Ji Han Da Sima

Chapter 478 Father and son discuss Shouchun

In the spring of the second year of Zhangwu, Hefei.

In early spring, the warm sun first appears, mixed with the cold air, making it difficult to describe the warmth and coldness.

In the early morning, Huo Jun dressed in powerful clothes and danced lightly with his sword in the pavilion. He took turns picking, stabbing and teasing, showing his skillful sword skills and strong posture.

In recent years, as he grew older, Huo Jun felt that his physical energy was not good, so he began to practice swordsmanship diligently. It's not to improve your swordsmanship, but to exercise your body in the hope that you can prolong your life.

After a while, Huo Jun did a sword dance, sheathed the Han sword, took a deep breath and exhaled, ending today's sword dance.

Seeing Huo Jun finish his sword dance, Huo Xiong handed over the soaked handkerchief, while Huo Fan reached out and took the Han sword.

Huo Jun wiped the sweat from his face and asked, "Shizai, why don't you take more rest today?"

Since Liu Bei ordered Bashu and Hanzhong to withdraw their troops, Huo Fan led his troops to retreat south and only returned to Hefei yesterday.

Huo Fan put his sword on the sword grid and said with a smile: "I am used to getting up early when I go to war with the army."

Huo Jun sipped his tea and said: "If there are not many troops, it will be difficult to defeat Shouchun for a while. We may transfer to Xuzhou, conquer Xiapi, reach Mount Tai, and then look for opportunities to move west and wait and see Henan."

During this time, Huo Jun was also thinking about the direction of the northern expedition from the Jianghuai River. If he has many soldiers, he can try Shouchun; if he has few soldiers, he can consider attacking Xuzhou.

Expedition from the south to the north is inherently difficult. Historically, during the peak period of the Liu Song Dynasty, they almost captured the area south of the Yellow River. However, due to personal problems and the Xianbei soldiers' elite, the supply of food and grass was difficult. In the end, it ended in haste and retreated to Huaihe River Basin.

"Of course!"

Huo Fan frowned and thought, and said: "According to what my father said, the soldiers and horses he needs should be the soldiers that can defeat our Han Dynasty. There are not many soldiers to surround his army, and the soldiers are not good enough to defeat his army."

After saying that, Huo Jun looked at Huo Fan and said, "If you don't run the army, how can you be a father?"

Regardless of the Liu and Song Dynasties, if we look at the Eastern Jin Dynasty, its territory is no smaller than that of the Southern Han Dynasty, and it is even larger than that of the Southern Han Dynasty. However, due to internal problems and combat failures, the Northern Expedition was ultimately hopeless.

Shouchun, as the pillar of the Central Plains, was important because it was located at a must-pass point for people traveling from north to south. Therefore, once the Southern Han Dynasty attacked, it would receive support from the entire north.

Huo Jun took off the tea stove from the fire stand, poured it into the tea cup, and said: "People and land are always more important than land. Especially Shouchun City, it will be difficult for China to conquer it if it is not weak, so it is difficult to conquer the city. , only to destroy his army, his people, and his heart."

Huo Fan put on his robe and said with a smile: "To be honest with my father, I am not doing anything for him, but are you asking about the method of breaking Shouchun?"

Huo Jun poured a cup of tea for Huo Fan and said with a smile: "Reviving the Han Dynasty is a long road. It is easy to reach Wu Chu in the Central Plains. It is difficult to follow the principle of Wu Chu advancing in the middle. However, there are no constants in everything. If you work hard and build your troops, there will always be horses that drink. The time of the great river.”

After experiencing the failure of the last Northern Expedition, Huo Jun often thought about how to defeat Shouchun. After several deductions, Huo Jun believed that only by fighting a battle of annihilation in Shouchun and defeating Cao Wei's army could he hope to capture Shouchun. Otherwise, there was little hope of defeating Shouchun.

Most of Xuzhou's territory was still in the hands of Cao Wei, and the Southern Han Dynasty only had a corner of Guangling County and Xiapi County. If we can capture Xiapi, capture Donghai and Xiapi counties, and build a defense line, we can deeply control Huaidong, and then look for opportunities to encroach on Qingxu.

Hearing this, Huo Fan sighed and said: "If Shouchun is not given, there is no hope of reviving the Han Dynasty. My father said that if we adopt Qingxu's strategy, it will be difficult if we have few soldiers. The wider the territory, the more places we can divide our troops to defend." "

Huo Jun raised his eyebrows slightly and asked: "Since Shi Zai wants to break his longevity, I don't know what I think?"

Huo Fan pondered for a while and said: "Father, there are dangers in the mountains and rivers in Shouchun. It rains heavily in summer and autumn, so the city can only be besieged in winter. When winter turns to spring, it rains continuously and the land is muddy, so it is difficult to station troops outside. If we store fertilizer and water to irrigate the city, it will be easier. Observed by thieves."

Huo Jun put the kerchief into the copper basin and said with a smile: "When I first led the army, I had such energy. In the past, when I went to Jiangdong, I thought too much every night for fear of making mistakes. Now, the generals in charge have more free time."

"hehe!"

"And Shouchun is close to the Central Plains, and reinforcements can arrive in ten days. Our army surrounded Shouchun, and the bandit army soon moved south. The two armies faced each other in the city. Except for the bandit army, there was no hope of breaking the city. Er led his troops north to Shouchun. In spring, when I examine the mountains and rivers, I feel deeply how difficult and dangerous Shouchun is."

Although the two cities of Xiangfan and Shouchun are located on the main road between north and south, in terms of their terrain, because Xiangyang was in the Han Dynasty, it was beneficial to the Southern Han Dynasty and not beneficial to the Northern Wei Dynasty. Shouchun is different, because the Huaihe River is not a natural hazard. Its terrain is low-lying and rains all the year round. It treats both the north and the south almost equally.

Huo Jun put on his outer robe, sat down on the seat, and said: "Soldiers said: 'The first is to attack the enemy, the second is to attack the enemy, the second is to attack the enemy, and the third is to attack the city.' If you want to defeat Shouchun, it is not within it, but outside it." As Shi Zai said, the bandit army can reinforce Shouchun in ten days, so if the reinforcements can be overturned and Shouchun is isolated and helpless, then it can be done lightly!"

At that time, the Eastern Jin Dynasty and Liu Song Dynasty were still facing the bulk of the North. Now the Southern Han Dynasty is facing the established Cao Wei Dynasty. It is not easy to achieve outstanding results repeatedly. Especially this time, the Battle of Xiangfan, if there was no help from the Han River, it would probably be like the Battle of Shouchun, with a small victory and a hasty end.

Even so, Huo Jun was confident that the Northern Expedition would succeed.

As long as the Southern Han Dynasty does not fight among themselves and maintains stable development, given Cao Wei's domestic situation, the Southern Han Dynasty will have a chance to succeed sooner or later. Not to mention the oath of Luoshui decades later, let's look at Cao Cao's successor Cao Pi and Longyou's tyrant Ma Chao. For some reason Huo Jun always had a hunch that if the Southern Han Dynasty could succeed in the Northern Expedition, he would most likely have to rely on them.

Of course, Huo Jun knew that if he and Zhuge Liang's generation failed to succeed in the Northern Expedition, their successors would most likely abandon the Northern Expedition and turn to political strife. They would even use the Northern Expedition to make profits and do evil things. Seeing that Huo Fan was still a little confused and depressed, Huo Jun said confidently: "My father was forty years old and spent more than ten years fighting. He went down to the east of the Yangtze River, captured the Yangtze and Huaihe Rivers, broke through Chrysostom, and settled in Hanzhong. He conquered hundreds of cities. Why can't we count down more? A hundred cities can help establish the Han Dynasty?"

Looking at the military strategists before the Three Kingdoms, no one except Han Xin had more land than him. Even Bai Qi, the god of death, only got more than 70 cities.

After all, in the Battle of Chrysostom, most of Jingzhou was restored; in the Second Battle of Jianghuai, almost all of them went to Jianghuai; in the several battles of Jiangdong, one of the three cities was captured. If Jiaoling City is included, even Han Xin does not have as many troops as Huo Jun. Huo Jun just didn't bother to include Jiaoling City, after all, he had never been to the front line of Jiaoling.

Huo Fan heard Huo Jun's words, raised his hands and praised: "Father's bold words, Fan should raise his troops to follow."

"You should encourage me!"

"promise!"

While the father and son were talking, the attendant came to report and said: "Huo Du, Grand Administrator Jiang and Wang Xiaolian are asking for an audience."

"Let them enter the booth!"

"promise!"

Seeing that Huo Jun had something to deal with, Huo Fan stood up and left, saying, "Since my father has important matters, Fan will return to the camp first."

"good!"

After a while, Jiang Ji led Wang Xiang and greeted Huo Fan on the way.

"Ji has met Huo Du!"

"I pay my respects to Huo Du!"

"Sit down!"

Huo Jun looked at Wang Xiang from Langya with a kind expression. Seeing his honest face, simple clothes and elegant temperament, he couldn't help but nodded secretly.

Wang Xiang, also known as Xiuzheng, was a man who lay on the ice in search of carps in history. He comes from the Langya Wang family, and is of the same clan as the Wang family who will be familiar with Wang Ma Gongtian in the Eastern Jin Dynasty.

His grandfather, Wang Renguan, went to Qingzhou to be the governor of Qingzhou, but his father, Wang Rong, refused to be conquered by the government. At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Xuzhou was in chaos. Wang Xiang took his mother and younger brother and fled to Jiangdong like many people in Xuzhou. The difference is that Wang Xiang refused to serve as an official and lived in seclusion in the mountains of Lujiang for twenty years.

Now that his mother has died of illness, Wang Xiang has nothing to worry about. Under Jiang Ji's conquest and the persuasion of his younger brother Wang Lan, Wang Xiang decided to become an official. He was promoted as Xiaolian.

After calling Jiang Ji and Wang Xiang to take their seats, Huo Jun said: "Xiu Zheng is the first filial and honest person under my rule. This time you enter the capital, you should not disgrace me in the name of Xuzhou."

There are quotas for Xiaolian in every county, and Jianghuai naturally has a quota. However, considering the sparse people in Jianghuai and the pitiful lack of talents, the counties in Jianghuai have never recommended Xiaolian to Wuhan. Now Wang Xiang has finally jumped out of the mountains. If you don't recommend him as Xiaolian, who else can you recommend?

As for the system of promoting filial piety and integrity in the Southern Han Dynasty?

It can only be said that because Zhuge Liang governed the country, the implementation standards were much stricter than those in the Northern Wei Dynasty. Anyone who was promoted as filial and honest by the local government must go to Beijing and accept the assessment of the Shangshutai. Even most of the time, Zhuge Liang was interviewed personally and was praised as a person of filial piety and integrity, so the value of filial piety and integrity in the Southern Han Dynasty was very high.

As a result, most of the Xiaolians in the Southern Han Dynasty were scholars who had been conquered by Liu Bei and had real talents and learning. In the early years, they were like Xu Shu, Zhuge Jin, and Bu Zhi; in recent years, they were like Jiang Wan, Yang Yi, and Fei. Yi and other rising stars.

Wang Xiang looked humble, raised his hands and said: "Xiang will live up to the recommendation of Huo Du and Fu Jun. This time when you enter the capital, you should go all out."

"good!"

Jiang Ji stroked his beard and said: "According to reports, our army has captured Xiangfan. Cao Cao and Your Majesty have withdrawn their troops from Xinye. The army will return to Wuhan soon. I wonder when Huo Du will return to Beijing this time?"

That day, after Liu Feng came out of the camp to provoke, Cao Cao led his troops to retreat to Wancheng because Sima Yi succeeded in relocating the people. Liu Bei noticed that Cao Wei moved the people and wanted to send troops to fight for the people. Unfortunately, it was too late. Most of the people in northern Han Dynasty were moved away by Sima Yi, numbering between 150,000 and 60,000.

In order to prevent the Northern Wei cavalry from plundering, the Southern Han Dynasty moved the remaining 20,000 to 30,000 people in the northern Han Dynasty south across the Han River and settled them in the two counties of Hannan and Xiangyang.

Huo Jun pondered for a while and then said: "When Shi Yuan leads his troops back to Huaihe and receives an edict from His Majesty, he can return to the capital. If I return to the capital, I will have more hands-on experience in the political affairs of Jianghuai."

"promise!"

(End of this chapter)