Chapter 481 Stalling to Advance
The three cities of Heyang were not only an important military base for the Eastern Wei Dynasty to control the Heluo area, but also one of the most important links in the overall border defense of the Eastern Wei Dynasty.
Therefore, during the period after Gao Huan's death, when Gao Cheng initially reached effective communication with the nobles of Jinyang, Dangjie dispatched Jinyang Bafu veteran Hu Lujin to lead Pan Le, Xue Guyan and other generals out of the town. Heyang, to prevent the chaos in Henan from spreading to the north, and especially to beware of the Western Wei people taking advantage of the chaos to invade.
Heyang is an important town across the Yellow River. Tens of thousands of troops are stationed here all year round. They will not be used unless it is urgent or special. And only Jinyang Bafu can dispatch and command the troops stationed here.
Even though Hou Jing was stationed in Heyang for a short period of time last year, he, the Daxingtai of Henan Province, also had no control over the troops stationed in Heyang and could only lead his troops back to the Henan area.
Hu Lujin and others each led their own troops, plus the elite Jinyang soldiers sent by the Bafu envoys, arrived in the North Central City of Heyang in mid-May, took over and made a series of adjustments to the defense of Heyang, and dispersed the troops in Heluo In the meantime, people from all over the country who had not been affected by Hou Jing's rebellion gradually gathered in the three cities of Heyang, bringing the number of defenders in the three cities to nearly 50,000.
Among the nearly 50,000 troops, a considerable part of them were the private armed forces of Heluo powerful forces recruited in recent years and the soldiers recruited from various states in Hebei. Their loyalty and combat effectiveness were not guaranteed enough, so Hulujin sent another general. Stationed in Zhucheng.
Among them, the person responsible for guarding Heyang Nancheng was General Xue Guyan, who was famous for his bravery.
After the Hanguan City in Xin'an was defeated, the soldiers and civilians in the city fled to the vast Heluo Plain to the east in order to avoid pursuit. Some of them also went north along the valley water and passed through the old city of Luoyang via Qianjinyan. However, there were no defenses along the way. The garrison accepted them, and they could only continue to flee north until they reached Heyang Nancheng.
The two Wei Dynasties fought several times in the Heluo area. Luoyang City and its affiliated Jinyong City were severely damaged, with almost only a ruin left. Although it has been repaired to a certain extent in recent years, it is still difficult to accommodate large-scale people to live and manage.
Therefore, today's Luozhou Prefecture and Henan County have also moved to Heyang Nancheng, making this military city with a relatively pure purpose now the military and political center of the Heluo region.
Many fleeing people appeared around the city. The first thing they discovered was naturally the mounted scouts stationed around the city. They intercepted these fleeing people and asked about their origins. When they learned that Hanguan City in Luoxi had been lost, this shocking news After hearing the news, he immediately reported it to all levels in the city, and then nothing happened.
Today, there are more than 20,000 soldiers and civilians gathered inside and outside Heyang Nancheng, including the elite Jinyang soldiers led by Xue Guyan from Hebei to the south, and the Heluo troops who were urgently recalled from various places in order to avoid chaos in Hou Jing. There are also military and political offices at all levels, making city management quite chaotic.
Guard general Xue Guyan is a typical Xianbei warrior. He is brave enough but not talented enough. Faced with such a complicated and chaotic city situation, Xue Guyan completely ignored it and spent the whole day in the town besides handling some basic military affairs and drinking. Drama.
Therefore, even though the scouts detected relatively important military information, after being conveyed through layers of information, the news had no idea where it had spread. As for whether it had entered the desk of the final decision-maker, the lower-level soldiers had no way of knowing.
Although Xue Guyan was a bit derelict in his duties, fortunately not everyone in the city was so irresponsible.
At this time, in addition to Xue Guyan, there was also the Prince of Linhuai, Yuan Xiaoyou, who was the Yin of Henan Province. When he saw this information at his desk, Yuan Xiaoyou felt something bad in his heart and hurriedly went to the town with this letter. The military government asked to see Xue Guyan.
In the main hall of the military mansion, the smell of wine was overwhelming. Xue Guyan and his brave soldiers were playing a wrestling game. The winner could drink clear wine on the spot, while the loser had to go down to the hall and drink turbid and bad wine as punishment.
At this time, Xue Guyan's chest and abdomen were exposed, and his abdomen was bulging due to drinking. Coupled with the thick body hair between his chest and abdomen, at first glance, he looked like he was holding a fat black-haired wild boar.
He was already drunk and confused. When he heard that Linhuai King Yuan Xiaoyou asked for an audience, the officials led him into the hall, pointed at Yuan Xiaoyou and said with a smile: "Your Majesty, you are also interested in participating in a certain military drama? Come into this hall and obey. I give the order, even though the king is a respected relative, he cannot avoid it. There are many sages here, everyone is drinking. Who among my disciples does the king want to choose to compete with? "
When King Gao was there, he treated the emperor of Yedu and the clan members of the Yuan and Wei Dynasties quite favorably and respectfully. However, Xue Guyan and other Jinyang generals had not been in the court for a long time, and each had gained a prominent position by virtue of their bravery and merit. It was difficult for these clan members. He looked down upon him more and more.
Yuan Xiaoyou naturally didn't have a good impression of a vulgar warrior like Xue Guyan, but he was in charge of the city's soldiers and horses. Even if he was unhappy, he didn't dare to show it. He stood on tiptoe to avoid the wine stains and vomit spilled in the hall. , walked to Xue Guyan and cupped his hands and said: "I want to disturb Qin Gong's opera, but the military situation is urgent and I dare not neglect it. The Western troops are dispatched to the east and have already defeated Yanhan, Hanguan, Jingu and other cities. If If you don’t take precautions, I’m afraid Heluo will be uneasy!”
Xue Guyan was not drunk at this time and did not know the seriousness of the matter. After hearing this, he was also shocked. He hurriedly raised his hand and screen to withdraw from the opera soldiers in the hall, and asked Yuan Xiaoyou sharply: "Is this happening? When did it happen? ?”
Yuan Xiaoyou briefly described the intelligence he received. There were originally more than 6,000 soldiers and civilians defending the city in Hanguan City, including more than 2,000 elite Jinyang soldiers alone, plus the troops deployed in nearby defense posts. , with nearly 10,000 troops, responsible for various tasks such as blocking Beikiao Road and supporting the important town of Yiyang nearby, the power is not small.
According to the accounts of the soldiers and civilians of Guancheng who fled here, a group of Western Wei troops first bypassed Guanshan and arrived near Luoyang. They attacked the Jinganggang City located downstream of Gushui and blocked the retreat of the Guancheng defenders.
Later, the army of the Western Dynasty marched eastward from the direction of Yanhan City and completely occupied the entire Gushui River Valley. There were endless debates in the city over how to respond to the enemy. The town generals wanted to arrange for troops to take the initiative to attack, but the other generals because the town was formerly under the command of Hou Jing. Suspecting that he was taking the opportunity to eradicate dissidents and seize the city to surrender to the enemy, a group of people fled at night, triggering a mass exodus throughout the city.
"This thief dares to surrender to the enemy. He really deserves to be killed!"
Although Xue Guyan was not drunk at the moment, his mind was no longer very clear. After listening to Yuan Xiaoyou's story, he did not extract much useful information. He only heard that Zhencheng wanted to surrender to the enemy, and did not carefully distinguish whether it was true or not. If it was false, he would first slap the case and scold him angrily.
But in fact, Yuan Xiaoyou still has some doubts. The town general mentioned in this intelligence just wants to arrange troops to take the initiative. How can it be related to eradicating dissidents and occupying the city and surrendering to the enemy? Is it true that the enemy is innocent only when he attacks and closes the city?
After all, Yuan Xiaoyou was not a military commander. The information he received was copied from elsewhere, which may not be the whole story. He wanted to raise his doubts to Xue Guyan, but after learning about the incident, Xue Guyan began to shout loudly to summon the staff. The general looked like he was about to fight, and he had no time to pay attention to him.
He didn't want to interfere too much in military affairs. Besides, the smell in this hall was really not very good, so he reminded him: "It is indeed of great importance for the Westerners to enter Heluo. Besides, Han Situ and other troops are rushing to Yingchuan to quell the chaos. , the dynamics of the enemy country need to be paid more attention to, the Grand Sima is now in charge of the military forces in Heyang, no matter how Duke Ping Qin responds, he should..."
"Your Majesty, please go away and don't leave me chattering in the hall!"
Xue Guyan waved his hands impatiently. His interest in the drama was interrupted and he learned of such changes. In his irritability, his contempt for Yuan Xiaoyou was revealed unabashedly.
While Xue Guyan was anxious to make up for the military emergency he had missed due to his neglect of military affairs, the news that Li Tai and his men had conquered several cities was quickly passed back to the rear.
At this time, the army led by Li Bi and Zhao Gui had also arrived in Hengnong. When they learned that the Beikiao Road had been opened in full and the forward team had re-entered the Heluo area, Li Bi and others were quite happy and praised Li Tai is indeed young and brave.
But Zhao Gui's expression was somewhat unnatural, and he frowned and said in deep thought: "Although Li Boshan's achievements are gratifying, they are somewhat inappropriate. At present, Hou Jing is guarding Yingchuan, and the east bandit Han Gui and others are also rushing towards it. Wang Sizheng is in danger alone. Li Boshan attacks Luo without permission. In various places in the west, we will definitely provoke the Heyang rebels to alert themselves. If the rebels cross to the south of the Henan, our army may be unable to advance or retreat. If we stay in Heluo and compete with the enemy forces here, we will inevitably miss the military period..."
When the generals heard what Zhao Gui said, they all fell silent. The main task of their trip was naturally to cooperate with Wang Sizheng's army in Henan and to absorb as much of Hou Jing's sphere of influence in Henan as possible. Li Tai fought so fiercely in the Heluo area, which was indeed a little extraneous.
But some people couldn't help but say: "The current situation in Henan is delicate, and personnel matters have not yet been decided. However, the cities of Luoxi are gaining. I'm afraid it would be inappropriate to deny the merits of the first move due to the undecided personnel matters..."
Zhao Gui naturally knew that denying Li Tai's meritorious service was a bit far-fetched. After hearing this, he smiled and said: "Of course, Li Boshan has conquered several cities and has proven his achievements, but the situation requires that the Heyang army should not be attacked lightly. So now It is necessary to be cautious and self-defeating and avoid being greedy for merit. Li Boshan's troops only need to hold on to Luoxi Pass to prevent thieves from leaving Heyang. Then our army can enter and leave Luonan without any worries. What does Lieutenant Li think?"
While talking, Zhao Gui looked at Li Bi again and asked him this question. Of course, he could not deny Li Tai's previous achievements, but he could confine Li Tai to Luoxi Pass and let him guard the flanks of the army and no longer participate in military operations in the Henan direction.
Li Bi thought for a while and then nodded and said: "What Nanyang Gong said is indeed a prudent plan. He ordered Li Boshan to stick to Luoxi Pass in case the thieves from Heyang came from the south to block the retreat of the army."
Although there was no conflict between him and Li Tai, Zhao Gui's proposal was indeed beneficial to the army's subsequent actions. Moreover, Li Bi himself had a vague feeling that Li Boshan had been too aggressive in recent years. If there were no restrictions, he might cause quite a stir in the Heluo area, thus causing overall strategic chaos.
This plot involves a lot of personnel. In order to be reasonable and enjoyable, the ideas have been changed several times, and the next direction of the plot has been determined today. I will leave it like this for today, and write more tomorrow. I will try to update three times, and if I can't catch it, I will update two. . .