"What, Li Zhihe doesn't allow us to retreat into Xunyang, what does he mean by this?"

Hearing the messenger's reply that Li Zhihe and his people were in Xunyang, blocking the water and land passage from Baihezhai to Xunyang in Jinzhou, Zhou Yuan was so anxious that he jumped to his feet, eager to pull the messenger to see if he was lying about the news.

After the Jingxiang War, Emperor Tianyou newly placed Junzhou, and then successively on both sides of the Han River in the south of Junzhou, restored the establishment of Fangling and Yunyang counties, but these two counties were sandwiched between Wudang Mountain and Qinling Mountains close to Hanshui, and the land was scarce, and more than 5,000 households and 30,000 Dingkou were relocated before, but with the relocation of the cottage system from the vicinity, the population dropped less than 20,000.

Fangling County newly built a rammed earth city wall, only 400 steps square, hastily withdrawn into the remnants, more than 20,000 people in the family, it seems crowded.

After the heavy snowfall, the people and horses trampled on it, and the city was muddy.

The humble county government, thirty or forty houses, at this time as a line, more than 100 officials of all sizes in the Shangshutai, can vaguely hear Zhou Yuan from the hall almost roaring angry shouts, their eyes are even more desperate and hasty, they don't know where the way out is.

Chun Thirteen Niang closed the door of the hall, and the narrow hall was even darker.

Zhou Yuan shouted angrily: "Open the door, now it is Li Zhihe who wants to cut off our retreat, what is there to see!" ”

Chun Thirteen Niang smiled bitterly and stood at the door of the hall, not closing the door, nor pushing the door open.

Zhong Yanhu is still leading the remnants to guard Canglang City, but Canglang City is located north of Hanshui and east of Danshui, and with their remaining more than 20 warships and 2,000 sailors, it is difficult to stop the water camp of the recruiting army from advancing westward.

And once the elite of the water battalion of the recruiting army enters Danshui, Canglang City will be blocked to the east of Danshui.

In any case, they must withdraw all the soldiers and civilians in Canglang City to Fangling and Yunyang, west of Danshui, in the shortest possible time.

Fangling and Yunyang counties, the combined population is less than 20,000, the slope terraces add up to 1560,000 mu of barren fields, and the annual harvest may be 130,000 stones.

Even if 40,000 small dependents and idle people were sent to Liangzhou in vain, they led 20,000 remnants of the army to defend Yunyang and Fangling, and the food could not support after the spring of next year.

Although Fangling and Yunyang are easy to defend and difficult to attack, but it is too difficult to eat, Zhou Yuan and they still want to withdraw most of the soldiers and their families into Liangzhou first, and leave three or four thousand elite troops in Fangling and Yunyang to defend against the danger.

Even in such a bad situation, it is not a pity to give up Fangling and Yunyang counties, and the remnants are all withdrawn to Liangzhou to rest, and in Xunyang and other places in the east of Jinzhou, they will hold the dangerous terrain and block the recruiting army from the Hanzhong Basin, so that there may not be no chance for the salted fish to turn over.

Compared with Li Zhihe's initial advocacy of retreating to Jinliang County, even if the loss of troops will be extremely miserable, considering that Liangzhou can only raise 20,000 or 30,000 soldiers and horses, and some of the soldiers and horses will be lost, there is not much difference.

It's just that no one thought that Li Zhihe would block Xunyang's water and land passages at this time and prohibit them from entering?!

"Commander Li didn't say that he wouldn't let it at all, but just said that he could withdraw the soldiers and the wounded to Liangzhou first, but Yunyang and Fangling must not be lost, and I hope that the envoy of Lu Gong, the Inspector Chai and the Lord Zhou will personally protect the Queen Mother and His Royal Highness King Xiang, supervise these two cities, and keep the enemy out of Hanzhong." The messenger said cautiously.

"What kind of bullshit is this, not to mention that we are left to fend for ourselves in Hanzhong, and to take away more than 40,000 generals, when we are stupid?" Zhou Yuan jumped up angrily and said, "Madam, we will escort the Queen Mother and King Xiang to Xunyang now to see if Li Zhihe has the courage to order us to be shot!" ”

Zhou Shu died in battle, Zhou Yuan except for his eldest son Zhou Lian who served by his side, the second son and two nephews fell into the bag of the recruiting army and failed to escape - the Zhou family brothers, as the children attached to the Xinchang Marquis Mansion and the Late Red Mansion, broke away from the previous clan, and were already thin, and over the years they have collected more than 100 soldiers and generals, and most of them were also buried east of the Tangbai River, so how could Zhou Yuan not be angry?

"Zhihe's wings are finally stiffened," Lu Qingxia sighed faintly, and said to Yao Xishui, "You go to Xunyang to see Zhihe, and see what conditions he has, before agreeing to get out of the way, and let us the remnants of the defeated army retreat into Hanzhong to breathe a sigh of relief." When I first withdrew to Xiangcheng, I said that everything was headed by him, and he refused to grant it, but there was no need to do this kind of thing at this time. ”

"I'll go see my eldest brother now." Yao Xishui said bitterly.

…………

…………

The distance from Baihezhai to Xunyang is only about 100 miles, but the narrow road close to the south bank of the Han River, because of disrepair, several places are blocked by the soil and rocks that have collapsed and slid down from the mountain, and it is impossible for groups of people and horses to pass.

Now only by stepping on the rugged rocks and pulling the boat can barely resist the turbulence and slowly ascend.

The army could march west along the Han River at any time and attack Yunyang and Fangling, Yao Xishui did not dare to delay, and with a few guards, he still rushed to Xunyang from the rugged mountains on the south bank of the Han River.

Xunyang City is located on the north bank of the Han River, not only the narrow roads on both sides of the bank have been built fences, but also in the turbulent river also laid a number of hidden piles, with several thick iron cables to connect the cliffs on both sides of the river, the waterway is completely blocked.

Xunyang City is also small, but Li Zhihe built a camp in the open space outside Xunyang City on the south bank of the Han River, and the whole is quite spacious.

Walking into the camp, seeing that the generals looked quite calm, and were not affected by the debacle of Xiangcheng, and then looked at the inside and outside of the camp, almost all the slightly flat open spaces were reclaimed as grain fields, planted with beans and wheat, Yao Xishui could also guess that Liangzhou must have expected the debacle of Xiangcheng, and he didn't even say anything about the low-level generals.

Su Hongyu took more than a dozen healthy women, wearing coarse cloth skirts, to pull weeds in the fields in the camp, and when she saw Yao Xishui walking in, she sighed before she stepped forward and asked, "What are you doing here?" ”

"What about the big brother?" Yao Xishui asked.

"A new lime cellar has been built in Beishan, and Zhihe should go over with Li Ji to see the burning cellar." Su Hongyu said.

Yao Xishui insisted that Su Hongyu take her to the cellar, and met Li Zhihe and Li Jian halfway back with Hu Wei.

Li Jin was only fifteen years old, and he was still full of panic when he escaped from Jinling, and he had not seen each other for three or four months.

"Big brother." Yao Xishui was speechless, and called out.

"You've worked hard all the way, let's go to Xunyang to rest first." Li Zhihe said happily, as if he didn't know Yao Xishui's intentions at all, took her thin shoulders and walked towards the camp together.

Yao Xishui also restrained, until he walked into the shed where Li Zhihe acted as a tooth tent, and then asked: "It turns out that the eldest brother is correct in predicting the situation, and Mrs. and Zhou Yuan also realize that they are not capable of dealing with such a complex and bad situation, and there will be no more thoughts of taking the lead, why is the eldest brother so ruthless, and he must block the soldiers and horses of Xiangcheng from Jinzhou?" ”

"If someone comes to Guanjiang Mansion again, will Mrs. and Zhou Yuan be resolutely gone?" Li Zhihe took off his heavy armor, changed into a light shirt, and sat in front of the brazier and asked.

"Big brother, Zhao Mengji and Wang Xiaoxian also sent people to present a table to Prince Mengwu?" Yao Xishui asked in confusion, "Big brother naturally disdains to be a lackey of the Mughu, but why should I consider that Zhao Mengji and Wang Xiaoxian will lead their troops to attack Liangzhou after the spring of next year?" It is impossible for us not to know that the Mughul are a poisonous snake at this time, but at this time, it is also a last resort. ”

"Han Qian's southern attack on Deng Jun was in a hurry to send troops into Shangluo, and when the time comes, Tangyi and Remnant Liang will have fifty or sixty thousand elite peeps at Guanzhong, even if it is difficult to recapture Guanzhong, they can also contain the Mengwu soldiers and horses from the western front - Zhao Mengji and Wang Xiaoxian want to attack Liangzhou, only sixty or seventy thousand weak divisions, and I have 20,000 soldiers and horses, which is enough for them to take advantage of less than half of it," Li Zhihe said, "Only if we don't make peace with the Mengwu people, it is possible to borrow some grain and grass from Shu, otherwise so many men and horses will not be able to survive this winter." ”

"In addition to not contacting Xiao Yiqing and Wang Jingrong's people, what conditions does the eldest brother have before agreeing to let his wife and them go west?" Yao Xishui asked.

"It is enough to leave 5,000 soldiers and horses to guard Yunyang and Fangling by Chai Jian, Zhong Yanhu, and other soldiers and families will be dismantled and organized into Tuntian soldiers to reclaim wasteland," Li Zhihe said, "Madame, after they arrive in Liangzhou, I will arrange a small city and ask them to protect the Queen Mother and King Xiang to move in." ”

"Han Qian sent someone to find the eldest brother first, and he must do so in order to borrow grain and grass from Shuzhong?" Yao Xishui asked.

"I don't know what Han Qian told me to do." Li Zhihe said.

"But I have to give Madame an explanation." Yao Xishui said.

"There must be a rhetoric, you can go back to Fangling and say so." Li Zhihe said.

…………

…………

"Li Zhiyu, what does he mean by this, at this time, he is still with Han Qian, hasn't he been bitten by Han Qian's poisonous snake?" Zhou Yuan asked resentfully.

"Although hundreds of thousands of acres of grain fields have been newly cultivated since the beginning of autumn, it will take until the late spring of next year before the first wave of harvest may occur. Before that, the seven or eight hundred thousand mu of grain fields cultivated in Liangzhou were for a total of up to 200,000 soldiers and civilians to eat, and they might not even survive this winter, so they had to borrow four or five hundred thousand stone grains from Shuzhong," Yao Xishui said, "The eldest brother also had no choice but to agree to their conditions." ”

"You can really borrow food from Shu, have you seen the envoy sent by Han Qian?" Lu Qingxia stared at Yao Xishui suspiciously and asked.

"I didn't see anyone from Tangyi, but I thought in my heart that Shu and Tangyi would never want to see us borrow food from the Mughus," Yao Xishui said calmly, "It's just that I have to wronged Mrs. and Lord Zhou for the time being......

"Let me think about it, you go and rest first, it's hard to travel all the way." Lu Qingxia said a little exhausted.

"We must not agree to Li Zhihe's such conditions, we will send people to cross the Qinling Mountains, go to Taiyuan to see Xiao Yiqing, and use Liang and Jin Erzhou to offer a table, in exchange for Wang Yuankui to send troops out of Fu Luo Dao to threaten Liangzhou, I don't believe that Li Zhihe will fantasize about making peace with Han Qian!" Seeing Yao Xishui leaving, Zhou Yuan gritted his teeth and said, "The Mengwu people can make Zhu Rang defend the Eastern Liang, even if we have thirty or forty thousand remnants left, but if we help them defeat Sichuan and Shu, how can we also seal the vassal country!" ”

Seeing Lu Qingxia's hesitation, Zhou Yuan looked at Chai Jian and urged: "Li Zhihe said that he left 5,000 soldiers and horses for you and Zhong Yanhu, just because he was afraid that you would take away his edge, and he also used you and Zhong Yanhu as substitutes for the dead ghosts to block Zhou Bingwu, Zhang Ji, and Zhao Zhen from advancing westward. ”

Chai Jian's face was cloudy.

"Okay," Lu Qingxia waved his hand, not asking Zhou Yuan to continue, and said, "I know that he doesn't know how long Emperor Zhu Yu's body of Emperor Liang will not last, since he still has a trace of illusions, we will rely on him for the time being, and when Emperor Liang Zhu Yu dies, Heluo, Xu Ru, Cai Ying and other places will fall into the hands of the Mugwu people, and then he will make the right choice." ”

"But ......" Zhou Yuan still wanted to argue.

"Can't stand the grievances for a while?" Lu Qingxia asked with a calm face.

"Madame, you have to keep some guards around you." Chai Jian said with a calm face.

He didn't think that it was the best policy to send someone to see Xiao Yiqing bend his knees and surrender at this time, and send troops to threaten Liangzhou instead of Wang Yuankui, but even if he temporarily bowed his head and forbearance, Chai Jian also believed that once Emperor Zhu Yu of Liang died, they would be able to usher in a turnaround.

"No matter how much he goes too far, he can't lock us up as prisoners." Lu Qingxia said.

…………

…………

In the wax moon, both sides of the Huai River enter the coldest season of the year, and the earth is covered with snow.

The Kip Shi Gorge is too narrow, and when the water level is the highest in summer, the water surface is only 300 meters wide, which will hold a large amount of flood water in the upper reaches of the Yinghuai Gorge, inundating a large area of land on both sides of the river, and also causing great pressure on the embankment on the south bank.

At the end of November, after the first Hehuai War was completely over, nearly 30,000 strong men and village soldiers were conscripted and mobilized to concentrate in the floodplain on the west flank of Xiacai County in the north of Kipshi Gorge, where they were in full swing to dig through the thick ice in the floodplain on the east bank of Yingshui, step into the icy mud field, and dig the mud and load it onto a ship and transport it away.

The initial plan is to excavate a new river channel between the lower reaches of Yingshui and the Yongtai Canal and Xiyuan River in the east before the summer of next year, and eventually connect the three rivers to form a Yingyuan Canal more than 120 miles long.

In this way, a new flood channel will be formed on the north side of Kip Shi Gorge and Xia Cai New Town, which, together with the Shouchun flood canal excavated on the south bank at the beginning of this year, will ensure that two or three million grain fields and three to four hundred thousand people in Shouchun, Fengtai, Huoqiu and other places will no longer be threatened by summer and autumn floods. At the same time, it can also greatly reduce the flooded area on the west bank of the lower reaches of the Yinghe River when the water is high next summer.

Of course, the Yongtai Canal and Xiyuan River are still too shallow and narrow, and the initial plan is to widen them to 50 meters, and dozens of dredgers will also be transferred from the Puyang River and Yuxi River to reduce the consumption of manpower.

In addition to the excavation of the Yingyuan Canal, Han Qian initially planned to resettle 100,000 people in Xiacai, but a large area in the eastern part of Xiacai County adjacent to the Yinghe River was flooded, and a large number of new tunzhai and houses were built, and the cultivation of nearly 300,000 mu of flooded fields was restored.

In addition to the 5,000 elite soldiers guarding the walled cities and resisting the intrusion of a small group of enemy troops, including the township soldiers and village warriors, almost all the adult Ding Zhuang who stayed in Xia Cai and resettled were requisitioned, and even some sturdy adult women went up to the embankment to dig mud and carry soil, undertaking this extremely hard heavy physical work.

Of course, in addition to the monthly ration of one stone of grain and one pound of salt according to the head of the people, all the laborers will also be allocated an additional five acres of water and irrigated land that will be exempted from land taxation for three years, but this is the key to the enthusiasm of so many people who bravely undertake such hard work.

In addition to the 100,000 people who moved south in Xiacai, nearly 200,000 people were resettled in the townships and counties on both sides of the Chaoshou Post Road.

If the husband is a widow and it is difficult for her to survive with her children and daughters, the township department will provide a minimum amount of relief, but it is also required to form a new family within a limited time, otherwise it will be directly officially matched.

The north of Chaozhou and the south of Shouzhou, not only the most abundant and fertile land in Huaixi, especially the fierce soldiers, when the previous dynasty was at its peak, it had bred millions of people, but it was devastated by the war, the population loss was extremely tragic, once the population was less than 300,000, and now the population of 200,000 has moved in, so as to barely achieve the county and township Dingkou is rich.

At this time, the people under the jurisdiction of Tangyi, including Xia Cai and Xuzhou, barely reached more than two million, but there was still a great distance from the five million Ding households at the peak of the previous dynasty. And even with the population growth rate of 34 percent in Xuzhou, Donghu and other places, Huaixi still needs 40 or 50 years of rest and recuperation if it wants to recover to the heyday of the previous dynasty.

However, in any case, this winter's war has come to an end temporarily, and no enemy soldiers have been able to penetrate into the south bank of the Huai River.

In the middle of the month, the atmosphere of the Huaixi New Year Festival is becoming more and more intense, a team of chariots and horses crossed the Huai River, and after a little rectification outside Shouchun City, they continued to go south along the Chaoshou Post Road.

Hundreds of carriages traveled south surrounded by more than 300 cavalry, except for a small group of cavalry on the leading road, all of which were wearing the blue and yellow uniforms of the Tangyi army, and most of the cavalry guarding them were wearing the unique black armor of Emperor Zhu Yu's guard cavalry.

The carriage in the center was nearly two miles long, and the situation in the carriage was covered by a heavy curtain.

The people in the carriage occasionally opened the curtain and looked out, but they were yellow and thin, and there was panic and anxiety in their expressions, as if they didn't know what fate awaited them on the road ahead.

The onlookers on the side of the post road didn't know who this group of Xuanjia riders was escorting south, and they were full of curiosity.

Day and night, two days later, the team arrived outside the city of Chaozhou, did not enter the city, nor did they turn to the direction of East Lake, but stationed in a newly built post station in the north of Chaozhou City.

Although Donghu Lake and Liyang on the east bank of Chaohu Lake were the military and political centers of Tangyi at this time, Chaozhou City, located on the north shore of Chaohu Lake, was once an important town in Huaixi, and it was also a necessary place for Jiangdong and Chaohu coastal states and counties to go to Huo Shouguanghao and other places.

After the city was renovated, Chaozhou City soon regained its vitality, and business travel was endless.

This team of men and horses stationed at the Chengbei Post Station and escorted by the elite of the Liang Army's Xuanjia naturally attracted great attention.

Who are they?

Why is it the most elite Liang Army Xuanjia guard, and why does it stay in the north of Chaozhou City and not leave?

Of course, some news quickly spread among the people.

"What, Emperor Liang is grateful for the assistance of the Tangyi army, and specially asked the most elite Xuanjia rider under his command to send a big gift to the Hou Ye?"

"What kind of gift, to be escorted by the Xuanjia Cavalry? I heard others say that these hundreds of carriages are full of people, not gold, silver and jewelry, what kind of gift is this? ”

"Empress Xu's poisonous woman and Zhang Xinchun were thieves, and the old man was in the world, and he had a different revenge for killing his father than Hou Ye - Emperor Liang escorted Empress Xu, Zhang Xinchun and other thieves to Huaixi together with Yang Fen, the Duke of Chu, and all the concubines and children, is it a big gift?"

"This is really a great gift - I think the old man was loyal back then, but he died so tragically, Hou Ye was finally able to avenge the old man this time, but why did he stop in the north of Chaozhou City for five days, and didn't he directly send Empress Xu and Zhang Xinchun to East Lake for torture?"

"Master Hou is probably thinking, how to cut Queen Xu with a thousand knives in order to relieve the hatred in his heart, right?"

The news spread, and hundreds of people ran to the Chengbei Post Station every day to watch the excitement, but they were heavily guarded, and only the business travelers who stayed in the post station could ask for some news, but they also had no chance to see the true faces of Empress Xu, Zhang Xinchun, the chief attendant of the Great Chu of the year, and Yang Fen, the Duke of Chu.

Until the 23rd day of La Chun, the day of Chinese New Year's Eve, heavy snow fell, and a group of cavalry came from the east post road.

Many merchants and travelers deliberately stopped at the post station for several days, and the people who went out of the city to watch the excitement when they saw the cavalry coming from the east wearing the armor of the guard cavalry, and thought that the Marquis of Qianyang was finally going to escort Empress Xu, the thief Zhang Xinchun, and Yang Fen, the Duke of Chu, to Donghu for torture.

The leader of the cavalry dismounted in front of the gate of the post station, and after checking the seal letter with the military attache sent by Yicheng and Chaozhou to strengthen the guard at the post station, and the general of the Liang army escorting the prisoners, he directly took out a letter of order from his bosom and stood in front of the gate of the post station and read it:

"The Marquis of Qianyang, the squire of the military department and the leader of the Tangyi system, the governor of the soldiers and horses of Zhuzhou, Han Qian, and the commander of the Liang Guoxuan cavalry, Jing Tan, escorted a number of criminals who rebelled in Jinling to Jinling for trial, and we were ordered to escort them along the way, and all the Yasi battalions and troops were given convenience, and they were not allowed to obstruct ......"

"What?"

Not to mention the military attachés sent by Yicheng and Chaozhou to strengthen the supervision and the prison military attache of the Liang Army's Xuanjia Cavalry, the nearby merchants and people who surrounded and came to see the excitement were all dumbfounded, and the Marquis of Qianyang did not avenge the murder of his father, and wanted to send Empress Xu, Zhang Xinchun, Yang Fen, Duke of Chu and others directly to Jinling for trial?

Yi Cheng and the military attache sent by Chaozhou City received the order letter and carefully checked that it was correct, but they did not dare to make a claim, and sent people to Chaozhou City to ask the county commander Du Yiming to invite him.

Although the whole thing has nothing to do with Chaozhou, the prisoners were temporarily stationed in the north of the city, and Chaozhou only sent people over to strengthen the guard and maintain order on the periphery, but the military attache sent by Yicheng and Chaozhou to strengthen the guard could not question whether the order letter was fake, and I was shocked and didn't know if I should really sit and watch the prisoners and escort the soldiers and horses to Jinling, and go to the hospital in a hurry, so I could only invite the county commander Du Yiming to come out to be the master.

Besides, if the rebels and the escort soldiers and horses want to go to Jinling, they have to be contacted by the Chaozhou local government to arrange a ferry.