Chapter 74: The East Army Goes to the North

Sima Chong's defeat directly disrupted Zhao Xin's plan. His original idea was that Sima Chong's troops could go south to Peicheng and force Han Qing to retreat. He could take the opportunity to occupy the entire northern part of Pei County. At the least, he had to control Qi County, so that Peicheng could always be under the threat of his own military front and be led by himself.

Now that Sima Chong's army is defeated, the Eastern Army has once again occupied the land of Qixian, Xuexian, Fanxian and Gongqiu, and the entire front will migrate northward. Hulu is already extremely dangerous as the rear of the Western Army. So Zhao Xin proposed to King Zhao, King Wei, King Han, and King Song to retreat and use Hulu as the front line.

"You have reported to the King, King Wei, King Han, King Song, and Sima Chong's army has been defeated. The four places that were originally occupied by Qi, Xue, Fan, and Gongqiu have returned to the enemy's hands. Hulu is no longer suitable for being a large rear corner. For the safety of the kings, the last general suggests to retreat to Fangyu and send heavy troops to defend Hulu and Gaoping at the same time." Zhao Xin said.

"Marson Zhao, is it really going to retreat to Fang Yu? It's just a loss, why is that? What's more, our army has already captured Lu County?" King Song asked in confusion. In his opinion, victory and defeat are commonplace in military affairs. Now it's just a loss. Is it necessary to retreat?

Zhao Xin explained: "My kings, although we won the battle of Lu County, our army did not take the opportunity to take over Taishan County and threaten the Chu country's land. In fact, the effect is not very big. On the contrary, if the enemy occupies Gongqiu and Fan County, the entire front will move northward. In this way, Hulu will no longer be the back of our army, but will become the front line. As long as heavy troops are arranged in these two places, it will pose a huge threat to Hulu. For the safety of the kings, the last general will ask the rear to retreat to Fanghe."

After hearing this, King Zhao nodded and said, "Since Zhao Qing feels that I will be threatened by the enemy when I stay in Hulu again, so for the sake of the overall situation, I will go north to the King of Wei and Han, what do you think?"

"What King Zhao said is very much!" The King of Wei and King of Han naturally would not disagree. Although it would be a bit embarrassing to retreat north, Zhao Xin said that if he continued to stay in Hulu, he would become the target of the Eastern Army in minutes. It would be much better to be embarrassed than to lose his life. As for King of Song, no one cared about his thoughts.

"Then I wonder how Zhao Qing will arrange it next?" Since he agreed to retreat, King Zhao asked Zhao Xin what he planned to do.

Zhao Xin said: "I report to all the kings, Han Qing is now stationed in Qi County, which poses the greatest threat to Hulu. I plan to lead the army to advance to Peicheng personally, forcing Han Qing to retreat from Qi County to Peicheng. At the same time, the significance of General Pang Gun of Liang County's troops to go south is no longer there. At the end, the order will be given to him to leave some troops to guard Liang County, and the rest of the troops will be withdrawn from Fangdong."

King Zhao nodded and said, "Since Zhao Qing has already arranged everything, let's do it."

After obtaining the approval of the kings, Zhao Xin immediately arranged the withdrawal. He first sent people to Liangjun and Fengxian to send a letter, ordered Liangjun Pang Gu to withdraw from Fangdong, Fengxian Zhoushen to withdraw from Hulu, consolidate the defense line, and then ordered Zheng Tuo and Chen Kai to command the army and protect the kings to retreat to Fangyu, while he personally led 200,000 troops to Peicheng.

Zhang Di and He Jiong in Pei City were shocked. Zhao Xin was famous and now he personally led a large army to come and should not be underestimated. So he hurriedly went to Qi County, hoping that Han Qing would lead his troops back to the rescue as soon as possible.

After receiving the letter of help from Han Qing in Qi County, he realized that this was Zhao Xin's trap. He wanted to use troops to surround Peicheng to force him to return from Qi County to remove his threat to Hulu. However, even though he knew, he still wanted to go back. Now Zhang Di and He Jiong sent someone to send a message. If he dragged on, he might be the next time that he would come.

In extreme helplessness, Han Qing left Xie Xun to station in Gongqiu, Huangfu Rong stationed in Fan County, and led his army back to Peicheng. When Han Qing's army entered Peicheng, Zhao Xin withdrew his troops and returned to Hulu.

In July of the eighth year of Qianyuan, Han Qing and Huishan ambushed the troops of the Zhao army, and won a great victory. They recovered Qixian, Fanxian, Xuexian and Gongqiu. They moved the entire front north and threatened Hulu City, the rear of the Western Army. Zhao Xin was afraid that the Western Army would invade Hulu and threaten the lives of the kings of the Western Army, so they moved the rear north to Fangyucheng in Shanyang County, and ordered Zhou Shen to lead 100,000 troops to guard Gaoping, Pang Gu led 100,000 troops to defend the east, Zhang Chuan led 50,000 troops to guard the city of Qixiangcheng, Sima Chong led 30,000 troops to guard Zuo County, Sima Song led 30,000 troops to guard Xiayi. At this point, the Western Army turned attack into defense and entered a comprehensive defense.

When Han Qing learned that the Western Army had retreated north, he was overjoyed and summoned all the generals to discuss matters.

"Everyone, the battle of Huishan was a complete victory. Now that our army's front line is moving north, the main force of the enemy is forced to retreat to Fangge. Our army has successfully reversed its disadvantages and turned defense into offense. The current situation is beneficial to our army. Therefore, I thought that we should take advantage of the victory and personally led the army north to Hulu." Han Qing said happily that the battle of Huishan was something he had to disagree with. This battle made the Eastern Army turn the entire situation from passive to active.

"Please give the order!" the generals responded.

Han Qing looked at the map and said, "I ordered the troops of Yue Fei of Feng County to join Zhuqiu to go north to defend the east, and seize the troops of defense in a hurry; I sent 70,000 troops to Taishan County and Longchuan County to join the troops of Longchuan County, and ordered the troops of Longchuan County to go east to enter the city of Fengshan County to find an opportunity to recover Lu County; I sent Xiang Wei to lead the troops north to Peicheng and go north with my commander; I sent 50,000 troops to Xie Xun County, and ordered him to go north to Zuo County; Huangfu Rong led 30,000 troops to Gongqiu to garrison; the other generals rectified their troops and horses, and waited for Xiang Wei's army to arrive, and followed the generals to go north to Hulu together."

"Here!" the generals responded.

In August of the eighth year of Qianyuan, the Eastern Army marched northward in a large scale. Yue Fei led a 100,000 troops to defend the east and confront Pang Kuo in defend the east.

Xie Xun led an army of 80,000 to attack Zuo County and faced Sima Chong's troops.

Longchuan led an army of 100,000 to advance eastward, conquering Bian County first, and confronted Zhang Chuan's troops in Huangxiangcheng.

The commander of the Eastern Army, Han Qing, personally led an army of 200,000 to Hulu, and at the same time, commanded 30,000 troops to guard Gongqiu, forming a junction with Han Qing and putting pressure on Hulu City.

Hulu City, Zhao Xin stood on the top of the city, looking at the 200,000 Eastern Army under the city and the Han-character flag hanging high in the camp, and couldn't help but laugh at himself: "It's really a tiger falling into the sun and being bullied by a dog. I didn't expect that I, Zhao Xin, have today, and was forced to not even dare to leave the city."

Since the war started, the Western Army suffered heavy losses. Zhu Qiu lost 50,000 troops in the battle, and nearly 100,000 troops in the battle of Huishan. In addition to the losses on other battlefields, the Western Army, which once had 650,000, is now only more than 400,000, of which 80,000 defended Lu County, 100,000 defended the East, and 100,000 defended Gaoping. A unit of troops was left to protect Fang Yu and protected the kings. Now Zhao Xin has only more than 100,000 troops in his hands. Although the troops are not much less than Han Qing, the Eastern Army is now full of momentum. If he rashly goes out of the city to fight, the losses will be immeasurable and the chance is not great. Therefore, Zhao Xin had to defend the city first and wait for the opportunity.

The Eastern Army broke the norm and launched a fierce attack on all defense lines of the Western Army. The Western Army suffered heavy losses, especially the front line of Lu County, where the city of Huangxiang was lost, and Zhang Chuan was forced to retreat to Qufu.

After several major battles, the Eastern Army gradually stabilized the situation after initial adjustments, and the two sides entered a tug-of-war.
Chapter completed!