Ji Han Da Sima

Chapter 159: Putting an end to chaos and entering Lize

After Huo Jun captured Jingkou City, he adopted Jiang Ji's suggestion, released the captured recruits and distributed rations for their return home. This move won the hearts of the people in the counties south of the Yangtze River.

After the people's hearts began to rise, Huo Jun wrote letters to persuade the county chiefs to surrender. At the same time, he ordered four generals, Chen Yue, Huo Du, Ding Feng, and Zhong Lifei, to lead their own troops and conquer the counties that refused to surrender.

Under the three offensives of popular support, force, and general momentum, more than ten counties including Shicheng, Wuhu, Danyang, Hushu, Jurong, and Jiangcheng changed their flags and submitted to the Jingzhou Army.

Of course, the pacification of the war in the counties south of the Yangtze River was not all smooth sailing.After learning that Jingkou had been captured, the remnants of the Jiangdong Army who were scattered around the country segregated the mountains and forests, or occupied the city walls, gathering troops to cause chaos.

Huo Jun is not without countermeasures. Today he summoned Yu Shao, hoping to use him to quell the soldiers and thieves everywhere.

"Gongli!"

Huo Jun sat on the couch, handed the battle report in his hand to Yu Shao, and said, "Do you know Xu Ming?"

Yu Shao took the battle report with both hands and said respectfully: "For the record, Commander-in-Chief, Xu Ming is an old general under my uncle's command. He is from Xiapi in Xuzhou, and Shao has heard about it all his life."

With that said, Yu Shao spread out the battle report and saw that it was the battle report sent by Ding Feng, saying that Xu Ming, the Sun family's old general, was unwilling to surrender, so he captured Wuhu and proclaimed himself the captain of Wuhu.They gathered troops to cause chaos and harassed surrounding counties. They also sent people to cross the Yangtze River north, hoping to collude with Zang Ba and lure him south.

Huo Jun took a sip of tea and said: "Xu Ming caused chaos in Wuhu and wanted to collude with Zang Ba and must be eliminated. Everyone advised me to ask Gan Zhonglang to go out to fight against the thieves, but Jun thought that public etiquette might allow him to do so. I don't know what public etiquette means. how?"

Yu Shao looked at the contents of the battle report and hesitated a little.He was not hesitant because of the difficulty of conquering the thief, but he was hesitant about conquering Xu Ming.

Sun He is his uncle, and he inherits Sun He's tribe.Xu Ming belonged to Sun He's old tribe, so he had interactions with Xu Ming.He returned to Jingzhou, and if he obeyed the order to lead troops to conquer Xu Ming, he would be asked to use Xu Ming's head as a token of surrender, which made Yu Shao hesitate.

Seeing Yu Shao's hesitation, Huo Jun stood up, put his arm around Yu Shao's shoulders, and said seductively: "Jun knows Gongli's temperament, and will attack Sun Zhongmou now. Since the captain's temperament is hard to follow, he orders Gongli to go to Xu Ming. And Gong Li's study of military books is really a piece of raw jade. If he can carve a few things into it, he will become a great weapon. Using soldiers to make Xu Ming is actually a time for Gong Li to display his talents. Don't miss the opportunity!"

Yu Shao was young and was convinced of Huo Jun's military strategy.Now that I heard that Huo Jun was so "careful" and prevented me from conquering Sun Quan, and was sharpening my military strategy, I felt even more grateful to Huo Jun.In a flash of thought, Yu Shao put aside the embarrassment of conquering Xu Ming.

Yu Shao showed gratitude on his face, cupped his hands and said, "Please rest assured, Commander, Shao will definitely defeat Xu Ming and quell the Jiangnan soldiers and bandits."

After a little hesitation, Yu Shao said: "Captain, Zang Ba's soldiers in the north of the Yangtze River, if Xu Ming colludes with them, Shao's soldiers may not be able to stop them."

Huo Jun patted Yu Shao on the shoulder and said with a smile: "I have ordered Wen Xiang to station troops at Ruxukou and patrol the river by boat. If Zang Ba dares to go south, he must attack him. I wonder if he can ask for public courtesy?"

Yu Shao shook his head and said: "The governor has made arrangements, Shao has nothing else to ask for."

After another brief chat, Yu Shao was ordered to leave and return to camp to prepare to quell the rebellion in Wuhu.

When Yu Shao came out of the hall, Jiang Ji entered the hall.

"Captain!" Jiang Ji glanced at Yu Shao's back and asked, "What's going on?"

Huo Jun asked Jiang Ji to sit down and said with a smile: "Gongli has sent troops to Wuhu, Xu Ming's army will be able to quell the chaos. Soon we will lead the navy into Dantu Waterway and join the two soldiers and horses at Lize."

There are advantages and disadvantages to surrendering Sun's old tribe. The advantage is that it can appease people's hearts, strengthen one's own strength, and quickly recover counties in various places; the disadvantage is that it is suspected of being repeated, which makes it difficult for people to use it with confidence, and no one can guarantee it. Will they dive.

Huo Jun asked Yu Shao to lead the army to attack Xu Ming, not only to quell the rebellion, but also to distract and test Yu Shao.It has been nearly ten days since we captured Jingkou, and counties south of the Yangtze River have also surrendered one after another. Huo Jun also has the idea of ​​​​leading his army into the Dantu Waterway, contacting Liu Bei and Liu Qi's armies, and capturing Wuxian County.

After all, it was the tenth year of Jian'an, Yuan Tan died, and Yuan Yuan fled beyond the Great Wall. It was not far away from Cao Cao's complete pacification of the Central Plains.If Jiangzuo cannot be pacified before this year, Huo Jun is really worried that Cao Cao will spare his troops and interfere in Jing Yang's affairs.

Jiang Ji stroked his beard and said worriedly: "Captain, Zang Ba is not a fool, he has a brave strategy, and he is currently stationed in Chaohu. If our army goes south, Lujiang and the counties south of the Yangtze River will be empty, and they may be taken advantage of. .”

"It's easy!"

Huo Jun took out a defense plan from under the bamboo slips, spread it out and gave instructions: "Zang Ba stationed his troops in Chaohu and watched the river from the north to the south. His troops wanted to enter the Lujiang River. The Lujiang River is close to Qianshan to the north and the river to the south. Only the east can enter, so he stationed in Shu. County. Now Jun has ordered Gao Chen to lead thousands of troops to garrison Shu County to prevent Zang Ba from advancing westward to the Lujiang River." "If Zang Ba wants to cross the Yangtze River and attack the counties south of the Yangtze River, he can only attack from Ruxukou and Caishiji. , Jingkou and other places to cross the river. It is a hundred miles long from Caishiji to Jingkou, and beacon towers are built on the river bank to observe Zang Ba's movements, so we can divide our troops to guard Ruxu garrison and reach Jingkou."

"Jin Jun has ordered Xu Sheng to lead the navy to garrison in Ruxu, observe the signs of beacon towers, and patrol the river. Jun's brother Huo Zhonglang stationed in Jingkou City to control the counties south of the Yangtze River to control Xu Sheng. Yu Shao's soldiers and horses also conquered Wuhu, and the crisis It can also be used when the time comes.”

Regarding his own future, Huo Jun did not dare to appoint anyone else to leave the town. Instead, he asked his brother Huo Du to take charge of Jingkou.He led 7000 naval officers such as Gan Ning, Gao Xiang, Chen Yue, Ding Feng, Zhong Lifei, and Li Wei into the Dantu Waterway to engage in a decisive battle with the Jiangdong Navy.

Jiang Ji pondered for a while and then said: "Shu County and Ruxugou are adjacent to each other, and the water and land are at the horns of each other. From Caishiji to Jingkou, a hundred miles away, there are beacon towers to warn, and Huo Zhonglang stationed troops at Jingkou, which is enough to prevent Zang Ba from crossing the river. meaning."

After saying that, Jiang Ji laughed and said: "The beacon tower that Sun Yu worked so hard to build never stopped 'Cao's army' under the governor's tent, but now it will stop Cao Cao's army under Cao Cao's tent."

"Haha~"

"Report!"

The attendant trotted into the hall, raised his hands and said, "A letter from Military Advisor Zhuge!"

"Hey! The army is here to report the battle. I wonder how Liu Yuzhou is progressing?"

Huo Jun took the letter, opened it and read it.Seeing the content on it, Huo Jun frowned slightly.

"Captain, what's wrong?" Jiang Ji saw Huo Jun's expression and asked.

Huo Jun said nothing, just handed the letter to Jiang Ji, and strode to the map of Wu Hui hanging on the wall.

Jiang Ji took the letter, looked at the map on the wall, and said: "The army is entering Lize from the north. I'm afraid Qiantang is in danger!"

Then, Jiang Ji drew on the map and said: "There is Songjiang as the communication between Lize and the ocean. Warships can go out of Songjiang to the ocean and sail southward near the coast. They can reverse the Qiantang River and go north to reach Qiantang City."

The ancients' use of troops was not limited to rivers and lakes. The use of the sea to march was as early as the Spring and Autumn Period.King Wu Fu Chai attacked Qi, advancing both by land and water, and a large-scale naval battle broke out on the Yellow Sea.When Yue defeated Wu, Fan Li was ordered to enter the Yangtze River from the sea to prevent Fu Chai from returning home.

"Ok!"

Huo Jun nodded and said: "Kong Ming is familiar with the terrain of Wuyue and knows that Qiantang is a water and land strategic point that is related to the fate of the army. Now he has ordered Wenpin to stick to Qiantang."

After saying that, Huo Jun nodded Lize, frowned and said: "What Jun is worried about is not knowing where the armies of Sun Quan and Zhou Yu are. Since the army entered Wu Hui, only Cheng Pu and Jiang Qin fought, but they were nowhere to be found. There must be something fishy about the traces of the Jiangdong army."

Based only on the contents of Zhuge Liang's letters, Huo Jun used his keen sense of war to sense that something was wrong.After all, as Zhuge Liang said, Wuhui belongs to Sun Quan's base camp. There must be a problem if there is no army to fight yet.

Based on the content of Zhuge Liang's letter, Jiang Ji said: "According to Kong Ming's letter, the army camped in the ruins of Qiucheng. The camp backed up Bian Mountain and arrived at Lize. Moreover, Kong Ming had ordered scouts to carefully search for traces of Jiangdong's army from both ends of the land and water. , but still no movement was seen.”

"Without seeing the enemy's main force, Liu Yuzhou had to camp where he was. He did not dare to lead his army to go around Lize, for fear that the Jiangzuo Navy would cut off his retreat. Now Liu Yuzhou asked how our army is doing? If that didn't happen, Liu Yuzhou wanted to lead the army. Go north, capture the counties west of Lize, and lure Sun Quan and Zhou Yu ashore to fight."

The invasion of troops into Wu County was not the only plan.Based on the premise that Huo Jun cannot capture Jingkou, Liu Bei has prepared other plans, such as taking all the counties and villages west of Taihu Lake, confronting him across Taihu Lake, and finding a way to defeat the Jiangdong Navy.

"Zitong, our army needs to send troops as soon as possible."

Huo Jun stared at Lize on the map and said in a deep voice: "Once our navy enters Lize, the Jiangzuo army will definitely show up."

"No!" Jiang Ji responded.

(End of this chapter)