Northern Dynasties

Chapter 1346 Humiliating the Warriors
"Is King Linchuan still here? Please inform him immediately that it is Hou Andu who comes to apologize!"

Hou Andu had been waiting for a long time on the south side of Qiantang River, but what he waited for was not Chen Qian and his party, but the soldiers stationed in Qiantang. After learning that such a conflict and misunderstanding had occurred between them, Hou Andu naturally did not dare to neglect it. He immediately took a boat to the north in person, ready to eliminate misunderstandings and settle disputes in person.

Qiantang City was not only garrisoned by Hou Andu, but also by a Wujun troop led by Lu Zilong, a general under Chen Qian, who had arrived here earlier.

Now Chen Qian felt that he was being despised and harassed by Hou Andu's men, and he suspected that it might be at Hou Andu's instruction. After all, after he evacuated here, although he joined Hou Andu, he faced the question of who was the master and who was the follower. If Hou Andu was unwilling to hand over the military and political power of Kuaiji, it would be normal for him to arrange his generals to attack and harass Chen Qian.

That was why Chen Qian refused to cross the river to argue with Hou Andu, and asked Hou Andu to cross the river to see him. At the same time, taking advantage of the fact that Xiao Mohe was under control and there was no one in charge in the city, he ordered Lu Zilong outside the city to lead his troops to force their way into the city and guard his temporary residence in the city.

When Hou Andu arrived, he was stopped outside by the soldiers. He could only stand outside the mansion and wait for the soldiers guarding the gate to come in and report. Only after obtaining permission was he allowed to enter the mansion to see Chen Qian.

"I failed to discipline my subordinates, which led to their own decisions and offended the king. I deserve to be punished! Now that a strong enemy is approaching and a war is imminent, we need to work together to overcome the difficulties. I hope the king will put aside the past grudges and repel the enemy before questioning me. I will listen to your advice and will not dare to quibble."

After entering the hall, Hou Andu bowed deeply to Chen Qian as a sign of respect, and spoke with his head lowered in a respectful posture and humble tone.

After a period of calm reflection, Chen Qian was no longer as angry as he was at the beginning. He also realized that although Xiao Mohe's words were a bit rude, the reason why he was so irritable was because he was sensitive because of the recent setback.

The most important thing in the current situation is to cooperate sincerely with Hou Andu to repel the Tang army. It is not appropriate to fuss over some minor issues.

After having such thoughts, Chen Qian saw Hou Andu was so humble, and the little anger left in his heart also dissipated. He stood up and pulled Hou Andu to their positions, then sighed and said: "The Tang army is coming fiercely. Although the people of Wuzhong are as strong as iron, it is still difficult to stop their army from invading the south. Now I have no choice but to retreat here. If I still cannot defeat the enemy here, I am afraid that there will be no place for me and Hou Gong to stand in the vast Jiangdong. Now I have just arrived in Qiantang, I wonder if Hou Gong has a good plan to deal with the enemy?"

Under such a dangerous external situation, some minor internal disputes can naturally be ignored. Hearing that the King of Linchuan no longer dwelled on the past, but asked about his preparations for the enemy, Hou Andu secretly breathed a sigh of relief, and then he cheered up and told about the preparations that Kuaiji had made during this period of time.

Thanks to the fact that Wuxing intercepted the Tang army in the north, or that the Tang army did not launch an attack to the south immediately after crossing the river, Kuaiji had a relatively sufficient time to prepare for war.

Hou Andu was not a good official who was good at governing the local area, but he had followed the former lord Chen Baxian in many battles for many years and had rich military experience. Now he was directly targeted by the Tang army, and he used all means to raise resistance forces in the territory, gathering a large number of personnel and forces in the territory and investing them in the Qiantang River line. The momentum he created was far beyond the personnel situation of Chen Qian in Wuxing.

At present, the number of soldiers gathered on the south bank of Qiantang River alone has reached more than 50,000. Almost all the adult men who can be found in the entire East Yangzhou have been recruited and forced here by Hou Andu. There are also thousands of warships of various sizes. If all of them are launched into the main channel, they will be enough to fill up several miles of the Qiantang River.

When Chen Qian heard that Hou Andu had gathered such a strong force on the south bank, he could not help but sigh: "Hou Gong is indeed a veteran who has long followed the First Lord in his conquests. No wonder the First Lord often sighed that Hou Gong should be the first among the meritorious officials! In just a few months, he has gathered such a huge force, and with the Qiantang River as a defense, the Tang army will surely be defeated here!"

"Your Majesty, you are too kind! When fighting a strong enemy, having more people does not necessarily mean victory. Gathering here will boost our courage. To truly defeat the enemy, we still need to defend the river defense line. The enemy has been stuck here for a long time and has worked hard to no avail. They will surely become discouraged and exhausted. If we see them retreating, we will attack them in large numbers and they will be defeated!"

Hou Andu did not get complacent because of this praise, but hurriedly said: "Now the disciples have gathered on the south bank of Qiantang River. We heard that the king will come south to lead the army to fight against the powerful enemy. Everyone is looking forward to the king's order. So I hurried here to ask the king to cross the river and gather the people to discuss the big plan!"

His brutal conscription in East Yangzhou was not without cost. Now the people in the area were full of resentment. Not only were ordinary people complaining, but even the local tyrants were resentful. There were even people who secretly discussed that the Tang army came south only for Hou Andu. Why did the people of the county pay such a painful price?
Although Hou Andu suppressed such noise and resentment without hesitation, even with his iron-blooded approach, public resentment continued to accumulate.

Especially when a large number of young men in the area were gathered on the river bank, this kind of resentment had more soil to grow and expand. Hou Andu had only a few thousand trusted men under his command, but it was also very difficult to control these followers who were dozens of times larger than himself, not to mention driving them to fight for their lives in the real battle. Therefore, Hou Andu also urgently needed Chen Qian's prestige to control the human relations and situation in the south bank, so he put on such a low posture. Otherwise, according to his usual temperament, facing Chen Qian who came to surrender in desperation, even if the other party was a prince of the royal family, he would not be so servile.

Chen Qian was naturally very satisfied with Hou Andu's attitude, and naturally ignored the previous grudges. In addition, he wanted to see with his own eyes the huge force gathered on the south bank. Regardless of the fact that it was already dark, he still wanted to take a night boat to the south to meet his followers.

Both parties had their own needs, so they naturally hit it off. Hou Andu quickly arranged for a ferry, and before boarding the boat, Chen Qian also released Xiao Mohe, who had been captured earlier.

Since Chen Qian and his confidants were deeply annoyed by Xiao Mohe's outspokenness, during the period when they captured him and waited for Hou Andu to arrive, Han Zigao and others beat and humiliated Xiao Mohe many times, so that when he was released, his head and face were covered with scars, and his hair and beard were messy.

"Lord Hou, I really did not intend to offend King Linchuan, but I was just considering the needs of the war..."

After seeing Hou Andu, Xiao Mohe fell to his knees and said in a sad voice with a look of grievance on his face.

"How dare you! Who allowed you to speak up and quibble before I even asked? You didn't mean to offend me, so did the king do it on purpose? The survival of the country now depends on you, the king. For the sake of the greater good, even if the king wants to take my life, I will wait for it, not to mention you, a worthless man!"

Before Xiao Mohe could finish his words, Hou Andu kicked him over again, and with his sword in hand, he looked back at Chen Qian and said, "This fellow has always been reckless and is really not worth getting close to. But he kills enemies in battle, is fearless, and is the bravest among the three armies, which is commendable, so he is used here. If his crime deserves death, I will kill him for the king, so as not to humiliate the brave warrior."

Although Xiao Mohe was not good at speaking, he was brave and was loved by Hou Andu. Therefore, when Hou Andu saw him being humiliated, he felt a little unhappy.

Chen Qian could naturally hear Hou Andu's dissatisfaction. He looked around at his confidants, then passed Han Zigao and pointed at the people behind him and said, "I only asked you to temporarily detain this criminal and wait for Lord Hou to come to deal with him. Who allowed you to use private punishment? Why don't you quickly apologize to Lord Hou and accept the punishment!"

Several people hurriedly stepped out to bow and apologize to Hou Andu, but Hou Andu pulled Xiao Moha in front of him, raised his hand to pat the dirt off his robe, and took off his cloak to wrap him up, snorting coldly: "The war is imminent, and it is a time to use people. It's a pity that you are brave, so I will keep you for now. When we defeat the enemy tomorrow, we will call out your name and praise your achievements. If your name is not on the list, I will kill you!"

Xiao Mohe also heard that this was Hou Andu's special encouragement and comfort to him, and hurriedly bowed his head and said: "When we fight tomorrow, I will fight bravely and live up to your expectations!"

A minor dispute aside, Chen Qian and his party crossed the river with Hou Andu. After seeing the Kuaiji group, Chen Qian encouraged them and made various promises, which he would fulfill after defeating the Tang army. As the prince of Southern Chen, Chen Qian naturally had more say and gave political promises to these Kuaiji tyrants to motivate them, which was beyond Hou Andu's reach, unless he wanted to directly usurp the throne.

Shortly after Chen Qian and his party crossed the Qiantang River, the troops led by Yuwen Xin detoured to Wukang and fought a battle, then turned around and headed straight for Qiantang.

Perhaps because the previous advance was too smooth, and they were eager to fight and gain merit, the group was ambushed by the Chen army led by Xiao Mohe in Zeye, north of Qiantang, resulting in the loss of dozens of men and horses.

After this small setback, Yuwen Xin stopped underestimating the enemy and dared not continue to advance towards Qiantang. Instead, he temporarily retreated and waited until the main force led by Shi Ning arrived there before he marched towards Qiantang again in a mighty force.

The Qiantang River was much wider than the Songjiang River, and Kuaiji had spared no effort in preparing for war, so the defense line was very solid. After Shi Ning arrived at the north of the Qiantang River, he inspected the upstream and downstream, and then he could only choose to capture the Qiantang City on the north bank first, and then choose a suitable location to launch the crossing operation.

(End of this chapter)