Great Warriors of Sui and Tang Dynasties

Chapter 746 Dead Land (Thanks to King Dawu for the reward!)
Cao Bao narrowed his eyes, deep in thought.

He believed [-]% of what the Luo family envoy said, and [-]% doubted it.But even if it is only [-]% credible, this is still a great opportunity.

Before, the Yellow River was like a boundary line, and Xia Jun never thought of crossing the river and going down the river.

"The general wants to go south to take Dongjun?"

Several generals were a little surprised.

"However, His Majesty has issued a strict order before, saying that it is impossible for us to cross the Yellow River and take the next step without authorization."

Cao Bao maintained a relaxed expression, "Of course I remember that His Majesty had this ban, but it was just like that. Besides, His Majesty forbade our army to go south. It was because our territory was only in the Bohai Sea area of ​​the plain. It is the land of Qi County, Luo Cheng's hometown, and Zhang Xutuo is guarding it."

Luo Cheng is Dou Jiande's old boss. Although this old boss has only been there for a while, Cao Bao is also very aware of his brother-in-law's respect and fear for Luo Cheng.

But isn't the situation different now?
Now my brother-in-law has established a country and proclaimed himself emperor, and he also owns the land of nine counties.Especially in Hebei, there are only a few opponents left, and they are not so easy to deal with, and now the four counties in Henan are sent to the door by the Luo family. If he doesn't take it, he will be taken by Li Mi or Li Yuan go.

"Don't miss the opportunity, the time will never come again."

"Not just Dongjun, but the four counties of Dongjun, Jiyin, Liangjun, and Qiaojun. These four counties are all in the east of the Tongji Canal on the Canal. The county will be able to establish a foothold in Henan. When the time comes, Your Majesty will lead the army to the south, as long as Li Mi is defeated in one fell swoop, then the Central Plains will be my Daxia, and the world will be determined."

Cao Bao eloquently preached to them the importance of taking the four counties, so important that he didn't even have time to wait for Hejian's reply.

We have to go south now, otherwise, once the Luo family withdraws, these four counties will fall into Li Mi's hands.

And Li Mi is now recognized by Xia Guo as the biggest opponent in the competition for the Central Plains.

the twelfth lunar month.

It is snowing in the Central Plains, and the earth is covered with silver.

The cold weather caused the Yellow River to freeze early as in previous years.

Cao Bao led an army of [-] people from Jijun to the south, and when he arrived at the bank of the Yellow River, he found that the river ice had frozen hard early, and men and horses could cross the river directly on the ice.

This is a great convenience for him.

"This is really God helping me!" Cao Bao said with a smile, if it was summer and autumn, it would be more troublesome to think about crossing the river, but now, the Yellow River is just a smooth road.

"Hurry up to Leshou to report the victory, saying that I have crossed the Yellow River and went to collect the four counties."

Cao Bao crossed the Yellow River, but he was still very cautious.

He sent a number of cavalry forward to scout, while his five armies moved forward slowly.

The good news keeps on coming.

In Baima City, East County, the Shandong Army is no longer there.

There is only a small group of Shandong Army left behind, but they are waiting for them to hand over.

It's just that there is some bad news, that is, although the Luo family army in Baima City has withdrawn, they have taken away all the people, and now there is only an empty city left.

"Empty city? An empty city is also a city. As long as it occupies the territory of the city, there will always be people." Cao Bao frowned after hearing this, and then said.

Next, Cao Bao quickly occupied Baima City, the county town of Dongjun.

Continue to send out cavalry, and soon bring back almost good news that Weinan, Lingchang, Weicheng, Xuncheng, Kuangcheng, Puyang, Juancheng, and Shandong troops have all withdrawn.

When they withdrew, they basically took away the population of the people.

"So many people, how did they take all of them away at once? How did they do it?"

"It should not be a temporary evacuation, but the people have been relocating for more than half a year."

"Where did they go, did they all go to Qilu Donglai?"

"Some went there, but many were sent directly to Liaodong."

However, this news reassured Cao Bao even more. After all, it took so much energy to move people away. In his opinion, this is the more the Luo family wants to abandon Shandong, at least it is an ironclad proof that they will abandon the four counties east of the canal.

"Go to Ji County to pass on our military order, and send all the soldiers and horses here. We must hurry up and rush to station in the cities of the four counties."

river.

Le Shou, Jincheng Palace.

After listening to Cao Bao's messenger's report, Emperor Xia's Dou Jiande breathed a little unevenly.

And Nayan Song Zhengben simply said angrily, "Nonsense, it's just nonsense!"

Kong Shaode, the servant of internal history, couldn't help it either, "How can General Cao go into this muddy water so easily? Don't you know that the land of these four counties has now become a fierce place, where several families compete, and it is quite dangerous to step in easily. of."

Both Song Zhengben and Kong Shaode were prime ministers of Dou Jiande.

Song Zheng was originally the magistrate of Raoyang County. He was knowledgeable and talented. After the city was captured by Dou Jiande, Dou was extremely courteous and kind to him and the people in the city. Finally, Song was moved by him, so he attached himself to him, and offered him a plan for Hebei Province. His strategy won the trust of Dou, and after the founding of the country, he was awarded the important post of Nayan.

Kong Shaode was originally an official of the Sui Dynasty, but later became attached to Dou.

It can be said that although Dou also came from Caomang, after all, he had been a Lizheng, a soldier in the government, and participated in the expedition to the Liao Dynasty, so he had unusual knowledge.When he first started his business, he didn't plunder everywhere, but started a salt business based on Douzigang. At the same time, he also cooperated with the government to help suppress bandits and black people.

After his strength continued to grow, he also began to attack counties and counties, but after he captured counties and counties, he never liked to kill scholars, behead officials, and rob people like other Hebei anti-army bandits, but took a very gentle attitude. He treated captured officials and civilians, so he quickly won the support of many people.

When he becomes emperor, the generals under his command are mainly old brothers, but there are also many Sui generals who belong to him, and his civil servants are basically former Sui Dynasty officials, or local nobles.

"Are both Song Nayan and Kong Shilang against sending troops south?" Dou Jiande asked.

"Of course I don't, it's muddy water, a place of death, and whoever gets involved will be unlucky."

"But this is also an opportunity." Dou Jiande said.

"Your Majesty, I think that now is not an opportunity, but a trap. Even if you want to go south, you have to wait for Li Mi, Wang Shichong, Li Yuan, and Luo Gui to fight first, and then we make a move. It's too early to make a move now. "

Guozi Jijiu Ling Jing also stood up and said, he is a military adviser whom Dou Jiande relies on as his confidant, and he is resourceful.

"Zhang Yushi, what do you think?"

Dou Jiande asked Zhang Xuansu, the censor of the government and the servant of the Huangmen. Zhang was originally the county magistrate of Jingcheng, but he was also captured after the city was broken.

At the beginning, Zhang Xuansu refused to accept Dou Jiande's appointment as an official, and has been refusing to offer any advice for him. It was not until the news of Yang Guang's murder in Jiangdu that Zhang Xuansu accepted Dou Jiande's re-appointment. Serving the censor with the book of governance and then serving as the servant of the Huangmen, he also became the prime minister of the Xia Kingdom.

Zhang Xuansu agrees with Song Zhengben, Kong Shaode and Ling Jing that the four counties in Shandong are not only a pie, but a trap.

Liu Jing, Minister of the Ministry of War, also suggested to the emperor that Luo Gui gave up the four counties so easily, precisely because he saw that all parties gathered here and it has become a dangerous place, so he voluntarily evacuated first.

"But Cao Bao has already crossed the river, what should we do?" Dou Jiande originally thought that going south to take the four counties at this time was an opportunity, so he seized the opportunity and did not give Li Mi a chance.

But now hearing what these prime ministers said, Dou Jiande also panicked a little.

Especially when they mentioned that the Luo family had deliberately evacuated, which was a trap, Dou panicked even more. He still has an inexplicable awe of Luo Cheng.

(End of this chapter)