Han Zuo Gaomen

Chapter 748
When Shihu's envoy arrived at Runan from Yingshang, Taobao was preparing for war near Shenshui, the stream of Rushui.

After hearing Shihu's intention from the envoy, Taobao's attitude was also correct, and he solemnly said: "Please tell your majesty, if the southern navy enters this territory, I will lead a fierce battle and trap them here."

Talking about his request, Tao Bao didn't ask for a lot of money, but only asked for some basic resources, food and equipment.

The reason why Taobao has such an attitude is of course not because he is a loyal and humble gentleman, but in fact he has gone through a lot of weighing.

Shihu's understanding of Hedong King Shisheng is quite correct. In fact, Shihu's envoys had already come to see Taobao before Shihu's army was defeated by Yingkou. He hoped that Taobao could move to Nanyang and help Yu Han Mian.

However, he was rejected by Taobao at that time, even if he didn't consider any position, he and Shi Sheng were both equal commanders in the south this time, and Shi Sheng didn't have enough prestige and ability to let Taobao serve as his envoy. .What's more, the enemy in Han Mian was already stronger than Huainan. It would be really foolish to give up Huainan's easy feat and instead face the powerful Jingzhou army of the southerners, and even risk offending the king of Zhongshan.

However, Taobao did not expect that the battle in Huainan, which was thought to be easy to win, turned out to be like this. The 10,000+ central army was directly swept back by Huaishui.Even as an ally of Shihu, Taobao had to feel that King Zhongshan was too reckless in the face of such a situation.Judging from this battle alone, it can be called stupid.

However, Tao Leopard was not completely disappointed with Shi Hu because of this battle. After all, Shi Hu's record in the past year was solidly placed there, and the similar desire to underestimate the enemy was not unique to Shi Hu. In fact, everyone in the country has the idea of ​​saying that they will win, including Taobao.King Zhongshan was only too aggressive and unlucky, which led to his shameful defeat.

Later, Shi Sheng's wooing of Taobao was even stronger, and even a truck full of goods was sent directly to the Taobao army, and he promised to recommend Taobao to be the governor of Qinzhou, but Taobao still didn't have much interest in this.

On the one hand, King Hedong didn't interfere that much with the Lord and the court at all, and he himself was a bit reluctant to try to become the governor of Qinzhou, so this promise was nothing more than a lie.The two Han Mian battles did not go smoothly. Although there was no such a big defeat as Yingkou, King Zhongshan lost because of carelessness, while King Hedong lost because of his ability.

However, Taobao also thought about it for a long time. After all, Zhongshan King's defeat was too ugly, even Taobao, a long-time ally, could not accept it, let alone the other generals who led their troops to the south.If the king of Zhongshan can't restrain his troops in the future and prevent the army from collapsing, then even with the help of Taobao, it will be difficult to turn the tide.Moreover, Taobao also had to consider that King Zhongshan's defeat would cause the Lord and the middle school to do something bad to him, and whether it would affect him.

After some deliberation, Taobao decided to help King Zhongshan again.After all, the alliance between the two has been going on for a long time, even if the relationship is drawn immediately, the old entanglement will be difficult to cut off for a while.What's more, even if the Lord has any bad thoughts about King Zhongshan, his primary concern is the war in the south.King Zhongshan is still the commander in name after all, if he doesn't obey the transfer order, or does something that delays the war, so that the Southern Expedition returns without success, even if the Lord wants to severely punish King Zhongshan, he will definitely not let him go.

Of course, there is the most important point, that is, the old generals like Tao Bao have some grudges against Shi Le for a long time.With the rise of power, especially after the independence from Han and Zhao, many of Shi Le's actions made Taobao and other old generals feel cold. The Jin people's wooing was even stronger, and it was inevitable that Tao Bao and other old officials of the Hu tribe would be left out in the cold.

Another point is that the crown prince Shi Daya, who is originally a barbarian, wants to wear a fake crown belt in order to charm the world, which is quite shameless.It would be fine if it was just a superficial gesture, but Shi Daya's daily life is contrary to everyone's wishes. It is conceivable that once this person inherits Guozuo, old people like Tao Bao and the others who are ignorant of etiquette will most likely be left out in the cold , the power, wealth and honor obtained by following the Lord in the early years will be unsustainable.

There is no doubt that only Zhongshan Wang Shihu can prevent such things from happening.Although this kind of thinking is disrespectful and even rebellious to the Lord, it is related to the future of their positions and even their lives. Knowing that the future is already worrying, how can they be willing to hold back.If it were really a group of cowardly people who were submissive and had no desire to resist, they would never have followed Shi Le in the uprising until now!
Now that he has decided to never leave Zhongshan King, there is no need for Tao Bao to make any gestures, and now the army is outside, even if there are any demands or promises, it is difficult to fulfill them immediately, no matter how certain they are, there is a possibility of returning in the future , since this is the case, there is no need to complain too much.

After seeing off the envoy of King Zhongshan, Tao Bao turned around and began to prepare for the battle with all his might.

There are many ditches and tidal flats in the land of Runan, and many Jindu key points, but precisely because there are too many, it is impossible to highlight which one is the key point that must be defended or attacked.Such a geographical environment is somewhat unfavorable to the Peach Leopard Division.

Although his army has more than 1 people, a considerable part of them are just bluffing and mobs, no different from the scattered soldiers of the Chinese army who broke up in Yingkou.There are only a little over [-] elite soldiers who can really break through the battalion, and he is also charged with the task of galloping to Nanyang and supporting Han Mian, so nearly half of the more than [-] soldiers are cavalry.

However, in such a geographical environment, the cavalry has no use at all.The southerners didn't even need to build any strong forts or deep walls here, even if they only occupied a random tidal flat, they forced the cavalry to dismount and fight.The cavalry, which were able to exert great lethality in the Central Plains and frontier fortresses, was no different from infantry except that they consumed more food and grass in Runan.As for the far-reaching raids on the grain roads, there is no need to even mention it. Whenever the southerners have the resources to dispatch, they all travel by water, and the cavalry has nowhere to go.

Of course, the limitation of the terrain is not only for the slave army under Taobao's command, but also has a negative impact on the Huainan army.The waterway environment is too complex, and there are not enough open water main roads, light boats and sampans may be able to travel freely, but if they are carried by large-scale boats, they will face many dangers of breaking the flow and blocking navigation.Therefore, the boats of the Southerners were mainly concentrated in Rukou, and they did not go too far from the Huai River main road.

This time the Southern People's Congress gathered boats to move westward, probably inspired by Yingkou's victory, and they wanted to use their strong boats to severely damage Taobao in the battle of water conservancy.However, the terrain in Runan is different from Yingkou, and Taobao will never seek a decisive battle when the conditions are not ripe.Although he promised King Zhongshan to try his best to delay the southern navy here, he didn't stick to it, and he still had to choose a fighting method that was beneficial to him.

When besieging Xuanhu earlier, Tao Leopard was already inspecting the terrain, either blocking the cobweb-packed water flow, or making a decision.The crude hydraulic fortifications originally built by many southerners were completely destroyed. Through this method, an environment suitable for his troops to fight was created.

Especially in the Rushui channel between Xuanhu and Rukou, although Taobao can’t control the waterway deeply, it has invested a lot of manpower in digging and diverting the water. Firstly, it is to avoid repeating the old story of Yingkou’s army defeat, and secondly, it is also man-made. causing this section of water to dry up.At the same time, they ordered the laborers to use baskets and carts to transport soil and accumulate it in some narrow waterways, build earth embankments, and push soil into the water at critical moments, creating difficulties for Nanren boats to run aground or cut off the flow.

At the same time, he also stepped up his attack on the land of Xuanhu, and at the same time spread rumors inwardly, saying that the Huainan army saw the urgent military situation and was about to fail to defend, so he planned to abandon the people and withdraw the army, so that this part of the Huainan army would be in a mess and it would be difficult for them to fight again. The newcomers cooperated with the pincer attack.

The state of the Land of Hanging Hu was already in a precarious state. When the rumors spread by Tao Leopard's people spread to it, it quickly made the people feel panic and chaos.

When Mao Bao and others led the army to repel Jiehu's new round of attack, and before they had finished cleaning the battlefield, news came from the back that there was going to be a civil uprising.After Mao Bao heard the news, he didn't dare to be negligent. At this time, the boats in the town were already on their way. If Xuanhu collapsed at this moment, then all previous efforts and recent adjustments would be in vain.So he handed over the frontline battle to Li Cang, and he led hundreds of elites and several leaders who were popular among the refugees back to suppress the civil uprising.

At this time, outside the Huainan army camp near Rushui, thousands of people have gathered, each of them looked panic, or indignation and despair, and surrounded the camp, and people joined them one after another, shouting loudly He wanted to ask the Huainan Army for an explanation.

In front of the gate of the camp, Li Youzhi, who stayed in the camp and recuperated his wounds, was leading a group of guards to confront the refugees. Among the refugees standing at the forefront were more than a dozen leaders, all of whom looked flustered and asked Huainan harshly. Does the army really have plans to abandon the people and withdraw the army?Li Youzhi's injuries were not completely healed, and he was not in good spirits. Moreover, he didn't know much about whether to withdraw the troops, and he didn't experience such battles, so he didn't know how to deal with them. Disorderly.

"Why do the village elders waste any more time talking with this boy? These Huainan soldiers have spoken sweetly before, saying that they want to protect the villagers, and they are nothing more than to make the villagers Ding Zhuang serve them and fight against the enemy! They are trapped on this day. For a long time, the less the supply is, the stronger the slaves will be. It is inevitable for them to withdraw their troops and abandon the people. Find a way out!"

There were a few brave men in the crowd who couldn't bear the torment of this confrontation, and shouted loudly, and there were many people around to respond.There were also more people, although they didn't make a sound, their bodies began to move forward, and their expressions were eager to try. It can be seen that they also thought this way, but they lacked a leading role model.

Hearing these riots in the crowd, the few township chiefs standing at the front were a little flustered. They originally wanted to yell at them to stop them, but now that their future was bleak, it was really inappropriate to fight among themselves, and they needed to rely on these tyrannical forces The gangsters put more pressure on the Huainan army, or they could get the result they wanted, so they stopped speaking and just let the crowd rage even more.

(End of this chapter)