Chapter 490: King Qi Gathers His Generals
The battle situation in Jingzhou progressed unexpectedly quickly. The city of Xiangyang, which was originally planned to take at least half a year, was captured in less than two months.

In addition, Dunkou and Linzhang also fell into the hands of the Tang army. In sharp contrast to the northern and eastern armies, the western army, which left Yong'an from Shuzhong, was stopped by the Western Wei army at Yidao, and the two sides entered a stalemate.

After entering Xiangyang, Li Xuanqing immediately appointed Li Daliang, the governor of Jingzhou, as the prefect of Xiangyang. He also appointed Kuai Wenxian as the left chief secretary of Tianzhu Prefecture and Xiang Gong as a military officer, and asked them to participate in the post-war work of stabilizing Xiangyang.

Afterwards, he sent generals such as Yin Qiao, Duan Xiong, and Zhang Pinggao to lead the army to conquer various counties.

After receiving the battle reports from Li Yaoshi and Lu Qin, he asked them to continue marching along the river. The final meeting place of the two sides would be at the foot of Jiangling City.

Li Yuanhui thought that the Shenji Cannon he participated in manufacturing would greatly promote the outcome of the Xiangyang attack and defense war. But he did not expect it to be so successful.

And he had no time to pay attention to the battle situation in Jingzhou now, because the Northern Han had already sent troops.

Liu Xuanji personally led an army of 180,000, stationed in Liyang, and approached Yanzhou.

Luoyang also dispatched troops to Hulao and Xingyang to assemble, including 15 Zhechongfu of Youweiwei, 20 Zhechongfu of Zuoweiwei, 20 Zhechongfu of Zuowuwei, and 10 Zhechongfu of Youwuwei.

The troops left behind in Luoyang area included ten Zhechongfu led by Zhang Jian, the Right Wuwei, five Zhechongfu led by Chen Qiong, the Left Weiwei, the Right Weiwei, the Five Zhechongfu led by Dugu Yonglin, the Right Weiwei, and three thousand guards in the palace.

Li Yuanhui left more than 20,000 people in the entire Luoyang area, and also left the general Zhang Jian to guard it. This was also to prevent Liu Xuanji from dividing his troops into Hanoi, so Luoyang still had to have enough troops to guard it, and there would be no fire in the backyard.

The King of Qi's guards and the six armies of Tian Ce accompanied him as his personal troops.

At the beginning of October, Li Yuanhui led his army out of Hulao and arrived in Xingyang, where he met with other generals.

In the main hall of the prefect's mansion in Xingyang City, a group of generals lined up on the left and right, solemnly marching.

Among them were General Murong Sanzang of the Right Guard, Generals Qi Biao and Chen Dengyun who came from Qingzhou on orders, and General Huang Junhan of the Right Guard, Generals Zhang Bi and Wang Nandang who were originally stationed in Yanzhou.

The largest number of people came from Luoyang. The Left Guard included Generals Liu Yuanqing and Chen Zhen, and the Central Army Generals Gao Ang, Feng Hong, He Gui, and Murong Juye.

The Left Guard included generals Zhu Deyu and Xiao Shizhi, and the Central Army Generals Hu Kuohai, Tang Wu, Tang He, and Hua Sheng.

The Right Guard included General Chang Yanheng, and Generals of the Central Army Wang Bi and Liu Ju.

There were also six guards of the Qi Palace, including Han Quan, Wang Fobao, Xie Shufang, Yuchi Jingde, Duan Wuda, and Yang Xianguo.

As well as the troops of the Tiance Palace, and the left and right generals of the Beiwei Army, Zhang Zhen'e and Luo Shixin.

The left and right generals of the army under his command were Dou Fengjie and Wang Jie.

The left and right generals of the Shenwu Army were Lou Jun and Duan Wuxuan.

The left and right generals of the Xiaoguo Army were Xue Wanche and Pei Xingyan.

Zhang Qiong and Ma Renyu were the left and right commanders of the Longjie Army.

Han Duo and Shi Yanchao, the left and right commanders of the Tianwu Army.

There were also Tiance Mansion staff and subordinate officials, led by Sima, Central Guard General Li Qinglian, Central Guard General Yu Zhongheng, Central Protector Zhao Jiong, Attendants Zhonglang Gao Kan and Yu Zhining, Recorder Canjun Li Chunfeng, and Chief Clerk Jiang Yi.

There were also officials under the Xingtai, headed by Dugu Ying, the military officer of King Qi and the Pushe of Xingtai, Zheng Shandao, the left chancellor of Xingtai, and Liu Shu, the right chancellor of Xingtai.

In addition to the elite troops left behind in Luoyang, Li Yuanhui mobilized almost all of his resources and assembled an army of more than 100,000. Apart from the detachment sent to destroy the Western Wei, almost all the capable generals were brought here.

Moreover, Gao Huang and Zheng Guo, two former generals who held the idle post of general, were specially invited to come out of retirement to serve as the left and right chiefs of Tiance Mansion respectively, to participate in the planning of military affairs, and to make up for the omissions. Li Yuanhui sat on the tiger-skin chair, looking at the all-star lineup of generals, and could not help but say loudly: "I and you gentlemen are here today, even if the northern barbarians have a million soldiers, what is there to fear?"

The originally solemn and tense lobby became a little more relaxed because of Li Yuanhui's words.

Many people smiled.

Yes, as long as the King of Qi was in charge of the battle, they had never lost a single battle. Even if they couldn't win, they could always get out of it safely.

The Battle of Baigou was a special case. When the King of Qi took over, the situation was already doomed to failure. Even so, he brought back tens of thousands of elite troops.

Now that there are no constraints and they are all elite soldiers and generals led by His Royal Highness the Prince of Qi, how could they lose?

Afterwards, the military meeting officially began.

Li Qinglian, the Sima of Tian Ce Mansion, began to introduce the military situation, the enemy and our own situation, and the recent movements of the enemy.

"At present, our army of 100,000 has gathered in Xingyang, Chenliu, Puyang and other places. Baima is currently guarded by the Prince of Linhuai, so there is no need to worry for the time being. However, it can be expected that once winter comes, the river will freeze over, and the so-called natural barrier will no longer exist. The Han army can cross the river from anywhere along the Yanzhou line. Therefore, it is nothing but a foolish dream to expect to hold off the enemy by the river and have the Han army retreat on its own."

After explaining the military situation, Li Qinglian continued, "I think that since we can't defend it, we should just let them cross the river. When the ice freezes, our army will abandon Bai Ma and lure the enemy deep into our territory. At the same time, we will dig deep trenches and high ravines to trap the Han army in the areas of Hulao and Xingyang. When the ice and snow melt, we will use our navy to our advantage. If we can cut off their food supply, the Han army will be trapped and killed by our army on the south bank of the river."

After listening to Li Qinglian's strategy, some generals nodded in agreement, some seemed thoughtful, and some had no expression on their faces.

Li Yuanhui took a quick look, then looked at Zheng Guo, who was sitting in the seat closest to him, and asked, "What does General Zheng think?"

Zheng Guo frowned upon hearing this, and after a moment of thought, he said, "I have long heard that Sima Li is a talented person. Today, I see that he is indeed a talented person that the king relies on. I think there is nothing wrong with Sima Li's strategy. The northern army is strong and brave, so we should avoid their sharp edge and lure the enemy deep into our territory. There is nothing wrong with leading the enemy to the Hulao Pass in Xingyang. With the natural barrier of Hulao Pass, it is like having an extra layer of protection."

Zheng Guo's words were basically just polite talk, but with the endorsement of this famous general from the previous dynasty, the strategy planned by Li Qinglian naturally became more feasible.

Then Li Yuanhui asked another senior advisor, "What do you think, General Gao?"

"What Sima Li and General Zheng said is not flawed, but it is still unclear whether the Qingzhou navy can take on the important task of cutting off the enemy's food supply."

Gao Huang poured some cold water on the situation.

At this time, Murong Sanzang, who had been stationed in Qingzhou, stood up under Li Yuanhui's gaze and said, "The navy of Qingzhou today is naturally not the same as when General Gao was in charge of Qingzhou, but there are still 200 large and small warships and 8,000 sailors. In addition, there is also a navy in Juye Lake. If the king has any orders, I am willing to tell the king."

Gao Huang looked at Murong Sanzang, smiled, and said nothing.

Li Yuanhui was stunned for a moment. How come he didn't know that there was a navy in Juye Lake?
Thinking about it, I suddenly remembered an old story. In the 13th year of Tiansheng in the previous dynasty, my father-in-law Murong Ying was on his way back to Luoyang with his army. When passing Huishan Lake, the dragon boat was attacked and burned.

My father-in-law fell into the water. If his Wuya warship had not arrived in time, he would probably not have been able to return to Luoyang to arrange his funeral arrangements.

The ones who attacked the dragon boat were the Wagang leader Zhai Rang and the Juye Lake bandit Liang Wu.

More than 10 years have passed, Zhai Rang died outside Hulao Pass, and the Wagang Army was torn apart. But the bandit Liang Wu was still active in the area of ​​the Yellow River and the Grand Canal in Juye Lake. To be more precise, he was fishing.

If Murong Sanzang hadn't mentioned it, Li Yuanhui would have forgotten about this person.

Letting Liang Wu intercept the waterway is really a match made in heaven. The Han army will suffer.

(End of this chapter)