On August 19, the second year of Dashun, in Bianzhou, Zhu Quanzhong was discussing matters with three close advisers: Jing Xiang, Li Zhen, and Wei Zhao.
"In the third year of Zhonghe, Wang Rong of Zhenzhou, Le Yanzhen of Weizhou, Zhu Xuan of Yunzhou, and Li Keyong of Taiyuan ascended the position of Jiedushi with me. Now eight years have passed, how about it?" Zhu Quanzhong is in a good mood recently.
Ding Hui led the army to attack Shipu, but Wuning's army no longer dared to fight in the field and relied on defending the city to resist.
Now that the war has reached this point, we are actually quite passive.
Shi Pu tightly controls Xu and Suzhou, which are currently isolated and surrounded. Xuzhou is hard to say, but Suzhou is not difficult to capture. The current method is to attack the city and attack the heart simultaneously.
Si and Haozhou are theoretically subordinate states of Huainan Town, but they are controlled by the Wuning Army.
Of course, these two states should have been under the jurisdiction of Xuzhou, but who allowed Xuzhou to be violent and cause trouble many times?
Ever since Li Guangbi, who had an army but not the government during the Guangde period, people in Xuzhou have not been able to worry about it. The court had to do many "operations" and try every means to suppress the big soldiers here. When it really didn't work, they could only massacre them all.
thing.
But just like Wei Bo, after killing one group, there will be another group. The older generation of Xuzhou soldiers were killed, and a new generation of unruly Yamen soldiers appeared again. Now they are the main force against Zhu Quanzhong.
Shi Pu's control over Si and Hao Prefectures was not very tight, and the Xuanwu Army did not take the initiative to attack this time. The two sides maintained a tacit understanding of peace and harmony.
After defeating Xu and Suzhou, we can then march into Huainan, Si, and Haozhou and capture them?
Jingxiang frowned, feeling that his lord's recent strategic goals were somewhat unclear.
"Commander, we still have to capture the three towns of Wuning, Tianping, Taining, and the vassals in Hebei. It's better not to provoke them for the time being." At the end of last year, after Xuanwu's army retreated from Zelu, they took the opportunity to plunder Weibo. Luo Hongxin could not
He bowed his head and tied his hands. Although he seemed happy, he had secretly made an enemy, which was extremely unwise.
"Your words of respect to Sima are reasonable." When Zhu Quanzhong heard this, he realized that he was a little complacent. He immediately stood up and saluted and apologized, and then said: "Zhang Jun of Suzhou is capricious and hateful. Can I accept surrender this time?"
Zhang Jun was a general in Suzhou and originally surrendered with the governor. However, he expelled the governor last year and attached himself to Shi Pu again, which made Zhu Quanzhong a little angry.
"Suzhou is in danger, and Zhang Jun has no way out. The commander-in-chief might as well accept his surrender, and there will be fewer casualties." Jingxiang said: "After entering Suzhou, I will transfer Zhang Jun to another place. After a few years,
You can do whatever you want with it.”
Zhu Quanzhong laughed when he heard this.
Among all the generals in the army, only Jingxiang understands me!
Before I sent troops to Zelu last year, I could see from the troops and generals that I wanted to kill Li Chan and Li Chongyin. I was given such a great talent. Isn't it God's help?
"Shi Pu is already a withered bone in the grave, so there is no need to worry about it. The two towns of Yan and Yun have repeatedly sent troops to help Pu, but they still have to be conquered with determination." Zhu Quanzhong asked someone to spread out the map and carefully look at the mountains and rivers on it.
His eyes were very bright, staring at each state and county above, showing different emotions from time to time. Some were annoyed, some were calm, and there was even a hint of cunning.
He was stroking his beard with his left hand, and his right hand was hanging down, occasionally twirling his fingers together, as if he were grabbing the names of several enemy generals recorded on the map and playing with them at will.
He has this qualification.
Since defeating Qin Zongquan, taking over the six prefectures of Henan Prefecture, Ruzhou, Xuzhou, Chenzhou, Caizhou, and Zhengzhou as rear areas, and stabilizing production, the strength has become No. 1 in Henan.
Zhao Deqian, Yang Xingmi, and Luo Hongxin also bowed their heads and surrendered on the surface. There were still disturbances in Wang Shifan's Xiaoer Town, so there was nothing to worry about.
Only Shi Pu, Zhu Xuan, and Zhu Jin resisted to the end.
I have to admit that the soldiers of these three families are still very capable of fighting. It is no longer easy for inferior forces to resist Xuanwu's main force until now.
But they won’t be able to bounce around for long!
Zhu Quanzhong's eyes turned back to Suzhou.
The outer city of Suzhou has been breached, and the defender Zhang Jun is trapped in the inner city. In fact, he has not wanted to fight for a long time. The reason why he did not surrender was just because he was afraid of being settled by the Queen of Autumn.
"Send an order to Ding Hui to accept Zhang Jun's surrender and leave him alone for the time being." Zhu Quanzhong looked at Li Zhen, who was temporarily the secretary of Xuanwu Jieduzhang, and said: "The Suzhou soldiers are not weak. After they are broken up, they will be organized into various armies.
After being damaged in the war, Zhang Jun and his family moved to Bianzhou."
"As ordered." Li Zhen began to draft an order.
He knew that Zhang Jun's end was probably going to be bad. Unless he showed some extraordinary talent, the commander-in-chief would be able to let him go.
"How is Suzhou's harvest this year?" Zhu Quanzhong suddenly remembered this and asked.
"I'm afraid it won't work." Jingxiang replied: "The people have lost their crops and are crying for food."
"This year, Huaixi Damin, Suzhou military rations will not be transported back, but distributed to the people to help them survive this crisis."
"As commanded."
"Guo Zhu, the capital of Caozhou, wants to surrender. What do you think of this?" Zhu Quanzhong flicked his sleeves and sat back on the bed, with a sneer at the corner of his mouth.
"Commander, Caozhou is in ruins. This is most likely true." Jingxiang looked at Zhu Quanzhong's face and thought secretly in his heart, my lord is good at everything, but he only likes to play tricks on himself. Sometimes his words are clouded, and he refuses to tell the truth, hiding his true purpose deep inside.
at.
"Let Guo Zhu kill Guo Ci's whole family, so that we can trust him." Zhu Quanzhong said calmly.
"As commanded."
Guo Ci was the governor of Caozhou appointed by Zhu Xuan. If Guo Zhu killed his whole family, he would not be tolerated by Zhu Xuan. This surrender is true, and it means there is no way out, and it is not the same as the first and the second.
"General Cai Liu Hong'e has asked to surrender. May I ask the commander how to deal with it?"
Liu Hong'e was a general under Sun Ru who stayed in Shouzhou. After Sun Ru's main force went south, the land of Huainan was left without an owner, and each general had to make his own plans.
Yang Xingmi was defeated by Sun Ru in the south of the Yangtze River. After seeing the main force of Cai's soldiers crossing the Yangtze River, he sent people to sneak back to the north of the Yangtze River. He first extinguished the fire that Cai's soldiers had set in Yangzhou, and then pulled out the abandoned soldiers by Sun Ru from the fire.
Hundreds of thousands of dendrobium rations for the army.
The semi-separatist forces in Wuning Town, Sizhou Governor Zhang Jian, were short of food and asked Yang Xingmi for help.
In addition to Zhang Jian, Cai Bing, who was left by Sun Ru to guard the prefectures and counties in the north of the Yangtze River, was helpless and had no one to rely on. He secretly sent people to surrender one by one, and gained a lot.
This is where things get weird!
Yang Xingmi was beaten repeatedly by Sun Ru, almost never winning, and was defeated in the end. As a result, he lost more and more, and his territory became larger and larger. He also recruited many elite Cai soldiers to make up for his biggest shortcoming.
What about Sun Ru? He was an arrogant man who won consecutive battles, but he kept winning, but his subordinates deserted him. He even gave up his hometown of Yangzhou and became a rogue bandit.
What else is there to say? Qian Liu and Yang Xingmi, a pair of crouching dragons and phoenixes, frantically robbed Sun Ru's elite soldiers. Yang Xingmi recruited in the north of the Yangtze River, Qian Liu lured the thieves to surrender in the south of the Yangtze River, and the conditions were good for the thieves. The morale of Cai's soldiers was low, and none of them defected to Hangzhou.
few.
Abandoning Yangzhou was perhaps Sun Ru's most fatal mistake.
"Send someone to find out Liu Hong'e's background. If he really wants to surrender, let him be the governor of Shouzhou and send troops to attack Haozhou." Zhu Quanzhong doubted Liu Hong'e's determination to surrender and planned to test it.
He didn't trust anyone, not even his son. If Liu Hong'e wanted to surrender, he had to show off. Attacking Haozhou was a good test.
Winning or losing is a good thing for Zhu Quanzhong.
After handling these matters, Zhu Quanzhong discussed civil affairs with Jing Xiang, Li Zhen and Wei Zhao.
The main purpose is to crack down on the rich and powerful, get rid of the land they have occupied, and distribute it to the people for farming.
In addition, we need to support scholars from small families and not allow wealthy families to monopolize state and county power.
There were also the shortage of cattle, the shortage of war horses, and a lot of other things. The three of them discussed them until it was almost dark.
"By the way, Li Ke used the Northern Expedition to no avail. If he takes action after the autumn harvest, where will he attack?" After leaving Jingxiang and the others to have dinner, Zhu Quanzhong was full of energy and did not intend to waste his evening time, but continued to work.
"With Xingzhou in hand, Ke Yong will attack Ji." Jingxiang said directly without thinking.
Li Keyong is actually very easy to guess. All his emotions and intentions are clearly exposed, and every step is traceable.
His sworn brother Shao Shude is similar, and everything he does can be guessed.
The biggest difference between the two is probably that the elder brother is irritable and irritable, while the younger brother is kind-hearted and has a dark heart. Overall, Shao Shude is more difficult to deal with because he doesn't mess around.
Moreover, Shao Shude's story leaves people speechless.
Shameless, he married a Qiang and Hu woman, and gathered a lot of miscellaneous Hus around him. The town was half Hu and half Han, and he had no literary skills, but his martial arts was quite strong. No wonder he became a brother with Li Keyong.
"Wang Rong is young and has caused so many people to despise him." Zhu Quanzhong also laughed and said: "But the Wang family has been in the town for a long time. He has been in command for five generations and six. Is he that easy to fight? This person is better than Wang Shifan."
Wang Shifan was the military envoy of Pinglu, leading the six prefectures of Qi, Qi, Zi, Lai, Deng and Di. He succeeded to the throne two years ago. He was only fifteen or sixteen years old at the time. However, he suppressed the rebel generals internally and formed alliances with neighboring towns externally. He worked very hard.
Be organized.
There are also many soldiers in Pinglu Town. If they work hard, more than 100,000 people can still be pulled out. There is no way, there has been no war in the place for many years, and the treasury is rich, but it is so arrogant.
"Chengde, when Youzhou was begging for Yi Dingwang Chucun, Li Keyong fought with him and captured and killed more than ten thousand people. You should think that Chengde's soldiers are weak and there is nothing to worry about." Jingxiang also smiled and said: "We will fight again this time.
, full of confidence.”
"The Ya'er Army has only those methods, brave!" Zhu Quanzhong sneered: "To fight fiercely and fiercely, it all depends on the blood and spirit of the soldiers. If you can't attack repeatedly and lose this breath, you will collapse. Sooner or later, we will invade Jin."
Yang, slaughtered the entire Sha Tuozi clan."
"What the commander said is true. For people like Li Ya'er, as long as they guard the city tightly and the thieves have nothing to plunder, it won't last long. Our army will attack later and we should be rewarded," Jingxiang said.
The idea is actually to build walls high and store grain widely.
Hedong soldiers are indeed brave in fighting, and they like to rely on this life-threatening momentum to overwhelm their opponents. They believe that the brave will win when they meet in a narrow road. From top to bottom, starting from Li Keyong and his other fakes, they basically follow this approach.
In recent years, some new generals have emerged, which can be regarded as some strategies, but their status is still very low and they cannot change the overall atmosphere of the Hedong Army.
"Shuofang's army seems to be fighting in this way." Zhu Quanzhong said this with certainty at times. Because the time when he fought with Zhuge Shuang and Shao Shude, the master and disciple, was too long ago and cannot be used as a reference.
"No." Jingxiang put away the smile on his face and said seriously: "Commander, please do not underestimate this person. According to Hao Zhenwei, the military governor of Qianzhen, Shu De is a student of military science, his military use is dull, and his craftsmanship is too strong.
, I don’t quite believe it. Shude’s troops can’t be worth less than a hundred thousand, or maybe 150,000, and they are in a strategic position with many war horses. The Qiang and Hu soldiers are countless, as many as they need. If we use our troops carefully, we will be able to invade in the year of the monkey and the month of the horse.
Guanzhong?"
"Well, indeed." Zhu Quanzhong agreed: "I would rather he come out in full force and fight in a big way, otherwise we will have to kill him. What has happened to this person recently?"
"There is not much movement. They should be saving money and food in Lingxia, training soldiers and horses, and reorganizing the troops."
"After a whole year of military training, he is quite patient." Zhu Quanzhong marveled: "This is a move to solidify the foundation. He is patient and resourceful. How can he compare it with the use of force? After this year's autumn harvest, will he use troops externally?
"
"It should be possible."
"Where to attack? Could it be gold merchant Li Xiang?"
Zhu Quanzhong did not expect Shao Shude to attack Hedong. In fact, he sent envoys several times to agree to attack Hedong together, but they were all rejected.
"Gold merchants, Hexi Dangxiang, Hezhong, Shaanxi and Guo are all possible." Jingxiang said: "Deputy Envoy Xie was sent to Chang'an. Since he has not left yet, the commander-in-chief might as well send him to Lingxia to market horses.
For a reason, let’s find out the truth.”
Zhu Quanzhong pondered for a while.
It is of course risky to let Xie Tong go to Lingxia. What if he is detained or even killed?
"What Jing Sima said is in my heart, so let's do it like this." Zhu Quanzhong finally made the decision: "After the autumn harvest, there is no need to attack Shi Pu. Instead, we must gather troops to attack the Tianping Army. If we continue to attack Xuzhou, Shi Pu will be united. Why don't I
Can it be as he wishes?"
This was actually Cao Cao's strategy to deal with the two Yuans in Hebei.
First, hit you hard and make your internal structure unbalanced, then take a step back, wait for your internal conflicts to break out, and finally reap the fruits of victory easily.
Zhu Quanzhong has been in the military for many years, so he certainly understands this truth.
He is not the kind of commander Li Ke used to rush and fight, relying on momentum, bravery and blood to defeat the enemy. On the contrary, he often uses some cunning little tricks, which happen to be very effective.
