Chapter 221 Emergency

The Eastern Wei army, thinking of taking the initiative but being controlled by the enemy, had to remain silent.

Because often the outcome of the first battle will determine the outcome of the entire war.

After a day of fighting, one side's morale was low, while the other side's morale was high. The side with low morale naturally needed time to adjust and downplay the impact of the failure of the first battle on military morale.

The Yan army did not take advantage of the victory to attack across the river, but Lu Qin's navy basically completely controlled the water section from Xinchun to the mouth of Poyang Lake.

The Wei army's navy retreated into Poyang Lake for repairs.

Li Yuanhui withdrew Zhou Ao's troops from Jiangxinzhou and asked his cousin Dou Fengjie to lead the Tiger Step Battalion to garrison Jiangxinzhou, carrying out a rotation of defense.

The initiative on the battlefield was quietly in the hands of the Yan army, and the two sides re-entered a stalemate.

This situation lasted until July and August. Perhaps it was because the weather was too hot that people didn't want to move. From Chaisang, Wankou, Ruxukou, Liyang, Wuhu, Caishi along the Jiangbei line, these important towns along the Jiangbei line were all in confrontation between the Yan army and the Wei army.

Coincidentally, the Eastern Yan army and the Western Wei army confronted each other in Ye County and Yiyang.

In Guanzhong, a stalemate formed on the two fronts of Huaili and Weihe River, while the Turks retreated quietly.

Seeing that the battlefields were balanced everywhere, whether it was tacitly agreed by both sides or they were evenly matched, the war continued, but the intensity was reduced.

However, God may feel that everywhere is quiet and not lively enough, so another strong man rises up.

In Xuzhou, Liu Yuanqing from Pengcheng, Lu Xun from Zhuojun, Sun Lingxiu from Langya and others agreed to start an uprising. They killed the prefect of Donghai County and the magistrate of Tan County and seized the armory. They then recruited soldiers and expanded their team to more than 10,000 people within a dozen days. They then turned back to the west and seized Xia Pi, which had a poor defense.

The Zhenrong Army in Xuzhou had been transferred away long ago, and the combat effectiveness of the new troops recruited later was hard to describe.

It is only thanks to the strategy of the governor Pei Minzhi and the bravery of his son Pei Xingyan that the situation in Xuzhou has been maintained to this day.

However, the imperial court continued to mobilize troops, money and food from Xuzhou, which was tantamount to draining Xuzhou's blood.

After all, the imperial court has to support a large army and maintain Luoyang City. Yuzhou was in chaos last year and has not yet recovered, and it will be difficult to support Luoyang for a few years.

Needless to say, Yangzhou is now under the command of Li Yuanhui, who is leading his army to compete with the Eastern Wei on all fronts. They originally have the three counties in the north of the Yangtze River. Now they want to drain Yangzhou's blood. The imperial court is also afraid that if they drain Yangzhou too much, it will be interesting if the Eastern Wei directly attacks Huainan at that time.

Only half of Yanzhou remained, and the other half and the entire Qingzhou were in the hands of the Wagang Army.

The two states of You and Ji in Hebei had just been ravaged by the Turks, and they also had to guard against the Turks moving south again, so they could not draw blood indiscriminately.

Liangzhou and Yizhou in the west are now fully committed to competing in Guanzhong, so the only option left to take advantage of them is Xuzhou.

The continuous requisition of supplies, labor, military funds and food finally overwhelmed the people of Xuzhou and they turned against each other.

After all, this place was the birthplace of many powerful men such as Liu Bang and Xiang Yu, and it is also an old area with a tradition of rebellion.

So, Liu Yuanqing, who claimed to be a descendant of Liu Bang, together with his good friends including Lu Xun and Sun Lingxiu, rose up in rebellion.

It soon received a response from the general public in Xuzhou. After all, to them, the Great Yan Dynasty was too worthless.

There is no way for people to survive.

Therefore, Liu Yuanqing received a lot of support after the uprising.

The momentum it created was naturally not small.

After hearing the news of the fall of Xia Pi, Cui Wei, the governor of Xuzhou, hurried to the Governor's Mansion to discuss with Pei Minzhi.

"Commander-in-Chief Pei, you need to come up with a plan for this matter. Now that Pidu has been lost, the rebels will definitely come to Pengcheng next."

Pei Minzhi sat in the main seat and shook his head and said, "Don't panic, Mr. Cui. This is inevitable. Mr. Cui is the governor of Xuzhou and knows better than me what the people of Xuzhou are going through. They will rebel sooner or later."

Cui Wei said with some embarrassment: "Isn't it the imperial court that is pressing hard? I have no choice. The central government has been urging us all day, and the treasury is almost emptied by them. What can I do? However, Commander Pei, you are a veteran of three dynasties, and you are famous. Can't you send troops to suppress the rebellion?"

Pei Minzhi shook his head: "There are no soldiers available." After the fall of Donghai County, the Pei family father and son knew that things were going to get bad. Before this, they had eliminated all such signs and prevented the matter from getting out of hand.

But this time it was no longer a flame, but a raging fire.

Xuzhou now has less than 10,000 soldiers and less than 100 generals. All the elite troops have been transferred away. Relying on the troops in hand, it can only suppress small-scale rebellions.

But faced with such a large-scale rebellion, the Pei father and son did not even dare to lead the army into battle.

The current Xuzhou army is composed entirely of local people from Xuzhou, and the rebels are all local people. If the locals fight against the locals without a sufficient number of foreign troops, the result is difficult to predict.

To put it bluntly, there is a high possibility of a mutiny and a defection.

Pei Minzhi didn't believe that Xia Pi and Donghai would fall so quickly without the cooperation of the local defenders.

Therefore, there is only one way now, which is to defend Pengcheng and protect oneself while asking for help from the court.

Pei Minzhi did not intend to risk his own life by relying on the current troops in Xuzhou to quell the rebellion.

Cui Wei also thought of Pei Minzhi's concerns, but at this moment he was as anxious as an ant on a hot pan.

"Commander Pei, what should we do now?"

Pei Minzhi said: "For now, we can only defend Pengcheng. You and I will jointly submit a petition to the court, asking it to send troops to support us."

Cui Wei asked, "Is it too late? Luoyang is quite far away. Why not ask for help from Yangzhou, Yuzhou, Yanzhou, etc?"

Pei Minzhi smiled and said, "Mr. Cui, do you think these places can take care of us right now?"

Cui Wei said anxiously: "One more urgent letter always means one more hope, which is better than sitting and waiting for death."

Pei Minzhi stopped smiling when he heard this, and then said seriously: "Mr. Cui is right, but you seem to have missed something."

After hearing this, Cui Wei frowned, not understanding what Pei Minzhi meant, and his eyes were full of confusion and puzzlement.

Xuzhou is known as the "gateway to the north and the key to the south" and borders four states: Yan, Yu, Qing and Yang.

At present, the soldiers of Yanzhou were transferred to Yuzhou with Master Lou to fight. Yuzhou itself was the focus of the battlefield, needless to say. Yangzhou only had three counties in the north of the Yangtze River, and currently had to deal with the attack from the east of the Yangtze River.

Thinking of this, Cui Wei's expression changed, "Could it be that Commander Pei wants to ask for help from the Qingzhou Wagang Army?"

Pei Minzhi said: "Why not?"

Cui Wei was speechless for a long while.

Yes, why not? Although the Wagang Army was a rebel army before, it has now been recruited. Zhai Rang is now the governor of Qingzhou and the general of Zhendong in Dayan.

The imperial court has sent the Wagang Army to Yuzhou to support the war, so what are we in Xuzhou afraid of? Are we still holding on at this time?

Therefore, Pei Minzhi and Cui Wei jointly, in addition to submitting memorials to the court, also sent emergency letters everywhere, asking neighboring states and counties to send troops for support.

The emergency letter went south along the canal, first arriving in Guangling, and then being sent urgently from Guangling to Xunyang.

It was almost September when Li Yuanhui saw the letter asking for help.

He asked a few more questions casually, such as where the rebels had fought to, how big was their army, and who was leading them.

I also learned from the messenger that Xuzhou had sent letters everywhere.

I couldn't help but sigh: Xuzhou is about to fall into the hands of Wagang.

(End of this chapter)