Chapter 11 The Sunset of the Long River, Section 26, Weiyang Palace, Qilin Palace. The general Li Hong urgently summoned the ministers to discuss matters at Shangshutai.

Shang Shu ordered Tian Chou to read out the letter from Xiangyang. On the first day of the first lunar month, the Son of Heaven of Xiangyang issued an edict to divide Liu Biao as the king of Chu to lead Jingzhou, Liu Zhang to lead Yizhou as the king of Shu, Liu Bei to lead Liangzhou as the king of Qin, Cao Cao to lead Xuzhou as the Duke of Wei, Yuan Tan as the Duke of Liang to lead Yuzhou, and Sun Quan as the Duke of Wu to lead the four counties of Yangzhou and Jiangdong.

Yuan Xi and Zhou Yu each made county marquis, and there were as many as a dozen other county marquis.

"Xiangyang made a wrong judgment about the situation in Chang'an." Li Hong said with a smile,

"They think that I am ready to usurp and are looking for an opportunity to make themselves king, so they can't wait to divide the princes and take the initiative to give me a chance to be crowned king."

"I'm afraid that the general can't solve the problem by being the king alone." Zhang Yan shook his head and said disdainfully,

"This group of rebels has sinister intentions, intent on splitting Chang'an, so that the meritorious people in the court will fight for the sake of dividing the princes, so as to completely destroy the society. In the early years, Yuan Shao used this trick to deal with us, and last year Xiangyang still used this trick to deal with us, and now they simply tear their faces, and they are sealed first, and they will show us first. The more Zhang Yan spoke, the more angry she became, and she slapped the case hard.

"These scourges are more than innocent." The ministers were indignant, filled with righteous indignation, and cried out in unison against the rebellion.

"Don't mention the word appeasement now, it will seriously affect the prestige of the Son of Heaven and the imperial court." Yang Biao's expression was solemn and he said slowly,

"Xiangyang made this decision, apparently after some careful consideration. At present, the counterinsurgency strategy of the imperial court is to advance westward to Pingqiang and recover Liangzhou, and even if the army wants to attack south, the scale will not be too large. It was precisely because Xiangyang accurately predicted our attack strategy that it made this astonishing decision. ”

"If the imperial court follows the established counterinsurgency strategy, the southern rebellion will win more time for recovery and development. During this time, the rebels' separations will have a great impact on us. None of us can guarantee that no one in the army or in the local prefectures and counties will proceed from their own interests and turn to Xiangyang. As long as one person betrays the court and makes a start, there will be a crowd behind. How many people in the court can resist this great temptation? How many people don't want to be a prince and a hegemon? ”

"On the other hand, if the imperial court changes its established strategy in a fit of rage and turns south to attack, then Liu Bei, Han Yi and the Qiang people in Liangzhou will become the biggest threat to Gyeonggi, and we will inevitably fall into the dilemma of fighting on two fronts. At that time, Gyeonggi will be in a state of emergency, and the southward counterinsurgency will also be lost, and the counterinsurgency battle may be a failure. Yang Biao looked at Li Hong and asked solemnly, "General, what do you mean?" Will it attack in the south, or will it go west to Pingqiang? ”

"At this time, if we don't go south to quell the rebellion, where is the majesty of the Great Han?" Li Hong sighed and looked up at Prime Minister Li Wei,

"Can the financial endowment of the imperial court support the army to fight on two fronts?"

"Nope." Li Wei shook his head very resolutely,

"It has only been a year and a half since the end of the Luoyang War, how much wealth can the imperial court accumulate? During this time, the Weiyang Palace has been rebuilt, and the Hexi battlefield has also been fighting, which is very costly. Judging from the current financial surplus and the estimated financial income this year, the imperial court can only support one battlefield at most, and the number of troops put into the battlefield must be strictly controlled below 100,000. Li Hong frowned, and cast an inquiring glance at Dasi Nong Zhong Xuan.

Zhong Miao smiled bitterly,

"General, you have only one choice, either go west to Pingqiang or go south to quell the rebellion."

"General, since October last year, various prefectures and counties have successively transported grain, grass and ordnance to Guanzhong, and the preliminary preparations of the imperial court are all for the purpose of advancing west to Pingqiang, so ......" Great Sima Xu Rong said worriedly,

"If you change your plan temporarily, I'm afraid nothing will happen this year."

"The strategy of westward expansion into Pingqiang will not change." Li Hong said calmly,

"But before advancing west into Liangzhou, we must attack Xiangyang in order to maintain the majesty of the Son of Heaven and the imperial court, in order to show the strong force of the Han Dynasty. This is not only conducive to stabilizing the prefectures and counties, but also to cracking down on rebellion, and is more conducive to the westward march of the army into Pingqiang. Li Hong glanced at the ministers in the hall, and his tone was unquestionable,

"No matter how difficult it is for the imperial court, it must immediately launch an attack on Xiangyang." In the afternoon of the same day, the six auxiliary ministers met with the eldest princess, and the resolutions of the ministers were played in detail, and the eldest princess was allowed to play.

On the twenty-second day of the first month, the Son of Heaven issued an edict to the world, spreading the word to the county of Zhuzhou to crusade against rebellion. On the twenty-fourth day of the first month, the generals Li Hong, the great Sima Xu Rong and the imperial lieutenant Zhang Yan convened the generals in Beijing to lead the army.

Shi Chenwei, the governor of the Great Sima Mansion, explained in detail the attack strategy of the imperial court. This year, the army attacked the western frontier with the main force, striving to defeat the Qiang people and the rebels of all walks of life within one to two years, and recover the counties of Liangzhou, so as to realize the strategy of controlling Shu with the alliance and establish the absolute superiority of attacking Yizhou.

At the same time, the Central Plains army will be divided into two routes to the south, all the way to open up the Xuzhou battlefield, and Cao Cao fierce battle on the Pengcheng line; All the way to open up the Jingzhou battlefield, and Liu Biao fought fiercely on the front line of Nanyang.

The rebels in the south believe that we are anxious to advance westward in order to ensure the security of Gyeonggi, and that we do not have the strength to go south for the time being, and they are vainly trying to block us in the Central Plains and buy ourselves breathing time, so as to achieve a confrontation between the north and the south.

We can't give them time to breathe, we have to extend the battlefield to Xuzhou, Yuzhou, Jingzhou and other places, so that we can not only occupy more land and get food, but also continue to fight, continue to consume the enemy's army, and not let them have any time to breathe.

Grand Sima Xu Rong and Taiwei Zhang Yan then gave a detailed explanation of the attack strategies on the Xuzhou and Jingzhou battlefields.

In recent years, the financial endowment of the imperial court was unable to support the two-front battle, and in such a difficult situation, the imperial court also forcibly opened up two battlefields in the south, the main purpose of which was to maintain the majesty of the Son of Heaven and the imperial court, continue to threaten the southern rebellion, and strike at the enemy to the greatest extent and consume the enemy.

In the case that the two battlefields cannot mobilize all their forces to launch an attack, it is very important to choose the timing and time of the attack in order to successfully achieve the goal, so the commanders of the two battlefields need to cooperate with each other, coordinate operations, and strive to obtain the greatest results at the lowest cost.

The general Li Hong asked the Left Guard general Lu Bu to go to Yanzhou by name and command the 80,000 troops of the six battalions of the two prefectures of Qinghai and Yanzhou to go south and open up the battlefield in Xuzhou.

The general Gao Shun and the mighty general Wei Xu led the Yanzhou army, and the mighty general Zang Ba commanded the Qingzhou army, and the three generals were all controlled by Lu Bu.

Lu Bu was implicated in the rebellion case this time and was dismissed from his post as a guard lieutenant. This time, the imperial court sent him to open up the battlefield in Xuzhou, obviously to give him the opportunity to make meritorious contributions.

Lu Bu was grateful and swore to repay the general's trust. On the choice of the commander of another large army, Li Hong, Xu Rong and Zhang Yan had different opinions.

Originally, the general wanted to let the rook cavalry general Koyi go to Yingchuan, but Xu Rong and Zhang Yan thought that Koyi and Wang Dang were difficult to get along with, and it was not appropriate for Koyi to go to Yingchuan.

Xu Rong recommended Zhao Yun, the general of the right guard, but the general wanted Zhao Yun to go to the western frontier with him. Zhang Yan recommended the left general Yan Liang or the right general Wen Chou, and the general said that the two of them could not be separated, and he would take them to the Liangzhou battlefield together.

The general said that if Koji Yi is not suitable, then let Yang Feng go. Zhang Yan was silent, he was a little dissatisfied with the general's arrangement.

The general brought all his cronies to the battlefield in Western Xinjiang, and his intention was self-evident. Almost all the generals of the major battalions in Yanzhou are Lu Bu's people, Gao Shun, Wei Xu, Li Feng, and Song Xian are now all in Yanzhou to command the army, and Lu Bu is handy in command.

In addition to Wang Dang, Liao Lei and others from the Yellow Turban Department, there are also Zhang Xiu from the former Xiliang Army, Lu Mian, Zheng Bao, Liu Pi and others from the original Jianghuai Department.

During the period when Wang Dangdu led the military administration of Yingchuan, there was a lot of friction between the generals of various factions. After Lu Mian entered Beijing this time, in front of the general and Zhang Yan, he asked to be transferred out of Yingchuan, which shows that the contradictions within the Yingchuan army are already very deep.

In the past, this army was commanded by Yan Liang and Wen Chou, and in Zhang Yan's view, either of them going to Yingchuan could effectively alleviate the contradictions between the various armies and help open up the Jingzhou battlefield.

But the general didn't want to, and he couldn't help it. Judging from the current situation in Yingchuan, this battle is difficult to fight, because if Jingzhou is hit, Yuan Tan of Yuzhou will go north to fight Yingchuan, and if he is not careful, the battle of Jingzhou will fail.

If the Yellow Turban generals go to command, they will have to bear the responsibility for failure. Zhang Yan didn't want to bear the loss.

Zhang Yan thought of a reason to refuse. Yingchuan is different from other places, it and Runan, Nanyang three places are the thriving place of the dynasty scholars, generations of talents, at this moment whether it is Chang'an, or Xiangyang, there are a large number of Yingru people.

If the imperial court wants to achieve the greatest results in Jingzhou and Yuzhou at the lowest cost, the best way is to appease while fighting.

"If the imperial court sends a minister who is very influential among the Yingru people to command the battle in Yingchuan, it will definitely achieve unexpected results." Zhang Yan said,

"Wang Dang has been in Yingchuan for more than a year, and although he works hard, he is a martial artist after all, and it is difficult to get the approval of the local scholars. I estimate that after Yang Feng went, the situation was even worse. Zhang Yan's suggestion reminded Li Hong and Xu Rong.

Jingzhou and Yuzhou are different from Xuzhou, these two states are full of talented people, and most of them support Xiangyang, even if the army occupies some counties, it may not be able to gain a foothold there.

This suggestion is indeed very clever, but it has one worrying point, that is, for the first time in more than ten years, the army in northern Xinjiang is controlled by scholars, and it is also a non-northern Xinjiang scholar, which is a little difficult for Li Hong to accept for a while.

Zhang Yan disagreed. Except for the men and horses that Yuan Yao brought out from Jianghuai back then, the rest of the battalions and armies in Yingchuan were all from northern Xinjiang, and they could not be controlled by just one person.

In the past, when Huangfu Song and Zhang Wen led their troops to quell the rebellion in Western Xinjiang, they never really controlled the armies of Dong Zhuo and Li Hong.

Xu Rong thought about it carefully and felt that this was a good idea. If the battle is won, the generals in the army have merit, and the results are certainly not small; If it loses, it will be able to further suppress other non-northern forces in the DPRK and China.

In short, for the imperial court and the people of northern Xinjiang, the advantages outweigh the disadvantages. In addition, at this moment, if the general takes the initiative to invite the imperial court and let the ministers outside the northern Xinjiang department command the army, he can not only gain the trust of the court and help the stability of the court, but also have a great impact on the southern rebellion, help to divide and appease the rebellion, shorten the time to pacify the world, and may even make the great cause of Zhongxing move faster.

General Li Hong thought about it all night, carefully weighed the pros and cons, and decided to adopt Zhang Yan's suggestion. On the twenty-sixth day of the first month, the general Li Hongzuo invited the eldest princess and implored the eldest princess to appoint the commander of the Yingchuan army.

The eldest princess was also puzzled at first, but after listening to the general's explanation, she suddenly realized that she urgently summoned Taifu Yang Biao and Yushi Dafu Xun You to discuss the matter.

Yang Biao and Xun You suspected that they had heard it wrong, and they were stunned for a long time, and after thinking for a long time, they just didn't dare to express their opinions.

The general explained, sincerely hoping that the two adults could understand him, believe in himself, and recommend candidates as soon as possible.

Yang Biao and Xun You returned to the Taifu Mansion together, and the two discussed for a long time, but they couldn't make a decision, worried that this was the general's plan to kill people with a knife.

In the afternoon, Ting Weiqing Chen Qun, Dasi Nongqing Zhong Xuan, and Da Hongluqing Yuan Yao rushed to Taifu's mansion one after another, and after hearing this amazing news, the three of them were also greatly surprised.

What does it mean to be a general? This kind of groundbreaking

Will "good deeds" also appear in today's court? Could it be that the great general was really determined to hand over the army to the Son of Heaven and the imperial court?

"One thing is for sure...... Yang Biao said,

"In this attack on Nanyang, Yingchuan's 70,000 troops can only dispatch half at most, and the remaining half will block Yuan Tan's counterattack in Yuzhou. Therefore, the battle was not won, and the best result was a draw, and the army retreated to the Luyang line to confront the rebels. It's better to say that if you lose, even if you don't lose your head, you have to go home to retire, so that our strength in the court is getting weaker and weaker. ”

"It seems that before the general goes to the western frontier, he will drive out a group of non-northern Xinjiang ministers to ensure the stability of the court." Chen Qun sighed,

"This time, it's not going to be crowded again, is it?"

"I don't think the general has any ill intentions, this is an opportunity for him to take the initiative to give us." Xun Yu pondered for a long time and said,

"As soon as this precedent was set, the army was the Han army in the true sense. If we grasp this opportunity, win the war, establish meritorious deeds, and establish prestige in the army, in the future, there will be more ministers to command the army, and the title of the Northern Frontier Army will gradually fade, and this army will truly become a Han army. ”

"Some time ago, the general let the warriors enter the court, and now he lets the warriors lead the army, can we understand that the generals hope that the warriors and scholars trust each other, integrate with each other, and recognize each other?" Da Honglu Yuan Yao asked thoughtfully.

"No matter what the general thinks, the key issue now is ......" Yang Biao looked at everyone and said with a wry smile,

"Which of you has the ability to win this battle and take Nanyang down? If you can win the battle, anything is possible. ”

"Nanyang is indeed difficult to fight, but if the army can capture Yuzhou, is it more beneficial to the entire battle situation?" Zhong Xuan, who had not spoken, suddenly asked.

Yang Biao and the others thought for a while, and suddenly understood what Zhong Miao meant.

"Would you like to go to Yingchuan?" Yang Biao asked in surprise. Zhong Xuan nodded and said confidently: "I'll go to Yingchuan." "On the twenty-seventh day of the first month, the Son of Heaven issued an order to order the Left Guard General Lu Bu to rush to Yanzhou and command the army to attack Xuzhou.

Bai Zhong Miao was the general of Zhengnan and commanded the army to attack Jingzhou. Departure today. In the afternoon, the general Li Hong led the ministers of civil and military affairs to send each other to the ten-mile long pavilion.

Jump to