Standalone Northern and Southern Dynasties

Chapter 438: Dragon Chess Game
Before the departure, Yang Jia had been promoted to brigade commander of a hundred-man team.

When attacking Mianyang, Yang Jia, the commander of a hundred-man brigade, was at the forefront when climbing the city wall.

The brigade commander had already climbed up the city wall, but was hit by a stray arrow and fell off the tower and died.

After witnessing the brigade commander falling to his death, Yang Jia burst into anger and rushed to the city wall first.

This is how war is. No matter how perfect the strategy is, no matter how great the chances of winning are when looking back on the game in the future, at the moment of war, all participants are gambling with their own lives.

There will be casualties in even the most favorable battles, and there will also be people who are lucky enough to survive in even the most unfavorable battles.

The dead are dead, and the survivors will receive honor. The battlefield is so cruel.

Yang Jia, who had made great contributions in reaching the enemy's territory, was promoted by Hou Jing to be the brigade commander, in charge of the entire team of 100 men.

Although it is called a team of 100 people, in fact the whole team has 120 people.

However, among these 120 people, only 30 of the old brothers who set out from Da Zhong were left, and the remaining 90 were recruited later as part of the army expansion.

Yang Jia didn't know the story of the Ship of Theseus, but in his opinion, as long as the old brothers in the team were still there, the Centurion would still be the Centurion.

Even if he died on the battlefield, the honor of this team will still be there and can be passed on.

Yang Jia was also extremely tired, but they were also holding back their energy at this moment, as Chengdu City was right in front of them!

There was not a single bone in his body that didn't hurt. Yang Jia's calves and feet were already swollen, with blood vessels bursting out like a dragon. He needed to use bandages to tie them up before he could march quickly.

One of his ears was hit by an arrow when he was the first to climb the mountain, and the army doctor only managed to save half of it.

But the morale of the army remained high. When Hou Jing shouted "Chengdu, Chengdu", the soldiers burst into thunderous cheers!
It was such an army that continued its march under the leadership of Hou Jing.

By the time Hou Jing's army arrived at the city of Chengdu, the defenders of Chengdu had been frightened silly.

Xiao Ji, the governor of Yizhou, was not in Chengdu. When the general guarding the city heard that Hou Jing was attacking Mianzhu, he sent a messenger to chase Xiao Ji, but he did not expect that Mianzhu would fall so quickly!
As soon as Mianzhu was captured, Hou Jing headed straight for Chengdu, which was completely unprepared to defend the city.

The elite troops in Chengdu city were organized into the Yizhou Army, which is now far away in Jiange.

Although Xiao Ji left a deputy general, there were many powerful people in Chengdu, and the deputy general could not mobilize all of them. The big families in Shu had their own ulterior motives, and there were many people hiding who wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to cause chaos.

The current situation is very similar to when Deng Ai destroyed Shu.

When Deng Ai conquered Mianzhu, the last emperor of Shu Han was ready to surrender. Besides the fact that capitulationism was already prevalent in Shu Han at that time, Chengdu was indeed impossible to defend.

Chengdu, like Luoyang, is also a comprehensive large city. Although such a city also has city walls, the walls are too long and too many soldiers are needed to defend the city.

There are simply too many people in the city.

This is not to say that the general defending the city has pity on the people, but that with so many people in the city, if not handled properly, they will become an unstable factor.

If no food is given, the people in the city will riot and the city will be breached. If food is given, there are so many people in Chengdu and there is no surplus food for war, so it will be eaten up in a few days.

Mianzhu City was broken, Hou Jing's troops were at the gates of the city, and Yizhou Governor Xiao Ji was not in the city, so the fate of Chengdu City was already doomed.

Hou Jing attacked Chengdu fiercely for three days. The defender of Chengdu opened the city gate and surrendered. Hou Jing led his army into Chengdu!

Just when Hou Jing entered Chengdu, Xiao Ji, who was spending the summer in Qingcheng Mountain, got the news. He immediately sent his men to Chengdu to inquire about the news.

Xiao Ji was not stupid either. He thought that Chengdu City was probably lost, so he ordered his men to plunder the property in Qingcheng Mountain and be ready to run away at any time.

As expected, when Xiao Ji received the news that Hou Jing had already attacked Chengdu, he immediately led his subordinates to prepare to run away.

At this time, Xiao Ji's confidant, the recorder Le Fengye, said:
"General, the enemy army has traveled thousands of miles to attack Chengdu. The entire army must be exhausted. Chengdu is a big city, and the enemy army cannot completely control it with just a few troops. Please stay in Qingcheng Mountain and spend all your money to recruit warriors from all over the world. We will definitely be able to recapture Chengdu!"

Xiao Ji's deputy general Fan Sheng stood up and said:

"Qingcheng Mountain is too close to Chengdu. If Hou Jing leads his troops here, how can we resist? My Yizhou army is in Jiange. As long as we lead the army to join forces at Jiange, we can defeat Hou Jing!"

Le Fengye knelt on the ground and said:

"The families of the 10,000 Yizhou soldiers in Jiange are basically all in Chengdu. When they know that Chengdu has fallen, how can they risk their lives for the governor?"

Although Xiao Ji felt that what Le Fengye said made some sense, he still did not have the courage to fight Hou Jing in Qingcheng Mountain. In the end, he said:
"The enemy army is strong, and our main army has not been defeated. We should go to Jiange first to join the main army, and then General Fan will lead the decisive battle with Hou Jing!"

Le Fengye sighed and could only stop advising.

But that night, when Xiao Ji was preparing to head north to Jiange, Le Fengye and another group of civil and military officials under Xiao Ji chose to flee overnight.

Le Fengye had not said one more thing. Not only were the families of the Yizhou Army in Jiange in Chengdu, but even the families of the civil and military officials accompanying Xiao Ji were in Chengdu. His mother and wife were also in Chengdu.

As Hou Jing takes control of Chengdu City, these people will inevitably be held as hostages in his hands.

Some people with integrity, such as Le Fengye, planned to sneak back to Chengdu secretly, bring back his mother, wife and children, and then find a place to wait and see what would happen. Some people without integrity, having seen Xiao Ji's incompetence, were ready to surrender directly to Hou Jing and sell the information they knew for a good price.

Funny things happened, some people even fought each other for the first place to surrender.

When Xiao Ji set out the next day, he found that one-third of the team was missing. He was so angry that he cursed, but he didn't dare to send people to chase and kill them. He could only quickly head north to Jiange.

Xiao Ji also remembered Le Fengye's advice. He did not dare to enter the city or rest in the homes of the big families in Shu. He just kept on rushing on the way. Another group of his men left while they were fleeing.

But even at this time, Xiao Ji is not completely without chance.

After all, Hou Jing was an isolated army with no support from the rear. The Southern Liang had ruled Shu for more than 20 years and at least had some popular support. Xiao Ji also had 10,000 soldiers from Yizhou, who were well-trained and well-fed.

This is different from when Deng Ai conquered Shu. At that time, Zhong Hui's army had already confronted the Shu Road. After hearing the news that Chengdu had been captured, even Jiang Wei surrendered to Zhong Hui.

It can only be said that in the first stage, Hou Jing's raid was successful.
-
Yecheng.

Erzhu Rong hosted a banquet for his subordinates on the Bronze Sparrow Tower built by Cao Mengde, but he felt a little uneasy.

This month has been filled with bad news.

First, Yuan Tianmu and Gao Huan were defeated in Ji County, and then Chen Qianzhi led his troops to sweep Henei. If he had really occupied Henei, this nail would have really been driven into the heart of the Northern Wei Dynasty.

Then, Erzhu Zhongyuan, the envoy sent to Youzhou to persuade Han Lou to surrender, was killed. This idiot actually tried to launch a mutiny and control Han Lou, but was defeated by the delegation sent by Su Ze.

Erzhu Zhongyuan's death was not a pity, but Han Lou's surrender to Su Ze made Erzhu Rong lose the initiative in this chess game.

The envoy sent to Du Luozhou in Dingzhou also brought news. Su Ze also sent envoys to win over Du Luozhou, but Du Luozhou did not immediately side with Su Ze and was still waiting for a good price.

The current situation actually feels a bit like the Warring States Period.

Su Ze, who occupied Guanzhong, was similar to Qin.

Nanliang, which occupied the south and took over the territories along the Yellow River during the chaos of the Northern Wei Dynasty, now has a territory similar to that of Chu.

The false emperor Yuan Hao, who occupied the area near Luoyang, was similar to Wei and Han.

The chaotic Shandong region is similar to Qi.

Han Lou, located in the northeast, is similar to the State of Yan.

Erzhu Rong, who finally occupied Bingzhou, Sizhou and Jizhou, was similar to Zhao.

The strategy adopted by Su Ze was similar to the "make friends with distant countries and attack nearby" strategy used by Qin when it unified the world.

The predicament that Erzhu Rong is in now is similar to that of the State of Zhao back then.

It’s not that the soldiers under his command were incompetent, nor that he had few generals. It’s just that the State of Zhao was surrounded by enemies and there were too many places where troops were needed.

This is the situation Erzhu Rong is facing now.

Should we attack Qi first and unify the entire middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River?
Or attack Wei and retake the political center of Luoyang?

Or go north to Youyan and kill Han Lou and Du Luozhou first?
Or should we directly attack Qin territory and not give Su Ze any room to develop?

These problems were placed before Erzhu Rong, and every choice he made would have far-reaching consequences.

Deep down, Erzhu Rong believed that Su Ze was his biggest enemy and that he should attack Guanzhong at all costs.

But rationally Erzhu Rong knew that this was impossible. He was now surrounded by enemies and Jizhou had just been pacified. If he attacked Guanzhong, his rear would certainly be unstable. By then, no matter how good he was at fighting, he would be unable to do anything to Su Ze.

What's more, Su Ze took the initiative and occupied Hengzhou while Erzhu Rong was dealing with Ge Rong. Erzhu Rong's old nest Bingzhou was threatened by him, so Erzhu Rong could not go to war with Su Ze immediately.

It is also impossible to fight in Youyan. It is already June and Han Lou has already defected to Su Ze. If we get Su Ze's support and drag the war into winter, even Erzhu Rong will not be sure of taking Youzhou under the joint attack of "General Winter".

What now lies before Erzhu Rong is the chaotic Qi and Lu regions as well as the Luoyang and Henei areas.

After much deliberation, Erzhu Rong decided to attack Qi first.

The reason is very simple. The situation in Qi and Lu regions is now the most complicated, and the most powerful force is Xing Gao, who occupies Qingzhou and has just suffered a defeat.

The remaining forces are not worth worrying about, as they are no match for his elite troops.

After solving the threat from Qi and Lu, we will counterattack Luoyang and then compete with Su Ze for the dragon!
After finalizing the plan, Erzhu Rong immediately gave the order to use Heba Sheng as the vanguard and mobilize all his troops to attack Qi and Lu!

However, Erzhu Rong did prepare a little surprise for Su Ze.

(End of this chapter)