Lord of the House

Vol 11 Chapter 75: northbound

(After every update these days, I see dogod classmates rewarding and cheering. I am very grateful. This chapter is dedicated to you and other brothers and sisters who cheered)

After Yue Lengqiu arrived in Luzhou, he received an imperial decree from Jiangning on the fifth day of the seventh lunar month. He was ordered to comfort Huaixi and Nanyang, and to review the combat readiness. It also represented Jiangning's will to stick to the Huaihe line of defense to boost morale.

In Luzhou, although he received a warm reception from Cao Zi'ang, he was bound in the city of Luzhou, only to hear Cao Zi'ang say that the troops and horses of Luzhou had assembled at the twin temples in the north, but the actual situation was not yet able to be seen with his own eyes.

Yue Lengqiu didn't know whether what Cao Ziang said was true or not. Anyway, when he stayed in Luzhou, he couldn't guess whether the people in Huaidong had other thoughts. After receiving the imperial decree, he left Luzhou and headed north, and went to Shouhou first. State see Dong Yuan.

Before going to Yuzhang to see Lin Fu, Yue Lengqiu hung up his boots and resigned, so he only brought two servants. At this time, Yue Lengqiu still retained the position of the deputy envoy of the Privy Council, and he brought a decree to comfort Huaixi and Nanyang. Naturally, it was to restore his status as a minister. Deng Yu selected more than 300 elite soldiers from Chizhou to serve as a guard of honor, and also protected Yue Lengqiu along the way. Safety.

For more than a year, Huaidong has invested a lot of resources in Luzhou. Not counting the local taxes levied by Luzhou Prefecture, only one million taels of silver were invested in Luzhou from the war bond funds raised after last autumn. This enabled the Luzhou area to quickly recover from the chaos caused by Emperor Yongxing's escape to the north. The roads to the north of Luzhou City were well built, including the Feishui River that connects the Huaihe River to the north of Luzhou, and the dykes along the banks. to the traces of the new reorganization.

Although Huaixi used to be very wary of Huaidong's garrison in Luzhou, and in the south of Shouzhou and the southeast of Xinyang, fortresses were built to guard troops, but the post roads and rivers in Huaixi were basically the same. Smooth, at least the contradictions have not developed to the level of confrontation between the two armies.

All the way to the north, there is an east-west river, a small river with bamboo and wooden bridges, and a large river with boats paved with pontoons. The post road is smooth and barrier-free.

The smoothness of the post road also ensured that Huaidong's troops and horses in Luzhou could enter Xinyang at the fastest speed, and then enter Nanyang through Xinyang.

Although Huaidong had more than 40,000 troops stationed in Luzhou, plus the troop of unspecified size, they could quickly enter Nanyang and Xinyang to fight in the upcoming Nanyang Battle, but it is easy to ask God to send God, but it is not a last resort. The original also did not intend to let Huaidong troops enter Xinyang prematurely.

It is only two hundred miles from Luzhou to Shouzhou.

The three hundred cavalry soldiers were elite cavalry soldiers, and Yue Lengqiu did not want to waste time on the way.

Passing through the prefectures and counties along the way, and looking at the restoration of farming in Huaixi, Yue Lengqiu had to admit that Dong Yuan was also a man of letters and martial arts, and he was indeed talented.

According to the secret agreement with Huaidong last year, from this year onwards, the rations allocated by the Ministry of Household to Huaixi will be sharply reduced to one million taels.

In addition to Luzhou, the situation in Huaixi was slightly better, Xinyang, Shouzhou, Haozhou, and Guoyang, Yingkou, Sizhou and other places on the north bank of the Huaihe River were almost completely destroyed in the Huaisi War, and Dingkou was also greatly reduced. , or to accommodate the refugees who fled from Henan, Shandong and other places in the later period, and then regain some vitality. Dong Yuan has only been in Huaixi for less than three years. Although the north bank of the Huaihe River is still a wasteland, the three prefectures of Haozhou, Shouzhou and Xinyang on the south bank have recovered quite well, and they can basically extract grain from the local area. To provide food for the army, this must be regarded as Dong Yuan's political merit.

It is a pity that the situation has changed so fast that it is dizzying to watch. The Yanhu army is pressing down. Although the soldiers are straight to guide Yang, Huaixi will never feel better, and Dong Yuan will never be given time to calmly clean up the people's livelihood and reorganize the military.

Huaixi was greeted by Liu Tingzhou, the deputy censor of the right, who went out of the city to the ten-mile pavilion. Watching the horse team coming from the south with two carriages, Liu Tingzhou walked down the pavilion with his long beard and greeted him by the roadside.

Yue Lengqiu came to check the military equipment on behalf of the Privy Council, which did not relieve the worry on Liu Tingzhou's face.

Everyone knows that after Yue Lengqiu's defeat in Zongyang, he was forced by Lin Fu to do this kind of errand work. In fact, how the war in Nanyang will develop depends entirely on Huaidong's attitude. Yue Lengqiu fundamentally It cannot represent Huaidong.

When Yue Lengqiu came over, he would be able to boost his morale. For real practical issues, he had to send someone to Luzhou to talk to Cao Ziang. On the north bank of the Yangtze River, Cao Zi'ang is the one who can speak on behalf of Lin Fu.

Yue Lengqiu was born in a civil service, and after fifty years of age, his muscles and bones were not as good as before. Although he was traveling by car, he was bumped for two hundred miles a day, and his bones were almost scattered.

Seeing Liu Tingzhou greet him by the roadside, Yue Lengqiu was also very emotional.

"After being separated from Tingzhou for many years, I came to Shouzhou, and I was afraid that I would not be able to meet Tingzhou." Yue Lengqiu said.

Liu Tingzhou was originally a little disappointed that Yue Lengqiu was not accompanied by a dignitary from Huaidong, but after listening to Yue Lengqiu's sincere words, a warm current surged in his heart, and he remembered that he was able to occupy this position, and it was due to Yue Leng. Qiu's promotion, the ceremony of subordinates, bowed: "Yuedu's style has not diminished in the past, how could Tingzhou miss the meeting with Yuedu? However, the recruiting envoy to Yingkou Shijun, can't rush back today, and neglected. , ask Tingzhou to apologize to Governor Yue."

"Has the enemy's outpost arrived at Yingkou?" Yue Lengqiu asked.

"..." Liu Tingzhou nodded and said, "After the traitor Ji Shiben led his troops into Ruyang, Chen Zhihu led his troops eastward along the Beiru River, and more than 5,000 cavalry was led by Leng Zilin into Suiping; in addition, In the east, the rebel general Yuan Lishan also moved, and all the troops and horses rushed to Jining. The situation here in Huaixi is much more severe..."

Huaixi also built warships, but how could the scale and combat power of the water camp be compared with Huaidong?

Furthermore, Yingshui is smaller than Eddyshui, Bianshui and Sishui in the west. Small-scale navies do not have the cooperation of infantry along the coast. If it is deeper than Yingshui, it will be easily intercepted and eaten by enemy soldiers. Therefore, Huaixi must prevent Yanhu. It would be very difficult for a large group of cavalry to approach the north bank of the Huaihe River.

Yue Lengqiu knew in Luzhou that the troops and horses that first entered Ruyang showed signs of expanding southeast along the Rushui and Yingshui, but who would be used by Yanhu to use troops against Huaixi was unknown. Just one day later, the situation became clear.

Yue Lengqiu returned a salute to Liu Tingzhou, did not delay outside the city, and invited him to ride with him.

Although Dong Yuan was not in Shouzhou, the Chu King Yuan Hancheng, Ding Zhiru, Chen Jingrong and others, like Liu Tingzhou, had a pivotal position in Huaixi.

Dong Yuan was not there, so was exchanging opinions with the people of Huaixi. If Nanyang could defend, he would naturally try his best to defend it.

Entering Shouzhou, I also know that the city of Shouzhou is full of turmoil, and the grass and trees are full of soldiers-everyone knows that Yanhu will take advantage of the situation to go south after winning Guanzhong, which is no trivial matter.

The Huaixi army numbered as many as 110,000 troops, but at its peak, nearly 60,000 of them were sent to Dong Yuan to form a colony, which was used to farm the fields on both sides of the Huai River to supplement the army's food shortage. In addition to the 10,000 elites from Shouzhou under the direct jurisdiction of Dongyuan, Huaixi has been in Guoyang and Xinyang for a long time, and only Tao Chun and Xiao Kuian lead 40,000 standing troops.

The combination of swarms and battles is the key to getting Huaixi out of the food predicament. Because of the low military pressure on Huaixi in the early stage, a large number of troops and horses can be cut down for swarming.

However, the situation has developed to this stage, especially after the news of Liang Chengyi's abandonment of Hezhong Mansion was confirmed, Dong Yuan was also forced to recruit all the soldiers into the army, restore the full quota of 110,000 soldiers, and even recruit a large number of civilians from the local area to accompany the army. , ready to fight with Yan Hu on the north bank of the Huaihe River.

As for how badly it would hurt farming, I didn't have time to think about it at this time.

Dong Yuan was not in Shouzhou, and no one in Shouzhou City was more qualified to entertain Yue Lengqiu than Yuan Hancheng. Yuan Hancheng entertained Yue Lengqiu in the newly built palace of the king of Chu, accompanied by Liu Tingzhou, Ding Zhiru, Chen Jingrong and others.

Yuan Hancheng and Yue Lengqiu are also old acquaintances. They were trapped in Xuzhou City and fought side by side for more than half a year. They can be regarded as forming a deep friendship.

Seeing the King of Chu and Yue Lengqiu resign from the throne, Ding Zhiru stood at the bottom and sighed to himself: After Chen Xiyan passed away, no one can compare to Yue Lengqiu in terms of contacts in the court.

To be honest, after the collapse of Zongyang, Yue Lengqiu was forced to bow his head to Lin Fu to save the Chizhou army. In fact, Ding Zhiru was worried that Yue Lengqiu would use Lin Fu as a knife envoy to disrupt the situation in Huaixi~www.wuxiaspot.com~ In fact, after the collapse of Zongyang, it was not impossible for Lin Fu and Yue Lengqiu to enter Huaixi and ask the Chizhou Army to reorganize in Huaixi, or divide Huaixi into two parts and hand over one to the Chizhou Army for defense.

Lin Fuzhen wanted to make this arrangement. According to Yue Lengqiu's influence on people in Huaixi, especially Tao Chun, Liu Tingzhou, Yuan Hancheng and others, it was difficult for Dong Yuan and Ding Zhiru to firmly refuse.

Fortunately, after the news of Liang Chengyi's abandonment of Hezhong Mansion spread, Lin Fu urgently transferred Chizhou to cross the river from the south to face the enemy in Eastern Hubei, so Ding Zhiru and Dong Yuan didn't have to worry that Yue Lengqiu would come to disturb Huaixi.

After resigning for a long time, Yue Lengqiu and Yuan Hancheng sat side by side.

After chatting for a while, Liu Tingzhou couldn't bear his temper, and felt that there was no need to go around in circles with Yue Lengqiu, so he went straight to the subject and said, "Huaixi has just been able to provide itself with food, but as soon as the war broke out, all the soldiers were sent out to make up for the army. , the farming after the autumn will be greatly affected, and the food will inevitably become tense again. Ignore him for the time being, the more important thing is that Huaixi still lacks soldiers and armor, and the Privy Council promised to send a group over, and also promised to send a group of warfighters. The boat was sent to Huaixi, but there has been no movement. Governor Yue has just come over from Yuzhang, and based on what Governor Yue saw, the Privy Council asked him whether he hoped that the battle of Nanyang could be fought or not?"

To be honest, at this time, others are not worried about whether the court is determined to fight the Nanyang battle, but whether Lin Fu is determined to fight the Nanyang battle. Today, six or seven out of ten areas that are nominally ruled by the imperial court are under the control of Huaidong. If Huaidong is not determined to fight Yanhu in Nanyang, everyone will have to go to sleep with the wash.

Although Yue Lengqiu can't represent Lin Fu, but Yue Lengqiu just went to Yuzhang to meet Lin Fu. Liu Tingzhou believes that with Yue Lengqiu's ability to know people, he should be able to have an accurate judgment on Lin Fu's mentality. My QT room is open! More vulgar official QT room number [9167] Click to enter

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