Han Zuo Gaomen

Chapter 739 Runan is in Danger
Because the pressure of this change is too great, not only the Jienu in Jiangbei are suppressed across the board, but Chenghan in the west is also ready to move, and they frequently make moves in southwestern border states and counties such as Shonan and Ningzhou, so Taicheng dare not neglect this time. Once a decision has been made, an imperial edict should be issued and the envoy sent to Huainan to announce the rewards for the generals in Huainan.

At the same time, Taichung did not ignore the rest of the towns. Taking this opportunity, it also dispatched visitors to the towns, partly to motivate and encourage, and partly to comfort and reward.

Now in all the towns in Jiangbei, except for Huainan Shouchun, who was the first to serve as the Jienu Middle Road army, the tasks of other military towns were not easy.

Jingzhou is an important town in Shanxi Province, which is an inherent part of Jiangdong, and the fighting started much earlier than Huainan. It can even be said that the fighting has never stopped since the recovery of Xiangyang.Although Guo Jing, the governor of Jingzhou on Jiehu's side, lost Xiangyang, he did not retreat far behind. Instead, he consolidated his army in Fancheng, Xinye and other places, making repeated stabs.At the same time, Shi Sheng, who was stationed in Guanzhong, led the army of Guanzhong to come out to help. Many of the troops in Guanzhong, such as Di and Qiang, were from Huyi to help in the battle.

The two sides fought around Xiangyang and several nearby fortresses, winning and losing each other.At the beginning, although the Jingzhou army did not have a significant victory, it still had an advantage.Previously, Tao Kan was under the control of Taichung, and it was difficult to use Jingzhou's military power to the limit, but now there are not too many constraints, and he has started Jiangzhou to make up for it. Therefore, several important forces in the Jingzhou army, such as Huanxuan led The trilogy of Xiangfan Haozong, the Jingzhou scholar family of Jingling prefect Li Yang, and the barbarian followers led by Nanman school lieutenant Tao Zhen all surrounded Xiangyang, and they have always been actively defensive.

However, as Cheng Han was about to move in the west, he crossed the border several times to provoke the defense, which restrained part of the Jingzhou army's energy. Tao Kan even returned to the town of Baling from Wuchang, the township, and at the same time withdrew his son Tao Zhen from the front line to Jiangling to deter the Shu people.Although Jiangxia Prime Minister Qiao Wang Sima Wuji went north to supplement Xiangyang's front line, the dispatch still gave the slave army some opportunities to take advantage of, and the front line was pushed to the front line of Fancheng.

However, although the Jingzhou army is fighting on two fronts, its background and strength are there, and it can still be maintained.

Unlike Jingzhou, which fought on the two fronts, and the Huainan Army, which had just gone through the First Battle of Yingkou and then devoted itself to the Runan War, Xuzhou now ushered in a short period of peace.

Of course, tranquility is relative. Xuzhou is currently fighting on two fronts. One of the key points is Xuyi, where Xi Jian personally sits. Because there is a Huaikou, which is not inferior to Yingkou, the entrance of the Huaihe River, so the nearby Luojian is on the same side. Tou garrison and many other garrisons are also the focus of defense.However, benefiting from the previous Huainan Army's victory over Shi Cong, Qiaojun, who hit this road hard, the slave army's advance along this road was not smooth, so no major battles took place.

Another key point in Xuzhou is Huaiyin, which was originally the key target for Xijian to break through earlier. However, when Shen Zhezi Liangjun went north to recover Huainan, he took advantage of the opportunity to pull the Xuzhou army, allowing Xijian to take advantage of the opportunity. , so the fighting in Huaiyin was temporarily slowed down and handed over to the siege of Xuzhou's army leaders.

But these people are not lacking in rebelliousness and restraining each other. Without Xi Jian's presence, there is even less a unified banner command, so there has been no breakthrough in the war in Huaiyin.

Of course, this is not because the Xuzhou army is too weak to fight. Although these army leaders have their own private plans, their cronies are not weak in combat effectiveness. If there is a unified and thorough reorganization, the combat effectiveness will surpass that of Xincheng Army Town. Huainan Army.

In terms of Huaiyin, Zilai was also the focus of the slave army's southern plunder, so a large number of slave troops were stationed here.The Xuzhou army itself is full of contradictions, fighting on its own, and the opponents are by no means weak and weak. It is commendable to be able to maintain the current situation of siege but not attack.

Long before the Battle of Yingkou broke out, Xi Jian received a letter from Shen Zhezi about the situation of the slave army.However, Xi Jian was a little skeptical about Shen Zhezi's guess that Shi Kan had already left the town and that Huaiyin should be internally empty, and he was not sure whether to organize a large-scale attack on Huaiyin.

Xi Jian does not have the adventurous spirit of Shen Zhezi and the Huainan Army, and even though he is a little envious of the city father's victory achieved by the Huainan Army's false passage into his defense zone, if he is faced with that situation, he should Nor would he make such a risky move.It's not that he is timid and afraid of fighting, but that he has passed the age of aggressively seeking special merit. When encountering a war, he should still focus on comprehensiveness, first seek no faults, and then seek merit.

The slave army is coming to the south soon, and there is a possibility of a war in Whirlpool at any time.Under such circumstances, not to mention that Shen Zhezi is only guessing based on a small amount of information, even if he is sure that Shi Kan is no longer in Huaiyin, he still has to consider whether the slave army is using this as a trick of suspicion, in order to take part of the Xuzhou army's strength. Containing in Huaiyin put him in the dilemma of fighting on both sides.If they fell for the opponent's tricks, not only would Huaiyin be unable to fight, even Xuyi would change hands due to insufficient defensive forces.

But if Huaiyin is won, the strategic significance for Xuzhou is also obvious.Under Huaiyin, Zhongdushui went straight into the hinterland of Xuzhou to threaten Guangling. Because the important town here was not in hand, a considerable part of the Xuzhou army had to stay in the town and not move lightly, so as not to be attacked by the slave army.

Moreover, Huaiyin is also connected to the mouth of the Huai River.Because this place is not in the hands of the Xuzhou army, it is difficult for the Xuzhou army's much stronger boats and boats to pass through the Huai River unimpeded than the Huainan army, so it is difficult to fully control this section of the Huai River.

If Huaiyin can also be used, then with the strong control of the Huai River, the navy can encircle and wipe out all the slave troops south of the Huai River, and then put the main force on the front line of the Huai River, obtaining the same defensive situation as the Huainan Army.Being able to fully display the background of the Xuzhou Army and become the main defensive force of the entire Huaishui theater, the role it can play is far from comparable to that of the Huainan Army.

On the one hand, there is the trap of fighting on two fronts, and on the other hand, the temptation to completely turn passive into active, so after Xi Jian got the letter, he has been restless and hesitant for the past few days.While he was hesitating, Shihu's army had officially come south to station in Huaibei, and a war broke out!
Xi Jian knew the result of the battle at Yingkou faster. He even traveled up the Huaihe River to watch the battle from a distance. In the following pursuit, he even sent a navy to rush out of the vortex and go north to cooperate with the Huainan army. Chasing and fighting can be regarded as a small gain.But if it is based on merit, it means that the Huainan army is holding a big feast of barbecue, while the Xuzhou army is picking up broken bones and slurping its taste. No matter how you look at it, it is difficult for Xi Jian to become cheerful.

Although the cooperation between the two towns is not bad at the moment, the relationship is handled quite harmoniously.The Huainan Army provided the Xuzhou Army with a breakthrough on the Huai River, and the Xuzhou Army resisted part of the pressure from the east for the Huainan Army.But the problem is that the leader of the Huainan army makes people feel uncomfortable. Although Xi Jian has no stubborn temper of relying on the old to sell the old, he always feels a little uncomfortable when he thinks of fighting side by side with the younger generation and being compared to the results.

Apart from Xi Jian himself, the other generals of the Xuzhou Army actually had no lack of resentment in their hearts.You must know that in the Huainan Army today, there are quite a number of generals who have dug in from the Xuzhou Army, such as Cao Na.It's just that these people are doing well in Huainan, but they are often an eyesore near the vortex, which will inevitably make people feel a little unbalanced.

Whether he wants to or not, even if it's just to stabilize the morale of the people and the army, Xi Jian has to do something.Otherwise, he would still take prudence as the top priority here, and as a result, all the generals under his command might sneak under Shen Weizhou's hood to show their loyalty.

Therefore, as soon as the battle in Yingkou ended, Xi Jian immediately summoned all the generals to prepare to launch an attack on Huaiyin.Of course, such a decision was not completely forced by Huainan's great achievements. After this heavy setback, Jiehu's army can be imagined to be in chaos for quite a while, and it is difficult to organize a strong attack on Whirlpool in a very short period of time.So there is no imminent danger in Xuyi right now, since there is an opportunity in Huaiyin, we might as well give it a try.

Sure enough, when the Xuzhou army was still adjusting its defense and mobilizing its troops to gradually approach Huaiyin, the news of the Huainan Grand Prize had spread throughout Jiangbei.A full number of generals have been appointed as marquises, which is the most important military use since Su Jun's rebellion in the past few years!As for the Xuzhou army, even Su Jun's rebellion earlier, because the Wu people were too enthusiastic, did not get too many opportunities to make achievements. Although Xi Jian made progress, it was just to balance the situation.

After learning about this, even Xi Jian felt a little sour in his heart, let alone the generals under his command.Although most of the magnates and titles are false titles, for military leaders like them, they have everything in their hands, and what they owe is the recognition of this false title!Taichung has always been strict about conferring titles on border generals, and such a large-scale conferment on ZTE has been rare since then.In particular, Cao Na, who was only ranked in the middle in Guangling earlier, has only been in Huainan for more than a year, and now he is also a marquis for meritorious service!

Therefore, Xi Jian had to be thankful that he saw the opportunity early, if he stayed in Xuyi, it would be even more difficult to restrain the generals.Right now, the arrow is on the line, and with such generous incentives from Taichung, it is conceivable that Huaiyin will have greater confidence in the battle.

Xi Jian was lucky, but Shen Zhezi complained endlessly.Yingshui forced Shihu's army back in the first battle, but there was no chance to breathe. Shouchun's defense was adjusted here, and Runan was in a hurry again.Before Runan's affairs had come up with a solution, Xi Jian rushed to attack Huaiyin again. As soon as the focus of the Xuzhou army shifted, the Huainan army had to increase their troops to defend at Weikou.

Even if Shihu doesn't dare to come south in a big way for the time being, and Wokou is safe for the time being, the situation in Runan is still not optimistic.Runan was prepared for defense in haste, and originally hoped to get the support of Sima Wuji, the king of Qiao who sits in Jiangxia.However, something happened suddenly in Xizhen, King Qiao was transferred to Hanmian again, and immediately put Runan alone under the front of the slave army Taobao soldiers.If you want to hold on, you have to pay a much higher price than before.

(End of this chapter)