Chapter 310 The Army Arrives at Qu'a
When Liu Yao went north, perhaps because he was relieved of the burden of state pastoral care and completely extinguished the thoughts of the separatist party, Liu Yao's body gradually stabilized.
Although there is no big improvement, at least it is no longer getting worse.
As a result, Liu Yao and his party's march northward slowed down, and Liu Yao was even willing to accept banquets from local gentry officials.
At this time, the prefect of Guangling was Chen Ji, the father of Chen Qun. Chen Ji originally died in the past few years, but after arriving in Xuzhou, he was nursed back to health by Hua Tuo and was worshiped as the prefect of Guangling by Liu Bei. , the body is actually quite good.
In fact, this is understandable, what is the situation in Yingchuan now, and the elderly are prone to random thoughts. They look at their deserted hometown every day, so they have to find something to do even if they have nothing to do.
Now that he has arrived in Xuzhou, his son has taken up the post, and he is half of Liu Bei's successor. However, Liu Bei still attaches great importance to this kindness. This makes Chen Ji feel very good, and his body, which is not having much problems, naturally feels better. It became healthy.
Chen Ji and Liu Yao are also old acquaintances, but their relationship is not deep.
Hearing that Liu Yao was passing by Guangling, Chen Ji personally went out of the city for more than 20 miles and came to Jiangdu to greet Liu Yao.
Liu Yao was very moved by this respect and affection, so he abandoned the ship and took a car, following Chen Ji to Guangling City.
This time they reunited, it could be said that they returned disappointed, but as soon as they left Jiangdong, they were treated with great respect by Chen Ji. Moreover, Chen Ji himself had a humble and cautious character, and was very knowledgeable. Being highly praised by Kong Rong, he naturally had his merits.
The relationship between Liu Yao and Kong Rong is really good. After going back and forth, the friendship between Liu Yao and Chen actually improved.
The Eastern Han Dynasty was actually a dynasty where there was no obvious class division on the surface, but in fact class divisions were ubiquitous.
As mentioned before, the regional discrimination between noble families is very hierarchical even if it is refined within a state.
For example, in Jingzhou, among the four counties in Jingnan, Changsha is the leader. The gentry in Changsha have the highest status in Jingnan.
Yuzhou is one of the states with the most powerful gentry clan, but within Yuzhou, Runan is the leader, followed by Yingchuan.
The same is true within Xuzhou. Due to the geographical environment of Guangling, most of its counties and counties are actually close to Yangzhou.
So Guangling is at the lowest level in Xuzhou.
Xuzhou scholars were already at the bottom of the second class, so one can imagine Guangling’s status.
In addition to Yangzhou Mu, Liu Yao is also a famous scholar in Qingzhou, and he is a person who can talk with Yuan Shao on an equal footing.
Such a famous person passed by Guangling and was invited as a guest by the prefect. The current prefect of Guangling is also Chen Ji, a famous Yuzhou scholar who is famous all over the world.
Have such a grand gathering of scholars ever happened in a remote area like Guangling County?
This has not attracted the swarming pursuit of the nobles and powerful people in the entire Guangling area.
Liu Yao was originally a strong-tempered person, so he would naturally look down upon these people he didn't like.
However, perhaps because of Chen Ji's courtesy and goodwill, Liu Yao also gave him a lot of face and participated in several cultural gatherings held in Guangling.
Because of this, Liu Yao stayed in Guangling and did not continue to go north.
On this day, Liu Yao was reading a book in Chen Ji's mansion. Since he entered Guangling, he has been temporarily living in Chen Ji's governor's mansion.
Suddenly, there was a commotion outside the house, which seemed to be a crowd.
Liu Yao frowned and was dissatisfied, and said to Liu Ji, who was serving him at the side: "Go and ask what the noise is about."
Liu Ji obeyed the order and left quickly.
Not only did the noise not decrease, but it became louder and louder, and its scope expanded to all directions, as if everyone in the city had joined in.
Liu Yao was shocked. He instinctively doubted whether there was a mutiny.
Only a mutiny would have such a situation, but the problem is that when he entered the city, the support of Chen Ji by the gentry, powerful people and civilians in Guangling did not seem fake.
Just when Liu Yao was thinking about what to do, Liu Ji ran back all the way, with crystal clear beads of sweat on the tip of his white nose, looking very cute.
“Father, father.”
Liu Yao's face straightened up and he reprimanded: "Why are you panicking? Just calm down before you speak."
When Liu Ji heard this, he quickly took two deep breaths, calmed down and said, "It's Mr. Zhe, Mr. Zhe is hanging on the top of the city."
Liu Yao looked at his son blankly, why couldn't he understand what his son was saying?
"When did Zuo Rong come to Guangling? How dare he come to Guangling?"
Liu Yao had heard about what Zuo Rong was doing in Xuzhou, so he was naturally surprised.
Liu Ji's face turned pale. He knew that he had said the wrong thing, so he explained bravely: "Father, it's not Mr. Ze who came to Guangling, it's Mr. Ze's head that came to Guangling."
"Brain... ...Head?"
Liu Yao was stunned and suddenly reacted: "Zei Rong is dead!"
Liu Ji didn't dare to neglect, and said it all in one breath: " Returning to my father, it is said that Mr. Ze held a banquet in Jurong and colluded with Mr. Xue to ambush Liu Zhengnan, but Liu Zhengnan saw through it and killed him. "
Liu Yao was stunned when he heard this, and Ze Rong and Xue Li were like this. Was it easily solved by Liu Feng?
"Then where are the troops of Zuo Rong and Xue Li?"
"It is said that they have been reorganized by Liu Zhengnan and are now serving as auxiliary troops for the Conquest of the South Army."
No wonder Liu Ji went there a lot just now Time, this question is quite clear, but the beginning was not clearly stated at the beginning.
A feeling of frustration that was too strong to be resolved came into his heart. In fact, Liu Yao was still angry with Liu Feng in his heart, thinking that it would be best for him to use the two bastards Xue Li and Zuo Rong. Take a loss.
As a result, the two people who he regarded as stubborn diseases were so easily eliminated by Liu Feng, and even his subordinates could not escape.
When he thought about the materials and goods hoarded by Zuo Rong and Xue Li, Liu Feng became even more angry with them in terms of money, food and military equipment.
I discussed with you in a good voice and angrily, and gave you benefits, and when I asked you to contribute, you would play tricks on me one by one.
Now comes the more ferocious one, you may even lose your life.
Thinking of this, Liu Yao couldn't help but shuddered in his heart, and almost shouted that he would die.
“Ze Gong’s reputation in Guangling is really bad.”
Liu Ji glanced at his father, and then continued: "Liu Zhengnan ordered that Mr. Zhe's head be delivered to the five counties of Xuzhou. It was just delivered to Guangling at noon today, and now the whole city is in an uproar. The people of Guangling hate him to the bone. Liu Zhengnan's reputation , Yu Guangling is full."
Liu Yao was silent for a moment, and finally nodded.
**********
"Good! Xuande is truly loyal!"
At the same time, Cao Cao in the north was also praising Liu Bei.
He had previously forwarded Yuan Shao's memorial to Shouchun, and now Liu Bei's reply had also been sent.
There are two replies from Liu Bei. One is a memorial, presented to the emperor.
The other is a letter, written to Cao Cao.
In the memorial, Liu Bei urged the emperor not to move the capital easily. Luoyang is the capital of the Han Dynasty in the world. Although it is dilapidated, it still has the support of the people of the world.
If you move to Jizhou, where will your status be?
At the same time, Liu Bei also persuaded Da Sima to increase tribute, donate food and materials, and rebuild the palace for the emperor. This is the way to be a minister. He also said that for next year's autumn harvest, he would like to pay an additional 10% of the wealth, money and food in addition to last year's tribute for the emperor to repair the palace.
After the emperor saw it, he was greatly moved. He looked around and praised Liu Bei's loyalty.
As for Liu Bei's private letter to Cao Cao, it was even more direct. He refuted Da Sima's wolf ambitions face to face, and stated simply that if Da Sima was really unruly and dared to raise troops to threaten the imperial court, he would definitely raise his troops. Go north and work with the general on state affairs.
Cao Cao was very happy to receive this guarantee.
Isn’t this the reason why he sent Yuan Shao’s memorial to Liu Bei?
Liu Bei's reaction was three points better than the best result he originally expected. Cao Cao originally felt that Liu Bei was willing to stand firmly on his side and help shout a few words to increase the voice between himself and Yuan Shao.
Who would have thought that Liu Bei would be so generous and willing to send troops.
This is a promise made by Liu Bei in a letter. If he breaks his promise without a reasonable reason in the future, as long as Cao Cao takes out this letter, the blow to Liu Bei's reputation will be real.
It can be seen from this that Liu Bei's statement is of high value, which is also the fundamental reason why Cao Cao is so happy.
In addition, Liu Bei also stated in the letter that a mysterious gift was to be sent to Luozhong to be dedicated to Cao Cao.
Cao Cao was a person with a cheerful personality and a lot of curiosity. After being betrayed by Liu Bei, he immediately became a little worried and even sent a letter to ask Liu Bei. Regarding Liu Bei's reaction, Cao Cao's advisers thought it was a good sign, including Xun Yu and Cheng Yu.
After all, Xun Yu and Cheng Yu are just geniuses, not ghosts and gods.
At the same time, Liu Bei's image is well established and it is indeed easy for people to trust him.
If you ask Yuan Shu to say the same thing, Cao Cao's first instinctive reaction is that the bones in the grave want to consume me and the original.
Liu Bei's personality charm and political credibility accumulated so far are the basis for Cao Cao, Xun Yu and others to believe in him.
This is something that even Liu Feng cannot replace.
After all, the person who was good friends with Cao Cao was Liu Bei, not Liu Feng.
Cao Cao understood Liu Bei's temperament and personality, but he didn't understand Liu Feng's.
********
Zuo Rong and Xue Li were beheaded by Liu Feng in public display, and the news spread that all the troops were organized.
The first to bear the brunt was naturally Qu'a's guard Wu Pan.
Wu Pan is a lieutenant under Wu Jing, and can be regarded as a right-hand general. He was previously assigned three thousand troops to guard the front line of Qu'a, and repeatedly defeated Zuo Rong's tentative intrusions, leaving no chance for the opponent.
Today, Sun Ce's army still has very few troops on the Qu'a front line, only these 3,000 people, of which 500 are stationed in Dantu.
The reason for this situation is that Sun Ce, Wu Jing, Xu Kun and other senior generals of the Sun Army all agreed that Qu'a could not be defended and was not worth holding on to.
If the opponent is Liu Yao, then Sun Cejun's 3,000 men on the front line of Qu'a and Dantu will be enough.
Liu Yao himself had lost his prestige and confidence in the Battle of Vanilla River, and he had not been able to recover for a year and launch another decent attack.
As for hyenas such as Zuo Rong and Xue Li, it is very common for them to have small fights and tentative attacks to take advantage.
But if they are allowed to use their old capital to fight, these two people will retreat faster than a mouse.
Correspondingly, if they faced Liu Feng, Sun Ce and others felt that they would not be able to defend Qu'a unless they put 15,000 or even 20,000 people in Qu'a.
Moreover, if you want to hold on to Qu'a, you must place a partial force in Dantu. This partial force must be at least 3,000 people, otherwise it will be impossible to defend it at all.
There is another more troublesome place. Although Qu'a is a county in Wu County, during the Eastern Han Dynasty, it was more closely connected with the county in the north of Dantu.
This is not only because there is no Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal in this era, but also because there are a large number of swamps, small rivers, small lakes and other terrain between Qua and Piling.
If it were not a boat, traveling would be quite troublesome, and even if it were a boat, it could not reach point-to-point. It could not reach Qu'a directly from Piling, and the efficiency was not very high.
This problem was rectified in Jiangdong in the future, and a canal was dug to dredge the swamp water, but the trouble at this time did exist objectively.
In this way, if an army of 20,000 people is stationed on the Qu'a front line, it is obvious that it cannot be fed by the food of the two counties of Qu'a and Dantu.
This must be transferred from Wuxian County, which is undoubtedly another heavy burden.
In this case, it is better to use the line between Qua and Dantu as a cordon and place a small number of troops as a boundary.
If there were few enemies, we would fight them off. If there were many enemies, we would simply abandon Qu'a and retreat to Piling, Wuxi, or even Wuxian.
This is also the fundamental reason why Qu'a, as the first line, only has 2,500 troops stationed there, including 500 Dan disciples, and the total number is only 3,000.
Wu Pan had spies in Jurong, Hushu, and even Moling, but Liu Feng's methods were too shocking.
Xue Li and Zuo Rong are both powerful men with tens of thousands of followers and thousands of subordinates. Even the real Yangzhou Shepherd Liu Yao can only swallow his anger and choose to win over them.
Who would have thought that Liu Feng, a dragon crossing the river, could be so tyrannical. He could kill two tycoons and devour their tribesmen in one day, so fast that no one around him had time to receive the news, let alone do anything. Reacted.
Wu Pan sent the received news to Wu County in the rear, and sent an order to tighten the city defense. At the same time, he also gave an order to Dantu, asking Dantu’s 500 people to abandon the city and withdraw all to Qu’a. Obviously, I was prepared to run away immediately if something went wrong.
Wu Pan’s reaction was quick and correct.
After all, the one who came was the imperial general who conquered the south. He fought in the north and south, and he was sent to Hedong to sweep across Yingchuan and attack Shouchun.
Even though Liu Feng is only thirteen years old this year, Wu Pan does not think he is qualified to despise him.
It is a pity that although Wu Pan did not look down upon him, he still took chances, or was greedy.
What Wu Pan was greedy for was not credit, but time.
He thought that if he stayed in Qu'ado for one day, the pressure on Wu County would be relieved.
When Liu Feng's army really surrounded them, his three thousand light troops would naturally move quickly, especially in Jiangdong.
The northerners walk on horses, and the southerners drive boats.
I am a light soldier and have already prepared ships. Even if you have cavalry, you can't do anything to me.
This is what Wu Pan thinks.
But he didn't expect that Liu Feng would be so decisive. The day after killing Zuo Rong and Xue Li, he had already mobilized his elite troops and pounced directly on Qu'a.
Jia Kui's troops were dispatched, and 500 armored soldiers from Pan Zhang's troops were assigned to Jia Kui to act together, for a total of 6,500 people.
The army left the city in the early morning. On the following day, Liu Feng ordered the entire city to be closed and entry and exit were strictly prohibited. Any intruders would be killed without mercy.
As a result, Wu Pan’s detailed work in Jurong had no time to spread the news.
Jia Kui's army ran all the way, carrying a large number of pack horses at the same time. Liu Feng strengthened almost all of his pack horses to them, which undoubtedly greatly improved their speed.
At the same time, because there is the Herbaceous River between Jurong and Qu'a, Liu Feng and others all agreed that the garrison in Qu'a would not have time to react before arriving at the Herbaceous River.
However, after crossing the Vanilla River, the marching speed must be slowed down to prevent the enemy from ambush halfway.
Although this area was the Jiangsu Great Plains in later generations, it can be said to be endless, with the highest altitude of one or two hundred meters. But in the late Eastern Han Dynasty, although there were no mountains here, there were reed swamps, and it was not a big deal to hide thousands of people.
Jia Kui strictly carried out Liu Feng's orders and completed them very well.
Originally, it was expected that after the Southern Expeditionary Army crossed the Xiangxiang River, the Qu'a garrison would receive enemy information, but they did not expect that Wu Pan, who happened to catch up with Qu'a, was shrinking his troops and preparing to run away.
Suddenly, by the time Wu Pan received the news, Jia Bin's cavalry had already appeared in sight at the head of Qu'a City.
If you try to run away at this time, you will really end up killing the cavalry of the Southern Conquest Army.
Out of caution, Wu Pan made another wrong decision, that is, he wanted to hold on for a while and wait until dark before retreating.
While waiting, Jia Kui was waiting.
Jia Kui's style is quite ruthless, and he directly takes charge of the village southwest of Quacheng.
Jia Kui's 6,000 men, plus the 500 armored soldiers assigned to him by Pan Zhang's tribe, were only 6,500.
No matter how you say it, Qu'a is a Shangxian county with a circumference of two or three miles. With only these 6,500 people, it is impossible to encircle it.
Therefore, Jia Kui simply stopped besieging the city and ran to Xiazhai in the southwest of the city, directly blocking Wu Pan's retreat.
This approach actually requires a certain amount of courage, because Jia Kui's move to the stronghold in this way not only cut off his own food supply, but also trapped him between reinforcements and defenders. .
As long as the Sun Army from adjacent to Ling comes to help, it will really be a double attack.
So, Jia Kui dared to go to the south of Qu'asan, not only full of confidence in himself, but also contempt for the Sun family army.
Wu Pan stood on the city wall in the southwest of Qu'a County, looking at Jia Kui's soldiers cutting down trees and setting up camp a few miles away, his expression extremely ugly.
In fact, he felt quite regretful because he had been careless, thinking that Liu Feng had just killed Zuo Rong and Xue Li, so he had to rest in Jurong for a few days.
Who would have thought that the Southern Conquest Army would come so quickly, and that the generals commanding the troops would be so arrogant and block their way of retreat unscrupulously.
Jia Kui was inspecting the camp at this time and commanding the soldiers to step up the construction of the camp.
(End of this chapter)