Chapter 1221 The 2nd Battlefield

Chapter 1221 The 2nd Battlefield

Chapter 1221 The Second Battlefield
On February 11, a hand-painted silk map was spread on the desk of Yu Tan, the prefect of Wuxing.

He moved his fingers back and forth on the picture, sighing from time to time.

Yixing County has been basically recovered, and now there are only two places left, one is the old house of the Zhou family in Yixing, and the other is Yangxian City.

Of course, Yixing County was not large. It was originally expanded from one county, that is, Yangxian County was divided into four parts and then expanded into four counties.

During the expansion process, of course some villages from neighboring counties were included, but not many, and the overall expansion was limited.

Two years ago, it was said that Danyang Yongshi County would also be transferred here, but it was not implemented.

Therefore, when General Liu Chao of the Right Guard reported the recovery of the three counties of Guoshan, Linjin and Yixiang and the siege of Yangxian City, it was just for show, because in fact he only captured half of Yangxian.

However, the positive side is that the rebellion momentum of Zhou family in Yixing has been suppressed, and now there are only two fortresses and a few thousand soldiers left.

The main force to suppress them was the soldiers of the Danyang and Xuancheng nobles. While they were conquering cities, they were also secretly recruiting Zhou's farmhands and soldiers. All of this was actually tacitly approved by the imperial court.

Today is different from the past. If Shao Liang had not attacked, even if the imperial court had destroyed the Zhou clan of Yixing, it would not have allowed the powerful families to completely swallow up the Zhou clan's farmhands and land. It would have at least swallowed up half of them, that is, registered them as citizens, and the remaining half would have been distributed as a benefit for the various clans to send troops.

It seems that no one cares about it now. All you have to do is destroy the Zhou family, and act quickly.

The same is true for Zhou and Qian.

In fact, dealing with these powerful families who can easily send out 10,000 or 20,000 troops is difficult, but it is also simple: before they gather together, taking the initiative and knocking out their leaders can achieve twice the result with half the effort.

When Zhou Qi conquered Jiangnan for the third time, he had tens of thousands of troops at most. Were they all soldiers of the Zhou family? No.

Taking the four counties of Yixing as an example, the main branch of the Zhou family (descendants of Zhou Chu) controlled a part of the people and land, the side branch controlled a part of the people and land, plus the unknown small families that were attached to the Zhou family and the people who were "enfeoffed" after fighting for the Zhou family and made meritorious services to the Zhou family, together constituted the so-called Yixing Zhou family.

If the Zhou clan leader has a high reputation, he can mobilize these families to the greatest extent, make them obey his orders, and even influence other families outside the Zhou clan's traditional sphere of influence.

For example, Xu Fu, the military commander of Wuxing, had his own troops, but they were not enough, so he colluded with Zhou Xie. Zhou Xie came forward and said that he came on behalf of his uncle Zhou Zha to support Xu Fu. In an instant, Xu Fu had thousands of troops and even attracted the Sun family of Fuchun to prepare to respond.

This is the embodiment of influence.

The greater the influence, the more soldiers they have; the less the influence, the fewer soldiers they have. Therefore, these powerful families attach great importance to reputation. Reputation can really bring benefits, not just empty name. This is an important feature of the era when powerful families are in power.

Influence is also affected by the times. If the times are right, even if your personal reputation is small and your influence is small, you can still gather a lot of soldiers. It's just that you have little say among these soldiers, because people don't come to you just because of your reputation. If the times are wrong and your reputation is not high, forget it, others may not necessarily come to you, and even if they do, they may break up or even turn against you.

Chen Min in the past was a living example, her reputation was too low.

Yu Tan had already led an army to capture the old residence of the Qian family in Changcheng and arrested or detained a large number of Qian clan members, making it completely impossible for them to mobilize their forces effectively and for them to fight on their own.

This was due to his preemptive strike - the county soldiers had already been gathering in order to go north to attack the Zhou family in Yixing, but they changed their target halfway, catching the Qian family off guard.

"I still haven't achieved my full goal." Yu Tan poked his finger at Changcheng County, feeling a little regretful.

"What will happen to the Shen family?" His finger quickly moved to Wukang County, hesitating.

After the quick attack on the Qian family, the Shen family must have been prepared. I heard that they had already contacted various families and secretly swallowed up the scattered farmhands of the Qian family.

In terms of strength, the Shen family was superior to the Qian family. However, after Shen Chong's failed rebellion, the Shen family's strength and reputation declined greatly, and even 5,000 farmhands were relocated, and the Qian family became superior.

This time, the Qian family suffered a heavy blow, and the Shen family began to win over other families. What do they want to do? It is worth noting.

But Yu Tan couldn't do anything.

The remnants of the Qian family have not been suppressed yet, is it okay to force the Shen family to rebel?
After thinking about it, Yu Tan decided to appease her, even if it was just a pretense.

"Send someone with a generous gift to the Shen family's old house." Yu Tan clapped his hands, called someone in and gave the order.

******
February 12th, sunny.

In the Mirror Lake south of Shanyin City, masts are like forests and soldiers are like rain.

This is the second batch of troops ready to go, but surprisingly there are not as many as the first time. There is no other reason, it's time for spring plowing!
Theoretically, women, the elderly and children can also farm, but they are not strong enough, and if there are no able-bodied men in the family, it will greatly affect the planting area.

For example, when there are no oxen for plowing - even in wealthy areas, it is a luxury for three or five households to share one ox - hard work is needed for plowing, which requires strong laborers.

If they can't even do the hard farming, then women with children can just dig some holes and sow the seeds, and that's it. You can imagine how much you can harvest in the end.

Agriculture is the foundation of the world.

Even if the manor owners want to fight against the thief Shao, they cannot be so short-sighted.

In addition to the large families of Kuaiji headed by the He family of Shanyin, the scholars who migrated to the local area from the south also had to provide manpower, food and equipment, but compared with the people of Wu, they were more perfunctory.

Some of the main figures of the families did not show up, but sent a young man with some food, arrows, swords and guns and a few strong men to Shanyin County to cut the items and load them onto ships for shipment.

For example, the Xie family, who moved to Shining County (in the mountains southeast of Shanyin) many years ago, sent a 14-year-old boy named Xie An, leading more than 200 strong men from the Xie family as part of the second expeditionary force.

"Oh? The young man from the Xie family is here?" Ying Xuan, the Internal History of Kuaiji, stood by the lake and called out to Xie An, who was hurriedly about to leave after completing his work. He asked, "Where are you going?"

"My Lord." Xie An came back to his senses, bowed, and said, "Of course I'm going to visit Dongshan."

"Do you have any friends?" Ying Xuan asked.

"There are seven or eight people including Wang You of Kuaiji and Wang Yi Shao," Xie An replied.

"Why don't you take me with you?" Ying Xuan said with a smile, "I won't bother you in vain. There are singing girls to entertain you."

Xie An seemed to understand, but still declined, saying: "Although you are about to be dismissed, the country is in a difficult situation. You should finish your duties and wait for the new internal historian to arrive before you can enjoy yourself."

Ying Xuanqi asked, "How do you know I'm leaving?"

Xie An just smiled and didn't answer.

At Ying Xuan's repeated urging, Fang pointed to the fleet not far away and said, "The big families in Wu should give some benefits if they provide people and food. Kuaiji is a big county. From the prefect to the internal historian, there are few people from Wu in the past 20 years. Now we should change."

Ying Xuan was somewhat emotional when he heard this: "In the past, I heard that Mr. Xie was known for his elegant conversation, but I didn't take it seriously. Now I know that he is a talented person, so why doesn't he take up a government post? Fourteen is a little young, but it won't hurt to work as a calligrapher in the Mo Cao Academy to gain some experience."

Xie An shook his head and said, "I am a quiet person by nature. Being an official is not what I want. It would be best if I could spend the rest of my life in Dongshan."

Ying Xuan sighed and said, "What a pity." Xie An bowed again and turned to leave.

"Tell Wang Yi Shao to stop playing around and quickly urge them to recruit soldiers and send them to Jianye." Ying Xuan suddenly spoke up and warned.

Xie An paused and said "OK".

"Why doesn't my family have such a talented child?" Ying Xuan sighed.

Such a young boy could actually see that he was going to leave his post. Although his previous sentence had revealed the secret, he was able to think carefully and make bold guesses based on this, which showed that he was not simple and was a smart man.

Compared with Xie An, Wang Xizhi is far inferior.

It's already this late, and you're still having fun! I asked you to come recruit soldiers, but you left everything to your subordinates and went to Dongshan to have fun. Do you still have the heart?
I really don’t know if you will still have the mood to play after the big tree of the Wang family fell down.

After shaking his head, Ying Xuan returned to the government office and took advantage of the last period of time before leaving office to handle official business.

******
"People say that crossing the river is good, but you say that crossing the river is bad. It's really strange." Ji Xian walked along the river, muttering to himself.

"Haha." Huan Yi, Shaoqing of Daliang Sinong Temple, laughed heartily and said, "Hengjiang is good, but it is heavily guarded and difficult to cross. Wankou is better, Wankou is better."

"What Duke Huan said does make sense. But the wind is high and the waves are rough, so we need to be careful." When they were almost at the end of the field, Ji Xian looked at Huan Wen who was dismounting his horse not far away and said.

"Hmm? Call me uncle." Huan Yi pretended to be displeased and said, "Your father and I are like brothers. What do you call me?"

"Uncle." Ji Xian took advantage of the situation and called out with a smile.

"You can't call me 'uncle' for nothing." Huan Yi got off his horse and looked at the soldiers coming from afar, saying, "There will be great changes in Jiangnan in the future. I will protect the Ji family at all costs. Yuanzi!"

"Father." Huan Wen casually ordered the soldiers behind him to negotiate with the visitor, and he went to Huan Yi to pay his respects.

"When investigating the gang in Jiangnan in the future, you must speak up for the Ji family no matter what. You are still young, and there are some things you don't know, alas." Huan Yi said: "When we first crossed the river..."

Thousands of people crossed the river, some from Jingzhou, some from Jiangzhou, and some from Yangzhou. Huan Yi first went to the north of the Yangtze River. Someone recommended him to be the governor of Huainan, but it didn't work out. So he crossed the river directly to the south, and his first stop was Xuancheng with his mother and cousin Huan You.

There is a reason for choosing Xuancheng.

In the late Cao Wei period, Grand Minister of Agriculture Huan Fan died, and some of Huan's descendants fled. Their first destination was Eastern Wu. Some of them lived in Wujun, some lived in Kuaiji, some lived in Guangling, and some lived in Xuancheng - the grandfather of Huan Fan's sons Huan Kai and Huan Yi.

After Sima Yan founded the country, he was relatively kind and pardoned many people, including the Huan family.

So Huan Yi's father Huan Hao found an opportunity and served in the Jin Dynasty.

Before that, Huan Kai and his son Huan Hao had lived in Wanling, Xuancheng for twenty to thirty years and had made friends with the locals - of course, their status in Eastern Wu was not high, so the level of their friendships was naturally not very high.

Huan Kai and Huan Hao were on good terms with the Ji family of Xuancheng, and Huan Yi also played with the Ji family's children when he was young.

Ji was just a local tycoon. Although he had manors, his own troops, and made a fortune through business, and had great influence in Xuancheng and Wanling counties, he could not resist the deliberate efforts of the Confucian scholars family like Huan to make friends with them. They were basically close friends.

After crossing the river, Huan Yi found his childhood playmate Ji Shihe and burst into tears.

After Huan Yi's mother arrived in Xuancheng, she died soon and was buried in Wanling. Later, Huan Yi went to Jianye, and Ji Shihe helped clean the tomb.

Huan Yi once went to Guangling to look for his relatives, but he didn't care much about it. However, he said to Ji Shihe that if he died in the wilderness in the future, it would be you who would collect his body.

Needless to say, the relationship between the two was such that if Huan Yi did not lend a hand to Ji, others would have criticized him.

After hearing what his father said, Huan Wen bowed deeply to Ji Xian and said, "The Huan and Ji families will share honor and disgrace. This oath will not change."

Huan Wen seemed very convincing as he spoke facing the Yangtze River.

Ji Xian immediately helped him up and said, "You don't need to do this, brother."

While the two were being polite, a group of people came over from the Wankou City in front of them, led by Han Zhongzhi, the commander-in-chief of the Zhenwu Camp.

After seeing Huan Yi and Huan Wen, he immediately stepped forward and paid his respects after being reminded by the translator.

"Let's skip the customary rites." Huan Yi looked at the Wankou City in front of him and said with emotion: "In the past, Cao Wei and Sun Wu fought for this city, and I don't know how many people died. Lu Xun defeated Cao Xiu at Shiting and captured and killed more than 10,000 people. I didn't expect that after so many years, the Wankou defenders were defeated in one blow."

The translator was very conscientious, but Han Zhongzhi was confused. Who are Lu Xun and Cao Xiu? I don't know them.

But after all, he had made up for it, and when he heard the word "Lu", he realized that this Lu Xun must be the ancestor of the Lu family who was resisting Daliang now.

At the same time, he was secretly alert. Lu Xun was able to kill more than 10,000 northern warriors, but the fighting power of the southern soldiers should not be underestimated. If he wanted to sneak across the river this time, he had to be alert.

Of course, he also had some doubts. Could it be that the civil and military talents of Jiangnan were no longer as good as before? Why did Jianye become like that?

For a moment, my brain felt like it was going to explode.

Huan Yi quickly noticed Han Zhongzhi's expression, so he smiled and said, "You're getting off topic."

Then he invited Ji Xian to come and meet Han Zhongzhi, and let them communicate privately about the details after crossing the river.

It is very important whether there is anyone on the other side to respond.

If there is someone to support them, there will be food, supplies, equipment, a place to rest, and even a place to hide.

Huan Wen seemed eager to try, but in the end he bowed his head in despair.

Being able to escort my father here is already the limit. If I dare to follow him across the river, Fu Bao will probably come to kill me with a group of female soldiers.

This battle is destined to depend on others to make achievements.

The most annoying thing is that it was his father who suggested sneaking from Wankou to Xuancheng. When the King of Lu learned that Ji was willing to surrender, he told Zhang Shuo about it.

Zhang Shuo was very decisive. He immediately arranged a group of people to sneak into Xuancheng and open up another battlefield behind the Wu people, making it difficult for them to take care of both ends and eventually lead to their collapse.

That night, 600 infantrymen and 300 cavalrymen sneaked across the river from Wankou, and most of them arrived at the other side.

(End of this chapter)