Chapter 605 Xiangyang is in danger
Anlu is located in the north of the Yangtze River. It is an important area for east-west communication in the Yangtze River Basin. It is also the leading majestic city Dayi east of the Han River and the seat of the Nanliang Sizhou Prefecture.
At the beginning of the year, Jiankang Taicheng was captured by Hou Jing's rebels. Liu Zhongli, as the commander of Qinwang's coalition forces, failed to rise up to kill the enemy. After Hou Jing entered Taicheng, he even surrendered, which was a huge disappointment.
Although Liu Zhongli was released by Hou Jing later, most of his elite troops from Yong and Si Prefectures were left in Jiankang City, and only a few confidants followed him back west.
His own power had greatly shrunk. Although Liu Zhongli was reinstated by Hou Jingguan, he knew that this puppet official in the imperial court was probably not enough to deter the powerful people in Suilu and make them bow to him as before.
Therefore, after returning to the west, Liu Zhongli did not go straight back to Anlu Prefecture to govern. Instead, he went upstream to Jiangling to visit Xiao Yi, the king of eastern Hunan.
After the Second Palace was in power, all the towns and cities in the world were in charge of their own affairs. Jingzhou, controlled by the King of Xiangdong, was the strongest party between Jiang and Han, and he himself was also the most prestigious and prestigious among the clans. If he could gain the acceptance and endorsement of the King of Eastern Hunan, it would greatly compensate for Liu Zhongli's loss of popularity in Jiankang.
The fact was exactly as Liu Zhongli expected. Although he served the king in vain and lost his teacher and humiliated the country, the King of Xiangdong did not blame him more in order to expand his strength and influence, but treated him with courtesy.
But what Liu Zhongli didn't expect was that the King of Eastern Hunan turned around and appointed him as the governor of Yongzhou, asking him to deal with Xiao Qi, the Yueyang King of Xiangyang. The prince, who was originally the friendliest to the prince, now blatantly overstepped the authority of the second palace, ignored the clan's moral relations, and unabashedly pointed the finger at his nephew, not caring about Hou Jing, who was stealing the government.
Even though Liu Zhongli himself was an expert at appeasing traitors and doing nothing, he could not help but secretly sigh at the performance of King Xiangdong.
Originally, he did not think this was a problem. King Yueyang was young and could not convince the masses. In addition, the Liu family in Hedong was originally from a wealthy Xiangyang family, and Liu Zhongli was also a Yong Mansion hero who was famous throughout Jianghan. After receiving the support and funding from the King of Xiangdong, it was not difficult to replace the King of Yueyang.
But when he really got to know it, he realized that this matter was still quite tricky. Compared with the King of Eastern Hunan, who was at war with his roommate, King Yueyang, although he was a junior, had gone further. He had already been connected with the Miangbei people of the Western Wei Dynasty. , and now the governor of Jingzhou in the Western Wei Dynasty has directly built the city and garrisoned troops to coordinate the defense of Xiangyang. With such strong foreign aid, King Yueyang dared to become an enemy of King Xiangdong.
Normally, Liu Zhongli would not take this seriously.
When Li Boshan, the governor of Jingzhou in the Western Wei Dynasty, came to the town, he was still sitting in Anlu, Sizhou, and knew a little about him. He was a son of a famous family promoted by He Basheng, Duguxin and other people in the town, but even He Basheng was His own men were defeated, so it was natural that this Li Boshan would not make Liu Zhongli afraid.
But now Liu Zhongli is in a state of decline like a bereaved dog, and is no longer as strong as before. He cannot turn a blind eye to the collusion between Yong Mansion and Jingzhen in the Western Wei Dynasty. He must be cautious in dealing with them and not dare to become an enemy rashly.
So he first asked the King of Eastern Hunan to temporarily lend some of his armored soldiers on the pretext of reorganizing his forces, allowing him to return to Suilu to recruit local troops, reorganize his troops, and then attack Xiangyang.
The King of Xiangdong also had high hopes for Liu Zhongli because of his past glorious achievements, so he temporarily lent him two thousand armored soldiers.
With men and horses in hand, Liu Zhongli became more courageous. After leaving Jiangling, he rushed to Jingling first, where he continued to recruit armor soldiers and collect weapons and staffs. The men and horses under his command soon grew to more than 5,000.
When his troops and horses were strong, Liu Zhongli continued to lead his troops eastward and finally returned to his hometown in Anlu. After hearing the news, his chief Shi Maxiu and others also summoned Lu Haoqiang to welcome Liu Zhongli back to the town.
An encounter in Jiankang City was nothing less than a disaster for Liu Zhongli, which made him no longer as vigorous as before, and he always had to be careful in everything. After initially settling down in his old home in Anlu, he was not in a hurry to make troubles, but patiently handled state affairs and rectified personnel matters, turning a deaf ear to the King of Eastern Hunan's several envoys and urgings.
But this does not mean that Liu Zhongli will stick to his duties and be willing to stay in Anlu. He is still concerned about changes in the external situation, especially various personnel changes in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River.
After Hou Jing entered Taicheng and King Qin's troops retreated, Hou Jing took control of the government and sent his minions to all parties, especially to increase the control of the Sanwu area, and had no time to take care of the upper reaches for the time being.
However, Xiao Fan, the king of Poyang who was stationed in Hefei in Huainan, claimed that he was brave and brave, and still wanted to cross the river to serve as king, so he abandoned Hefei and sent his two sons to the Eastern Wei Dynasty to ask for reinforcements. At the same time, he sent a letter to the armies upstream, hoping to Gather people from all walks of life to recapture Jiankang.
However, after the Eastern Wei Dynasty accepted its second son, it had no intention of sending troops to help. As for the parties upstream, the King of Xiangdong had already sent troops to fight Xiao Yu, the King of Hedong in Xiangzhou, while the others still attracted people to watch, and no one paid attention to Poyang. king.
King Poyang originally sat in Ruxukou and planned to gather all the troops, but when the food ran out, no reinforcements arrived. Hefei was also occupied by the Eastern Wei Dynasty, which made his people have no plan to advance or retreat, so they could only move their troops westward. Hou Jing took the opportunity to leave Jiankang and go to Tungu. The Poyang king's general Pei Zhiti and others led his troops to surrender.
After learning about this, Liu Zhongli secretly resented it. Originally, Demon King Hou Jingna was still focused on controlling the Sanwu area and had no time to look west. However, he was attracted by the useless King Poyang and his attention.
Although there are many towns in the upper reaches and the battle lines are long, they are not under each other's control and are even at war with each other.
Liu Zhongli had experienced Hou Jing's power, and felt that once he led his troops westward, the towns upstream would inevitably be defeated one by one, and Anlu where he was located would also be unsafe.
Once Hou Jing advanced here, Anlu would inevitably become the front line to block the enemy's attack on Jiangling. After experiencing all kinds of things, Liu Zhongli had deeply realized the dangers of cooperating with the Liang clans, and naturally he was unwilling to fall into such a desperate situation.
To get rid of such a situation, he could only open up a larger living space. Between Jianghan, Xiangyang was naturally the best choice. So putting aside the urging of King Xiangdong, in order to improve his situation and expand his power, Xiangyang was also a target that Liu Zhongli had to seize!
After realizing this, Liu Zhongli strengthened his intelligence gathering in the Xiangyang area while continuing to reorganize his troops, and soon his troops were restored to more than 10,000 men and horses.
Although many of them were local tyrants, they were willing to obey Liu Zhongli's orders under the intimidation of Liu Zhongli's reputation and the temptation of the goal of advancing to Xiangyang, and planned to share a piece of the pie after taking Xiangyang.
Such a force is naturally inferior to Liu Zhongli's in his heyday, but it is enough for a battle.
Xiangyang is Liu Zhongli's hometown, and he knows its city defense layout very well. The Hedong Liu family also enjoys a high reputation among the people of Xiangyang. As long as some external variables are eliminated, Liu Zhongli is still confident in taking Xiangyang and expelling Yueyang King Xiao Zha.
Perhaps it was a good time, when Liu Zhongli put the capture of Xiangyang on the agenda, good news soon came from Xiangyang. According to his spy who sneaked into Xiangyang, a large number of boats on the Han River channel recently flew upstream with flags and carried a large number of people, with a scale of at least tens of thousands, but the garrison in Xiangyang did not decrease significantly.
After hearing the news, Liu Zhongli pondered for a moment, and then he was immediately delighted: "It must be that the Wei army is plotting to take Hanzhong and march westward through the Han River! Hanzhong is the southern gate of Guanlong, which is related to the comfort of the country. Xiangyang is far south of Han, and several military operations have been defeated in the east of Han. It is obvious at a glance which is more important!"
What Liu Zhongli was afraid of was that when attacking Xiangyang, the Western Wei might suddenly intervene and reap the benefits, but now that he has figured out that the Western Wei is about to march into Hanzhong in a large scale, his concerns are naturally gone.
The roads around Hanzhong are difficult to defend and difficult to attack. Although Xiao Xun, the Marquis of Yifeng, who is stationed there, is not known for his bravery and talent, he is also benevolent and very popular. Moreover, there is Shuzhong, where King Wuling Xiao Ji is stationed, to the south of Hanzhong, which can provide nearby support. Even if Hanzhong cannot be defended in the end, it is possible to delay the Wei army for a while.
As for this period of time, it is a good time for Liu Zhongli to advance to Xiangyang. After occupying Xiangyang, his power will span the east and west of the Han River, which is not much less than that of the King of Xiangdong. Whether it is attacking or defending, he will surely make great achievements!
However, Liu Zhongli is also an experienced veteran. He did not rush forward because of the good news. First, he led a part of his troops to occupy Xialuo, which is adjacent to Mianbei Jingzhou, with his son Ma Xiu, the son of his chief secretary, Ma Bofu, the prefect of Yiyang, to test and attract the remaining troops in Jingzhou of the Western Wei Dynasty. His troops did not go directly north through the Sui County passage, but went south along the west of the river to Jingling, and then went north from Jingling by boat.
Next, Liu Zhongli's army stopped at Shicheng, south of Xiangyang, and sent an envoy to Xiangyang to inform Yueyang King Xiao Zha that he was ordered by Xiangdong King to attack Jingzhou, hoping that Yueyang King could provide a batch of boats for his troops to attack the enemy in the north at Xianshan Weir.
After attracting the attention of the Xiangyang defenders to the Han River in the east and taking precautions, Liu Zhongli finally revealed his true colors, led 3,000 elite cavalry to abandon the ship and land, and then rushed to the Wanshan Dam west of Xiangyang City, thereby controlling the Xiangyang waterway wharf, cutting off the connection between Xiangyang and Hanbei, and directly attacking Xiangyang Prefecture City!
Liu Zhongli was forced to surrender to Hou Jing because his failed campaign to defend the king in Jiankang was indeed a big stain in his life, but it did not mean that his talents were mediocre.
As a famous general of Southern Liang and commanding troops in his hometown, Liu Zhongli could easily control Prince Yueyang in Xiangyang City. When Prince Yueyang was still personally supervising the battle in Xian Mountain to connect with Liu Zhongli's northern fleet, Liu Zhongli's elite cavalry had already rushed onto the levee and were only one step away from Xiangyang City!