Northern Dynasties

Chapter 1356: The Three Wus are Completely Settled
The reason why Chen Qian was able to leave the river defense front before the enemy situation changed was that he was not referring to the enemy situation at the mouth of the Qiantang River, but the situation in western Zhejiang upstream.

The situation in western Zhejiang was deteriorating very quickly. When Qian Daojie led his troops to Xiahuai, he could already see many refugee groups from Dongyang. When he asked about the latest situation in Dongyang, these people had different opinions. In short, they were very pessimistic.

Qian Daojie did not dare to neglect this and hurriedly reported the relevant situation back. Chen Qian asked Liu Zhenchen about this. According to Liu Zhenchen, when he left the country, although the situation in the county was already quite dangerous, it had not yet gotten out of control. The people in the county were still fighting against the Tang army under the leadership of their fathers and brothers. It can be seen that the escape of refugees happened after he left the country.

Liu Zhenchen might have concealed something in order to attract reinforcements, but the truth that Qian Daojie saw was that a large number of refugees from Dongyang were fleeing eastward. Considering that the refugees were slow to perceive information and moved slowly, it was very likely that Dongyang had already fallen!
After making such a speculation, Chen Qian's mood became even heavier. If western Zhejiang was lost, then Hou Andu would have no meaning to stay on the front line of river defense and confront the Tang army along the Qiantang River. Instead, he would fall into an embarrassing situation of being attacked from both sides.

Even if Dongyang is still holding on, the overall situation is already very bleak.

The Tang army in Wuzhong was pressing forward to the south, and the war in Lingbiao had ended. The Tang army there was counterattacking, which meant that most of Jiangdong had fallen into the control of the Tang army.

Although the Tang army's military operations in Jiangdong are still carried out in the name of attacking Hou Andu, and the Southern Chen court is still the nominal master of Jiangdong, this is just the words of Chen Chang, the fool. Moreover, the facts are changing rapidly now, how long can these superficial things last?

It can be said that the Tang army has already won the battle in Jiangdong. Even if Kuaiji continues to resist stubbornly, the possibility of turning the tide is very small. Continuing to stay here will only make their situation more and more dangerous, and the room for counterattack in the future will become smaller and smaller.

So after weighing the pros and cons, Chen Qian decided to continue moving southward to further extend the Tang army's supply line and thus create more possibilities for a turnaround.

However, he did not intend to communicate his decision with Hou Andu, because Hou Andu might not agree with his opinion.

It should be noted that he has invested enormous efforts in the Qiantang River defense line and has great expectations for it. He is also stubborn and will not easily change his mind about things he has made up his mind about. Once a dispute occurs between the two sides, according to Hou Andu's usual domineering style, it is very likely to evolve into an actual conflict.

If the situation really develops to that point, the alliance between Chen Qian and Hou Andu will no longer exist, and he will not be able to implement his plan. After all, at the moment, Hou Andu's power on the river defense front is still far greater than his.

Therefore, Chen Qian planned to keep it a secret from Hou Andu for the time being, and leave the front line of Jiang defense under the pretext of going to Shanyin City to visit his family. Hou Andu was reluctant to let him intervene in Jiang defense affairs anyway. Without knowing what happened in western Zhejiang, and because he was already worried about the loss of Qiantang City, Hou Andu would not care too much about his movements as long as he did not obviously flee the country.

The process of leaving the river defense camp went even smoother than Chen Qian had expected. When he learned that Hou Andu was still planning to continue to hold the Qiantang River defense line and wait for an opportunity to counterattack, his mind changed again.

Now that western Zhejiang is not defended, the Tang army will soon attack along the Qiantang River. Continuing to stay here will only lead to the annihilation of the entire army. However, Hou Andu is stubborn and refuses to listen to different opinions. Instead of letting these Kuaiji divisions that have been gathered with great difficulty be wiped out in a battle here, it is better to take the opportunity to gather some personnel and continue to move southward, and preserve them as a force for future counterattacks.

So after returning to Shanyin City, Chen Qian immediately ordered his men to send invitations to the major families in the city, inviting them to a gathering at the Lanting Villa outside the city.

Although most of the able-bodied soldiers in Kuaiji were forcibly pulled to the Qiantang River for garrison, Hou Andu still dared not offend some of the real famous families in the territory. As a famous family in the Southern Dynasty, the Chenjun Xie family had many people settled in Kuaiji Shanyin and other places, and there were also local Kuaiji Yu family and other noble families, and many of their clansmen still stayed in Shanyin City.

After Chen Qian came south, he had frequent contacts with these families. After learning that Chen Qian had returned from the Jiang defense front and sent an invitation, they all rushed to meet him and inquire about the battle situation on the front.

Facing everyone's inquiries, Chen Qian did not hide anything and said frankly that the current battle situation was not optimistic. Qiantang City in the north had just been lost, and Dongyang in western Zhejiang was attacked by the Tang army. Soon the two divisions of the Tang army would meet in Kuaiji.

When everyone heard that the situation had become so critical, their faces became nervous and they hurriedly asked King Linchuan if there was any way to save the dangerous situation.

"When I returned from the front, Lord Hou was still leading his army to resist stubbornly by the Qiantang River, vowing to fight the enemy to the death. This was truly magnificent, but Lord Hou was helpless. The Tang army came to attack with the intention of conquering them. The rest of the people might have room to retreat, but Lord Hou was not so calm. This disaster was a matter of life and death, and there was no other way."

Chen Qian sighed and said this, seemingly praising Hou Andu's generosity, but in fact he was pointing out to everyone present that this war disaster was aimed at Hou Andu, and that everyone was implicated by him and suffered this unprovoked disaster. If they continued to stand with him, their fate would be as miserable as his.

"Yes, the Tang army came here to attack Hou Gong and Andu! They are arrogant and conceited, and they have angered the powerful enemy. On the contrary, the people of Kuaiji have never had contact with the Tang people, and there is no hatred or dispute between them. The reason why they are enemies now is only because Andu is in charge of the local area. We only need to draw a clear line with them and then close the door to defend ourselves. What reason does the Tang army have to harm the villagers?"

There are always people in this world who are optimistic. The richer a person is, the less courage they have to face up to difficulties and choose to fight when danger comes, because their situation is too good and comfortable. Once they choose to fight against the times, what they will lose and the gap they will have to endure will be greater.

Chen Qian called everyone together not to make them cowards, but to unite them around him. So after hearing this, he immediately slammed the table and shouted, "This is really absurd! Recently, my Wuzhong Township Yi also had such delusions, thinking that they could be safe if they just shut themselves in and defended themselves.

However, after the Tang army took control of the village, they abused them, not only taking away all their property, but also killing men and women, and making the old and the young cry in front of their houses, and the chickens and dogs run away in the wild. There will never be peace in Wuzhong again, and the village will never be in order again! You must have heard about the chaos in Wuzhong. Do you still have any unrealistic fantasies about the Tang army? "

To some extent, what Chen Qian said was not false. Recently, the powerful people in Wuzhong were indeed complaining about being disciplined by the Tang army, especially the typical families like the Shen family in Wuxing, who suffered very severe punishment.

It's just that the people of Wuxing who benefited from this were far more numerous than the victims. However, the nobles of Kuaiji could clearly empathize with the miserable situation of the Wuxing nobles. So after hearing what Chen Qian said, they all said in a trembling voice: "In your opinion, how can we save ourselves from being persecuted by the Tang army?"

"At present, the powerful forces of the Tang army are about to gather here, and the local scholars and strong men are still being gathered by the Marquis on the banks of the Qiantang River. If we want to fight the enemy and defend our hometown, we are already unable to do so. If we still insist on doing so, it is inevitable that all the elders will die and the hometown will be lost!"

Knowing that most of these people still harbored hopes and illusions, Chen Qian emphasized the situation and made it more serious. Then he said in a deep voice, "The current situation is critical. It is no longer feasible to save both people and land. Either gather your troops and fight elsewhere to temporarily avoid the enemy's attack and wait for a counterattack in the future, or continue to stay in the village and wait for death. When the Tang army comes, both people and land will die! You are all role models of morality and righteousness in the village. What should you choose? You must make a decision as soon as possible, otherwise I am afraid that time will not wait for us!"

After hearing this, everyone was in a fierce struggle. They certainly didn't want to give up their hometown and family property and move to another place, but the scene described by Chen Qian also made them shudder. Especially with the previous experience of the Wuxing tyrants, this statement was not an exaggeration. "I am willing to follow the king to fight elsewhere, and stay here to be useful, waiting for the day when we can repel the powerful enemy and recover our hometown!"

After a period of silence, someone stood up and waved his arms to speak. They all thought clearly that although leaving their hometown temporarily would inevitably result in heavy losses, compared with losing their lives, the loss of some property was nothing. Moreover, the Tang army came this time for Hou Andu. After Hou Andu was killed, all kinds of unrest would surely come to a temporary end. It would be a more rational choice to temporarily leave Kuaiji, the center of the dispute, and go somewhere else to wait and see how the situation changes.

Since someone had made the decision, many other locals followed suit and chose to follow Chen Qian to avoid the crisis of war. Finally, some people who really couldn't bear to leave their hometowns and everything else, saw that they had become a stubborn minority, and after some hesitation and struggle, they also chose to follow Chen Qian.

However, after leaving Kuaiji, where should they move to? The people present had two different ideas. One was to take the route through Yuyao, Linhai and other places, sail out to the sea and temporarily live on the islands to avoid the war. The other was to flee southward by land to central Fujian, Lingnan and other places.

Of these two ideas, Chen Qian was more inclined to the former. Going to sea for temporary refuge was a plan he had considered when he was in Wuxing. However, there was a better option like Kuaiji at that time, so the group chose to go south. Now that Kuaiji was about to fall, the various advantages of going to sea that were considered before were highlighted again.

Moreover, judging from the situation of the Tang army moving southward, its efficiency in advancing on land was too high. They could only retreat on land and passively follow the enemy's force, like headless flies, with little chance to regain the initiative.

However, although the conditions for going to sea are more difficult, it is ultimately an area that the Tang army is not good at. Moreover, the sea is vast and there is no trace of coming and going, so it is impossible to defend against it. The initiative of whether to attack or retreat is completely in their hands. If the coastal people cooperate with them, it will definitely cause greater trouble and burden to the Tang army.

However, going to sea to escape disaster requires a certain amount of time to prepare personnel, supplies, and boats to cross the sea. Chen Qian could not guarantee that they could prepare all of this before the Tang army broke through the outer resistance and officially entered Kuaiji. Therefore, he could only order everyone to gather their clansmen as soon as possible and make preparations for both situations.

But just as they made the decision and were about to go home to prepare for the relevant matters, a new change occurred. A team of soldiers under Hou Andu hurried back to Shanyin from the Qiantang River front, searching the whole city for Chen Qian, the King of Linchuan. Along with them, there was also a shocking news that the Tang army also had a fleet and navy that had rushed in from the mouth of the Qiantang River, and was about to join forces with the land divisions and brigades to attack the Qiantang River defense line together!

After learning of this situation, Chen Qian and the other men of Kuaiji were all shocked, but compared to Hou Andu who was prepared to fight to the end, they were determined to leave. Although they were shocked, the main reason was that the news meant that they no longer had to prepare to escape by sea. The right thing to do was to escape by land as soon as possible while the river defenses had not been breached!

Although Hou Andu ordered the defenders in Shanyin City to detain Prince Linchuan in the city, Chen Qian had already reached a consensus with the people of Kuaiji and agreed to escape together. Moreover, the main forces under Hou Andu were still concentrated on the front line of river defense, and only a few were left in Shanyin City.

When these remaining troops were searching the whole city for Chen Qian, they were counterattacked by the various clans in the city. Not only did they fail to control Chen Qian, but they themselves became prisoners. The city was also controlled by Chen Qian and a group of big families in the city.

After Chen Qian and others captured the city, they naturally did not intend to stay there for a long time to operate. Instead, they quickly gathered up the various human resources in the city. While Hou Andu was still holding on to the front line, they plundered the city clean. Then, the next day, they abandoned the empty city and fled southward from Shanyin in a mighty manner.

When Hou Andu, who was on the front line of Jiang defense, heard about the sudden changes in the rear, he was so angry that he almost vomited blood. However, he had no time to criticize Chen Qian's treacherous behavior of cutting off the source of the problem. He could only concentrate all his energy on dealing with the tremendous pressure exerted by the Tang army.

Since Chen Qian deliberately concealed the changes in western Zhejiang, Hou Andu actually felt much greater pressure.

Although there were still tens of thousands of soldiers on the south bank of the Qiantang River, the news that Prince Linchuan and the soldiers of Kuaiji were smuggling people away in the rear had gradually spread, causing great chaos in the army. In addition, after the Tang army joined forces by land and sea, it was no longer hindered by the Qiantang River and launched a fierce attack to the south.

Moreover, the warships of the Tang army carried many Qiantang City defenders who had been abandoned on the north bank. They constantly cursed and denounced Hou Andu's brutal behavior and publicized the benevolent actions of the Tang army, making the defenders on the shore even more confused and lacking in fighting spirit.

At this time, the Qiantang River defense line carefully arranged by Hou Andu had been pushed to the extreme. When a light cavalry of the Tang army ran all the way from Xiahuai in the upper reaches of the Qiantang River to the lower reaches and appeared behind the river defense formation, it immediately became the last straw that broke the camel's back. The army fled and the defense line completely collapsed!
"Don't run, don't escape! Stop now, stop and continue killing the enemy!"

When Hou Andu saw the defense line collapse, his eyes suddenly became bloodshot. He waved the sword in his hand and shouted loudly, and ordered his personal soldiers to go forward to supervise the battle and kill the fleeing soldiers, trying to stabilize the battle line.

However, the personal soldiers realized that they were powerless, so they gathered around Hou Andu and loudly advised: "My lord, the situation is hopeless. Don't stay here and waste your efforts! Leave quickly before the Tang army enters here in large numbers. Although the situation here is hopeless, there is still room for growth in Lingnan.

In the past, when the former lord’s army went out of Lingnan, they could have established the kingdom of Jiangdong. The lord is already a hero of Lingnan, and now he has fought against a powerful enemy, and although he has been defeated, he has still won honor. If he returns home, his followers will surely line the streets to welcome him, and it is unknown whether he will make a comeback! "

"Time is not on my side, what can I do? How hateful, how hateful!"

Hou Andu saw that the Tang army's ships had begun to approach the south bank one after another, and the soldiers on the south bank's defense line were fleeing like ants encountering fire. So he could only sigh and hurriedly mount his horse with the help of his personal soldiers.

He had originally planned to gather some defeated soldiers along the way to serve as his troops and brigades as they retreated to Lingnan, but those defeated soldiers could no longer bear the desperate pressure and would not follow him anymore. So in the end, Hou An could only evacuate the battlefield in a panic with hundreds of his personal soldiers.

With the Qiantang River defense line breached, the Tang army was no longer blocked from moving southward. The captured boats were strung together to build a temporary floating bridge on the Qiantang River. Shi Ning then led the army straight south, pursuing the fleeing soldiers on the river bank while heading straight for Shanyin.

When Shi Ning led his army to Shanyin, Tian Hong, who had returned from the battle in Lingbian to join the war in the west, also continued to march eastward after occupying Dongyang. The two armies met in Kuaiji, and then continued to sweep the surrounding areas with Shanyin as the center, and finally completed the conquest and pacification of the entire Three Wu area before the military deadline issued by the court.

Since the Tang army had stayed in the north for quite some time before, their supplies were very sufficient. After conquering Kuaiji, they still had sufficient resources to continue the battle.

So after Shi Ning met up with Li Xun, the main general of the western route, he made a brief discussion and decided to report the results of the battle to the court and ask the court to appease and control the Three Wu areas. At the same time, he dispatched elite troops to continue pursuing the enemy along the route of their southward escape, in order to eradicate all evil and conquer Jiangdong in one fell swoop!