The Maojin knife from the late Jin Dynasty

Chapter 306: Battle with Gou Xi

Liu Tai finally chose to attack Xuzhou where Gou Xi was located instead of attacking Xiangyang. To be honest, there were somewhat diverse voices within Liu Tai, especially Zhao An and Wang Sang in Yuzhou, because the Yuzhou soldiers had been defeated by Dai Yuan. He was transferred to fight with Wang Dun, but was defeated by Wang Dun. This left Yuzhou free, and Zhao An captured the city without much effort.

At the same time, Wang Dun's main force was still controlling the situation in the Jin court in Stone City. If he started from Yuzhou, captured Nanyang County and then attacked Xiangyang City, he would have a relatively high probability of capturing Xiangyang.

When the time comes to control the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, whether you want to capture the Jin Dynasty or retreat to the north, it will become much easier.

But after Liu Tai thought about it, he still targeted Gou Xi instead of Xiangyang. The most important reason was that Gou Xi had the last group of northern refugees in exile in the south, and he had to deal with this group of people himself. .

If this force is not resolved, Gou Xi will become the most unstable factor on his chessboard.

Compared with other people, Liu Tai paid more attention to the direct benefits brought by geographical location, but Liu Tai was different from people of this era. Liu Tai's eyes first focused on class and political power, and then the so-called geographical location.

If Liu Tai used all his capital this time, he might be able to destroy the Jin Dynasty in one go, just like the Jin Dynasty destroyed the Northern Song Dynasty.

But the problem is that Liu Tai does not have to do this, because by doing so, it seems that Liu Tai has completed the internal unification of China, but in fact his unification achievements will definitely be stolen by the noble family.

There is no way, Liu Tai doesn't have that many managers on hand, and it is impossible to control so many places at once.

In order to avoid the vacuum of local power, it is necessary to transfer their rights to the aristocratic family, and then the aristocratic family will continue to live in a dream. When Liu Tai dies and another emperor comes to the throne, he will continue to ignore the emperor and live a life of playing music and dancing.

Therefore, Liu Tai's attack on Jin Ting decided that he could not kill Jin Ting in one go.

In other words, Liu Tai hopes that those corrupt aristocratic families, those powerful aristocratic families who have tasted positions of power in the government and the public, will be killed all at once by him along with the Jin court.

Even if there are still some aristocratic families who have completed their rebirth after him, at least they are new aristocratic families who are familiar with their own rules.

After understanding this political goal, Liu Tai must be clear about what his strategy is this time. It is to rule across the river from the current Jin court, and to seize the key positions of the Jin court and block the development of the Jin court. , or break Jin Ting's back!

It became clear to Liu Tai that his goal for this southern expedition had already been guaranteed when he got the three states of Sizhou, Yanzhou and Yuzhou.

The next thing to do is to break Jin Ting's backbone so that Jin Ting can no longer think about the Northern Expedition.

And if you want to break the backbone of Jin Ting, you must know where the backbone of Jin Ting is. Is it the Sima family who is despised by thousands of people? Is it the Langya Wang family that is now rampant, or is it Gou Xi, the only famous general in the Jin Dynasty? neither!

For Liu Tai, these people are not the backbone of the Jin court. The real backbone of the Jin court, or in other words, there is only one person who the Jin court needs for the Northern Expedition, and that is the political group formed by the northern refugees.

They are different from the exiled nobles in the north. The exiled nobles in the north firmly occupy the center of the Jin court. They are fiercely fighting for power and profit. Who has the heart to conquer their hometown.

There are only organizations formed by the northern refugees. At the bottom, they accept the multiple exploitations of the northern gentry, the southern powerful, and the Sima family. They do not seek to live in glory and wealth, but at least they can survive in the north at least. Decent.

Therefore, the northern refugee organization was the group with the most rebellious spirit and the most desire for the Northern Expedition in the Jin court.

Because of this, Liu Tai knew that he had to completely disintegrate this group, and the last northern refugees were probably absorbed by Gou Xi. After this group was eliminated, it does not mean that there would be no northern refugees in the south. .

Rather, the refugees in the north were either absorbed by the local powerful or became slaves of the south. They had no official figures who could truly represent them on this historical stage.

Just like any political force, if there is no representative figure standing on the stage to unite this force, then this political force can be ignored.

So Liu Tai set his sights on Gou Xi. As long as this last political group of northern refugees was eradicated, even if the Jin Dynasty wanted to do the Northern Expedition again, it would only be because of the selfish interests of the politicians at the head of the Jin Dynasty. initiated action.

This kind of Northern Expedition without grassroots support and response basically has very limited social power.

Just like after the Jin Kingdom destroyed the Northern Song Dynasty in history, even if Yue Fei was killed, the Southern Song Dynasty might not be able to continue the Northern Expedition.

But what really broke the foundation of the Northern Expedition in the Southern Song Dynasty was that the Southern Song Dynasty signed the policy of returning northerners to the north and southerners to the south.

Under this policy, the Southern Song government lost everything it could really lose, from popular support to legitimacy.

The most important thing is to force a group of refugees who were most likely to help the Northern Expedition to be forced to oppose them, making the fall of the Southern Song Dynasty only a matter of time.

The situation is almost the same now.

With the surrender of Li Ju, Zu Yue, Huan Xuan and others, those people who wanted to return to their hometown were smoothly comforted by Liu Tai. It can be said that the people who originally belonged to the Jin court's political system had the most desire to resist and the most hoped for the Northern Expedition. The group is being disintegrated by Liu Tai.

But now Liu Tai sets his sights on Gou Xi. As long as Gou Xi in Xuzhou fails or surrenders, and the last organization with the potential for the Northern Expedition collapses, then Liu Tai's purpose will be enough.

At this moment, Gou Xi felt the pressure gradually exerted by Liu Tai and his men, and more or less felt what the thoughts of those who faced him were thinking when he was at his most powerful.

"Processor, shall we go out of the city to fight?" Shao Xu looked at Gou Xi and said, "I think that Liu Tai leads the army to attack Xuzhou. We should use the strength of Xuzhou City to slowly deal with it, consume Liu Tai's food and grass, and wait patiently Jin Ting’s rescue is the one!”

"We have been doing business with Liu Tai for so long. No matter how many nails were planted by Liu Tai on my soldiers, I can't guarantee that you are sure that you can hold on to Xuzhou City. Are you really strong enough to hold on?" Gou Xiting He shook his head at Shao Xu's words.

Shao Xu heard Gou Xi's words and understood Gou Xi's worries. In other words, because he and Wang Jun failed to attack Liu Tai in a pincer attack, he accepted Liu Tai's help after his vitality was seriously injured.

Although Gou Xi survived, it inevitably led to Gou Xi's men being infiltrated by Liu Tai. Especially with this kind of infiltration, even Gou Xi had no way of confirming who had the problem.

You can't say that anyone who has done business with Liu Tai will be pulled out and beheaded, right?

Then Gou Xi's army really doesn't have many people left. Does Gou Xi really think that he doesn't need money or food to feed such a large group of soldiers?

Even the leather armor that Liu Tai had gradually phased out was gradually equipped on Gou Xi's soldiers. It can be seen that Liu Tai and Gou Xi have a close relationship.

Therefore, Gou Xi did not expect to be able to defend Xuzhou City in front of Liu Tai. Because Liu Tairuo launched a secret line, the seemingly impregnable Xuzhou City could not give people any sense of security at all.

Maybe he didn't know anything in his sleep, and he was already in front of Liu Tai when he woke up.

Compared with this, it is better to take the initiative to go out of the city to fight, and rely on yourself to absorb the retrained soldiers from the northern refugees, as well as your own army of governors, at least to ensure that your orders are conveyed on the battlefield.

As long as he was not defeated head-on, those veterans who Liu Tai stayed behind because of the miserable sands would not be able to directly rebel on the battlefield.

After all, even if these veterans know that Liu Tai's treatment is good, they will not embarrass them even if Liu Tai is defeated, which makes the resilience of his army weak.

But even so, veterans are veterans after all. The experience they accumulated on the battlefield allows them to at least know what to do on the battlefield instead of kneeling down when they see Liu Tai.

It can only be said that Gou Xi took advantage of the chaos in the Jin court and found a way to kill Xu Gong, which can only be regarded as a temporary cure for his army.

If they want them to truly become a powerful force, Liu Tai's army is a problem that Gou Xi cannot get around. Only by defeating Liu Tai can Gou Xi have a new future.

But the problem is, as Liu Tai led his army to press against Xuzhou aggressively, Gou Xi found that it was really difficult.

Liu Tai's army entered the border of Xuzhou, but the people in Xuzhou's border were not afraid.

Because of what Liu Tai's army is like, people in other areas may not believe Liu Tai's propaganda, but people in Xuzhou know it well.

There is no way, the people of Xuzhou are not unaware of the paper, dragon-patterned porcelain, snowflake salt and other specialties circulated from Taishan County. As long as they are wealthy households in Xuzhou, they have made a fortune from Liu Tai's industry in Qingzhou.

These merchants circulate between Taishan County, Qingzhou and Xuzhou, and they are clearly aware of the differences between these places.

The most important thing is that they know that Liu Tai's army attaches great importance to discipline, at least under normal circumstances, they will not take action against the people.

Especially these businessmen in white clothes. After the army was stationed, businessmen were dragged behind the army one after another.

For a relatively well-disciplined army, businessmen are a bit like vultures. They like to stay behind the army. Almost until the army defeats the opponent and robs something good, the businessmen will come over to buy the property from the army at a low price and take it out. Trafficking.

At the same time, merchants will also take the initiative to solve problems for the army. There is no need to think about some food and grass, but if they just want to have fun, the merchants will soon find enough things to entertain the army.

Generally speaking, there are no female relatives in military camps, but if necessary, local businessmen can directly send enough military prostitutes to the army.

Now, this group of businessmen followed Liu Tai, carefully keeping their distance and not daring to get too close.

After all, Liu Tai's military camp had not yet been set up. At this time, they were also afraid that they would be regarded as enemies. As a result, not only their money and goods were swept away by the army, but they themselves were also dragged into the army to become strong men.

This is very normal for these businessmen in white, so they all understand the unspoken rules on the battlefield.

Liu Tai didn't pay much attention to these businessmen in white clothes, because ever since Lu Meng's trick of crossing the river in white clothes, the environment for businessmen who provide special services to the army has become even worse.

Basically unless they know the generals in the army, they will be driven away and there is no need for Liu Tai to worry about them.

Not to mention, Liu Tai was more aware of the productivity of his army. Even if they were captured, Liu Tai would have targeted them early.

Not only do they have to make a cut at the munitions department when they are trading here, but even if they go back, they will also let the factories in the rear produce a wave of production, ensuring that these soldiers come with nothing when they come and leave with a lot of satisfaction and debts.

After all, you dare to buy supplies for these embryo-killers on credit, how dare you businessmen in white buy supplies on credit!

All in all, Liu Tai successfully arrived at Pengcheng County with his army. At this time, he saw that Gou Xi took the initiative to lead his army and did not station in the city. Instead, he stationed outside Xuzhou City, ready for a field battle with him.

"Gou Xi is serious!" Seeing the scene in front of him, Liu Tai understood very well that if Gou Xi wanted to surrender to him, as long as he stayed in Xuzhou City, he could control the aristocratic families in Xuzhou City at night. At that time, it was not difficult at all to deceive Xuzhou City.

Because along with Xingyang, Yanzhou and Yuzhou were captured by Liu Tai, Liu Tai had already begun to have the courage to unify the world.

For the vast majority of aristocratic families, it is normal for them to choose to surrender when faced with an overlord who is really likely to revive the Han Dynasty.

After all, Liu Tai is not a foreigner, but a Han nationality, which is orthodox in itself.

Orthodoxy is useless when you talk about it, but when you really have enough strength, it can often play a role in complying with destiny.

However, Xingyang, Yanzhou and Yuzhou are dominated by old aristocratic families. They are afraid of the changes brought about by Liu Tai, afraid of the loss of their rights, and afraid of Liu Tai himself. These all require Liu Tai to fight in order to let them go. They surrendered unconditionally.

But Xuzhou is different. Qingzhou, which relies on Liu Tai, is gradually regaining its vitality, and is not completely aware of Liu Tai's policies towards the family.

However, before Liu Tai came, they chose to maintain their existing interests. After Liu Tai came, especially after watching Gou Xi be defeated several times, knowing the gap with Liu Tai, they also They are all mentally prepared to accept Liu Tai's "Qianda Tax" and "Corvee Tax".

After all, although the taxation will be serious after surrendering to Liu Tai, the assets in his hands are still his own. If he does not surrender to Liu Tai, Gou Xi will be defeated, then he will be robbed, and everything he manages with great difficulty will be lost. It’s all gone.

Therefore, Xuzhou may become a venue for Liu Tai to win without a fight and surrender.

However, all this may be decided after Gou Xi chooses to take the initiative to come out of Xuzhou City and fight Liu Tai.

Because what determines their fate is no longer themselves, but the winner between Liu Tai and Gou Xi!

Liu Tai and Gou Xi adopted the most incredible but most understandable battle mode in this era, a battle!

(End of this chapter)