large-scale suppression by elite soldiers and horses, not to mention the ordinary people, the local aristocratic clans had no room to resist.
A large number of people were unable to resist, but their food and even the seeds for spring plowing had been looted. If they did not want to starve to death, they had no choice but to leave their homes and flee their land to escape famine in other places.
Even though it was blocked by mountains and the defense lines of the two armies to the west, the Huaihe River to the north, and the Yangtze River to the south, the passage for tens of thousands of people, dragging their children with them, to escape to Huaidong was smooth.
This also made the situation of the Anning Palace rebels on the north bank of the Yangtze River increasingly embarrassing.
There was no clever plan to attack Chaozhou. The Privy Council had drawn up a detailed military strategy half a year ago, and Emperor Yanyou had convened the political officials to discuss it many times. Now the main thing is to implement it according to the strategy.
Also because the destination of the recapture at this time was only across the river from Jinling, it was very convenient for Emperor Yanyou to directly direct the progress of the war through the Privy Council.
The rebels' defense on the southern front was mainly concentrated in Chaozhou; to the east of Chaozhou, in Chuzhou, located between Chaozhou and Yangzhou, the defense was empty.
However, considering that King Xin Yang Yuanyan was not trustworthy, even if the rebels' defense in Chuzhou seemed to be empty, the Chu army's main attack direction was to launch an offensive from Shuzhou in the west to the east.
Gao Chengyuan led the naval warships of the Wuya Army, which were mainly responsible for blocking the waterways entering the Yangtze River from Chaochu and other places, and blocking the remnants of the Louchuan Army within Hongze Lake.
When Li Zhigao gathered more than 70,000 infantry troops in Shuzhou, they destroyed the outer walls of Chaozhou, then advanced by land and water to the base of Chaozhou City, and destroyed the rebels' core stronghold on the southern front.
After that, if we take advantage of the situation to regain Chuzhou, we don't have to worry about the evil king Yang Yuanyan doing anything behind his back.
The war had been going on for seven days, and all aspects of progress were proceeding smoothly and according to plan, but the people in the court did not dare to relax at all.
Han Daoming rushed to the Political Affairs Hall before dawn today to attend the meeting. In the afternoon, he was summoned to the Chongwen Hall to deal with the household tax issue. He was so busy that the sky was filled with stars before he returned to the mansion in a hungry carriage.
Seeing two carriages parked outside the gate of the mansion, Han Daoming walked into Xiyuan, but no one reported that there was a visitor. He curiously asked the steward of the mansion: "Where else are there guests in the mansion today?"
"We are guests from Xuzhou, bringing some gifts to visit the old man. Would you like me to call the guests from Xuzhou over to say hello?" the steward reported back.
"What did I see these people doing?" Han Daoming's face darkened, but there was no way to drive them away.
In the Wuchuan Valley, the Tianping organized by the bandits fought fiercely with the Shu army. It is no longer difficult to doubt that Xuzhou and the bandits colluded with the Shu army. However, it is undoubtedly difficult to doubt that it does not mean that the palace will be completely eliminated.
The suspicion deep in his heart.
Xuzhou sent people to run around when there was nothing to do. It was so busy!
Han Daoming irritably took the tremella soup handed over by the maid, took a sip, and felt it was too hot. He threw the porcelain cup on the table with a "pop" and was about to walk to the study when he saw Han Jun hurriedly left.
Li Xiang came out, called to him, and asked: "Why are you so flustered? You don't have to go to Changchun Palace to be on duty today?"
"Dad, the child is about to leave the city and return to Changchun Palace," Han Jun reported back in a panic, "Huang Lu and others took leave today and returned to the city to petition the Privy Council, thinking that they would be transferred to the Jiangbei battlefield, and the child would accompany them for a while.
"
According to the arrangements currently drafted, as the follow-up war progresses, some imperial troops on the south bank of the Yangtze River will be transferred to the north of the Yangtze River to garrison, but the duty of the imperial guards is to be responsible for the defense of Jinling City and the palace.
Some of the young military attachés and generals who served as bodyguards and pro-army troops were eager to achieve military exploits, including Huang Lu, the son of the Hunan Xuanwei envoy, who wrote repeatedly requesting to be transferred to the Shuzhou army to participate in the war.
Han Daoming said displeasedly: "Why are you getting involved in these things?"
At present, in the Han family, not to mention the Xuzhou side, he serves as the Councilor for Political Affairs and the Minister of Household Affairs, Han Daoduan serves as the Minister of the Ministry of Works, his daughter has entered the palace as a concubine, and Han Jun currently serves as the bodyguard and military governor of Yu. It can be said that
It's impossible to get promoted in the military any time soon.
Otherwise, the Han family would be too hated by others.
Han Jun hesitated for a while, but thinking that if he really wanted to ask to be transferred to the Shuzhou Army, his father would definitely object, so he said: "I will accompany Huang Lu and the others back to the city, but I won't get involved."
"As long as you understand in your heart." Han Daoming waved his hand, signaling Han Jun to quickly leave the city and return to Changchun Palace for duty.
However, watching his son Han Jun walk out of the yard, Han Daoming thought that something was wrong. Someone came from Xuzhou to see his old father. Why did Han Jun just pretend that nothing happened?
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Han Mansion covers an area of more than 40 acres and has more than ten buildings. Han Wenhuan is old and does not go out much. He lives in Qingzhu Garden next to the back garden. There are usually six or seven servants and maids.
The servant is waiting.
At this moment, the servants and maids were all guarding the yard. The door of the main room was ajar, and the candles were burning brightly. From the yard, you could see several guests from Xuzhou, sitting with their backs to the door, talking to the old man.
Can't see their faces.
Han Wenhuan's old and skinny face was as wrinkled as the bark of an old tree, and he looked very old. Only his pupils were still quite energetic as he looked at Feng Liao, whose complexion was sallow and his face was slightly fake. Only his outline could be recognized.
After a while, Han Wenhuan asked in a hoarse voice: "Didn't Han Qian ask you to come to me?"
"Sir, you really don't want to trouble the old man. It's Feng Liao who can't bear to see the old people of the Guangde Army being brutally persecuted. Thousands of children have to live in the mountains, but they will be killed by the officers and soldiers at any time as rebels. He wants to use Xue Ruogu's hands to bring them to justice. Only by turning this case over completely can we truly understand the matter," Feng Liao said.
"Your mind is not that simple, and I don't bother to ask. I'll do my best on this matter, and don't have high expectations - don't talk about it now. Nothing I said earlier will be of any use." Han Wenhuan said with an old look.
Xue Ruogu was already disliked by many people in Yushitai, but I don't know how many people wanted to kick him to the ground.
Besides, after Shen Yang took charge of the political affairs hall, when selecting officials, he always deliberately avoided appointing officials to serve in their ancestral home.
In order to prevent the aristocratic family from over-expanding its influence in the local area, it was quite normal for someone to propose that Wei Zhen be removed from the post of magistrate of Lishui County.
The key is for someone to stand up and bring these two things together.
Otherwise, if Xue Ruogu left the court and was sent to another country, it would be impossible for him to be sent to work in Lishui County.
Feng Liao didn't expect the old man to have a good impression of him, so when he saw that his goal was achieved, he stood up and resigned.
Feng Liao was pretending to be a guard of a visitor from Xuzhou. When he walked out of the courtyard, he followed others, walked through the deep passages of the Han Mansion, and walked towards the main gate of the Han Mansion.
When he walked to the gate of Han Mansion, Han Jun walked out of it. Feng Liao was shocked. He was worried that Han Jun would notice something from his behavior, but he didn't want Han Jun to glance over here and bring him with him. He led the horses out of the palace gate with the two guards and galloped towards the east city.
Seeing that Han Jun was preoccupied and had no time to take care of other things, Feng Liao frowned in confusion. He really didn't know what was going on. He called the eldest son of the Han family, and the senior generals who guarded the army were all waiting in front of the Queen Mother. Is the popular Han Jun worried like this?
Everything in the Han residence was as before. He came to the house at dusk and didn't notice anything unusual.
After getting on the carriage, the more Feng Liao thought about it, the more something was wrong. He opened the curtain and said to a guard who was riding next to the carriage: "Assign someone to keep an eye on Mr. Han. It is best to gain his trust and go directly to him. Wait, let’s see what kind of trouble our Mr. Han has encountered recently, so much so that he is stingy with the guests who visit Han Mansion at night.”
