It's done.
After listening to Bai Mengyang's words, Lu Yuan suddenly had this thought in his mind and was immediately overjoyed.
However, he didn't show it on his face. He just looked back at the other party and said solemnly: "This is just what I should mean. If I capture the counties of Hanzhong Prefecture this time and fail to defend them, I will naturally go to find the Holy Monk Ji Hui." Ask the head of the Qiao family for the Dongsan Prefecture of Xichuan County."
The premise of the exchange is that you own the land of three mansions, and then you can exchange it with others for the land of three mansions.
If you don't even have this little territory, how can you have the nerve to exchange territory with someone else?
Therefore, Ji Hui and Qiao Kangquan put forward this condition, which is basically equivalent to the two people's acquiescence that the transaction was established.
When Bai Mengyang heard this, his heart twitched and he lamented greatly.
In the past few days, he has sent envoys to Wushan Mansion, trying to make a last-ditch effort to win over Ji Hui and Qiao Kangquan.
However, the final result was not satisfactory.
Ji Hui and Qiao Kangquan still assured him in their words that even after the country was sealed off, he would respect the imperial court and obey its orders.
But the result afterwards was that both of them expressed euphemistically that Xichuan was dilapidated, impoverished and depopulated, which was really not a good place to build a country.
Then the two men sent a letter back, saying that Hanzhong County was rich and populated.
If they can capture this place, not only will the two of them be stronger, but they will also be able to collect more taxes, recruit more strong soldiers, and then serve the imperial court.
Therefore, they agreed in principle to the proposal of King Changsha, and then asked Marquis Wu'an to convey it on his behalf.
Well, yes, facing the temptation proposed by Lu Yuan, Ji Hui and Qiao Kangquan did not hesitate to choose the most practical interests between the court and Lu Yuan.
People will always choose their position and side, not the so-called friendship.
Emotions always appear vulnerable in the face of interests.
At this time, Marquis Wu'an and the imperial court realized this deeply.
Suppressing the helplessness in his heart, Marquis Wu An looked at the energetic Lu Yuan in front of him, turned his attention to business, and then said: "Since the holy monk Ji Hui and the head of the Qiao family have agreed to exchange territories, then the matter of King Changsha's expedition, Is it settled?"
When Lu Yuan heard this, he said happily: "My conditions have been met, so there is no problem in going on the expedition."
"Okay, then the matter is settled."
Bai Mengyang nodded, and then said solemnly: "This expedition is a surprise attack. Especially when fighting for thousands of miles, you have to travel day and night, travel lightly, and do not stop on the way.
Therefore, it is better to have fewer troops than too many when sending out troops.
As I said before, only 30,000 to 50,000 people can go this time.
Moreover, in the past few days, the Zhou people had increased their troops. In just five or six days, there were more than 10,000 more troops in Xiangyang City.
Even according to reports from the scouts, there were already 100,000 forbidden troops in the capital of the Zhou Dynasty, heading towards Xiangyang. Moreover, the troops from Henan County, Nanyang County, and Guannei County of Zhou State also began to gather in preparation for going south.
In addition, the three counties of Hexi, Longxi and Shuofang in the Zhou Kingdom are thousands of miles away, so it is unknown whether there is any movement.
But even if not, it is not difficult to gather another 100,000 troops from the three counties that have already begun to gather troops at this time.
With the arrival of 200,000 troops, and counting the 100,000 troops from Xiangyang County, the Zhou people had 300,000 troops.
There are also three generals from the Zhu Kingdom among the Zhou people, and I don’t know if one or two more reinforcements will come this time.
All of the above will arrive at the foot of Xiangyang City in more than a month at most.
But on our army's side, except for the Changsha King's headquarters, from top to bottom, the imperial court still has 50,000 soldiers and horses, the Nanhai Kingdom has 40,000, and the Ninghai Kingdom has less than 50,000, adding up to only 140,000.
140,000 versus 300,000, especially our 140,000 army. Not all of them are elites, and there are also many civilians mixed in with them. "
Having said this, Bai Mengyang turned around and looked at Yan Wangqiu and Su Xuange, both of whom looked embarrassed.
no way.
During this expedition, Lu Yuan and the imperial court brought with them elites who were good at fighting. It's not like the two of them. What they brought was all crooked melons and cracked dates, and they couldn't fight a hard fight at all.
Feeling ashamed in his heart, Yan Wangqiu just wanted to end this war as soon as possible, then return to his country, and never get involved in this mess again.
Su Xuange secretly made up his mind that the 20,000 Zhou Kingdom elites gathered in Dangyang City last time must be gathered and organized.
In this chaotic world, even if you are the lord of the country and have a noble status, there is no elite soldier who dares to fight, and you will not be able to speak forcefully.
Otherwise, look at Lu Yuan, when Marquis Wu An talks to him, he is polite, even bargaining, and can make various demands.
But for the two of them, they would make sarcastic remarks from time to time. When they needed help from themselves and others, they would give orders directly without any discussion.
It can be said that once you experience this differential treatment, it will really make you uncomfortable.
Not to mention, the two of them are still kings, commanding a country.
After lightly tapping Yan Wangqiu and Su Xuange, Bai Mengyang did not spend any more time on them, but continued: "With my 140,000 mixed army, I face the Zhou people's 300,000 elites.
Although this battle is not completely unwinnable, when it comes to fighting, it will definitely be overwhelming and unable to attack at all, so we have to try our best to defend.
Therefore, for this expedition, the general could no longer allocate additional troops, horses and generals to the King of Changsha.
The King of Changsha had to take his own troops and horses to execute this plan and attack Xichuan. "
This time, Bai Mengyang's core plan to deal with the reinforcements from the Zhou people did not rely on the mixed troops and horses under his command.
His true reliance is still on his innate masters including himself, Yang Jing, Yan Wangqiu, and Su Xuange.
Using the power of the four innate masters to deal with the Zhou people's heavy troops is the real key to this battle.
The 140,000-strong army, as long as they don't lose their minds, open up their formation and start a decisive battle with the Zhou people, they are looking for death.
So if we just stick to the camps, then the gap between the ordinary civilians under the command of Nanhai and Ninghai and the strongholds of China and China's elite soldiers will be greatly eliminated.
After all, in a siege battle, if you shoot an arrow, throw a stone, or pour a boiling liquid of gold, no matter whether you are a strong martial artist or not, as long as you are hit, you will most likely die.
Those civilians only need to know how to shoot arrows, throw stones, and pour gold juice.
There weren't many places where they really needed to fight directly with the Zhou people.
As for the Zhou people sending martial arts masters, what should they do?
This one is even simpler.
Don’t forget the origins of Nanhai and Ninghai.
The original members of these two countries were both born in the innate martial arts sects.
If you ask them to come up with an elite army that is good at fighting, they may not be able to come up with it.
But let them show off their strong martial arts skills and are accustomed to personal fighting. This is what they are good at.
During this expedition, the two countries each had an army of 100,000. The generals at all levels in the army were all served by disciples and elders of the two original innate sects and masters of the vassal sect.
In terms of martial arts masters, the armies of the two countries are still not lacking, and it can even be said that they are over-abundant.
As for the imperial court, although there are not as many experts as there are in the two countries, they still meet the general standards.
Therefore, if we really start a siege battle, it would be fine if the Zhou people don't attack the martial arts masters. If we really send them here, the coalition forces will definitely give them a surprise.
Of course, having said all that, Bai Mengyang actually only has one meaning.
The situation at the main camp of the coalition forces is already very difficult, and can even be said to be critical.
In this case, I really can't give you any help. If you want to travel thousands of miles, you can only rely on yourself.
Um……
Okay, this is really frustrating.
It's obviously a big guy's business, but Lu Yuan has to do it alone.
But thinking that for his efforts this time, he would finally be rewarded with the land of the Three Prefectures, while the two countries of Nanhai, Ninghai, and even the imperial court would indeed have nothing at all.
Thinking about it this way, this matter becomes more reasonable.
Therefore, after Lu Yuan heard this, he thought about it and nodded: "Okay, let's attack with my own troops this time. I will lead an army of fifty thousand to Xichuan and besiege Wushan Mansion."
Considering that if the coalition camp is defeated miserably, not only the Xisanfu of Xiangyang County that has been obtained will not be saved, but even the Tianmen Mansion in Jiangbei will be lost again.
The Zhou people are likely to drink from the Yangtze River again and threaten Lu Yuan's land south of the Yangtze River in Changsha.
Faced with the foreseeable and terrible consequences, he finally decided to take this small loss himself.
After all, some time ago, I had already killed two Zhuguo of Zhou and destroyed two innates, which was considered a blood feud.
If you want to surrender to the other party at this time, let alone whether the Zhou people will agree.
Even if they agreed, Lu Yuan wouldn't dare to vote.
Settling accounts after the fall was nothing new, so he didn't dare to gamble.
Therefore, compared with before the Northern Expedition, Lu Yuan had many fewer options at this time. The only option left was to fight to the death with the Zhou people and completely defeat them and drive them back.
Now, it's time to contribute.
"Okay, then this surprise attack will depend on the power of the King of Changsha."
Bai Mengyang felt relieved when he heard that Lu Yuan agreed to this arrangement and did not mention any other conditions. Then he stood up and saluted him and said: "The survival of our coalition forces this time depends on the king of Changsha. I hope that the king can win consecutive battles in this expedition, conquer Xichuan, and achieve a great victory."
Yan Wangqiu and Su Xuange also stood up and saluted, saying: "I hope your Majesty will be able to win consecutive battles during this expedition, conquer Xichuan, and achieve a great victory."
When facing the Zhou people, whether it was due to historical reasons, hatred between the country and the family, or actual personal interests, the interest representatives of the four countries present did not have much favorable impressions of the Zhou people.
The southerners from the south of the Yangtze River and the northerners from the north of the Yangtze River cannot get along with each other.
Now is the time for strong men to sacrifice their lives and fight to the death.
Several people have these realizations.
…
On the seventh day of the first lunar month in the eighth year of Hongdao's reign, Lu Yuan, after delivering the camp outside Xiangyang City, led 50,000 troops and sent troops to the west.
After three days of traveling along the Han River, we arrived at Fanglingfu City. Then they met Lan Cai'er who was coming here and continued heading west.
The reason why Lan Cai'er was summoned was mainly because of the previous agreement.
Only by holding on to the victory in the southern part of Hanzhong County can we trade territory with Ji Hui and Qiao Kangquan.
Therefore, for insurance purposes, it is necessary to arrange for an innate master to guard the territory in the southern part of Hanzhong County.
As for Guining, Fangling, and Xicheng, what should we do?
Now that Xiangyang is under siege and Wushan Prefecture's Zhou soldiers have retreated, who among the Zhou people in these three places would dare to jump out and cause chaos at this time, as long as they are not stupid?
Therefore, Lu Yuan only left five thousand people to guard each of the three mansions, responsible for maintaining law and order on weekdays and suppressing some minor disturbances, and did not arrange for more guards.
On the tenth day of the first lunar month, the army arrived at Xicheng Mansion.
On the thirteenth day of the first lunar month, the army arrived at Xixiang Mansion, Hanzhong County.
At this time, Chu Wei, another of his direct disciples, was taking over Zhou Qing's previous duties and led 10,000 troops to attack the mansion.
After Lu Yuan joined him, he and Lan Cai'er personally led the troops to attack Xixiang City, which had been held for half a month.
Facing the thunderous blows of the two innate masters, Xixiang Fucheng was naturally unable to hold on, but after holding on for half an hour, it was quickly broken.
More than half of the more than four thousand defenders in the city were killed in the battle, and the rest surrendered.
Then it took another day for Lu Yuan to divide his troops and capture the counties of Xixiang Prefecture.
Then leaving 5,000 men to guard, he continued to lead 55,000 troops, and spent another three days arriving at Nanzheng Mansion, Hanzhong County.
Nanzheng Prefecture is where the county seat of Hanzhong County is located, and Nanzheng City of the prefecture is the county seat.
Therefore, when Lu Yuan's troops arrived, the entire Nanzheng Mansion was shaken.
At this time, Nanzheng City had actually received news that the Yue people were advancing in large numbers and Xixiang Mansion had been lost.
But unfortunately, the entire Hanzhong County, whether it is county soldiers or town soldiers, have been transferred south to fight in Wushan Mansion.
At this time, the only soldiers and horses that could be mobilized in the county were the government officials who only knew how to hunt down thieves and oppress good people, and the escort servants of various large merchants in the city.
The Hanzhong County Governor mobilized these forces and recruited more than 10,000 civilians, gathering more than 13,000 people to defend the city.
However, what if this kind of power were Lu Yuan's opponent?
Under the fierce attack by him and Lan Cai'er, it only took one day for Hanzhong County to fall.
So far, on the seventeenth day of the first month of the eighth year of Hongdao, the coalition forces finally captured the first county town since the Northern Expedition, and the Zhou people suffered their greatest loss.
After the city was broken, Lu Yuan left Lan Cai'er and fifteen thousand people behind, and then ordered her to collect the wealth, money and food in the county in the following days, and continue to attack the remaining parts of Hanzhong County. territory.
In addition, they began to relocate the population of Hanzhong County and various prefectures and sent them to various parts of Changsha Kingdom.
Nowadays, the ten prefectures of Dongting County in Changsha State and the three prefectures of Xichuan County that are about to be acquired are all places with a declining population.
This land of Thirteen Prefectures has almost two million fewer people than at its peak.
To make up for such a huge population loss, it would take forty or fifty years to rely solely on natural reproduction.
Therefore, if you want to restore the potential of your territory as soon as possible, the best way is to plunder it from outside.
Whether it is plundering wealth or plundering people.
As for the Hanzhong Mansion, although the county had already been captured at this time, it would not be a big problem to take advantage of the empty defense of the Zhou people to directly capture the entire county.
But Lu Yuan knew that even if he conquered this territory, it would be impossible to hold it.
Because the Zhou people would never sit back and watch as an important southwest town like theirs was lost.
This is the territory of a county!
The Zhou people only had eight counties in total. At this time, they had lost more than half of Xiangyang County. If they lost Hanzhong County, they would have lost almost a quarter of their territory.
How could the Zhou people accept such a heavy loss?
Therefore, even if they use all their strength, they will send troops south to retake this county.
I am afraid that if the news from here is transmitted back, the troops and horses in the Hexi, Longxi, and Shuofang counties of Zhou State that I didn't know would be moved at this time, as Marquis Wu'an said earlier.
The target of the move is none other than Hanzhong County.
Lu Yuan didn't have much energy at this time, so he had to fight a decisive battle with hundreds of thousands of Zhou people to decide the ownership of Hanzhong County.
And to be honest, even if he could win this decisive battle, he didn't want to fight.
the reason is simple.
Even if Hanzhong County is captured, he cannot hold it with his current strength.
First of all, in Changsha, the land south of the Yangtze River in Dongting County, if you want to defend this territory, you need an innate master to take charge.
The land in Jiangbei includes the West Three Prefectures of Xiangyang County, the East Three Prefectures of Xichuan County that are about to be obtained, and the Seven Prefectures of Tianmen Prefecture.
If you want to keep these territories, you also need an innate master to watch over you.
In this way, the whereabouts of Lu Yuan and Lan Cai'er have basically been decided.
The couple looked at the land south of the Yangtze River and north of the Yangtze River respectively, and had no energy left to care about anything else.
Therefore, even if Hanzhong County was captured, it would be useless to Lu Yuan. It was beyond his capabilities and would bring no benefits at all except burdens and disasters.
Therefore, no matter how good and wealthy Hanzhong County is, he has no interest in such a territory.
At this time, other than grabbing a handful and running away, there was nothing else.
certainly.
If they can hold more territory in Hanzhong County after the arrival of Zhou Bing, then they may be able to exchange more territory in Xichuan County from Ji Hui and Qiao Kangquan.
This is another great thing for Lu Yuan.
Therefore, after capturing Nanzheng County, he sent an order to the country.
Let the Jiangnan side send another 20,000 troops and horses to Hanzhong County to listen to them.
In the land south of the Yangtze River, Lu Yuan still had 65,000 soldiers, including the 5,000 who had previously escorted the Zhou prisoners.
Therefore, at this time, sending 20,000 people to the north will weaken the domestic repressive force a lot, but it can still be maintained barely, and it is not a big deal.
After having 20,000 people, in Hanzhong County, there are 5,000 people in Xixiang Prefecture, and the 10,000 people Lu Yuan will leave in Nanjiang and Baishi Prefectures.
The number of soldiers and horses that Lan Cai'er can mobilize will reach 50,000 people.
Such soldiers and horses are led by an innate master. If they only defend the city, then even if the Zhou people come with a hundred thousand troops, they will not be able to easily recapture Hanzhong County.
After making all these arrangements, Lu Yuan continued to lead his troops south.
Then on the twentieth day of the first lunar month, Kenanjiang Mansion.
After leaving five thousand soldiers to guard it, they arrived at Baishi Mansion on the 23rd and defeated it again, also leaving five thousand soldiers.
On the twenty-fifth day of the first month of the eighth year of Hongdao's reign, Lu Yuan's 30,000 troops arrived at Jiange Mansion in Xichuan County and formally marched to Xichuan.
