In early November, the weather in the Jinnan Basin east of Taiyue Mountain became more and more cold, and the wilderness and mountains were covered with snow, and the streams and rivers were frozen.

At this time, the siege of Jincheng had entered its third month.

Li Xiu led his troops to sweep the enemy army in the north of Zezhou in the early stage, and even fought all the way into the territory of Luzhou, but at this time, he also shrank his troops and horses to Gaoping and Lingchuan counties in the north of Zezhou, and held the passage between Zezhou and Luzhou from the left and right, but he did not build a large number of barracks and military villages, and directly blocked the passage between Zezhou and Luzhou.

After the news of the victory of the Fanchuan River came, Kong Xirong led the first and second central camp armies, and no longer surrounded Jincheng, and specially opened the passage to the north of Jincheng, focusing on strengthening the ring on the left and right wings of Jincheng.

However, in such a cold season, more than 20,000 strong people built weirs and aqueducts in Heihuling, southwest of Jincheng, and did not stop; This series of earth and stone works is to ensure that after the spring of the next year, the rainfall in a radius of dozens of miles will converge behind the weir lake on the northern slope of Heihuling, and then directly irrigate to the city of Jincheng.

Before the war, Wusu Dashi did not withdraw the Mongol people who moved south, but on the contrary, directly gathered hundreds of thousands of Mongol soldiers and civilians into Jincheng, posing as if the fish were dead and the net was broken.

Wusu Dashi obviously didn't think that with these hundreds of thousands of Mughul soldiers and civilians, he was really qualified to fight to the death with the elite of Daliang in Zezhou.

In addition to delaying the fall of Jincheng, Wusu Dashi mainly hoped that Yang Yuanyan, Yang Zhitang and other young Zhuang factions and main battle factions in Chu who were not angry with Huaixi and merged into the Great Liang would be able to successfully inflict heavy losses on the Liang army from the southern front, so as to resolve the siege of southern Jin.

The battle of Fanchuan River officially declared the wishful thinking of Wusu Dashi bankrupt.

Kong Xirong opened a narrow passage in the north of Jincheng, so that these news could smoothly enter Jincheng and spread among the soldiers and civilians of Jincheng, just to see how much resistance the soldiers and civilians of Jincheng had left in their hearts after learning that the hope of counting on the Chu army to help them relieve the siege had come to naught.

In addition to weakening the will of the Mughal soldiers and civilians to resist, Kong Xirong still wanted to urge the hundreds of thousands of Mughur soldiers and civilians to break through the gap he deliberately opened to the north, and planned to lure them into the wilderness of northern Zezhou, so as to completely annihilate these hundreds of thousands of Mughur soldiers and civilians without delaying the war until tomorrow summer.

Of course, even if these Mengwu soldiers and civilians do not break through to the north, the war will drag on until after the spring of next year, and according to the established plan, it will be a last resort to store water to flood Jincheng.

On a bitterly cold winter night, more than a dozen black shadows approached Jincheng from the north, and they had attracted the attention of the defenders at the head of the city with the special sound of the Qiang flute.

Using the hanging basket to pull the dozen or so people lurking over to the city, Zongbei, the capital of Beicheng, took advantage of the firelight to look at Xiao Yiqing's thin and white face, and was startled, and hurriedly came over to salute: "Mr. Xiao, why did you come here in person?" ”

Xiao Yiqing is over sixty years old, and his body is not as strong as in the army, and he has suffered all the way through the blockade line of the Liang army, and he is exhausted at this time, and the biting cold is unbearable.

With the support of the guards, he sat with his back to the wall, his boots soaked in snow, and at this time his body was wrapped in a thick layer of felt, and he couldn't help trembling, and asked in a trembling voice:

"What about Siqing and Zhehe?"

"The last general will send someone to inform General Zhehe and General Xiao." Zongbei said.

Xiao Yiqing rested in the city tower for a while, Xiao Siqing, Zhehe and other Jincheng defenders rushed over, he drank a bowl of hot soup at this time, and the whole person recovered slightly.

"You all know that the two armies of Liang and Chu fought a battle in the Fanchuan River, right?" Xiao Yiqing asked.

"When the Liang army entered the city with an archery book, the end general was intended to deceive people's minds, and he ignored it, and it was strictly forbidden for the generals to pass on their affairs privately." Zhehe is a young general who has risen in the past ten years of the Mengwu, and is also a noble relative of the thirteen wings of the Mengwu, who studied the art of war and Han classics with Xiao Yiqing in his childhood, and is currently one of the core generals of the Southern Yuan.

In the battle of Yiguan, Zhehe's troops suffered the heaviest casualties, and then he was assigned to Jincheng to serve as the assassin of Zezhou.

Xiao Siqing was sent to lead his troops to strengthen the defense of Jincheng after the loss of Yangcheng.

Their initial combat intention was to hold Jincheng until next summer, and they also concluded that after the Chu army annexed Fujian, the domestic mood was fanatical, and it should be dispatched before the spring and summer of next year, and as long as the Chu army attacked Huaixi, the Liang army would inevitably retreat without a fight.

Who would have imagined that Liang Jun would come in with an arrow book and say that the Chu army acted rashly and suffered heavy losses?

Zhehe and Xiao Siqing didn't believe the content of the arrow book at all, but in this case, what else could they do except strictly prohibit the generals from passing on their affairs privately?

"Bring the arrow book and show it to me......" Xiao Yiqing said.

Every day, hundreds of arrow books were shot into the city, and the language was concise, and even images were attached, so that the vast majority of illiterate soldiers could roughly guess what it meant.

Zhehe had several arrow books of different styles with him, and took them out for Xiao Yiqing to read.

Xiao Yiqing has read the arrow book, and there is no exaggeration, maybe Liang Jun doesn't need to exaggerate anything at all.

With 12,000 soldiers and horses, he took the initiative to cross the Fanchuan River and defeated the nearly 30,000 soldiers and horses that the Near Chu army thought was elite with absolute superiority and without any ups and downs, which was enough to shock people's hearts.

"Yang Yuanyan, the king of Chuxin, did try to attack Huaixi in early October, but suffered a heavy setback in the battle of Fanchuanhe, and Yang Yuanyan was also injured by arrows in the battle of Si, and was desperately recaptured by his subordinates before he died on the battlefield. At present, the Chu army is silent, although it still deploys more than 100,000 soldiers and horses along the Yangtze River, but in a short period of time, do not think that they can have the courage to attack Huaixi again. At this time, the Sima clan never mentioned the matter of joining the Chu state, and had already withdrawn several secret envoys from Chuzhou, and I suspect that the Sima clan may have even secretly sent envoys to Luoyang...... Xiao Yiqing said.

At present, the Liang army deliberately opened the passage to the north of Jincheng, and it is entirely possible that the defenders will send scouts to verify the contents of the arrow book, and since Xiao Yiqing has come in person, it is even more impossible to cover up the current situation, which can be said to be terrible.

Xiao Siqing and Zhehe were stunned, they could expect that the situation was not optimistic, but they didn't expect it to be so bad!

The current situation means that the Chu army is completely unable to contain many Liang troops from the southern front, and even the Sima clan, who originally planned to throw themselves at the Chu army, may turn around and throw themselves at the Liang army?

Doesn't this mean that it will be difficult for the Eastern Liang Army to be regained from the Eastern Front

What is the real threat to the Liang army?

Sima Shitou Chu, Xu Jin, and Zhao Mingting were undecided, and Xiao Yiqing noticed it, but Xiao Yiqing remained silent, the main reason was that after Liang Shixiong and Wei Bo were annihilated in Xingyang, it was difficult for Zhu Rang and Liang Ren's generation to become a climate.

Instead of continuing to ask Sima to tie up with Zhu Rang and Liang Ren, it was difficult to pose much threat to the Liang army from the eastern front, Xiao Yiqing hoped that after the Sima clan surrendered to the Chu State, he could cooperate with Yang Yuanyan, Yang Zhitang and others to carve up Huaixi and severely damage the Liang army from the southern front, so as to effectively reduce the pressure they were under in the north.

Who would have imagined that the Chuzhou army, which was once the most elite in the Chu State, would be so vulnerable?

Now the Liang army deliberately opened a narrow passage in the north of Jincheng, and its intention is not difficult to guess, the purpose is to lure them to break through to the north of Jincheng.

However, the Liang army had nearly 100,000 elite soldiers and horses in the east and west of Jincheng and in the north, and more than 100,000 soldiers and civilians wanted to cross the wilderness of more than 300 miles from the ice and snow to enter Luzhou City, or flee to the area further north of Luzhou, which was undoubtedly a fantasy.

In other words, the deeper intention of the Liang army was to lure their troops and horses in Luzhou and Taiyuan into the north of Zezhou to meet the withdrawal of troops from the north of Jincheng, but it was convenient for them to launch another large-scale battle in the north of Zezhou.

Knowing that the intention of the Liang army to encircle Sanque Yi was so naked, Wusu Dashi could not do nothing, and abandoned the hundreds of thousands of Mengwu soldiers and civilians in Jincheng.

At present, the Liang army has thoroughly mastered the rhythm of the northern and southern battlefields, even if they abandon the hundreds of thousands of Mengwu soldiers and civilians in Jincheng, the Liang army has enough patience and ability to drag it until the spring and twilight of next year, and even after the summer, store enough water from the streams and rivers between the mountains, and use weirs and canals to guide it to flood Jincheng.

At that time, more than 100,000 Mengwu soldiers and civilians in Jincheng could not escape the tragic end of the annihilation of the entire army.

The thirteen wings of the north and south courtyards of the Mengwu Dynasty, with a total of about one million Ding Kou, knowing that nearly one-eighth of the soldiers and civilians fell under the tiger's mouth of the Liang army, if Wusu Dashi did not save him when he saw death, not to mention that the north courtyard would make a fuss, and the southern courtyard did not know how many generals would be full of opinions.

However, if you want to save it, you can't delay, at this time, the ice and snow in the north and the ice of the streams and rivers are still more conducive to the Mengwu elite cavalry to fight in the hills and wilderness between Taiyue Mountain and Taihang Mountain.

But they must not take it lightly.

Liang Jun dared to lay such a trap, which means that they have considerable self-confidence; Just like before Yang Yuanyan, the king of Chuxin, intended to invade Huaixi, Han Qian dared to deploy only that little force in Huaixi, and he had no intention of transferring his elite from the north to the south......

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Sima De is the son of Sima Yan - Sima Yan died of illness in Bianjing, Sima Tan was in charge of the military and government in Xuzhou, Sima De failed to win his uncle, and he has been obsessed with poetry and songs for nearly ten years to avoid suspicion. This time, Sima Tan used Sima De as an envoy to come to Luoyang to meet the king, which should also be due to the fact that Sima Yan and Sima De have no bad deeds with Bianliang......"

Sitting on the soft carpet, Feng Yi talked about how he and Wen Ruilin met Sima De, the secret envoy of the Sima clan, in Chenzhou on their way back from Tangyi, and walked all the way back to Luoyang.

When Zhu Yu launched a mutiny and usurped the throne, Sima Yan, the head of the Sima family at that time, quickly came to the table to support him; When Zhu Yu personally led the army to the south, Sima Yan and Sima De, father and son, both served the emperor, and they were very attentive and won Zhu Yu's trust.

After that, Sima Yan also went to Bianjing with Zhu Yu to take up his post, and the posts of Xuzhou Assassin Shi and Xu Sidu's defense envoy were led by Han Yuanqi - after the Heshuo Shock, Han Yuanqi and Chen Kun led their troops to aid Bianliang, and Xu Si's military and political power fell back into the hands of Sima.

With the death of Sima Yan in Bianjing, Ma Si's family, under the leadership of Sima Tan, quickly cut off the relationship with Bianjing, in fact, maintained independence, and then joined the Shouzhou army to join Zhu Rang and Liang Shixiong, who had the support of the Mughurs behind them.

Like Gu Qian, Zhu Juezhong, Chen Youzhen, Zhou Daoyuan, Han Yuanqi, Chen Kun and others, they still have a pretty good impression of the children of the Sima family in the line of Sima Yan and Sima De.

After the battle of Fanchuanhe, Sima Tan reactivated Sima De's secret envoy to Luoyang, so as to resolve Luoyang's "hostility", which can also be said to be "knowing people and making good use of them".

According to the opinions of Gu Qian, Zhu Juezhong, Chen Youzhen, Zhou Daoyuan and others, the problems of the Shouzhou Army and Shu Chu have not yet been decided, and it is difficult for Daliang to directly recover the Xusi region at present. At the same time, it should also be that the Sima clan should also purchase a corresponding amount of cotton cloth, ironware and other commercial goods from Huaixi through Zhongli, Linhao and other places, so as to see the initial sincerity of being willing to peacefully resolve the Xu Si issue.

"Okay, what do you think of the idea of the Zuo Nei Shi Mansion?" Han Qian looked at Feng Yi, Wen Ruilin, and Han Jianji, who were sitting in the pavilion at this time, and asked.

The Right Inner History Mansion also officially established the Honglu Division, with Feng Yi as the governor; After Wen Ruilin is transferred back to Luoyang, he will serve as the governor of Honglu Division together with Han Jianji.

After the decision was made on the diplomatic strategy of the feudal domains and local forces, the Honglu Division, as one of the constituent secretaries of the Right Inner Historian, was mainly responsible for the specific implementation.

Due to the fact that the foreign intelligence spying and infiltration of the General Staff Office and the foreign exchanges of the Honglu Division overlap in many areas, and Han Qian not only attached importance to diplomatic work, but also did not want to be overly powerful as the secretary of the intelligence department, so he systematically required the secret secretary to spy on and infiltrate foreign intelligence and accept the dual leadership of the Honglu Department and the General Office.

Therefore, compared to the traditional Honglu Temple, the power of the Honglu Division is much greater.

Wen Ruilin can be regarded as officially entering the core of Liang's power this time.

"You can stay in Luoyang for a while to observe." Wen Ruilin suggested.

"Yes, when do you think it's appropriate, it's not too late for me to meet Sima De again," Han Qian nodded, agreeing with the current arrangements made by the Zuo Nei Shifu and the Honglu Division for the Sima Clan, and said, "If you can ask the Sima Clan to hand over the military power and recover Xu Si by peaceful means, you should do everything possible to fight for it."

When the news of Fanchuanhe's victory reached Chengdu Mansion, Wang Yong, the lord of Shu, sent an envoy to Luoyang, hoping to send students to Luoyang College. At the same time, the Shu envoy also brought me a private letter written by Shu's left servant Jing Qiongwen, asking if you have the intention of being the emperor, looking at the meaning of his letter, as long as you are the emperor, the Shu State will immediately cut off the clan with the Chu court, and call us a minister," Feng Yi said again, "The Shu State is really knowledgeable!" ”

"Calling the courtiers?" Han Qian

smiled, and said somewhat disdainfully.

Previously, in order to promote the peace between Liang and Chu, Da Liang called the country not a dynasty, and at the same time called Chu a minister, and all the officials also lowered their ranks, changed their names, and even Zhu Yu took the initiative to lower his title before his death, and hugged Yun and the princess were also reduced to the lord of Yunhe.

The relationship between Liang and Chu has completely broken down, and there is no need for Liang to be a vassal to Chu, Feng Yi and Gu Qian now hope that these many things can be corrected in time.

For example, the Military Intelligence Staff Office was changed back to the Privy Council, the Left Internal History Office was changed back to Zhongshu Province, the Council was changed back to Menxia Province, the Right Internal History Office was changed back to Shangshu Province, and all the departments should be changed back to the "Six Departments".

Of course, the most fundamental point in this involves Han Qian's "emperor".

"Let's put these things on hold first, how can I care about these now?" Han Qian shook his head, asking Honglu Temple not to ignore Jing Qiongwen's instigation, and not to get involved in these things.

Whether it is the emperor, the replacement of the plaques of the ministries and departments, or even the Shu State being called the minister and the tribute, are just good-looking things, and they are not urgently needed at this time, so Han Qian will not toss these things at this juncture.

And no matter how Feng Yi and Gu Wei insisted, Han Qian would not ask the temple to return to the old pattern of the three provinces and six ministries.

Han Qian did not agree to directly claim the title of emperor at this time, and there was another factor to consider, that is, after the de facto rupture of the relationship between Liang and Chu, the business and trade exchanges between Liang and Chu were completely severed, at least on the surface.

Even when the situation before the war was becoming more urgent, Han Qian issued an edict asking Jingzhaofu and the three provinces of Yongzhou, Hedong, and Henan to increase investment in infrastructure and people's livelihood construction this year, so as to expand domestic demand and digest the surplus production capacity and surplus of commercial goods that might be generated, but the relationship between Liang and Chu broke down, and suddenly lost the export market with an annual trade value of up to 20 million yuan, which still had a great impact on the industrial and mining production of Huaixi, Xuzhou, and other places.

Han Qian did not directly claim the title of emperor, and at this time he had no intention of asking Shu to pay tribute to Daliang, in addition to not caring about false names, he mainly wanted to continue to transport some commercial goods to Jingxiang, Yuetan, Ejiang and other states through the middlemen of Shu.

At the same time, it is also necessary to screen and win over the forces close to Daliang in this way.

These are all matters that the Hiroshi Division is involved in.

The number of forces close to the Great Liang within the Chu State determines whether the fundamental strategy that can be adopted against the Chu State in the future is whether to launch a full-scale war of conquest with all the whole country, or to merge the Liang and Chu into one country in the form of small-scale wars and peaceful evolution as much as possible.

At this time, lurking in the secret room of Jinling's hidden pile, the main thing is to test the attitudes of all aspects, and try to weaken the will to resist Daliang within the Chu State as imperceptibly as possible.

Han Qian, Feng Yi, Wen Ruilin, and Han Jianji talked about the focus and key points of Honglusi's work in the future.

"According to the news from the inside line of Jincheng, several people who sneaked into Jincheng four days ago did have Xiao Yiqing among them! Not only did Kong Xirong, Han Donghu, and Li Xiu make a request, but Master Li and Lord Tian also advocated that the fire crossbow could be used in this battle; In addition, the General Staff Office also suggested that Honglu Temple send someone to accompany Sima De and the Shu envoy to Jincheng to watch the battle......"

"This time, if you can lure the main force of the Mongolian army out of Taiyuan, you won't need the fire crossbow at this time, and when will you wait?" Feng Yi also said excitedly.

At the end of the Han Dynasty, the upper class people already had the habit of taking gold and stone medicine such as Wushi San, and alchemists often used the fire method to remove the fierce poison in the gold and stone medicine, which has a history of seven or eight hundred years.

The so-called fire method, whether it is using saltpeter to remove the sulfur in the amingolite medicine, or using sulfur to remove the saltpeter in the amingolite medicine, is essentially a violent combustion reaction of saltpeter, sulfur and the charcoal in the goldstone medicine.

At the end of the previous dynasty, the alchemist who was a guest of honor for the Qingliushi clan made the Fuhuo Dan and Lead Dan that can be said to be the prototype of gunpowder, and even invented the technique of saltpeter to make ice, but there were great defects in the identification, purification, and powdering of saltpeter and sulfur, so that the Fuhuo Dan had not attracted military attention for the time being.

When Han Qian possessed Huaixi, he asked Liyang Academy to start researching gunpowder (Fuhuo Dan).

At that time, the Fuhuo Dan production method handed down by the previous dynasty was still too simple and shallow, and it was not known whether there were large-scale saltpeter mines in Huaixi at that time - even now, there were no ready-made saltpeter mines found in Huaixi, and the preparation and purification of saltpeter and the identification of minerals such as true nitrate and miscanthus nitrate were all big problems at that time.

When Han Qianchan succeeded to the position of the lord of the Great Liang State, the gunpowder preparation process was relatively mature, but the large-scale saltpeter mine in Huaixi was not able to be explored for the time being, and the smelting and casting of iron and steel was not yet mature, so the gunpowder technology has been strictly sealed and not put into practice.

Represented by the spring-arm crossbow, the carved iron knife bed, and the steel-framed ironclad warship, the development of the steel smelting technology of the girder has entered a new level.

In the past two years, the use of existing minerals in the territory of the girder, the process of preparing saltpeter has also been relatively mature, and the Luoyang College, which undertakes the follow-up research tasks, has successfully trial-produced several corresponding kinds of actual combat shells such as artillery and flowering shells that can be put into actual combat until the end of last year, and the internal is temporarily named Fuhuo crossbow.

When the situation in Chuliang was critical, Han Qian not only transferred Zhao Wuji, Cao Ba, Li Mo, and Lu Ze to Chuzhou, but also secretly transferred the first batch of thirty volcanic fire crossbows cast in batches to Huainan Province, of which twelve were equipped with the latest two ironclad and steel-skeleton warships, and the other eighteen were secretly deployed in Tangyi and Shiliang.

It is a pity that Yang Yuanyan failed to lead the Chuzhou army into the territory of Tangyi and Shiliang counties, and Zhao Wuji raised troops to attack the territory of Chuzhou from the Fanchuan River area where dense forests and swamps are intertwined, and a bottle of ambush fire crossbow weighing more than 5,000 catties and more than three meters long, so he lost the first opportunity to enter the actual battle and test the power.

Since it was only at the end of last year that the ambush fire crossbow that could be put into actual combat was trial-produced, and in the early stage, it was mainly secretly deployed to the southern front, and the first and second central marching battalions of the northern front were only equipped with one battalion of ambush fire crossbows each, with a total of only 24 ambush fire crossbows.

Even if the artillery can fire 20 kilograms of solid bullets, the damage to the strong city wall in a short period of time is relatively limited before the scale is formed, so as a last resort, Han Qian asked Kong Xirong and Han Donghu to enter the actual battle as much as possible without ambushing fire.

At present, the imperial guard battalion is equipped with four battalions of ambush fire crossbows, and it is expected that the main force of the Mongolian cavalry is very likely to come out of Taiyuan Mansion this time and rush to the north of Zezhou to meet the northern retreat of its Jincheng defenders......