The emperor's operations seem inconsistent.

Everyone rewarded the great achievements of pacifying Runan, but the only one is not rewarded. Why?

Of course it was because Deng Feng did not obey the general order.

Modern people know a saying: Soldiers take obeying orders as their duty. As soldiers, no matter whether their superiors’ orders are right or wrong, they should be executed without fail. Deng Feng relied on his ability and did not obey the orders of General Chengdong, and should be punished. Otherwise, if they do not listen to Xia Yang this time, they will not listen to him Liu Yu’s next time.

The emperor means to knock Deng Feng, and to make him be honest, he should be a little conscious as a subordinate.

This was also a kind of comfort to Xia Yang, the general of the East. The emperor judged them and ruled that Xia Yang would win. Deng Feng did something wrong.

But the emperor also noticed that Deng Feng actually left room for nothing and did not do too much, so he still abides by the rules.

The General of the East of the Conquest ordered him to collect new interest. Although Deng Feng did not send troops directly, his advancement objectively led to the follow-up of the new interest and could complete the tasks of his superiors. However, the indirect method did not directly send troops quickly and there was no effect at the moment. Deng Feng was too proud and disdained to explain to his superiors, which caused his superiors to misunderstand.

Xia Yang ordered him to go north to attack Pei County. Deng Feng believed that staying in Yangquan could restrain the Wu Han army and was more conducive to the war situation in Pei County, so he kept his troops in motion. This was his judgment on the situation. Deng Feng also made a superficial article this time, not saying that he would not go north, but only said that he was a little later, delaying the dispatch of troops. Later, he crossed Xia Yang and reported his strategic intentions directly to the emperor.

This behavior was a shame for General Chengdong, but Deng Feng actually carried out the procedures, but he followed an extraordinary procedure. He did not explain or ask for instructions to his direct superiors, but directly understood the world.

Judging from his behavior, Deng Feng was sure that he would not conquer the General of the East, but he did not show any signs of rebellion. He still recognized the emperor, the boss.

This situation is entirely due to the mismatch between power and ability. How can a tiger obey the command of a sheep?

The emperor made a decision to loosen his ties for Deng Feng and directly appointed him as the highest commander of the Huainan War Zone. Now that he was fine, no one was in charge of the superiors. He had a platform to play freely and could show his strength.

For a person like Deng Feng, it is much more important to allow him to fully utilize his talents than to enfeoff thousands of households. Compared with fame, wealth, wealth, wealth, he values ​​the realization of self-worth more, which is the common characteristic of people with great ambitions and great abilities. As long as he has a platform to display his talents, some will have the opportunity to make contributions in the future, and some will have the opportunity to receive rewards.

The emperor did not even interfere in his military affairs at all. His main generals were still from Nanyang, and the army was mainly composed of Nanyang soldiers. His troops had a certain degree of private nature, which was seen by Liu Xiu, but it was rare in Liu Yu.

The private armed forces are a closely united group. The soldiers are loyal to the generals, the military orders are thoroughly implemented, and the combat effectiveness is very strong. But there is a problem. This team is a semi-private armed force, and they can't command it if they change the general.

Fundamentally speaking, this team was led by generals such as Deng Feng and Dong Xin. The emperor later invested 3,000 cavalry, which was considered a slut, but his influence in the army was far less than that in Deng Feng.

In order to maintain the combat effectiveness and cohesion of the army, the emperor did not place people into the elite soldiers of Nanyang, and basically maintained the Deng family attributes of this team, which was a great trust in Deng Feng.

All the emperor's actions are conducive to Deng Feng's ability to maximize his ability. Deng Feng was grateful for this.

The reason for Liu Yu to do this comes from his judgment of Deng Feng. Liu Yu believes that Deng Feng has no ambition to compete for the world, and he just wants to protect himself. Otherwise, he would not have been dormant in Xinye for a long time when heroes arose in troubled times. Otherwise, there would be no need for Wu Han to disturb him, and Deng Feng would have done something big long ago.

What's more, the emperor did not have any help from the emperor. Deng Feng's food and grass can be temporarily plundered in the occupied areas, but the more stable source must be dependent on the supply of the court. Geographically speaking, it should be provided by Runan County. The new Runan Prefect is the emperor's confidant Yang Yanshou. He is afraid that he will go back to heaven?

Yangquan where Deng Feng is currently located belongs to the Lu'an Kingdom. This place is located between the Dabie Mountains and the Huai River. Its history can be traced back to ancient times. At that time, the Lu'an area was a settlement of the Gaoyao tribes in the Yan family. By the Western Zhou Dynasty, Liu, Liao, Ying and other countries were formed. Emperor Wu of Han granted this land to his nephew Liu Qing. The meaning of the name of the Lu'an Kingdom is "safe in the six places and never rebel." There are five counties in the territory, and the capital is in six counties (the county name is called six counties).

Deng Feng has now occupied three of the counties: Yangquan, Liaoxian and Anfeng. He vigorously collected food, grass, ships, prepared equipment, and even recruited thousands of young and strong teams to enrich his troops. He was in a situation where he wanted to lead his army east to Shouchun.

His main opponent, Wu Han, constantly dispatched troops and generals, ordered General Liu Hong of Yue cavalry to lead an army of 20,000 to Hefei, and ordered General Feng Jun of the powerful army to lead 10,000 troops to advance into the six counties to guard against Deng Feng, while Wu Han led an army of 110,000 back to Shouchun.

Wu Han originally wanted to fight with Ma reinforcements on the border of Lujiang and Jiangxia, but received an urgent edict from Liu Xiu, ordering him to return to the army quickly, consolidate Huainan and support the war in Yuzhou.

The situation of building Wuhan was very bad at this time. Except for the Hanoi County in its core area, all fronts were retreating. On the north bank of the Great River, Geng Chun and Pi Tong worked together to force Tian Kuan, the general who was conquering the North, back to Hedong. The two sides returned to the origin and confronted each other across the Taihang Mountains.

South of the river, the army of General Liu Mao of the chariot and cavalry had occupied the entire Henan County and was advancing to Chenliu. North of the Huai River, General Wang Hu of Zhendong sent troops from Yingchuan County to Dongluo, and General Xia Yang of the siege of the east was clearing Runan and preparing to advance to Pei County.

The military pressure in Pei County suddenly increased, and Cen Peng, the general of the Northern Expedition, struggled to support him east of Rushui. He had been repeatedly rebuked by Liu Xiu due to his loss of troops and territory. However, since Feng Yi was captured and Geng Yan surrendered, Liu Xiu's subordinates had fewer and fewer generals, and Wu Han and Cen Peng could stand alone. If another general replaced Cen Peng, the situation would probably be worse.

Cen Peng won every battle before, but when he arrived in Nanyang and met Deng Feng, he seemed to have started to take the lead. From Nanyang to Yingchuan, from Yingchuan to Runan, he retreated again and again. Now he almost even Runan has no support.

If Yuzhou is left to be lost, Xuzhou will be left behind. Even if Wu Han defeated the Ma reinforcements and kept the south of the river, it would still be more than worth the loss, because Liu Xiu and Wu Han were separated by the Jianshi Han army and fought each other, which Liu Xiu could not allow.

Therefore, his secret edict to Wu Han stated that if it is absolutely necessary, Jiangnan can give up, but it must not be separated from the north and the south.

From Liu Xiu's perspective, this is very necessary. If he loses contact with his ministers, then the ministers may not be his. If his territory becomes an enclave, it may not necessarily fly to anyone's hands.

So he strictly ordered Wu Han to return to the army, and the land would be less than one piece, so he would keep the basic foundation first.

Wu Han had no choice but to treat the horse as a living horse, and gave the power of General Zhao Xi, the governor of Lujiang and Yuzhang, the two counties, to stop Ma Yuan along the river.

Wu Han didn't know how long Zhao Xi could last, but from the moment he was right. Zhao Xi defended Xiazhi to the death, the Dafa River Army stationed in Chaisang, and the Lujiang troops stationed in Xunyang, and built a solid triangular defense area on the main road where Ma Yuan's army went east. For a moment, Ma Yuan's 100,000 troops were blocked in Jiangxia and could not advance.

Wu Han wanted to take the opportunity to go north to Pei County, advance with Cen Peng and North and South, and restore the two counties of Runan and Yingchuan. However, Deng Feng stationed his troops in Yangquan, which was in the upper reaches of Huai River, less than two hundred miles away from Shouchun, posed a huge threat to him, making him unable to advance with peace of mind.

When Wu Han went to Nanyang, he was driven out of Huang Youshui by Deng Feng's elite troops and almost gave up his life there. This was one of the few defeats in Wu Han's military career. I was so impressed that when I met Deng Feng, Wu Han was like a rooster fighting, and involuntarily raised his feathers all over his body and posed for the full battle.

The well-known general in the establishment of Wuhan was almost half defeated by Deng Feng. If Liu Xiu had known this result, he would never have dealt with the battle between the two generals in Nanyang like he did before, but there was no medicine for regret in the world, and Deng Feng would eventually become his nightmare.

Wu Han used Wuwei General Liu Shang to guard Shouchun, and Duan Zhi, the general of the Louchuan, led an army of 15,000 to enter Shaobi, and attacked Anfeng along the stream. He also ordered the general Feng Jun of the Weihu County to attack from the six counties north, and he personally led an army of 80,000 from the Huai River to advance westward and headed straight to Yangquan.

The large formation of this 100,000 army seemed to be a little too loud when used on the small Yangquan, but who asked Deng Feng to guard Yangquan?

Wu Han learned from the lessons of Nanyang's defeat and protected food and grass extremely strictly. Grain ships followed the army, not only were there guard ships, but also had Youzhou rushing cavalry along the shore.

In Nanyang, Wu and Han plundered all directions and obtained countless food and supplies, but were taken away by Deng Feng and all of them made wedding dresses for others.

The robbery of food and grass caused the soldiers to be exhausted and the morale of the army was dispersed. The Wu and Han army collapsed under the fierce attack of the elite soldiers in Nanyang.

Now that he has enough food and supplies, he is the newly victorious army who has just won Huainan. When he fights Deng Feng again, Wu Han believes that he will definitely win a great victory and avenge his previous shame.

He decided to take advantage of his military strength and adopt a squeeze-type fight, and to force Deng Feng to eat little by little.

Halfway through the way, a war report suddenly came from Runan. After the general of the Southern Expedition, Cen Peng withdrew his troops, he reorganized his troops and when he confronted Xia Yang, the general of the Jianshi Han Dynasty Expedition, he secretly went south to cross the Rushui and captured Shangcai. Xia Yang returned to rescue him, but was ambushed by Cen Peng and defeated him. Now Xia Yang retreated to Yancheng in a panic, and Cen Peng led his army to counterattack Runan.

Wu Han laughed and said, "Child Deng Feng, where will you go this time?" He immediately sent his subordinate Tian Hong to lead three thousand Youzhou cavalry to attack Xincai by land.

Xin Cai was on the bank of Rushui. If Deng Feng wanted to withdraw his troops from Runan, he would most likely go to Xin Cai. Wu Han wanted to send light cavalry to raid him first and cut off Deng Feng's retreat.

Although the land of Runan is a plain area and can march anywhere, Deng Feng has many ways to retreat, but the army with supplies, food and grass is the fastest and most convenient way to go on the water.

Deng Feng, who was in Yangquan, also received news of Xia Yang's defeat, which was really bad news for him.

If he wants to advance to Huainan, he must have a stable rear. Now Cen Peng suddenly showed his power and pushed the front back to the west side of Rushui. The Runan County that he had just captured may change hands again, and his advance seemed to have become impossible.

Deng finally felt a little angry, "Brother, why is this general of the East of the Conquest? He couldn't even defend Runan, the brother who was defeated!"

Deng Feng didn't say anything, and Deng finally said, "Brother, if Runan is lost, we will not be able to go back to Nanyang. Should we withdraw our troops now?"

Deng Feng frowned and said, "Now that Wu Han is close to you, it is too late to retreat. When our army came, we followed the Ru River and walked very quickly. Now that we want to return, we have to go upstream and walk slowly. If Xincai is occupied by the enemy, our army has no way forward and backward and loses its control, we will put ourselves in a desperate situation. In this case, it is better not to leave."

Deng Zhong said: "If you don't leave now, you may not be able to leave anymore. Why don't you go by land!"

"Wu Han has tens of thousands of Youzhou cavalry under his command. They are chasing them. How can we escape them?"

"What's so great about Youzhou's thunder cavalry? We were defeated by us in Nanyang back then?" Deng Zhong raised his head with dissatisfaction on his face.

Deng Feng said: "At that time, our army was in a strong state and its morale was like a rainbow. We took out the food and grass of Wu Han and drove it out of Huang Youshui from behind. Now if we want to retreat, the offensive and defensive momentum has changed, and the Wu Han army is driving us behind. The soldiers will definitely panic. The three armies fight with one breath. If there is no such breath, our army will be in danger of being wiped out."

This is not possible, nor that is not possible. Deng had no idea after all, but he had long been used to letting his brother make up his ideas.

Deng Feng sneered: "Our Nanyang soldiers met Youzhou cavalry and always faced them head-on. How could they turn around and run away, facing people behind them?"

"Brother meant to meet the enemy?"

Although Deng Feng's voice was not loud, he sounded very powerful. "The elite soldiers of Nanyang have never been afraid of Wu Han. If we beat them, we have a solid foundation!"

Wu Han's fleet was sturdy and densely lined up on the river surface, and it was impossible to see it, as if the vast Huai River was filled with water.

The soldiers on the ship were holding bows and crossbows, guarding along the way, as if they were facing a great enemy. On the shore, there were teams of infantry lined up, holding halberds and majestic soldiers, and the cavalrymen were running back and forth, and the scouts were constantly exploring and exploring, and there was a busy scene.

At this time, he was still thirty miles away from Yangquan. The Huai River had a big turn and countless small turn here, and the flow rate slowed down. There were many lakes and ditches on both sides of the Huai River. It was not easy to march on land. I often encountered some small rivers. All infantry and cavalry boarded the boat, and after they passed, they came down to walk on the shore.

After much trouble, I was too lazy to get off the boat. Except for a small number of cavalry, almost all the troops boarded the boat and slowly moved forward.

Wu Han sat on the big boat, looking at the two sides of the Huai River, and seeing the numerous water systems around him, he couldn't help but frown.

Wu Han was not good at water warfare. Most of his army and horses were from northerners and were used to land warfare, especially Youzhou thunder cavalry. They were kings on land, and they were burdens when they went to water. Compared with him, although Deng Feng, who was born in Nanyang, also mainly engaged in land warfare, his hometown was a place with dense water networks and should have water warfare capabilities.

Wu Han felt that this terrain was not suitable for cavalry rushing, and urged the soldiers to row boats quickly so as to pass through this area quickly.
Chapter completed!