It was already February, and the wind on the north bank of the Yellow River was still chilly. The gray-white sky was dotted with patches of black clouds. Fortunately, it didn't rain, and the air and ground were quite dry.
There is Taishan Mountain in the northeast, Taihang Mountain in the northwest, and Songshan Mountain in the southwest. However, they are all at least hundreds of miles apart. You can't see anything with the naked eye. You can only find these mountains on a map.
Qin Liang was sitting on horseback, his position was higher than that of the infantry, but he still couldn't see any iconic terrain. Except for the big river, the surrounding area was very flat.
The south bank of the river is Yanzhou, and the north bank is the boundary of Jizhou. Without exception, it is an endless plain. There are many soldiers on the south bank, and people are sitting on the ground waiting. There are two pontoon bridges on the river, and people, horses, and vehicles are all on the pontoon bridges. They formed two long queues and crossed the river in an orderly manner. After people crossed the river, they formed three or four long queues and marched north along the road between the wheat fields.
Qin Liang stopped looking at the north, looked at Cheng Xi who was meeting him for the first time, and asked: "When did it happen?"
Cheng Xi said: "About the second half of the first lunar month, the servants realized that something was wrong and left quickly without waiting for Guanqiu Jian to openly rebel."
He continued: "On the twenty-fifth day, Guanqiu Jian hosted a banquet, which was obviously the Hongmen Banquet. It must have been to force me to conspire with him in the rebellion, so I asked Yuan Kai (Du Yu) to leave Jixian early. Halfway through, My subordinates also headed south from Jixian, and after catching up with us, they informed us that Guanqiu Jian had indeed violated the imperial edict!"
When Cheng Xi said this, he put his hand into his sleeve pocket, but showed hesitation and refused to take his hand out of his sleeve.
At this moment, Du Yu said: "Guanqiu Jian claimed that he had received a blood edict from His Majesty on his way back to Beijing to report on his duties. When he was planning to rebel, he had already shown the blood edict to the generals and sent out messages to various places."
When Cheng Xi heard this, he took out a slip.
Cheng Xi looked hesitant just now, Qin Liang was mentally prepared, and the scolding was probably harsh. This is normal. Since he was going to openly raise an army against Wang Ling, how could Qin Liang not try to find trouble? We can also pick out the bones for you.
However, after Qin Liang read the appeal, he suddenly felt very superior and felt unspeakably angry!
Absolute power, harming loyal people, falsifying edicts, coercing the emperor, not allowing the emperor to govern personally, harming the soldiers and the people, losing teachers and humiliating the country, etc. are all basic crimes. The most shameful part of the statement is that it even attacks Qin Liang's personal ethics and insults Queen Mother Guo’s reputation!
It was compiled in a precise and precise way, saying that Qin Liang seduced the Empress Dowager Guo's adopted sister and conspired to dig a tunnel in the Guo family's annex. When the Empress Dowager Guo returned home to offer sacrifices, he lured the Empress Dowager Guo into the annex courtyard and then dug out the tunnel from the tunnel. Take people away! So a year after Queen Mother Guo disappeared, she suddenly appeared in Yangzhou.
Naturally, there is also content that scolds Qin Liang and others for being crazy, committing all kinds of evil, and making people and gods angry!
Even Sima Yi didn't make up nonsense about this matter. Guanqiu Jian, who was riding a horse, was simply crazy!
Qin Liang's face turned red from suppressing it. It turned white and red. How can this be justified? For some things, the explanation will only become darker and darker. He did take the Queen Mother Guo away. It makes sense to say that she was kidnapped, but it was not what others thought. That's what happened.
This message was posted everywhere, and sooner or later it would reach Luoyang. Empress Dowager Guo is a person who cares about reputation very much. I don't know how she felt when she saw such a description. She might not only be angry, but also feel ashamed and other various discomforts.
Qin Liang endured it secretly. When he looked up, he saw Cheng Xi and Du Yu paying attention to their expressions. Qin Liang's reaction was indeed unhappy, but it is normal to be unhappy when someone scolds him.
"He keeps claiming to be a loyal minister, but he doesn't even care about the reputation of His Majesty and his mother." Qin Liang said, "And his blood edict must be a forgery!"
Everyone immediately agreed, and some people shouted, how could it be His Majesty's blood letter? Some military officers even said bluntly: "It's not necessarily human blood, maybe it's pig blood."
Of course the generals would say so, and Qin Liang insisted that it was a false edict, but he couldn't help but wonder in his heart, maybe the blood edict was true?
Du Yu bowed his hands and said, "I failed to convince Guan Qiu Jian, so I have fulfilled my mission."
Qin Liang exhaled and said: "It is very difficult for one or two people to turn things around in the world. Since Yuan Kai has tried his best, it will be great if he can come back safely."
Thinking of Princess Jinxiang's vague secret, Guan Qiu Jian's relationship with Emperor Ming was probably extraordinary. To make Guan Qiu Jian change his mind, just talking the truth would not be enough. Even though Du Yu had a clear mind, he still couldn't come up with anything that was consistent with the situation. Guanqiu Jian's real thing of equivalent exchange.
Qin Liang looked at Cheng Xi again. He was very dissatisfied with Cheng Xi because this person did not play any role. But Cheng Xi's running away can be regarded as an example. There may be others in Youzhou who surrender, so he must set an example for others to surrender. People understand that surrendering is okay.
So Qin Liang did not blame Cheng Xi, but said: "General Cheng understands justice well and knows right and wrong."
Cheng Xi said hurriedly: "I am an official of the imperial court, so of course I will not collude with local rebel generals!"
Du Yu and Cheng Xi stayed in Qin Liang's army. Qin Liang temporarily appointed Du Yu to join the army, so that he could legitimately make suggestions during meetings. Cheng Xi was the governor of Qingzhou, and now he has become a bachelor, but He has been stationed in Jixian for a long time, has a good understanding of Youzhou's military and political geography, and can also serve as a consultant.
The two of them rode south, which was very fast, and it took time for the news to spread. Qin Liang then sent two messengers to Anping County and Changshan County respectively to convey the news that Guanqiu Jian had launched an army to rebel in the late first month of the month.
Anping County is where the Jizhou Governor's Department is located, and it is now presided over by Deng Ai, the Jizhou Governor.
Changshan County was located near Shijiazhuang in later generations. When Qin Liang mentioned this place name, the sentence "Changshan Zhao Zilong" would come to his mind. It was probably this place. However, the importance of Changshan County at this time was mainly reflected in its location, close to Taihang Mountain. , it is also on the same line as Taiyuan County in Bingzhou to the west.
The county governor is Zhen Yan, the empress's father. Cao Shuang, during the Sima Yi period, seemed to be wary of the emperor's relatives. The dignified state leader had only served as the chief of Quliang in a county called Quliang in Guangping County for a long time. Last year, the governor of Changshan was vacant. Empress Dowager Guo asked the father-in-law to be given the position of county guard.
The strength of the county guard was much inferior to that of the governor at the state level. Neither the Wang family nor Qin Liang tried to stop him, which was very embarrassing for Empress Dowager Guo. Unexpectedly, this position suddenly became important at this time.
The next day, all the tens of thousands of Qin Liang's infantry and cavalry crossed the river, and the army continued to move north.
There were five routes of Chinese and foreign troops to counter the rebellion, one of which was the Bingzhou Tianyu tribe. They had to cross the Taihang Mountains before they could enter the eastern battlefield.
The area near the Taihang Mountains has been a place of frequent wars since the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. People have long been familiar with this mountain range and have found several routes for troops to cross the valley, called "Xings". There are eight Xings in Taihang, and Tian Yu must be one of them. The closest route is Jingxing on the Changshan County side.
On the other side was the Wenqin tribe. His men were thousands of cavalrymen drawn from the Five School Camps, Zhongjian Camp and other places in the north of the city. They entered Hanoi County through Mengjin Pass. Then they went north along the eastern foot of Taihang Mountain, which was the western route of the army.
The middle route led by Qin Liang took the ferry across the river to the west of Yanzhou Prefecture, facing Anping County of Jizhou Prefecture; there was another route nearby led by Yang Wei. Further east, near the border of Qingzhou, was the left army of the Zhongba camp under Xiong Shou.
More than 10,000 people belong to the Eastern Route Army.
By marching separately in this way, the speed will be faster. When we go out every day, the people behind us are still queuing up at noon and have not started to set off.
The terrain on the north bank of the Yellow River is flat and there are many roads. Qin Liang's men and horses were divided into three or four roads to march at the same time. There were only more than 10,000 men and horses, and the scene was majestic and spectacular.
Most of the people were on foot, and the cavalry were also on foot. Each team moved forward in an orderly manner. Qin Liang and others were riding horses and were faster, but they could only follow the advancing speed of the army.
There was a piece of wasteland not far away. Qin Liang and his entourage left the road and stopped on the wasteland first. The big flag decorated with cow hair was still in the army, only the flag with the word "Qin" written on it and decorated with bird feathers.
, followed Qin Liang and left the main road.
Qin Liang looked at the situation on the road for a while, then jumped off the horse and took out a map from his bag to look at.
Although Hebei is a flat plain with no danger to defend, there are several east-west rivers and the cities built on them, which still play a strategic role. It's just that when fighting on the northern plains, one man can control thousands of people like in the mountains.
Mokai is impossible, and these terrains only play a role in delaying and deploying during mobile warfare.
Going south from Youzhou, there are three long rivers blocking it. One is the Juma River, which is roughly located at the junction of Youzhou and Hebei. If Guanqiu Jian does not waste time fishing in Jixian County, but decisively goes south to attack, then he must
It's too late for a duel at the Juma River.
The Hutuo River is not far away and cannot catch up. On this front, only Changshan County on the far west side needs to be defended. Otherwise, the Bingzhou Tianyu Department may not be able to catch up with Rehu.
Further south is the line of Zhangshui. Anping County, the seat of Jizhou, is in the middle, located in the south of Zhangshui. Because Deng Ai was in charge of defense in Anping County earlier, the Zhangshui Basin cannot be completely handed over to others.
Guanqiu Jian's biggest target in the early stage must be Yecheng! It was not only one of the ruling centers of the Wei Dynasty, but also had a large number of scholars. Not only could Guan Qiu Jian see such a big goal, but Qin Liang also knew about it.
A goal in front of everyone's eyes.
However, the battle for Yecheng cannot be fought in Yecheng. If the rebels have already arrived at Yecheng, it means that the vast territory of Hebei has been under the control of Guanqiu Jian and has become similar to Yuan Shao before the Battle of Guandu.
monster.
Apart from Yecheng, the first important town in the north that people think of is Anping County (south of Hengshui City), the administrative seat of Jizhou.
But before that Qin Liang saw another city, located in Nanpi, Bohai County, east of Anping County.
While still in Luoyang, Qin Liang had paid attention to Nanpi. However, he had already asked Deng Ai to take charge of Jizhou's defense. At that time, he did not want to micromanage the details of defense, so he wanted to wait for Deng Ai to report his strategy first.