Standalone Northern and Southern Dynasties

Chapter 540 Dawn
Originally, Jingzhou and Yizhou agreed that Jingzhou would only station a small number of soldiers in Jingmen to facilitate trade between the two sides.

Unexpectedly, when Hou Jing learned about the civil strife in Southern Liang, he immediately tore up the agreement, raided Jingmen, and controlled the main exit of the Three Gorges.

At this point, Jingzhou no longer had any strategic locations to defend in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River.

Xiao Yi had no concerns about this situation, but instead said:
"It's fine if Jingmen is lost. Jiangling is a strategically important town. Northerners are not good at naval warfare. Can Hou Jing still reach Jiangling?"

Normally, what Xiao Yi said does make some sense.

The city of Jiangling is different from other cities. It is not only a key land transportation hub, but also an important hub for Yangtze River water transportation.

Su Ze'en's teacher Li Daoyuan once verified in "Notes on the Classic of Waterways" that the current Jiangling City should have been built when Guan Yu was guarding Jingzhou. It is extremely solid and takes into account the advantages of both land and water. The city defense includes the wharf area near the river. If there was no navy, it would be almost impossible to capture Jiangling City by land alone.

This is also the reason why Xiao Yi was relaxed about Hou Jing's occupation of Jingmen. The only key point in Jingzhou is Jiangling. As long as he can firmly defend Jiangling City, other territories can be taken back at any time.

During the Three Kingdoms period, when Lu Meng crossed the river in white clothes, he took advantage of the time when Guan Yu went north to Xiangyang to fight Cao Wei. After a surprise attack, he captured Jiangling. The situation of Shu Han in Jingzhou collapsed instantly, and Guan Yu, a great military god, was defeated and fled to Maicheng.

For Xiao Yi, Jingzhou was only a temporary title. If he could not win the battle for the throne, the court could remove him as the governor of Jingzhou at any time.

The supreme throne in Jiankang City is naturally more important than the gains and losses of Jingzhou.

Wang Sengbian also understood Xiao Yi's thoughts. Faced with such a choice, he could only choose to help Xiao Yi plan the war in Jiankang.

Wang Sengbian said: "Your Highness's Jingzhou navy only needs half a month to sail down the Yangtze River. Therefore, Jiangling has been a key defensive town in Jiankang since ancient times. Your Majesty has entrusted the lifeblood of the country to your Highness, and he is entrusting the throne to you!"

Wang Sengbian's imprisonment this time felt a bit like his enlightenment in Longchang. He originally only cared about military affairs and didn't care about the ways of the world.

But after failing this time, he began to flatter her, which really helped Xiao Yi a lot.

Xiao Yi immediately said:

"Then mobilize all the navy of Jiangling and follow me eastward to serve the king!"

But Wang Sengbian quickly said:
"But it will take some time to prepare the army and transport food and fodder. Your Highness, please give me ten days. Taicheng is strong and Heba Sheng will not be able to attack it in a short time. Our army must also be fully prepared."

This time, Xiao Yi listened very much to Wang Sengbian's advice. He nodded repeatedly and handed over the affairs of the entire Jingzhou to him.

In November, the world fell into an eerie silence.

In the north, Su Ze began to expand his territory. He stationed himself in a camp outside Jinyang and continuously sent officials to the surrendered counties and prefectures to take over these areas.

The rapidly expanding territory also allowed many people who had made contributions to receive extraordinary promotions.

Su Ze renamed Houcheng as Shenyang and established the Liaodong Protectorate in Shenyang. Yuwen Tai, who had made great contributions in the Liaodong war, was promoted to the governor of Liaodong Protectorate and was fully responsible for the affairs of Liaodong Khitan and Goguryeo.

Murong Shaozong was appointed as the Governor of Jizhou, and although he continued to hold the position of Governor of Youzhou concurrently, except for major matters that would be sent to Yecheng for Murong Shaozong to handle, ordinary matters were handled by his subordinates who remained in Yecheng.

Murong Shaozong's main task was to annihilate Erzhu Shilon who was resisting in the city as soon as possible and pacify the entire Jizhou.

However, just as Murong Shaozong secured his position as the governor of Jizhou, two of his powerful generals, Chen Chong and Peng Le, were transferred away by Su Ze.

However, Su Ze did not treat his old subordinate badly. He sent Wan Yi Chounu, who was beside him, to Jizhou to assist Murong Shaozong in pacifying Jizhou.

With the capture of Jizhou, the entire center of Hebei was taken.

South of Jizhou is Qizhou. Originally, part of Qizhou was under the control of Erzhu Rong, and the governor of Qizhou was Heba Sheng.

After Heba Sheng defected to Southern Liang, the Southern Liang army took over Qizhou.

Su Ze was also aware of the combat effectiveness of the Southern Liang army.

In the history before Su Ze traveled through time, the Southern Liang Dynasty took advantage of the chaos in the north to push its defense line from the Yangtze River to the Yellow River, occupying large tracts of territory in Qizhou, Qingzhou, Yanzhou, and Xuzhou.

But after the division of the north was decided and the Eastern and Western Wei dynasties coexisted, Gao Huan quickly took back these territories and pushed the border back to the vicinity of Xuzhou.

Su Ze ordered Chen Chong to lead his troops to continue southward to attack Qizhou, and Peng Le to lead his troops to attack Qingzhou.

As expected, these two states were originally the territories of the Northern Wei Dynasty, and the people's hearts were not on the side of the Southern Liang Dynasty.

The elite troops of Qizhou all followed Heba Sheng south.

The generals and civil servants who came to take over the prefectures and counties in Southern Liang all came with the mentality of making a fortune and running away. After taking office, they began to rob crazily and had no intention of governing in the long term.

The North and the South had been separated for hundreds of years, and the last emperor who truly launched an expedition to the north was Liu Yu, the founding emperor of the Liu Song Dynasty.

From then on, it became normal for these states and counties between the Yangtze River and the Yellow River to change back and forth.

Changing sides three times a day is considered slow, and it's nothing to be surprised about.

In this situation, naturally no one will make long-term plans, and the normal approach is to just make a quick buck and leave.

The powerful people in these places were also politically wavering, and some of them served on both sides.

For example, the Yang family of Taishan also had a branch that served as officials in Southern Liang.

The logic here is very simple. Whoever has the bigger fist is the king's teacher.

Naturally, these armies of Southern Liang were no match for the elite soldiers under Su Ze.

Chen Chong quickly occupied Qizhou, and Peng Le followed suit and pacified Qingzhou.

Yanzhou and Xiangzhou quickly surrendered to Su Ze.

When they arrived in Xuzhou, Su Ze ordered Chen Chong and Peng Le to stop.

Xuzhou was an important military town, and Xiao Yan deployed a lot of troops here. Even when he was trapped in Taicheng this time, he did not transfer the troops from these two states back to Jiankang to support the king.

Su Ze knew very well that Southern Liang was about to fall into even greater internal strife. Once their internal situation was in complete chaos, Xuzhou would be as easy as taking candy from a sack.

As a result, the entire north, except for Bingzhou occupied by Erzhu Rong, Luoyang and Henan controlled by Yuan Ziyou, and Xuzhou, Yuzhou, and Southern Qingzhou controlled by Southern Liang, the rest of the territory has belonged to Su Ze.

Together with the Hexi Corridor and Yizhou, the area controlled by Su Ze today has exceeded that of the Northern Wei Dynasty.

Those who had not yet placed bets began to place bets frantically. A wave of scholars fleeing had already appeared in Luoyang, which was even greater than the wave of escape after Erzhu Rong's Heyin Rebellion.

The dawn of world unification has appeared.

(End of this chapter)