Standalone Northern and Southern Dynasties

Chapter 475 Wooden Sand Table
When Chen Qianzhi woke up, he found himself in a wilderness and he struggled to sit up.

Chen Qianzhi was very popular among the soldiers. When the soldiers saw him wake up, they put down what they were doing and rushed over to check on him.

"The general is awake!"

The guards cried with joy, but Chen Qingzhi struggled and asked:

"Where is this? How is Hulao Pass?"

The personal guards looked at each other in bewilderment. After their defeat at Hulao Pass, they only knew to escort Chen Qingzhi all the way south in their escape, and had no idea where they had gone.

At the end of the run, he couldn't even tell north from south, he just escorted Chen Qianzhi to escape.

Chen Qingzhi found himself wearing a monk's robe and the guards around him were also dressed as monks.

A clever guard said:

"The brothers heard that Erzhu Rong favored Buddhism and would not kill monks, so they disguised themselves as monks and escaped. As expected, they were not hunted down along the way."

Chen Qingzhi smiled bitterly and said:
"Erzhu Rong killed people without mercy. He killed officials in Luoyang like butchering dogs. How could such a person not be killed just because of a monk?"

"Well, maybe it's the Buddha's blessing."

Chen Qingzhi looked dejected. If he fainted, the result would be predictable. The entire army would surely be routed, and he didn't know how many of the 7,000 white-robed soldiers would be left.

At this point, Chen Qianzhi had no way to complain anymore, as his life was saved by his personal guards.

Seeing Chen Qianzhi's dejected expression and not even asking about the outcome of the battle, the guards around him were worried.

Chen Qingzhi always loved his soldiers like his own sons, which is why he was deeply loved by them.

The way he looks now, it is obvious that he has lost everything and is completely hopeless.

A guard immediately said:
"General! This great defeat is because our army was exhausted after a long battle and Erzhu Rong took advantage of it. When you return to Jiankang, His Majesty will certainly use you. By then, we will train the new army and the Northern Expedition will surely succeed!"

The royal guards had followed Chen Qingzhi for many years and knew that the Northern Expedition was his long-cherished wish.

Nothing can make people more despair than to achieve and then lose a long-cherished wish.

The personal guards proposed to return to Jiankang, naturally to give Chen Qianzhi a target.

As long as people have a goal, they can survive.

When Chen Qingzhi heard about Jiankang and heard the soldiers mention the Bodhisattva Emperor in Jiankang City, he finally

After surviving, I no longer had any thoughts of dying for the sake of death.

Yes! I have to go back to Jiankang and present the pros and cons of this Northern Expedition to Emperor Xiao Yan.

With his 7,000 white-robed soldiers, he marched into Luoyang from Jiankang. If he could train 20,000 new soldiers, wouldn't he be able to sweep across the world?
With a new goal, Chen Qianzhi finally stood up from the haze of defeat. He looked up at the stars and the moon to identify the direction, and commanded his soldiers to flee to the south.

When they arrived at a village, Chen Qingzhi asked his personal guards to disguise themselves as monks and go to beg for alms. After asking around, they found out that they were close to Nanyang City.

When Chen Qingzhi launched the Northern Expedition, Nanyang had already been controlled by the Southern Liang. Xiao Yan set up Beijingzhou in Nanyang and appointed officials to manage it.

Once you reach Nanyang City, continue south and you will reach Xiangyang City, and enter the Jingzhou area, the core area of ​​Southern Liang.

It's finally safe.

The personal guards around Chen Qianzhi breathed a sigh of relief, they had finally escaped.

But the 7,000 white-robed soldiers were not so lucky.

Erzhu Rong defeated Chen Qianzhi's army at Hulao Pass. After Chen Qianzhi fell into a coma, the White Robe Army finally could not hold on and was defeated.

Even Erzhu Rong was amazed. He said to Heba Sheng beside him:

"I thought the southerners were all cowards, but there is a strong army like the White Robe Army. This battle is really exciting!"

The greatest surprise for a famous general is to meet an equally matched opponent on the battlefield.

The bigger surprise was defeating this opponent.

Heba Sheng just crossed his hands and said:
"Congratulations, General! After this battle, Henan will no longer have hidden dangers, and we can now focus on dealing with the enemies in the northwest!"

Chen Qingzhi in Henan Province has always been tying up a lot of energy of Erzhu Rong's forces.

If it weren't for Chen Qingzhi, Erzhu Rong would have freed up his hands to swallow Dingzhou and Youzhou long ago.

Erzhu Rong glanced at Heba Sheng and realized that he was surrounded by mediocre people. In such a happy occasion, perhaps only his sworn brother Yuan Tianmu could understand his excitement.

Maybe Suze can too.

However, Erzhu Rong also understood the dissatisfaction of the Heba brothers.

In this battle, the generals who led the troops and made meritorious contributions on the front line were basically "Erzhus". Heba Sheng was kept by his side and was never allowed to go out to make merit.

For a general who wants to improve, there is nothing more regrettable than missing a major battle.

What’s even more regrettable is that this was a war that will go down in history.

Erzhu Rong suddenly said:
"Heba wins."

Heba Sheng was startled and immediately put on a frown. He realized that the person in front of him was Erzhu Rong, the iron-blooded general who was extremely strict in military discipline. He was so depressed these days that he actually turned his face away from General Tianzhu.

"I am here! I know my crime!" Erzhu Rong asked:
"What's the crime?"

Heba Sheng said quickly:
"It is a great sin for me to resent the general!"

Heba Sheng pleaded guilty, and Erzhu Rong was satisfied.

Seeing that he had succeeded in persuading his subordinates, Erzhu Rong said:

"This battle is of great importance, so I didn't use the new troops under your command. Are you resentful of this, General?"

Heba Sheng decided to tell the truth. He nodded and said:
"General, you are so wise. I shouldn't have such thoughts. Please punish me!"

Erzhu Rong had just won a victory and was in a good mood. Moreover, after this battle, the time had come when Heba Sheng was really needed.

After the beating was finished, Erzhu Rong said to Heba Sheng:
"How many troops would it take to capture Xingyang?"

Heba Sheng was overjoyed. The false emperor Yuan Hao was in Xingyang, which was the most important city in Henan. The merit of capturing Xingyang was no less than that of today's battlefield.

Heba Sheng quickly calculated in his mind and then said:

"Four thousand, no, only three thousand troops are needed, and I can capture Xingyang!"

Normally, Xingyang is not so easy to capture.

But just like when the Zheng family of Xingyang saw that something was not right and opened the city of Xingyang to surrender to Chen Qianzhi, now the wealthy families in Xingyang City have come to the time to make a choice.

The nobles in Xingyang City were quite disappointed with Yuan Hao's performance, and it was time for them to take sides and invest.

That's why Heba Sheng was confident that he could capture Xingyang with only 3,000 troops.

But Erzhu Rong was still not satisfied. He shook his head and said, "Two thousand, at most I'll give you two thousand men. Can you take Xingyang within five days?"

Heba Sheng lowered his head and after a fierce ideological struggle, he decided that if he wanted to force Xingyang to surrender within five days, he would inevitably have to make certain sacrifices before he could force Xingyang City to surrender.

Heba Sheng finally said:
"The general is willing to issue a military order!"

Erzhu Rong was satisfied and helped Heba Sheng up and said:
"This is the general under my command, Erzhu Rong!"
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In March, Dingzhou, Zhongshan City.

Dingzhou, Youzhou and Guanzhong areas are separated by Dingzhou. To transport supplies, one has to go around the grassland from Wuyuan City and then transport them to Dingzhou from Hengzhou.

The two states had just annexed the country, and all food, livestock and weapons needed to be transported from the rear.

In order to ensure the smooth transportation of the caravan's supplies, Wuyuan County Magistrate Dugu Xin personally escorted the caravan and finally delivered the weapons and armor to Zhongshan City.

For both public and private reasons, Su Ze wanted to meet Dugu Xin, his brother-in-law. When Dugu Xin walked into Su Ze's mansion, he saw Su Ze looking at a sand table.

Every time he saw this sand table, Dugu Xin would marvel at the ingenuity of Su Ze's craftsmen.

This wooden sand table of mountains and rivers in the world was made according to Li Daoyuan's "Annotations to the Classic of Waterways", the geography books brought by Princess Chenliu when she married into Guanzhong, and the geomancy map of the world that was being surveyed in Chongwen Pavilion.

If it is made into a large sand table, it will be inconvenient to carry, so the craftsmen divided the entire sand table into thirty-six pieces, which will be put together when used.

Unlike ordinary maps, this sand table uses ups and downs to represent mountains and rivers. Combining the trends of mountains and rivers, it is easy to understand the strategic importance of important towns in military geography.

As soon as Dugu Xin entered the door, Su Ze said:

"Chen Qingzhi was defeated and fled to Hulao Pass. Henan Province has fallen into his hands."

Dugu Xin was stunned to see that the area south of the Yellow River was planted with a flag representing Erzhu Rong by Su Ze.

"So fast?"

Dugu Xin was also stunned. He certainly would not doubt how well-informed Su Ze was. Everyone knew that Su County Public Room was number one. He could always get information from thousands of miles away at a speed that was difficult for ordinary people to understand.

The intelligence network under Su Ze may be the result of the work of Su Bai from Xuan Jing Si.

So Su Bai, who is not good-looking, is so silent that it scares the ministers. Duke Su is very perceptive. Could it be that there are spies from the Xuan Jingsi in his house?
Dugu Xin walked into the wooden sand table. Now, Erzhu Rong's flags had filled Hebei, Shanxi, Henan, and Shandong regions. This was the region that represented "Central Plains" in this era. Erzhu Rong had unknowingly cleared all threats from this area.

Erzhu Rong dominated the Central Plains, while the territory controlled by Su Ze was like a giant dragon, hugging the Central Plains bear tightly from the west and north.

The southern area of ​​the sand table is not as exquisite as the northern area, probably because Su Ze did not collect the geographical and feng shui books of the Southern Dynasties. The Southern Liang Dynasty is like a giant snake lying on the ground, spitting out its tongue towards the Central Plains and Shuzhong.

"Dugu Lang, where do you think Erzhu Rong will attack next?"

Dugu Xin said almost without hesitation:
"Hedong County."

Su Ze nodded slightly. Erzhu Rong, who had returned to Luoyang, had no reason not to attack Hedong County.

This is the gateway to Guanzhong. Once Hedong County is lost, Guanzhong will become the prison that Xiang Yu granted to Liu Bang.

Su Ze was not worried about competing with Erzhu Rong in farming, but the Southern and Northern Dynasties would once again become a Three Kingdoms war, and the tragedy of the Eastern and Western Wei, Northern Zhou and Northern Qi would be staged again.

Su Ze wanted to end this chaotic world as soon as possible.

"Tell me what you think. There's no need to hide your shortcomings in front of me."

Dugu Xin organized his words and said, "I think that Hedong is easy to defend and Luoyang is difficult to attack, so we should defend Luoyang."

Su Ze asked: "Where should we attack?"

(End of this chapter)