Chapter 898: It's Hard to Distinguish Between Friends and Enemies

Chapter 898: It's Hard to Distinguish Between Friends and Enemies

Chapter 898: It's Hard to Distinguish Between Friends and Enemies
In late spring of May, Liu Can received a military report.

At that time, he was hunting, surrounded by many close confidants. Among his many confidants, the most trusted one was undoubtedly the Shizhong Jin Zhun, who was criticized by the Xiongnu nobles.

But there was nothing that could be done. She gave birth to two beautiful daughters, who were extremely favored after being presented to Liu Can. Even their father became his confidant. One of the two daughters was executed for having an affair with a guard.

"Can Helan Aitou resist Shao's soldiers?" Liu Can weighed the pheasant in his hand and asked.

"I'm afraid it's difficult. The chances of winning if we face the enemy head-on are slim." Jin Zhun told the truth.

Liu Can was silent for a while, then asked, "Can he escape?"

This is a very thoughtful question.

If you don't consider politics when fighting a war, you will just make random gestures at the map and assume that all the nobles in your tribe are loyal to you, and you only have one choice.

Liu Can obviously realized that Tuoba Yihuai's regime, which had been established for only two years, had no foundation. The tribal nobles could join you because of their own preferences, but they could also betray you because the situation worsened, because they had a second choice, which was to join Tuoba Shiyijian.

Looking at Shao Ze's Northern Expeditions the year before last and this year, his strategy revolved around one point: Tuoba Shiyijian.

The year before last, he fought a great battle with the mother and son of the Qi family. He used the name of Tuoba Shiyijian to recruit surrenders and rebels, and competed with Tuoba Yihuai for the tribe.

Throughout the whole of last year, Shao's troops did not participate in large-scale battles, but the war between Shiyijian and Yihuai continued, as did the attempts to win over the autonomous tribes.

According to the boasting of Yihuai's envoy, many tribes in the Dongmugen Mountain area fled westward.

Liu Can felt that the envoy had only said half of the story. Perhaps some of the tribes under Yihuai's rule had also been won over by Shiyijian.

So the question is, can Tuoba Yihuai learn Tuoba Yulu's tactics, give up part of the land, stretch Shao Bing's supply line, and then send light cavalry to intercept?

"It's too dangerous." Jin Zhun said, "If Helan Aitou abandons Shengle, he can only go north over Yinshan Mountain and return to his pastureland, Yixin Mountain. His tribe can leave, but the others may not be willing to follow. They can just surrender on the spot and submit to Tuoba Shiyijian. As one gains, the other loses, and Yihuai and Aitou will become the same as Liu Hu. If Shiyijian is unwilling to let them go and sends troops north, they will have to flee far away."

"The bad things are all caused by Tuoba Shiyijian." Liu Can shook his head and said, "Shao the thief promoted him to be the Duke of the present age, and he has calculated it until today."

To put it bluntly, if Tuoba Shiyijian did not exist, this would be a national war. Suotou might be able to unite as one, flee far to the north of Yinshan Mountain, and then send light cavalry to harass Shao's rear and force them to retreat.

But Tuoba Shiyijian was still around, causing great disturbance to people's hearts.

If you flee far to the north of Yinshan Mountain, it means you are afraid, and they can pacify you one by one. Then you will find that your soldiers and supplies have been reduced by half, and you will be defeated before the battle even starts. Wouldn't that be stupid?

"He is in a dilemma now." Jin Zhun said, "If he adopts the strategy of luring the enemy deep into his territory, he must give up Shengle, and then his people may disperse. It doesn't matter who he serves as an official to, Shiyijian is more orthodox. Judging from the skills of that woman Wang, she doesn't mind recruiting these old party members. Liu Hu, who once fought against Yu Lu, was appointed as the general of the Zhenjun Army. All the nobles of the tribe who stayed behind will be counted as one, and everyone will have an official position. Who would be willing to follow Helan Ai to eat sand behind the mountain?"

Liu Can nodded repeatedly.

This is the heart of the people.

The reason why half of the people followed Helan Aitou to flee north to Yixin Mountain was because there was the Chanyu Mansion in Pingcheng and they thought Shi Yijian was a puppet.

If Tuoba Shiyijian could be completely independent, as soon as Helan Aitou escaped, he would be immediately besieged by his past allies and his head would be sacrificed, which would be an even more miserable end.

"There are hundreds of miles between Shengle and Pingcheng. If we retreat head-on, with Shengle as the limit, can we hold on?" Liu Can asked again.

"Maybe it will be better, but it's still a little difficult." Jin Zhun thought for a while and said, "This trick can be used against the armies of the two Han dynasties, but it's a little difficult to use against the Shao soldiers. Well, the Shao soldiers are too 'barbaric', they also drive cattle and sheep to graze."

"Sometimes I doubt whether Shao the thief is a Han Chinese." Liu Can sighed.

During the Western Han Dynasty, even during the expedition to Dayuan, grain was transported from the Central Plains thousands of miles away.

During several expeditions to the desert, food was still transported from the Central Plains using horse-drawn and ox-drawn carts.

The thief Shao also transported grain, but he also grazed cattle and sheep, so it was probably impossible to completely cut off his food supply.

To put it bluntly, the situation under Shao's rule was different from that of the early Han Dynasty. There were too many Hu tribes and many livestock grazing. He had the conditions to do so. At most, he could order the governments of Henan and Hebei to compensate the tribes whose cattle and sheep were confiscated with millet, wheat, gold and silk. This would save much more than transporting grain by carts for thousands of miles.

"Your Majesty, I think we should save them." Jin Zhun said, "As the saying goes, if Shengle is lost, the teeth will be cold. If Shao takes over Henan, Guanzhong will be surrounded by enemies on the north, east and south. I'm afraid it will be difficult to hold on."

"How can we save him?" Liu Can asked, "Shao has stationed his troops outside Pujin Pass and Tong Pass, claiming to have an army of 200,000. How can I ignore them?"

"We can always squeeze them together." Jin Zhun said, "Conscript the men from various tribes, gather 20,000 to 30,000 people, and go north to Shuofang and Shangjun to support Tuoba Yihuai. This will stabilize the hearts of his people, and the situation may be better. It will also be more difficult to pacify that bitch Wang. We can also drive a group of cattle and sheep north and give them to Yihuai as a fund for the war."

"Is Yihuai short of cattle and sheep?" Liu Can asked.

"After two years of fighting, the bitch and Yihuai are both in short supply." Jin Zhun replied, "But the bitch will probably have the support of the thief Shao, so it will be better."

Liu Can suddenly thought of himself.

Once the army was deployed outside Puzhou Pass and Tongguan Pass, many of his troops were tied down.

There are only about 20,000 infantry and cavalry in the country that can fight, and at least more than half of them will be sent to these two places to provide support, and to drive the nobles and tribal men to defend the city.

Yao Yi Zhong, Zhao Gu, Pu Hong and even the Yong Qin gentry are all untrustworthy, and the Fengyi Di and Qiang must be strictly guarded against. It is impossible for him to withdraw his main force to go north to support Shengle.

Not to mention, there is no movement in the direction of Lantian Pass.

It is only a stone's throw away from Chang'an. Once Shao's troops enter from Wuguan, additional troops will also be dispatched.

We need to be on guard everywhere and have soldiers everywhere.

Sometimes, Liu Can wanted to lead the entire country and lead an army of hundreds of thousands to march east to fight a decisive battle with the thief Shao.

If we win, we might be able to take back Pingyang, Hedong, and even Xihe and Hongnong. The Shao bandits will retreat to Taiyuan, Shangdang, Hanoi, and Luoyang for defense, and restore the battle line of a few years ago.

After the defeat, there was no need to defend Tongguan anymore and the country was declared doomed.

But he has no confidence now.

Moreover, if Shao failed, he might be able to retreat and organize a second decisive battle. If he failed, his country would be destroyed directly. The risks he would bear would be completely different.

Passive defense may seem embarrassing, but it is the best choice when you have no other choice.

However, he is now increasingly unable to suppress the urge to gather everyone for a decisive battle.

This is what all gamblers who have lost a lot of money do, hoping to make up for their losses in one go. He suddenly had an idea, maybe he could do this...

******
By the end of April, a large number of troops had gathered in Pingyang.

Young men conscripted from various counties also continuously transported food, fodder and military supplies to Mayi and Yunzhong.

On the first day of May, on the eve of the army's departure, Shao Xun convened a final meeting with the Central Commander Mi Huang, the Central Guard General Chen Yougen, the Prime Minister Yu Chen, the Shangshu Ling Pei Miao, the Military Commander Wang Yan, the Grand Tutor Pan Tao, the Military Advisor Zhang Bin, the Shizhong Yang Man, the Sinong Qing Yin Xian, and the Five Armies Shangshu Liu Anzhi.

"The important area of ​​Pingyang will be handed over to Central Guard General Chen Yougen." Shao Xun looked at his old comrade who had followed him for twenty years and said, "The three defense troops of Pingyang and the two defense troops of Jibei are all in your hands. There must be no mistakes in Pingyang."

Chen Yougen didn't waste any words and said directly: "I am in the city. After the king leaves, I will impose martial law in the whole city and patrol day and night to never give villains any chance to take advantage of me."

"I feel relieved with you here." Shao Xun nodded, then looked at Mi Huang and said, "Zihui, I have transferred 6,000 people from the Heilongjiang Right Camp. Most of them are new recruits and have not yet been formed into an army. Some have trained for more than a year, while others have trained for a few months, but they are better than the young and strong. I will hand this army over to you. Patrol along the river to prevent the bandits from sneaking across and harassing us."

"Yes, sir." Mi Huang replied.

He could understand why Quanzhong handed Pingyang over to Chen Yougen. After all, he had served as the Internal History of Donghai and the Governor of Xuzhou for a long time and could not compare to Chen Yougen who had always been by Quanzhong's side.

"In this way, there will be no worries." Shao Xun said with a smile: "I can send troops north to fight Helan Aitou to the death."

Yu Chen seemed to want to say something but hesitated, and in the end said nothing.

But Wang Yan was different. He asked directly, "When and where does Your Majesty decide to fight?"

War requires setting goals.

If you don't have a target and just fight wherever you can, that's just chaos and will likely lead to collapse.

"Let's take Shengle first." Shao Xun said.

"What if Helan avoids fighting? Should we keep fighting?" Wang Yan asked.

It is very important to be able to start a war and to be able to end a war.

If the war never ends, he will have to go to the countryside to raise food and sell his reputation.

This is not a big deal. People who are buried in the dirt up to their necks don't care much about their face. The problem is that collecting too much grain will cause a backlash.

"If the Helan clan avoids fighting, I will relocate the tribe here." Shao Xun said, "Duan Wenyang was overjoyed to get Xuanhongchi. Su Zhongshun, the commander of Beikou Town, requested to relocate because there were too many mountains and little land under his jurisdiction. The land of Shengle is incredible. Even if we relocate the people of the Central Plains to grow grain, we can get a bumper harvest, not to mention grazing. Even if Helan doesn't want it, there are plenty of people who do."

Of course, there are more than just the town generals who want Shengle’s land.

Don't you want Wang's men? Of course you do.

However, Shao Xun heard from someone that someone in Pingcheng proposed returning to the old capital after taking Shengle in order to better pacify the tribes who had lost their morale.

Fortunately, Wang did not respond directly and said she would wait a while - this woman is getting smarter and smarter.

"Your Majesty, you must pay attention to Lady Wang of Dai." Minister of Agriculture Yin Xian stood up and said, "When the battle situation becomes clear, if she suddenly kills and surprise attacks our army, we may suffer a great defeat. Although this may sound a bit ridiculous, we must be on guard."

As soon as these words were spoken, everyone's faces changed. This possibility did exist.

If the more than 30,000 elite infantry and cavalry including the Silver Spear Central Camp, the Right Camp, the Luonan Prefecture Soldiers, the Puyang Prefecture Soldiers, the Imperial Guards, the Youzhou Cavalry Commander, and the Yicong, Zhuosheng, and Luoyan Armies already in Dai were destroyed, it would be more painful than losing 300,000 miscellaneous soldiers.

More importantly, even if the situation could be barely maintained later, the world would be like this, and all reforms would stop. Shao and the aristocratic families would share the world and rule the country with ease.

Of course, this may not be a bad thing for some aristocratic families. They might even want to see these 30,000-plus elite troops annihilated.

For them, the best outcome would be the destruction of the army. King Liang could not die and must escape back, and from then on rely on the gentry and become a "sage king."

For the emperor of Luoyang, this situation may be even more dangerous.

Because after being defeated in the war, King Liang might have to curry favor with the aristocratic families without enough prestige, and then ascend the throne by force.

When his prestige is at its peak, he may not need to kill the emperor, but when his prestige is insufficient, he may have to eliminate hidden dangers, and there is a high possibility that the emperor will die suddenly.

After hearing Yin Xian's words, Shao Xun nodded slightly.

The nobles on the father-in-law's side really didn't want him to lose. They had gained too many benefits, so they spoke out to remind him.

"This is easy." While everyone was thinking, Grand Guardian Pan Tao smiled and said, "Your Majesty, go north to Pingcheng first. After the expedition, do not take all the troops with you, but find a way to send out all the four guards of the Dai Kingdom. In this way, the life and death of Wang's mother and son will be in my hands, and I will not dare to act rashly."

"We have to be on guard against Liu Lugu." Zhang Bin, who had been silent, said, "I heard that Shi Yijian has two younger brothers who live in his mother's tribe. We can't guarantee that Liu Lugu and his people will be so cruel that they will disregard the safety of Wang's mother and son and kill them immediately."

Shao Xun smiled when he heard this.

Although this group of nobles have many shortcomings, they are very smart and can really see through people's hearts.

To be honest, Shao Xun seldom played tricks or schemes with them, because he felt that he was not cut out for it and might not be able to beat them.

Therefore, from the very beginning he adopted the strategy of "you fight yours, I fight mine", starting from building a basic base, using the general trend to win over people's hearts, and using open strategies to deal with conspiracies.

"Mengsun is right." Shao Xun praised: "In this battle, whether it is Helan Aitou, Wang's mother and son, or me, it is difficult to tell who is the enemy and who is mine. As I said before, prudence is the most important thing."

……

After the meeting, we will set out on the expedition soon.

Before leaving, Shao Xun found his eldest son Jin Dao, looked at him with a somewhat indebted look, and finally decided to let him marry the daughter of Liu from Pei State, and immediately sent Taichang Qing Cui Yu to Pei State.

For the sake of the world's great cause, he even took advantage of his son's marriage.

On the second day of May, he asked his wife Liu Ye Na to take his tenth son Shao Gong to the north to Xinxing and Yanmen to visit his brother and nephew.

On the third day of the New Year, after bidding farewell to his parents, wife and children, he marched north.

(Seeking votes at the beginning of the month. A bit busy today, will work overtime tomorrow, will update three times on Sunday, I will never break my promise.)
(End of this chapter)