Knowing that the sailors of the Chu army could still gain the upper hand on the front line of the Huai River, blocking the Qi army from crossing the Dongting Lake and Baima Lake to attack the flank of Xuzhou, Li Huaiyuan's eyes couldn't help but light up.

"Then are these Chu Army sailors still there now?" Li Huaiyuan asked urgently. The reason for this inquiry is also because the Chu army united all the princes to attack the Qi army, and even the Chu army also seized the four northern prefectures of the Qi army in Yangzhou, but in the end, the princes from all walks of life got their own benefits, and the Chu army fought the Qi army alone in Yangzhou.

Yangzhou is a critical place for the Qi army, how can the king of Qi let the Chu army take it? Therefore, the king of Qi ignored the loss of Jiaozhou, Jiangzhou and even Jingzhou, and fought with the Chu army and the north of Yangzhou. The Chu army was naturally not the opponent of the Qi army, so in the end, it was defeated and retreated to the land of Xuzhou. In this battle, the Chu army won first and then lost, and the losses were not small. If it weren't for the threat of Zhao in the north and the threat of Shu in the west, the king of Qi and the Chu army would have ceased war, but I am afraid that the current land of Xuzhou is already the territory of the king of Qi.

After the defeat of the Chu army, Li Huaiyuan was also worried that these sailors would not be saved. Although these naval divisions are far from the naval army and navy of Zhao State, they can resist the Qi army from crossing the Huai River defense line and raiding Xuzhou on the front line of Xuzhou and Yangzhou on the front line. After all, it is far better to occupy the river than to defend passively.

Li Fanglin said in a deep voice: "It's still there, but because of the truce with the Chu army, these sailors can't play much of a role, so they haven't received much attention." ”

Li Huaiyuan laughed and said, "It's still there, it's just great." Li Fanglin, General Ben will give you personally, this time you go to the camp of the Dongting Lake Water Division and persuade General Ben to surrender to them, how about it? In addition, tell them that if they are willing to surrender, our Zhao army will naturally not despise them, but if they refuse to surrender, they will be completely wiped out as soon as our Zhao army arrives. ”

Li Fanglin said with a smile: "Li Shuai, rest assured, these sailors will never dare to ignore the existence of Zhao Guo." Zhao Guo's treatment of the soldiers, they are not unaware, and they have long been envious. Especially after the water master was not taken seriously, they were even more reluctant to continue to work for Li Chi. It's just that they used to make a lot of efforts for the Chu army to attack the Qi army, and they were afraid that they would be settled by the queen of Qi. Otherwise, I am afraid that many of them will already be unable to escape Yangzhou Qi. ”

Li Huaiyuan nodded and said, "It's so good, I'll leave this matter to you." ”

These sailors, if in terms of strength, are indeed nothing to the Zhao army, but the boundary of Xuzhou can become an obstacle for the Qi army to go north to Xuzhou. When Xuzhou was occupied by the Zhao army and the Zhao army, and the Zhao army's naval fleet was stationed in the eastern waters of Xuzhou, a protective network was formed between the entire Qi country and Xuzhou, which was connected by the navy and the navy.

Although these navies and naval forces alone cannot completely defend against the Qi army, they can give the Zhao army in Xuzhou the upper hand and monitor the river just in case. In addition, Li Huaiyuan did not want the Qi army in the south to take advantage of the chaos of the Chu army to intervene in Xuzhou. The king of Qi was afraid of Zhao Guo's interference, and would not easily probe his strength into Xuzhou, but there was no clear attribution to the river, and there was no clear attribution to Hongze Lake and Baima Lake within a radius of hundreds of miles. In addition, Li Huaiyuan didn't want the sailors of the Chu army to be taken away by the king of Qi because of the civil strife in the Chu army.

After arranging the matter of returning the water master, Li Huaiyuan immediately wrote a report to the king of Luoyang Zhao, explaining the situation in Xuzhou, asking for exemption from taxation and the government to provide livestock for the use of the people. Subsequently, he ordered the three-way army to speed up its action. Regardless of whether officials have arrived in the localities, the Chu army in these places will be surrendered first, so as not to cause trouble in the localities.

The Chu army was not the opponent of the Zhao army in the first place, and in terms of overall strength, in terms of troop strength, even the soldiers recruited by Li Chixin and those who were sent home by him a few months ago and recalled, were only comparable to the soldiers under Li Huaiyuan's command. The morale of the Zhao army was high, and the armor and equipment were sharp, but the Chu army took advantage of defending the city. Overall, the two sides are on par.

But now, Li Chi, the king of Chu, was beheaded by Li Zhe and Li Fangzong, and the central officials obeyed the opinions of Li Zhe and others and officially demoted Zhao. In this way, Li Zhe and others and Li Fangzong and other civil officials in Xuzhou are willing to surrender to Zhao, plus those who are unwilling to continue to fight with the Zhao army like death, most of the entire Chu army surrendered directly, it can be said that where the Zhao army goes, the cities of Xuzhou are determined.

No matter which princes in the south, they all paid more attention to the Chu army in Xuzhou at this moment. Why? Except that the southern princes need the Chu army and the Zhao army to really fight once, so as to delay the strength of the Zhao army and let it look north, instead of looking south. Even, many princes are ready to contribute to the Chu army. However, among them, except for the King of Qi, the rest are not connected with the Chu army, so they can only be supported by someone spiritually.

However, the situation of the Chu army in Xuzhou surprised all the princes. In the territory of the Chu army, in Xuzhou, whether it is the king of Qi or the king of Shu, or the king of Luoyang and the king of Hanzhong, they all have a lot of fine works here. Especially the prelude to the first huge war between Zhao and Chu made the various princes sneak here.

Although Zhao Chu did not fight in the first time, he used a huge momentum to cover up Zhao's surprise attack on Dongyongzhou. But the spies of the princes did not leave, but because of the early turmoil between Zhao and Chu this time, these meticulous works were doubly attentive. The last time I was tricked by Zhao Guo, these detailed leaders were all uncomfortable. There are many leaders, but they all stepped on the head of the previous one. So, in order not to lose their heads, they can only be careful and careful.

Therefore, this time, when the Zhao army's army approached the border of the Chu army, these meticulous works did not dare to make a decision easily, nor did they report back some information that was not definitive. Until the civil strife of the Chu army, the Zhao army entered the territory of Xuzhou, began to conquer the Chu army in Xuzhou, and the various cities in Xuzhou began to change the banner of the king, they already understood that this time, the Zhao army really began to attack the Chu army.

By the time the chieftains of the various princes in Xuzhou sent the information back, the king of Chu was dead, and Pengcheng and its surrounding cities were already under the control of the rebels, and the banner had been raised to surrender to Zhao. And the cities in Xuzhou, also in internal and external difficulties, surrendered to the Zhao army. So much so that when the princes learned the information, Xuzhou had already surrendered to Zhao on the surface, and the Chu army in various places was also forced to surrender by the Zhao army.

The war is fought by soldiers, horses, money and food, and with a complete ruling system like theirs, the local government does not support it, the center does not support it, and there is no money and food, so how can the leading generals in various places fight? How to resist? Even the king of Chu is dead, and without a ruler, who are they going to serve? Even if some people are ambitious, how can they withstand the general trend?

After learning about the situation in Xuzhou, all the princes beat their chests and scolded secretly. He not only scolded the Chu army for being incompetent, but also scolded the Zhao army for his good luck, and scolded the local meticulous work for being too stupid. Others don't understand, but they, the princes and the courtiers under the princes, understand that this Li Zhe can kill Li Chi and control the garrison around Pengcheng, if there is no Zhao army's people involved. However, their subordinates were unable to find out, let alone find a way to intervene.

Whether it was cursing the rebellion of the Chu army or cursing the Zhao army for taking advantage, these princes were definitely not thinking about the Chu army. They just hope that the Chu army can have a big battle with the Zhao army, the more fierce the fight, the better, and the longer the fight, the better. They hoped that the Chu army would delay some more Zhao forces and delay some more time. Unfortunately, things didn't go as they expected. The only thing that was a little happy was Situ Fei, the king of Hanzhong, of course, he was a little happy at the time, or rather, he was just lucky. If the Zhao army and the Chu army really fight, then it means that the Zhao army will not fight the coalition army in the land of Jingbei, and will no longer raid the land of Xiyongzhou under the pretext of conquering the Chu army.

Of course, this is just a little comfort. Both he and his soldiers knew that the rebellion of the Chu army caused the Chu army to surrender too quickly and be defeated too quickly, so fast that the princes did not have time to put their hands into the land of Xuzhou and did not have time to help Li Chi, the king of Chu. When the Zhao army gains a foothold in Xuzhou, the Zhao army will inevitably go south. The only difference is that the time is sooner or later, not now, not never. But even if he knew the actual situation, Situ Fei could only comfort himself like this.

In addition, what made Situ Fei, the king of Hanzhong, secretly sneered that if the Chu army was gone, the Qi army would be the neighbor of the Zhao State. The Zhao army has no threat on the flank in the north, so it will be even stronger to move south again. When the time comes, both the King of Qi and the King of Shu will have to participate in the war. Then, the importance of the kings of Hanzhong and Luoyang to the kings of Qi and Shu has increased greatly, and they dare not easily ignore their existence. After all, if the king of Hanzhong and the king of Luoyang fell to the Zhao state, they would really be finished.

The Qi army was the closest to the Chu army and was next to each other. The Chu army was defeated by the Zhao army, and Xuzhou was occupied by the Zhao army, and who received the most damage was, of course, led by the Qi army. Originally, the neighbor of the Qi army was the weak Chu army. Now, Qi's neighbor is the powerful state of Zhao. No matter who you are, you don't want to be lying on your side all the time. The original little rabbit has become a tiger, and the depression in King Qi's heart, don't mention it.

"See! To the north of me is about to belong to the Zhao State, and the sea area to the east of us is also dominated by the Zhao Navy, and to the south, there is also the power of the Zhao Army. To the west, a little better, is the territory of the three Stuart brothers. However, no matter what, my Qi State is now surrounded by Zhao State on three sides. Knowing this, he should have done his best to defeat the Chu army and take the land of Xuzhou. Although it was already opposed to Zhao at that time, at least there was an extra wall to the north of us. You can restrict ......," Qi King Murong Cheng roared in an angry muffled voice.

At the beginning, the Chu army raided the Qi army, and after the Qi army gathered a large number of troops, it was defeated and won a big victory and occupied the four northern prefectures of Yangzhou, Murong intended to take advantage of the situation and take the entire Xuzhou. However, many courtiers suggested that Xuzhou should be left and the Chu army should be left. First, if the Chu army desperately counterattacks, the Qi army will have to pay a lot of price if it wants to take here. Second, if the Chu army is left and Xuzhou is left, then a peripheral defense line will be left between the Zhao army and himself. Third, it happened that the king of Hanzhong and the king of Luoyang defeated the Tang army and occupied Jingzhou, and the Tang army gave a prosperous mansion. This place can be used as the gateway to Jiangzhou, which cannot be without. Therefore, after thinking about it, Murong Cheng decided to let Chu Jun go once.

But who would have thought that the Chu army, which had fought with the Qi army for a year and made the Qi army pay a heavy price, changed its appearance overnight, not only did the Chu army collapse itself, but Xuzhou also fell into the arms of the Zhao army so easily. How could this not make Murong Cheng an atmosphere? How can you not let his eyes be hot?

Of course, for Murong Cheng, the most serious thing now is that the Chu army surrendered to Zhao and Xuzhou was occupied by the Zhao army, so he, the Qi army, would be neighbors with the Zhao State, which could not help but make Murong Cheng's heart tremble.

In the face of Murong Cheng's anger, Zhang Tu and other important ministers under Murong Cheng could only bear it silently. Although it is said that leaving the Chu army and Xuzhou at the beginning has extraordinary significance. However, the Chu army was defeated so quickly, and Xuzhou was about to easily fall into the hands of Zhao State, and they dared to regret what they had done at the beginning. If you knew today's situation, it would have been better to destroy the Chu army in one go and occupy Xuzhou.

"The king, the ministers and others made mistakes, and now the top priority is to actively make countermeasures, the Chu army was defeated, and the Zhao army occupied Xuzhou, which is already a fact that cannot be changed." Zhang Tu saw that Murong Cheng was still concerned about the original matter, and did not pay attention to the current situation, and immediately said in a deep voice.

At this moment, Murong Cheng is also tightening the city every day, and with the increase and decrease of age, Murong Cheng's habit of loving anger has changed a lot. This anger was also caused by the sharp changes in the situation of the Qi army with the fall of the Chu army and the capture of Xuzhou by the Zhao army. With Zhang Tu's words, Murong Cheng immediately suppressed the annoyance in his heart and began to think about the situation in front of him.

"The king of Chu is dead, the defeat of the Chu army has become a foregone conclusion, and the current center of the Chu army is controlled by Li Zhe and Li Fangzong, they have already played the banner of surrendering Zhao, how to intervene? Li Zhe and others cooperated with Zhao Jun and had won the support of the vast majority of Xuzhou's troops. Even the land of Xuzhou has already fallen into the hands of Zhao State. If it goes on like this, in less than ten days, Xuzhou will have fallen into the hands of Zhao Jun, even if we have the means to reach the sky, we are powerless to change. Murong Cheng rubbed his eyebrows and said in a muffled voice.

Zhang Tu's face was also a little sad at this moment, and said: "Your Majesty, the situation of Chu Jun and Xuzhou, we can no longer interfere. Therefore, the occupation of Xuzhou by Zhao is already a fact that it is powerless to change. ”

"Then what else is there to say about the war in Xuzhou? Speaking of which, for the situation in Xuzhou, we can't get involved at all. Murong Cheng said angrily.

Zhang Tu said: "We have no way to meddle in Xuzhou, but we can guard against Zhao's actions against us after occupying Xuzhou." To the north of our Yangzhou and between Xuzhou, Hongze Lake and Baima Lake used to have our inland water division stationed here to defend Yangzhou and guard against Xuzhou. ”

"It's just that later, because of the surprise attack of the Chu army, the sailors here were defeated and lost, and some soldiers also surrendered to the Chu army. According to our careful investigation, after the defeat of the Chu king, he did not pay much attention to the inland water division they stopped at the front line of Hongze Lake. These sailors are in the hands of the Chu army, and we are naturally not afraid. However, if it falls into the hands of Zhao Jun, judging from Zhao Jun's control of the water army, how it will definitely have a very bad impact on our Yangzhou. ”

"Therefore, we are going to send someone to bring this sailor over and use it for us. With the sailor, although we can't change the situation in Xuzhou, however, in terms of defense, we have a certain advantage. In Yangzhou, we can recruit excellent sailors, expand the sailor division in the future, and block the Huai River, so that the northern Zhao army cannot easily go south from Xuzhou. ”

Zhong Yan and several of Ling's advisers also agreed, believing that this plan was feasible.

At the beginning, the Chu army went south to Yangzhou and seized the land of the four prefectures in the north of Yangzhou, which not only caused Yangzhou heavy losses, but also the sailors with the White Horse Lake in the north of Yangzhou were also wiped out by the Chu army, and they have not been able to re-establish since then. Of course, this is not to say that the Qi army does not have the strength to rebuild. It was that the Qi army's finances were exhausted at the beginning, and there were many places where money was needed. To the north of Yangzhou, it was where the down-and-out Chu army was, and Murong Cheng and others believed that the Chu army would not and would not dare to go south easily. Therefore, the new construction of the sailors here is suspended, and the property is used elsewhere first. But now that the Zhao army is about to occupy Xuzhou, they can't help but consider this Yangzhou defense issue.

Murong Cheng is not a stupid person, so he naturally understands the powerful relationship between this, but he still frowned and said: "The Zhao army has already invaded Xuzhou, although Li Huaiyuan is not familiar with water warfare, but he should also understand the importance of the water masters, and he will definitely not let go of these water masters, and it is difficult to guarantee that he will not win over these water masters now." And these sailors invaded Yangzhou in the south, but I am afraid that these soldiers are also worried that we will settle accounts after the autumn, and they will not easily take refuge in us. ”

Zhang Tu said in a deep voice: "The king is very worried, but now the primary purpose of the Zhao army is to take Xuzhou, absorb the Chu army and settle down. As for this Chu army sailor, I am afraid that Li Huaiyuan will not be able to take care of it for a while. As for the concerns of these Chu army sailors and soldiers, as long as the king speaks, they will naturally no longer have scruples. In addition, we also know that these sailors are not in a good position under the rule of the Chu army. Now the Chu army is in civil strife, and all the armies of the Chu army are in chaos, and when the Zhao army does not arrive in front of these armies, these armies are inseparable from the local government and other armies. These sailors should also think about their own future. Money, status, as long as they like it, we can give it, as long as they fall to us, we have a little more security. ”

"What Zuo Cheng said is very true, just do what you say, this king will hand over this matter to you, and you immediately send someone to contact and negotiate with the sailors of the Chu army. As long as they are willing to submit to the king, they can also give all kinds of things in the past, and they are not to blame for the past, and the high-ranking officials are generous. At this moment, Murong Cheng also knew that the matter was urgent, and there could be no stinginess. As long as you can gain the upper hand in the confrontation with Zhao Jun, a little grudge and a little money are nothing.