Chapter 1080 Boundary Line

Chapter 1080 Boundary Line

Chapter 1080 Boundary Line

On the 12th, Jiangling City was generally calm.

The Liang army split into several groups and began to clear out the remaining enemies.

The first was to search the entire city, house by house, to capture the fleeing soldiers and Jin Dynasty officers who were hiding;
The second is to send troops outside the city to search and capture the fleeing soldiers;
The third one is more important. Jiang Ke, the commander-in-chief of the Western Army, sent 10,000 soldiers to march eastward to try to capture Huarong.

That afternoon, Jiang Ke entered Jiangling surrounded by a large army.

The Tao family retreated very hastily and decisively.

Apart from himself, he brought almost nothing with him. On the desk, there were even several official letters waiting to be reviewed.

Jiang Ke picked up one at random. It turned out to be a request to recruit young and strong men to guard the city, which even included recruiting monks from the temples. Jiang Ke laughed at this.

According to the summary of the various troops entering the city, a total of more than 3,000 prisoners were captured yesterday, and more than 200 were found this morning. Except for a few garrison soldiers from Wuchang and Xiakou, most of them were Xiangzhou soldiers, barbarian soldiers and local people of Jiangling. Only about 1,500 were taken away by Tao Kan.

Jiang Ke estimated that Tao Kan had only about 15,000 soldiers from Jingzhou, including several thousand who were stationed in Wuchang, Xiakou and other places.

With such a small number of people, they are good at defense but not good at attacking.

They could only rely on the Yangtze River and Yunmengze for defense, and just like the Eastern Wu, they had to hold on.

However, our own casualties were also considerable.

More than 25,000 Hu tribes died in battle, died of disease, rebelled, or fled. Seven to eight thousand able-bodied laborers died in battle, died of disease, or fled. Thousands of people from the imperial guards and government troops also suffered casualties or died of disease.

As for the deaths and injuries of the conscripts who transported food and military supplies over long distances, they were not included in the statistics, because it was impossible to provide them with pensions anyway.

In more than four months, they swept across most of northern Jing, captured Xiangyang, Xincheng, Shangyong, Jingling, and five southern counties, plus half of Jiangxia, and captured the two important cities of Xiangyang and Jiangling. According to historical books, it was a glorious victory.

After this battle, Jiang Ke felt that the emperor would look at him differently.

Of course, he did not expect to achieve everything in one go, as that was unrealistic. According to the rumors, Nanyang Le Kai would still serve as the governor of Jingzhou, but the Mianyang North Military Governor's Office would be abolished, and Julu County Prince Shao Shen would be appointed to supervise the military affairs of the six counties including Xiangyang, and open the government with the same status as the three officials to rectify the newly acquired areas.

As for Jiang Ke, he would probably take up a position in the new shogunate and concurrently serve as the governor of Nanjun. As for whether he would lead troops, it was hard to say.

Most of the official positions under Nanjun are reserved for the local nobles and powerful families in Jingzhou, and the two sides will have to work together in the future.

After putting down the official letter in his hand, Jiang Ke ordered people to count the property of the Tao Mansion, load it onto a truck and send it to Xiangyang for unified distribution of rewards.

Tens of thousands of people in Jiangling and its surrounding areas, regardless of their wealth, had to pay "city redemption money", just like Xiangyang and Anlu. After the money was collected, it was also sent to Xiangyang, counted and registered, and distributed uniformly.

The troops will not withdraw for the time being. They will remain for half a month and then withdraw in batches.

It would be a bit dangerous to leave after March. It would be difficult for northerners to adapt and the number of people getting sick would increase dramatically. After all, Cao Wei's siege of Jiangling lasted almost until this time.

In fact, from a big picture perspective, Tao Kan almost succeeded.

If his idea was followed and the more than 10,000 troops in Xiangfan were withdrawn, even if they were just divided up to guard the area and strengthen the defense of the important garrisons in the south, it would still be possible to delay the war for a few more months.

Starting from March, the weather turned hot and diseases began to spread. Even with the prevention of "endemic diseases", the situation was only better than during the Cao Wei period, with fewer people dying from the illness. No one could tell what the real situation was.

In addition, with the increase in rainfall, the water levels of the originally shallow rivers rose sharply, and the originally receding lakes began to expand. These would bring huge difficulties to marching and transportation, and would be more conducive to the navy's attack and greater flexibility and maneuverability.

For example, the flow of the Yongshui River is very small in winter, and navigation is completely impossible in some places. Tao Kan never deployed troops through this river from beginning to end, but the situation is completely different during the spring flood season.

For example, the lake east of Jiangling City would rise to the level of the city wall during the flood season in spring and summer. At that time, the Liang army would be completely unable to enter this area, and Jiangling City could communicate with the outside world without interference, even if it was only through small boats with shallow draft.

Even because of the continuous rainfall, water attacks became possible, which was unimaginable during the dry season in winter - apart from anything else, digging the soil when it was freezing cold was a difficult task.

Fortunately, the Eastern Jin Dynasty court was useless! Otherwise, how could they have won so easily?

"Send the victory report to His Majesty." Jiang Ke picked up a beautiful celadon, weighed it, and said, "In addition--"

He put down the celadon and said, "Tell Yang Bao to stop hiding and come out quickly. See if there are any Jin navy soldiers on the river. If not, send people west to Badong immediately. Don't let the Cheng army attack suddenly. At this moment, Badong may not be able to be defended."

After saying that, he strode out of the Tao Mansion.

He can't live in this house, and he has to avoid suspicion.

******
The main forces of the Jin army's land and sea forces had left Baling and headed eastward back to Xiakou and Wuchang.

But Tao Kan was stranded in Baling because he fell ill.

His son Tao Xia was the magistrate of Baling and his family settled there, so he could take care of him nearby, which saved him a lot of trouble.

On the evening of February 15th, Zhou Fu and Wang Qianqi stood outside Tao's mansion, sighing and looking worried.

Zhou Fu, in particular, suffered more than one defeat in the war and was very angry. He complained, "The battle is almost over, and the imperial reinforcements have just arrived in Wuchang. I don't know what they have been doing along the way." "Daohe, is this a matter of one or two reinforcements?" Wang Qianqi smiled bitterly, "Even if these people were not intercepted by Shan Yanlin halfway and arrived on schedule, they could not protect Jiangling. Ming Gong is right. Only the Yangtze River can stop 800,000 Liang soldiers. Didn't Dongwu rely on the Yangtze River for defense for so many years? Shao the thief is not stupid. It's almost March. It's inappropriate to fight again. Besides, his soldiers have to go back to farm, otherwise what will they eat? With reinforcements coming, at least Mianyang and other places can be saved, and there will be a foothold in Jiangbei."

Zhou Fu was silent for a moment, then said, "You are right."

After a pause, he asked in a low voice: "Do you know who the court will send to take over the military and political affairs of Jingzhou?"

It is impossible not to punish the people who have lost their troops and territory.

Of course, very severe punishment is also impossible.

But no matter what, Jingzhou will most likely have to change people. The reputation and foundation that the Tao family had accumulated over many years of operation here were destroyed by this battle with the thief Shao.

"Who else could it be?" Wang Qianqi smiled and said, "It's just those three families."

Which three? Of course, they are the Wang family of Langya, the Zhuge family of Langya, and the Heneishan family.

From the emperor's perspective, he certainly does not want the Wang family to continue expanding its business.

Although Jingzhou has lost a lot of places, there are still many counties in the south of the Yangtze River, and half of Jiangxia in the north of the Yangtze River. In order to fight against the Shao bandits, they might even merge Xiangzhou to concentrate their forces to defend the Yangtze River defense line and prevent the bandits' navy from crossing Xiakou and Wuchang - if they have a navy.

But the emperor’s words may not always count.

Wang Bin, the governor of Jiangzhou and the General of the Southern Army who was stationed at Penkou, was most likely willing to come to Jingzhou. As long as Wang Dao pushed hard, he would have a considerable chance of taking office. The key lay in Wang Dao's attitude.

If Wang Bin cannot come to Jingzhou, then Shan Xia and Zhuge Hui are the most likely candidates. They will move their garrisons and hand over Wuhu and Jingkou.

Are they willing? It's hard to say.

Besides, the emperor may not be willing to let the two of them leave. It was not easy to build two garrisons around Jianye, which can slightly contain the Wang family of Langya. If you get rid of them, what if the Wang family takes over?

In short, this matter is not that simple. It is estimated that there will be some open and secret struggles before the final decision can be made.

But it's none of their business.

After Tao Shiheng suffered a defeat, they should think about how to get out of this situation. From what they heard before, Tao Shiheng seemed willing to take all the blame, which would make things much easier for them. With a little effort, it would not be difficult to get out of this situation.

As for whether I will continue to stay in Jingzhou or serve as an official in the court in the future, it doesn’t matter. I will just have to get through the current difficulties first.

This year's big defeat was really hurtful for everyone.

******
On February 20th, after several days of fighting, General Chang Can of the Left Jinwu Guard captured Huarong.

Along the way from Jiangling, the local nobles either remained neutral and watched, or sent people to comfort the troops and show their submission. Only the Hu clan occupied Huarong County and raised an army to resist.

The troops under Governor Chang Can attacked fiercely and captured Huarong.

As for the Hu family, they were quickly wiped out. Their core members all died in Huarong, and they were unable to defend their home.

At this time, Chang Can received news from Huang Biao's Eastern Army.

They tried to attack Mianyang from the east, but it was not very successful, so they withdrew.

Afterwards, he sent another part of his troops south to Jianli, where he found defenders. He tried to persuade them to surrender but failed, so he did not fight and simply withdrew.

At this point, the battle line was finally fixed. Roughly speaking, Jiangling outside the western edge of Yunmeng Lake was the western border, Huarong, Jingling, and Yangkou were the northern border, and Mianyang and Zhukou were the eastern border. Outside the border was Yunmeng Lake, and in the middle were some fortresses, counties, and towns occupied by the Jin people, which was roughly the same as the late Three Kingdoms period.

The only difference is that Huarong, Jingling and other places were gradually developed, and the environment improved. The Liang army took them down reluctantly, pushing the dividing line between the Northern and Southern Dynasties further south, just like the Wei and Jin dynasties gradually eroded Shicheng and other places.

On the 21st, Chang Can and Huang Biao both received orders to withdraw.

The soldiers who followed the expedition were as if they had been pardoned and were eager to return to the north.

This damn place, whoever wants to come can come, they don't want to come a second time. Even if the local nobles change their minds and rebel against Liang and return to Jin, it is none of their business, let others worry about it.

At this time, Shao Xun summoned the officials accompanying him to Caizhou Island to discuss the governance issues after the withdrawal of troops.

It is impossible for the Northern troops to stay here for a long time. At most, they can send a small number of troops to guard key towns such as Jiangling, and the remaining 90% of the troops must return.

From now on, local powerful families will still be the decisive force in influencing local situations.

Whoever they side with will own the land, so we have to win them over.

The way to win them over is undoubtedly to distribute benefits such as official positions.

(Forgot to set automatic update...)
(End of this chapter)