Chapter 1043 Countermeasures

Chapter 1043 Countermeasures

Chapter 1043 Countermeasures (Part )

On the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, the wind was cold and the air was howling.

Near the old residence of the Huan family in Longkang, the wheat seedlings are green and the scenery is lush and green.

Huan Yi walked around casually and felt very comfortable.

My hometown is the best! My hometown is the best!

Yes, Huan Yi is back.

Jiang Dong's official career was not going well. He worked as a secretary compiling the national history for many years and felt quite depressed.

There was once a rumor in Jianye that he would be appointed as the Minister of Personnel, with the same rank but greatly increased actual power. However, it did not come true, so he simply resigned and stayed at home.

After the Battle of Huainan ended, Huan Yi no longer hesitated when he saw that he had to check the household registration and register the overseas Chinese. He even gave up his property and only took some small items and dry food, and left with his family on board the ship.

Well, not only did no one stop them, but there were even people who saw them off. This was the national condition of the Jin Dynasty - to be honest, if any northern nobles went south to Jiangdong, the situation would not be much better.

After returning to his hometown and living there for three months, he visited old friends and relatives, and even attended a gathering of scholars from Qiao and Pei counties for leisurely conversation.

Overall, thanks to old connections, I integrated very quickly and felt even more at home than when I first arrived in Jiangdong.

As for the gentry, you help me and I help you, and it's a tangled mess, but it's just so free and easy.

In a blink of an eye, it was the Laba Festival.

Hearing that his son was supported by Yu Yuangui and Wen Taizhen and was imprisoned in Huangsha Prison as a pawnshop, he felt relieved.

Now he has to work on himself.

He is only fifty-three years old and in good health. He even had a son this year and is full of energy. He feels that he should not just stay at home and that he could try his hand at a career in politics.

But Lao Huan knew that even with the help of his old friend Yu Yuangui, he would not be able to move up without any merit.

In this regard, the customs in the north are different from those in Jiangdong.

To put it bluntly, the eldest son Huan Wen at least killed the Jincheng prefect Dou Tao in battle. This is real military achievement. What do you have?
Huan Yi certainly couldn't fight on the battlefield, so he could only find other ways, such as writing letters to people he knew.

Of course, this needs to be made known to the imperial court, otherwise how can it be counted as his contribution...

At the end of the twelfth lunar month, when the New Year was approaching, Du Yi, the Chancellor of Danyang, received Huan Yi's letter. He smiled at first, then was shocked.

He laughed because Huan Yi's efforts were in vain. He had been secretly communicating with the Beidi, but he had not really surrendered.

I was shocked because how did Huan Maolun see that? Did the word "traitor" appear on my face?

At this time, Danyang Yin Shanwei sent someone to summon him to the East Palace to discuss matters. Du Yi was so frightened that he burned the letter on the spot. Then he got on the ox cart and went to the East Palace in a daze.

******
The East Palace is actually not "East". It is located in the southwest of Taicheng, facing Yundu to the west.

Yundu, as the name suggests, is used for transportation.

After Sun Quan moved to Jianye, he ordered Xi Jian, the Imperial Censor of the Left, to dig a canal that led directly to Cangcheng.

Now, eighty-eight years have passed, and Yundu is still in use. It underwent a thorough dredging a few years ago. It is not only used for transportation, but also serves as the moat of Taicheng.

Like the Eastern Palace in Luoyang, the Eastern Palace in Jianye has three gates: Chenghua Gate in the south, and Anyang Gate and Fenghua Gate on the east and west sides respectively.

The ox cart passed through a messy construction site and stopped in front of Chenghua Gate.

After Du Yi got off the car, he turned around and looked.

The New Year is approaching, but the city wall on the south side of Taicheng is still under construction, never stopping for a moment.

"Next time you come, you will have to pass through the gates of Taicheng." Du Yi shook his head.

At this time, the personal attendant had finished negotiating with the soldiers of the second guard of the Eastern Palace and was allowed to enter.

The two guards of the Eastern Palace had a total of 4,000 people, all of whom were transferred from the Imperial Guards.

The original total of 20,000 imperial guards were actually organized according to the regulations of seven armies and five schools in the early years of the founding of the Jin Dynasty.

However, the Eastern Jin Dynasty was in its infancy and was obviously unable to complete the organization of the seven imperial guards and the five colonel camps.

In the end, only three of the seven guards were left: the Left Guard with 7,000 men, the Right Guard with 7,000 men, and the Cavalry with 2,000 men.

Among them, the Left Guard and the Right Guard took turns guarding the city.

The current General of the Left Guard is Sima Zong, King of Nandun, and the General of the Right Guard is Yu Yin, who is the younger brother of Sima Rui’s first wife, Yu Mengmu.

There are also generals of the other four armies in the seven guards, but they are just empty titles.

The Five Colonels' Camp consisted of only 2,000 cavalry, 1,000 infantry, and 1,000 archers, totaling 4,000 men. They were led by Prince Qiao and Colonel Sima Wuji of the Tunqi Army and stationed in Shitou City.

The three imperial guards and the three colonels' camps were collectively called the Jianye Imperial Guards, under the command of the Central Commander Wang Shu.

There were still some scattered troops in Jianye City. For example, Sima Ying, the King of Xiyang, established a government office and was granted "a thousand soldiers and a hundred cavalry" by the court - literally meaning a thousand infantry and a hundred cavalry, under his personal command.

There were other people like Sima Ying, but they basically only had between one hundred and several hundred soldiers. They did not count the imperial guards or the county soldiers. Rather, they were private soldiers raised for them by the court. It can only be said that the waters in the Jin Dynasty were too muddy and too complicated.

After Crown Prince Sima Fei moved to the Eastern Palace, he selected 2,000 men from the Left Guard and the Right Guard to form the Second Guard of the Eastern Palace, which were considered to be the Eastern Palace's soldiers.

The entire Jianye city, from the perspective of the army, was scattered, which was amazing.

When Du Yi entered Chongzheng Hall, he saw the prince's concubine Jiang Fei. He wanted to play a joke on him, but the latter was an official at the level of a prefect, while he was only a county magistrate, and his official rank was not even higher than that of a county magistrate. After greeting him, he found a seat on the outside and sat down obediently.

A moment later, Danyang Yin Shanwei came in, saw Du Yi, and said with a smile: "Hongzhi, why are you sitting so far away? Come to my side."

Du Yi smiled bitterly and said, "Forget it. Here we can see the strange rocks in the garden. It's very nice."

Shan Wei shook his head and laughed, then looked around and finally didn't see Yan Han, and he immediately breathed a sigh of relief.

After moving to the Eastern Palace, the Prince's Mansion had another Prince's Secretary, Kong Yu from Kuaiji. However, he was not called over either because he was on good terms with Prime Minister Wang Dao and some things were not convenient to talk about in front of him.

"When Huainan and Lujiang counties were attacked by bandits, it is not a good idea to just hold on and not go out."

"What can we do? Even if tens of thousands of Xianbei cavalry are divided into several groups, it will be difficult to fight. It's good enough if we can defend the city and the fort. After the spring, they will retreat on their own."

Shan Wei heard someone talking and when he looked closely, he saw that it was the Prince's Groom Chen Da and the Left Guard Commander Ying Xuan.

The former commander of the Left Guard returned home for a long time, and Ying Xuan took up the post not long after. However, he was one of their own, or more precisely, one of the Crown Princess Shan's own - Ying Xuan's father, Ying Zhan, was from the Ying clan of Nandun, and was an old subordinate of Shan Jian.

Hearing them talking about the wars in Huainan and Lujiang, Shan Wei was also very interested, so he leaned over to listen. Unexpectedly, at this moment, the prince and his wife arrived.

Shan Wei and everyone else stood up and saluted.

"Please sit down." Sima Fei's face was pale again. After returning the greeting, he said hurriedly.

Everyone then sat down.

Sima Pei and Shan Yinan sat at the head of the table.

Before he spoke, Sima Fei looked at Shan first, and after seeing her nod, he said, "Let's discuss the war in Huainan today."

"Shao the bandit was a warmongerer. He sent his troops south when it was snowing heavily. He Cidao and the bandit troops held out for half a month, but then the bandits moved into Lujiang and plundered the people. Tao Daozhen (Tao Zhan, son of Tao Kan) fought the bandits and was badly defeated. Fortunately, the county city was not lost, otherwise I really don't know what to say."

"Now, letters have been sent from various places, all saying that Shan Yanlin has more than 20,000 soldiers and horses by land and sea, but he has not come to the rescue of Lujiang and Huainan. Do you have any good ideas?"

Sure enough, he was talking about the battle situation in Huainan.

But what can they do? Should they send the two guards of the Eastern Palace to fight? I'm afraid they won't be able to win.

The Xianbei cavalry came and went like the wind, while the Southern soldiers were mainly infantry. They could not catch up even if they died of exhaustion. How could they fight this battle?
The prince's right guard, Zhou Yan, heard this and frowned slightly, saying, "Your Highness, I wonder where the bandits came from?"

Sima Fei was stunned and said hesitantly: "It should be..."

"Chengde, Yangquan." Shan Yinan said first.

Sima Fei was ashamed, he was originally planning to mention Shouchun.

"In this case, it is not impossible to defend." Zhou Yan said: "Huainan and Lujiang counties have many lakes and ponds, and rivers and streams are crisscrossed. Even if it is cold and ice forms, the ice surface is very thin and brittle, and cannot pass through horses and men. The enemy cavalry will be blocked by rivers before they can go far in the wild. After crossing the river, they will go a few miles and there will be another river. I really don't know how the cavalry can run in such a densely networked area of ​​water."

At this point, without waiting for Sima Fei's answer, he continued, "I guess the nobles of the two counties were frightened when they saw the large group of bandits coming, so they defended the forts and let the bandits run wild. In this way, the situation is not too bad. Why bother with them? The bandits have nothing to plunder in the wild, so they will leave sooner or later."

"That's not what I meant." Ying Xuan cleared his throat and said, "If we allow the bandit cavalry to move freely, the nobles of the two counties will inevitably be discouraged and disappointed. Over time, it may be detrimental to the overall situation. It's better for the governor of Shan to take action. Even if he can't drive away the Hu cavalry, at least let the nobles of the two counties see the royal army, so that they can hold out against the Shao army for a long time."

"General Ying is right." Yu Mao, the Prince's Secretary, said, "The conflict between the North and the South is primarily about people's hearts. If we do nothing about it, it will only disappoint the elders of the two counties. We still have to think of a solution."

If we want to find a solution, we have to send troops.

Although it is impossible for all rivers in Lujiang and Huainan to be frozen, it is still somewhat inconvenient during the dry season.

Large ships cannot enter, so only small boats can go in, but the smaller the boat, the greater the risk.

"Can we..." Just as everyone was thinking, Shan Yinan suddenly said, "Can we lure the bandits to one place, and then secretly send people to burn the wooden bridge, so that they are trapped in the river bend, unable to move forward or backward, and unable to drive them away, and then use infantry to attack and wipe them out in one fell swoop?"

"It's difficult." Zhou Yan shook his head.

"I'm afraid the thieves won't be fooled." said Cai Shao, the prince's household steward.

"If we are not careful, we might be forced to retreat by the enemy cavalry." The Prince's Secretary Shen Zhen also said.

Shan Yinan felt a little embarrassed when he heard everyone say this, so he stopped talking.

Du Yi watched coldly.

In fact, this strategy is not without the possibility of success.

There are tens of thousands of Xianbei people of all kinds, and there are always arrogant and careless ones among them. Moreover, the Jin soldiers have been avoiding fighting, so they have long looked down on them. Do you dare to say that it will not work if they trick a few hundred cavalry into an unfavorable terrain and then ambush them?

"What should we do then?" Sima Fei sighed.

"Your Highness, I am willing to go to Hefei." The left guard commander Ying Xuan stood up and said, "Someone has to break this siege. If it goes on like this, the governor of Shan will be in a mess."

"Are you sure?" Sima Fei asked.

"Do your best." Ying Xuan said, "Your Highness should not be distracted by such matters. The emperor is ill today and the situation is volatile. This is a major event."

Sima Fei was shocked and nodded silently.

No one can rest assured until the last moment. Recently, General Sima Zong of the Left Guard has not been very honest. He and General Yu Yin of the Right Guard have been very close...

After calming down, Sima Fei said, "I'll leave this matter to you. Just do your best."

"Yes, sir." Ying Xuan replied.

"There is one more thing." Sima Fei continued, "The emperor intends to send an official from the Eastern Palace as an envoy to Shu. Who will do it?"

"Your Highness, why not send Yan Hongdu there?" Danyang Yin Shanwei suggested.

Sima Fei subconsciously looked towards Shan.

Shan nodded.

Sima Fei looked at the others again. Everyone had no objection and had long wanted to send him away.

"Then let Yan Hongdu be the envoy." Sima Fei made up his mind.

Afterwards they discussed other matters, and it was not until evening that everyone bowed and left.

At this time, Shan Yinan called Ying Xuan who was lagging behind and said softly: "Gao Zheng, be careful on this trip. I heard that the Hu people are greedy for money and goods. If we can find a way to lure them to rob and kill them with the fleet, even if it is just a small setback, it can greatly change the situation. I am not good at military warfare, and I can only think of this strategy in a hurry. Gao Zheng is familiar with military books, and He Cidao also has military strategies, you can try it. If it really doesn't work, don't force it to do it for the sake of my face, you should put the overall situation first."

Zhou Yan had just taken a few steps when he heard these words. He paused and then quickly left.

"I'll go and see after that." Ying Xuan glanced at Shan and replied.

Shan nodded.

After a while, she returned to the main hall and saw that everyone had left. She said to Sima Pei, "My husband, Lord Yan is a loyal minister. He needs to be comforted as he is on a long journey."

"Then call—"

"It's better to come in person." Shan looked at him and said.

"Okay." Sima Fei hesitated for a moment and then agreed.

That night, Sima Pei went to Yan Han's residence in person.

(End of this chapter)