Chapter 1239: Moving In
Chapter 1239: Moving In (Additional Chapter 4 for Alliance Leader Yu Yuanchuyu)
The sound of drums continued across the autumn fields.
When the people who were harvesting crops saw this, they fled in all directions.
The two sides of the road were littered with collapsed ruins, charred walls, and occasionally some half-rotten or fully rotten corpses.
The well was nearly full, filled with the bodies of women swollen from water and filled with a foul smell.
Someone tried to completely seal the well, but when he saw the marching troops, he was so scared that he dropped his tools and ran away.
Occasionally, a man's roar and a woman's shrill cry could be heard from a house, and a few soldiers pulled up their trousers and rushed into the bamboo forest.
Thick smoke was still rising from the village in the distance, and the houses were reduced to ruins in the flames. There seemed to be the sound of a child crying in the smoke and fire, but it was silent after a while.
Several counties in the southern part of Danyang County are in a complete power vacuum.
The strongest men of the noble families died in Ningguo, Guangde, and Xianshan. All the officials fled, and all the symbols of order vanished.
This is war.
A victorious army is very dangerous, and a defeated army is equally dangerous, or even more dangerous.
"The fort is gone. The fighting was so brutal." Guo Song was riding on the back of a mule, looking at the almost empty fort, feeling a little emotional.
He recalled the days when he was young and had fought all over the place. Thinking about it now, it seemed like a dream.
Hundreds of people marched in silence.
These scenes were nothing to them. They were just burning, killing and looting. Who hadn't seen tribal feuds and fortress attacks and defenses? They were just trivial matters, not worth their second glance.
After walking forward a few hundred steps and crossing a bridge, they encountered a group of over a hundred fleeing soldiers. They simply drove them away with a volley of arrows and did not pursue them, but continued to advance towards Jianye.
Their whereabouts were not secret, and it was impossible to keep them secret, so the news was passed all the way north and soon reached Jianye.
On the eighth day of September, the vanguard arrived in Moling County.
Guo Song ordered that a hundred men be left to occupy the county town, and at the same time, he searched for minor officials in the county who were familiar with the local customs and asked them to watch the Tao family and other big families and report any signs of escape.
A camp was set up at the junction of Jianye and Moling counties.
The camp was divided into two parts, on the left and right, facing each other across the river. After investigation, it was learned that the King of Kuaiji led his troops to garrison here. There were 3,000 people on the left bank, mainly soldiers from Kuaiji, and more than 2,000 on the right bank, which should be the defeated soldiers who were gathered together.
Guo Song observed for half a day and found that most of the soldiers on the left bank were new recruits, so he decided to attack the troops of Kuaiji.
Hundreds of Di and Qiang attacked for a while amid the rumbling of drums, but failed. Then they attacked again amid dense arrows and finally defeated them.
After the camp on the left bank collapsed, the enemy troops on the right bank simply ran away, with no intention of fighting to the death.
King Kuaiji Sima Yu fell off his horse and was injured while escaping, with blood all over the corners of his mouth. He was captured by Guo Song.
After easily defeating the enemy blocking the road, the army continued to move forward and arrived at the south of Jianye City on the evening of September 11.
Looking at the bamboo fence stretching into the distance, the soldiers burst into laughter.
Or don't build an outer city wall, like Luoyang in the Han, Wei and Jin dynasties, where Biyong, Taixue and the like were all located outside the city, and many officials also built houses in the wild outside the city, without any city walls.
Or just build a normal city wall to strictly protect all of these.
The soldiers rushed forward, tore the Nanli Gate to pieces, and swarmed in.
However, they soon encountered obstacles. King Qiao Sima Wuji led the defenders of Shitou City to set up barriers in Changganli, crushing the Liang army's advance.
The two sides confronted each other.
******
Shan Xia came to the palace in Wuyi Lane.
Wang Dao sat in his familiar study, his face calm, neither sad nor happy.
"Yanlin is thoughtful." Looking at the quiet night outside the window, Director Wang smiled and said, "It's great to see you again before we part."
"I am not as good as the prime minister." Shan Xia said sincerely.
"If I were in your position, I would probably do the same." Wang Dao said with a smile, "Isn't it good to avoid a war? Of course, some people will scold you, and some will thank you. It doesn't matter. Over the years, I have never cared about praise or criticism. You should let it go."
Shan Xia nodded, nothing to say.
"Let's go." Wang Dao sighed, "You are younger than me and have a lot of time left. It would be a pity to waste it."
"Does the Prime Minister have any resentment in his heart?" Shan Xia asked again.
Director Wang was silent for a moment, then shook his head and said, "It doesn't matter if these few days are needed."
Shan Xia understood, stood up, bowed, and turned to leave.
Outside the study, everyone in the palace was standing, led by Cao Shu and Wang Tian.
Shan Xia greeted them briefly and left without looking back.
Before leaving the palace gate, I heard bursts of wailing coming from the direction of the study.
He paused for a moment and quickly walked out the door.
The personal guards brought the horses, Shan Xia jumped on the horse, and surrounded by the soldiers, he headed straight for Taicheng.
The city gate was already closed. After hoisting the men and horses up one by one, Shan Xia went down the tower and headed towards the Taiji Hall.
"How's the prince doing?" Shan Xia asked as he walked.
"They were locked up together with the two guards of the Eastern Palace." Supervisor Zhou Guang replied. "Yes." Shan Xia nodded and asked, "Where is the emperor?"
"He scolded us in Taiji Hall at the beginning, and then... and again..." Zhou Guang stammered.
"What's wrong again?" Shan Xia kept walking.
"She started crying again." Zhou Guang said.
Shan Xia sighed and said, "I'm glad you're okay."
Then he said nothing more and just walked forward in silence.
The entire city of Tai was filled with Liyang soldiers standing at attention with weapons in hand, guarding every palace tightly.
The emperor, palace ladies, concubines, guards and even officials on standby in Taicheng were all captured in one fell swoop, but they were given the dignified treatment and were placed under house arrest.
The Taiji Hall is in sight.
Shan Xia packed his luggage and walked inside. When he saw the emperor, he bowed and saluted.
"Shan Yanlin?" Sima Fei was walking around like an anxious beast. When he saw Shan Xia, he subconsciously took two steps back and asked in a lost voice, "You want to kill the king?"
Shan Xia shook his head and said, "I came here to save Your Majesty. If we continue to fight, I will only die two days later. I will die anyway. If we surrender Jianye now, there will be a glimmer of hope."
"The death of the king...and the death of the country, is only natural. I...I..." Sima Fei's lips trembled slightly as he spoke, but in the end he could not withstand the test of life and death.
When the time comes, he is not as free and easy as Wang Dao.
Shan Xia sighed. At this point, he didn’t know whether he was doing the right thing or the wrong thing.
Perhaps, he has too many private plans.
As an important official from the imperial family sent by the court to restrict Wang Dao, they often targeted the Wang family of Langya. But at the last moment when the country was in danger, it was the Shan family and the Zhuge family who dealt the Jin Dynasty the final blows.
No matter how many reasons there are, it is useless. It is just fear of death and factional selfishness. There is nothing much to say. Shan Xia is not willing to defend himself on these matters. He himself is too embarrassed to say more.
"Don't worry, Your Majesty. Shao Xun is magnanimous and will not do anything too ugly." After saying such nonsense that even he himself doubted, Shan Xia could not bear to look at Sima Fei's eyes which had brightened up again, and walked out of the Taiji Hall directly.
******
Shan Xia's envoys were Shan Wei and Du Yi.
They left Danyang County at night, and then took a detour to avoid the fortified areas of the two armies to avoid being accidentally injured, and then rushed to Guo Song's camp.
"General Guo." After the two men exchanged names, they bowed and saluted.
Guo Song took out a piece of paper from his bosom, looked at it carefully, and said to Du Yi, "The messenger, please write your name."
Du Yi didn't take it seriously and wrote the five words "Du Yi Du Hongzhi" on the paper.
Guo Song compared them and confirmed that they were correct. He became much more enthusiastic and stepped forward to hold Du Yi's hand, saying, "Mr. Du, please take a seat."
Du Yi sat down with a smile.
"Lord Shanfu, please sit down too." Guo Song said, pointing to a couch next to him that was brought from somewhere.
Shan Wei nodded and sat down unsteadily.
"What's going on in the city?" Guo Song asked. "The army will arrive soon. It will be too late if we don't surrender now."
"I came here for this matter." Du Yi said, "Wang Dao died in his own house a quarter of an hour ago. The commander of the Central Army, Wang Chuming, is ill in bed, and his subordinates and officials are in a panic. The governor of Shan is sending envoys to persuade them, and they will surely surrender before sunrise. The tricky part is Sima Wuji and Sima Ying."
"Sima Wuji led 4,000 men to confront the general's troops. He deserved death, but he could be defeated." Du Yi said, "The soldiers from Danyang County and even Liyang Town attacked from behind. Sima Wuji was caught off guard and would surely be defeated. However, Sima Ying has been staying in Jingkou and has not returned. He may be inciting the Northern Army to resist stubbornly. We must be on guard."
"This is easy." Guo Song said, "When the fleet arrives, the army from the north of the Yangtze River will cross the river to the south together, and it will be easy to defeat them."
"General, you are absolutely right." Since Guo Song had said so, Du Yi naturally did not waste words and said directly: "That's fine. Taicheng is under our control. If the general agrees, we can attack from both north and south tonight, take Sima Wuji's head, and settle the situation."
"Let's do it!" Guo Song slapped his thigh and said with gritted teeth.
He was also very courageous. With only a few hundred soldiers at his disposal, he dared to attack from the north and south with Shan Xia and annihilate Sima Wuji's army which had 4,000 soldiers.
"But..." He seemed to have remembered something, his face became serious, and he said: "After defeating the enemy, don't rush to withdraw your troops. You should guard the important roads and don't let the enemy officers and generals escape."
"Yes." Du Yi cupped his hands and said.
In fact, if they wanted to run away, they would have done so a long time ago. Those who are still in Jianye have no plans to run away.
"I wonder where General Yang is?" Du Yi asked again.
"He should still be in the Great Wall and Yangxian area. He just defeated Liu Chao and Zhao Yin some time ago, so he should be here soon." Guo Song said.
Du Yi breathed a sigh of relief.
To control such a large city, a few hundred or even a few thousand people are far from enough. If something goes wrong due to insufficient manpower, it will not be worth it.
That night, Shanxia sent the governor Zhou Guang to lead 3,000 soldiers out of the city, and joined forces with 2,000 soldiers from Danyang County to attack from the front and back with Guo Song's troops, and won a great victory.
Sima Wuji escaped alone.
At sunrise, Wang Shu, the leader of the Jinzhong Army, "died of illness", and Shangshu Ling Bian Xu committed suicide...
Guo Song was not in a hurry to enter Taicheng. He did not have enough soldiers, so he set up camp in Changganli. At the same time, he reported the situation to Yang Qin, urging him to advance quickly.
On September 13, Yang Qin had not arrived yet, and Tang Xiang led more than 10,000 soldiers and horses to enter Shitou City.
At the same time, there were densely packed ships in Tangyi and Guangling areas, and a large-scale crossing of the river had already begun.
(End of this chapter)