0882 Stopping the way
Previously, when he was in Jiangdong Jiankang, although Shen Zhezi discussed a lot with Xi Jian, he was not involved in the issue of handing over Xuzhou.
With the lessons that Tao Kan and Yu Yi taught Jingzhou privately the previous time, Taicheng actually has a lot of precautions against the problem of Xuzhou. If Shen Zhezi and Xi Jian dared to do it again, then Taicheng would really be angry. For example, recently, the Jiangdong Imperial Court has been hotly discussing the use of Lujiang He to fill the Zhenjing Mansion for a while, in fact, to prevent this incident from happening again.
Although Beijing has no strong troops to defend it, it is the most important backup base in Xuzhou, and it is difficult for Xuzhou to maintain sufficient military resources without the cooperation of Beijing. After all, Xuzhou does not have the advantage that Huainan can share the Dingcang channel. Once He Chong arrived in Beijing, he had the ability to encircle the military leaders in Xuzhou.
And although Xi Jian is nearly seventy years old, he still has the need to exert his residual heat and establish his achievements. After all, the north is in a mess at the moment, and there is no strong opponent, so it can be said that as long as the scheduling is appropriate, Xi Jian's position still has great room to play. Even if he himself is no longer obsessed with fame and position at this age, he still has to think about the future of future generations.
Xi Jian's children were all born after Nandu, and their age and qualifications were not enough to inherit his power, and there was a lack of outstanding talents in his clan, so he was very keen to build special merits to accumulate protection for his children. If Shen Zhezi clearly proposed that he was ready to take over Xi Jian's power, it would undoubtedly anger Xi Jian, cause a rift in the originally harmonious relationship between the two sides, and even make Xi Jian deliberately alienate Huainan.
However, although it was not explicitly proposed, Shen Zhezi was also strengthening his influence in Xuzhou, and the way he used was also to invest in Xi Jian's favor, taking the initiative to help Xi Jian take on the task of solving the hidden dangers in Xuzhou, and sending troops to help Xuzhou. With the help of the Huainan Army, in the next one to two years, Xi Jian is very likely to recover the land of Qing and Yanzhou south of the Yellow River during his tenure, and even after leaving office, it is very likely that he will return to the land of Gaoping Sangzi.
As for Shen Zhezi himself, he didn't care much about who regained the Qingyan and Yanzhou Prefectures, he was still very young, and he still had the big goal of the entire Hebei and Guanzhong in the future, and there was no need to compete with the old man for a while. Therefore, for Xuzhou, he is a clear and clear conspiracy, and on the premise of helping Xi Jian to make further contributions, he gradually wedges his power and influence into Xuzhou. This will naturally not cause Xi Jian's resistance, after all, the goals pursued by the two sides are different, but the path is the same.
While Huainan was transporting supplies to Xuchang, the army finally had substantive action. When Cao Na and Xu Mao of Wukou reported that they had killed the leader of the Xuzhou army, Yu Manzhi led 1,500 cavalry from Wukou to the east and arrived in Sikou, and will be directly under the command of his father-in-law Xi Jian and directly enter the Xuzhou battle. In the future, Yu Manzhi will also directly serve as the subordinate general of Xuzhou Thorn Mansion, which can be regarded as the second wedge in Xuzhou outside of Shen Mu.
Then it entered a peak period of Huainan troops, Lu Yong led an army of 10,000 troops from Rushui to garrison Xiangcheng, so far more than 30,000 Huainan troops have been gathered around Xuchang. Then Xie Yi and Shen Yun led 3,000 cavalry into Nanyang Wancheng, and joined forces with Sima Wuji, the king of Qiao, and slowly marched north. At the same time, Lu Yongsuo's 3,000 troops were stationed in Luyang, west of Xiangcheng, which echoed the Nanyang army advancing northward, blocking the southeast exit route from Luoyang.
At this point, the strategy of the Huainan Army was finally clear, that is, to encircle Luoyang in the west and fight in the east. Of course, it will take some time for this strategic intent to be extended to the four sides. And Shen Zhezi finally came out of Shouchun and went north to Xuchang along Yingshui. Mao Bao of Runan divided his troops of 2,000 troops and took over the defense of the western border of Shouchun under the command of Li Cang, the general of Runan.
So far, the mobilized strength of the Huainan Army has exceeded 50,000. Shouchun in Huainan and Linying near Yingshui continued to recruit soldiers as two conquest centers. Since the beginning of March, the six counties under the Huainan Governor's Office have mobilized more than 200,000 manpower. This number continues to climb, and the first large-scale war in the eleventh year of Xianhe has begun.
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"It's only a few hours, just a few hours......"
Located in a high gang field in the north of Xiang County, Pei County, Liu Zheng stood on the high post with a blue face, looking at the Huainan soldiers and horses gathering more and more more than ten miles away, and the color of almost despair had emerged in his eyes.
How so? Obviously, the investigation learned that there was no strong enemy in the north, why did so many Huainan troops suddenly appear in Peijun?
The range of this high post is not large, and it is connected to the dilapidated Xiangxian city in the rear. In early summer, the barren grass grew violently, reaching no knees, and the trampled and bent barren grass clearly outlined the trajectory of the rebels.
More than ten days ago, in Supre, northeast of the harboring place of the rebel army, internal strife broke out in the Xuzhou army, mainly due to the internal strife in the headquarters of the Mitong Office, which was originally stationed in Supre. Previously, Mi Tong was ordered to go to Huainan, but when he arrived at the vortex, he was shot by the Huainan army with random arrows and beheaded and sent back to Xuzhou. At the same time, the charges of colluding with the rebel army to attack and kill the villagers were also fully revealed, and the whole territory of Xuzhou was in an uproar for a while.
Although Mi Tong died, most of his subordinates remained in Supre, and his sons had a dispute, the eldest son Mi Kong advocated leading the people to surrender and then attacking the Nozawa rebellion in order to make meritorious contributions, while the second son Mi Huai and the third son Mi Zhen both opposed. The brothers could not be united, and as a result, a conflict broke out, Mi Kong died at the hands of two brothers, and Mi Zhen was defeated and died when he led the crowd to meet Li Hong, and only Mi Huai led more than 2,000 remnants to rush into Daze.
This matter is naturally very happy for Liu Zheng, he and Mi Tong have been suspicious of each other for an early age, and they don't care about his death. In fact, when his nephew Liu Manzhan died in the lower prime minister, he already suspected that Mi Tong was framing him, so when Mi Tong sent someone to inform Yan that Li Hong of Pengcheng had come south and persuaded him to immediately lead the people to the north, he couldn't believe it at all, thinking that Mi Tong was still harming him.
Although Nozawa didn't know much about the outside world, Liu Zheng naturally felt that such a big shock broke out. He didn't feel guilty for misunderstanding Mi Tong, but he was just glad that this fool had committed suicide and bought himself a golden opportunity with the lives of his people and his subordinates. At the same time, most of the Xuzhou army also assembled downward, and entered Daze from the east and south directions to encircle and suppress.
After accepting the remnants of the Mi Command, Liu Zheng immediately made a decision and ordered his subordinates to break through to the north in a big way. This was a retreat route that he had planned for several years, arranging a large number of people who had fled into Nozawa to the southeast of Nozawa to be suspicious, and his main force was swimming out of Nozawa with all his money, although it also experienced some small-scale battles, but tens of thousands of chaotic troops poured out, and soon broke through the blockade of the Xuzhou army.
After the rebels rushed out of Nozawa, they also experienced a period of chaos. There was a dispute among the military leaders about where to go next, so Liu Zheng did not insist on unifying the hearts of the people, but led thousands of people to the northwest. On the way, he encountered some men and horses of the Xuzhou Army who were chasing after hearing the news, and they never fell in love with the war, but continued to flee in pieces, and agreed to take Peijun Xiangxian as the next assembly place.
Although he has now fallen into the remnants of the rebellious army, Liu Zheng has also been in Huaibei for a long time, so he is familiar with the water conditions and terrain of Huaibei Mountain, coupled with the continuous exploration in the previous small-scale raids, the escape route was determined very early.
He knew that the Xuzhou Army and the Huainan Army were bounded by Whirlpool, and the Huainan Army was mainly concentrated in Qiaojun, while the large army of Xuzhou Army was assembled in Pengcheng, which was a blank area, and if you followed the north of Surabaya and then turned into Suishui, you could come into contact with Chen Guangsuo's men and horses who were active near Chen Liuyongqiu. However, this route was too long, and the Suishui River was wide and strong, which was more conducive to the pursuit of the Xuzhou army.
However, Liu Zheng still made a false appearance, and sent someone to contact Chen Guang as early as the year before last, expressing his willingness to surrender to Chen Guang, hoping that Chen Guang would be able to send troops to meet him. Previously, when he decided to break through, he also continued to send people to Chen Guang to send letters, and after leaving Nozawa, he ran along Suishui all the way to the northwest.
But this is actually just a gesture, he hopes to seduce Chen Guang's men and horses, even if Chen Guang does not send troops, he makes such a false appearance here, it will definitely make the Xuzhou army suspicious, so that the Xuzhou army does not dare to pursue too much. As long as the Xuzhou army hesitated a little, he would be able to flee to his real escape route, rush into Dangshan from Peijun, flee from Dangshan to the northeast for dozens of miles, and then rush into Peize, and since Peize continued to run north for a few days under the cover of Nozawa, he could reach Juyeze.
When he arrived in Junozawa, he was completely safe. Because Juyeze can be directly connected to the Yellow River by Jishui, it is only within two or three hundred miles of Yecheng, which is guarded by Shikan, the king of Wei, and the people of the country can gallop to help at any time. At that time, the Xuzhou army will definitely not dare to chase too much, and the entire Yanzhou will become a base for him to recuperate and grow!
The reason why this route was difficult was because Pengcheng happened to be blocked in the distance from Surabaya Nozawa to the north, and Peize was even closer to Pengcheng. Before he could reach Junozawa, Pengcheng's defenders could strike a fatal blow at any moment.
But now that Li Hong has gone south, how can the transformation of the army be completed overnight. Liu Zheng, as an important general of Shikan, has only been in Pengcheng for a long time compared to Li Hong. As long as he can seize a little advantage, he is confident that he can make full use of the terrain and leave Li Hong's pursuit far behind.
was able to hold out under the siege of the Xuzhou army for several years, and Liu Zheng was naturally not mediocre. Therefore, in the first half of this escape, as Liu Zheng expected, when he led the crowd to rush into Peijun, it was obvious that there was a slight delay in the pursuit of the army.
In just a few hours, Liu Zheng's troops trekked through mountains and rivers, and the curved distance between them and the pursuing soldiers was nearly 100 miles long. And because the rebel army has very little military equipment, it is necessary to be more flexible in escaping, and choose more barren mountains and mountains, although it is inevitable to break up along the way, but when they arrive in Xiangxian, they still maintain the scale of more than 3,000 people. Therefore, Liu Zheng was also a rare extravagance, and stayed in the city of Xia Xiang to rest for a few hours, and nearly a thousand people chased after him in the process.
However, when he sent people to explore Dangshan, he found more than a dozen ranger scouts. At that time, Liu Zheng still imagined that it should be just a small force that roamed here, and it should not affect the subsequent escape. They kept leading all the way, and it was impossible for the Xuzhou army to have such a large force intercepted directly in front of them by such a coincidence.
However, the subsequent developments broke Liu Zheng's illusions, and of course he did not guess wrong, the troops in front were indeed not the Xuzhou Army but the Huainan Army. And the part he guessed wrong was that the Huainan Army was not only intercepting here, but the scale was far beyond his imagination!
Seeing that the Huainan army under Gaogang is still assembling, the front 2,000 have been completed, and there are still military formations in the follow-up. In addition to being full of bitterness, Liu Zheng is also indignant, the bullshit Wang Shi is heroic, dealing with a chaotic army of his own, and he actually wants to exaggerate to the point that the two major military towns will work together to send troops!