Eastern Jin Dynasty: My powerful father

Chapter 52 Close the door (3000)

To the north of the Wei River, there is a large sandy grassland, eighty miles from east to west and thirty miles from north to south, called Shayuan.

There are dense reeds growing in the sand garden. When Huan Xi passed by this place, he couldn't help but feel a little trance, and the memories of later generations came to him.

He couldn't help but remember that in the late Northern and Southern Dynasties, there was an environmental protection pacesetter who entered the pass from Puban. He passed by here and knew that there was an ambush hidden in the reeds, but he was unwilling to use fire attack strategy.

In the end, the vegetation in the sand garden was effectively protected and the air was not polluted.

The only regret was that he himself was ambushed and 70,000 of his 200,000-strong army were captured.

For a moment, Huan Xi was filled with emotions.

He said to his close relatives:
  "If I can capture Guanzhong, I will plant a tree here to record my merits."

Yu Wentai took the lead in planting trees after the war and contributed to the greening of the sand garden. How could Huan Xi lag behind others.

Thinking back to Zhuge Wuhou and Gao Wang, they tried their best to enter the pass, but they could not get a glimpse of Chang'an City until their death.

Compared with them, Huan Xi felt that he was favored by God.

A person's success depends not only on his own efforts, but also on the cooperation of his opponents.

If Sima Yi and Yuwentai were given to Hou Zhao to take charge of Guanzhong, how could he take control of Chang'an so easily.

Putting all the distracting thoughts behind, Governor Huan Xi led the troops out of the sand garden. In front of them, they were not far from Dali County, which is governed by Feng Yi County.

Fengyi County is affiliated to Yongzhou, and its administrative seat is Dali County, which is located at the intersection of the Weishui River, Beiluoshui River and the Yellow River. It borders the Yellow River to the east and faces Puban.

Now there is no owner in the county, and only local scholars come forward to maintain law and order.

It turned out that Ma Qiu kidnapped Shi Bao and passed by here. He heard that the Jin army was in the Northern Expedition and the Zhao army was defeated. Chang'an had been lost, and the three auxiliary heroes killed officials one after another in response.

How could the Jie clan officials dare to stay in the city? They followed Ma Qiu one after another to Hedong to avoid trouble.

Huan Xi entered the city to appease the soldiers and civilians, leaving Huan Yi to lead a thousand soldiers to guard Feng Yi and preside over the distribution of fields, and then continued to march towards the Yellow River without stopping.

When they arrived at the west bank of the Yellow River, the pontoon bridge had already been burned down by the Zhao army, but Huan Xi was not troubled because he had many southern soldiers under his command. Unlike the north, the water network in the south was dense, so it was difficult for them to build a pontoon bridge. It has become a common thing.

In just one day, three floating bridges reappeared on the Yellow River.

Huan Xi looked at Shen Jin and asked loudly:
  "General Shen, do you dare to cross the river as a frontline soldier?"

Shen Jin obeyed:

"Why don't you dare? Lord, please wait for the good news!"

During the attack on the Ziwu Pass, more than half of Shen Jin's troops were killed. Huan Xi captured Chang'an, with Shen Jin as the chief contributor, and rewarded him with a lot of money and cloth. Shen Jin did not take any of the money, but kept his promise and divided the reward into two, one for each. One share will be used as a reward for the remaining five hundred soldiers, and the other share will be reserved for the families of the fallen soldiers.

Subsequently, Shen Jin recruited 500 Buqu in Chang'an to make up for 1,000 people.

Shen Jin didn't care about rewards, and he didn't care about life or death. He only joined the army to wash away the shame of his family.

Previously, when Huan Xi reported his victory to Jiankang, he also submitted a request to the Wuxing Shen family to be released from imprisonment and no longer be included in the Xing family.

Shen Jin felt Huan Xi's kindness and had long made up his mind to follow him to the death.

The five hundred people he recruited were not just a mob. Shen Jin's righteous deed of distributing all the rewards to the soldiers spread widely. When he recruited his troops, many people came to apply.

If it weren't for Shen Jin's current lack of financial resources and could only afford a thousand private soldiers, Huan Xi would not be surprised if thousands of soldiers suddenly appeared under his command.

Naturally, the newly recruited 500 Buqu are all carefully selected warriors who dare to fight.

Shen Jin was the first to step on the pontoon bridge, and with Qianbubu, under the watchful eyes of Huan Xi and others, he passed through the three pontoon bridges and headed for the other side.

Encouraged by Shen Jin, the soldiers all rushed to the front and quickly defeated the defenders on the bank.

Seeing that Bu Qu was furious, his formation had been scattered, and many people even wanted to continue chasing the defeated troops. Shen Jin, who was covered in blood, shouted:

"Form up behind the river! No pursuit!"

When the troops heard the shouts, they stopped one after another, formed a formation with their backs to the river, guarded the three pontoon bridges, and waited for the main force of the Jin army to cross the river.

Not long after, eight thousand soldiers under Huan Xi arrived in Hedong in an orderly manner.

He originally wanted Shen Jin's men to take a break, but Shen Jin took the initiative to ask for help:

"Our army has a new victory and its morale is strong. However, if the defeated troops fled into Pu Ban, the people in the city must be shaken. I will ask you to capture this city for my lord!"

Huan Xi looked at him covered in blood and couldn't help but sigh:
  "Shi Jian still needs to take care of his body. There will be many wars in the future that require Shi Jian's efforts, so why worry about not having the opportunity to make meritorious deeds.

"Since I have expressed my gratitude to the imperial court, I will be able to clear away the shame of the Wuxing Shen family. You don't need to be so impatient."

Shen Jin was greatly moved, but he insisted:

"The last general has not exhausted his energy and still has some courage. Why don't you use it, my lord! Could it be that he thinks that the last general can't attack the lord's city?"

Huan Xi couldn't defeat him, so he had to tell Shen Jin to be careful. Shen Jin excitedly led the troops to kill Pu Ban.

When the Puban garrison heard that the Jin people had conquered Guanzhong during the Northern Expedition and had now crossed the Yellow River, people were already in a state of chaos. When the Han people in the city heard the news, they rose up to fight for the city. It happened that Shen Jin led his troops to kill him. The Jin army successfully captured Puban.

Huan Xi received good news from the rear, and immediately ordered the march to speed up, and entered the bridgehead entering the Pass from Hedong before dark.

That night, Huan Xi served Shen Jin with wine in Pu Ban to celebrate his victory. Just when the generals thought that Huan Xi would stop at Pu Ban, the next day, Huan Xi continued to lead his troops eastward.

Quan Yi thought he was dazzled by the successive victories, so he hurriedly dismounted, grabbed the reins of Huan Xi's horse, and said bitterly:
  "My lord, in the previous expedition to the Han Dynasty in the west and the expedition to Guanzhong in the north, we were lucky to be able to accomplish the task with 10,000 elite troops.

"Again and again, how can we do it again and again? If the lone army goes deep, it will be surrounded and suppressed by Jie Zhao's heavy troops.

"My lord knows how to persuade General Shen to take good care of his body. How can he stand under a dangerous wall now? Please stop here and return to Puban."

Huan Xi shook his head helplessly. He was not crazy. How could he seek to capture Hedong when Guanzhong was not stable? Huan Xi pointed to the Fennan Gaoyuan in front (to the west of Jishan County in Yuncheng, Shanxi today) and said:

"I crossed the river to the east not to capture Pu Ban, but to manage this place."

The Fennan Gaoyuan is adjacent to the Fen River. Its east, west and north sides are surrounded by deep ravines and huge ravines. The terrain is abrupt and steep.

Seeing that they were surrounded by cliffs on three sides and only one road was accessible on the south side, all the generals lamented the danger of the terrain.

Huan Xi stood on the high wall of Fennan, looked around, and said to his generals:

"If we can build a city here, rely on the terrain and block the road, even if the enemy invades with thousands of troops, we can still protect Pu Ban."

Everyone was deeply convinced. In their minds, they had even imagined a scene of a fortified city located on the high wall of Fennan, which made the Kwantung soldiers and horses sigh with excitement when looking at the city.

Huan Xi looked at Shen Jin and said:
  "I want to leave Shijian to set up camp here and guard the high wall until the civilians arrive to supervise the construction of the city for me.

"Thinking of Shi Jian's small army, I would like to divide it into three thousand more soldiers. Shi Jian can be sure to stop the enemy from the country's gate for me."

Shen Jin saw that the terrain was dangerous. Even if the enemy troops were coming fiercely, only the south side could pass through, and there was no way to set up a battle array. There were three to four thousand soldiers and horses enough to guard the camp. He responded loudly:
  "In the end, the general will build a strong city for our lord to ensure peace in the pass!"

Huan Xi was greatly relieved. Of course, the city's blueprints had to be designed by professionals.

Shen Jin asked for instructions again:

"Since we are going to build a city here, I would also like to ask my lord to give the city a name."

Huan Xi had already made a decision in his mind. In the late Southern and Northern Dynasties, a fortified city was built on Gaoyuan in Fennan, named Yubi. Huanxi naturally planned to use the name of Yubi to get some luck.

But he was not in a hurry to express his thoughts, but wanted to see what good suggestions his generals could come up with.

While everyone was thinking hard, they heard Quan Yi mutter:
  "My lord built this city to have deep walls and high fortresses to protect the king's property. How about naming it Gaowang City."

When all the generals heard this, they all praised him.

Huan Xi nodded slightly, but he was surprised in his heart:

OK! You have thick eyebrows and big eyes, and you are actually a fan of King Gao!
  After a second thought, he realized something was wrong. King Gao hadn't been born yet, so how could Quan Yi know the name of the Jade Wall God of War.

If Quan Yi hadn't said the words "Deep walls and high fortresses to protect Wang Ye" instead of just playing tricks, Huan Xi would really have regarded him as a time traveler.

In fact, these eight characters perfectly fit Huan Xi's vision, and are indeed more suitable than the jade wall.

Huan Xi suppressed the suspicion in his heart and decided:
  "In this case, when the city is completed in the future, it will be named Gaowang City!"

That night, Huan Xi called Quan Yi to the commander's tent and talked with him all night long. While discussing the situation in the world, he took the opportunity to make side remarks, which made Quan Yi confused.

Huan Xi finally determined that all this was just a coincidence, and the so-called Gao Wangcheng was just a sudden flash of inspiration from Quan Yi.

The next day, Huan Xi gave Shen Jin three thousand soldiers and left him to guard the camp. He then led his troops and no longer missed the land east of the river.

On the other hand, Deng Xia, who was ordered to capture Wuguan, lived up to his reputation in later generations. He continued to conquer Lantian, Aoguan, Shangluo and other places one after another, taking all the merchants and seizing Wuguan.

Compared with Huan Xi, who had smooth sailing, Chu Pei, the conquest governor who was based in Huainan, suffered heavy losses.

The imperial court issued an edict that Huan Wen was not allowed to send troops to the Central Plains, but Chu Pe was allowed to lead an army of 30,000 in the Northern Expedition.

When the news reached Hebei, the Han people were all excited. They helped the old and the young and crossed the river south to join the king's army. There were as many as 200,000 people.

However, when these Han people came to Henan, Chu Su's Northern Expedition army had been defeated by Later Zhao Linong and retreated to Guangling (now Yangzhou, Jiangsu) in embarrassment.

Chen Kui, the general of Xizhonglang in the Eastern Jin Dynasty, heard that the front line was defeated. He burned the baggage stored in Shouchun overnight and abandoned the city and fled.

Not knowing the truth, the Han people crossed the river and came to seek refuge, but Wang Shi had already retreated, leaving them isolated and helpless.

Then Zhao also noticed this group of refugees going south and sent troops to intercept and kill them. Two hundred thousand Han people were killed or injured, and they never expected to see Wang Shi until they died.

　The second chapter is here. The two chapters total 6000 words. They are gone today.

　　
  　
  (End of this chapter)