Because the grain was running out, even the Yanhu soldiers and horses who retreated to Wuguan had to slaughter mules and horses after the beginning of November to supplement the shortage of grain and grass.

Guanzhong was also a newly seized land for Yanhu, and the valley passage from Weinan through Shangzhou was too narrow, and it was very difficult to raise and supply grain and grass, and by mid-November, Ye Ji Luorong could not even wait for the end of the Xiangyang soldiers and horses to come out, so he began to arrange for the withdrawal to Guanzhong.

On November 22, the envoy of Yanjing Hulu entered Shangzhou City through Heluo and Weinan with a decree, and canonized Chen Zhihu as the king of Qin, and the four prefectures of Chang'an, Weinan, Tianshui and Shangzhou, Xu Kaifu placed civil and military generals, and led his troops to guard the imperial pass, while the remnants of Tian Chang, Su Tingzhan, and Haoyuan were subject to his control, and Ye Ji Luorong led more than 30,000 remnants of Yan cavalry to retreat to Jinzhong.

This news was also quickly spread to Fancheng by Huaidong's spies, and it reached the ears of Lin Tie in Fancheng at this time.

On the 24th, Nanyang and Xiangfan were snowing heavily, frozen for thousands of miles, and the weather was freezing cold.

Because there were not a single people in Xiangfan and Nanyang, and the heavy snow and extremely cold weather restricted the entry of the people, the Huaidong Army was directly stationed in Fancheng.

Lin Jian did not like the dead and dreary city, and moved his line to Zizhen Mountain in the southeast corner of Fancheng City, from where he could also overlook the battlefield of Xiangyang on the south bank.

Zizhen Mountain was originally a private estate outside of Fancheng, built around a low mountain less than 20 zhang high. The original owner had long been annihilated in the war, the clan was wiped out, most of the villa was destroyed in the war, and the remaining few mansions were also dilapidated, which were repaired to serve as the line of the forest and the official office of the Military Intelligence Department, and the camp of the Guards was located on the left wing of Chai Zhen Mountain.

Although Chaijing Mountain is not high, but it stands near the Han River, there is a pavilion near the water to avoid the destruction of the war, it is well preserved, in heavy snow weather, Lin Tie likes to go to the pavilion to look at the snow scene of the Han River. Gao Zongting, Hu Wenmu, Song Fu, Gu Hao and others could only accommodate Lin Bin's interest, dressed thick and solid, and went to the Linshui Pavilion to blow the cold wind together.

Lin Lian, Gao Zongting, Song Fu and others stayed in Fancheng on the north bank, and the garrisons around Fancheng were also mainly forbidden camp infantry and cavalry, and Zhou Tong was sent to the south bank to preside over the siege of Xiangyang.

Xiangyang City stands near the Han River and is located on the inner side of Lumen Mountain and Longzhong Mountain. Lumen Mountain stands in the middle of Longzhong, leaving a gap four or five miles wide in the middle. Under the condition that the Han River was tightly sealed, the enemy of Xiangyang could only break through the gap between Lumen Mountain and Longzhong Mountain and go south.

However, at this time, Zhou Tong led Tang Fuguan, Zhang Jiheng, and Zhang Gou to set up two trenches south of Xiangyang, between Lumen Mountain and Longzhong Mountain, and divided his troops to capture the two wings of the western slope of Lumen Mountain and the key points at the eastern foot of Longzhong Mountain, and gradually established a defensive fortress and fortified fortress - at this time, the Huaidong Army, not in a hurry or impatient, gradually cleared the obstacles on the periphery of Xiangyang, and wanted to be like an iron bucket, first surround Xiangyang City with nearly 70,000 enemy troops without leaking a drop before talking about other things.

"There is still a bridge between Xiangfan," Lin Jian stood in the pavilion, pointed to the Han River under the heavy snow, and said, "Only with the ferry, the transfer of people and horses and materials is too slow, in addition, after the bridge is built, Xiangfan can merge the city and govern ......"

"To build a pontoon bridge, it is necessary to cut off the upstream and downstream channels; And to build a suspension bridge, the cliff bank between Xiangyang and Fancheng is a thousand steps apart, that is, it can be built, and the cost of future repair is also amazing, and the non-Xiangfan place can bear it. Song Fu said.

Of course, everyone present knew that it was necessary to build a pontoon bridge between Xiangyang and Fancheng, so that Jingzhou, Xiangyang, and Nanyang could be more closely connected, and that the Han River would not be cut off, so that Huaidong's future troop mobilization on both sides of the Han River would become fast and rapid, but the bridge building was not without drawbacks.

The cost of erecting and repairing the pontoon bridge is low, but it will cut off the Han River upstream and downstream, which is harmful to river transportation, and the cost of a thousand-step suspension bridge is really not affordable for the local government at present.

"The problem is not as serious as imagined," Lin Jian pointed to his brain and stood in the pavilion, pointed to the Han River in the southwest, and said with a smile: "Song Gong, look at Hutou Mountain Island!" ”

"Ahh Song Fu is also a wise person, and when he saw Lin Lian pointing his finger at the Huya Mountain Tiger, he asked, "Does the lord want to build a pontoon bridge between the north shore and Hutoushan Island, and build a suspension bridge between Hutoushan Island and the high bank on the south bank?" ”

"Yes," Lin Lian nodded, and said, "This way the bridge is inexpensive to build, and it can also leave a waterway of more than 100 steps between Hutoushan Island and the high shore on the south coast for ships to pass." ”

Hutoushan Island used to be the water village of the enemy army in Xiangyang, far away from the north shore, there are five or six hundred steps wide of the water surface, and close to the south shore, the water surface is only more than 100 steps, but the deep gorge waterway, the navigation conditions are much better than the north side. With the shipping conditions of the world, it is enough to stay in the waterway south of Hutoushan Island, and the construction of 600-step-long pontoon bridges and more than 100-step-long suspension bridges on both sides of Hutoushan Island is also within the scope of local finances to repair them in the future.

"There are no giant trees on Hutoushan Island that can fix the iron cables, and if it is still molten iron piles, it will be an additional expense." Sun Wenbing, who came to Fancheng to specialize in grain transfer, said with a bitter brow.

"If the pontoon bridge and suspension bridge are erected in ten days, it may be possible to send troops to Longzhong on the south bank to attack the northwest corner of Xiangyang, which will help relieve the pressure of Zhou's command to make them south of Xiangyang; Wen Bing really doesn't need to hold his hands so tightly......" Tang Xitai said.

"Xitai is eager to say that, but when it comes to the household department, the branch envoy and the transfer envoy, this is definitely not the idea." Sun Wenbing was puzzled and said, "Lord Erlin has written to complain that if this battle continues, they will take out their official robes and be ......."

"Okay, don't fight," Lin Jian interrupted the dispute between Sun Wenbing and Tang Xitai, and said, "After this battle, Xitai will stay to preside over the political affairs of Xiangyang, hoping to leave more things for Xiangyang, and it can be understood." On the central side, I don't think anyone will think about another war after this battle, and there should be a period of relief. At the moment, I still work hard to build the bridge, don't rely on Xiangyang in the future, I don't know how long it will take to build the bridge......"

"It's freezing this day, and the enemy who wants to come to Xiangyang won't be able to support it for long," Hu Wenmu asked, "When does the privy envoy plan to return to the court?" ”

Lin Lian returned to Jiangning with Jing Xiang's victory, which is the best time to build momentum for Dai Yuan, and this matter must be planned in advance - Hu Wenmu is a little thin-skinned and has no face to speak thoroughly, but the meaning of the words is very clear.

Lin Jian turned his face to look at the vast snowy sky in the southeast, and said with a smile: "The wind and snow here are very good, don't be in a hurry to go back to Jiangning," he still hopes to straighten out Jingxiang's military and government affairs before returning to Jiangning, and doesn't want to leave any hidden dangers in Jingxiang, so he turned his head to look at Gu Hao, "Nanyang lacks a general judgment, is Lord Gu willing to give in?" ”

Gu Hao was a subordinate of Zhang Han as the envoy of Tanzhou, and after the battle in Yuanzhou, he accompanied Zhang Han's eldest son Zhang Zuowu to the Huaidong Army as a hostage. During this period of contact, Lin Jian also knew that Gu Hao was very good at governing the country, otherwise he would not have given Zhang Hanyi as his right-hand man.

As long as they do not have the ambition to be self-reliant, it is natural that the talented people of the two lakes can have a channel to rise and dissolve into Huaidong, and there is really no need to blindly suppress and cause unnecessary backlash, let alone make the natural confrontation between places.

Zhang Han asked the envoy of the state of Cuttan Prefecture to be transferred to the post of Xianghu Xuanfu envoy, and he is still the supreme administrator of Xianghu, but he clearly gave up the local military power, and his son Zhang Zuowu will enter the center as an official, which is actually an indirect expression of loyalty to Lin Lian; If Gu Hao wants to get rid of the background of the Zhang family's private officials, it is the best way to stay and serve as the general judge of Nanyang.

The Nanyang prefect will be concurrently served by Ao Canghai, who guards Nanyang, and Nanyang Tongju is actually a civil official who assists Ao Canghai in governing Nanyang's political affairs, and Ao Canghai will be transferred to another in the future, and Nanyang Tongju is a natural candidate to take over as Nanyang prefect.

Gu Hao said, "Gu Hao is willing to be sent from the Lord." ”

Hu Wenmu listened to Gu Hao's change of title to Lin Lian, and knew that he would change his court from then on; I didn't feel surprised, thinking that Gu Hao must have already obtained the understanding of the Zhang family first, and at this time, the civil and military officials of the Manchu Dynasty did not want to change the court, and there were probably only a handful of people who could not change the court.

Lin Lian smiled, waved Gu Hao to excuse himself, and said: "Huang Zuyu and Zhou Blind took Fancheng, and guarded Fancheng, with the help of 5,000 people; Most of these people came from Ding Zhuang, who came from the surrounding areas of Nanyang, and they are probably the only remaining Dingkou in Nanyang Mansion. You will go to Nanyang in two days to carry out the mission, select land from both sides of the river, grant them fields, and subsidize ploughing cattle and plough tools, so as to settle their livelihood without delay. Before the year, the central committee will allocate 200,000 taels of silver to you, which should be able to support the people's livelihood ...... Nanyang Mansion next year."

Nanyang is located between Funiu Mountain and Tongbai Mountain, in addition to this is the Jingxiang North Pass and the west of Henan must pass through, more than a dozen Han water and Huaishui tributaries such as the water also irrigated nearly 10 million acres of fertile land in Nanyang, Nanyang in the pre-war Dingkou once exceeded one million, at this time the total of the total is about 30,000 or 40,000 people, more serious than the degree of ten do not exist several times.

The work of relocating the real population to Nanyang cannot be accomplished overnight, and the Dingkou in Nanyang can be restored to more than 10,000 households next year, and Lin Jian is also satisfied. However, in addition to guarding against the enemy in Guanzhong, Nanyang also has to guard against the ambition of Dong Yuan in the north, and the garrison will not be less, and the 200,000 taels of silver will not be less than the resettlement of households to facilitate the cultivation of seeds, and there is also a restoration of water conservancy and road construction, but the cultivated land resources in Nanyang are very cheap. Of course, Nanyang will still belong to the war zone for a long time, and in addition to the poor peasant households who are at the end of the road, not many people will be willing to take the initiative to move in.

At this time, the military attache of the Military Intelligence Department came up with the latest information, and Gao Zongting read it and said to Lin Lianyu: "In addition to appointing Chen Zhihu as the king of Qin, there is also reliable information that can confirm that Yan Hu has sent a secret envoy to Chengdu to confer Cao Yiqu as the king of Shu......"

Hu Wenmu also knew at this time that the military intelligence infiltration work of the Huaidong Army was more solid than imagined, and after the Battle of Jingxiang, some officials in Yanjing City who were forced to surrender to Yan at the beginning would probably also think about the way out in the future, and probably want to express goodwill to Huaidong, right? This will make the Huaidong Army's infiltration of Yanjing smoother.