Chen Tai and Jia Kui were very nervous, really very nervous.
They now only have 15,000 men on hand, and they have not yet received exact information on how many troops Zhang Xi has brought south.
The loss of Luoyang caused the intelligence line between Chen Tai and Jia Kui to be directly cut off. Now that Luoyang has been occupied by Zhuge Liang, even if there are still Wei troops remaining in Luoyang City, they will not easily take the lead at this time.
Therefore, Chen Tai and Jia Kui really didn't know how many troops Zhang Xi brought to attack Yingchuan County. They only knew that Zhang Xi came south from Gaofeng County in the north of Yingchuan.
The lack of intelligence on the enemy made Chen Tai and Jia Kui full of uneasiness.
The more important point is that after the fall of Luoyang, the situation facing Yingchuan County is quite unfavorable.
To the south of Yingchuan County is Runan County, where the Soochow forces are entrenched in the south and may move north at any time. Whether they can hold it depends entirely on Guo Huai's performance there.
To the west of Yingchuan County is Nanyang County, an important town in Jingzhou where the Shu bandits are entrenched. Now Luyang and Kunyang have been lost. Xiangcheng was abandoned by Chen Tai and Jia Kui on their own initiative. The area from Xiangcheng to Rushui became a battle between the two armies. buffer zone.
On the north side of Yingchuan County was Luoyang, which had just been lost. It was also where Zhang Xi led his troops.
Yingchuan County is now surrounded by enemies on three sides, and the Shu thieves are going south with the momentum of attacking Cloyang. No matter how many troops they bring, they will have a great deterrent effect on Yingchuan County.
This is only the situation with foreign enemies, but within Yingchuan County, there are also many problems now.
Not to mention anything else, even the aristocratic families in Yingchuan County suddenly began to have disputes about whether to surrender to the Shu Han.
To be honest, although the aristocratic families in Yingchuan County cooperated with Cao Wei earlier, the aristocratic families in Yingchuan County were not tied to Cao Wei as tightly as the aristocratic families in Hedong County, Hebei and other places.
It's a bit like the relationship between Xun Lingjun and Cao Cao back then.
After all, Xun Lingjun is the Xun Lingjun of the Han Dynasty, not the Xun Lingjun of Cao Wei. Everyone knows this. Even Liu Bei has to admit it.
Xun Lingjun was one of the people who took a clear-cut stand against Cao Cao's claim to the throne. From this perspective alone, there really was no irreconcilable conflict between the Yingchuan family and the Han Dynasty.
In addition, the general who led the army to attack Yingchuan County this time was Zhang Xi, who was born in Yingchuan. Even if he came from a poor family, he was from a poor family in Yingchuan.
You have to worry about the friendship between local clans to some extent, right? !
Therefore, there are actually different voices within the Yingchuan family as to whether Yingchuan County should continue to hold on or take the initiative to surrender to the Han Dynasty.
There was no such voice before because the Yingchuan family was also waiting and watching. If the Shu Han failed to capture Luoyang, the Yingchuan family would not give up their vested interests and make peace with the Shu Han.
But now, the Shu Han has captured Luoyang. Yingchuan County itself is undefendable, and it is surrounded by enemy forces. It will be a matter of time before it falls. It is just a matter of when.
If this is the case, then why can't the aristocratic families in Yingchuan County be the first to get the most favorable treatment for their families in the worst possible situation? !
In the final analysis, the Yingchuan County family will lose some profits due to the return of the Han Dynasty, but it will be smaller than being led by troops to attack and clean up the situation, right? !
Furthermore, the Yingchuan family feels that they may not really suffer too much loss. The two generals of the Shu Han Dynasty, Xu Shu and Zhang Xi, are both from Yingchuan. However, in these years, one of them has been trapped in Jingzhou, and the other has been transferred around. It has always been difficult to take a step closer to the political center of the Shu Han Dynasty.
why is that? ! Could it be that they both don't want to? !
And why they can't do this? Is it because they lack ability? !
Obviously, no one would think that Zhang Xi and Xu Shu are not capable enough to enter the center of the Han Dynasty. So the reason why they have been hanging around so long, in the view of the Yingchuan family, is only one reason:
These two people did not receive enough support.
In fact, to put it bluntly, they have no backing and no interest groups that can support them further.
Zhuge Liang was able to become the prime minister and control the government, and Pang Tong was able to become the minister and control the government because they had the support of the Jingzhou family.
Fa Zheng was able to become the Shangshu Ling, responsible for the operation of the government, and Qin Mi was able to become the Shangshu of the Ministry of Rites, controlling the country's interpretation of classics and controlling the national public opinion, because of the support of the Yizhou family behind them.
As for Zhang Xi and Xu Shu, they came from poor families and had no background. No matter how great their achievements were, they could only wander around in the local area and never enter the central government.
And if Yingchuan rejoins the Han Dynasty, then the Yingchuan Group will have two ready-made spokespersons within the Han court, and these two spokespersons should also urgently need the support of the Yingchuan family to achieve further political needs. The two sides are simply It was like a thunderbolt.
Well, no matter what Zhang Xi and Xu Shu think, at least the Yingchuan family really thinks so. They really feel that surrendering to the Han Dynasty may not be better for the Yingchuan family than living with Cao Wei. Difference.
After all, in recent years, the Yingchuan family has gradually become unable to compete with the Hebei family, and even had to join forces with the Hedong family to fight against the Hebei family. It was not like this when the two Xun Lingjun, Guo Jijiu and others were around.
Therefore, the Yingchuan family really does not have the same concerns as the Hedong family, and they can really choose to surrender.
This is the current disagreement within the Yingchuan family. This cannot be stopped by Chen Tai's qualifications and prestige.
The current Yingchuan County is actually in a state of low military morale and divided attitudes among aristocratic families.
Although Chen Tai still has 15,000 men in his hands, Chen Tai has to guard against Zhang Xi in the front and the noble family in the back. In the middle, he also has to worry about how to improve the morale of the soldiers. In fact, with this small number of troops, their combat effectiveness is not necessarily very strong. .
If it weren't for Guo Huai who had just led his troops to leave Yingchuan for half a month, Chen Tai would have wanted to mobilize Guo Huai to return reinforcements again, but it was a pity that this would not work.
Not to mention what Guo Huai's thoughts and ideas are, but to toss the Runan County soldiers back and forth like this, do those Runan County soldiers have any special ideas and want to cause a mutiny at this time? That is the real thing. big trouble.
Therefore, Chen Tai and Jia Kui could only bite the bullet, grit their teeth, and watch with fear as Zhang Xi invaded from the north of Yingchuan County. They could only try their best to shrink their troops and trap Xuchang, trying to use Xuchang's strong city to stop the attack of Shu thieves.
However, the two of them unexpectedly discovered that Zhang Xi wandered around in the northern part of Yingchuan and suddenly changed his route to Xiangcheng, southwest of Yingchuan, and did not come towards Xuchang at all.
This move made Chen Tai and Jia Kui a little confused, and also made some wealthy families in Yingchuan a little confused.
The place in Xiangcheng has been abandoned since Chen Tai and Jia Kui abandoned it. What is Zhang Xi doing there? !
Jia Kui was more experienced. After careful consideration, Jia Kui believed that Zhang Xi should be bluffing his way through Yingchuan. His real purpose was not to conquer Yingchuan but to return to Jingzhou.
The reason for such a bluff was to allow the two of them to retreat to Xuchang and free up the area from Xiangcheng to Rushui, so that the Shu thieves could reoccupy Xiangcheng, threaten Xuchang, and prevent Xuchang's Wei army from going north to attack Luoyang.
All in all, they didn't come to regain Yingchuan at all.
After thinking about this, Chen Tai finally breathed a sigh of relief.
In fact, with the few troops Chen Tai had in hand, he did not dare to go northward with light troops to attack Luoyang and Xiangcheng. It would not be a big deal if he gave up.
To be able to defend Xuchang and ensure most of the interests of the Yingchuan family, for young Chen Tai, he has completed his mission, and at the same time he is worthy of all the "uncles" and "uncles" in Yingchuan County.
As for where Yingchuan County will go in the future, Chen Tai feels that this is not something he can decide. Everything depends on the court's response and the outcome of discussions between his father and the wealthy families in Yingchuan County.
Especially the mutual communication between the Xun family, Chen family, Wang family and Xu family.
Anyway, no matter what, this is not a matter that Chen Tai can intervene in. He can now hold most of Yingchuan County, which is already a great achievement.
And Jia Kui. Jia Kui planned to say goodbye to Chen Tai.
Since the main purpose of the Shu thieves is to return to defend Jingzhou, and there is no real danger in Yingchuan, there is no point in him continuing to stay in Yingchuan.
As the governor of Yanzhou, Jia Kui must be more concerned about Yanzhou's defense.
With Sima Yi retreating to Hulao Pass, there is no need to worry too much in the west of Yanzhou. Hulao Pass is enough to resist the eastward advance of Shu thieves.
But Xuzhou to the east of Yanzhou and Huainan to the south needed Jia Kui to take strict precautions to prevent Soochow from taking advantage of the situation.
This is not impossible. Jia Kui now has a very deep understanding of Soochow and cannot help but be on guard against it.
Therefore, Jia Kui took the initiative to resign from Chen Tai, and he wanted to lead his troops back to defend Yanzhou.
In this regard, Chen Tai did not make any attempts to persuade Jia Kui to stay, but he made a request to Jia Kui. In order to prevent the Shu thieves from entering Yingchuan County again in a short time, Chen Tai hoped that Jia Kui could bring the five thousand reinforcements he had brought with him. , temporarily staying in Yingchuan County to coordinate defense.
Of course, it won't take too long. It only takes about half a year. When Chen Tai can train another county soldier in Yingchuan County, at that time, he can release the Yanzhou County soldiers to return to defense.
Jia Kui thought carefully and finally agreed to Chen Tai's request.
On the one hand, although five thousand soldiers is not a small number of soldiers for the entire Yanzhou, it will not be broken.
On the other hand, as long as Chen Tai does not lose his position in Xuchang for a day and cooperates with Guo Huai to guard Runan in the south, then Yanzhou's southwest gateway will still be there, and what Jia Kui really needs to deal with is the Soochow Army in the southeast.
In fact, if Xuchang can hold on, it will be a good thing for Yanzhou.
Out of overall considerations, Jia Kui agreed to Chen Tai's request and returned to Yanzhou alone with only 500 personal guards, while the remaining Yanzhou soldiers were handed over to Commander Chen Tai.
At this point, Chen Tai could finally breathe a sigh of relief and quickly do the last thing.
Picking up a pen and writing a letter to his father, Chen Tai really had no idea whether and how he should keep the current Yingchuan County.
Yingchuan, now is not a question of military guarding, but a question of political considerations. In this regard, Chen Tai is still far behind.
(End of chapter)
