The Wuling army captured Yuanling and controlled almost all of the middle reaches of the Yuanjiang River.

The straight-line distance of Yuanling City is one hundred and forty miles to the north, all the way to Yunpanling, all of which are the boundaries of Yuanling County, and if you take the waterway of the Yuanjiang River, it will be about two hundred and twenty miles of twists and turns.

Yunpanling is also the most important remnant vein at the northern foot of the Wuling Mountains, and then enters the territory of Wuling County further north. There are many shallow hills and low ridges in Wuling County, the height is about ten zhang to thirty or fifty zhang, and the terrain is far less dangerous than the two banks of the Yuan River to the south of Yunpanling.

Although Tanzhou had a stronghold in Yunpanling and stationed a garrison, Ma Rong himself did not expect that the five thousand soldiers and horses could not hold on to Yuanling for a month, and the construction of the walled city on this side of Yunpanling was slow.

Ma Rong led the remnants of the army to retreat north, and although the walled city of Yunpanling occupied dangerous places, it was quite thin.

The valley south of Yunpanling was conducive to the offensive after the Wuling army entered.

In order to avoid unnecessary losses, Ma Rong destroyed the walled city when passing through Yunpanling, brought more than 200 defenders back to Wuling City, and used Wuling City as the last barrier to block the Wuling army from entering the Dongting Lake Plain.

Tian Cheng led his troops into Yunpanling in mid-March and rebuilt Yunpanling Village as a stronghold for the Wuling Army to advance north.

At this moment, the Wuling military territory, with Jingzhou in the north and Ezhou in the northeast, was still isolated by the Hunan army ruled by the Ma family, but there was no need to go over the mountains and mountains with great difficulty, and it was much more convenient than before for scouts to dress up and send messages back and forth.

Jiang Shu personally rushed to Yunpanling at the end of March to meet with Zheng Hui, Zhang Ping, Han Qian and others who had gathered troops and horses in Yunpanling at this time to attack Wuling in the north.

The third prince personally Ezhou soldiers and horses, and the Tanzhou army fought a few battles at the northern foot of the Mufu Mountain, and arrived in Yueyang City in early March, but the king of Hunan Ma Yin gathered 30,000 sailors to personally supervise the battle in Yueyang.

Yueyang, as the state of Yuezhou, borders the Yangtze River in the north and Dongting in the west.

The naval division of the Louchuan Army and the Tanzhou Water Battalion fought several battles in the waters of Dongting Lake, and they won and lost each other, but they did not dare to rush into the Dongting Lake area with complicated water conditions, so when Jiang Shu set off to see Zheng Hui and Han Qian, Yang Yuanpu did not dare to easily besiege Yueyang, and the main force of soldiers and horses was stationed in Laojunzhai dozens of miles east of Yueyang City.

Hongzhou attacked Hengzhou through Yuanzhou, the imperial court used the son of the eldest brother of Emperor Tianyou, the king of Yuzhang County and the assassin of Hongzhou Yang Zhitang as the commander, but the Hongzhou soldiers and horses were mainly local state battalions, and the elite of the forbidden army led by Yang Zhitang was only less than 3,000 people.

Yang Zhitang was only able to hold Yuanzhou at this time, preventing the rebels from having the opportunity to attack the west bank of Poyang Lake.

The general Zhang Pan was entangled by the Shu army in Jingzhou, and it was difficult to divide his troops to cross the river to attack Jiang'an and other cities in the north of Langzhou.

For now, it was the Wuling Army that attacked the rebels from the southwest most smoothly, forcing the rebels to send 5,000 new troops and horses from other directions to defend the city in the lower reaches of the Yuan River.

"It's been almost two years since Jinling was separated, and Mr. Jiang's white hair has grown a lot, what a lot of hard work!" Han Qian, Zheng Hui and Zhang Ping accompanied Jiang Shu to climb the main peak of Yunpanling, looking at the mountains and rivers in Wuling County in the north, and said to Jiang Shu with emotion.

"It's all for His Majesty, what do you say is hard or not?" Jiang Yu arched his hand and smiled, "Besides, it's far less hard than Lord Han and Lord Zheng......"

"It's all for His Majesty, and I don't feel hard." Han Qian laughed.

"At present, His Royal Highness led his troops to Yueyang City, but the Marquis of Zhenyuan, the Marquis of Xinchang, Lord Shen, and Lord Chen did not feel that there was a chance of capturing Yueyang City in a short time, and after the Liang army in the north drove the Jin army out of Hedong, it was gathering in Caizhou non-stop, and it was difficult for the imperial court to support the expenses of the three battlefields at the same time. Jiang Shu stated the purpose of his trip.

"......" Zheng Hui and Zhang Ping both looked at Han Qian, knowing that His Royal Highness had really sent Jiang Shu over to ask Han Qian for advice, and in the final analysis, it was Han Qian who had the most trust from His Royal Highness at this time.

Han Qian groaned, not in a hurry to answer Jiang Shu's question.

From Yunpanling to the north, it is the low mountain and hilly belt at the northern foot of Wuling Mountain, no matter how stupid Ma Yuanheng and Ma Rong are, it is impossible to honestly hold thousands of soldiers and horses in Wuling City and let them attack the city with whirlwind cannons and scorpion cannons.

Once they fought in the field between the low mountains and shallow hills of the Wuling Army, their forces were at a disadvantage, and even if they could win one or two battles in the end, the elite would inevitably be exhausted.

In the end, the population of Xuzhou is still too small.

Xuzhou has a population of 170,000, and there are less than 40,000 men between the ages of 18 and 40.

Although the vast majority of the common people benefited from the new land tax policy, the centuries-old tradition of villagers controlling the big clans was not something that could be reversed in a short period of time by Han Qian's benefits.

Fanmin even harbored a deep hatred.

It takes quite a long time to change customs, and a short period of deterrence by force can only cover up the contradictions temporarily.

In a short period of time, it has become very difficult for the Wuling Army to continue to recruit new soldiers.

Among the existing Wuling army composition, the early convict soldiers, the boat gang guards, and the generals and children of Zuo Si were the most reliable, followed by the brave soldiers recruited from the migrants, but even if the soldiers recruited from the Feng family slaves and maids were counted, the total number was only 2,4500 people.

In addition to these 2,4500 people, there are guest Ding Zhuang, Xuzhou Fanmin, Fanyong of Qianzhong Ancient County, and the current semi-independent Chenzhou Fanying, their minds are actually unstable, far from reaching the point of returning.

At this time, once there are heavy casualties, the combat effectiveness of the Wuling army will drop sharply.

And the 2,4500 people that Han Qian trusted the most were seriously damaged, so he had to worry about whether Xiying's horseman would encourage Fanying and the other battalions of the Wuling Army to rebel.

In the end, their time in operation is too short, and their foundation is too shallow.

Only by constantly winning can they deter the people from being used by the imperial court, and if they suffer a heavy setback, the situation will immediately become precarious, and the seemingly good start of the entire southwest direction will be completely overturned.

Could it be that with a shock to his tiger body, he can make the old foxes such as Xiying, Yang Zaili, and Xiang Jianlong stop being grass on the wall, and the contradiction between the Turks and the Turks in Chenxu Prefecture, which has lasted for hundreds of years, will not exist?

There are too few people who are really reliable.

Han Qian previously agreed to hand over the command of the Wuling Army to Zheng Hui, and there was another consideration, that is, Zheng Hui could transfer a group of Zheng disciples to make up for the lack of middle- and low-level military attachés in the Wuling Army.

No matter what kind of ambition you have, you have to destroy the Ma family father and son first.

Otherwise, the cutting of the feudal domain was frustrated, and the imperial court had to admit the fact that the Ma family father and son had seized Xianghu, and Xuzhou was such a small place, could it withstand the counterattack of tens of thousands of elites in Tanzhou?

Of course, it is definitely not possible to simply use the Wuling army to go out of the cloud and panling and confront the rebels, but the battlefield will continue to stalemate, and it will drag on until the Liang army once again frees up its hands and attacks the Nanyang Basin from the direction of Caizhou, and the entire western front of Dachu will become precarious.

"The water situation in Dongting Lake is complicated, and it is categorically impossible for the main force of the Lou Boat Army to enter Dongting Lake rashly and play hide and seek with the Tanzhou Navy Army, but has His Highness considered following the example of the Battle of Xichuan and using the sailor warships of the Lou Boat Army to send an elite to us?" Han Qian asked Jiang Yudao.

"It's a workable idea." Zheng Hui also knew better than anyone else about the situation of the Wuling Army, and immediately expressed his support for Han Qian's opinion.

The water situation of Dongting Lake is complicated, it is actually a group of lakes composed of a series of lakes, the middle streams and rivers are connected, the grass beach is intermittent, the waterway is deep and shallow, the beach is steep and slow, no matter how powerful the scouts of the staff department are, the investigation of the water situation of Dongting Lake is far less than that of the Tanzhou Water Army.

The Lou Boat Army rashly entered Dongting Lake to seek and annihilate the Tanzhou Naval Army, which was definitely a situation of more defeats and fewer victories.

However, the main channel from the Yangtze River to Dongting Lake and then into the Yuan River is clear.

Even Yang Qin has walked back and forth more than a dozen times on this main channel.

The warship of the Lou Chuan Army carried an elite army, from the main channel straight into the Yuan River, the Tanzhou naval army dispatched to intercept it, but in the main channel to fight with it, the Tanzhou naval army avoided fighting, you can send an elite into Yunpanling, and the Wuling army will join the division, which will completely change the situation of the Dongting Lake battlefield, and the rebels are tired of coping!

The rebels did not dare to fight in the field north of Wuling Mountain, and it was always much easier for them to storm Wuling City than for the main force to storm Yueyang City.

Not only Wuling City, but even Langzhou Prefecture City, because it has long been regarded by the Ma family as an inner line that is difficult to face the enemy, the level of city cultivation is also at the same level as Yuanling City, and the city is still small.

The change in the battlefield situation will hit the morale of the rebels even more incalculably.

"General Li has this intention, but you adults think this strategy is very risky, and at the same time, you don't know how long the grain and grass of the Wuling Army can last?" Jiang Shu asked.

Li Zhihe was a person who dared to use troops boldly, but Shen Yang, Yang Pu, Marquis of Xinchang, Yang Jian, Marquis of Zhenyuan, and other people who could really decide the strategy of the battle might not dare to act like this.

In addition, food and grass are always the first consideration, after all, it is impossible to send soldiers and horses in, and a breakthrough can be made immediately, and the consequences of further stalemate in the war need to be considered.

"If you know that you can lead 10,000 elites to come over, there will be no problem with the support of grain and military resources until the end of June, and by the end of June, Xuzhou will be able to recruit a new batch of summer grain." Han Qian said.

Jiang Shu asked again, "Other than that, what other suggestions does Lord Han have?" ”

Jiang Shu rushed over this time, just to ask for advice on behalf of the third prince, and there was no room for him to express his opinions.

Han Qian and Zheng Hui's attitude was very clear, he went back and told the truth, and the final decision had to be made by the three princes and Shen Yang, Li Pu, Yang Jian and others.

"Send an envoy into Shu to persuade the Lord of Shu to respect himself!" Han Qian said in a deep voice, "After the envoy enters Shu, he wants to make the Lord of Shu understand that the battle of my Great Chu Domain to quell the chaos will really drag on until the Liang army attacks Nanyang again, and failure is doomed, but the first thing the Liang army will capture next is Shu, not Jingxiang of Chu!" ”

"Lord Han is really smart, this coincides with Your Majesty!" Jiang Shu laughed and said, "The Marquis of Liyang is in His Highness's army at this time, and he will only wait to confirm the situation on the side of the Wuling Army, and he will choose a day to make Chu!" ”

"Marquis Yang is also here?" Han Qian knew that Emperor Tianyou's vision would never be bad, and it was not strange that he thought of making Chu Zhice before, but he also thought that Yang En was lazy by nature and would only retire in the right school office, but he didn't expect Emperor Tianyou to persuade him to go out of the mountain again.

"It's about the Great Chu Jiangshan Sheji, and Marquis Yang is also duty-besides, Marquis Yang traveled a lot when he was young, and he was also kind to Wang Jian, the lord of Shu, and there is no one else in the court who is more suitable to envoy to Shu than him." Jiang Shu knew more about the clan than anyone else, and at this time, he also made it clear that Yang En made Chu's advantages.

Han Qian nodded, Yang Enzhen could persuade the Shu army to withdraw from Yiling, even if the Liang army completed the assembly in Caizhou before the end of May, and Da Chu had 15,000 elites led by Zhang Ji on the western front to be flexible, even if the situation on the Dongting Lake side was stalemate, there was no need to worry too deeply.

Jiang Shu also said that Shen Yang, Yang Jian, Li Pu and others had opinions on the follow-up battle plan, and they all advocated that Yang En should make Chu first, and as long as they could persuade the Shu army to agree to withdraw their troops, there was no need to risk sending troops to force their way into Dongting Lake and throw themselves into the southwest to fight with the Wuling army.

After the Shu army withdrew, Zhang Ben's soldiers and horses in Jingzhou were able to get out and take care of the north and south lines, so that the Liang army did not dare to attack the south of Deng Xiang's defense, so that Du Chongtao built a new defense line on the front line of Fangcheng, and at this time, the war dragged on, and it would only be more unfavorable to Tanzhou and the rebels.

After all, the military potential that Da Chu can still squeeze is far from being comparable to the five states controlled by the rebels.

Han Qian pondered for a while, and finally stubbornly said to Zheng Hui: "Lord Zheng, it seems that I am going to go to Yueyang to see His Highness!" ”

Shen Yang, Yang Jian, Li Pu and others' troop strategy is too stable, but they can't confirm that Wang Jian, the lord of Shu, will definitely be persuaded to withdraw his troops at this time, let alone confirm the determination of the Liang army......

The use of soldiers has always been a strange and positive match, and they have always taken risks to use strange soldiers, and one day they will be pecked blind, but they always want to use soldiers safely, and they may miss a rare favorable opportunity.

If Jiang was only allowed to pass on the message in the center, the three princes might be more inclined to their opinions, but Shen Yang, Yang Jian, Li Pu and others strongly opposed it, and it was unrealistic to expect the three princes, who were only seventeen years old, to stick to their own opinions and strongly confront the objections of these three people.

Han Qian felt that it was necessary for him to go there himself.