lady, please calm down

The water network in the south of the Yangtze River is dense, and the Huaibei Army is a heavy-duty army with countless loaded vehicles and horses, which is not conducive to marching.

But on the 28th, after capturing Dan Tu, the situation changed.

The river from Dantu to the south leads directly to Lin'an. It is the section with the best water transportation conditions and the widest river surface among the thousand-mile canal.

On the 29th, Huaibei's 40,000-strong army marched together along both sides of the canal, loaded their baggage onto boats and sailed down the river.

There are already speedways on both sides of the canal, and with the added convenience of saving the burden of carrying baggage, the canal has become a highway.

They conquered Danyang on the 30th and occupied Jinling on the third day of the lunar month. In just three or four days, the Huaibei army marched more than 300 miles and conquered three cities in a row.

The Zhou army, which had no intention of fighting, almost ran away.

Subsequently, Pingjiang Prefecture on the march route of the Huaibei Army finally reacted. Wang Rihuan, the transfer envoy of East Zhejiang Road and the prefect of Pingjiang, ordered people to scuttle more than ten ships, large and small, in the canal upstream of Pingjiang Prefecture, hoping to block the river and delay the advance of the Huaibei Army. speed.

At this time, the Huaibei Army's tactics were very clear. The canal was used as the blood vessel to ensure the army's food and grass equipment marching on land; the armies on both sides were used as the backbone to support the water transportation route and protect the safety of the food road.

The two complemented each other to ensure the rapid march of the Huaibei Army.

Wang Rihuan's method of blocking the river is a good method. It is said that the other party will spend ten days and a half to clean the river.

But it didn't have much effect on the Huaibei Army, where firearms were prevalent.

On the sixth day of September, the vanguard of the army found that the river was blocked and did not even stop marching. They only sent out the water ghost battalion of the navy to dive and place gunpowder.

In just over an hour, the ship that sank at the bottom of the river was blown to pieces, and the pieces of the wreckage surfaced one after another and floated downstream along the river.
On the same day, Wang Rihuan led the defenders, officials, family members and a small number of gentry to retreat to Xiuzhou downstream before the Huaibei Army arrived.

If local officials abandon the city and fail to defend it, even if they can return to Lin'an alive, they will inevitably be punished.

However, Pingjiang Civil and Military Affairs rarely had an absolutely unified opinion on the withdrawal of troops.
Whether it was the Huaibei Army's victory in a fierce battle with Jin Xia under the walls of Tokyo, or the Huaibei Army's performance in Huainan, Jiangning, and Dantu, they all understood the truth. The "city wall" that has been the defensive side's greatest reliance for thousands of years, in the Huaibei Army In front of the thunder cannon, there is no meaning anymore.

Without the advantage of the city wall, if you want to defeat the Huaibei Army by field battles or street fighting, you might as well hope that the thunder from the sky will kill the King of Jin directly.

It was not only the civil and military forces of Pingjiang who were afraid of facing the Huaibei Army in a head-on field battle. At this time, the entire Zhou army and people had the ideological stamp of "Huaibei is invincible" in their hearts.

But compared to "serving the Huaibei Army as a heavenly soldier", another situation was more troublesome. Before Wang Rihuan withdrew southward, he encouraged the people in the city to flee southward with him, but very few responded.

Even most of the wealthy gentry in the city chose to stay, and only a few gentry with official background chose to follow him south.
There is absolutely no scene like the people in the Central Plains dragging their families and their families to flee south with the Zhou army during Ding Wei.

It is not difficult to understand this matter. For many years, the Huaibei army has maintained unparalleled military discipline in the world, and Huainan and Jiangning have quickly restored normal order. These are examples.

The reputation of "Don't demolish your house to death, don't steal food to death" has already spread throughout the south of the Yangtze River.

Since the change of ownership in Pingjiang does not affect everyone's lives, who would want to abandon their family and career and become a homeless man without roots.

Wang Rihuan, who did not panic even when the Huaibei army went south, was severely hit when he realized that the people had alienated the Lin'an court.

On the eighth day of September, Wang Rihuan fled to Xiuzhou, a hundred and fifty miles away.

In Xiuzhou City, there were 5,000 troops brought by Wang Rihuan, plus the original 3,000 garrison troops, and the 6,000 forbidden troops brought by the supervisor Hu Zan from Lin'an, for a total of 14,000 troops.

Seems to be capable of fighting.

But when the three met for the first time that day, the atmosphere was gloomy and gloomy, as if it was the end of the world.

Song Yuchi, the magistrate of Xiuzhou, heard that there were more than 40,000 Huaibei troops. He was as anxious as an ant on a hot pot. He couldn't help but confirm to Hu Zan who came from Lin'an: "Hu Neiguan, Lin'an really only sent 6,000 reinforcements? No follow-up reinforcements?"

Hu Zan was originally the eunuch in charge of the imperial city. This time he took on the role of supervising the army and leading the northern reinforcements because he was pushed away by Emperor Zhou. He had never experienced such a battle. He heard that Song Yuchou was dissatisfied with the lack of reinforcements. He couldn't help but explain: "Lin'an is also difficult. Now our Jinghu soldiers, who are the most skilled in fighting in the Great Zhou Dynasty, are pinned down on the Ezhou and Huangshi lines and cannot move. The other armies have to set up defenses along the coast to prevent the Huaibei navy from crossing the sea to land and sneak attack on our rear. Lin’an doesn’t have many troops left.”

The south of the Yangtze River is densely populated. On this basis, the Lin'an Dynasty has 800,000 Xiang troops and forbidden troops.

After deducting the empty quota, there are about 500,000 sergeants, and after deducting the old, weak and poorly armed troops stationed in various areas, the number of elites that can be mobilized is only over 200,000.

Among them, nearly centaurs were attracted by Jiang Huaixiong near Ezhou in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River. Once these people returned to aid the capital, Jiang Huaixiong would definitely take the opportunity to cross south and form a pincer attack from the east and west with the King of Jin's group.

Ordinarily, there are a lot of hundreds of thousands of people left, but since the Lin'an navy was completely wiped out by Shi Dalang's navy in a battle last year, the Lin'an court has had to deploy a large number of elite forces along the coast of the two Zhejiang roads to prevent the Huaibei flood. The army landed in the rear.

In short, the Lin'an Dynasty lost its sea power, and the thousands of miles of coast became a flat road for the Huaibei army to enter and exit at will.

Last year, the Huaibei navy blocked Qiantang Bay for several months, which caused a huge psychological shadow on Emperor Zhou.

So much so that when Emperor Zhou clung to the 60,000 imperial troops stationed in Lin'an and sent Hu Zan to Xiuzhou to take charge, he would have almost let Hu Zan come alone as a polished commander if not for the persuasion of his ministers.

Song Yuchou also understood the current situation, but his strong fear still made him complain: "If Xiuzhou is lost, the Huaibei Army can reach Lin'an City! The 300,000 Jin-Xia Allied Forces were defeated by the Huaibei Army at the foot of Tokyo City , How can we defend it with 14,000 soldiers? Even 140,000 soldiers may not be able to do so. Isn’t this just asking the soldiers to die?”

"Hey, Mr. Song, don't let others gain prestige and destroy your own ambition!"

Wang Rihuan said.

In addition to the prefect of Pingjiang, he also served as the transfer envoy to eastern Zhejiang. He was the boss of Song Yuchou. Song Yuchou glanced at the former and held back his words. My lord, as the defender of Suzhou, you, the company and the Huaibei Army You came to Xiuzhou without even having the courage to fight. You have the nerve to ask me, where is your ambition?
But it was Shangguan after all. Song Yuchou sighed and said: "My lord Wang, I am not timid to be a subordinate. However, the power of the army in Huaibei is well known to the world! I can only die to repay the kindness of my country, but my country, the Zhou Dynasty, is in danger! I know that I can't do anything." To do this is not to be loyal and brave. The only plan for now is to negotiate peace and wait for our country to reorganize its military preparations before we have a chance. At first, some sycophants in the court deceived Your Majesty with slanderous words and sent troops to attack Huaibei without authorization. Now they have slowed down. How could you not avenge this! Whoever instigated your Majesty to send troops should be here to take charge!"

Song and Zhou became more and more explicit. Last year, such a major event as the Zhou army sent to Huaibei did not follow the normal process. Instead, after a small group of Zhou Emperor, Qin Huizhi, Wan Qixi and others made the decision, Wang Shu and Wan Qixi carried out this plan secretly.

If the war goes well, the Emperor of Zhou will naturally be favored, the Prime Minister of Qin will be known as the strategist, and everyone will follow suit.

However, this farce ended in a shocking way. Zhou Jun went to Huaibei for a round, but failed to get any results and even provoked the Huaibei Tigers. Now all of Huaibei has entered a wartime state. The military is united and everything is war. Serve.

Lin'an Dynasty was naturally embarrassed.

Wang Rihuan glanced at Hu Zan quickly and said quickly: "Master Song, be careful what you say!"

Like Song Yuchou, there are many Zhou ministers who are full of resentment, but at this time, after all, the internal officials are present. If you criticize Huaihuai like this, aren't you afraid of dealing with you afterwards?
However, Song Yuchou did not accept Shangguan's kindness. Instead, he became even more excited and said: "Since that gentleman dared to lead the navy to attack Huaibei in person, how could he not dare to lead the army to Xiuzhou himself now! He had his pants down, but he wanted to The whole city's soldiers and civilians will wipe it for him!"

This time he spoke more directly, and even Hu Zan had an angry expression.

For this mission of leading troops to support Xiuzhou, the emperor originally appointed Wan Qixi. After all, it was he who jumped up and down last year to convince Emperor Zhou to send troops. He could wipe his own poop and there was nothing wrong with him.

But this kid, who promised so impassionedly at court, suddenly fell ill when he got home after going to court!

This disease came at the right time!
Therefore, this unfortunate task fell to Hu Zan.

Therefore, Hu Neiguan's dislike for Master Wanqi was no less than that of Song Yucai.

Seeing the appearance of the two of them, Wang Rihuan couldn't help but secretly thought: This time, Prime Minister Qin's prestige is not as good as before.
War has always been the fastest way for dynasty leaders to gain prestige; but if they fail, their prestige will collapse just as quickly.

At present, Song Yuchou does not dare to directly disrespect His Majesty, who is gifted with imperial power, and Prime Minister Qin, who has been the prime minister for many years, but the buff on Qin Prime Minister's arms on Wan Qixi has become a negative influence.

Wang Rihuan waited quietly for Song Yuchou to finish complaining, and finally brought the conversation back to the main topic, "Hu Neiguan, when you set off from Lin'an, how many of King Qin's troops arrived in Lin'an?"

Speaking of this, Hu Zan sighed, "On the second day of September, more than 30,000 people gathered outside Lin'an City, but when we set off, there were probably less than 20,000 people left."

"Why are there fewer and fewer?"

Wang Rihuan was surprised, but Hu Zan said: "At the end of August, there were more than 30,000 militiamen organized by officials and gentry from Muzhou, Quzhou, Chuzhou, etc. outside Lin'an City. Due to the fall of Jiangning, the atmosphere in Lin'an The officials, gentry and common people are all hoarding food, so that the price of food has skyrocketed, and the government has no food to allocate the army of Qin Wang."

Before Hu Zan finished speaking, Wang Rihuan said in disbelief: "There is no food in the court? How can there be no food in the court! Where is the food stored in the east and west warehouses in the city?"

Hu Zan seemed to have guessed that Wang Rihuan would ask this question, but he still looked constipated. After a long time, he explained: "There are millions of soldiers and civilians in the city, and the grain stored in the two warehouses must not be touched lightly. If Lin'an is really destroyed in the future, We need to save our lives with that food."

"."

Wang Rihuan couldn't accept the reason that things were urgent, but when he looked at Hu Zan's hesitant expression, he probably guessed something. Song Yuchou was an outspoken person, so he sneered and said, "I've heard long ago that when the Huaibei navy blocked Qiantang Bay last year, some people took advantage of the high grain prices and smuggled the grain in the two warehouses to the market. Sold. I'm afraid the shortfall has not been made up yet. There is no food in the two warehouses, so naturally there is no food to allocate to the king's army outside the city."

Although Wang Rihuan didn't specify it clearly, it was similar to what Song Yuchou had guessed, and he couldn't help but feel a sense of powerlessness.

As a chamberlain, Hu Zan wanted to defend the court and His Majesty, and said hurriedly: "It's not that there was no allocation at all. On the first day of September, Your Majesty still ordered people to raise more than two thousand stones of food and grass and allocated it. But"

Speaking of this, Hu Zan showed an angry look on his face, "However, the 7,000 mountain Vietnamese soldiers recruited from the prefecture did not know how to sympathize with the hardships of the court, and despised the moldy military rations, so they sent troops to plunder outside the city."

"It's just a small amount of military rations, but you're still giving old or moldy food?"

If he was surprised just now, Wang Rihuan is now angry. The Shanyue people have always been unruly and unruly. They can't even guarantee basic food and clothing after recruiting people. It's strange that they don't make trouble!
"It's not all moldy food. Mr. Wang also knows that the rainy season has been continuous some time ago, and there is nothing that can be done about the food being slightly moldy."

In order to protect the face of the court, Hu Zan could only defend himself. Then, in order to prove that the Shanyue soldiers were more guilty, he said: "There is something wrong. They can go to the court to express their opinions. How can I say anything?" If they don't agree, they will plunder! Moreover, the Shanyue barbarians killed Dong Yuanwai when they were robbing food outside the city. Dong Yuanwai was the uncle of Mr. Dong Sixian, the doctor of Zuo Jianyi."

After hearing this, Wang Rihuan lost interest and said with waning interest, "What happened afterwards?"

"Afterwards, the Shanyue soldiers returned to Chuzhou privately."

During the current war, such troubles still occurred in Lin'an City. Hu Zan was also embarrassed for the court, but in order to maintain the majesty of the court, he still added: "When the war subsides in the future, Your Majesty will send troops to exterminate these ignorant barbarians! "

Wang Rihuan, who had always maintained a gentle appearance, finally couldn't stand listening anymore. He slapped the table and shouted: "The future? This time the Huaibei Army goes south, our country is in danger of being destroyed! Where can we get the future!"

Hu Zan had a soft personality, otherwise the errands that were avoided by the civil and military officials would not have fallen on him. At this time, seeing Wang Rihuan getting angry, he was so frightened that he quickly stopped talking.

The hall fell silent for a moment, Hu Zan hunched his shoulders like a quail, and his eyes turned red without realizing it. However, he suddenly made a deep bow to Wang Rihuan and murmured: "Master Wang, since I was a child, You also know the situation in the DPRK. Even if your Majesty is determined to do something, you will not be able to do it. It is not easy for your Majesty. In the autumn of life and death, I hope that you will hold the Huaibei army in Xiuzhou for sixty days, waiting for the reinforcements from Sichuan to arrive."

Hu Zan said that Emperor Zhou had nothing to do. Although it was not entirely true, there was a reason. After all, the power of Qin Hui as the sole prime minister of the three palaces was not because Emperor Zhou loved Qin Prime Minister too much.

The reason why Prime Minister Qin's family is the largest is that after the imperial court moved south, he was the only one who could talk to the Kingdom of Jin.

Nowadays, although the Kingdom of Jin is also trapped outside the pass and lingering, the Prime Minister of Qin has been operating for many years and his influence is spread throughout the court and army. Emperor Zhou really has nothing to do with him.

Hu Zan was a chamberlain, a domestic servant of Emperor Zhou. His words would naturally speak for Emperor Zhou, and he also had the intention of passing the blame on Emperor Zhou's behalf.

Wang Rihuan thought quietly for a few breaths, and finally sighed: "There is no danger to defend near Xiuzhou. If we want to stop the Huaibei army here, there is only one plan, but this method will harm Tianhe. If the world's public opinion surges afterwards, Hu Can the internal officials withstand it?"

Although Hu Zan was very respectful to Wang Rihuan, he was the highest official in Xiuzhou with the imperial mandate. At this time, when he heard Wang Rihuan say that there was a way to stop the Huaibei army, he said without thinking: "Master Wang, just talk , As long as we can keep Lin safe and your majesty safe, our family can handle anything!"

"it is good!"

Wang Rihuan was a little surprised at Hu Zan's loyalty. He looked at him carefully before whispering, "If we dig to Hetang, we can stop the Huaibei army."

"My lord, no!"

Before Hu Zan could react, Song Yuchi stood up in shock.

Zhihetang is called Tang, but it is a river.

Located in the northeast of Xiuzhou, digging the river may prevent the Huaibei army from going south, but Jiashan, Pinghu, and Jinshan under Xiuzhou are all downstream of Zhihetang. This is a way to injure the enemy by eight hundred and lose one thousand.

But Wang Rihuan silenced Song Yuchou with one sentence, "Sir Song, which one is more important among the five counties under Xiuzhou's rule and Lin'an!"

Here, Hu Zan finally understood why Wang Rihuan just said, "Can Hu Neiguan withstand it?" '

Now the Huaibei Army is less than a hundred miles away from Xiuzhou, and it will take more than a day to reach the city.

Under such circumstances, there was no time to organize the people to evacuate. Although digging the river was a last resort, the population under Xiuzhou was densely populated and there were many gentry. Flooding them would have successfully stopped the Huaibei Army. Afterwards, he might not be able to Can withstand the anger of the people of Xiuzhou.

The meaning of Wang Rihuan's words was to ask Hu Zan to personally give the order to dig the river.

Hu Zan had even thought that if the court could not withstand the turbulent public opinion between the government and the public in the future, his dead eunuch would definitely be used to vent the anger of the people. Wang Rihuan could have said that he was unaware or was forced by Hu's internal officials.

Damn Wang Rihuan!

Hu Zan cursed in his heart, and then carefully adjusted his robes, only to see him suddenly kneeling facing south, and performed a meticulous kneeling ceremony.

After the ceremony, Hu Zan raised his head with tears streaming down his face. He only heard his final wishes from a distance: "Long live my emperor. May my emperor eliminate the traitors in the court and strive for strength! One day, I will definitely return to the Central Plains and regain Tokyo!"

These words are like explaining the aftermath.

Even Wang Rihuan, who did not forget to seek his own life when seeking his country, was slightly moved, and even felt a little ashamed.

After Hu Zan kowtowed to the south again, he stood up and patted the dust on his knees. Then he turned to Wang Rihuan and said, "Master Wang, our family will bring the imperial army to Hetang to stop the Huaibei Army at the foot of Xiuzhou City on the 60th. The task is left to you!”

Wang Rihuan quickly returned the gift solemnly.

In the afternoon of the eighth day of the lunar month, Hu Zan climbed onto the Zhihetang Dam with determination.

By the evening, the Zhihetang River embankment collapsed due to human damage.
In July and August, it is the rainy season on East Zhejiang Road, and the water accumulated in the river channel instantly looks like a giant dragon that has broken free of its restraints.

In just half a quarter of an hour, the gap that was originally less than one foot was washed away into a gap that was fifty or sixty steps wide.

The river surges out wildly
At first, as expected, the river quickly overflowed in both directions.

If this development continues, by the time the Huaibei Army arrives, a huge swamp area will form in front of Xiuzhou, stretching from the sea to the east and Taihu Lake to the west.

The men and horses will be unable to move even an inch.

However, maybe it happened in a hurry and Hu Zan did not measure carefully in the future, or maybe it was God's will.

The flood that spread to the west stopped abruptly when it encountered the canal. It only submerged the east bank of the canal and then stopped moving forward. Instead, it rolled back towards Xiuzhou with a more ferocious attitude.

That night, the flood poured into Xiuzhou, and then rushed all the way to the sea.

Several counties east of Xiuzhou were swept by floods.

What was once a prosperous land of fish and rice suddenly became a vast ocean.
At noon on the ninth day of the ninth lunar month, Chen Chu led his army to Xutang Town in the north of Xiuzhou. When he climbed up and took a look, he saw that the west bank of the canal was quiet as usual, but the east bank was a marshy country. He couldn't help but be stunned, "Whose brilliant idea came up with this?" idea?"

Beside him, Han Shizhong looked down at the west bank of the canal where troops could still march, and laughed out loud, "They are going to die in front of us if they don't agree with each other, hahaha."

The eldest son had no idea what the other party was doing and couldn't help but said, "Are they trying to scare us?"

"Well, I asked if we were afraid of drowning ourselves, hahaha." Han Shizhong said, rubbing his belly.

"Then shall we attack Xiuzhou?"

"What a slap in the face!"

Han Shizhong replied, then looked at Chen Chu with a smile, "Your Majesty, let's not fight now!"

"Well, let's take a detour to the west bank and keep moving forward! General Han"

"The general is here!"

"This place is less than two hundred miles away from Lin'an. I order your troops to arrive at the outskirts of Lin'an before dawn on the ninth day of the lunar month to guard the entire army!"

"The last general takes command!" (End of this chapter)