Eastern Jin Dynasty: My powerful father

Chapter 414: Battle in Hedong (Part )

Jingzhou, Xiangyang.

Although Huan Wen never went north, he always paid attention to the situation in Hedong.

At this moment, he was happily in a nunnery in Xiangyang, holding in his arms a charming nun who was much younger than his five sons. He smiled at Xi Chao with a cheerful face:
"A letter came from the north, Xi'er has crossed the river, and Fu Jian and Murong Jun have also arrived in Hedong. Jingxing, the drama is about to begin."

Huan Wen viewed the war that was about to break out in Hedong from the perspective of an observer.

For Huan Wen, Huan Xi's victory was certainly gratifying, but his failure would not be a big deal.

After all, the Huan family's strength was there and they could withstand failure, and the terrain of Guanxi, which was easy to defend but difficult to attack, also meant that Fu Jian and Murong Jun were doomed to be unable to advance straight ahead.

Especially Murong Jun. If he entered the pass, his food supply would be under Fu Jian's nose. Once Fu Jian cut off his food supply, all the Yan troops would be destroyed in Guanxi.

Xi Chao also seemed to be watching the fun:

"I only regret that I am in Xiangyang and cannot be the first to know what is happening on the battlefield."

Huan Wen took away the hand that was hugging the charming nun and waved his hand:

"I have already told Langzi (Huan Huo) that no matter how the war situation changes, he must report it to me as soon as possible within 600 miles."

Huan Wen said this and sighed:
"Xi'er is fighting on the front line, but I am content to enjoy myself in the rear. Alas! I am old! I no longer have the ambition I had in the past!"

In fact, Huan Wen and Huan Xi had different ambitions. Huan Xi wanted to unify the world, but he didn't care much about when he would become emperor. Huan Xi was still young and could wait.

Huan Wen certainly had such ambition, but his enthusiasm for the Northern Expedition was far less than that for the throne.

After all, Huan Wen was no longer young, and he didn't know how many days he had left, so he was naturally keen to experience the life of an emperor.

Therefore, Huan Wen was extremely cautious about the Northern Expedition. His purpose in the Northern Expedition was not to defeat Yu and destroy Yan, but to use the victory as a stepping stone to the throne.

But now the power of Yan State is at its peak. Without the protection of ships, the Chu army is no match for them.

Northerners are good at land battles, while Southerners are good at water battles; they just have their own emphasis.

Just as Huan Xi always looked down on Huan Wen's cavalry, he instead believed that the infantry of Chu could be regarded as elite.

Of course, Huan Wen was not in a hurry to send troops to continue the Northern Expedition, mainly because of financial problems.

The expenditure on the Northern Expedition was not a small amount. The battle for Luoyang had already consumed the accumulation of the Chu State over the past seven years. Huan Wen had to make sufficient preparations before sending troops.

Otherwise, if he was defeated due to lack of food and supplies, it would damage his prestige.

Huan Xi also advised him in this way.

In the original time and space, Huan Wen launched three northern expeditions. Whether it was against Qin or Yan, he had to retreat because of running out of food, and was pursued by the enemy and suffered a disastrous defeat.

Especially the third time, Huan Wen led an army of 50,000 to attack Former Yan. After a stalemate with Murong Chui until the army's food was exhausted, Huan Wen burned his ships and retreated. Murong Chui personally led 8,000 cavalry to pursue him and fought with Huan Wen in Xiangyi. The Jin army suffered 30,000 casualties.

Huan Xi would rather Huan Wen quietly accumulate strength in Jingzhou than have him send out troops hastily and sacrifice the elite troops of Chu due to insufficient preparation.

You know, the north has more cavalry and is best at this kind of pursuit battle, but Huan Wen does not have a strong cavalry to protect the retreat of the infantry.

The enemy's cavalry could then harass them without worry, slowing down Huan Wen's pace until the Chu army's food supply was completely exhausted and chaos broke out in the army, and then they could rush forward and strangle the Chu army.

Now Huan Wen lamented that he was getting old and no longer as young as he used to be. Xi Chao consoled him by saying:
“If you don’t fly, you’ll soar into the sky; if you don’t sing, you’ll be amazing when you do.

"The Duke of Chu is dormant today. He seems to be enjoying himself, but he is actually accumulating strength. When he has enough soldiers and food, he will march north to attack. The heroes will be terrified and the whole world will look at him with awe!"

Huan Wen was delighted when he heard this:

"Good! Jingxing said it well! It will become clear!" After saying that, he raised his glass to drink with Xi Chao.

On that day, Huan Wen did not stay overnight in the nunnery. Yuan Zhen presented him with three beautiful women, but Huan Wen was still not excited about the new things. Instead, he went to Le's house less often.

He is so fickle-minded and it is really unfair to him to have to stay with Sima Xingnan for so many years.

Even though Sima Xingnan was not in Xiangyang, Huan Wen was still secretive when he came to the villa where the three women were housed. He knew very well that Sima Xingnan had spies in Xiangyang, but Huan Wen did not dare to investigate further.

Regardless of whether he could find her out or not, Huan Wen would not be in any good situation if Sima Xingnan knew that he was tracking her down.

Although Huan Wen was cautious, he didn't know that Huan Xi had already known about this through Xi Chao and revealed it to Sima Xingnan.

Yongzhou, Chang'an, Weiyang Palace.

Sima Xingnan was talking with Ruan Rong in Qingliang Palace. Now Ruan Rong would go to the palace to visit Xie Daoyuan every few days.

The topic suddenly turned to Huan Wen, and Ruan Rong said enviously:
"When Xi'er married Ling Jiang, she once said that she didn't know where her love started, but it was deep and lasting.

"In my opinion, Lord Chu is truly devoted to the princess."

There is no woman in the world who does not envy Sima Xingnan.

The husband was faithful to his wife, at least on the surface, and did not take a concubine.

Her son continued to bring honor to her. In Jiangnan and Guanxi, anyone who met Sima Xingnan had to serve him carefully.

Of course, Sima Xingnan herself was not a person with a good temper. When He Chong ridiculed Huan Xi for being dull, he was blocked by her in the Secretariat and cursed at him.

When Sima Xingnan heard Ruan Rong praising Huan Wen, he could not help but sneer:
"There is no raccoon slave in this world who doesn't steal fish."

She didn't care about the family's dirty laundry:
"Lujiang Governor Yuan Zhen presented three women to me, and I hid them outside the palace, thinking I didn't know about it.

"Hmph! Do you really think that I dare not kill anyone? Once Ling Jiang has given birth successfully, I will return to Xiangyang and kill those three women with my own hands. Give this old slave a warning."

Ruan Rong's face turned pale, obviously shocked by the murderous intent in Sima Xingnan's words.

Xie Daoyun frowned, but soon relaxed her brows. She advised:

"Yuan Zhen is despicable, and the three women should not be forgiven easily either, but God is merciful, so A Gu still spared their lives."

As she spoke, Xie Daoyun lowered her head and stroked her round belly, and continued:

"Dao Yun is pleading for them today, and is also accumulating blessings for the baby in your belly."

Upon hearing this, Ruan Rong quickly agreed.

Xie Daoyuan said that she wanted to accumulate good karma for the baby in her belly, so how could Sima Xingnan insist?

Sima Xingnan looked at Xie Daoyun's belly with interest and said with a smile:
"Good! Good! Good! They are only women of no importance. I cannot allow them to harm the welfare of my grandson."

Xie Daoyun was startled, and after hesitating for a moment, he said:

"I dare not hide it from Auntie. Huan Lang has told me many times that he hopes this baby will be a girl."

Sima Xingnan sneered:

"How can God decide what is destined? Based on my experience of giving birth, this baby must be a boy."

(End of this chapter)