On the occasion of rebirth Zhou Sui

Chapter 420 Target Henan
On April 605th, the first year of Yongchang in the Eastern Sui Dynasty (AD [-]), after Du Ruhui had a small gathering with his family members who came to Jinyang, he and Li Mi hurriedly set off for Qingzhou.

Cui Che saw the two off in person, and asked them to assist the prince in a good life.

Du Ruhui and Li Mi were sent away, and all preparations for going south were ready.

Cui Che plans to lead [-] troops with Mai Tiezhang, the governor of Daizhou, to command the soldiers of Daizhou and guard the north gate of Hedong.

Now that the Eastern Turks are in the midst of a civil war, Dulan Khan and Qimin Khan have not yet decided the winner, and the defensive pressure facing Mai Tiezhang is not great.

In fact, Qimin Khan was caught between the forces of Cui Che and Dulan Khan. If Cui Che didn't lead his troops to the north, Qimin Khan would have to burn incense to celebrate. How dare he provoke Cui Che again.

He wished that Cui Che could focus all his attention on the Central Plains, so that he could have a showdown with Dulan Khan without distractions.

As for the defense in the west, Cui Che handed over to Qin Qiong, governor of Puzhou, and additionally dispatched Gao Yaxian, Zhou Kan, Zhang Heng, and Wang Qing, totaling [-] soldiers, under Qin Qiong's command.

Qin Qiong will command [-] soldiers and Puzhou government soldiers to guard Puban. He originally had [-] soldiers under his command.

Cui Che led [-] troops to stay in Jinyang with Pei Le, Li Min, Mai Mengcai, and Liu Tongren.

Among them, Pei Le led [-] soldiers and was in charge of Duke Jinyang's guards while monitoring Yang Liang.

Pei Le, Li Min, Mai Mengcai, and Liu Tongren are all relatives of Cui Che. They have an adopted son and three sons-in-law. Some of them have never even been on the battlefield, but their loyalty is their greatest strength.

With 20 soldiers, Cui Che allocated 6 soldiers to stay behind, and with a scale of 14 soldiers, he launched the Great War in the Central Plains.

The generals who accompanied them to the south included Li Jing, Cheng Yaojin, Su Dingfang, Dou Jiande, Liu Heita, Lu Mingyue, Wang Ba, Pei Renji, Pei Xingyan and other generals.

Bo Weizheng, head of the prime minister's mansion, is still in charge of the army's logistics.

The military affairs in Hedong and Hebei were handled by Shi Fangxuanling, the chief minister of the prime minister, and Shi Liufang, the chief minister of Chinese and foreign governments.

The two have followed Cui Che loyally for more than 20 years, and they are the relatives of their sons and daughters, so they are people who can be trusted.

Cui Che prepared for this southern expedition for more than two months. After the spring plowing, Fang Xuanling successively recruited 20 civilian husbands for Cui Che in Hedong to supply the needs of this great war.

Otherwise, the soldiers under his command are all around Jinyang, so it would take such a long time to prepare for the battle.

In the past, Cui Che used to drive cattle and sheep to fight on the grassland during the wars with foreign races. He only needed to recruit Neifuxi people to graze the livestock.

But the Central Plains is not the Monan Grassland, and there are not so many grasslands where Cui Che can drive cattle and sheep to fight, so he has to return to the farming and civilized fighting method and recruit a large number of peasants to transport grain and grass.

Of course, Cui Che was intensively preparing for battle in Hedong, and Xi Sui was neither blind nor deaf.

Inside the Western Sui Dynasty, Cui Che wanted to imitate Yang Liang, enter the pass from Puban, and drive straight to seize the pass.

Or go south, cross the Yellow River, and go straight to Henan, and there are endless debates.

Most of the close officials believed that Cui Che would go to Puban and fight for Guanzhong.

If Daxing falls, once Yang Guang fails to escape in time, the center of the imperial court will be controlled by Cui Che, and there is a high probability that the rest of the country can be passed on.

In order to prevent others from imitating Cui Che and raising troops to rebel, Yang Guang had already issued an edict to abolish the governors of the states.

But there are also some who think that Cui Che will go south to capture Henan.

Yang Su, Yu Wenshu and others were among them.

They believed that Guanzhong was easy to defend and difficult to attack, Cui Che would never venture westward, but went south to fight for Henan.

Once Cui Che seizes Henan, he will be able to cut off the connection between Guanxi and Lianghuai, Jiangnan, Jingxiang and other places.

If the grain from the south wants to be transported to Kansai, the only way is to take the route of Sichuan and Sichuan.

Not to mention how difficult the Shu road is, it is obviously unrealistic to send grain from Lianghuai and Jiangnan to Kansai via Sichuan and Shu.

If Henan is lost, the Kansai region, where droughts often break out, cannot rely on its own water and soil to support a huge population of more than 100 million households. It will be a matter of time before the capital is moved.

How long can the abandoned Kansai hold on as the imperial court moves south?

After some debate, Yang Guang adopted Yang Su's and others' point of view, thinking that Cui Che would definitely seize Henan.

Yang Guang and Cui Che are old friends, and they know this childhood friend well.

In Yang Guang's view, the judgments of Yang Su, Yu Wenshu and others were more in line with the impression Cui Che had given him in the past.

It's just that this time Yang Guang didn't use Yang Su as the coach, but let him stay in Guanzhong, just in case.

Yang Guang sent General Yu Zhongwen of You Yiwei, General Xu Guogong, General Yu Wenshu of Zuowei, Duan Wenzhen, Yang Yichen and others to the east, and divided them into various parts of the Central Plains.

Taking Yu Zhongwen as the general manager of the Henan Road Army, all the generals in Henan were under his control.

Yu Zhongwen is the grandson of Yu Jin, one of the Eight Pillar Kingdoms, who is well-known for his strategies and has made many military exploits, and is deeply favored by Yang Guang.

During the first battle in Gaobiling, he noticed that the situation in the army was different, and tried to persuade Yang Su not to kill again, but Yang Su didn't listen.

Not only were the government soldiers from all over the Central Plains recruited, but also the government soldiers in Jingxiang were mobilized again to support the war situation in Henan at any time.

At the same time, Yang Guang did not blindly defend. He immediately issued an edict to recruit troops from the Lianghuai Prefecture and hand them over to the general to guard and control them. He waited for an opportunity to recover Qingqi and other states on the south bank of the Yellow River occupied by Cui Che.

It has only been a few months since the Hedong War ended, and a Central Plains war is already imminent.

On April 605th, the first year of Yongchang in the Eastern Sui Dynasty (AD 25), Cui Che made an oath outside Jinyang City.

Yang Liang, who had been detained in Jinyang Palace for a long time, was also released to watch the ceremony.

Yang Liang's complexion was very bad, although Cui Che vowed not to kill him, even the three meals a day were served with delicacies.

But the frustration in politics still made Yang Liang feel depressed, and he watched him lose weight day by day.

Yang Lihua and Yang Awu, who saw Cui Che off, saw Yang Liang's emaciated appearance, and felt very distressed.

It's just that they feel ashamed in their hearts, and the two dare not face him face to face.

Standing on the tower, Yang Liang looked at Cui Che on the high platform outside the city with complicated eyes, and impassionedly swore an oath to the soldiers.

At this moment, Yang Liang's heart was ashamed.

Earlier, he believed what the queen said, thinking that Cui Che would give him a chance like Yu Wenhu, so he didn't go north to Daizhou, but stayed in Jinyang.

But he never thought that Cui Che would not easily enter the palace even though he had changed the guards of Jinyang Palace.

He never attended even the court meeting.

Of course, this so-called court meeting was just a formality.

Cui Che would not discuss any major military affairs with his ministers at the court meeting. He had already made a decision with his staff in private.

Now, after Cui Che finally left Jinyang, the remaining generals were all his relatives, and Yang Liang had no chance to escape at all.

It also made Yang Liang fall into despair.

　It should be gone today, I will sort out my thoughts about the Central Plains War.

　　Five more tomorrow.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)