In early May of the 14th year of Chen Taijian, Taiyu Wenliang, the great governor of the southeast province of Zhou, mobilized a large army to invade the border of Chen Guo in Jiangnan, and it is said that it was in retaliation for the attack on Bazhou in Jiangbei on the night of Chinese New Year's Eve by the Chen army.

After the naval armies of Chen and Zhou fought a decisive battle near Parrot Island on the river outside Xiakou in Yingzhou Prefecture, Chen Guo's naval army was defeated, and the Zhou army crossed the river to besiege Xiakou, most of Jiangxia County fell, Xiakou was in a hurry, and Wuchang County and the adjacent Jingling County fell.

The news came that Jiankang was shaken, and the attack of the Zhou State in Jiangbei had forced the Chen State to a desperate situation, if Yingzhou fell, then the upstream Hunan and Ba states were in danger, and once the land north of Yingzhou fell, then the Chen State would come to an end.

The army of the Northern Dynasties could attack Jiangzhou in the east of Yingzhou by land, and after the other side took Jiangzhou, the naval army could go down the river to Jiankang City, Jiangzhou is currently safe and sound, but if measures are not taken immediately to wait for Jiangzhou to fall, then everything will be over.

Chen Shubao, the emperor of Chen State, who was on the throne for less than half a year, convened important ministers to enter the palace overnight to discuss countermeasures, and this matter could not help but make Chen Guojun and his ministers not nervous.

In the last years of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, the Eastern Jin Dynasty Jingzhou Assassin Shi Huan Xuan, who was entrenched in Jiangling, led a large army down the river, passed through Jiangzhou where no one intercepted, went directly to Jingshi Jiankang, killed the ruling Sima Yuanxian and a group of opponents, and then controlled the government to eliminate dissidents, and was named the king of Chu Jia Jiuxi, and finally abolished the Jin Emperor and established the Chu Dynasty, known as Huan Chu in history.

Later, Liu Yu, the general of the Beifu Army, raised troops against Huan and drove him out of Jiankang, traced the river and won consecutive battles, and finally defeated Huan Xuan in Jiangling, mastered the government and established Liu Song, more than 40 years later, his son Liu Yilong, Emperor Wen of Song, was killed by the crown prince Liu Shao to launch a palace mutiny, Liu Yilong's third son Liu Jun raised troops in the border of Xiyang in Jiangbei, and attacked Jiankang downstream, overthrew Liu Shao and succeeded to the throne.

After Xiao Qi replaced Liu Song, Xiao Yan, the assassin of Yongzhou (Xiangyang) in the last years of Xiao Qi, raised troops to resist the Qi emperor, Xiao Baojuan led the Xiangyang naval army into the Yangtze River, and together with the Jingzhou army, went down the river to attack Jiankang, and finally built Liang on behalf of Qi.

In the Hou Jing Rebellion, the Western Route Army of Liang also defeated Hou Jing's army from Bazhou (not today's Bazhou of Zhou, Jiangbei) in the lower reaches of Jiangling, and then marched all the way east, down the river and into Jiankang. A few years after the war subsided, Jiangling was attacked by the Western Wei Dynasty, and the general Chen Ba, the general of the Liang State, took power first, and then abolished Liang Lichen.

Liang general Wang Lin raised troops against Chen, the two sides fought in Yingzhou and Wuchang, and finally Wang Lin won all the way east to attack Jiangzhou, Chen Ba first used various means to resist the other party and force him to return to the west, and finally pushed back against the current.

If the imperial court of Jiankang wants to sleep peacefully, it must first ensure the safety of Jiangfang, and the safety of Jingxiang and Yingzhou and Jiangzhou in the upper reaches is the top priority.

In order to prevent the naval army of Jiangling and even Shudi, it is necessary to support Xinzhou at the mouth of the Yangtze River Gorge and Hunan and Ba Prefecture downstream, and to prevent the Xiangzhou and Xiangyang naval forces from entering the Yangtze River along the Han River, then the Yingzhou Prefecture opposite Hankou is the top priority.

Bazhou in the upper reaches was lost, and it could still rely on the naval army stationed in Xiakou to defend against the enemy naval army in the direction of Jiangling and Xiangzhou. If Xiakou is lost, he can only rely on Jiangzhou to withstand the enemy's land and water army.

If things deteriorate to the point where Jiangzhou must be defended, then Chen State will not be able to hold on for long, because the fall of the upper reaches of the country will lead to the loss of nearly half of the national strength, which will make it even worse for Chen Guo, who has lost the land north of the Jiangbei.

With so many lessons from the past, it is impossible for Chen Guojun and his ministers to sit back and watch the upstream lose, Yingzhou can not hold Jiangzhou again, then Chen Guoli will not be long away, and the government and the opposition will talk about it, and people's hearts will fluctuate.

Many people are speculating whether the Zhou State is going to make a move against Da Chen, but what makes people wonder is that the Zhou State itself is too anxious to deal with why the Sui State, which has cut off its territory, is so crazy to attack south.

The Jingxiang prefectures north of Yingzhou and the six prefectures of Jiangbei are the jurisdiction of Yu Wenliang in the southeast of the Zhou State, and the territory of the Great Zhou clan is separated from the territory controlled by the Zhou court in Yecheng.

If you can't beat the Sui Kingdom, you will come to the south to take advantage, but you think that the Southern Dynasty is easy to bully!!

The imperial court quickly made a decision: to send a large army of water and land to march westward immediately, and at the same time urgently ordered the neighboring states of Yingzhou to organize troops to prepare for support. Two days later, the main force of Chen's army was assembled, and the army of water and land claimed to be 300,000 marching westward in the waterway of the Yangtze River.

The day the army departed. The dense warships on the Yangtze River spread all over the river, among which the figures of the big ships such as Jinyin, Qinglong, Pingyu, and Taiping were shocking, and the rest of the Mengchong, fighting ships, and thousands of big ships transporting soldiers, horses, grain, and grass, and the unprecedented naval fleet set sail with the southeast wind.

There was no longer a single fishing boat on the river, and they all stopped on the shore tremblingly, and the fisherman on a boat looked at this spectacular scene and asked: "I said, how many people did the official army have to go to Yingzhou all the way?" ”

Another person looked at the huge fleet and said that he had heard that the imperial court had sent 300,000 troops to rescue Yingzhou, but according to the previous practice, it would be great to remove half of the number and squeeze out the water, and there would be 70,000 or 80,000.

In these years, no matter which country sends troops, it has increased the number of troops, and 1,000 is said to be 5,000, 10,000 is said to be 50,000, and 50,000 is said to be 200,000. As civilians, they were often drafted into the army, so they had heard of the doorways inside.

Then there is a difference between the number of people on the books and the actual number, and it is common for generals to eat empty salaries and drink the blood of soldiers on weekdays, and it is common for an army of 1,000 people to actually have 500 soldiers. When it comes to the time of war, the number reported to the above is, of course, calculated according to the full number.

There are too few people to pull it out, and it can't be hidden, even if Shangguan wants to turn a blind eye, the scene is too ugly, so it is common to make up the numbers, and it is also common to spend some money temporarily to let the people make up the numbers, and God knows if such an army can win the battle on the battlefield.

"Also, as the saying goes, the soldiers and horses go first before the grain and grass are moved, and the troops are sent out in only two days, where do they go to raise so much grain and grass and bring them on the road? Although there can be some support from the state and county of the imperial court along the way, if there are too many people, where will there be enough food. ”

This is only the army that has just set off, and there will be horses and warships along the way, so it is possible to march all the way to the west, and then meet the defenders in Jiangzhou, and the number of defenders exceeds 100,000.

"So many warships have gone west, so what about the other side of the river?" The first person to ask questions was concerned with this question. Jiankang, the capital of Chen State, is on the south bank of the Yangtze River, and Jiangbei is already enemy territory.

Another person said with a smile that the original Zhou State and Wuzhou Governor's Mansion in Jiangbei are now occupied by Sui and Zhou, and the two sides are guarding against each other, where to draw a hand to invade the south, and besides, the official army must have a hand left, and it is impossible to pour out.

"I said what happened to the Zhou Kingdom this time, the Sui Kingdom was still on its back and dared to invade the south, didn't you think that the imperial army was all chickens and dogs?"

"Who knows? It's not good, they think that they can't beat the Sui army, so they come to pinch the official army, and they want to take advantage of it, but they don't necessarily say it's not necessarily. ”

"Do you think the officers and soldiers can drive away the thieves this time?"

"Who knows? But does it matter who wins and who loses? (To be continued.) )