Northern Dynasties

On the third day after Zhao Gang and others captured Yiyang City, Li Tai finally led the rear troops to Yiyang.

Zhao Gang, Hou Zhi and other generals led the crowd to welcome Li Tai into the city, while Quan Jingxuan led his headquarters to the south to pursue the defeated Xiahou Clan. The three passes of Yiyang.

Since Yiyang City was not captured after a fierce siege, the city defense facilities could basically remain intact. Li Tai didn't need to camp outside the city, and could directly enter the city for a rest.

But after entering the city, he didn't have time to sit idle, but quickly understood the current situation.

Although Xia Houqiang, the original city lord, fled, it did not mean that the situation in Yiyang had stabilized.

Because this guy really sent someone to collude with Murong Shaozong as Li Tai expected, and just yesterday, Murong Shaozong sent his generals to lead a thousand elite soldiers to Yiyang for reinforcements together with Xia Houqiang's envoy.

Zhao Gang pretended to respond, and sent troops to kill him in the river, but the enemy cavalry discovered the traces left by the East Jingzhou troops when they stayed on the north bank of the Huai River, and became suspicious. Seeing that the enemy was outnumbered, the reinforcements sent by Zong immediately gave up the rescue and turned back. As for the envoy sent by Xia Houqiang to Xuanhu to contact and surrender, they were thrown on the north bank of the Huai River and captured by Zhao Gang.

When Li Tai heard this, he immediately became interested, and immediately ordered the envoy to be brought into the hall, and interrogated himself.

The reason why he continued to march eastward and capture Yiyang was essentially because he was afraid of Murong Shaozong. Now he happened to catch a man who had just returned from Xuanhu where Murong Shaozong's army was stationed. Of course he wanted to inquire about the latest situation of his army .

This messenger named Xia Houping was in his early thirties, he was a descendant of Xiahou Qiang, when he was led to the hall, he was still trembling with fear and he was hesitating when speaking.

It wasn't until Li Tai said that if what he explained was helpful to the military, he would be spared his death, Xia Houping's speech became fluent.But even so, what Li Tai listened to was just a bunch of nonsense with little information. As for the situation of Murong Shaozong's power that he was concerned about, there was almost nothing.

Thinking about it, this is normal. Even if a person who has not undergone systematic reconnaissance training enters an enemy city, he can see nothing more than how fucking crowded the city is. It is difficult to observe and summarize something of real value.

What's more, Xia Houping was just an envoy sent by external forces. Although he lived in Xuanhu City for a while, he probably had no contact with any important personnel.

After some interrogation and conversation, Li Tai only summed up two valuable pieces of information.

The first is that the reason why Murong Shaozong's reinforcements came late was because after Xiahouping went to Xuanhu to submit the letter of surrender, Murong Shaozong sent his staff to Yedu to ask for instructions. After Xia Houqiang's letter of conferment, Murong Shaozong arranged for Xia Houping to return to Yiyang with the reinforcements. As a result, the fighters were missed in vain, and the city was captured by Zhao Gang and others.

The situation on the battlefield changes rapidly, so as the general of the army, he often needs to have a certain degree of autonomy to adapt to changes.

However, after Murong Shaozong received the letter of surrender, he needed to send someone to Yedu to ask for instructions, and he could only proceed with the operation after receiving permission. It can be seen that although he was left in Henan, his own power was greatly reduced.

It can also be extended from this. In Gao Cheng's view, the war in Henan is over, and there is no need to continue to retain some of Murong Shaozong's wartime powers. Keeping him in Henan is just to use his prestige to frighten Xiaoxiao, not to appoint him to take advantage of it. Nanliang was in chaos and continued to expand its territory to the south.

Li Tai didn't know the position of Murong Shaozong staying in Henan before, but after learning about this, he also figured it out. Although Murong Shaozong is fierce, he still wears a bridle on his head now.

Although counting the time, this bridle is almost about to be smashed, but it still takes a certain amount of time for such a secret to be passed on to Murong Shaozong.

The second point is that according to Xia Houping's account, although Murong Shaozong's troops were stationed in Xuanhu, they did not do much repairs and maintenance to the city itself.The city was a bit disorganized, and some Henan Huaibei tyrants led their troops to seek refuge. As a result, because the city was already full of soldiers and civilians, they had to set up temporary camps outside the city.

Murong Shaozong is a well-known general in the world, so it is obvious that this kind of loose military discipline and lax military management will not happen.But there is only one possibility for him to sit in Xuanhu and not build it up, that is, he has no intention of staying in Xuanhu for a long time at all, so there is no point in wasting manpower and material resources in this city.

Henan has been fighting for a long time and has withered, and it is not enough to support the army in a short period of time, while Mianbei is well-equipped, which makes Murong Shaozong be afraid of it.Now that the army has entered Xuanhu, but there is still no plan to stay there for a long time, then the place Murong Shaozong really wants to go to is naturally ready to be revealed.

Before Hou Jing was defeated in Nanben, he recuperated for several months after arriving in Shouyang, and then brazenly raised his troops and went directly across the river to Jiankang.Although his people raised troops in Huainan, it wasn't long before Huainan was really damaged by military disasters. Hou Jing quickly crossed the south of the Yangtze River, and all the people in Huainan were also attracted to the surrounding areas of Jiankang.

During the period when Hou Jingbing was besieging Taicheng, many states and counties in Huainan submitted forms of surrender to the Eastern Wei Dynasty. There was also an endless stream of Changguan town generals who surrendered to the Eastern Wei Dynasty.

Zhongli, the important town in Huainan, Shouyang, the hometown of Hou Jing, and Hefei not long ago, almost all belonged to the Eastern Wei Dynasty.Li Tai still needs Yang Zhong, a powerful general, to attack Handong, but the Eastern Wei Dynasty hardly sent any troops, and most of Huainan was almost already in his pocket.

Of course, this kind of rule is just like the Handong conquered by Li Taiqian. It is not reliable in itself. Only a few special people and places sent people to receive them.

But in any case, today's Huainan area is completely undefended against the Eastern Wei Dynasty, but there are no powerful generals in charge to consolidate the rule of the Eastern Wei Dynasty.Judging from Murong Shaozong's performance, he is undoubtedly very interested in this, but he is still a little hesitant because he has not received formal authorization from Gao Cheng.

Now Yiyang, the west gate of Huainan, was also taken over by Li Tai, which further reduced the choices Murong Shaozong could make. Huainan was almost the only choice for Murong Shaozong to maintain the size of the current subordinate team and continue to expand his power.

Thinking of this, Li Tai couldn't help but rejoice that compared to Murong Shaozong, he had more autonomy.Although the Taiwan government didn't give him much assistance, at this stage, it entrusted all the military and political affairs in the southeast to the Jingzhou General Manager's Office, allowing him to formulate and execute plans more flexibly, and seized Yiyang before Murong Shaozong.

This also made him gradually feel that in the process of confronting Murong Shaozong, the veteran general, the initiative had begun to favor him.The choices Murong Shaozong can make in the future are gradually restricted, which means that he will move forward passively as if by fate.

After understanding the opponent's situation, Li Tai did not continue to make a decision on the next step, but made another inventory of the manpower and material resources he could mobilize at the moment.

He entered Yiyang this time and led [-] cavalry. Before that, Zhao Gang led [-] elite soldiers over the mountain. Hou Zhi and Quan Jingxuan combined nearly [-] people. Two thousand fine cavalry attacked the three passes of Yiyang.

This time the attack on Yiyang and the three passes to the south mobilized a total of more than [-] men and horses, but after Yang Zhong and others conquered the three passes, Li Tai could use more than this, and those who were collected and captured in Yiyang There are nearly [-] people.

Although these troops are not particularly large, they are enough for another large-scale battle in Huainan today.

In addition to the capture of personnel, Zhao Gang also reported to Li Taizu about other gains after capturing Yiyang City.

Xia Houqiang was appointed by Liu Zhongli as the governor of Sizhou to sit in Yiyang for more than two months. During this period, a lot of exploitation and expropriation was also collected, and a considerable amount of property was collected, most of which were stored in Jincheng.

Zhao Gang rushed to Jincheng to guard and resist at the beginning of the seizure of the city. Except for the two warehouses in Luocheng that were looted by rebels, all the materials stored in Jincheng were seized and preserved.Among them, there are more than [-] stones of grain alone, and other goods are also in considerable quantities.

Li Tai couldn't help being overjoyed when he learned of this situation. What really made him happy was not the value of the goods themselves, but because with this batch of goods, he didn't need to buy them again. The northland transfers materials, and the next step can be directly planned in Yiyang.

"Zhao Cheqi's attack on Yiyang City is very brave! It is even rarer to recruit such a considerable number of people and things for me. If Huainan can build something this time, Cheqi will be the first!"

Li Tai did not hesitate to praise Zhao Gang for creating such a good situation for him, and he was very grateful that he got Zhao Gang from Wang Sizheng at that time, otherwise how could he be so powerful now!
Zhao Gang did not respond to this compliment, but asked in a deep voice: "May I ask what the manager is going to build here? Now that the new attachment to the Eastern Han Dynasty has not yet been decided, and the property is still eccentric..."

"The situation in Eastern Han is swaying, of course I will not ignore it. However, the enemy of Eastern Han is not in the field, but in the heart. Today, the Southern Liang Dynasty has self-destructed its system. Although there are many clans, they are all unbearable. In a country where the east is strong and the west is weak, it has been established for a long time, and the swaying crowd will inevitably flatter the strong and make big things. If the rules are strictly enforced, they will go against us and join the enemy, but if they are indulged a little, they will breed arrogance."

Li Tai also thought about this very clearly. After hearing Zhao Gang's reminder, he said: "Murong Shaozong is famous among the thieves, and he is still in Runan, and he has already seduced people. If he enters Huainan again , it will be more beneficial to the treacherous hearts of the four quarters. The only plan now, to kill him before it is about to come, is once and for all!"