Northern Prefecture Rivers and Mountains

Chapter 334 Abandon

The black smoke from Fuzhou Mountain quickly drifted into Jiankang City with the northeast wind.

Instead of panic, people in the city cheered and rejoiced.

In the year Huan Xuan ascended the throne, he found himself in a difficult position, disliked by everyone from the powerful families, the Northern Army, and the common people. Even the Buddhist and Taoist sects broke with him because of his fickle nature.

Huan Xuan was a very unpopular emperor.

At first, he pretended to reform the government, but when he encountered setbacks and resistance, he reverted to his old ways, indulging in extravagant construction projects and pleasure-seeking.

Therefore, when Liu Yu marched from Jingkou, the people's hearts immediately began to stir.

Inside the palace, Huan Xuan was anxiously awaiting the battle report.

But upon seeing the black smoke rising from the direction of Fuzhou Mountain to the north, and hearing the cheers from within the city, a chill ran through him.

Feng Gai, Fu Hong, and Huangfu Fu joined forces with 50,000 elite troops, but they were all defeated by Liu Yu's 4,000 men. Now, how could these 20,000 to 30,000 rabble be a match for Liu Yu?
Others may not know Liu Yu's abilities, but Huan Xuan knows them best. The reason he didn't kill him was because he admired Liu Yu's martial prowess and planned to use him for his own purposes during the future Northern Expedition.

Now, however, he can only swallow the bitter fruit he himself sowed.

"There are still several thousand imperial guards in Jiankang City, and eight hundred archers in the palace. We only need to hold them off for two days, and once the defeated troops return, we can regroup and start anew!"

Yin Zhongwen earnestly advised him.

"Tens of thousands of elite troops are useless, so what about thousands of Imperial Guards? Can they stop that fierce tiger? Alas, we should never have chosen this place as our capital. If the capital had been in Wuchang or Jiangling, would we have suffered this disaster today?" Huan Xuan sighed repeatedly.

Wuchang was built by Sun Quan, and the Eastern Wu once moved its capital here.

Later, Wang Dun rebelled, using this place as his base before storming Jiankang.

Huan Xuan's power base was in the Western Regions, but his capital was located in Jiangdong. He believed that his current predicament stemmed from this.

"Now that Your Majesty has established the capital in Jiankang, you cannot retreat, otherwise the morale of the army will collapse!"

"Has the morale of the army not collapsed yet? My 50,000 elite troops couldn't even defeat Liu Yu's 4,000 men. Tell me, what else can we do?" Huan Xuan's eyes widened.

Yin Zhongwen was speechless after being choked.

Neither the Battle of Xiangcheng nor the Battle of Fuzhoushan were flawed. They concentrated their superior forces to first deal with Liu Yu, and then joined forces with Wei and Southern Yan to wipe out Liu Daogui's forces.

However, Liu Yu was truly extraordinary, and with only a few thousand men, he reached the gates of Jiankang.

Huan Xuan's confidence was also shattered.

The people of Jiankang are now restless. Let alone defending the city, if we stay any longer, the veteran soldiers of the Northern Army who remain in the city may rise up in rebellion.

"Where is Wang Mi?" Huan Xuan's eyes gleamed with a final glimmer of hope.

If those powerful families are willing to provide support, there is still room for maneuver.

Yin Zhongwen said indignantly, "This morning, I drove south."

Huan Xuan laughed and cursed, "That old fox!"

With Wang Mi gone, the situation is becoming increasingly dire.

Huan Xuan stretched and said, "Let's retreat. If we retreat now, we can still preserve our navy and Jingzhou, and plan for the future. If we stay, we will surely die!"

He then twisted his plump body and got up from the soft couch.

Yin Zhongwen said bitterly, "Since we've retreated, we might as well burn down the palaces and treasuries to prevent them from being used by the enemy."

Huan Xuan glanced at him sideways, "If I cannot revitalize the country, why should I incur further resentment? Burning down the palaces and treasuries will surely bring the Northern Army to relentlessly pursue us."

Outside the palace, carriages and horses were already prepared.

Besides Huan Xuan's entire family, there were also two brothers, Sima Dewen and Sima Dezong.

Sima Dezong was mentally unstable, but Sima Dewen mocked him, saying, "Your Majesty has only been in the capital for a year, how can you be in such a sorry state?"

Huan Xuan said with a face full of resentment: "I didn't expect there to be so many unruly people here, so difficult to govern, always trying to harm me. I might as well go back, and the two of you can come with me back to Jiangling to enjoy wealth and honor."

Sima Dewen gloated, "Your Majesty is a man of great talent and ambition, why would you fear a few mere troublemakers?"

“I am not afraid of troublemakers, but the previous dynasty was terminally ill and beyond saving, which has brought disaster to our dynasty. What do you think?”

The decline and chaos in Jiangzuo began with the Sima family. Huan Xuan was conveniently made a scapegoat and became the target of criticism, which ironically overshadowed the mistakes of the Sima family during their rule.

Sima Dewen pursed his lips, but was powerless to refute.

"Let's go. If you two follow me, you can enjoy wealth and honor. If you fall into the hands of those lowly slaves, you will probably suffer a fate worse than death!"

Huan Xuan inherited some of Huan Wen's scholarly sentiments, caring most about his reputation and unwilling to ruthlessly kill the former dynasty's imperial family.

These two clowns can't be hit, scolded, or killed.

However, if they keep it under their control, the Northern Army will find it difficult to support other members of the Sima clan, and it will also serve as a shield in the future.

Sima Dewen's expression changed, and he bowed to Huan Xuan in a respectful greeting...

Guangling.

"We won?" Although Liu Daogui knew he would win, he didn't expect it to be so easy.

Meng Gan said: "In the Battle of Fuzhou Mountain, the General defeated Huan Qian and beheaded Yu Zezhi. He also persuaded the brothers Zhu Lingshi and Zhu Chaoshi to surrender. Seeing that the situation was hopeless, Huan Xuan led his family and officials to flee to Gushu!"

"Congratulations, Commander!"

The generals all clasped their hands in greeting, their faces beaming with joy.

"It's not time to congratulate them yet! Issue the order: all naval warships and bamboo rafts must be launched to stop the Western Prefecture navy!" Liu Daogui slapped his thigh.

Huan Chu did not perish, nor did Huan Xuan fall.

He retreated to Jingzhou and Xiangyang, occupied the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, and relied on his navy to maintain a long-term confrontation between the east and west.

If Huan Xuancai could have kept the Xifu navy on the river, then his power would have truly been lost.

"Leader!"

The generals immediately summoned their troops. Liu Daogui also sent people to recruit sailors and collect civilian boats in Guangling City. Guangling is located next to the Yangtze River, and most of the young and strong men in the city know a little about swimming.

Just then, Cao Ji's merchant ships and grain transport vessels sailed south from the Han Canal to deliver grain and fodder.

Liu Daogui was also requisitioned.

"What? You're going to use these ships to fight the Xifu navy on the Yangtze River?" Cao Ji asked in surprise.

"It's not a final battle, but stopping them at all costs, saving as many as possible!"

With Huan Xuan gone, the Western Army navy on the Guangling River must be completely disoriented and have no will to fight.

At this point, we should proceed whether we have the resources or not.

“You two brothers are invincible in land battles, but on the Yangtze River… You are now a regional warlord, and a wise man does not stand under a dangerous wall.” The Cao family and Liu Daogui share a common destiny and their interests are intertwined, so they are naturally worried about Liu Daogui’s safety.

"I am a sleeping dragon, I thrive when I encounter water. The military order has been given, there is no need for further words."

Liu Daogui picked up his helmet, mounted his horse, and galloped toward the port.

Liu Zhong and Li Damu's more than two hundred warships were all assembled, and the river was filled with bamboo rafts of all sizes. Almost all the able-bodied men in Guangling City who could swim came.

Even the elderly, women, and children came to help, carrying wooden forks and machetes.

When Liu Daogui returned to Guangling, Guangling seemed to come alive again, as vibrant as before.

People these days aren't afraid of dying on the battlefield, they're afraid of their whole family starving to death.

"The Commander-in-Chief has ordered that for every warship captured, each participant will be rewarded with 100 mu of land and 3 shi of grain! For every tower ship captured, the reward will be 500 mu of land and 6 shi of grain!"

The officials and their entourage loudly proclaimed this to the crowd.

For so many years, according to the established rules, Liu Daogui ate meat, and Yi Congjun could also drink soup.

"Long live the Governor!"

Someone shouted, and the others joined in.

The soldiers around him also became more intense in their eyes.

Huan Chu has been crippled, and Liu Yi's power has been suppressed. Looking across Jiangdong, Liu Daogui is the strongest, possessing the entire Yanzhou, half of Yuzhou, and the recently conquered Jianghuai.

"Stop shouting!" Liu Daogui waved his hand to stop them.

But the people's shouts grew louder.

So I just let it be.

"Report, Commander, the Western Army is trying to escape!" Several scouts rushed over.

Liu Daogui's expression changed drastically. "We can't let this cooked duck fly away. We must raise an army immediately!"

The command flag was waved, and the drums sounded.

Large and small boats on the river began to move together, surging towards the center of the river like a dark cloud.

Following Cao Ji's advice, Liu Daogui did not board the ship but stood on the shore and watched.

The Xifu navy sailed against the current, close to the south bank of the Yangtze River.

Liu Zhong and Li Damu led their fleet to seize the upstream area. Before they even reached the middle of the river, twenty or thirty bamboo rafts were capsized by the waves. However, these young men from Guangling were good swimmers and climbed back onto the rafts, continuing their journey towards the middle of the river.

However, their merchant ships, cargo ships, and civilian ships were significantly slower than the warships of the Xifu navy.

The other side's oars churned, and with the help of the northeast wind, it cut through the waves and sailed upstream.

The cooked duck was about to fly away, and Liu Daogui became anxious. "Beating the drums to cheer them on!"

As soon as the drums sounded, the elderly, women, and children on the shore shouted wildly, "Keep going!"

But the louder the shouts, the more chaotic the river became.

Some of the rafts even collided with each other.

Liu Daogui slapped his forehead. This method works on land, but it won't work at all on water.

Fortunately, the Xifu navy was too busy escaping to fight, otherwise, if they had turned back, the navy that Liu Daogui had painstakingly built would have been completely wiped out.

"Never mind, we can't force it." Liu Daogui looked at the fleet heading east, somewhat helplessly.

We were just about to make our move when the other side beat us to it; otherwise, we could have at least left behind hundreds of ships.

"You may escape the first day of the month, but you can't escape the fifteenth!"

Liu Zun led his soldiers in shouting at the top of their lungs.

Other people joined in the shouting, and the voices gradually became more unified, carrying far and wide.

Liu Daogui thought it made sense. The three battles of Mengcheng, Jingkou, and Fuzhoushan had broken Huan Chu's backbone. Huan Xuan was unwilling to defend Jiankang to the death, and the last bit of popular support had been lost. Even with an elite navy, they would not be a match for the Northern Army in the future.

What determines the outcome of a war is often not the war itself...

The shouts grew louder and louder, shaking both sides of the Taiwan Strait.

Just as Liu Daogui was preparing to return to the city, Meng Ganzhi shouted, "Governor, look quickly!"

Liu Daogui looked out over the river and saw dozens of ships turning around and heading toward the north bank. Among them were at least five multi-story ships, with the character "王" (Wang, meaning king) prominently displayed on their bows.

Cao Ji exclaimed excitedly, "It must have been done by the Wang family of Langya!"

Wang Mi was, after all, Huan Chu's Minister of Works and Director of the Imperial Secretariat, wielding considerable power and influence.

As the ships gradually approached the shore, two thousand sailors disembarked one after another. Although they had come to surrender, they all stood tall and proud, full of energy and spirit.

Liu Daogui was secretly amazed. If the Langya Wang clan had such troops, they wouldn't have been suppressed by the Taiyuan Wang clan and the Chenjun Xie clan back then.

A group of about thirty generals stepped off the largest ship. They had a slightly scholarly air about them and bowed to Liu Daogui, saying, "Wang Zhen'e, the military advisor of the Western Prefecture, has now surrendered to Governor Liu with his troops. We are willing to follow Governor Liu to drive out the barbarians and recover the Central Plains!"

(End of this chapter)