Chapter 1023 Choice

Chapter 1023 Choice

Chapter 1023 Choice
"Whoa--" A horse team stopped and took a short rest.

The soldiers skillfully loosened the horses' girths, held the reins, and jogged a circle to cool off the sweat.

Peng Si'an got a batch of spare horses and took more than ten people with him to find a small mound to observe the terrain.

What comes into view is a huge lake with mighty waters stretching for an unknown distance.

There were dozens of ships anchored on the lake. They seemed to have discovered the cavalry heading south from the north, so they sent a few small boats to the shore for a closer observation.

Peng Si'an ignored them and called the guide, asking, "What is the name of this lake?"

"Yang Yuan." The guide replied.

"Where does it lead to?"

“Chengde and Hefei.”

"That's right." Peng Sian said, then frowned again, took out the map and checked it carefully.

The Nanfei River (Shi River) flows from the northwest of Hefei and is divided into two branches.

One branch flows southeast and flows into Chaohu Lake.

Another branch flows to the northwest and is also called "Zhijin".

Zhijin flows into a low-lying area in the northern border of Hefei County, named "Yangyuan", also known as "Yanghu".

There is a river to the north of Yangyuan, named "Yanjianshui". This river meanders northward and flows into Feishui (Beifeishui), then flows through the west of Chengde County and goes all the way to Shouchun and Huaishui.

This is the river that Cao Cao widened and dredged for his southern expedition. After the Jin Dynasty conquered the Wu Dynasty, it was dredged again, and now it is very impressive.

At the end of the Jin Dynasty, a Duzhi Commandery was set up in Shouchun, in charge of transporting grain. This was the use of this river - later called the "Chaofei Canal" or "Chaohuai Canal", which was the main canal connecting the Yangtze River and the Huai River. The Yangyuan, Zhijin and Yanjian rivers have basically been developed into farmland in later generations.

When marching or fighting, the worst thing to do is to get lost.

Peng Si'an was completely clueless about the geography of Huainan and had to rely entirely on maps and guides.

But the map is not very accurate because it is not updated in time.

A flood may cause a river to change its course or force a county to relocate its capital, leaving you at a loss as to what to do.

In addition, the mountains or rivers drawn on the map may cause you to mistake them and take the wrong path, so you still have to rely on a local guide.

He brought a total of a thousand cavalrymen, half of whom were from Lushui Hu, Fengyi Di and Qiang. Led by a guide, they took a detour to the south and marched for three days.

I don’t want to talk about how difficult the middle part was.

All you see are rivers, ponds, or muddy swamps covered with aquatic plants and reeds. The relatively solid and dry roads were built by filling and compacting the lakes bit by bit during the Wei and Jin Dynasties. It was really not easy.

What made him most desperate was that most of the small rivers he encountered along the way did not even have names and were not on the map, but they were real obstacles to the march, especially for cavalry.

In the past, many people in the army joked that they took armored cavalry with them when they went to war, but it is possible that even after the war was over, they never found an opportunity to fight because the conditions for its use were relatively harsh.

When we arrived in Huainan, there was no need to bring armored cavalry, because even the conditions for using cavalry were very harsh.

There are lakes and rivers everywhere, the soil is soft, and it is rainy and humid. This damn place needs to be relocated with hundreds of thousands of people and developed for hundreds of years. Most of the streams and swamps need to be filled and turned into farmland and cities before it can be suitable for cavalry to roam freely - in short, the environment needs to be transformed.

"What should we do?" Xuchu Yiyu rode up and pointed at the Jin navy that was stirring faintly on the lake, and asked, "We've been discovered. Do we still need to go to Hefei?"

"Now that the military order has been issued, we have to go even if it means death." Peng Si'an sighed.

Daliang’s military discipline is so strict, what can we do?
General Zhang obviously has some ideas about Hefei.

He could understand. By taking this city, they could control the Shishui River and block the Jin army in Chaohu Lake, while the water system north of Hefei could be used with confidence as a transportation channel for their own troops and food.

This is a thoroughfare.

General Zhang really wanted to annihilate the main force of the Jin army in Chengde, and then take Hefei directly, and even eye Chaohu and Ruxuwu (Dongguan).

Never mind, let him do whatever he wants, he's just going south for a trip.

"Boom boom..." Continuous drum sounds were heard on the surface of Yangyuan Lake.

Several large ships came over, and the Jin navy stood on both sides of the ship, holding bows, swords, shields, and spears, shouting loudly, looking very aggressive.

"Ha!" He sneered, and immediately selected two hundred men, replaced them with spare horses, and prepared for battle.

The rest continued to rest.

After resting, they continued to harass the south without any discussion.

******
On the sixth day of June, a massive siege ended.

The various groups of people retreated in a noisy manner.

Huan Fu attacked from the camp outside the city, and Zu Yue opened the city gate and rushed out together, driving the Jin army all the way to the river bank before withdrawing.

When the city gates were closed and everything was settled, Shan Xia, Lu Wan and others were all speechless.

We attacked last night but failed.

We attacked during the day today and suffered heavy casualties.

The most distressing thing is that the defenders have no intention of giving up at all, and it seems that a strong attack is unlikely to be successful.

Shan Xia stood on a high platform and overlooked the whole view. The commanders of each camp actually began to dig trenches and set up fences to reinforce the land and water camps. This was because they were worried that the ancestral soldiers would come out of the city to attack, so they dug deep trenches and built high fortifications to defend the city to the death.

At this point, even if one is ignorant of military affairs, one knows that a frontal breakthrough is impossible.

"Grand Commander..." an old voice sounded beside him.

Shan Xia came back to his senses and said, "Mr. Zhong, you can speak frankly."

The speaker was Xu Zhongxian, the deputy secretary of the Jiangbei Governor's Office (Xu Chao's elder brother).

He just cupped his hands and asked, "Grand Commander, do you still want to fight?"

"What do you mean, Mr. Zhong?" Shan Xia asked.

"If we fight, we still have three months left. We should retreat to Hefei by mid-August at the latest," said Deputy Xu.

"Why do you say that?" Shan Xia asked curiously.

"The Grand Commander is from the north and doesn't know about this." Deputy Commander Xu said, "There is a lot of rain in Huainan in summer, and the water level rises rapidly, so there are many places where ships can sail, and even large ships can go directly to Shouchun. However, after September, the rain gradually subsided, the river water gradually dried up, and there were fewer places where ships could sail. I am worried that the water in Yanjian will be unfavorable for sailing and block the army's way back. General, you must pay attention to this."

To put it simply, the Shishui River flows north to Zhijin River, Yangyuan River, and Yanjian River (this section is actually also included in the "Feishui River", although it is a tributary) and merges into the main stream of the Feishui River. If there is less rainfall in late summer and early autumn, it may affect shipping, which was not uncommon during the Wei and Jin Dynasties.

It is the rainy season now and the river is surging, which is naturally not a problem, but what about in a few months?
"If you don't want to fight, you should withdraw your troops slowly." Without waiting for Shan Xia to reply, Deputy Xu continued, "If you really can't bear it, you can repair the city west of Feishui and southeast of Shaobi, with the vast and misty Shaobi behind you, to serve as a northern shield for Hefei. Or you can go to Yangyuan Xiashuizhai as an outpost. From now on, just defend Hefei. If Hefei is safe, Dongguan will be safe. If Dongguan is safe, the river defense will be strong. Even if Shouchun is lost, it is not impossible to defend Jiangnan."

"Shut up!" Shan Xia scolded subconsciously.

Deputy Xu smiled calmly and didn't mind.

Shan Xia was helpless.

Seeing that they cannot take down Chengde, these Jiangdong nobles want to back down?
If we can retreat to Shouchun today, we can retreat to Hefei tomorrow, and then we can retreat to Dongguan, until we lose all the important garrisons in the north of the Yangtze River and use the Yangtze River as a shield. If that happens, we will be close to death.

Although he had never heard of the concept of "buffer zone", he understood the principle.

As long as the stronghold in Jiangbei exists, you will have room to make mistakes, because it is impossible for people to never make mistakes.

It doesn’t matter if you make a mistake, just correct it and fight back.

We fought repeatedly with the enemy in Jiangbei, and even though the battle was very embarrassing, Jiangnan was safe.

But once the two sides were facing each other across the river, there was no room for error. If the river defenses were breached by someone else, the morale would be completely destroyed and Jianye would fall in no time.

Deputy Xu is over seventy years old. Having grown up in Eastern Wu, he may have gotten used to the fact that there is no Shouchun or Hefei, and he can only rely on Chaohu Lake and Dongguan as a barrier to the north of the Yangtze River.

Perhaps he felt that Cao Cao's elite troops had failed to cross Chaohu Lake and were blocked at Hefei, and Sima had also suffered a disastrous defeat at Dongguan and lost tens of thousands of troops. It would be a good idea to rely on this line of defense, not to mention that Hefei was still in his hands, which was actually safer than Soochow.

But Shan Xia didn't dare to think so.

Dongwu has the right time, but Dong——Daijin has the right time? It's too late.

Every city in Huainan is extremely valuable, and we should fight for every inch of land so that Jiangdong can be safe. How can we give it up so easily?

At this time, another Zhonglang, Gu Zhong, said, "General, what Zhongxian said is not without reason. We have many naval forces but few land forces. The soldiers are not skilled and morale is low. It is difficult to capture Chengde. It is better to return. Hefei has two cities, the old and the new. The old city faces the river and lake in the south, so it is easy to travel. The west city has a unique and dangerous place to rely on. If the two cities stand side by side and are well defended, the foundation of Jiangdong will be solid. Why do we have to fight to the death in Chengde and Shouchun?"

When Shan Xia heard this, he frowned even more. His argument was exactly the same as Deputy Xu's!

But the Xu family is a prominent family in Jurong, not to mention the Gu family. Their opinions must be listened to, otherwise there will be no way to raise money, food and soldiers.

But Shan Xia was still a little unwilling, so he looked at Lu Wan.

"Is the Grand Commander waiting for news from the north?" Lu Wan asked.

Shan Xia was touched by what he was thinking and nodded silently.

"General, the Zu army is still unbeatable even today, let alone the Shao army?" Lu Wan said, "If the navy can cut off the Huai River and make the Shao army isolated, we may be able to wait and see. If not, it is better to move the people of Chengde and retreat to Hefei as a long-term plan. If the general wants to wait, that's fine, but we should not attack the city anymore. It is better to strengthen the camp. Even if the Zu army leaves the city or the Shao army goes south, we can meet them with deep trenches and high fortifications, and use the navy ships to defend and repel the enemy."

Shan Xia pondered for a long time this time.

Everyone stopped urging and just waited quietly.

"I have made up my mind!" Shan Xia stopped and said, "Reinforce the camps and water forts to defend the city. Send people to various places to relocate the people to Hefei. You should follow this order."

"Yes, sir." All the generals responded in unison.

Shan Xia is waiting for news from the north, but what is happening in the north?
On the sixth and seventh days of the first lunar month, the Jin navy worked hard to remove the wooden stakes on the river north of Feikou and clear the waterway.

That night, Yang Bao sent his naval officers and men onto the pontoon bridge and launched fireboats downstream, but to no avail.

The armies of Han Huang and Tong Jian were defeated by the hostage army and Zuo Feilong's guards. Both armies lost more than half of their troops, and the remaining 2,000 soldiers fled with the help of the navy.

On the ninth day, the Jin army no longer tried to send troops ashore, but continued to clear the waterway.

Their intention was clear: to completely cut off communication between the north and the south, so that the Liang army that had crossed the river would be trapped in a jar and would be defeated when their food supplies ran out.

Naturally, the news quickly reached Zhang Shuo's army. At this time, he had arrived near Chengde and encountered the Jin army's naval and land soldiers who were deployed on the outer periphery for alert.

Like Shan Xia, he also faces a choice.

If the main force of the Shanxia tribe cannot be quickly defeated and the pontoon bridge in the north is destroyed by the Jin army, then we must carefully calculate how long the stored food and fodder will last.

So he wrote a detailed letter, stating his thoughts, and had the messenger send it immediately to the emperor's residence.

(End of this chapter)