Chapter 1643: Five Routes to Defeat Qin (Part 2)
Chapter 1643 Five-pronged attack on Qin (Part 2)
Chapter 1641: Five Routes to Attack Qin (Part 2)
After listening to Deng Yu's suggestion, Liu Xiu felt that it was very reasonable. The Chu army had just won the handover of the state and its power was not yet stable. It was indeed not appropriate to send out too many troops to fight Qin.
After all, the Qin Army is not just a tough guy, it is the toughest among tough guys.
Liu Xiu had fought against the Qin army so many times, but never once did he take advantage, so he was cautious about sending out an army of 150,000 troops.
After occupying Jiaozhou, the Chu army was indeed able to dispatch an army of 150,000 men, but in the end, no matter whether they won or lost, the gains outweighed the losses for the Chu army.
Of course, the most important point is that if we really send out so many troops, we may not be able to successfully capture Jingbei.
Even if the tiger's mouth is finally successful, the Chu army will definitely pay an unbearable price, and will also face a counterattack by the Qin army in the future.
So, for Liu Xiu, Jingbei was not only not a piece of fat, but also a hot potato.
Rather than doing this, it is better to give up the fight for Jingbei and instead attack Qin Hao's solid legion, Huang Zu.
For Liu Xiu, the benefits of taking Jiangxia were not much worse than those of Jingbei.
First of all, Jiangxia's army is weak in combat power, so Jiangxia is easier to fight.
Secondly, after capturing Jiangxia, Chu State will suppress Wu State in terms of overall strategy.
In the end, Liu Xiu captured Jiangxia and Liu Ji captured Jingbei. Even if Qin Hao wanted to take revenge, he would not go to Liu Xiu but go back to Liu Ji.
Liu Xiu planned to ask Liu Ji to block him in front and act as a barrier between Chu and Qin, so that Chu could develop and grow with peace of mind.
After finalizing his decision, Liu Xiu responded to Liu Ji's dispatch of troops, but the number of troops sent was only 50,000, and the direction of attack was not Nanjun, but Jiangxia.
At present, the Chu State's national military strength is 180,000, and this is not the limit. After Jiaozhou is digested and Baiyue is completely recovered, the national military strength will exceed 250,000.
Liu Xiu had an army of 180,000, but he only sent 50,000 to attack Qin. The remaining 130,000 troops were left to consolidate the rear, digest the results of the battle, and at the same time conquer Shi Yi who had not yet surrendered.
Liu Xiu personally led an army of 50,000 to attack Jiangxia in response to Liu Ji's attack on Qin. At the same time, he sent Deng Yu to lead an army of 100,000 to guard Jiaozhou, rectify the Taiping surrender army, and guard Sun Jian from Jiangdong. He also sent Cen Peng to lead an army of 20,000 to attack Shiyi.
Deng Yu led an army of 100,000 troops to guard Jiaozhou, so it was absolutely foolproof. Sun Jian saw that he could not find any opportunity to take advantage of, so he took the initiative to withdraw his troops and cease the war.
As for Shi Yi who occupied Jiuzhen and Rinan counties, it was not as unbearable as Liu Xiu said.
Facing the crusade of Cen Peng's 20,000 troops, Shi Yi persisted for half a year and ran out of ammunition and food before finally choosing to surrender in Kaicheng.
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Liu Xiu was the first to respond to Liu Ji's dispatch of troops and sent 50,000 troops to attack Jiangxia, while the second to respond was Li Shimin.
The situation Li Shimin is facing now is very embarrassing. Neither Yizhou nor Liangzhou is suitable for attack. The only direction of expansion is the Qin State in the east. However, the Qin State is too strong, and the Tang State is no match for it alone.
So, when Liu Ji's appeal against Qin came, Li Shimin agreed without much thought, because this may be Li Tang's only chance to take Sizhou back.
The intensity of Li Shimin's attack on Qin was different from that of Liu Xiu. The Tang State owned Yongzhou, Hanzhong, and Liangzhou, as well as two hundred miles of Qiang land, most of which were wealthy places. Therefore, the total military strength of Li and Tang Dynasty was as high as 23 Ten thousand.
Of course, there were many troops left behind in various places in Li and Tang Dynasties. In order to capture Sizhou in one fell swoop, Li Shimin directly dispatched 150,000 troops and divided them into two groups to attack Qin.
The army was personally led by Li Shimin, with a total of 80,000 troops. They set out from Wuguan and Hanzhong to attack Nanxiang and Nanyang counties. If they successfully captured the two counties, they would continue to attack Guangcheng Pass from south to north. The other group led by Yang Jian, with a total of 70,000 troops, left Tongguan and attacked Hangu Pass.
This time Li Shimin was coming with great force, as if he would not give up until he recaptured Sizhou.
After Tang Wang Li Shimin, those who subsequently responded to Liu Ji's call were the three major princes of Liangzhou: Yang Guang, Ma Teng and Han Sui.
Yang Guang responded that he sent troops to avenge his father. He had already found out that his father Yang Jian was not killed by Li Shimin, but someone framed him, intending to make the Sui and Tang Liang armies kill each other.
At that time, Yang Guang only wanted revenge and could not listen to anything else. However, after calming down afterwards, he still discovered many problems.
At that time, Yang Guang's army had already surrounded Chang'an, and Li Shimin had just succeeded in his coup, and his control over Chang'an was not stable.
With Li Shimin's wisdom, it is impossible not to know that killing Yang Jian will only completely anger Yang Guang, so the best way is to capture him alive to force Yang Guang to retreat.
Li Shimin would not have killed Yang Jian at that critical moment due to emotion and reason, but Yang Jian died in the end, which made Yang Guang instinctively feel that there was a conspiracy.
Although Dugu Qiubai's handling was relatively clean, it was not flawless. Yang Guang had been deliberately investigating for so many years. It was normal to find something, but there was no conclusive evidence, so he could only rely on logic to reason.
Given the situation at that time, if Yang Guang and Li Shimin had a fight, who would be most beneficial? The answer is naturally Qin Hao.
At this point, Yang Guang also realized that he was probably being used by Qin Hao, so he later joined the Southern Han camp.
This time when he saw Liu Ji forming a strategy to deal with Qin Hao, Yang Guang, after careful consideration, felt that this was a good opportunity for revenge, so he decided to join forces with the Ma and Han families to send troops to merge with the state.
Although Ma Teng was a bandit, he was a loyal Han faction. He believed that Qin Hao was holding the emperor hostage to order the princes, and Liu Bian of Yizhou was the orthodox Han Dynasty, so he would respond to Liu Ji and send troops to attack Qin.
As for Han Sui, he was completely coerced by Yang Guang and Ma Teng. After all, two of the three major princes in Liangzhou were involved. How could Han Sui not come?
Although Yang Guang, Ma Teng, and Han Sui jointly sent troops, they still checked and balanced each other. Therefore, even if the three families united, they only dispatched a hundred thousand troops to attack the three counties of Hetao in the Qin State.
Liu Ji from Chengdu chose to invite Liu Yu to send troops together, but was decisively rejected by Liu Yu.
Liu Yu's territory is not adjacent to Jingzhou. Even if he conquers territory in Jingbei, it is just an enclave. Liu Yu is not stupid, so of course he cannot do anything thankless.
Liu Yu's lack of cooperation made Liu Ji very angry. He thought that Liu Yu really didn't know how to praise, so he wanted to use this to beat him.
But Liu Ji then thought about it. If he forced Liu Yu too much at this time, and forced him to Qin Hao's side, the gains would outweigh the losses. So he temporarily suppressed his plan to beat Liu Yu and decided to wait for the victory to return to the army. Then take care of Liu Yu.
The Kingdom of Bashu is already densely populated and rich, and Liu Ji occupies most of the elite areas of Yizhou, so the total military strength of the Shu Kingdom is as many as 250,000.
Since he still had to guard against Chi You and Liu Yu, Liu Ji naturally could not mobilize his troops unscrupulously, and finally decided to personally lead an army of 150,000 to attack Nanjun.
At this point, the Allied Forces to Defeat Qin were formally established:
On the first route, Liu Ji, the king of Shu, sent 150,000 troops to attack Nanjun from Bajun.
On the second route, King Liu Xiu of Chu sent 50,000 troops to attack Huang Zu of Jiangxia from Changsha.
On the third and fourth routes, Tang Wang Li Shimin sent 150,000 troops and 80,000 troops all the way to attack Dawu Township County from Hanzhong and Wuguan. Another group of 70,000 troops attacked Hangu Pass from Tongguan.
On the fifth route, the coalition forces of Yang, Ma and Han in Liangzhou sent 100,000 troops to attack Hetao from Liangzhou.
The six princes dispatched a total of 450,000 troops in five directions to attack Qin. For a time, the world was shaken, and the government and the public were shaken.
Fourth update, two chapters left...
(End of this chapter)