Eastern Jin Dynasty: My powerful father

Chapter 158 Returning with Regrets

Xie Ai made great progress in western Hexi, and Huan Xi also embarked on a long journey home.

In fact, with Wang Meng sending an urgent letter three hundred miles away, Huan Xi had already learned that Fu Jian was mobilizing in Hedong and might go south to attack Gaowang City.

Didao County, Longxi County, Qinzhou, is 1,200 miles away from Chang'an. Without considering the difficulty of traveling on mountain roads, even if Huan Xi marched 60 miles a day, starting from Didao County, it would still take him twenty days to get back. Chang'an.

There is a distance of nearly 500 miles from Chang'an to Puban. It is a long journey. Even though Huan Xi is worried about the situation in Hedong, he can only go step by step.

The army marched to Qingshui County, Tianshui County, only one step away from Longguan.

Qin Governor Shi and Tianshui Governor Zhu Xu had been ordered to transport the cloth for rewards to Qingshui County in advance.

Prior to this, Qinzhou had not sent rice cloth to Chang'an for two years, so there was naturally enough cloth for Huan Xi to reward the soldiers.

Huan Xi did not follow the old rules, but considered that the soldiers braved the wind and snow, marched in the cold winter, expedition to Liangzhou, and traveled more than two thousand miles before finally arriving in Guzang.

During this period, many soldiers suffered from frostbite and suffered terribly.

Although the weather is getting warmer on the way home, we still have to walk another two thousand miles, which is really hard work.

At the same time, because they did not experience a fierce battle during the Western Expedition, they only fought an ambush in the north of Guzang City and pacified the entire Liangzhou.

According to the rule that if a person is captured or killed, one piece of cloth will be counted as a reward, the reward for the soldiers' military exploits will not exceed 10,000 pieces of cloth.

Of course, the rewards for the generals and subordinates will have to wait until they return to Chang'an before discussing their merits.

After Huan Xi thought about it for a while, he decided to make an exception and reward the soldiers for their hard work.

In the battle of Luoyang, each person was given a piece of cloth as a reward for hard work.

In the battle against Liang, the Jin and Huns were given 30,000 cavalry, each with three pieces of cloth, for a total of 90,000 pieces of cloth.

In addition to the 10,000 pieces of cloth given as rewards for military merit, a total of 100,000 pieces of cloth were given to the soldiers as rewards, which was equivalent to the rewards in the Battle of Luoyang.

When Huan Xi announced the news in public, 30,000 Jin and Hungarian cavalry cheered in unison.

Previously, because the cold war was too smooth, the soldiers were not given the opportunity to make meritorious deeds. They all thought that this difficult trip would not yield much.

Unexpectedly, Huan Xi could be considerate of everyone and reward hard work.

"Long live! Long live Duke Huan!"

The soldiers of the three armies cheered in unison.

Huan Xi was also filled with joy from the bottom of his heart when he saw this scene.

He had only robbed 30,000 households from Luoyang, but he was willing to pay 100,000 pieces of cloth as a reward. Not to mention that the capture of Liangzhou this time brought far greater gains than the battle of Luoyang.

There are 40,000 households in the country alone.

Rewards were distributed to the soldiers. At this time, after receiving Huan Xi's call, Zhao Ju quickly rode south and rushed to Qingshui County.

It can be said that Zhao Ju has taken one step at a time in his official career these years, and he has walked steadily.

He was originally brought to Chang'an by Huan Xi and served in the military government. Later, he was promoted to chief secretary for his meritorious service in resettling and relocating the people. He was also ordered to send an envoy to the Tiefu Xiongnu to sit in Yinchuan and manage Shan Yutai.

No matter what tasks Huan Xi assigned him, he would do his best and complete them properly.

Therefore, when Huan Xi needed someone to take charge of Liangzhou's government affairs, he immediately thought of him.

Zhao Ju met Huan Xi, bowed and said:

"The lower officials pay homage to your lord. Your lord has made a great victory in the western expedition and captured Liangzhou. I wish you all to congratulate your lord."

Huan Xi helped him up and said with a smile:

"Quan Zhi (Zhao Ju) doesn't need to be polite. Come, I'll introduce someone to you."

With that said, Huan Xi called Suo Xia over and introduced them to each other.

Suo Xia will take over from Zhao Ju to preside over Shanyutai. Huan Xi's move is to ask Suo Xia to ask Zhao Ju for advice during Zhao Ju's stay in Qingshui, so as not to have to go to Yinchuan and not know how to carry out his work.

Zhao Ju and Suo Xia are not stupid people, so they naturally understand Huan Xi's good intentions.

That night, the two held candles and talked at night, and their search was fruitful.

The next day, Zhao Ju said goodbye and left to Liangzhou to replace Quan Yi, while Huan Xi also set off for Longguan.

After crossing Long Pass and entering Guanzhong, Zhou Chu and Suo Xia took five thousand bow cavalry to say goodbye to Huan Xi. They would go north to Xitao Grassland.

At first, the five thousand Xiongnu archers were left by Huan Xi to monitor the cities in Wuwei County, so they did not go to the battlefield, but each of them received three pieces of cloth for their hard work, which was considered a joy.

In fact, Huan Xi was able to divide his troops to guard the five cities of Cangsong, Yici, Pucui, Zhangye, and Luanniao. The main force only brought fifteen days of food to attack Guzang. Go down and capture Guzang City.

But Fu Jian was blocked by Gaowang City, but could not follow suit. Even if he bypassed Gaowang City and captured Puban, he did not dare to attack Guanzhong.

Even because of the existence of Gaowang City, heavy troops were deployed to guard the six thousand elite soldiers in the city.

The terrain of Gaowang City is steep, and Yu's army can only attack from the south, but Shen Jin is able to separate some of his soldiers and rope down the cliffs and deep ditches on the east, west and north sides, specifically to fight guerrillas and harass Yu's army's food route.

It is necessary to send heavy troops to guard the defenders of Gaowang City, and also to assign a large number of soldiers to guard the grain roads.

When Huan Xi counterattacked Pu Ban, Fu Jian had to mobilize heavy troops to guard it.

In other words, the Yu State must devote all its efforts to defend the springboard to attack Guanzhong.

But without removing the nail of Gaowang City, even if he occupied Puban, Fu Jian would not dare to really use it as a springboard to go deep into Guanzhong.

So, what value could Puban, which was defended with all the strength of the country, have to the Yu State. This is also the reason why Gao Huan did not hesitate to gamble on the fate of the country and insisted on clinging to the jade.

Huan Xi or Fu Jian, whoever occupies Gaowang City will be able to take the strategic initiative.

As long as Gaowang City is still there, it is impossible for Yu State to enter the pass through Puban.

Bypassing Gaowang City and occupying Puban would be harmful to Fu Jian but not beneficial at all.

Moreover, with Deng Qiang's 20,000 state and county soldiers and thousands of local state and county soldiers in Puban, it would not be so easy for Fu Jian to capture Puban.

The seventh day of the second lunar month in the tenth year of Yonghe (AD 354).

Fennan Gaoyuan, under the city of King Gao.

The siege troops retreated hastily, leaving behind hundreds of corpses.

The Yu army had launched a tidal wave of offensives against Gaowang City for three consecutive days. Fu Jian even personally supervised the battle, but the results were minimal and thousands of soldiers were injured or killed.

Fu Jian knew very well that he could not go on any further, otherwise, he might still be wasted in the gates of King Gao's city after Huan Xi had already returned to Chang'an.

Just when everyone was at a loss what to do, Fu Jian's adviser Xue Zan spoke up:

"The soil near Gaowang City is soft. I wonder if we can use the method of hole attack."

The so-called cave attack, that is, digging tunnels, has two purposes. One is to enter the city through the tunnel, and the other is to destroy the wall.

Yuan Shao, who came from a noble family, was obviously an expert at digging tunnels.

During the Battle of Guandu, he tried to dig a tunnel deep into Cao's camp. This was the first type of hole attack.

But it is obviously unrealistic to enter the city through the tunnel when the city is well-defended.

After all, the tunnel was dug too small. As long as the defenders guarded the entrance, the soldiers in the tunnel could only be sent away one by one.

If the tunnel was to be dug wider, the amount of work would be huge, and how could it be possible without alarming the defenders in the city.

Therefore, during the Battle of Guandu, Yuan Shao's acupoint attack failed as expected.

During the battle with Gongsun Zan in Yijing, Yuan Shao adopted the second method, digging a tunnel under the Yijing city wall, burning the wooden pillars supporting the wall, causing the wall to collapse, and captured Gongsun Zan's Yijing city in one fell swoop.

Today, Xue Zan proposed to use hole attack, and naturally he suggested Fu Jian to destroy the wall of Yubi City.

Fu Jian had no other choice but to try to dig a tunnel.

However, when the Yu army's offensive slowed down but did not retreat, Shen Jin was keenly aware of something fishy.

After all, Huan Xi has already taken charge, and time is on his side. The longer it is delayed, the better.

Why did Fu Jian dare to waste time with him outside the city without doing any work during the siege?

Shen Jin sent his soldiers to rope out from the cliff and sneaked around to the Yu military camp. Sure enough, he saw an endless stream of civilians dumping loess behind the camp.

After learning about this, Shen Jin immediately understood that Fu Jian wanted to use acupoint attack.

Fortunately, when he, Huan Xi and Wang Meng were deducing Gao Wang's offensive and defensive battle, Huan Xi had specifically mentioned the defensive methods to deal with acupoint attacks.

Shen Jin was calm and composed, ordered trenches to be dug along the city, and sent soldiers to guard the trenches.

When Yu Jun tried his best and finally dug a tunnel under King Gao's city, what he saw was the well-equipped Jin army soldiers. The Jin army soldiers had already heard the news and gathered at the entrance of the five tunnels. Whenever Yu Jun showed up, they would be there. He will be besieged by everyone and hacked by random blades.

The soldiers of the Yu army were frightened and hid in the tunnel and did not dare to come out.

But the Jin army still had a way. They had prepared firewood and piled it at the entrance of the tunnel. After lighting it, they blew up the smoke and heard coughs one after another throughout the tunnel.

Yu Jun turned back in panic and fled, but hundreds of people died from inhaling a large amount of smoke.

Seeing that the acupoint attack was ineffective, Fu Jian's face turned livid, and Xue Zan, who had given him the idea, quickly apologized.

Fu Jian didn't blame him, but looking at the city standing in front of him, Fu Jian's heart gradually sank.

At this time, Fu Jian had already heard the news of Huan Xi's victory in the Western Expedition.

He did not doubt whether the news was true or false. After all, after Zhang Zuo forced Xie Ai to rebel, there was no longer any suspense about Liangzhou's ownership.

Now that Huan Xi is already on his way to class, he won't have much time left for him.

Fu Jian already had thoughts of retreating.

Although there were not many casualties, only a few thousand soldiers, for Yu State's 50,000 siege army, it was not to the point of breaking their muscles and bones.

But Fu Jian was at a loss when facing Gaowang City. For a moment, he couldn't think of a way to capture the city.

On February 18th, Fu Jian had no choice but to send his soldiers to shout to the city tower. As long as Shen Jin was willing to dedicate the city and make him king, even the post of governor of Hedong could be hereditary and replaced by Shen Jin's descendants. .

The rest, such as fertile land, slaves, and gold, doubled in quantity compared to the previous promises.

But Shen Jin was still unmoved. On top of Gaowang City, the Jin flag still fluttered in the wind.

Fu Jian had no choice but to order his troops. He did not continue to fight against the city for the sake of face.

After all, Fu's strategic focus is not in Guanzhong, but in Dai.

　Two chapters left, next one at 9pm.

　　

　

(End of this chapter)