"Follow the emperor in order to defeat the unworthy ministers", "narrow the emperor in order to order the princes", these routines cannot be used by Liu Xiang.
He doesn't want others to use it either.
When Liu Xie passed away without any heirs, the orthodox position of the Han Dynasty naturally fell into the hands of the clan, and he could naturally attack those rebels who claimed to be king and emperor.
He was confident of taking advantage of the chaos to capture the Guanzhong Plain, but it would be too difficult to kill the emperor and court officials while taking advantage of the chaos without involving him.
Jia Xu is the key.
Liu Xiang believes that Jia Wenhe can do it, so the question is, why should he help him?
My head was cramping thinking about it and I couldn't think of any good ideas.
I needed someone to do the dirty work, and Jia Wenhe met all the requirements perfectly.
We recruited him seven years ago but failed. We recruited him for the second time the year before last and although there was some progress, it failed.
It seems that the Liangzhou Group, which he has high hopes for, has to be driven into a dead end before he can be taken under his command.
We can only wait until the end of the pass to see how the battle goes and then make plans.
Liu Xiang was meditating in his tent, and soon it was daybreak. The first person to come back was Liu Neng, carrying the head of the enemy general Lu Kuang.
Hu Qi was the first unit to be chased by You Dou. Like Cui Yi, he also targeted the enemy general and chased him for half the night. Finally, when the sun rose, he beheaded Lu Kuang, who was desperately fleeing.
Not long after, Yan Gang came back and reported that Liu Chong had occupied the enemy's camp, but there was nothing there except five or six thousand large and small vehicles. It was just an empty camp.
Liu Chong returned at noon, full of regret.
"The thieves are really cunning and let them run away again!"
The old man was very angry, and Chunyu Qiong abandoned the camp for the second time under his nose, which made him very depressed.
But it’s not easy to blame others. I was fighting anxiously with the enemy’s partial division. Without the cavalry to come to my aid, I really couldn’t say whether I would win or lose. It would be very ungrateful to complain.
Liu Xiang persuaded: "King Chen calmed down for the time being. The 20,000 enemy troops fled. Pengcheng guarded the river. It was difficult to capture for a while. The most urgent task was to defend Xiao County. Only by holding Xiao County in hand can we control the Bin River and move westward.
Open up the supply route of Liang Kingdom."
This is very pertinent. Liu Chong is not a ungrateful person. He knows exactly what the situation in the army is like. If we can't attack it, we might as well hold Xiao County and force the surrender of Zhuqiu County along the Bin River to open up the connection with Liang Kingdom.
of waterways.
This route relies on Bin River water transportation and is only more than 200 miles long, which can save a lot of transshipment costs.
The current supply routes include one from Lu State across Zhaoyang Lake and transported to Pei County, and the other from Liang State in a large circle to Shanyang County, and then along the Surabaya River to Peixian County. The journey consumes a lot of money and is very
Tight.
The main reason is that the third battalion of cavalry in the Chinese army is too hungry. There are more than 6,000 people and nearly 15,000 horses. The consumption is three times that of Liu Chong's soldiers. He can hardly afford it.
There's no way, war horses eat too much, you can't starve them!
He really understood the expense of raising cavalry. The food and fodder he prepared in advance was far from enough. He also completely gave up the idea of buying war horses to build a cavalry unit. Even if he could afford them, he couldn't afford them.
Just buy some pack horses for the scouts, but forget about the cavalry.
And Pengcheng is indeed difficult to defeat.
Surabaya turns a corner here in Pengcheng County, flowing from north to south and then to the southeast. The east-west Bin River flows into Surabaya here. Pengcheng guards the south bank of the river. The city is strong. Attacking by force is not a good idea, even if it is surrounded
Even after half a year, it may not be possible to win.
If we cannot capture Pengcheng, we will not be able to conquer the southern counties, and as we are about to run out of food and grass, the war will be unsustainable and will have to end here.
The plan to annihilate Yuan Shao and pacify the two countries failed. Liu Chong was in a low mood and couldn't help but lamented: "Your Majesty is covered in dust and the rebels are strong. When will the glory of the Han Dynasty be restored? I am nearly sixty years old, and I don't know if I can do it in my lifetime."
Have you ever seen that day?"
"King Chen, don't be discouraged. You should train your troops and work hard, and the day will come." Liu Xiang advised, and did not wait for Liu Chong to bring up the matter of running out of food, and said:
"To control the turmoil among the scholars, our army must return to quell the chaos. I will leave some troops in Tan County to contain Yuan Shao. King Chen should station troops in Xiao County to look for opportunities."
Yuan Shao only has 25,000 soldiers and horses left. He has to defend Pengcheng Kingdom and the southern counties of Pei Kingdom, so the probability of taking the initiative to attack is low.
Liu Chong is not aggressive enough, but he can still defend himself. Without him as a big consumer of food, his logistics pressure will be reduced, and he may be able to expand his army.
He didn't like the capture this time. It contained old weapons for more than 10,000 people and only a few thousand prisoners. They should all be used to strengthen the allies.
On the same day, he led his cavalry across the Surabaya River and met Guan Yu on the other side, preparing to rest for a day and return to the East China Sea.
Liu Chong said goodbye to him on the river bank. He was relieved in his heart. He really couldn't afford it anymore. The officials in charge of logistics transportation were urged by him to want to hang themselves. After occupying Peixian County, he had already emptied it. The treasury was empty.
If you can run away mice, the rich will be forced to starve.
This time when pursuing southward, we had to eat the food and grass left by Chun Yuqiong, otherwise we would not be able to catch up.
well!
At least he was victorious. After opening up the supply lines of the Liang Kingdom, he could use the captured weapons and prisoners to expand the army, and he also needed to train it carefully. The soldiers under his command were too weak.
I really envy those six thousand cavalry, they are really a strong army.
The clan alliance was disbanded due to lack of food and fodder. Fortunately, nothing bad happened. This was considered a good ending in the late Han Dynasty.
Yuan Shao didn't know this news, and Chunyu Qiong didn't know even more. He was still burning the pontoon bridge in a hurry.
In the middle of the night, he led 20,000 troops and 10,000 civilians, abandoned the camp again, fled southward like a rabbit, and did not arrive at the pontoon bridge until daylight.
As soldiers scrambled to cross the river, they often fell into the water and were trampled. Many people crowded on the bridge and even broke a pontoon bridge, which delayed a lot of time. It was not until the afternoon that the entire army crossed the Binshui River.
Fortunately, the enemy did not catch up.
Ignoring the objections of the defenders here, he found oil and burned the two pontoon bridges with a fire.
Looking at the ignited fire, he relaxed his tight heartstrings. As soon as he relaxed, he felt that his eyes were getting dark and the world was spinning.
Yuan Shao, who hurried over after receiving the report from the defenders, looked at the fire on the pontoon bridge and Chunyu Qiong who was stunned on the river bank. For a moment, he didn't know whether to scold him or praise him.
When the situation was critical, he was able to bring back 20,000 troops and stabilize the war situation. This was a great achievement, but this guy looked like he was as afraid of the enemy as a rat, which was really infuriating.
He stabilized his mind. This was the old man who followed him. He had made great achievements this time. He should not be too harsh. He called out: "Zhong Jian."
But Chunyu Qiong turned his head blankly and grinned: "Master, so-and-so is back." Before she could finish her words, she fell straight to the ground like a pillar.
Yuan Shao was startled by him. He quickly got off his horse, ran a few steps, rushed over and knelt down to check. He touched his nostrils and saw that he was full of energy!
fine!
Not dead.
"Here comes someone, take him back to the mansion quickly and tell Hua Tuo to come for diagnosis and treatment."
The group of people hurried back to Pengcheng, and the soldiers and horses were brought back to the military camp by their generals.
On the way, he also heard a report from Chunyu Qiong's servant. He had hardly slept for half a month, always thinking about how to resist the enemy's armored cavalry.
Returning to the mansion, Hua Tuo was already waiting here. He rolled his eyelids, looked at the coating on his tongue, took his pulse, and after some diagnosis, reported to Yuan Shao: "General Chunyu is so exhausted that he fainted. It's nothing serious. He'll be fine in a few days."
"Thank you for your hard work."
"General Yuan does not need to thank you for your duty as a doctor."
After seeing off Hua Tuo, Yuan Shao returned to the quiet room to visit Chunyu Qiong. As he approached the bed, the smell of rotten salted fish hit his brain. He staggered back several steps and held his nose for a long time before regaining his composure.
I was worried just now but I didn't realize that this person stinks so much.
It's not easy to think about it. Being able to bring back most of the soldiers and horses under the pursuit of Liu Yicheng's cavalry really takes a lot of effort.
"Come here, take off his clothes and armor, and scrub his body." It stinks so bad that even if he is not seriously ill, he will die from the fumes.
He took a deep look at Chunyu Qiong, who had a sallow complexion, lost a lot of weight, and was sleeping. He couldn't help but think of his days in Luoyang.
well!
When times are tough, only such loyal ministers can be relied upon.
Those scholars have been slow to make any move. When will they be able to force Liu Xiang to retreat?
He exited the quiet room and summoned his attendants: "Send the order to Guo Tu and order him to start immediately and not delay."