"Haha, Shidutou, there is good news again." At night, Zhou Ben laughed and said as he entered the camp.
Uncle Cong raised his eyelids and asked, "Where does happiness come from?"
"The King of Wu won a great victory in Anzhou, killing three thousand enemies and capturing more than a thousand. He is currently arranging his troops and preparing to attack Huaixi. Shen, Guang, and Shou are our old lands in Huainan, and they are taken for granted." Zhou Ben said loudly.
Shishu Cong was shocked and still didn't believe it, so he asked: "How did you fight?"
Zhou Bendao said: "The soldiers of Anzhou were in a stalemate with our army. They were so anxious that they could not break the city. The king of Wu moved his troops to Yingshan County and prepared to attack Pingjing Pass. The thieves were afraid of the fall of Guancheng and threatened Shen and Guang, so they had no choice but to fight, and they were defeated.
Let’s go and retreat to the city. We no longer have the strength to go out and fight in the field.”
"Okay!" Uncle Cong clapped his thigh, stood up, and said happily: "Anzhou is empty after defeating Huaixi. If we can break through the pass and go north, we can easily capture Shen and Guangzhou. Your army, Zhu Yanshou, is still in Shou.
If the state can be attacked from both sides, it will not be difficult to conquer Shouzhou. If Zongben is destroyed, what will happen if Si Lun and his son are not killed?"
Shi Shucong originally wanted to say that after fighting Anzhou for so long, you finally got some insights, but he suddenly realized that this was not very polite, so he changed his mind.
"When will King Wu attack Shenguang?" Uncle Cong asked.
"The army has been fighting hard for many days and still needs to rest and recuperate. We should be able to send troops in mid-March to attack Pingjing, Lishan and other passes. Don't worry, going north is inevitable." Zhou Ben assured.
"Guancheng is not easy to fight." Shi Shucong actually considered marching and fighting for the Huai army, which shows how urgent the hope is.
The Guancheng Chu is there, and the large group of people cannot get through, so they can only send a small group of people to cross the mountain and plunder. But no matter what, it can still cause a lot of trouble, at least it can make Shen and Guang two states
The place was noisy and tense.
"The Xia thieves are in Shen, how many troops does Guang have?" Zhou Ben asked, eager to find out information for Yang Xingmi.
"At most five thousand." Uncle Cong has been studying these all day long, and the information can be said to be at his fingertips.
When Zhou Ben heard this, he felt that there was something interesting, so he said: "It is better to send troops south to attack Huaixi Town with King Wu from the north and south. We must defeat it."
"I want to go south as soon as possible." Shi Shucong said with some helplessness: "Now I have missed the opportunity."
When he first sent out troops, he could indeed go south, but the situation in Caizhou was in crisis, so he rushed to rescue him, but ended up stopping his troops at Yingzhou City. After this delay, Qi Banzhang was already preparing to attack Xu Su. Are you going to change homes with him?
I'm sorry, Shishu Cong doesn't want to change. Huaixi is poor and all industries are in ruins. Although Xusu is not that good, it is at least better than Huaixi.
"What a pity." Zhou Ben sighed, as if he was very sorry.
He still remembered the mission given to him by Yang Xingmi. The barrier of Yangzhou was the Huai River, and if he could gain another piece of territory north of the Huai River, it would be more secure. Xuzhou was the best target to capture.
However, the Liang and Huai families are closely related. We cannot do this directly and have to find another good opportunity. Shishu Cong has lived in Xuzhou for many years, and the families of Feisheng and Xiongwei have also moved here one after another. If he can be
Winning him over is definitely a great achievement.
Of course, this is just a way to build a relationship in advance. If Shishu Cong really surrenders now, Yang Xingmi will be in a dilemma. If someone brings troops and territory to surrender, there is no reason to push it out, but this will greatly worsen the relationship with him.
Zhu Quanzhong's relationship led to many twists and turns in the anti-Xia cause.
Therefore, contacting him in advance and maintaining the relationship is the best way at present. In the short term, Zhou Ben will not leave. This is his mission.
"Tomorrow I will go north to Suzhou. General Zhou will stay at the mouth of the river and wait for my good news." Shi Shucong made up his mind to save his old nest first.
****
Li Keyong took the lead and returned to Youzhou.
The past three months have been really fulfilling. In the twelfth lunar month, Liu Rengong was defeated in Youzhou, thousands of people were captured and killed, the Khitans were captured and surrendered, and more than 10,000 people were surrendered. Then a force was sent south to Ying, Mo, to wipe out the new local resistance elements, and since
The lords mobilized the camp and defeated it. After two months of hard fighting, they suffered a small defeat and then a great victory. Finally, Liu Rengong's remaining soldiers were defeated, and the camp was defeated, and the two states were defeated.
In this war, Gao Siji's brothers, who had gone north to join Yeluyi, also joined the war, but their total strength was only more than 10,000, and they were still newly defeated. In the end, they were unable to recover. Liu Rengong quickly fought with Gao Siji.
The brothers ran north together, like lost dogs.
He had won consecutive victories since the expedition, but Li Keyong was tired of the affairs in Youzhou. People rebelled every day, and after so many killings, no one dared to rebel, right?
"Since this expedition, we have killed more than 10,000 thieves for several months. I want to see if the Yan people still dare to fight back." Li Keyong threw away the riding whip, cloak and sword one by one like trash.
He was handed over to the soldiers, and then with the help of others, he removed his armor and put on his robes.
"Your Majesty, the Yan people should not dare to make any mistakes. Wang Rong of Zhenzhou also sent an envoy to say that if the king stops in Youzhou, he is willing to provide goods with Lu Yanwei." Gai Yu, who was following him, kept saying.
said.
"Wang Rong just defeated Wang Gao, so he got an advantage and acted like a good boy." Li Keyong sat on the bed, shook off his riding boots, then sat cross-legged and sneered: "Wang Gao is too careless, even Zhao
If you can't defeat the soldiers, what else can you expect him to do?"
Gai Yu smiled and didn't get involved in this matter.
The Wang and Li families are in-laws. Despite the fierce scolding of King Jin, in fact if something happens to Dingzhou, he will still come to the rescue.
"How is the situation in Henan?" The maid brought tea, Li Keyong took a sip and asked.
"Back to your Majesty, according to the last news I received, Xia soldiers have defeated Cai and Yingzhou, and there is a tendency to go north to outflank the Liang people." Gai Yu said.
After hearing this, Li Keyong was silent for a moment and asked, "What will be the consequences if Pang Shigu is defeated?"
"It depends on how the defeat will be." Gai Yu replied: "If the entire army is wiped out, Chen Xu will definitely not be saved. Quanzhong can control a few states in the north. It will be good. If he is only severely damaged, he can still survive for a while.
.”
"In your opinion, how long will it take to determine the winner?"
"It won't take more than half a year."
"Will half a year be enough for me to conquer Cangjing?" Li Keyong asked.
"Far from enough." Gai Yu replied honestly.
"You!" Li Ke glared and was about to curse.
"Husband..." Madam Liu signaled Gai Yu to stop talking with her eyes, walked behind Li Keyong, rubbed his shoulders, and said with a smile: "This is not a matter of beating up Cangjing Town, Chengde Wang Rong also has to count.
Come in. Maybe, seeing the critical situation, Wei Bo will also provide money, food, or even troops."
What Liu said is quite right.
It had been many years since Li Keyong first attacked Wang Rong, and he was still alive and kicking. She didn't know that in history, it took Zhu Quanzhong ten years to destroy the brothers Zhu Jin and Zhu Xuan. The cause of the incident was to attack the Tianping Army, but other
Will the princes watch helplessly? They are all vassal towns that have been stable for 140 years. They are ready for war at any time. They send troops when they say to send troops and rescue when they say to rescue. Zhu Quanzhong actually fought three vassal towns in those ten years. In the last two years
Within 20 years, he successively destroyed the three towns of Xu, Yan, and Yun. Can you say that it only took him two years to destroy the three towns? The actual situation is that it took him eight years to defeat the three towns.
The oil ran out, and it took two years to finish, and that didn't include the time wasted when he had to withdraw his troops due to interference from other directions.
A well-developed, well-armed, and well-arranged vassal and town separatist regime with clear goals is completely different from the temporary team that rises together to cause chaos in the world.
The latter may not necessarily rescue each other, or even if they rescue, they lack trust and experience and operate poorly, but the former have rescued each other too many times in the past 140 years and are very efficient.
"My uncle has been fighting Zhu Quanzhong for six or seven years, but he has not been able to defeat him completely." Liu added: "But in the process of fighting Zhu Quanzhong, he captured Shaanxi, Hezhong, Jinshang, Shannanxi
Dao, in the Tang Dynasty, Deng Sui, Huaixi, Heyang, Dongdu, Fengguo, nine towns and twenty-six states, also pacified the grassland threat. If your husband attacks Cangjing, Chengde will definitely send troops, Wei Bo and Ziqing will also be suspicious, saying
Maybe, the Khitans will invade the south under the instigation of Liu Rengong and Gao Siji. This is not just an attack on a vassal town, but General Gai is true to his word and is loyal."
Li Keyong nodded slightly.
He has little education and wonders whether the last years of other dynasties in ancient times were like this. When one party attacks the other, it often attracts a group of enemies and entangles them endlessly.
However, he still knew that when Cao Cao attacked Tao Qian in the late Han Dynasty, Tian Kai, Yuan Shu, and Yuan Shao did not send many troops to rescue him. It seemed that Tian Kai sent Liu Bei with a small force to Xuzhou, which was ineffective. Compared with Zhu Quanzhong,
, Cao Cao fought too easily, facing only one enemy at the same time, Tao Qian.
Li Keyong also remembered that when he attacked Xingmingci, Wang Rong came to interfere, and Wei Bo also secretly sent money and food; when he attacked Da, it attracted the interference of Youzhou and Shuo Fang; when he attacked Youzhou, it was like a stabbing.
It was like a hornet's nest all around, with all the enemies united.
Why can't I just defeat each one?
Of course, he would never have thought that when Zhu Quanzhong attacked Zhu Xuan, Shi Pu and Zhu Jin sent troops to rescue him, and Wei Bo opened the road for the Hedong cavalry to go to Yunzhou to help Zhu Xuan fight.
"Commander, there is one more thing. Liang Hanyong, Shude's son-in-law, hooked up with Shao Lun, the governor of Puzhou, and the Tianping army and horse troops were waiting for He Gui, causing a military chaos and imprisoning Zhu Xuan, the military envoy. After He Gui was granted the title of Liu, Qizhou surrendered to Zhu
Jin, the situation is also very tense." Gai Yu talked about another thing he had just found out.
"Why didn't you tell us about such a big thing earlier?" Li Keyong said angrily.
"There are wars everywhere and roads are blocked, so it is difficult to find out in time." Gai Yu said helplessly.
If you don't look at the attitude of Hebei feudal towns towards Hedong, can the official messenger let you pass? They can only pretend to be business travelers or scholars, but it's hard to say how fast it will be. It may be very fast, or it may be very slow. It depends on your luck.
.
"Does Shao Shude know the news?" Li Keyong asked.
"It's almost time to know." Gai Yu replied: "I heard that Wei Bo refused to let the Xia people use the road. It is too dangerous for the messenger to pass through Liang. If he diverts to the south, he has to pass through Zhu Jin and Yang Xingmi's territory.
It’s not easy. Liang Hanyong can only send out multiple messengers, either in disguise or by force, and it depends on his luck."
"Will Zhu Jin attack Xuzhou?" Li Keyong's thinking was unconstrained, and he quickly thought of such a possibility.
"Judging from the situation in the past year, he has stopped making trouble for Zhu Quanzhong, so it shouldn't be a problem." Gai Yu said: "Qizhou surrendered to Yanzhen. Zhu Jin may want to avenge his cousin and send troops to Yunzhou."
"Did Shude plan the military rebellion in Yuncheng?" Li Keyong asked again.
"Probably not, he has no reason to do this." Gai Yu said, "The root lies with Zhu Xuan."
After hearing this, Li Keyong's eyes flickered and he suddenly asked: "How many troops does Shude have in the rear?"
"Xia's army is divided into three groups, each with its own commander. The Huaizhou camp is commanded by Li Renjun, who has 22,000 infantry and cavalry from Heyuan, Yumen, and Baoyi. There are also 3,000 Mengzhou soldiers and 3,000 Huaizhou soldiers.
The total number is less than 30,000. There are also 8,000 Chishui troops and more than 4,000 Henan Fuzhou troops at Xuanmenguan and Sishui County. Although these two troops are affiliated with the Luoyang camp, they actually cooperate more with the Huaizhou camp.
"This 40,000-strong army is mainly for defense against Wei Bo. The Wei people should still have 70,000 to 80,000 soldiers and horses." Gai Yu said.
"The Wei people are not good at it. Quanzhong's 40,000 to 50,000 men can defeat their 100,000-strong army. I, the sergeant from Hedong, can easily defeat them. Continue." Li Keyong urged.
Gai Yu continued to count with his fingers: "There is Wuxing in Anyi, the Second Army of Guzhen has 16,000 infantry and cavalry, and the number of soldiers in Jiangzhou County of Jin is unknown. There are still 10,000 yamen troops in Hezhong Prefecture. Wang Yao and the king can't deal with them."
"
Li Keyong thought his last sentence was redundant and glared at him again.
Gai Yu was unmoved and continued: "Tongguan has 20,000 national troops and Luoyang has 8,000 Tiande troops. These are all reserves that can be reinforced at any time. If the king attacks Heyang or Hezhong, the Xia people can mobilize eight thousand
There are more than 10,000 yamen fighting, and the Henan Prefecture, Meng, and Huaizhou soldiers are also very powerful, so we should not act rashly."
The strength of more than 80,000 yamen troops is already very strong. The commander of the Luoyang camp, Li Tangbin, personally commanded only 50,000 people on the Yingshui line. The commander of the Tangzhou camp, Zhe Zongben, only had more than 40,000 yamen troops.
, Li Renjun, the head coach of the Huaizhou camp, has less than 30,000 people, and none of the three generals can compare with him.
"I don't know much about the land of Lingxia and have never found it. However, the numbers of Zhenwu, Xinquan, Jishi, Yicong, Tieqi, Feixiong and other armies did not appear in Henan. Most of them stayed in Guanbei. Shude Zhang
There are still more than 10,000 bodyguards and soldiers left to guard Feng and Sheng. The six major inspection envoys, tribes, two tribes in Yinshan, and a large number of soldiers from various states. I heard that there are also newly built Jindao, Heigui and other troops, and the Tielin army has also disappeared.
, I'm afraid it's in Lingxia." Gai Yu said: "Your Majesty, such strong strength should not be underestimated."
"But if we wait for him to deal with Zhu Quanzhong, I'm afraid he will usurp the throne." Li Keyong suddenly regretted it. He would have known that he would have fought to the death in Xuanhongchi. You can come with hundreds of thousands of horses, but I can defeat him with one force.
Of.
After hearing this, Gai Yu shook his head and sighed, saying: "After the river thaws in March, Shude may rush to transport grain and grass. After that, the grass will turn green and the wheat will ripen in June. The savings in Heyang and Luoyang will be greatly increased. By then the Xia people will
We may invest more troops to eliminate Pang Shigu in one fell swoop."
Li Keyong was unable to make a decision and was indecisive.
He now has more than 100,000 troops, but it is impossible to devote them all to one front. Bringing 60,000 to 70,000 yamen troops to reinforce one area is the limit. Besides, he does not want to save Zhu Quanzhong, and his relationship with Wei Bo and Cheng De is also very bad.
They can't get together.
"I'll think about it again." Li Keyong pounded the armrest of the bed heavily, feeling irritated.
Mrs. Liu looked at her husband with some worry, and couldn't help but comfort her: "Husband, although the Liang people have been defeated now, they can still be safe for a while. I feel that if the Xia people cannot increase their troops, they will be in danger within a few months."
Pang Shigu cannot be defeated. Li Tangbin, Li Renjun, and Zhe Zongben have about 150,000 troops and need more than 3 million people to support them. The Xia bandits have so many horses that they have indeed reached their limit. Husband, you might as well think about it carefully.
Should we continue to attack Cangjing, or return to capture Heyang or Hezhong. In any case, once we send out troops, there will be no way out."
"What Madam said is true. Let me think about it again," Li Keyong replied.
After saying that, he fell into deep thought and remained silent for a long time.