Chapter 350: Trapped
The first year of Chengtian, the first year of Republic, March 20th.
Ten days had passed since the first time the city was attacked by thieves. During these ten days, the city of Xiangguo was bombarded by stone bombers outside the city, and the city was full of ruined walls.
At this time, a forty-year-old grain merchant was regretting his adventure that day in this city.
This person's name is Zhen Ku. He is a member of the Wuji Zhen family in Zhongshan Kingdom. He has been responsible for the family's grain business in Zhao. He shouldn't be in Xiangguo City.
In fact, before the fall of Handan, all the Liu clan kings from Handan had withdrawn northward along with Lu Zhi's remaining army. Zhen Ku was among those retreating at that time.
Later, when Jushou was appointed as the Prime Minister of Zhao by Lu Zhi and was responsible for organizing a defensive front against the Taishan Army in Xiangcheng, Jushou issued a notice urging the people of Xiang to follow Lu Zhi's army to move north to Youzhou.
Zhen Ku originally wanted to go back, but when he learned that Ju Shou was setting up a large grain station and urgently needed someone to be responsible for purchasing and collecting grain, he was tempted.
The so-called wealth is sought in danger, and coupled with doubts about whether Taishan's army would go north, Zhen Ku and his tribe volunteered to enter Xiangguo City.
In this process, it turned out just as Zhen Ku expected. There was no danger, but after the Taishan army captured Handan, they stopped at Handan and did not go north.
Then Zhen Ku took Ju Shou's handwritten talisman and began to collect food, wages and military supplies from all counties in northern Zhao, and transported them all to Xiangguo City.
Of course, Zhen Ku naturally made a fortune in this process.
Just when Zhen Ku thought the good days would continue like this, the Taishan Army began to move north. As a result, the city was in chaos.
Of course Zhen Ku wanted to run away, but after all, he was worried about being involved in official affairs, so he secretly found an old man, who was a confidant of the Jushou shogunate and a member of his clan, Juhong.
Juhong assured him that everything would be fine.
He even told Zhen Ku, just do it with confidence and boldness, good days are coming.
Zhen Ku also thought about it. With the strength and reserves of Xiangguo City, and Ju Shou being Lu Zhi's confidant, once the city was besieged, wouldn't reinforcements from all over the country come?
So he stayed in the city peacefully and continued to dispatch corn from various places to sell to the Han army in the city.
But what Zhen Ku actually didn't know was that it was not Lu Zhi who proposed staying in Xiangguo at the end of last year, but Ju Shou himself.
At that time, the defeated army returned to the north, and Jushou volunteered to stay in Xiangguo. He said:
"The servant thinks that the overall situation in Hebei is to focus on the Zhao region. The most important thing about the Zhao region is Handan first, and then Xiangguo. Now that Handan has been lost, Xiangguo can no longer do this. Urgently ask Jian to send the new governor of Zhao to move to the county. In Xiangguo, the strong and the weak can protect the north of Zhao."
Jushou then gave Lu Zhi a detailed explanation of the layout of the entire defensive front after retreating to the north.
First of all, Ju Shou made it clear to Lu Zhi that the central and southern parts of Jizhou, the land of heavenly abundance, should not be lost.
The entire Jizhou can be divided into two parts from west to east, and each part is very important.
First, the mountainous and hilly area in the far west near the eastern foot of Taihang Mountain, that is, the area west of Zhao Di and west of Changshan Kingdom. Although it is hilly here, it is extremely important. Because Taihang Mountain crosses the east and west here, eight famous highways are formed in the middle. Whoever controls these long roads will control the main east-west routes of Shanxi and Hebei.
Then there are the Julu and Anping areas in the central area. The area is densely covered with rivers, flat terrain, fertile land, densely populated, and conducive to farming. It is the great granary of this dynasty in the Kanto region. Once the territory is completely occupied by the thieves, the thieves will no longer be in danger of losing food. And in these troubled times, there is no need to say more about what this means.
But unfortunately, it is not easy to defend the entire central and southern Hebei Province.
The Taihang Mountains can only block the east and west, but there are no mountains to rely on for north-south defense. In this case, the only way to use the east-west river network is as a defensive front.
The first line of defense is the Bairen line in the north of Xiangguo. From here to Juyeze to the east, we build a defense line that combines Wubi and Daze. It was also the Zhao people's defense line in Zhongshan.
Then the second one is the Hutuo River further north. It starts from the east of Taihang Mountain and traverses Changshan Kingdom, Zhongshan Kingdom, Hejian Kingdom and Bohai County, with a length of 1,200 miles. Moreover, the Hutuo River has a large flow and cannot be crossed without a boat. It can be said to be a natural north-south defense line.
So when Su Qin talked about Yan, he said that the Hutuo River was the barrier to the southern part of Yan's land. If you defend the river, you can defend against enemies in the south. Because of this, the wars in Hebei in the past dynasties focused on the Hutuo River.
Now that Lu Zhi was about to retreat to the north, Jushou suggested relying on these two north and south defense lines to build a position. If you advance, you can suppress Taishan's army in a corner; if you retreat, you can protect Yan's territory without worries.
Lu Zhi couldn't help being happy when he heard this, and hurriedly asked Jushou for advice on how to build these two lines of defense.
Jushou pointed out that the most important defense focus was originally Handan, but now that Handan has been lost, only Xiangguo is left.
Why?
Because the passage of a large army is different from the passage of three or two people. The former requires thoroughfares, while the latter requires any wild road.
And what is the official network of the entire Jizhou? It is a typical tic-tac-toe layout.
There are two straight roads running from north to south, one is Handan Guangyang Road and the other is Xinyang Road. But the most important road here is Guangyang Road.
The development of Guangyang Road was the earliest. With the rise of Yan and Zhao during the Warring States Period, this Guangyang Road became the main artery connecting Yan and Zhao. It was not only the route of Zhao's Northern Expedition, but also the only way for Yan to trade with the south.
The southern end of this road extends to Hanoi, then passes through Yecheng, to Handan, and then to Xiangguo, Bairen, Fangfang, and Yuanshi. This time the Taishan Army's Northern Expedition took this Guangyang Road.
Then it was divided into east and west lines at Yuanshi. The western route continues north to Changshan Kingdom and goes directly to Daidi. The eastern route turns northeast, passes through Zhongshan Kingdom and leads to Yanji. When Guangwu Chijie went north to Xianji, he took this road.
The second north-south road goes from Zhuo County in Yandi to Gaoyang in Hejian County, Raoyang and Xindu in Anping State, and then along the road in Qinghe State to Qingzhou.
However, the utilization rate of this road is not high, because there are few towns along the road, and the cost for business travelers to travel here is high and the benefits are small. Therefore, the most important north-south road in central and southern Hebei is Guangyang Road in Handan.
There are north-south arteries and there are east-west roads. The connection between the east and west of Jizhou is much closer than the connection between the north and the south because of the river network.
Therefore, the construction of the east-west straight road mainly revolves around the two passes.
This level is the Fukou level. The western part of this road can enter Huguan from Taiyuan via Shangdang, and then exit the Taihang Mountains from the east of Fukouxing.
Then after passing Fukou Pass, it is divided into two roads. One is directly connected to Yecheng and is also the most important passage to the west of Yecheng. One is to go northeast, directly from Wu'an to Handan.
Therefore, the two separate roads from Fukou Pass build a connected transportation in the southern region of Jizhou, and their destinations are mainly the plains of Qingzhou and Linzi.
In addition to Fukou Pass, the second pass is Jingxing Pass, also known as Tumen Pass.
This Tumen Pass is just west of Yuanshi, a county in Changshan State. The western end of this road can be started from Taiyuan, Lishi, Lin, then out of Jingxing, and then out at the eastern section.
From here, there are three ways to go. One is the two lines on the north side of Guangyang Road between north and south Handan, which either connect Daidi or Youji. All that remains is a road from Zhending to Xindu.
Therefore, it can be seen that the transportation network in central and southern Hebei is a traffic pattern that combines the two roads opened in the Taihang Mountains to the east and west, and the Guangyang Road in Handan to the north and south.
In this transportation network, Yecheng, Handan, and Yuanshi are the transportation hubs. Among them, Yuanshi can be said to be the most important core hub because it communicates with the four roads.
So to defend the south of Jizhou, you must defend the Yuan clan, and to defend the Yuan clan, you must defend Handan. It's a pity that Handan is now broken, and the only city in the southern part of the Yuan clan is Xiangguo. Xiangguo is located on Guangyang Road in Handan, which is the only way for Taishan Army to go north.
Therefore, Jushou presented Lu Zhi with a large-depth defense front on both sides of the two cities.
It has Xiangguo and Yuanshi as its two cities, and Bairen Line and Hutuo River as its two lines. Focus on defense and block every layer.
As soon as this strategy came out, Lu Zhi readily accepted it and immediately appointed Ju Shou as the Prime Minister of Zhao and garrisoned the first city, Xiangguo City.
Therefore, after Jushou offered this strategy, he had already made up his mind to live or die with the city. Whether there are reinforcements or not is irrelevant to the outcome.
But this is a hardship for Zhen Ku, a big grain merchant. Not only do they have to be trapped in the city, but they also have to lose all their wealth accumulated over the years in this dead city.
This forty-year-old wealthy businessman actually has six grandchildren. He is also the elder of the Zhen family. In addition to studying Confucianism, he also studies business.
By daring to think, act, and take risks, the Zhen family's family business expanded by half in his hands. Not only was the trade network with the northern Hu region opened up, but the Zhen family's business trip even reached Jianghuai. It can be said that all of this made Zhen family great. Hard work is indispensable.
But this time his bet failed. In order to win this big deal from Jushu, Zhen Ku not only spent most of his fortune, but also gathered all his people in the city.
Zhen Ku didn't want to leave before because the investment of so much money made Zhen Ku really reluctant to leave. So he had this fluke, and this fluke ultimately cost him everything.
Zhen Ku still remembers the scene when Xiangguo was besieged that day.
It was already the third watch that day, and Zhen Ku, who had already put a lot of effort into planning the grain platform for the shogunate, was about to fall asleep. A group of people rushed over. This person had been assigned by him to work in the Jushou shogunate.
So when he came, Zhen Ku was stunned.
Sure enough, this person had just received the news that the Jindu crossing outside Xiang was broken, and the thieves were no more than twenty miles away from the city and would arrive tomorrow.
Zhen Ku could no longer run away now and could only rely on the abilities of Jiancheng and Jushu. After dealing with Jushu for so long, Zhen Ku still had great confidence in his abilities even though this person had deceived him.
So after comforting the tribesman and asking him to go back and continue to inquire, Zhen Ku fell asleep.
But soon, Zhen Ku was awakened.
He scratched the wall of the house and looked at the street, and saw a group of soldiers lighting torches and rushing out of the city. Judging from their appearance, they were the red-headed soldiers of Prime Minister Jusao.
Zhen Ku couldn't sleep now, knowing that if she did something wrong, the thieves would come in. So he hurriedly asked Bu Qu and Tu Li to pack up their belongings and hitch the carriage. I planned to run away just in case.
Forget it about money or whatever, just save your life.
But soon the red-headed army returned, and a defeated army was picked up. Zhen Ku guessed that it might be the soldiers of the Li clan in Zhao Di, who were guarding the ferry before.
It seems that the Red Head Army won the field battle out of the city, otherwise they would not have been able to come back with Li's soldiers. Looking at it this way, the Taishan bandits are nothing more than that!
After comforting herself in this way, Zhen Ku went down the wall, went back to her room, undressed and slept.
After sleeping until dawn, Zhen Ku got another new news the next day.
It turned out that the Redhead Army blocked the city gate with stones overnight. After someone saw it, he went home to report the news and fled the city with his family and disciples overnight. But because it was late at night, not many escaped.
When Zhen Ku heard the news, he was so angry that he punched the table. He scolded himself for being indecisive, and cursed those who ran out to be sure to encounter the Taishan bandits.
On that day, Taishan's army surrounded Xiangguo City.
Zhen Ku found a tribe of people and asked him to take him to the city. He wanted to see if this Taishan bandit could conquer the Xiang Kingdom.
On the way to the city, Zhen Ku saw the streets full of panicked wealthy children.
These people all fled from Handan. Except for some who went to Youzhou with Lu Zhi, most of them stayed in Xiangguo in the hope of returning to their hometown.
After all, these people have lost their disciples and land, and they have nothing.
Judging from the looks of these people, they probably want to go to the top of the city to watch the battle. Without thinking too much, Zhen hurriedly followed his tribe to the top of the city. As soon as he looked outside, his heart became cold and his face became miserable.
All I could see was the huge army in the darkness outside. The flags were waving, and the people and dogs were silent. It was a mighty army.
Now Zhen Ku had no hope and hurriedly left the city. As soon as he returned to the mansion, he ordered Bu Qu to block the door and ask people to pay attention to the situation in the city at all times. After that, he locked himself in a quiet room and shivered.
He prayed that the Taishan Army would be as rumored and would not commit any crimes.
……
Zhen Ku's ostrich attitude is of no use. Soon, military officials came knocking on the door and asked Zhen Ku to choose someone to deliver millet to the top of the city. Soon the military officer went to other places.
It seems that those rich and powerful children who fled into the city are still unable to escape. Not to mention taking knives, you have to do the work of delivering water and food.
There is no shortage of corn in the city of Xiangguo, so when it comes to the rations for the officials in the city, Jushu allocates them in fixed patterns, three meals a day. But there is no shortage of millet, but there is a shortage of manpower.
So Jushou once again set his sights on the rich and powerful children in the city, ordering ten people from each family to deliver meals according to call, two meals during the day and one meal at night. As for the supply of clean water, there is no limit, it is the same every day.
Zhen Ku wailed again, and with the evasive eyes of the disciples, he selected ten people and went to the top of the city.
Hey, that's it.
……
Zhen thought hard and decided to take the ten disciples to the top of the city to deliver the food.
After all, at this time, he still couldn't break the hearts of these disciples? My own safety in the future will depend on the hard work of these people.
So Zhen Ku took two more pig front legs and corn for fifty people and went to the top of the city.
While delivering the meal, Zhen Ku saw the Prime Minister Jushou patrolling the city at the top of the city. He just rushed forward and cried to Jushou:
"Prime Minister, can we defend this city?"
As soon as these words came out, the officials in the city were in an uproar, and Zhen Ku was also escorted to Ju Shou, waiting to be punished.
(End of chapter)