February 26, Youshi, Xiangyang.

Under the setting sun, the Yongjun army gradually retreated, Rong Yuan sighed lightly, only felt extremely melancholy in his heart, since the death of Prince De, because of the prince's widow, he became the general of Xiangyang, guarding the town, but over the years, he has never had a trace of happiness. For the Southern Chu Junchen, he Rong Yuan is just a humble scholar, although he has some ability to defend the city, but he can't talk about famous generals, so he can only defend Xiangyang for more than ten years. He really wanted to win a few big victories, raise his eyebrows, and then enter the military center of Southern Chu, but no matter how hard he tried, he was always just a defender. What made him even more depressed was that since the king of Qi failed to attack Xiangyang twice, Dayong had never put heavy troops on Xiangyang. Every time there was a big war, 108,000 soldiers and horses were sent to besiege Xiangyang, so that although Xiangyang was at ease, the credit could not be discussed. Just like the war that just ended, Lu Can and Shi Guan received all kinds of rewards, but he and Jia Mengguan Yu Mian didn't even have a piece of praise. Thinking that even though he did not have the exploits of breaking the enemy's army, there were countless Yong troops who died under Xiangyang City, and only Xiangyang City alone attracted more than 100,000 Yong troops, which is already a great merit in itself. But after the war, he didn't get the slightest recognition, with Rong Yuan's temperament, how could he endure such humiliation.

Looking at the retreating Yongjun, Rong Yuan slapped his palm angrily on the stone stomp of the city wall, Changsun Ji, the dog thief, simply regarded Xiangyang City as a place for military training, and took turns to send troops to attack the city every day to run in their combat strength, and they didn't have the courage to make a desperate bet, didn't the Yongjun know that if they didn't have Xiangyang, they would not be able to threaten Jiangling and Jiangxia, and even if they captured Huainan, they would not have a stable foothold?

February 26, Haishi, Suzhou.

The night was hazy, the cool breeze was blowing, and in a simple and unpretentious bedroom, the candle flame was flickering, and there was a person sleeping on the couch, with a scar on his face, even in his sleep, he was deeply worried. Outside the door, the eyes of the two guards were like falcons, and even under the protection of thousands of troops, they still did not relax for a moment. When it was approaching, the guards who had changed shifts hurriedly came, and when they walked to the door, the two guards who were originally guarding the door looked at each other and smiled, and walked out lightly, ready to change guards. One of the guards inadvertently glanced at the guard's face, but it was an unfamiliar face. He was startled, and he stopped and was about to ask, when he felt a cold light flash in front of him, and then a hand had covered his mouth and nose, and blood poured into his throat, and he tried to shout, but he couldn't. The other guard was almost completely defenseless, and he lost consciousness when he felt that it was dark in front of him. The two pretended guards quickly lowered the two of them to the door, and let them stand against the wall, under the waning moon, if they looked from a distance, they would only think that the two were lazy and dozed off. Then one of the two men pushed the door open, and the other went under the window, his hand as cold as snow, but a dagger.

Cui Jue's eyes were cracked, watching his friend for many years break blood, watching him die on the battlefield, he couldn't help but ripple in cold sweat, ashamed and indignant, and then he woke up from his dream, he sat up, opened his eyes, but saw that under the dim light, a black shadow was rushing towards him, he almost didn't want to roll over and roll off the bed, the blood light collapsed, and an arm fell to the ground, Cui Jue screamed in pain, and shouted: "There are assassins." The sound tore through the silent night sky. The assassin originally wanted to assassinate secretly, but unexpectedly, the target who was already asleep would suddenly erupt, and the result was just to cut off Cui Jue's left arm. And Cui Jue's exclamation, the outside was immediately boiling, and the lights and shouts came to this side. The Assassin hesitated, broke out of the window, joined his companions outside, and rushed out. But Cui Jue, as a general, has a lot of guards around him, if it weren't for Cui Jue's always conceited martial arts and dislike too many guards, the two would have no chance at all, now that they have alarmed people, how can these two escape, after killing several people, one assassin was killed in battle, and the other assassin was captured alive by those guards. Push the DAO step forward. At this time, Cui Jue was already sitting on a chair with a pale face, next to him was a military doctor who was wrapping his wounds, and suddenly broke an arm, Cui Jue was extremely injured, and now he was forcibly supporting the interrogation of the assassin.

The assassin was silent, Cui Jue asked him several times, saw that he refused to speak, and lost patience, and was about to have people imprison him, when there were sudden exclamations and shouts of killing in the distance, and then the north gate was lit with raging flames. Cui Jue was shocked in his heart, stood up, but he stumbled, at this time, a sergeant rushed in and pounced: "The general is not good, it is the Southern Chu army that has come to attack the city, the north gate has been opened by spies, and now the Chu army has entered the city."

Cui Jue said hatefully: "What a vicious method, the Chu army just occupied the north gate, and passed on my general to order a street battle with the enemy." After that, he reached out to take the blade, but he felt dizzy, and fell into the arms of his nephew Cui Fang, who supported him. At this time, most of the generals in the city had rushed to Cui Jue's residence, but they only saw Cui Fang hugging Cui Jue and crying. Seeing this, Cui Jue's adjutant general said loudly: "The general has been seriously injured, and our army is defenseless, if you fight with the enemy, I am afraid that tens of thousands of military horses will be buried in Suzhou, why not abandon the city and leave, retreat to Xiao County to defend, and then ask Xuzhou for help." Cui Fang nodded again and again, and said in a loud voice: "The deputy general, please pass the order on behalf of the general temporarily, and I will escort the general to go first." When the general heard this, he said, "After I have personally cut off, all the generals have quickly gathered their men and horses to retreat, but the enemy army is from the south, but the north gate has been sealed, and for the sake of safety, we will retreat from the west gate." ”

Cui Fang didn't care about anything else when he heard this, so he got on the horse with Cui Jue in his arms and rushed towards the west gate under the protection of the guard battalion. Just out of the gate of the mansion not far away, I saw that on the long street, a group of cavalry was rushing to this side, led by two white-robed young generals, two silver spears flying like silver dragons, collecting the lives of the soldiers of the Yongjun army. In an instant, their figures were drowned by the surging Yongjun, Cui Fang rushed to the west gate desperately, and when he was about to rush out of the city gate, he inadvertently looked back, and there was already a sea of fire behind him. Cui Fang wiped away the tears from the corners of his eyes and threw himself into the vast night.

This battle did not end until dawn, Suzhou 30,000 military horses, half of them were buried in the fire, the deputy general died in the city, the flying cavalry battalion chased out of 20 miles under the leadership of Lu Yun and Shi Yujin, and broke the Yong army, the Yong army was defeated and retreated to Xiao County, Cui Jue was seriously injured and fell into a coma.

On February 27, at the end of the Yin period, Sizhou.

The sky is not known, the fog is cold and the water is cold, above the surging Huaishui, there are all ferries, sailing to the opposite shore in the dark, quietly touching the city of Sizhou, Sizhou City is only two miles away from the Huaishui, the sergeants on the boat are wearing gray clothes similar to the night, the sky is dim, the fog locks the Huaishui, until those gray figures arrive under the city of Sizhou, still not noticed by the Yongjun.

When they reached the bottom of the city, a dozen dark shadows were hidden under the city, and they climbed up the city with their hands and feet, and these people were agile, and with only a little unevenness of the city wall, they were able to climb upwards like apes. Before they had reached the top of the city, someone in the city shouted, "You are here." Then he put down the ropes, and the men in black had already climbed the city wall in a short time and disappeared into the darkness. After less than a stick of incense time, the city of Sizhou suddenly burst into flames, and then there was a chaotic shouting of killing in the city gate, and after a while, the city gate was opened.

The general of the Southern Chu army who was lying in the dark saw it, and knew that the tactics of breaking Sizhou had become half, waving the flag, the sound of killing shook the sky, and the Southern Chu sergeant rushed to the city gate, and the general took the lead and went straight into the city, only to see the fireworks in front of him, and the person who led the way quickly disappeared in the martial arts, and the general frowned and shouted: "Don't go deep, control the city gate." ”

At this moment, there was a sudden shout of killing on both sides, and the general was stunned, only to see the Yongjun army rushing up from both sides, and the city gate behind him was slammed shut. But before he could take two steps, he was killed by a sharp arrow.

On the other side of the Huaishui, Yang Xiu, who was originally looking at Sizhou from afar, had an ominous premonition in his heart, it had been half an hour, and he had not yet been rewarded, when he was anxious, he saw that the gate of Sizhou on the other side of the river suddenly opened, and a Yongjun general rode to the river, and laughed loudly: "Thank you for your generous gifts, this general smiled." With that, he waved his hand, and the sergeant next to him dropped dozens of heads, and the general said loudly: "General Zhang has an order, all the rebellion that fornicates with the Chu army and intends to seize Sizhou has been corrected, and the first order is given to Lord Yang." With that, the Yongjun army galloped back. At this moment, the smoke on the river has just dissipated, revealing the turbulent Huai water and the impregnable city on the opposite bank.

Yang Xiu felt a sharp pain in his heart, knowing that the inner line he had worked so hard to contact and the warriors sent to seize the city had been martyred.

Zhang Wenxiu, who was standing at the head of Sizhou City at this moment, was also in a cold sweat, if it wasn't for the secret report yesterday, there were signs of instability in the city's family, and at dusk he got Pei Yun's secret order, so that he was desperate to take in the wealthy families in the city, only to find out that the Southern Chu army should be outside the conspiracy, if not, I am afraid that Sizhou City is about to be lost. Now the 50,000 troops in his hands are holding Sizhou and Xucheng respectively, the Southern Chu army is camped in Duliang on the other side, and the Huaidong Chu army takes the initiative to go north.

March 2, inside the city of Xiangyang. Rong Yuan looked at the secret report in his hand, almost gritted his teeth, the Yongjun army suddenly slowed down the offensive in the past two days, Rong Yuan was uneasy, and sent people out to investigate, but found that most of the Yongjun outside the city had gone, leaving only tens of thousands of people to feint there. In confusion, some Yongjun sergeants were captured and tortured, only to learn that the battle on the battlefield of Jianghuai had started, Pei Yun's letter for help had arrived in Xiangyang, and the eldest grandson Ji left 20,000 people here to bluff and go to Huaibei with the main force. Rong Yuan hated it in his heart after learning about it, he didn't even know about such a big thing, and Lu Can couldn couldn't help but deceive people too much.

Launched all the human spies, Rong Yuan soon learned about the situation of Jianghuai, this battle affected the two Huai, and the battle was very fierce.

On February 26, Cui Jue was assassinated, Suzhou was lost, and Cui Jue retreated to Xiao County.

On February 27, Yang Xiumou lost in Sizhou and crossed the Huaishui to attack Xucheng, and the two armies fought several battles between Sizhou and Xucheng, winning and losing each other.

On February 28, Yang Xiuliu's troops attacked Sizhou, and he led his naval army to attack Chuzhou from the Li Canal.

On February 29, the Chu army broke through Xucheng and broke the water of Hongze to irrigate Sizhou, and Zhang Wenxiu was forced to retreat to Chuzhou to block the way for Yang Xiu.

On March 1, after Zhang Wenxiu fought hard for a day and night, Pei Yun left Chuzhou to meet the Sizhou army, and the two armies retreated into Chuzhou, and Yang Xiu was trapped.

On March 2, after the onslaught on the 5th, the city of Xiao County was broken, the Huaixi Army and the Flying Cavalry Battalion pursued the Yong army, and Lu Yun and Shi Yujin led the army to break through the encirclement and retreat to Xiao County.

However, this battle has nothing to do with the Xiangyang Army, and every time Rong Yuan thinks of this, he feels like a knife in his heart, and he is jealous. He was originally a narrow-minded person, but the last time Lu Can won a big victory, he didn't even work hard, and this matter has already become ironclad evidence of Lu Can's jealousy and jealousy in the mouth of people with ulterior motives. Now Lu Can didn't think about the Xiangyang Army at all, and launched the Jianghuai War on his own, and even he himself was busy with the naval battle in Wuyue, and only handed over the battle to Yang Xiu and Shi Guan, as well as Lu Yun and Shi Yujin, who had not dried up, and did not see the combat power of the Xiangyang Army. This kind of contempt made Rong Yuan have the heart to fight for merit.

On March 6th, on the top of Da Xian Mountain, enjoying the cliff carvings of the previous dynasty, my heart was as calm as water, and when I was carefully studying those vague words, Hu Yanshou hurriedly walked over and said: "Hou Ye, Rong Yuan has indeed gone to Nanyang." ”

I sighed lightly when I heard this, and said: "Rong Yuan, this person, is my old acquaintance, this person has learned people, but the weight is too narrow, the previous time he was not rewarded by Jianye, he was already jealous in his heart, this time Lu Canxing has nothing to do with him, how can he not be annoyed, the so-called profit and wisdom faint, just set up a plan to make him think that General Changsun is really going to rescue Huaidong, he will definitely find an opportunity to fight, establish a great achievement, and the great achievement of recovering Huaibei, if he can capture Nanyang, there will be an opportunity to attack Wuguan and approach Guanzhong, if he is not moved, such a great achievement, It's not Rong Yuan. ”

Hu Yanshou said with a smile: "The great thing about Hou Ye's strategy is that all the news is true, but he managed to let Rong Yuan know a little more, and General Changsun's strategy of reducing troops and increasing the stove made Rong Yuan have no doubt about the southyang army's eastward advance, so he was greedy for merit." It's a pity that General Changsun has already deployed heavy troops in Nanyang, and he is afraid that Rong Yuan will not be able to go. ”

I smiled faintly and said: "Rong Yuan went to attack Nanyang, just to get some credit, along the way will inevitably be suspicious of advance and retreat, if there is a slight disturbance, maybe he will run back to Xiangyang, so he must be lured to Nanyang, only in Nanyang frustrated, he will return to Xiangyang in a hurry, then our army will set up an ambush on the way, in order to block his way back." Rong Yuan's attack on Nanyang must be a light cavalry north, and there will still be troops left in Xiangyang City to defend the city, so my army needs to trap Xiangyang. If the main force brought out by Rong Yuan is destroyed, Xiangyang will have no power to attack from now on, and if it takes advantage of the situation to capture Xiangyang, it will be a complete victory. At that time, as long as Xuzhou is still in the hands of our army, it will not matter if the whole of Huainan is lost. ”

Hu Yanshou said admiringly: "Hou Ye's plan to attack the heart is the most difficult to prevent, I never thought that Rong Yuan would go north from Xiangyang." ”

When I heard this, I said: "Not only did you not expect that, according to my original plan, I just used rumors to provoke Rong Yuan to fight, let him win a few games in a row, and then booby trap the main force of Xiangyang's cavalry, but I didn't expect that the Jianghuai war would break out in advance, so I thought that I could use this opportunity and Rong Yuan's narrow strength to trick him into attacking from afar, and we took the opportunity to capture Xiangyang." Whether this move is successful or not, Xiangyang is no longer the sharp thorn in Dayong's throat. ”

After finishing speaking, he didn't pay attention to Hu Yanshou and pondered there, standing on the top of Da Hyeon Mountain and overlooking it, Xiangyang City and the Han River, Yuliangzhou, and Lumen Mountain on the other side of the Han River are all vivid.

The situation changed extremely rapidly in the next half month, and he would never have imagined that the second war of Yongchu would start so soon.

On March 7, the eldest grandson Ji sent Mo Ye to attack Xiangyang and cut off the passage of Xiangyang and Nanyang.

On March 8, Rong Yuan broke through Xinye.

On March 9, Rong Yuan attacked Nanyang Buke and learned that Changsun Ji did not rush to Jianghuai's aid.

On March 11, Rong Yuan fought with Changsun Ji in Xinye, and the battle was unfavorable.

On March 12, Rong Yuan suffered heavy losses and successfully broke through.

On March 13, Fancheng fell, and Rong Yuan was blocked by the Han River.

On March 14, the defenders of Xiangyang went out of the city to meet Rong Yuan, but to no avail.

On March 15, Rong Yuan and Changsun Ji fought Tang Baihe again, and Changsun Ji suffered a small setback.

On March 16, Rong Yuan made a detour to the west side of Fancheng and wanted to cross the Han River into Xiangyang, but was blocked by Mo Ye.

On March 17, the city of Xiangyang was broken, Rong Yuan saw that the situation was uncontrollable, and led the remnants of the army to cross the Han River and retreat to Yicheng, passing through the Fenglin Pass and encountering an ambush, only 3,000 steps left to ride away.

At the time of the fierce battle in Xiangyang, the Jianghuai war was also extremely fierce.

Because Cui Jue could not go into battle, Pei Yun on March 4, sent Zhang Wenxiu to aid Cui Jue's troops, until March 19, the Huaixi Army and Zhang Wenxiu in Xiao County, Jiuli Mountain a total of 17 battles, Xiao County repeatedly changed hands, both sides suffered heavy losses, Zhang Wenxiu exhausted his forces, had to retreat to Xuzhou. The Huaixi army stormed for two days.

On March 22, Jing Chi, the vanguard general of the Dayong River Expedition to the south, arrived in Xuzhou, defeated the flying cavalry camp under the city of Xuzhou, and the Western Army of Southern Chu and Huai retreated to Suzhou overnight.

On March 24, Jing Chi attacked Suzhou Buke and turned to Chuzhou, when Pei Yun had been holding Chuzhou for nearly a month, Chuzhou was in danger, and Jing Chi rescued him, and his morale was greatly boosted.

On March 25, Yang Xiu learned that Xiangyang was lost and Xuzhou reinforcements arrived, so he had to retreat to Huaishui, but Dayong only had one city left in Chuzhou in Huainan.

At this point, after a month of the Yongchu War, it finally ended, but the bad luck of Southern Chu did not stop, according to Jianghuai, and the loss of Xiangyang, regardless of gain or loss, but the great changes in Shu are more shocking.

As early as the beginning of the year, there were rumors that Yu Mian deliberately deviated because he had not been rewarded, although this rumor was refuted by Lu Can, Shang Weijun was uneasy, so after the Shangyuan Day, he sent the inner servant to supervise the army, this is the practice of Southern Chu, although Lu Can is dissatisfied, he is helpless. Unexpectedly, the inner servant failed to ask for bribes, and repeatedly slandered and accused Yu Mian of having two hearts, although they all did not play a role because of Lu Can, but Shang Weijun's suspicion became heavier and heavier, and finally handed over the food and salary of the defenders of Jia Meng Pass to the control of the prison army, and as a result, the inner servant embezzled most of the salary, so that the defenders of Jiameng Pass had no food and no salary, and people's hearts fluctuated. After Lu Can learned about it, he wrote to Jianye, asking to recruit the inner servant to ask about the crime, and the inner servant learned that he was afraid of adding guilt, and secretly surrendered to Dayong, and the inside should be combined with the outside, on March 29, Qin Yong attacked and took Jiameng Pass, and Yu Burma retreated to the Sword Pavilion.

Perhaps the only thing that could reassure the Southern Chu court was that under Lu Can's personal supervision, Wu Yueyi's army stabilized the coastal defenses, and the Yong army could no longer easily enter Hangzhou Bay. But Wu Yue's small victory could not withstand the defeat in Xiangyang and Shuzhong. In mid-April, the army of Li Xian, the king of Qi, arrived in Xuzhou, and the establishment of the Jiangnan Xingyuan made the Southern Chu court even more uneasy. Lu Can had already received a military report at that time, and Wu Yue was appointed to the generals of the army and rushed to Jiangxia to command the battle.

After Li Xian arrived in Xuzhou, he sent Changsun Ji down from Xiangyang, along the Hanshui River Valley to attack Jiangling, on April 21, Rong Yuan got Lu Can's military order, abandoned Yicheng, and defended Jingling, and Changsun Ji could not conquer it. Lu Can sent troops from Jiangxia, along the Han River to aid Jingling, defeated the eldest grandson Ji under the city, the eldest grandson Ji was defeated and retreated to Yicheng, Rong Yuan was impatient, did not follow the military order to pursue, and the eldest grandson Ji abandoned Yicheng north and returned to Xiangyang. Rong Yuan chased to Fenglin Pass, but he didn't expect the Yongjun army to repeat his old tricks and set up an ambush again. Rong Yuan was defeated. Lu Can's reinforcements rushed to Fenglin Pass and raided again, the Yongjun army was caught off guard, the Fenglin Pass was broken, and the Yongjun army was heavily damaged and retreated to Xiangyang. Lu Can knew that Xiangyang could not be attacked, but stopped.

At that time, Qin Yong fought for a long time in the Sword Pavilion, but detoured to Yinping Road, wanting to pass through Long'an, Jiangyou to Mianyang, Yu Mian had to pass the book for thousands of miles, and divided the troops to guard Long'an, Qin Warriors could not attack for a long time, and retreated to Jiameng Pass.

Pei Yun got reinforcements to help him and attacked Huaidong, Yang Xiu relied on the water army to travel to and from Huaishui and the canal, and the Yong army was difficult to walk and could not cross Huaishui for half a step, and Huaidong fell into a stalemate. Huaixi Shiguan guarded Suzhou, Yongjiang Jingchi stormed Yueyu, the city was broken, Shiguan retreated to Zhongli, and went to burn Suzhou, leaving only a piece of scorched earth. The Yong army was tired from a long battle, Zhongli's defense line was stable, and there was a flying cavalry battalion to help in the battle, and the Yong army was not allowed to enter Huaixi.

Yongchu fought for half a year, all exhausted, the East China Sea army was repeatedly plundered Wu Yue, although the Yuhang water camp was helped by the righteous army, there were no major losses, but within thirty miles of the sea, no civilians dared to live, Wu Yue suffered heavy commercial losses. Although the Yong army won many victories, the Chu army was also steady and steady, and the battle line was cemented, and they could not achieve a decisive victory.

In the golden autumn of October, Shang Weijun sent Xuzhou to negotiate peace, Dayong Junchen also suffered from the tenacity of Southern Chu, agreed to the armistice and negotiate peace, the act of peace lasted for April, Dayong asked Southern Chu to cut the land and seek peace, Shang Weijun moved, Lu Can resolutely did not allow, quarreled for several months, the peace failed, the following year, the war restarted, Qin Yong entered Shu from the rice cang road, and seized Ba County through Bazhong, although Shuzhong has been operated by Lu for many years, but after all, it is the land of the old Shu, Mingjian Division Xiahou Yuanfeng personally went to Ba County, within a few months, Ba County was stable, during the period of the Southern Chu Kuizhou Army and the Sword Pavilion Yu Burma double-sided attack, Qin Yong retreated, and Shuzhong was cut off from the southeast road.

In August of the ninth year of Longsheng, Li Zhen accepted Jiang Zhe's suggestion and proposed a peace negotiation to exchange the Chu army of Bajun and Yu Burma with Jiange and Chengdu, and in September, the peace negotiation was successful, and Southern Chu lost most of the territory of Shuzhong that had occupied it for many years. Lu Canli overrode public opinion, ordered Yu Burma to guard Ba County, and set up heavy troops in Kuizhou to support Ba County.

In the following year, the Yongjun army did not make any progress, and Yu Burma guarded Ba County without negligence, and the Yongjun did not get the opportunity to go down the river. Jiangling and Jiangxia are also as stable as Mount Tai, the Yongjun army attacked Jingling and Suizhou several times, but they were unsuccessful, although the battle line of Huaixi and Huaidong changed from time to time, but the Yongjun army could not fully grasp the land of Jianghuai. In the three consecutive years of the war, the Southern Chu army became stronger and stronger under the command of Lu Can, and then there was the danger of Jianghuai and the benefit of the navy, and the war fell into a stalemate.