Chapter 996 Shouchun

Chapter 996 Shouchun

Chapter 996 Shouchun
Although it is upstream from Guangling, Huaiyin and other places to Huainan, the speed of traveling by boat is very fast, at least much faster than marching on foot.

When Shao Xun received the military report, Zu Yue had already taken office for several days. By March 25th, the vanguard troops of 3,000 people had arrived outside Shouchun City.

The former prefect went to Xuancheng and happily made the transaction. He sold his own house, along with its bamboo forest, pond, and vegetable garden, to Zu Yue for one million coins.

Zu Yue only gave 200,000 yuan, and agreed to give the remaining 800,000 yuan half a year later.

People also understand that moving house is not easy.

First of all, not all the wealth was brought over.

Secondly, some of the properties near the original base may need to be cleared out to raise money.

Finally, you have to give Zu Yue some time to make money in Huainan.

After receiving the money and happily going to Xuancheng, Zu Yue finally moved into this very large manor.

"We have all become a roving army."

“I don’t know when I can return home.”

Outside the manor, the soldiers who were unloading their luggage were groaning and complaining, but when they saw Zu Yue, they all shut up.

Zu Yue entered the house with an expressionless face.

What is a "roving army"? It refers to both a roaming army with no fixed place to stay and a roving army. Here it obviously refers to the former - "Xiu and Liu Biao rely on each other for strength, but Xiu's roving army depends on Biao for food, and Biao cannot provide for it, so he must leave." To put it bluntly, it refers to troops who abandon their wives, stay away from their families, and seek food everywhere.

Have you become a roving army? It seems right, but it also seems wrong.

Zu Yue didn't want to think too much and went straight into the house.

"My lord." Xu Liu, Huan Fu, Zu Huan and Yin Yi stepped forward and saluted in unison.

"I can't wait." Zu Yue first said something inexplicable, and seeing that no one understood, he smiled bitterly and said, "My brother may have seen that the court was dissatisfied with me, so he slandered me in Jianye, saying that I had rebellious intentions. The matter became a hot topic and many people knew about it."

Everyone was shocked, they were talking about Zuna.

Wasn't he obsessed with Go? Why did he jump out as soon as Zu Cheqi (Zu Ti, posthumously awarded the title of General of Cheqi) passed away and General Zhenxi (Zu Yue, General Zhenxi and Governor of Huainan) left? What a mean person!
"I don't know if the court will believe him, and now we need a foolproof plan." Zu Yue said, "Ji Zu, I've been studying it on the way. Did you get anything?"

"My lord, I have just discussed this with my peers." Xu Liu said confidently, "The importance of Shouchun lies outside, not inside."

"Tell me in detail." Zu Yue sat down.

"The terrain is aided by soldiers—"

"Let's get to the point." Zu Yue coughed and said.

"Okay." Xu Liu stopped talking nonsense, spread out the map, pointed at the terrain around Shouchun, and said, "My lord, please look, Shouchun is on the north bank of the Huai River. The river is wide and the water is powerful, which can stop the northern cavalry from going south. The Fei River flows through the northeast of the city, turns northwest, and merges into the Huai River. This river is extremely important, and it is a resource for fighting and defending the north and the south."

"To the north of Shouchun City and south of the Huai River, there are Xishi Mountain and Bagong Mountain. Xishi Mountain is 25 miles northwest of Shouchun, and Bagong Mountain is 5 miles northeast of Shouchun. They are located between Shouchun and the Fei River. They are both important places. When Ji Siyuan (Ji Zhan) was stationed in Shouchun, he built cities on Xishi Mountain and Bagong Mountain to protect Shouchun."

"If you want to defend Shouchun, you must station heavy troops at Bagong Mountain, not to mention Xishi. You must also station troops at the Feikou (where the Fei River flows into the Huai River) camp."

"If there is enough, we can also divide our troops at Luokou (where Luojian meets Huaishui River) and Zhongli. If things go wrong, we can support the northern troops to move south."

After saying that, Xu Liu looked at Zu Yue.

Zu Yue looked at the map silently.

Simply put, if it is aimed at defending the north, then the Huai River is Shouchun’s first line of defense.

Xishi Mountain, Feikou Fort and Bagua Mountain, located on the south bank of the Huai River and distributed from west to east, are the second line of defense.

After these two lines of defense were lost, it meant that the enemy had at least reached the south bank of the Huai River and the east bank of the Fei River, threatening Shouchun from the north and east.

At this time, Shouchun’s wide moat and the city itself became the third and final line of defense.

But the above are all aimed at the north. It would be much more troublesome to attack the army from the south, as there is no such geographical advantage. Moreover, the southern army's naval warfare ability is far superior to that of the northern army. The situation south of Shouchun is more conducive to their use due to the numerous rivers and ponds.

In such a situation, dividing the troops to occupy more areas would be a sure way to death.

He had about 15,000 men, stationed in four or five locations, with 3,000 to 4,000 men in each location. It was too dangerous.

"It's a pity that Han Qian, Tong Jian and other generals will not join me and will surrender to Liu Yueshi. What can I do?" Zu Yue sighed.

How can I not be angry when half of my troops were taken away by others?
But what's the use of getting angry? People who listen to your brother may not be willing to listen to you.

"My lord, now that things have come to this, it's time to abandon some unimportant places." Huan Fu suggested: "There are still 3,000 soldiers in Shouchun City, who are natives of this county. My lord can send them to garrison outside the city. There are 2,000 Jiangzhou soldiers on Xishi Mountain. We must find a reason to transfer them away."

"If you want to stop the southern troops, it is best to station heavy troops in Hefei and find an opportunity to attack the local soldiers in the water and land camps of Dongguan (Ruxuwu) and the Jiangzhou soldiers."

"If we don't do this, it will be difficult to stop the southern troops from marching north."

The most convenient route for the southern troops to attack Shouchun in the north was to enter Chaohu Lake from the Yangtze River via the Rushu River (now the Yuxi River), then exit Chaohu Lake and reach Hefei via the Shi River (also called the Nanfei River), and then reach Shouchun and Huai River via the Fei River.

If you don't stop them in Hefei, the southern troops will come in an endless stream via the water and will be difficult to resist.

Of course, if the food supplies stationed at the East Gate could be burned, the speed of Wu's advance could be greatly slowed down - at least one route could be blocked. Back then, Sima Zhao thought this place was very critical, so he led his troops to attack, and was defeated by Zhuge Ke, with tens of thousands of people killed. This was the famous "Battle of the East Gate".

This is a key node connecting the Yangtze River and Chaohu Lake. The terrain is dangerous and the fort is strong. At the same time, it can also be used as a water fort to block the northern troops' attempts to enter the Yangtze River from Hefei and Chaohu Lake.

Cao Wei, Sima Jin and Eastern Wu fought countless battles along the line from Hefei in the north to Dongguan in the south.

The final result is that the battle line is deadlocked here.

Sun Shiwan could not take Hefei, let alone Shouchun to the north of Hefei.

Cao Wei and Sima Jin were also unable to capture Ruxu Fort or Dongguan, and could not advance to the Yangtze River.

Now Hefei is under the jurisdiction of the Huainan prefect, but the soldiers guarding this place are from Lujiang. Are you sure you can take it?

Zu Yue frowned in deep thought, undecided.

"My lord, forget it." Yin Yi sneered and said, "The Hefei garrison troops are the private troops of the He family in Lujiang. Without a proper reason, how could they obey orders?"

Zu Yue sighed slightly.

The private soldiers of the noble families are like this, they are too independent. In a word, what reason do you have to transfer them out of Hefei and march north to Liang State? They are not stupid and will be suspicious.

If they just cross the river and head north to plunder, it is not impossible, but it also depends on their mood.

"Forget it, don't be too greedy." Zu Yue shook his head and said, "There are only more than 10,000 people. If we guard here and there and divide our forces everywhere, it will all be in vain in the end."

"My lord is wise." Although he was refuted, Huan Fu did not care and said loudly.

As Sima, he only proposed this possibility, and it was the commander-in-chief's job to make the decision.

"First, seize Shouchun, Feikou, and Bagongshan." Zu Yue made a quick decision, and then said, "Send an envoy to Jianye and tell them that the soldiers are clamoring to return to Xuzhou when they are stationed in other counties."

"Ten days after the envoy left, another envoy was sent, saying that the soldiers were resentful because they could not see their families, and asked the court to allocate money, food, and ships to move the soldiers' families to calm the people."

After everyone thought about it carefully, they all understood.

This was intended to paralyze the Jianye court and was a delaying tactic.

"In Xuzhou..." Zu Yue finally said, "Although Han Qian and Tong Jian are unwilling to join me, they will not harm the families of the soldiers. Even if these two are blinded by greed, the soldiers will not agree. Don't worry."

"Yes." Several people responded in unison.

They are not too worried about this.

No matter what, they were good brothers who fought together in the past, and they might even be related to each other. Now that they have a general leading them to change sides, they will never kill their former comrades' families in a short period of time, unless Jianye sends another large army to the north.

"I will write the letter to the Emperor of Daliang myself." Zu Yue said finally.

While Zu Yue was discussing important matters with his generals, General Zhang Shuo of the Central Guard had already arrived in Yingkou.

"Yingkou", as the name suggests, is the place where the Ying River flows into the Huai River. It is located on the north bank of the Huai River, within the territory of Ruyin County.

Zhang Shuo brought only a dozen riders with him to observe the terrain along the river.

As for the Silver Spear Camp and other miscellaneous troops, they are still in the hinterland of Ruyin and Qiao counties to avoid alerting the enemy.

To be honest, although the emperor gave him an order, he still had doubts in his heart.

He did not fully believe that Zu Yue would rebel, and always wondered if there was some trick going on.

If we trick them into Huainan, send a navy to block the river, and organize a large army to besiege them, we may not be able to escape unscathed.

But he was also very eager to see Zu Yue rebel, because if it was true, he could seize this important town in Huainan and even try to attack Hefei.

If Hefei was captured, there would be a rear hinterland and the possibility of collecting food and laborers. This would be much more meaningful than occupying Shouchun, an isolated city not far from the Huai River.

I just don’t know how many people there are in Huainan.

During the reigns of Cao Wei and Sima Jin, due to repeated tug-of-war with Eastern Wu, the area of ​​more than 200 miles south of the Huai River became uninhabited and almost a wasteland.

After the Jin Dynasty conquered the Wu Dynasty, it ordered the people of Huainan to return home in succession. No matter whether they were captured by the Wei and Jin Dynasties or abducted by the Sun Wu Dynasty, they would all be sent back after their hometown was ascertained and no one would be stopped.

After several decades of this, more than ten counties in Huainan began to be populated.

During the Taikang period of the Jin Dynasty, there were more than 33,000 households in Huainan County. This number may be a rare and relatively realistic household registration in the Jin Dynasty. After all, Huainan was really miserable before. Not to mention the local tyrants, even the aristocratic families could not stay there.

Zhang Shuo continued to observe until dusk, until the Jin soldiers on the Xishi Mountain on the opposite bank noticed them and dispatched boats from the water fort at the foot of the mountain to try to capture and kill them, and then he turned around and left.

Late that night, he received a secret letter from Zu Yue.

After carefully checking the seal, he selected a messenger and reported to the emperor.

(The chapter about 8 o'clock in the morning has been moved to the back. Please support me with monthly votes.)
(End of this chapter)