Chapter 276 Yongle City "Opening"
This battle led by King Yuan Hao of Beihai was also inexplicable.
Following Wang Sizheng's advice, he ambushed the Jingzhou rebels led by Hu Chen and Jin Wei in a reed field called Shayuan at Weiqu, where the Weishui and Jingshui rivers meet.
It was already the end of August and the beginning of September. The reeds along the Shayuan River were tall and dense. The withered and yellow reeds would raise a large amount of reed catkins when the wind blew.
The place called Shayuan is as its name suggests. It is a desertified area eroded by the river. The Wei River carries a large amount of river sand and accumulates in Weiqu. Crops cannot grow in these sandy lands, and only reeds can grow in the tidal flats.
Yes, Weishui, the mother river of Guanzhong and a major river that stretches across the 800-li Qinchuan Plain, has become silted up today.
The loose soil of the Loess Plateau, coupled with the destruction of the natural environment by human activities, has caused the environmental deterioration in Guanzhong not only in the degradation of arable land and the obsolescence of water conservancy facilities. The Wei River has also been affected by human activities, and a large amount of silt is carried in the water.
The Wei River, which was once navigable for large ships during the Qin and Han dynasties, is now difficult for even small boats to navigate, and in some places, boats must be navigated using trackers.
The Western Jin Dynasty once wanted to make Chang'an its capital, but because the Wei River was difficult to transport grain, the cost of transporting grain from outside the Great Wall to Chang'an was too high, so they finally chose the ancient capital of Luoyang.
Later, when Emperor Wen of the Sui Dynasty established his capital in Daxing (Chang'an), he first dug the Yongji Canal on the bank of the Wei River to divert water from the Wei River to connect Tongguan and Chang'an, thus solving the problem of grain transportation in the capital.
However, such a Yongji Canal became unusable in the middle of the Tang Dynasty due to siltation. During the reign of Emperor Gaozong of Tang, he often had to lead his ministers to Luoyang for food to ease the food pressure in Guanzhong.
The Tang Dynasty continued to dredge the water transport in Guanzhong, but the cost was too high. Finally, in the Song Dynasty, Chang'an was abandoned and Bianliang, which had more convenient water transport, was chosen as the capital.
As for what the above has to do with the war, although Wang Sizheng’s strategy was good, he had only seen the record of Weiqu in a book.
In fact, due to siltation, the Wei River in Weiqu is very shallow, and in some places you can wade across the river on horseback.
It was precisely because of this that King Yuan Hao of Beihai won first and then lost.
The army of Beihai King Yuan Hao set up an ambush in the reeds of Weiqu and attacked the Jingzhou rebels when Hu Chen's army passed Weiqu.
The dust raised by Shayuan made it impossible for Hu Chen and Jin Wei to judge the number of government troops. This time, the attack launched by Beihai King Yuan Hao was indeed fierce and quickly dispersed the rebel army in Jingzhou.
The Jin Wei army was the first to bear the brunt of the attack and was directly defeated by the government troops. The commander Jin Wei was killed on the spot and his troops were almost wiped out.
King Yuan Hao of Beihai was also confused about the situation on the battlefield. He thought he had completely wiped out the enemy's army, so he set up camp in Weiqu and counted the spoils.
However, in the chaos, Hu Chen was not trapped in Weiqu, but crossed the Weishui River at a shallow point without suffering much damage.
King Yuan Hao of Beihai was immersed in the joy of victory. Wang Sizheng reminded him that the camp was too close to the reeds, which are easy to burn in autumn. It would be terrible if the camp was burned. However, King Yuan Hao of Beihai did not react at all. Instead, he thought that Wang Sizheng was too cautious.
As a result, Hu Chen, who had crossed the Weishui River, also discovered the flaws in the government army camp, so he personally led his troops to cross the Weishui River at night and set fire to the camp of Beihai King Yuan Hao.
The result was that the dry reeds caught fire and completely engulfed the government army camp. Hu Chen then led his troops to attack the government army camp, and the government army was defeated.
King Yuan Hao of Beihai led the remaining troops to escape from Weiqu and hastily retreated to Huazhou.
After Hu Chen's great victory, he was no longer constrained and immediately led his troops to attack Tongguan.
Next, Tongguan was in danger and Luoyang was shaken.
King Yuan Hao of Beihai submitted a petition to apologize, and Wang Sizheng was also dismissed from his position as military commander.
When Xiao Baoyin got the news, his hands and feet were also cold.
King Yuan Hao of Beihai destroyed his manpower, and Hu Chen controlled the rear of Chang'an.
He could not only attack Tongguan, but also threaten Chang'an at any time.
Xiao Baoyin had no choice but to recruit soldiers again and sent his general Guo Zihui back to Chang'an to stop Hu Chen from advancing into Chang'an.
Mo Zhe Tiansheng was overjoyed when he got the news. He immediately marched from Yongcheng. After fighting with Mo Zhe Tiansheng for three days, Liu Kai found that the rebels were more organized than last year. In order to avoid greater losses, he had to abandon the camp that had been built for half a year and continue to retreat to join the Chencang defenders.
In this way, the situation in Guanzhong deteriorated again.
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Luoyang.
The deterioration of the situation in the northern border and Guanzhong put tremendous pressure on the ruling King Yuan Yi of Jiangyang.
Those who were attached to Jiangyang Prince Yuan Yi were all flatterers. It was okay in peacetime, but when it came to war, the court faced tremendous pressure and many officials were completely unable to do their jobs.
The war situation on the front line changed three times a day. The staff of Jiangyang Wang Yuanyi were completely unable to handle these problems. He had to leave the mansion and go to the Ministry of Personnel to discuss matters every day.
In military terms, he increasingly relied on Prince Guangyang Yuan Shen.
Politically, he also gave some power to Gaoyang King Yuan Yong. There was no other way, he really could not handle it.
The most fatal thing was that after the Grand Chamberlain Liu Teng died of illness, Yuan Yi gradually lost control of the palace.
After Liu Teng's death, his adopted sons fought for his remaining power, and it can be said that they were so exhausted that their brains came out of their bodies.
The final result was that Liu Teng's adopted sons shared Liu Teng's political legacy, but no one emerged who could control the inner court like Liu Teng.
Not only could they not form a joint force, they also fought against each other, and the situation in the palace was in chaos. However, Jiangyang Wang Yuanyi had no time to worry about the affairs of the palace at this time.
For the sake of the situation in the northern border, Yuan Yi proposed that Xiurong lead the chieftains and General Pingbei Erzhu Rong to serve as the governor of Bingzhou to support Li Chong in the north.
However, this appointment was unanimously opposed by the prime ministers and rulers from Yuan Yi onwards.
The most vehement opponent was Yuan Shen.
In Yuan Shen's words, the Erzhu family had lived in Bei Xiurong for generations, and a while ago they took advantage of the rebellion in Nan Xiurong to launch an army to annex Nan Xiurong and occupied the entire Xiurong area.
The Erzhu family has soldiers, food and their own territory. If he is allowed to be the governor of Bingzhou, it will be difficult to control them.
Yuan Shen and other prime ministers believed that General Li Chong's army had not suffered any losses, and as long as Li Chong could lead his troops back to Pingcheng, the court would not completely lose control of the northern border.
Yuan Shen also requested the court to issue an order, requiring Erzhu Rong to hand over the annexed Nanxiurong area. If Erzhu Rong refused to give it up, the defense of Jinyang would be strengthened and capable ministers would be sent to control the situation in Bingzhou.
Yuan Yi accepted Erzhu Rong's generous gift, but when he saw that all the important officials were against employing Erzhu Rong, he had no choice but to give up.
However, Yuan Yi was unwilling to take action against Erzhu Rong.
In addition to dealing with Erzhu Rong, Yuan Shen also mentioned Su Ze in the northwest.
Unknowingly, Su Ze had occupied five states and one county, including Hezhou, Liangzhou, Liangzhou, Lingzhou, Xiazhou, and Longxi County.
Of course, although these territories are large, the population is not large. The population of five states and one county is not even as large as that of Bingzhou.
Moreover, Xiazhou and Lingzhou are basically wastelands. The only two states that can be considered rich are Liangzhou and Liangzhou.
Yuan Shen's suggestion was to let Yang Kan serve as the governor of Liangzhou, and let Yuan Yu, the former governor of Liangzhou, be the commander-in-chief of the military affairs of Liangzhou and Hezhou, in order to divide the power in Su Ze's hands.
Yuan Yi was also hesitant about this suggestion.
There was no other way. Su Ze established a rear court in Luoyang, and Su Suan (the [corrupted household clerk] was upgraded to the orange [rear court envoy who is well versed in human nature]) sent all kinds of treasures to Yuan Yi every now and then, making him the second largest financial supporter after Erzhu Rong.
Even in Yuan Yi's mind, although Su Ze led five states and one county, they were all poor places, and those were the least profitable positions of governors in the past.
These places can be occupied. Yuan Shen is right. Bingzhou is the northern gateway of Luoyang, so we still need to be on guard against Erzhu Rong.
As a result of this meeting, Yuan Yi's plan to make Erzhu Rong support Li Chong was canceled, but the proposal put forward by Yuan Shen and other prime ministers to restrict Erzhu Rong and Su Ze was also shelved.
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In this way, more than a month passed in the court amidst the noise.
The second year of Zhengguang, November 18th.
In Xiazhou, Su Ze finally completed the construction of Yongle City on the banks of the Yellow River.
Su Ze personally went from Tongwan City to Yongle City to attend the ceremony of completing the city construction.
Su Ze first reviewed Li Xian's army. Yongle City was built on a plateau, with the surging Yellow River to the east and the remnants of Hengshan Mountain to the west.
The earthen walls built on the plateau, together with the height of the plateau itself, allowed the defenders in the city to attack the attacking army from a high position.
There are wells, granaries, blacksmith shops for repairing weapons, and even some arable land in the city.
With the city built in such a location, it is no wonder that the Western Xia and Northern Song dynasties fought desperately for this city in later generations.
Seeing such a Yongle City, Su Ze was overjoyed and said to Li Xian and Su Tong:
"With this city here, there is no need to worry about the northern frontier!"
Su Liang coughed and said:
"General, the strength of mountains and rivers lies in virtue, not in danger."
Su Ze nodded and said:
"Jingshun is right. What protects a fortress is the soldiers' lives, not the strong city."
"Pass the order down. All the laborers who built the city will be exempted from taxes for three years. All the slave soldiers will be released and given land according to the number of people in the prefectures and counties behind."
"Artisans who build the city will be given 20 hu of millet, and those who are above the rank of master will be given an additional piece of silk."
"All the officers and soldiers in Li Xian's army will be commended for their merits and rewarded with 20 hu of millet, and the officers will be rewarded with a piece of silk."
This was also after the autumn harvest, when Su Ze became more wealthy. Announcing these rewards in public was also Su Liang's way of reminding Su Ze to always maintain his influence in the army.
Just when Yongle City was rejoicing, someone suddenly came to report that a large number of corpses were found floating in the Yellow River.
Soon after, someone discovered that some defeated soldiers wearing government army uniforms were floating down the Yellow River and appeared on the edge of Yongle City.
Didn't Su Ze come all the way to Yongle City to build the city just to gather the defeated generals from the Six Garrisons?
The city was just built and it was opened for business right away?
(End of this chapter)