It was late November, and Liu Xie had led his army across the river and officially set up camp at Niuzhujitou. It was already the end of early winter, and snowflakes began to fall in Jiangdong. Although the winter in Jiangdong was warmer than the winter in the north, there was a hidden dampness and coldness. Normally it wouldn't be a big deal, but right now, due to the rush of the war, many soldiers didn't have all their winter clothes ready, so they had to add two more autumn clothes and have many bonfires in the camp on weekdays to make do. Looking at the undulating foothills to the east, the gloomy clouds are low, and the broad Yangtze River is rolling behind them, but it cannot stop the Han soldiers from adding to their pride.
Judging from the current situation, everything is going very smoothly. When the Han army landed at Niuzhuji, the Wu army guarding the island saw its flags stretching to the sky and their boats covering the sun. They were so frightened that they immediately fled. This allowed the Han army to take over Niuzhuji unscathed, and further occupied Rentouji, Ma'anshan, Huashan and other places. When the 200,000-strong army had fully crossed the river, Liu Xie went on without stopping and ordered Huang Quan to stay at Niuzhuji. The remaining two armies continued to advance eastward: the right army led by Zhou Buyi temporarily went south, and then attacked eastward along the Lishui River. The offensive Approaching Taihu Lake; Liu Xie and Guo Huai led the left army and launched an attack along the river. The intention of this offensive is already very obvious, which is to clear Jianye's periphery first, and then launch a general attack on Jianye.
The ensuing war can be described as overwhelming. Under the guidance of Wu Jun's surrender, Zhou Buyi's troops had an unimpeded journey. All the cities and towns they encountered along the way, such as Wuhu, Liyang, and Yangxian, also defected, and finally stopped between Wuxi and Piling, completely cutting off the construction of the city. All connections with counties to the south. The situation encountered by Liu Xie was similar. He captured Shicheng, Danyang, Jiangcheng, Jurong and other counties along the river, and joined Zhou Buyi at the foot of Zhongshan Mountain. By this point, Jianye had been completely reduced to an isolated city.
Of course, although it is said to be an isolated city, there are actually many strongholds left outside Jianye City. Similar to Pingcheng and Yecheng, since Sun Quan established his capital here, he considered that a complete defense system could be established here: the northern section of Jianye City relies on Jilong Mountain and Fuzhou Mountain, and after these two mountains, Xuanwu Lake can be said to be surrounded by mountains and rivers, making it extremely difficult to attack from here. The eastern section of Jianye City is bounded by Qingxi and used as a trench. Qingxi winds and stretches for dozens of miles. Since it was inconvenient to erect a wall, fences were built for defense. The western section of Jianye City was bounded by Yundu. As the name suggests, Yundu was a canal specially dug for Jianye to transport grain. It was also an important trench. Jianye's granaries and arsenals were built there. Here, a stone city was built on Qingliang Mountain to the west of Yundu to guard the Yangtze River so that no enemy navy could enter or exit from the north. The only place that is convenient for attacking is the south of Jianye City, where the Huai River flows, and there are river beaches on both sides. On the flat ground, the Wu people built a stone bridge and two wooden bridges between the rivers. Ten miles further north is the south wall of Jianye City. According to Zhang Zhao, even if the outer city is conquered, there is still an inner palace built in the city with ten years of grain stored for defense.
Liu Xie personally led the troops to look around the terrain of Jianye, and was greatly amazed by the situation of the tiger and the dragon. He couldn't help but said to Wei Xi and others who were accompanying him: "Such a dangerous place can indeed be the residence of an emperor. It's no wonder that Zhao Zheng arrived after that. There is an act of digging water to waste the foundation." In ancient times, Jianye was also called Jinling. When Qin Shihuang visited this place eastward, he heard that there was Jinling Mountain here, which contained royal energy, so he ordered the local area to dig the Huai River to release the royal energy of Jinling Mountain. It was renamed Moling, and Liu Xie's lament came from this.
It was out of fear of Jianye city defense that before the war began, Liu Xie specially wrote a letter and sent it to the city by Zhang Zhao's son Zhang Cheng. The letter said: "The former Cao thieves rebelled and incited Hebei. He thought he responded. Cao Zheng wanted to deceive and bribe, but how could he subvert it? I remember the friendship between my father and old people, Dou Rong, who has shown friendship many times, but I didn't expect that he would turn back the favor and take effect. Yelang is still interested in fighting! These false accusations force me to fight hard! So I rode in Pengcheng, captured Ru Huaibei, waved my arms at Hefei, and captured Huainan! This shows that the destiny of the Han Dynasty is with me, and the sun of God is with me, how clear it is! But God has The virtue of good life, the way of good deeds in the country, every time I think of our people, I feel sad! Therefore, I will not worry about the past, and show my mercy again. Within seven days, he will come to camp, and he can seal thousands of households. If the family is overdue, he will die. Take the ear of death!"
When Zhang Cheng came back that night, he was missing an ear. It turned out that it had been cut off by Wu people in the city. He cried and complained to Liu Xie: "Sun Quan doesn't know good and evil. After he believed it, he burned it on the spot. I spread rumors to the officials in the palace. I wanted to say something, but one of my ears was cut off on the spot. It is really a disgrace to my mission. Please punish me!"
Liu Xie was not unprepared for this, so he did not get angry. Instead, he asked: "What rumor did Sun Quan make?"
Zhang Cheng raised his head and glanced at Liu Xie, then lowered his head and whispered softly: "He said that His Majesty is...a nine-fingered short fox. He is not true to his words and must not be taken seriously."
After saying that, the generals in the camp were immediately furious and asked Liu Xie for orders to attack the city, but Liu Xie waved them down. Liu Xie put his left hand on his chin and said with a smile: "Do you want to fight to the death? I didn't expect that Sun Zhongmou still has some blood, so let him do what he wishes!" Even so, Liu Xie did not advance the siege rhythm because of this, but ordered the soldiers to While building siege equipment, they waited for winter clothes, and then attacked the city when everything was ready.
Time came to the beginning of December, as grain and winter clothes were gradually transported to the Zhongshan camp in the south of the Yangtze River. Liu Xie planned to launch an offensive against Jianye on Yisi day. After passing the order, he ordered the Huotou camp to kill cattle and sheep. The banquet was held in the three days before the siege, so that the soldiers could eat and drink happily and encourage their morale. But on the night of the Wuxu Day, he received a letter from Luoyang: The queen gave birth prematurely at the end of November and had given birth to a prince. However, both mother and son were infected with the disease, and the imperial doctors in the palace were doing their best to treat them. .
This letter was written by the Empress Dowager Liu Jia herself. She wrote in the letter: "The Empress is seriously ill and her breath is weak. It is difficult for the imperial doctor to decide on the funeral. I know that you are worried and can return home quickly!"
Liu Xie's heart suddenly went cold when he saw this letter. He couldn't help but think: When Shi Ji was born in Beijing, she still had a rosy face, how could she be in this situation now? But remembering the news he had received while at the Huaibei camp, he couldn't help but not believe it. This made Liu Xie suddenly depressed. He sat in the camp, staring blankly at the letter in his hand. When Zhou Buji came in to report to him, he calmed down and smiled absently at Buji. : "Wen Zhi, what do you need from me?"
Zhou Buji could tell at a glance that something was wrong with Liu Xie, but he couldn't say it clearly. He could only sit down and test it out: "Your Majesty, have you forgotten? We made an agreement yesterday, and today we will decide on the person who will be the main attacker."
When Liu Xie heard this, he immediately slapped his head and laughed at himself: "Yes, yes, how could I forget this? I thought about it all night last night and thought..." When the words came to his lips, he couldn't say them out. It was as if there was a blank and something was choking on his throat. He was stunned for a long time, and then he apologized to Zhou Buyi and said, "Sorry, Wen Zhi, I have no intention of fighting at the moment. You can write a memorandum on this matter and I will approve it."
Zhou Bujie didn't say much. After bowing and bowing, he left the imperial tent. He spent half an hour on his way back to draw up a list, and then entered the tent again to ask for an audience. Unexpectedly, when I saw the emperor again, I found that he was still in a state of despair. Lian Zhou Buyi didn't even notice when he came in. After Zhou Buyi coughed lightly, he handed the list to the emperor and asked, "Your Majesty, what do you think of this list?"
The emperor took the list in his hand, but without even looking at it, he put the paper on the table and said straight to the point: "Wenzhi, the queen is seriously ill. I have no intention of fighting. I'm afraid I have to go back to the capital. The war here, I’m going to leave it all to you, how about it?”
These words were earth-shattering, and Zhou Busu was immediately stunned. He immediately said no, and then fell to the ground, thinking quickly about the pros and cons: Why is the queen so ill? Could it be that the Queen was born prematurely and the palace is unknown? Or is it because there is another hidden secret? But no matter what happened in the palace, now that the army was about to attack the city, the emperor suddenly proposed to leave the army and return to Beijing, handing over the entire army to himself. The variables were too great. Military matters may be solved by oneself, but when the commander is changed on the battlefield, what do the soldiers fighting on the front think? What do the people watching in Jiangdong think? Thinking of these, Zhou Buji felt confused for a moment.
Just when Zhou Bujie was about to refuse, Liu Xie seemed to have made up his mind. He stood up first, helped Zhou Bujie up from the ground, then looked at him and said, "Wen Zhi, this matter is settled. Now. Even if I sit here, I will only drag down the morale of the army. And if I don't return to Beijing, I'm afraid I will regret it for the rest of my life! They say that the emperor is a loner, but you are my best friend, I trust you! Please help Let me do it!"
The emperor has always been known as a mean and unkind person, but now he said such emotional words. Zhou Buyi knew the weight contained in it. The words he originally wanted to refuse were suddenly replaced by moved emotions. He hesitated. After a while, he finally agreed to Liu Xie: "Since it is entrusted by His Majesty, I would like to die in a state of ruin!"
The two of them made an agreement, and that night, the emperor held a military meeting in the tent and told the generals that he was going to return to the capital. After learning about it, the generals had different expressions: some, like Sun Zi, Wen Hui, etc., looked happy, thinking that without the emperor's constraints, they could show off their talents; some, like Huang Quan, Guo Huai, etc., had worried eyes. Obviously, they thought that changing the commander before the battle was detrimental to the war; some, such as Deng Dang, Lu Fan, etc., were lost in thought and didn't know what they were thinking. But no matter what the generals thought, it was a foregone conclusion that the emperor would return to the capital.
In front of everyone, Liu Xie took off his gold-studded belt and handed it to Zhou Buyi with his own hands. Then he said to everyone: "After I leave, all matters in the army will be left to the full authority of Governor Zhou. If anything goes against his will, The military commander will definitely kill him without mercy!" Then Guo Huai and Huang Quan were still appointed as deputy generals of Zhou Buyi.
After briefly handing over the affairs in hand to Zhou Buyi, Liu Xie returned to Jiangbei by boat early the next morning and embarked on his journey back to Beijing. On the boat, Liu Xie looked back to the south of the river. Behind the rolling waves, little bits of snow were dancing in the air. On the desolate Zhongshan Mountain, there were swaying pines and gray clouds. There seemed to be infinite reveries among them. When Liu Xie saw this, he couldn't help but feel a little sad. He knew that he had given up the opportunity to unify in person, and he also felt a little regretful in his heart. Just as he was feeling lost at the bow of the ship, a gust of west wind blew by, blowing the bamboo hat on his head and falling into the waves.
It was against this background that the Battle of Jianye slowly began.
