Chaos of the Three Kingdoms Summons

Chapter 2763 Recapture of Xizhou, Jia Xu Enters Liang

March of the eighth year of the Qianyuan era!
When the Dunhuang battlefield achieved a great victory, killing tens of thousands of enemies and beheading Emperor Kublai Khan, and the entire Liangzhou region was recovered, news of Wei Qing and Meng Tian's army advancing into Xizhou arrived, causing great excitement in Luoyang.

The people of Luoyang spread the news far and wide.

The atmosphere throughout Kyoto was instantly invigorated.

On Zhuque Avenue, messengers carrying news of victory galloped at full speed, their sheepskin war reports, covered in sand and dust, fluttering in the wind.

The foreign merchant visiting the market tavern was the first to open the window, and when he heard the shouts, the fine wine brewed in the earthenware jar was accidentally spilled.

Before the imperial city, the six ministers personally beat the court drums. The ninety-nine drumbeats dispersed the clouds, and the officials rushed towards the Linde Hall without even having time to tidy their clothes.

Upon hearing this, the emperor immediately ordered a one-year tax exemption for Liangzhou and composed a poem on the spot.

The heavens will wield their halberds at Yumen Pass, and the dust of the barbarians will settle, restoring Liangzhou to its former glory.

Banners fluttered across the ground, swallowing wolves' nests; drums and horns resounded to the heavens, suppressing the barbarian chieftain.

With sword pointed at Yinshan, the wicked leader was executed; with horse trampling Qixuan, the enemy's head was severed.

From then on, Liangzhou was free of barbarian horses, yet the Qin swords and Han moon still sang praises!
In the same year, after a two-week rest, Wei Qing and Huo Qubing assembled 15 troops and once again marched into Xizhou, breaking out of Yumen Pass with overwhelming force.

In just three months, the western prefecture will be restored, and eight Yuan generals, including Huyiledaer, Xiao Xiaomu, and Xiao Paiya, will be beheaded.

The main infantry forces that the Yuan Mongols used in the Battle of Dunhuang were actually mostly transferred from Xizhou.

Therefore, after the Yuan and Mongol forces suffered heavy losses in the Battle of Dunhuang, the entire infantry corps involved was wiped out, either killed on the spot or captured by Wei Qing and Meng Tian.

At this time, Xizhou was already in a state of vulnerability.

Although some Mongol cavalry were still on the defensive, the Jin cavalry was in no way inferior to the steppe cavalry.

In open field battles, even if you encounter an opponent with an equal number of troops, you are not afraid, let alone if you have an absolute advantage in troop strength.

As for using cavalry to defend the city, that would be an even greater waste.

Moreover, there is not a single cavalry general in Xizhou who can be compared with Huo Qubing, Ashu, and others.

Furthermore, due to Kublai Khan's sudden death, the Yuan Dynasty was now leaderless, and the royal court was in complete chaos, with no one having the mind to care about them.

Within two years, two emperors of the Yuan Dynasty died in succession, and the entire Mongol royal court was in chaos.

Or rather, for the current Mongol royal court and the current Mongol leadership, the things they are about to face are, in their eyes, more important than what is happening in the Western Regions.

Everyone was waiting, waiting for the next master of this vast empire to appear.

However, the question of who will be the next master of this vast empire remains unresolved.

A storm of power is about to unfold within the Yuan Dynasty.

Many people know that this storm of power, if not handled carefully, could shake the very foundation of the empire, but no one is qualified to stop it.

That is why, compared to the nine-plus months it took to recover Liangzhou, the situation in Xizhou was much simpler.

During the process of retaking Xizhou, Wei Qing and Meng Tian encountered virtually no effective resistance. Thus, the western part of Liangzhou and Xizhou, lost for over a decade, once again returned to the embrace of the Great Jin Dynasty.

However, after recovering the lost territory, Wei Qing and Meng Tian also presented Li Xiang with a new problem: the prisoners captured in these battles.

All in all, Wei Qing and Meng Tian's forces have captured nearly 80,000 prisoners. How to deal with these prisoners is an urgent matter that needs to be decided.

To kill or spare? Or is there another solution? We urgently need an answer from the imperial court!
However, due to the special relationship between the Great Jin and the Yuan Mongols, neither Wei Qing nor Meng Tian made a decision privately, but instead passed the problem on to Li Xiang.

In response, Li Xiang stated that one has no right to speak without conducting an investigation.

He was far away in Luoyang and had no idea of ​​the true situation of the prisoners there.

Therefore, officials were specially dispatched to investigate before a decision was made.

Therefore, Li Xiang brought out the retired Jia Xu again and asked him to go to the two prefectures to investigate the situation of the prisoners in Li Xiang's place, and then decide how to deal with them.

Although the old Jia Xu was quite aged, his mind was still sharp, and he understood the emperor's intention in sending him over.

Under normal circumstances, he would have had countless ways to cancel this business trip. Even before he retired, he could have backed out, let alone now that he's retired and his main focus is on non-stick pans.

However, even if he had a thousand reasons to refuse the mission to Liangzhou and Xizhou, there was one last reason that he couldn't convince himself not to go.

Therefore, the already elderly Jia Xu, with his white hair and frail body, still made this trip.

In July of the same year, Li Xiang appointed Li Deyu as the Prefect of Xizhou and Tian Dan as the General of Xizhou, and they took office immediately.

Furthermore, 60,000 infantry and 40,000 cavalry, totaling 100,000 troops, were transferred from Xue Rengui's northern camp to Liangzhou and into Meng Tian's northwestern camp to strengthen the defenses of Liangzhou and Xizhou.

The reason why Xue Rengui's Northern Camp had the most troops among the three major camps in the north was that the Tang Dynasty had not yet fallen. This army not only had to bear the heavy responsibility of defending the north, but also had to undertake the task of destroying the Tang Dynasty.

Therefore, it became the largest of the three major camps in terms of troop strength.

In reality, after the fall of the Tang Dynasty, given the pressure in the northeast, there was no need to station so many troops there anymore, so it was natural to shift some of them to the northwest.

Therefore, the northern camp mobilized 10 troops to enter Meng Tian's northwestern camp.

Today, the three major camps in the northern frontier all maintain a strength of 20 troops.

Xue Rengui's northern camp had 12 infantry and 8 cavalry under its command.

Yue Fei's Hetao Camp had 12 cavalry and 8 infantry under its command.

As for Meng Tian's Northwest Camp, it had 10 cavalry and 10 infantry under its command.

With the complete recovery of Liangzhou and Western Zhou, Kublai Khan, the new emperor of the Yuan Dynasty, died in this battle, and the strategic situation between the Great Jin and the Yuan Dynasty underwent a dramatic change in an instant.

In response, Li Xiang had no choice but to convene several cabinet ministers overnight to readjust the strategic plan for the next few years against the Yuan and Mongol forces.

To put it bluntly, Kublai Khan's death significantly reduced the difficulty of the next few phases of the strategy against the Yuan and Mongol dynasties.

Under these circumstances, continuing with the previously established strategy would be a complete waste of national resources.