On the occasion of rebirth Zhou Sui

Chapter 588
Emperor Dayan led the Southern Expedition Army to go far away until there were no more people in sight, and the officials dispersed separately.

In the carriage returning home, Pei Xingyan asked his father Pei Yuanji in a low voice:

"Is Cui Che's move intentional or has it been planned for a long time?"

When the Pei family father and son were alone, they often called Cui Che's life directly, and they were not respectful to Emperor Dayan.

Pei Renji said without thinking:
"Cui Che has always been cautious and never fights uncertain battles. Today's incident is probably a long-planned plan."

Pei Xingyan was puzzled and said:

"What is his purpose?"

Pei Renji pondered and said:

"In the Battle of Changping, the Qin State changed generals just before the battle, secretly appointed Bai Qi as commander, and caught the enemy by surprise, Zhao Kuo took it lightly, resulting in a crushing defeat.

"Nowadays, the rulers and ministers in the south of the Yangtze River all think that Cui Yanqing is in charge, not Cui Che himself.

"Even with the help of Liu Fang and Li Jing, how can their reputations be compared with Cui Che's?"

When Pei Xingyan heard this, he was worried, but he was unable to do anything.

Although the father and son said that they were in the Yan camp and their hearts were towards the Sui Dynasty, they were not internal responses.

After all, Cui Che's wariness against them had already been put on the bright side.

The father and son are famous for their bravery and reputation as the enemy of thousands of people, but before Cui Che established the country, they were kicked out of the army and turned into civil servants.

Cui Che's move also means that the father and son are the key monitoring targets of the Observation Department.

Even if the Pei family and his son wanted to send news to Jiangnan, no spy would dare to contact them.

Seeing his son's frowning face, Pei Renji explained:

"Is Cui Che a ruler or a minister, if he disappears for a while, the court and even the whole north will fall into chaos.

"Therefore, he is doomed not to go to the front line in secret like Bai Qi, so today he publicly announced the imperial conquest.

“With so many pairs of eyes watching, the news of Cui Che’s personal conquest will spread throughout Luoyang in a short time.

"When the Southern Expedition Army arrived in Xuzhou, Xi Zuo had already spread the news to the south.

"It happened suddenly, maybe the emperor (Yang Guang) had no time to adjust the arrangement in Huainan.

"But the Huainan defender will definitely not underestimate the enemy and make the same mistake as Zhao Kuo when faced with Cui Che's personal expedition."

As Pei Renji said, the Sui Dynasty spies lurking in Luoyang attached great importance to the information of Cui Che's personal expedition, and immediately sent someone to send a message to the south.

At this time, the army of the Southern Expedition did not appear at Hulao Pass, the only way to go east.

After Cui Che led the army to leave Luoyang, he pretended to go east, but suddenly ordered a diversion on the way, crossed Luoshui to the south, followed the popular army along the Yishui River, and approached Yique Pass.

Here, the two mountains face each other, and the Iraqi River flows, which is the natural gateway to the south of Luoyang.

Cui Che stayed overnight at Yique Pass, and the soldiers camped outside the pass. It was only at this time that the soldiers in the army suddenly realized that they were not going to Xuzhou, but had another destination.

And Cui Che no longer concealed it, and through the generals and schools under his command, informed the whole army that Jingzhou would be collected during this trip.

For these soldiers, there is not much difference between Jingzhou and Xuzhou. It is just that wherever Cui Che's command flag points, they will obey.

After crossing the Yique Pass, Cui Che crossed the Funiu Mountain along the Yiluo River Valley and arrived at the Nanyang Basin.

Cheng Yaojin, governor of Luzhou, led a hundred riders out of the city to meet him.

"Wei Chen meets His Majesty."

Cheng Yaojin hurried to the front of the car, got off his horse and paid homage. "Stay flat."

Cui Che led Cui Youzhi out of the carriage, and before asking him about his daughter Cui Wenjun's recent situation, he inquired about Xiangyang.

Cheng Yaojin focused on Zhang Xutuo, the Prime Minister of Xiangyang County, and he reminded:
"Although this person is a civil servant, he is able to lead the army and is brave and good at fighting. In the past few years, I have fought several battles with him, and each has won or lost."

Zhang Xutuo is not well-known in this time and space, but Cui Che, who is a time traveler, will not ignore him no matter what.

However, in the face of Cheng Yaojin's kind reminder, Cui Che still nodded his head and said with a smile:
"To be able to compete with Yizhen, this person is a good general."

Cheng Yaojin blushed unceasingly upon hearing this, but his complexion was too dark to be seen.

It is said that there are wins and losses for each other, but during the four years of guarding Luzhou, when he fought against Zhang Xutuo, he lost more than he won, and he was obviously at a disadvantage.

Of course, he did not deceive the king. If he loses more and wins less, isn't it considered a victory and defeat for each other?

Leading the way through Cheng Yaojin, Cui Che came to Lushan County. The soldiers camped outside the city, and he lived in Cheng Yaojin's mansion.

Cui Che's fourth daughter, Cui Wenjuan, and Cui Che's grandson waited at home for a long time.

More than [-] troops arrived in Lushan County, and it was impossible to hide the news from others. When the spy lurking in the north desperately sent the information to Xiangyang, Zhang Xutuo was devastated by it.

Zhang Xutuo came from the Zhang family in Nanyang, and his ancestors moved to Hongnong. He followed Shi Wansui as a subordinate of Yang Xiu, king of Shu, to quell the chaos in the Southwest, and followed Yang Su to defeat Yang Liang who had entered Guanzhong.

It is precisely because of these experiences that the prefect of Xiangyang entrusted him with general affairs and asked him to lead the army as the county magistrate.

In the past few years, Zhang Xutuo has lectured on martial arts and trained troops in Xiangyang, actively preparing for battle, and the combat effectiveness of his soldiers should not be underestimated.

Otherwise, Cheng Yaojin would not be at a disadvantage in the border conflict with him.

But Zhang Xutuo can also bully and bully Cheng Yaojin's government soldiers, now that Cui Che's imperial conquest is in person, and the camp is more than ten miles away from Lushan City, how can Zhang Xutuo not be worried.

Of course, Xiangyang Governor Xiao Jue also had trouble sleeping and eating because of this.

Xiao Ju was the son of Xiao Kui, Emperor Ming of Liang, and the younger brother of Empress Yang Guang Xiao.

After the fall of Xiliang, Xiao Ju was moved to the north and was raised by Yang Guang and his wife since childhood.

Today's Empress of Dayan, Yang Awu, would have almost married Xiao Jue if Xiao Jue hadn't attended the funeral for her father.

It is precisely because of this that Xiao Ju has always harbored resentment towards Cui Che's act of stealing love.

Now that Cui Che has raised his troops to attack, and there are other governors, others may be frightened and offer the city to surrender.

But with Xiao Ju's close relationship with Yang Guang and his old grudge with Cui Che, how could he bow his head to Cui Che.

After sending envoys to ask for help from surrounding counties, Xiao Jue approached Zhang Xutuo and asked:
"Now that Yan thieves are invading the country, the imperial court has deployed heavy troops in Huainan and is unable to support Xiangyang. Does Zhang Juncheng have a way to defeat the thieves?"

Xiao Jue had confidence in Zhang Xutuo, he knew the ability of the other party, so he entrusted him with military affairs out of trust.

However, Zhang Xutuo had no idea at this time, so he could only say:

"Although the Yan bandits are strong in military and horses, water warfare is not the specialty of the northerners. In the north of Xiangyang, there is the Han River as a barrier, and the navy is criss-crossing. No one dares to fight against the enemy, and they may be able to deploy defenses based on the Han River."

After Cui Che founded the country, he once split up the Xuzhou Navy and transferred one of them to Luzhou.

In name, it is to defend Gyeonggi to prevent the Sui army from crossing the Han River and going north from the Nanyang Basin, threatening Luoyang.

In fact, it was to become familiar with the Han River and to practice in battle during the conflict with the Xiangyang Navy.

It is precisely because of the repeated defeats of the Yan army's navy that Zhang Xutuo boldly said that the navy is all over the place, and no enemy dares to say it.

(End of this chapter)