Chapter 999 Take control of Huaixi
Although the request made by Chen Baxian was not part of the previous agreement, it was not too rude.
Of course, Li Zhen had no decision-making power on this, and could only say that he would report the matter to General Doulu Ning after returning. Afterwards, the two sides communicated on some details of cooperation, such as opening Liang Jun's Jiang defense area to Wei Jun to a certain extent to avoid conflicts between sergeants from both sides.
After the communication between them was completed, Chen Baxian sent Li Zhenli out of the city, while he continued to devote himself to handling various post-war affairs.
Although the Liang Army could be called a complete victory in this battle, it was also an out-and-out tragic victory. The battle on the frontal battlefield was fierce and the Liang Army's officers and men were seriously injured. In some local battlefields, the soldiers' injuries were even severe. The casualties were more serious than those of the Qi army.
This is also why Chen Baxian asked the Wei army to cooperate in regaining Qin County despite the clear victory, because it is now difficult for the Jiankang defenders to launch a high-intensity cross-river battle with their own strength.
Aside from the injuries to the soldiers, the damage to Jiankang City was also very serious. Not only were the city's fortifications damaged, but more seriously, the people's livelihood order that had just been restored was severely damaged. A large number of soldiers and civilians in the city fled, and it would be a long process to recruit them back.
Of course, the results of this battle are still very impressive. Even if we do not consider the peripheral results captured by the Wei army, the number of Qi soldiers killed and captured on the battlefield alone is very gratifying.
The Qi army crossed the river and went into battle with at least 70,000 to 80,000 troops. After this battle, it can be said that the entire army was wiped out. In addition to Liang Jun's own resistance to fighting and killing casualties on the frontal battlefield, it was also due to the Wei army's blockade of the Qi army's retreat in the peripheral areas, leaving the Qi army across the river with no retreat, and could only be captured unless they died in battle.
With the subsequent clearing and sorting of the battlefields around Jiankang, the results of this battle are more clearly presented. The number of Qi soldiers captured by Liang Jun alone reached tens of thousands, and there were dozens of named governors. The weapons, weapons and staffs collected filled several arsenals in Jiankang City, and more than 2,000 war horses were captured before and after.
Such a brilliant victory and such impressive results also surprised and excited Liang Jun. Since the Battle of Jiangling, Nanliang has been in a precarious and precarious state. Anyone can step on it, and it can only survive in humility. However, after this battle, the blood and courage of Jiangdong people were once again inspired, and Chen Baxian's prestige was completely shaped!
However, compared to the generally excited mood of the soldiers, Chen Baxian and the senior generals were more complicated. They all had a thought in their hearts: How great would it be if Guabu could be captured by Liang Jun? ah! If all the military supplies for tens of thousands of troops could be captured, it would undoubtedly be of great benefit to their post-war reconstruction and recovery!
Although there are no ifs in this world, there are good-hearted people. Soon Liyang reported back the decision of General Doulu Ning of the Wei Army. Not only was he willing to fund the Liang Army in Jiankang City with 20,000 stones of grain and grain, he also agreed to Chen Baxian's request. The Wei Army would send troops to the upper reaches of the Chu River. Xian, in order to cooperate with the Liang army in capturing Qin County on the north bank.
Of course, the Wei army was not completely unconditional. Doulu Ning then expressed the hope of exchanging a group of Qi prisoners of war captured by the Liang army around Jiankang City. The reason was that when the Northern Qi held the Western Wei accountable for betraying the alliance, these prisoners could be used to Northern Qi Xu and Wei Snake.
In order to show his sincerity, Doulu Ning also arranged for a boat to transport three thousand stones of military rations to Jiankang City. After weighing the situation, Chen Baxian agreed to the conditions proposed by the other party.
In fact, after the peak rainfall has passed, the grain road between Jiankang and Sanwu has resumed traffic, and Chen Baxian's nephew Chen Qian, who is stationed in Wuxing, has raised a batch of grain and grass to transport to Jiankang. Moreover, when the soldiers were completely clearing the inside and outside of Jiankang City, they found a large amount of old grain and old wheat in the nearby temple, which restored the basic food supply of Jiankang City.
However, the more food the better, especially since the people's livelihood in Jiankang City has been severely damaged, and a large amount of imports will still be needed to maintain the situation. Moreover, the Wei army is willing to continue to help cut off the surrounding channels of Qin County so that Liang Army can attack Qin County with all its strength. This is more important than simple food support.
As for the prisoners who asked for exchange, it was not an excessive request. There were too many prisoners captured in this battle, and Chen Baxian didn't have a proper way to deal with them yet.
Originally, he planned to kill all the governors and generals of the Qi army, and then kill all the strong and powerful generals, and use the rest as official slaves for consumption. As for absorbing and arming these Qi army prisoners of war, it is still a relatively difficult task for Nanliang at the moment. Since the Hou Jing Rebellion, people in Jiangdong have been afraid and prejudiced against people from the north and people from Huainan, making it difficult for them to integrate with each other.
Although he knew in his heart that the Wei army's request for these prisoners of war was not necessarily to deal with the Northern Qi Dynasty, he still nodded in agreement. Except for Xu Sihui and other rebel generals who led foreign enemies and internal invaders to cause rebellion, the Wei army could send governors to other Qi army soldiers and prisoners of war. Jiankang came to select five thousand people.
After reaching a consensus, Li Zhen returned to Jiankang with the grain ship and was responsible for selecting prisoners of war.
Since Li Zhen started to participate in the interaction and cooperation with Chen Baxian at the beginning, and completed the tasks well one by one, Tang Gong also wanted to train him. He had ordered Li Zhen to stay in the city after the capture of Liyang. He had to deal with Jiangdong for a long time, so he was also arranged to be responsible for some of the exchanges between the two sides.
The food provided by the Wei army this time was mostly transported by small boats. The small boats with a carrying capacity of only a few stones or dozens of stones were spread on the river surface, and the scene was spectacular and powerful.
This scene was very similar to the scene when Wang Sengbian asked the Wei army for funding when he was fighting against Hou Jing's rebels in Yingzhou. However, Chen Baxian had not yet completed the meeting with Wang Sengbian at that time, and Wang Sengbian was too ashamed to talk about this old matter, so Chen Baxian had no impression of it.
But this did not prevent him from recognizing the intentions of the Western Wei. When he stood on the top of the stone city and saw the small boats that almost filled the river coming here, despite the support, he still felt like a swarm of flies rushing into his throat, which directly caused great psychological discomfort.
But Chen Baxian didn't care about these at the moment. After obtaining enough supplies, the soldiers also rested for a few days and immediately launched an attack on Qin County on the opposite bank.
As the Liang army began to counterattack Jiangbei, Dou Luning also dispatched soldiers to Daxian upstream of Chushui. In fact, even if Chen Baxian did not make a request, occupying Daxian was an inevitable option for this military operation. Daxian and its nearby Xiaoxian were the key points of Huainan's land route. At that time, Hou Jing did not have enough boat forces, so he took this route to attack Liyang directly after starting his army in Shouyang.
Now that Liyang has fallen into the hands of the Western Wei, if they want to hold it for a long time and not be disturbed by enemies in the north of the Yangtze River, Daxian and Xiaoxian are also must-take places. Only by taking this position can Liyang and Hefei form a whole and completely occupy the Huaixi area west of the Hengjiang River, no longer just a few isolated strongholds as in the early days.
The battle of the Liang army to capture Qin County went smoothly. Originally, most of the Northern Qi’s military forces in Huainan crossed the river to the south. The acting governor Zhao Yanshen was not known for his military strategy. After the defeat, he was besieged again. In addition, the Guangling City garrison commander Liu Damo watched and did not help. Therefore, after the Liang army besieged the city for ten days, the defenders in the city were exhausted and directly abandoned the city and broke through, making this important town in the north of the Yangtze River return to the hands of the Liang army again.
When Chen Baxian led his troops into Qin County, a trace of disappointment flashed across his face, and he sighed: "If Wu Mingche was still in the army, he could have guarded this city."
Wu Mingche's family was originally from Qin County, and was later recruited by Chen Baxian, and they were considered to be compatible with each other. However, in order to kill Wang Sengbian, Chen Baxian withdrew a large number of forces in Guangling, Jiangbei, causing Guangling, Qinjun and other important places in Jiangbei to be invaded by Northern Qi. This also caused Wu Mingche's dissatisfaction, and he led his troops to defect to Western Wei.
Although Qinjun has been recovered now, the lost general will never come back, which inevitably makes Chen Baxian feel disappointed. When the scouts reported that the Wei army had begun to build garrisons in Daxian, upstream of Chushui, and prepared to station troops for a long time, Chen Baxian couldn't help but sigh.
From the perspective of the situation, this counterattack was naturally a great victory, but if it was implemented in terms of specific results, it was hard to say who gained more. Although the Liang army eliminated a large number of Qi army's active forces in this battle, Chen Baxian was also very clear in his mind that it was really difficult to take advantage of this achievement to recover Huainan on a large scale based on the current situation in Jiangdong, and the gap left by the weakening of Qi army's power in Huainan would undoubtedly be picked up by Western Wei.
After this battle, he finally became the well-deserved leader of Jiangdong, but from a larger perspective and a longer-term perspective, a huge shadow always loomed over his head, and he didn't even know what efforts he should make to break through the coverage of this shadow.
After retaking Qin County, Chen Baxian arranged for General Xu Du to stay here to guard the only important town in Jiangbei, while he led the army back to Jiankang. At the same time, Xu Ling and his entourage, who were on a diplomatic mission to Chang'an in the Western Wei Dynasty, also returned to Jiangdong.