Wei Ni

The reason why Xiahou Ba asked for forgiveness was that the current situation in the four counties of Liaodong was very bad.

Except for Xuantu County in the north which is not near the sea, the other three counties were all affected by the war and suffered loss of territory and soldiers.

Because in this war, not only was the bandit Wu and Goguryeo united, but Goguryeo also sent envoys to the enemy country Han Ye to invite it to send troops together.

Let’s talk about the Jiangdong route first.

This time, Sun Quan followed Yang Xin's previous suggestion and attacked Liaodong with more than 8,000 naval forces in three routes.

The first group was composed of more than 3,000 people led by Yang Xin himself. They went upstream from the mouth of the Yalu River and joined forces with Goguryeo in Xi'anping County.

This place was guarded by Yang Zuo, a surrendered general from Liaodong, and Sima Gaolu, a border troop commander from Youzhou, with a force of about two thousand.

Compared with other counties, the defense is quite sufficient.

Because this place is a strategic location in Haidong, if it is occupied, Lelang County and Daifang County will be isolated and become enclaves. Yang Zuo and Gao Lu also paid great attention to defense, urging the soldiers to patrol and practice martial arts on a daily basis, and never slacked off.

However, no matter how careful they were, they could not make up for the disparity in military strength and being attacked from both sides.

When Yang Xin led his troops to plunder the south side of Xi'anping County and lured Yang Zuo to allocate half of his troops to Gao Lu to leave the city, he had already led 20,000 infantry and cavalry to lie dormant in the Goguryeo royal palace 30 miles north of the city, and then went down the river to besiege the city and attacked it with all his might.

Gao Lu, who had led his troops out, heard the news and hurried back to rescue, but was killed ten miles outside the city by the pursuing Wu soldiers and Goguryeo cavalry.

The thousand-man army led by Gao Lu was completely wiped out, and Yang Zuo was the only one left to defend the city with a thousand men. Because of the large enemy numbers and the lack of reinforcements, the city was captured and he was killed in just three days.

According to the previous agreement between Wu and Goguryeo, Yang Xin captured more than 3,000 civilians, took more than 500 Wei soldiers as captives, and returned with 500 war horses presented by Wei Gong.

After collecting the battlefield supplies and the city's floating treasures, Wei Gong withdrew his troops.

Because this was the agreement between him and Han Ye.

The two countries signed an alliance to stop fighting by giving Xi'anping County as a gift.

It was also he who persuaded Han Wei to be willing to send troops to attack Lelang and Daifang counties at the same time.

In Han Wei's eyes, as long as he sent troops to hold down Xi'an Ping, it would only be a matter of time before he swallowed up Lelang and Daifang counties.

Of course, Wei Gong's action was not out of kindness to help others.

He was taking advantage of Han Wei's greed to attract the attention of Wei's troops in Liaodong - he had already moved his troops to the upper reaches of Xiaoliaoshui (Hunhe River), waiting for troops from the western part of Liaodong to come to the rescue, and then he would directly charge into Xuantu County!
Xuantu County and the western part of Liaodong County, which had fertile arable land, were exactly what Goguryeo wanted, as it was surrounded by mountains and had little arable land.

In other words, Wei Gong's ambition was actually very great, and he wanted to swallow up all the territories east of the Liao River.

However, his ambition is difficult to achieve.

The other two armies of Wu also failed.

Captain Zhang Gang, who led his troops to plunder Pingguo County, was ambushed by troops led by Zhuge Dan, Wei Shu and others who were well prepared.

Not only did he surrender, but more than 700 of the 2,500 soldiers he led were killed in the battle, and nearly 1,000 surrendered while lying on the ground. Even the soldiers who stayed on the boats to guard the ship were captured before they could escape. Only 20 boats and more than 400 people escaped.

The situation was better for the captain Guan Du who led his troops to plunder Anshi County.

It might be because Guan Du was a pirate from Qingzhou and was used to escaping thousands of miles away if he failed to hit the target. So he was very cautious when he went ashore this time. He ordered all the ships to turn around and prepare for retreat before he led his troops to disembark and plunder.

Therefore, when Gongsun Yi led the White Horse Volunteers to intercept and kill, the Wu soldiers were able to fight and retreat, and were not frightened and rushed in panic.

By the time Liao Sui garrison commander Zhang Chi, who received the news a little later, arrived with his troops on ship, the Wu soldiers had already successfully retreated to the ship.

Zhang Chi was from Fanyang (Zhuo County) and was a member of the Youzhou frontier army. He worked for more than ten years and participated in the expedition to Liaodong before he became a general. Therefore, he was very eager for military achievements. When he saw that the Wu soldiers who did not have time to board the ship were slaughtered by the White Horse Volunteers, he thought that the Wu soldiers had lost their fighting spirit and ordered his troops to continue chasing them.

then
He was sunk and drowned before he could catch up with the enemy for ten miles.

After the battle, a count was made, and it was found that none of the Wu army's warships were lost and only about 500 soldiers were killed, wounded or captured. However, more than ten Wei army warships were sunk and more than 400 soldiers were drowned, so it was considered a defeat.

Therefore, Xiahou Ba, who was guarding the four counties of Liaodong, had no choice but to submit a letter of apology after receiving all the battle reports.

As for the request for help, it was to ask Emperor Cao Rui to use the Qingzhou troops to cross the sea to rescue Lelang and Daifang counties.

He knew that since Goguryeo had sent troops to attack Xi'anping, they would surely covet Xuantu County, so he divided two thousand soldiers and horses to assist Wang Qi, the governor of Xuantu, in garrisoning the county, and left another two thousand in the county to garrison, leaving only fifteen hundred soldiers and horses to go to Xi'anping.

Although Zhuge Dan, Sun Mi and Wei Shu will join along the way, with such a small force, it would be good enough to recapture Xi'anping, so how can we dare to ask for more?

After all, even if Xi'anping was recovered, troops would still be stationed there to guard against Goguryeo. Moreover, the troops of Liu Mao, the governor of Lelang, and Gong Zun, the governor of Daifang, only had more than a thousand men, and they could not hold out until Guanqiu Jian could dispatch troops to rescue them.

Well, Guanqiu Jian’s memorial has also arrived.

After learning about the military situation in Liaodong, he sent Zhang Hu and Qian Hong's cavalry to Xuantu County for reinforcement.

He was also preparing supplies and preparing for war, claiming that as long as the court allowed, he would not need reinforcements from the central army in Luoyang, and would only need to lead the troops from Youzhou to Liaodong in person to destroy Goguryeo that dared to provoke the Wei State.

Of course, we have to wait until next year to launch the crusade.

He knew that the four central states in the Central Plains were hit by severe floods, and he also knew that Jizhou and Qingzhou had no food or fodder to supply him. So, just to raise enough food and fodder, he would not be able to send troops this year.

Taiji Hall, East Hall.

After reading the two military reports, Xiahou Hui looked up at the inquiring gaze of Emperor Cao Rui and immediately saluted and said, "Your Majesty, I think the military situation is urgent and we should immediately send troops from Qingzhou to rescue us. I dare to recommend a man as a general. With only 3,000 soldiers, he will surely be able to rescue Lelang and Daifang!"

Unexpectedly, Cao Rui responded indifferently and asked casually, "Is it Zheng Gui?"

This also made Xiahou Hui slightly stunned, but he immediately said with sincere admiration, "That's right. Your Majesty is very observant, and I am just showing off my skills in front of an expert."

Zheng Gui was Zheng Zhou, a Wu surrenderer who was captured by Xiahou Hui.

Previously, he was in charge of transporting grain and fodder in the war against Liaodong, and had made great contributions. He was then transferred to Qingzhou to train the navy and build ships for the Wei State.

With his ability in naval warfare, he will surely arrive on time by sailing to Lelang and Daifang counties, and he can also take the opportunity to test how the navy soldiers under his command are trained.

"I have sent an envoy to Qingzhou."

Facing the praise, Cao Rui showed no joy, but just waved his hand and said, "I summoned Zhiquan here today, not to discuss war. I want to know, before Zhiquan returned from Liaodong, he talked to Zhonggong about setting up the Haidong Protectorate. How to implement it?"

Uh, I see.

You have already approved Guanqiu Jian's request to attack Goguryeo and Han Ye.

But Guanqiu Jian only mentioned in the above memorial that the army was sent out to show the country's power, so you want to know my previous strategy of "seeking profit".

Anyway, Guanqiu Jian was allowed to send troops.
If it can benefit the country, we will naturally do it.

"Your Majesty, what I am thinking of is different from the control of the Western Regions Chief Secretary's Office, and it is not the strategy of the former Han Dynasty to rule the barbarians with the barbarians."

Hearing this, Xiahou Hui, who understood the situation, replied without hesitation, "Because the four Liaodong counties are isolated from the Central Plains, it is very easy to breed unruly and disobedient bandits. Also, Goguryeo has always relied on its remoteness to refuse to submit, and since the previous dynasty, it has never given up its intention to invade our Chinese territory. Therefore, what I am thinking of is to first send a large army to destroy their country, destroy their state, and end their sacrifices; then set up a protectorate to control them, and gradually nibble away at them, changing their customs and habits. In the hope that after a hundred years, they will no longer regard themselves as barbarians. I have three specific plans for how to do this."

"The first is to divide the power."

"When the army destroys their country, we can move all those who refuse to submit to Qingzhou or Xuzhou and make them into soldiers. We can use their lives in war and their labor in farming. For those who are willing to submit, we can follow the example of Emperor Gao of the Han Dynasty who divided the nobles of the Tian clan of Qi into eight tribes and changed their surnames from the first to the eighth. We can give them surnames and set up counties to establish rules and regulations, and force them to follow the customs of the Central Plains."

"The second one is the real border."

"According to the example of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, prisoners, criminals, slaves and servants were moved to the border areas; or soldiers were recruited to settle down by granting land to redeem their lives. If the people are healthy, there will be enough food, and if there is enough food, the army can stay for a long time and prevent the remnants from rising again."

"The third is to encourage commerce."

"Before the expeditionary army sets out, we can use the bribes of precious goods, gold and silver and precious toys from the royal family of Goguryeo and the nobles of Hanye as inducements to recruit private merchants to voluntarily supply grain. This will save the country's expenses and allow the army to focus on the war. After conquering the country and the army returns, we can follow the merchants' nature of seeking profit and abolish the customs duties of Qingzhou to Liaodong and Haidong. We can sell rare and precious things such as ginseng, martens, red jade, beautiful pearls, beak bows, banded fish skins, fruit horses, and fine-tailed chickens from Haidong to induce merchants to voluntarily supply the Protectorate so that the army will not lack for them."

After all his eloquent remarks, Cao Rui remained silent.

This is also to be expected.

To the emperor and the ministers in the court, the territories occupied by Goguryeo and Han Ye were barren and wild with numerous mountains and long roads, just like worn-out shoes.

Rather than stationing troops to occupy the land, it would be more cost-effective to enthrone the old chiefs and ask them to pay tribute regularly.

Moreover, Xiahou Hui's proposal to set up the Haidong Protectorate for control would require gradual encroachment and would not be effective without decades of effort. At a time when Shu and Wu are still rebellious, the gains would not outweigh the losses.

It was inevitable that Cao Rui disagreed.

Xiahou Hui also knew this and had already prepared a plan to impress Cao Rui.

"Your Majesty, I know that the strategy I just proposed will not be effective for decades or even a hundred years. I also know that for the Wei Kingdom, the most important thing now is to destroy Shu and Wu. We should not add to the chaos in the court because of the Haidong issue."

He said this with a generous tone, "However, Your Majesty, my policy does not consume the national treasury, nor does it require the Central Plains soldiers to work harder. Now that the northern border of our Wei State is peaceful and the barbarians are obedient, the northern soldiers are free. Why not use them to expand the border and show the power of the Wei Dynasty? Moreover, I, Hui, secretly believe that if this feat is accomplished, Your Majesty will be remembered for generations!" (End of this chapter)