Since the beginning of April, the imperial court sent Xu Chao and Tao Kan to conquer Huainan, and it has been more than half a month. During this period, Sima Shu only received two good news, one was the defeat of Wang Mi's rebels in the south of Xuzhou, and after several battles, he successfully killed Wang Mi and put down the rebellion; Second, Xu Chao sent troops out of Zhengyang Pass, crossed the Huai River with a pontoon bridge, and defeated the Jiangdong Army of 2,000 under the city of Shouchun, and surrounded Shouchun.

However, the court obviously underestimated Jiang Zuo's attention to Huainan, and the previous battles of crossing the river were only small victories, nothing more, and besieging Shouchun and pulling out this nail was a big deal. But now, it has been more than a month since the attack on Shouchun, and he still can't take it, how can this not make Sima Shu anxious.

"Lone must go to Huainan!"

Needless to say, the importance of Huainan should be known as a multi-level defense system based on the Yangtze River and the Huai River. The confrontation between the north and the south, the south mainly relies on the Yangtze River and the Huai River. The formation of some important military towns in the south was based on this.

The Yangtze River passes through Bashu, passes through Jingxiang in the middle, connects Wuyue below, runs through the east and west, stretches for thousands of miles, and the upstream and downstream echo each other, so that the situation of the entire southern region can be complete; In addition, the Yangtze River itself plays the role of a moat against the impact of the northern iron cavalry. In the south, there are a series of important military towns along the Yangtze River, guarding several key points of the Yangtze River.

In ancient times, there were two places in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, one was quarrying and the other was scraping, which was located in the upper and lower reaches of Jiankang (now Nanjing). Jiankang has also strengthened the defense of the two ferry crossings. On the south bank of these two ferries, there are Jingkou (now Zhenjiang, Jiangsu) and quarrying, respectively. On the north bank, there were Guangling (now Yangzhou, Jiangsu) and Liyang (now Hexian, Anhui), both of which were put on guard and established as important towns.

The Huai River and the Yangtze River play a double role as a barrier. The operation of the Huaihe River has two strategic significance: defense and active offense. Those who have defended the south of the Yangtze River in the past generations have a relatively in-depth understanding of the lip-to-tooth relationship between the Huai River and the Yangtze River, and the discussion that "to defend the river must first guard the Huai" can also be seen everywhere.

In the south, there are also a series of important towns along the Huai River, mainly to guard the confluence of the Huai River tributaries and the Huai River. In Huaixi, mainly Zhongli (present-day Fengyang, Anhui) and Shouchun (present-day Shouxian, Anhui), and in Huaidong, mainly Shanyang (present-day Huai'an, Jiangsu) and Xuyi. Shouchun is facing Yingkou (the confluence of the Yinghe River and the Huai River). blocking the incoming enemy in the direction of the upper reaches of the Ying River or the Huai River; Zhongli is facing the vortex mouth (the confluence of the vortex river and the Huai river). Blocking the rush of the vortex river.

The main tributary of the lower reaches of the Huai River is Surabaya, which flowed from the southeast of the mountain in ancient times and joined the Huai River near Huai'an. Since ancient times, Huai Surabaya Road has been the main road for north-south water transportation, and Shanyang and Xuyi control the way in the direction of Surabaya. In the direction of Surabaya. If you take a more positive stance. It was also possible to run Pengcheng (present-day Xuzhou) in order to map north.

With the rise and fall of the power of the north and the south, it changes. Its offensive and defensive momentum also changes with it, and when the south is strong, it can advance out of Huaibei and enter the Central Plains; When the south is weak, it tends to retreat to the Yangtze River; When the North and the South are evenly matched. The Huai River is often used as the front line of confrontation.

At present, the imperial court has just experienced a series of wars, and it is the weakest time, but even so, Sima Shu can't watch Huainan fall into Jiang Zuo's hands. Otherwise, it will inevitably increase the difficulty of the future unification war, and it can be said that this Wang Mi Rebellion gave him a chance to seize the land of Huainan.

Sima Shu thought of this, so he got up and went into the backyard to see Green Pearl. Luzhu has been with the prince for five or six years, and is deeply favored by Sima Shu.

Sima Shu entered the room, and the green bead was a little uncomfortable a few days ago, and he was resting on the bed. When he saw the prince coming in, he hurriedly got up and was about to get out of bed to greet him.

Sima Shu held her down and said, "The beauty is not well, you don't have to get up, just lie on the bed and talk." ”

Saying that, Sima Shu gently pressed the green bead that was about to get up, sat on an embroidered pier on the side of the bed, and said to the green bead: "Aifei, the war in Huainan is not going well, Xu Chao and Tao Kan sent troops to the south, and several battles still failed to defeat Shouchun. Lone plans to conquer Huainan in person. ”

This green bead has experienced ups and downs with Sima Shu, and her knowledge is naturally extraordinary, so after listening to the prince's words, she frowned and said: "National affairs, concubines dare not stop them." But as a king, he should love his subjects and people. Since last year, the imperial army has been constantly conquering, and the soldiers are tired. At this time, His Highness should be considerate of the soldiers and let them have a good rest. ”

"Besides, Xu Chao and Tao Kan are both experienced in a hundred battles, even if they experience a small setback, they will inevitably strengthen their attack, and the battle situation in Shouchun may change in the near future. Moreover, His Royal Highness has been away from Beijing for a long time, and he should also go back to Beijing to have a look. It is better to go back to Beijing and discuss with all the scholars to see how the battle in Huainan is, and then make a decision. ”

Sima Shu sighed when he heard this and said, "Concubine Ai is reasonable, so let's delay it for a few days." ”

Unexpectedly, at this time, the situation on the Huainan battlefield changed. Wenxian of Jiangdong finally gathered all kinds of military horses, water and land to reinforce Shouchun, only to see the flags on the land to cover the sky, the Huai water warship Yuntun, swimming up, indeed mighty and magnificent.

Captain Xu Chao led his troops to besiege Shouchun and supervised the attack day and night. Helplessly, Dai Yuan, the Shouchun guard, has been on the battlefield for a long time, knows the art of war, loves the nurses and soldiers, has strict military discipline, and is united in defense. So Xu Chao besieged the city for almost a month, and after thinking of various methods, he still couldn't attack, and Xu Chao couldn't help but be anxious.

On this day, he learned that Wen Xian's army came to help, and he advanced by land and water, stretching for ten miles, and had forced into Shouchun, and he couldn't help but be timid in his heart. Hurriedly convened the generals to discuss, he said: "Our army is not accustomed to water warfare, if the Jiangdong Navy Division arrives, dismantles our pontoon bridge, cuts off the way back of our army, and makes our army suffer from the enemy, it will fall into the enemy's encirclement, it is better to retreat to Zhengyang as soon as possible, so as to have no worries." ”

Who knew that at this time, Xu Chao learned the news that the prince was about to come to Shouchun to supervise the battle, and he immediately felt a lot of pressure.

Wen Xian is really not an ordinary person, after he arrived in Huainan, he quickly stabilized the situation in various places and blocked the attacks of Tao Kan and Xu Chao.

Wen Xian, born in the Wen family of Bingzhou, was the Han Dynasty after the captain Wen Xu, his grandfather Wen Hui, was the Yangzhou assassin of the Wei State during the Three Kingdoms period, his father Wen Gong, Jinan Taishou. Wen Xian has six brothers and is well-known in the world, known as the "Six Dragons". Wen Xian Shao is known as Lang Liao, and was first ordered by Sima You, the king of Qi, to be Peng, and then moved to Shang Shulang. After Emperor Hui succeeded to the throne, he successively served as the assassin of Yuzhou and the monk of the scattered cavalry.

After the chaos in the Central Plains, the Wen family accepted the invitation of the Wang family and planned to split up and go south, so Wen Xian's branch joined the southbound family. After coming to Jiangdong, Wen Xian, who was born in a family, quickly integrated into the Jiangdong magnates. In this time, it was an opportunity to conquer Huainan.

In the past few days, due to worrying about Huainan, Sima Shu was depressed in his heart, and he went out of the palace to prepare to relax. At this moment, a guard suddenly came to report the news that Zhang Hua, the first assistant of the cabinet and a scholar of Wenyuan Pavilion, was seriously ill.

A week later, the first thing Sima Shu did after returning to Beijing was to visit Zhangfu, and he quickly arranged for a light car and plain clothes to visit Zhangfu. This time, the old and young of the Zhang Mansion were surprised, and no one expected that the prince would come at the first time, and they knelt outside the door to pick up the car.

The prince went inside to visit Zhang Hua, looking at the other party's thin face, Sima Shu couldn't help but burst into tears. Although his appearance changed the outcome of Zhang Hua's death this year, the excessive work made Zhang Hua's body age rapidly. Zhang Hua is nearly 70 years old this year, and he has to deal with a lot of official business every day, especially to ensure the logistics supply of the Central Plains War.

"Taifu, Lone is back!" Sima Shu grabbed Zhang Hua's thin hand and choked up.

"Your Highness, the minister has no regrets! Ahem...... Ahem, look...... Seeing His Highness like this, the minister has nothing to worry about. The old minister has the face to go to see the first emperor! Zhang Hua looked at the young and heroic Sima Shu with a satisfied smile on his face.

"Taifu recuperates with peace of mind, and the affairs of the court will be handed over to Meng Sun and them to deal with, if you still have anything on your mind, just say it and solve it for you." Sima Shu comforted Zhang Hua while instructing Xiao Dengzi to let him take some tonic medicine from the inner library and send it to Zhang's mansion. Sima Shu stayed in Zhang's mansion for a long time, and he also encouraged Zhang Hua's family.

The prince personally went to Zhang's Mansion to visit Zhang Hua, this time the officials of the Beijing Division, that one dared not come, Zhang's Mansion was like a city for a while, and it was even more lively than before. Originally, many people thought that with Zhang Hua seriously ill, no successor of the Zhang family was destined to decline. Therefore, some people who tend to be inflammatory, they can't help but look down on people. However, the prince's actions show that the Zhang family is still valued by the prince, even if Zhang Hua is gone in the future, the prince's character of valuing love and righteousness, as long as the Zhang family does not make mistakes, it may not decline.

Early the next morning after visiting Zhang Hua, Sima Shu ascended the Taiji Hall and accepted the worship of hundreds of officials. This was the first time he held a court meeting since he returned to Beijing. The crowd first discussed the Central Plains reconstruction plan, and then talked about the war between the north and the south.

"Your Royal Highness, the war on the northern and southern fronts has fallen into a stalemate stage, and General Zu is confronting the Huns in Bingzhou, but due to the gap in strength, our army is temporarily unable to expel the Huns in Bingzhou. As for the Huainan war, since Wen Xian arrived, he quickly blocked the offensive of our army. ”

"After repeated deductions by the Military Administration, it is suggested that the imperial court should implement the strategy of defending from the north and attacking from the south, the strength of the Huns in the north is extremely strong, and in the absence of enough cavalry, it is not appropriate for us to start a full-scale war with the Huns. Huainan is different, taking Huainan is equivalent to taking the bridgehead to attack Jiangdong. ”

"Moreover, the Jiangdong Army is weak, even if their naval army is strong, they can only hold the Yangtze River defense line. As long as the court is united, we will definitely be able to take Huainan and push the battle line to the Yangtze River, which will be conducive to the destruction of the feudal towns in the future. Liu Kun, director of the Military Affairs Bureau, gave a detailed account of the war between the north and the south.

The next day, Sima Shu immediately issued an edict, announcing that 10,000 troops would be increased to Huainan, and at the same time, Zhang Bin, a scholar of Taiji Temple, was transferred to act as Zhang Hua's acting cabinet, Pei Wei and Wang Yan, scholars of Baohedian University, and Du Xi, a scholar of Guangming Palace. He also sent the Privy Council to the Privy Council, with the general Meng Guan, the school captain Sima Ya, and the capital captain Liu Kun in charge of the Privy Council, responsible for maintaining local law and order in Beijing.

Then 10,000 forbidden troops set off towards Huainan. And sent a messenger, Pegasus to the front line in Huainan, informing Xu Chao and Tao Kan that the reinforcements of the army would come soon. (To be continued......)