Chapter 1112 Stop Line

Chapter 1112 Stop Line

Chapter 1112 Stop Line

When Li Yue ran to Shicheng, he finally stopped and took a breath.

The army and navy were only about 10,000 strong. They ran too fast and most of them were probably separated.

This is also good, as many of them are originally from Ba and Baxi counties, and they can return to their hometowns on their own.

Shicheng was once the temporary seat of Baxi County. As for why the officials from Baxi came here, it was of course because the Li family's men defeated the officials and generals of the Jin Dynasty in Shu and they had no way to run here.

Shicheng is isolated on three sides, with only the south side facing the river being passable - it is roughly located in Shibaozhai, Zhong County, Chongqing today.

This kind of terrain is difficult to attack by land, and the only open area is the river. Fortunately, the navy is still able to fight, although their morale is a little low.

However, a large number of people from the navy left today, and with them left a large number of army soldiers.

Later in the evening, Li Yue sent people to count the number of soldiers, and found that there were only about 5,000 land troops stationed in Shicheng. Even so, there was not enough room, so 2,000 people were crammed into the city, and another 3,000 people were lying in a mess on the south side all the way to the river.

As the sun set, Li Yue led the remaining hundreds of his personal soldiers out of the city for inspection, and couldn't help but burst into tears.

The more than 2,000 people living in the city are relatively well organized and have relatively complete equipment, but those outside the city are in very poor condition.

Most of their armor was lost, and now they only had the weapons left behind by those who had evacuated earlier, so that they would not be left unarmed.

But the morale was really low. Everyone was either squatting or lying down, with the only thing in their eyes being the gurgling steaming rice steamer. It seemed as if nothing else could move them.

Seeing Li Yue coming to inspect, only a few people stood up. The others stood up reluctantly after being scolded by the officers.

Such a large-scale retreat caused great damage to the morale of the army. Without proper reorganization, it would be impossible to return to the battlefield.

Li Yue sighed and said, "Kill my warhorse and feed the soldiers."

The guard was stunned for a moment, then when he saw that Li Yue was not joking, he agreed.

Li Yue glanced around and said, "This battle is not your fault. I made a big mistake in arranging the troops and formations, which led to this. If the court holds me accountable, I will bear the responsibility alone, and it has nothing to do with you."

After a pause, he continued, "I have already reported to the court that reinforcements will arrive in Baxi in a few days. No matter how arrogant the Liang bandits are, they dare not enter Shu without food and grass outside and without a guide inside. The situation is not yet critical. From now on, we should work together to defend Baxi and stop the Liang bandits in Badong."

"The bandits are bloodthirsty and have lost all humanity. If we allow them to invade Shu, your property and family will be in danger, and it will be too late to regret it."

"If you fight to the death and stop the Liang bandits, your family will be able to live and work in peace, and the court will also give you rewards. You should carefully consider whether this is good or bad."

After saying that, he looked at everyone with a slightly hopeful look.

Some people avoided his gaze, some lowered their heads, distracted, and some were still looking at the rice steamer, as if they were only concerned about when the rice would be cooked.

Li Yue was slightly angry. But he also knew that he couldn't lose his temper at this time. The imperial court's reinforcements hadn't arrived yet, and they would have to rely on them to resist for a while. Otherwise, if the Liang people broke into Shu, everything would be over.

After the inspection, Li Yue lost his enthusiasm. That night, news came from the east: Liang bandits left Nanpu and attacked Rangtu. More than a thousand defenders disobeyed orders and retreated to Shicheng with hundreds of fleeing soldiers. Rangtu is located in the present-day Longdu Town, Wanzhou, Chongqing.

Li Yue was surprised when he heard this, but he didn't show anything. He just silently calculated the route in his mind.

It is about fifty or sixty miles from Nanpu to Rangtu, with many mountains and hills, making it difficult to travel.

There is a sandbar on the river outside Rangtu, called "Lake Beach", where dozens of naval ships are stationed, and there has been no report of Liang's navy attacking. In other words, even if the Liang army came to pursue, they could only transport food and grass by land, and this had its limits.

And it takes about 110 miles to walk west from Rangtu to reach Shicheng where he is currently stationed.

Not in a hurry!
Li Yue stayed in Shicheng for another two days in a calm and composed manner, gathered more than a thousand defeated soldiers, and then headed westward leisurely.

On the night of the 15th, the entire army arrived at Huanghuapu, located at the place where the Huanghua River flows into the river. There is a sandbar in the river named "Huanghuazhou", which is the Huanghua Island in Zhong County in later generations.

On the 17th, they arrived at Linjiang County (now Zhong County, Chongqing). At this time, Li Yue received news again: Liang soldiers entered Shicheng, only a few dozen people climbed up the rocks, and the 1,000 defenders directly abandoned the city and went south to Jiangpu, escaping by boat.

Li Yue was so angry that he almost fainted. Your mother! You really don't want to guard it for a while? Even for a moment is fine.

But now that things have come to this, even he himself is panicking, so how can he blame others?
That night, Li Yue led thousands of defeated soldiers across Huxutan and headed southwest. Two days later, he arrived at Fengdu Mountain and the ancient city of Fengdu of the Han Dynasty.

At this time, an urgent order from Chengdu was sent to the army: Anyone who retreats again will be killed without mercy!

Li Yue then summoned naval and land soldiers, totaling more than 13,000 soldiers - a little more than before - and stationed them in this Taoist resort, intending to fight to the death.

However, they did not wait for the Liang army, because the latter had almost reached its limit at this time.

Fu Hong's troops arrived at the deserted Linjiang around 20 days ago.

As the Chengguo navy was cruising on the river, the naval commander Yang Bao sent dozens of ships to fight it. The deputy commander Huang He fought hard and was injured. The navy was forced to retreat and took refuge in the rivers and streams near Shicheng, relying on the protection of the land army.

So, the battle line basically stagnated here.

Going further, the food and fodder they carried with them was not enough, and the land transportation was extremely long and consumed a lot of resources. In addition, the people around them were unstable and had not yet been annexed by the enemy, so they could not raise food locally. As a result, they stopped their troops here and turned to stabilize the rear.

Shao Shen’s most important task now is to hunt down the defeated soldiers of Cheng State along the way and to pacify the barbarian cave leaders so that they will not cause chaos.

After doing all this, they also need to build a naval camp in a suitable place, preferably one that is integrated with land and water like Ruxuwu, that is, it can be used as both an army camp and a naval port, and then build a large warehouse city and find a way to store all kinds of supplies needed for 30,000 people to fight for one year.

This is not something I came up with out of thin air.

When Liu Xiu conquered Shu in the past, he mobilized a total of 60,000 people and more than 5,000 war horses, and assembled them in Jingmen. It took two years.

When Liu Bei entered Shu, he had only more than 10,000 people, plus the thousands of soldiers supported by Sun Quan, a total of no more than 15,000. But Liu Bei was fighting a political war, which could not be regarded as a normal war, so Shao Shen felt that 30,000 people was a more appropriate force to destroy Cheng Han - of course, he didn't know that Huan Wen, the Grand Marshal, only brought more than 7,000 Jingzhou soldiers, and dared to go upstream to attack and destroy Cheng Han. When the old man Huan was eager to make progress, his gambling nature was amazing.

On the 21st, Shao Shen arrived in Linjiang County in person.

The county officials had all fled, and only a few local tyrants came to visit trembling with fear. They were not the heads of the families, but the nephews and nieces of the clan, and they obviously came to gather information about the situation.

Shao Shen knew the importance of the matter, so he gave each visitor fifty pieces of cloth as a reward, and consoled them with kind words, telling them to go about their business and not to panic.

A few days later, these local tyrants came to entertain the troops with a total of 10,000 hu of grain, 1,000 pigs and sheep, and 100 jars of wine.

Shao Shen accepted them all and praised them for their achievements.

******
Just on the eve of Shao Shen's arrival in Linjiang County, Shao Xun received military reports of the great victory in Badong, and made it public at the court meeting the next day, and all the ministers congratulated him.

At this time, everyone saw the dawn of hope. For a while, undercurrents surged, and everyone was thinking about how to benefit from it.

The family's century-long plan depends on these subtle efforts.

After the court meeting was over, Shao Xun kept Yu Liang.

"Yuan Gui, Shu is a remote area and has always been easy to defend. Now we have finally cracked open this turtle shell. Once it is conquered, we must send important officials to suppress it." Shao Xun said as he handed the imperial edict to Yu Liang.

Yu Liang reached out to take it, and after a quick glance, he found that it was an imperial edict of commendation.

Fu Hong was promoted to the rank of General Lingjiang, a fourth-rank official.

Fu An was promoted to the rank of Linjiang Magistrate, a seventh-rank official.
Dou Yuzhen was given 200 pieces of silk and 100 live captives;
Shan Ji, the second son of Shangjun prefect Shan Zhi, was appointed as the seventh-rank deputy chief of the imperial guards;

Lu Zhuchang, the eldest son of Lu Zhuqian, the governor of Diaoyin, was given a hundred rolls of silk and fifty captives;

……

The edict listed dozens of people, most of whom did not hold official positions, but were rewarded with money and property.

The spoils of war obtained by the soldiers were distributed according to the military merits of each unit, and the court did not collect them. Another person was given two pieces of silk and one piece of white linen. Soldiers who died in battle, died of illness, or were injured were each given five pieces of silk as a pension.

The reward was not very generous, but it was much better than the frequent defaults during the Han, Wei and Jin dynasties.

Besides, what if they really didn't give rewards? Do all the kings have to pay money to move?
Yu Liang had no objection to this. After reading it, he sealed it and presented it on the imperial desk.

Shao Xun asked the palace servant to take it away and give it to the minister to send to the palace. Then he looked at the uneasy Yu Liang and suddenly smiled and said, "Yuan Gui, what kind of friendship do we have? Why do you have to do this? Tell me, what preparations do we need to make to destroy Cheng?"

"Supplies." Yu Liang and Shao Shen agreed on this matter.

When the navy cannot gain an advantage, they can only store sufficient supplies on the front line and send troops after they are fully prepared.

"Supply is not something that can be obtained overnight." Yu Liang added, "It will take time to build the palace and the arsenal, and some roads may also need to be repaired. During this period, the court cannot do nothing."

Shao Xun was very happy when he heard it, as Liangzi had always been fine in principle.

He can always see the problem and know where the hidden dangers need to be solved, which is a very good vision. But he is too impatient, a little arrogant, and prone to boasting, which eventually makes things a mess.

Liangzi is a strange person because he can see the problem but doesn't have the right means to solve it.

This guy is more than qualified to be a strategist, but it is not certain whether he can get involved in actual operations.

"What do you think we should do?" Shao Xun asked.

Yu Liang sorted out his thoughts and said, "I think we should contact the great families in Shu."

"There are also disputes between the natives and the immigrants in Cheng. In the past, Li Te led more than 100,000 officials and civilians from the six counties of Tianshui, Lueyang, Fufeng, Shiping, Wudu, and Yinping to the south, swept through the counties, and took over Shu. Over the years, most of the ministers and generals in Cheng are newcomers from the six counties, and there are very few old Shu clans. In the past, they were afraid of the young men from the six counties, so they did not dare to rebel. Now is different from the past. If Your Majesty treats the old Shu clans well and grants them official positions, they will come to surrender."

After listening to this, Shao Xun did not comment.

Yu Liang was stunned. Did I say something wrong?
Shao Xun stood up, walked behind Yu Liang, patted him on the shoulder, and said, "Yuan Gui, you are roughly right. But if you try to appease him directly like this, it will probably be useless."

Yu Liang was puzzled at first, but suddenly an idea struck him and he said, "I understand."

"What do you know?" Shao Xun asked curiously.

"Your Majesty, you can order the King of Yan to marry into a powerful family in Shu, then -"

"Yuan Gui!" Shao Xun sighed helplessly and said, "Your trick is not wrong, but if you use it rashly, it will only harm the nobles in Shu who are loyal to the court. Do you think these are scholars who have migrated south?"

After saying that, he patted Yu Liang's shoulder heavily with his Iron Palm and said, "Just like the battle to attack Liangzhou, we can only do this when the troops are close to Chengdu and the whole Shu is shaken. The Shu nobles are indeed dissatisfied with the Li family, but are they really willing to submit to me so easily? Think about it carefully. You still don't understand the thoughts of the old Wu and Shu clans."

Yu Liang was silent for a long time.

He seemed to understand a little. His Majesty did not expect the Shu clans to bow down to him. As long as they remained neutral at the critical moment and did not help either side, he would be satisfied.

According to this line of thinking, it is indeed possible to do it, because the old clans in Shu have a history of betraying the foreign military and political groups that oppressed them.

The people in this place are quite closed-minded. If they can win, they will establish their own regime. If they can't, they will surrender and continue to live, as long as you guarantee their interests.

Your Majesty really sees through these people.

(End of this chapter)