Northern Dynasties Imperial Industry

In Xuanhu City, when Murong Shaozong received the letter sent by the dignitaries of King Shouyang and read the contents, he immediately smiled broadly, slapped the table and sighed: "I have helped you!"

As he spoke, he passed the letter for help to the family members in the hall, and everyone exclaimed in surprise after reading it. The amount of information contained in this letter was so great that many people could not bear the impact for a while and temporarily lost their ability to think.

After a while, Fang Bao, who joined the army, said: "These are all the words of a noble king. I am afraid they are not trustworthy. Please consider it carefully, Duke Yan!"

After Murong Shaozong heard this, he smiled and asked: "Then from what I can see from joining the army, why does Wang Xiangui want to bully me with this?"

"The book also says that after the Qiang people plundered Guiyang, they were still greedy and continued to advance. Wang Xiangui was afraid that the remaining city would be difficult to defend, so he boldly asked for help. Hou Jing was already a great scourge in Jiangdong, and if he was defeated , then there will be rumors from all sides, but now only the king and dignitaries are speaking, it is really not trustworthy!"

After hearing the words, Fang Bao said again. At the same time, he couldn't help but feel a little strange. Why did Murong Shaozong have such an attitude of believing in such an obvious fraud?

Murong Shaozong's face suddenly darkened after hearing this. He immediately stood up and looked at Fang Bao and said solemnly: "What if this is true? Wang Xiangui is a sinner. Once he enters the country, his life or death is uncertain. Now if he... If you lie because of the danger, even if you are saved for a while, the general will ask you later, will he be able to avoid death? How will you atone for what you have gained from the Qiang thieves?”

When Fang Bao heard this, his expression suddenly became serious. Yes, this kind of thing should be believed rather than believed, especially now that the voice of revolution in the country is in full swing.

If they missed an opportunity to obtain the imperial seal and ended up living in Kansai, then no matter how great their achievements were, they might not be able to make up for such a big mistake. If someone exploits the topic again, he could even be charged with treason!

"Ji Qian, a humble official, made a mistake. Please forgive me, Mr. Yan!"

After realizing this, Fang Bao hurriedly apologized. At the same time, he glanced at the other colleagues in the hall. Only then did he understand in his heart that he was quick in thinking and realized that the matter was false. It was clearly because others had seen it more deeply and did not speak out. He was the only one. I am young, energetic, and like to show off, so I open my mouth and ask for trouble.

Seeing that no one questioned this, Murong Shaozong then distributed the military camp affairs to the people present, ordered them to quickly handle the affairs properly, and then rushed south to rescue Shouyang.

After these subordinates retreated, and only a few close confidants who had been with him for many years were left, Murong Shaozong led the people to bring the envoys from Shouyang into the hall one by one, and interrogated them severely. Soon This gave him an in-depth and comprehensive understanding of the situation in Shouyang.

Murong Shaozong did not feel inappropriate about the remnant soldiers of Yiyang defecting to Shouyang. After all, the brothers Xiahou Dan and Xiahou Kui of the Southern Liang Dynasty had been in Shouyang for many years, and their clan members defected to Shouyang when they were poor. It was normal for them to want to use the legacy of their predecessors to regain their power.

As for the doubt raised by Fang Bao before, how could Murong Shaozong not be aware of it? But whether this incident is true or false, it has nothing to do with Murong Shaozong's original intention.

Murong Shaozong was very happy when Xiahou Qiang came to occupy Yiyang before. He had even planned that after entering Yiyang, the west could intimidate the Han Dynasty in the east and Mianbei, and the east could control the entire Huainan area, and through the Jingzhou of the Western Wei Dynasty The confrontation between them escalated, and Huainan's personnel and resources were gradually concentrated in Yiyang's own hands.

However, due to the restrictions of the Yedu court and the decisive attack of Jingzhou in the Western Wei Dynasty, Murong Shaozong's plan to strengthen himself on the edge of the town was directly aborted, which made him deeply regretful.

At present, Murong Shaozong urgently needs a logistics supply base to maintain his increasingly large army. Previously it belonged to Yiyang, and it was Yiyang that had the power to control the Huainan region. Now that Yiyang is gone, going directly to Shouyang is also a good choice.

However, General Gao Da did not give Murong Shaozong too much autonomy. Even if he wanted to go to Shouyang, he still needed an excuse and an opportunity. Now the letter for help sent by Wang Xiangui is a perfect excuse for him. Even if this incident was false, and General Gao Da held it accountable afterwards, he would not need to bear any responsibility at all.

"The Qiang thieves are already halfway through their march. In order to prevent them from entering Shouyang first, I will personally lead five thousand light cavalry directly to Shouyang and occupy the city first to await the enemy!"

With the lessons learned from the loss of Yiyang last time, Murong Shaozong became more serious this time. He also had information about the Western Wei people's advance in Yiyang. If he wanted to get into Shouyang before the Western Wei people arrived, Qingqi would rush there day and night. is the only choice, and five thousand Qingqi is the largest scale that Murong Shaozong can use now, which shows that he is determined to win this trip.

"But the defenders in Shouyang City only have less than 2,000 disciples. The newly victorious Qiang bandit army may not be able to defeat it with only 5,000 light cavalry!"

After hearing Murong Shaozong's words, the general spoke up again and said that now they are not in the state where they had tens of thousands of Jinyang soldiers and elite troops before. Now their own troops plus the powerful tribesmen who come from all directions, there are only about Twenty thousand people.

All these men and horses were engaged in the battle with the Western Wei Dynasty, and there was no absolute advantage. Murong Shaozong planned to fight the opponent with five thousand light cavalry, and he was already at a disadvantage in terms of military strength.

After hearing this, Murong Shaozong said: "When we met in the square city in the past, the enemy generals could not get out of the strong formation and were timid to fight. Now, although they first occupied Yiyang, their military strength has been stretched to the extreme, and there is no support from the front and rear. When we return to Huainan, The only purpose is to take advantage of the fact that the land is unable to defend and raid people and goods. I must not have the intention to hold it for a long time. Seeing that I am well prepared for war, I should not have the courage to fight fiercely. Moreover, Li Bomu has already occupied Hefei in Huainan, and he has no strong strategy and knows the thieves. You will definitely feel panic when entering the country, so you can take advantage of the situation and gather your troops to jointly resist the powerful enemy."

Just like Li Tai judged Murong Shaozong's behavior before, now that Murong Shaozong was the one to respond, he also judged through various signs that although the Western Wei Dynasty marched with great fanfare, it actually had no long-term plan to occupy Huainan, because there was no plan to do so. This strength.

Even if Murong Shaozong is not here, if the Western Wei's defense line is further lengthened, the cost will be beyond their affordability. Therefore, as long as he can reach Shouyang in time, the Western Wei Dynasty's invading troops will have no choice but to retreat back to Yiyang like Murong Shaozong did last time.

If the people of the Western Wei Dynasty were not as expected and still determined to attack Shouyang, this would be more beneficial to Murong Shaozong. He could use himself as a bait to attract the main force of the Western Wei Dynasty in Huainan to Shouyang, and then use other troops to attack Yiyang. At that time, the enemy would be unable to advance or retreat due to fear of losing ground, and it was not known that they would be directly defeated in Huainan. .

Therefore, Murong Shaozong ordered the troops behind him to advance slowly and march directly south to the north bank of the Huai River. If he saw that Yiyang City's defenses were empty, he would directly cross the Huai River and attack. If he saw that the city's defenses were tight, he would slowly march eastward along the Huai River, ready at any time. Cooperate with the main force of the Western Wei Dynasty to retreat to the east.

After making these arrangements, Murong Shaozong led his 5,000 men and horses who had been fully equipped and headed straight for Shouyang. They traveled day and night along the way and arrived at Huaihe opposite Shouyang in just over five days. North shore of water. Under Murong Shaozong's excellent command and control, the men and horses after several days of rapid marching still maintained a certain amount of physical strength and could participate in the battle at any time.

However, this is not needed for the time being, because the Western Wei Dynasty's boat division from Yiyang, which the scouts detected, is still on the upper reaches of the Huai River more than 70 miles away.

Due to Nanliang's repeated massive damage to the Huai River, and the general disrepair of the weirs along the Huai River this year, the shipping conditions on the Huai River have become even worse. Therefore, the Western Wei Dynasty boatmen will have to arrive here the next day at the earliest. If If you encounter headwinds, siltation, etc., your arrival time will be even later.

Murong Shaozong was quite satisfied with this situation, so he first stationed his troops at the Huaibei Pier, where he sent a small team of men and horses to cross the water in light boats, went to Shouyang City, and ordered the guard Wang Xiangui to come out to meet him as soon as possible, and made arrangements immediately Boats were used to ferry the army.

However, Wang Xiangui and the others could not be seen. When Yang Zhong entered the city, he had already detained Wang Xiangui and others, and distributed the wealth and food stored in the city to the soldiers in the city to win people's hearts. Now the city has been completely destroyed. Take control.

Faced with the request made by Murong Shaozong's envoy, Yang Zhong only replied on behalf of Wang Xiangui: "A certain class knows that their old sins have not been eliminated, and Murong Xingtai made meritorious deeds in order to appeal to Pinghou. Today, Shouyang Jincheng is a class of In the lair that they depended on to survive, the thieves had not retreated, and the outcome was still unclear. They really did not dare to leave the city easily to risk their lives.

The garrisons around Shouyang such as Ma Tou and Xia Shi are still in good condition. Murong Xingtai can send his disciples to divide the garrison to stop the thieves. After the Western Army retreated, some of the ugly remnants of the calamity would definitely go out of the city to pay homage to Murong Xingtai and hand over the imperial seal. The boats and ferries are all moored at Xia Shi, so the general can take them for himself. "

When Murong Shaozong learned that Wang Xiangui was unwilling to go out of the city to greet him, he was naturally angry, but he had no time to care about it for the time being. The most important thing was to cross Huainan quickly to build a defense line against the invading enemy.