A thousand-year-old family that began with the Battle of Makino

Chapter 967: The Lu-Ming War Era Ends, Cui Zijun Sets Scheme on Chen and Cai

Tianyou Four Years
In order to rescue the attacking Yan army trapped in Zhenzhou, Zhu Wen sent General Pang Shigu to lead an army of 100,000 to attack Luzhou and Mingzhou.

September

The Liang army, led by Li Sian, built a double city with 50,000 men to surround Luzhou. There were only 7,000 men led by Li Sizhao in Luzhou city.

Li Keyong urgently sent Zhou Dewei to rescue Luzhou.

The sixth day of the first month of the fifth year of Tianyou
After Li Keyong, Prince of Jin, died of illness, his eldest son Li Cunxu succeeded him as the governor of Hedong and inherited the title of Prince of Jin at the age of 24.

Bianzhou
Bai Jian received a secret report from the State of Jin and immediately summoned his men to the palace to discuss military affairs.

"The King of Jin died of illness, and his son Li Cunxu succeeded him as the governor of Hedong and inherited the title of King of Jin. Zhou Dewei's troops camped in Luzhou and confronted the Liang army for more than a year but were unable to attack the city. Luzhou was in danger."

"Mingzhou was attacked by 50,000 Liang troops and 40,000 Zhao troops. Kang Huaiying trapped more than 30,000 people in the city for half a year without any news. Weizhou Bai Ming sent people to rescue them many times but all failed."

"Where do you think the breakthrough is?"

As soon as the words fell, Luo Hongxin, a general under Bai Jian, said, "Mingsir, I am willing to lead the troops to rescue Mingzhou."

General Bai Xingjian also stepped out and said, "I will go too."

Seeing the two men confronting each other and neither willing to give in, Bai Jian looked at the military commander Zhang Nai.

Zhang Nai understood and stepped out, saying, "Mingsir, Mingzhou is in Hebei and is surrounded by enemy forces. There are many land routes. If we send a large army to attack, not to mention whether we can rescue them, the logistical pressure should not be underestimated."

"Therefore, I think we can once again adopt the strategy of besieging Wei to save Zhao."

"But how about contacting Wang Jian of Western Shu and asking him to attack Chang'an while I attack Luoyang?" Bai Jian asked.

Zhang Nai shook his head: "We can attack Luoyang, but we can't meet Wang Jian."

Seeing Bai Jian's doubts, Zhang said, "There are countless people who claim to be kings now, but only the two Zhu Wang claim to be emperors. Although there are few people who rise up against the king, it is because it is located in the southwest and no prince can attack it."

"If you contact Wang Jian, you will be cut off from the other princes, and even the State of Jin will be at odds with you. The disadvantages will outweigh the advantages."

Bai Jian nodded, and then asked: "In this case, let's attack Luoyang. Do you have any military strategies to teach me?"

Cui Shaojie, a military officer from the government office, stepped forward immediately and said that he had some strategies. Bai Jian asked him to explain them in front of the map.

Cui Shaojie looked at Zhu Wenwu, pointed at Luoyang on the map, drew two lines with his finger, and pointed at Xuzhou.

"Mingsong, gentlemen, there are two routes from Bianzhou to Luoyang. One is to go out from Zhengzhou, attack Sishui Pass, enter the pass from the west of Luoyang, cross Sishui, and you will reach Luoyang City. This route is the shortest."

"However, Sishui Pass is a strong pass, and is not inferior to Tongguan Pass. It is easy to defend but difficult to attack. The main army cannot be deployed there, and it may not be able to do anything in a short period of time. Therefore, it can be used as a detachment."

"The second option is to attack Yangdi from Xuzhou and enter the pass from the southeast of Luoyang. This route is long and Xuzhou is not ours, so it is the most difficult."

"However, most of the Liang army is now in Hebei, and the rest is in Chang'an. The area is vast and the soldiers are few, so it is impossible to fully defend."

"Besides, Xuzhou is located in the south of Bianzhou. It is our hinterland. We will take it back sooner or later."

"With Xuzhou, we can cut off the Liang army's support for Chen and Cai, and it will be ours sooner or later."

"So if things go well, we will enter Luoyang from Yangdi and Dengfeng. If things don't go well, we will take Chen and Cai instead, so as to improve our army's defense against the Liang army."

After listening to Cui Shaojie's military strategy, Bai Jian clasped his hands in great joy and said happily: "Mr. Cui's words are exactly what I want to say. You are worthy of being a great talent of the Cui family."

Cui Shaojie was born into the Cui family of Boling, but he was not a direct descendant of the eldest branch. Instead, he was an ordinary member of the clan for who knows how many generations.

Since Baijian entered Weizhou, most of the Cui family have moved to Chang'an, but they still have some ancestral property in Bozhou.

All the members of the Cui family in Chang'an were killed by Huang Chao, and the Cui family's strength was greatly reduced. In order to preserve the family property, the Cui family let Cui Shaojie serve in Wei Bo.

Bai Jian assessed his talent and appointed him as a military officer in Weizhou. Later, whenever Cui Shaojie met an official, he would always have something to say, and his words were meaningful. Soon, Bai Jian promoted him to be the chief officer of Weizhou and gave him an important position.

When Bai Jian entered Bianzhou, many civil and military officials of Weizhou were taken away, and Cui Shaojie was among them. After arriving in Bianzhou, he was granted the title of military officer of Songgongfu, and concurrently a scholar of Bianliang Academy, and a military advisor.

February 6, the fifth year of Tianyou
Duke Bai Jian of Song thought that Zhu Wen had usurped the throne and was unjust to the world, so he sent troops to fight against the rebels and ordered Bai Xingjian to lead an army of 30,000 to attack Sishui from Zhengzhou.

When the Song army attacked, Luoyang was shaken, and all the ministers advised Zhu Wen to recall Pang Shigu (who was besieging Mingzhou) and Li Si'an (who was besieging Luzhou) from the front line.

But Zhu Wen thought about it again and again and believed that this was just a strategy of the Song army to attack Wei and save Zhao, otherwise why didn't Bai Jian lead the army in person.

Therefore, he only sent General Ge Congzhou to lead 8,000 imperial guards to guard Sishui Pass.

April
The battle at Sishui Pass remained in a stalemate. The Song army did not attack the pass, and the Liang army did not dare to retreat easily.

However, Zhu Wen was dissatisfied with Li Si'an's long attack on Luzhou, which not only resulted in no achievements, but also resulted in the loss of more than 40 officers and tens of thousands of soldiers.

So Li Sian was summoned to Zezhou, all his official titles were removed, and Liu Zhijun was appointed as the recruiting envoy of Luzhou camp.

April 16

Liu Zhijun led more than 10,000 elite troops to attack, but became arrogant after a small victory. As a result, he was ambushed and defeated by the newly succeeded Li Cunxu, and the Liang soldiers suffered tens of thousands of casualties.

Originally in the first month of the year, Li Cunxu wanted to lead his troops to rescue Luzhou himself.

However, he had just ascended the throne and the country was unstable. He had to spend three months consolidating his throne before he could send troops with confidence.

The Liang army was defeated, and Li Cunxu lifted the siege of Luzhou that had lasted for more than a year.

Upon hearing the news, Zhu Wen sighed, "If I had a son, I would want him to be like Li Yazi (Li Cunxu's nickname). Li Keyong is still alive even though he is dead! Compared to him, my son is like a pig or a dog!"

Some people suggested that since the expedition to Luzhou was unsuccessful, it would be better to withdraw to Mingzhou as well.

Zhu Wen refused, saying, "Attacking Luzhou is only revenge for Jin's seizure of our city, but attacking Mingzhou is not like that. It will cut off the way for our army to return south after attacking Yan."

"If we don't get through, tens of thousands of troops will no longer be ours. How can we take it lightly?"

Not only did he not withdraw the troops from Mingzhou, but he selected 30,000 soldiers who had retreated from Luzhou and sent them to the front line of Mingzhou, under the leadership of Pang Shigu.

As a result, the siege of Mingzhou became more intense.

After Li Cunxu lifted the siege of Luzhou, he kept his troops in place and watched the Liang army continue to attack Mingzhou.

April 25
Bai Jian personally led an army of 100,000 to attack Xuzhou.

When the news reached Luoyang, Zhu Wen was very hesitant. His subordinates all advised him to withdraw the army to Mingzhou as soon as possible, otherwise Luoyang would be in danger.

There are only more than 10,000 troops left in Luoyang, and the garrison troops in Chang'an cannot be mobilized, otherwise Li Maozhen and Wang Jian will take advantage of the situation.

You lost the eastern part of Guanzhong, which you had conquered with great difficulty.

After a night of struggle, Zhu Wen, with red eyes, ordered like a gambler the next day: "Order Pang Shigu, no matter what happens in Luoyang, do not withdraw the troops easily."

"Order Prince Jun Zhu Youzhen to lead 5,000 imperial soldiers to garrison in Yangdi immediately, and allow him to act at his discretion and recruit soldiers from surrounding prefectures and counties for defense."

"He also ordered Ying Wang Zhu Yougui to lead his troops from Xiangyang to Yuzhou immediately to prevent the Song army from marching south to Chen and Cai."

May 6
Luo Hongxin, the vanguard general of the Song army, broke through the Changshe City of Xuzhou, and most of the county towns of Xuzhou were captured.

May 8
Li Cunqian, a general of the Song army, led 5,000 cavalrymen to attack Yancheng and Wuyang, and captured two cities in one day, completely cutting off the connection between the Liang army's Luoyang and Chen and Cai.

Fortunately, Zhu Yougui arrived in Ruyang in time to stabilize the situation and prevented the three states of Chen, Cai and Yu from surrendering easily.

June 5th
After resting in Xuzhou for more than a month, the Song army took action again. Bai Jian personally led 70,000 troops north to attack Yangdi.

He ordered Luo Hongxin to lead 30,000 troops south to attack Zhu Yougui in Ruyang.

(End of this chapter)