Chapter 955: Xun You's Diplomatic Mission to Langya
Zhou Yu couldn't help being unhappy. Although the population of Shouchun City was less than half of the original population, it was still more than 200,000. If Sun Ce's army could control Shouchun City, it would be equivalent to controlling most of Jiujiang County. Although Sun Ce's army only captured Liyang, Junqiu and Hefei, Fuling and Quanjiao would be under their control sooner or later. Now, with Shouchun and Chengde, Sun Ce's army would have seven cities under their control.
In this way, seven of the fourteen cities in Jiujiang would be taken over by Sun Ce's army, and the remaining five would be occupied by Cao Cao's army. In addition, Xiacai and Ping'a north of the Huai River would be handed over to Runan, Yuzhou. However, in terms of population, Jiujiang originally had 1.2 million people, including Shouchun City with about 500,000 people, the county city Yinling with about 100,000 people, and the remaining cities with about 50,000 people each.
In this way, the population of Jiujiang County under Sun Ce's army reached about 600,000, which was equivalent to the total population of Danyang, Wu County or Kuaiji County in Jiangdong. As for the fact that Huangfu Chaobo had already gathered the population and captured surrendered soldiers, Zhou Yu also tacitly did not mention it.
As expected by everyone, Zhou Yu returned to the camp and immediately reported to Sun Ce. Sun Ce was also very happy to hear this. He sent someone to inform Huangfu Chaobo that night that the two families could start discussing the alliance tomorrow. However, before that, Sun Ce still wanted to ask Huangfu Chaobo to help force Cao Cao's army out of Shouchun City. Huangfu Chaobo of course agreed very readily.
However, when the next morning, everyone found that Cao Cao's army had withdrawn from Shouchun City overnight and returned to the Feishui camp to garrison.
Huangfu Chaobo knew that the frequent exchanges between the two armies had alarmed him. With Cao Cao's suspicious character, how could he dare to stay in Shouchun City for longer? You know, the Andong Army still has a cavalry outside Shouchun City.
Seeing Cao Cao's army withdraw from Shouchun, Huangfu Chaobo also ordered the army to withdraw from the city, preparing to hand over Shouchun to Sun Ce's army within a few days.
In the following days, the Andong Army generally reorganized its troops and horses, waiting for Zhou Tai's navy to come to Shouchun to help the army cross the river. Because Shouchun has been captured, there are only Xiacai and Yuan Shu's navy in the entire Huai River, and Huangfu Chaobo has sent people to the two cities to surrender. Now, after the matter is done, the Andong Army will go directly north from Shouchun and cross the river directly.
Of course, the gathered people also began to gather on the south bank of the Huai River more than ten miles away under the protection of the army, waiting for Zhou Tai's army to arrive and build a pontoon bridge. These people will be settled in Lujiang and Runan counties.
While the Andong Army and Sun Ce's army were constantly in contact and reorganizing their troops, Cao Cao was also arranging for the army to withdraw from the west bank of the Fei River and retreat to Xiquyang City for rest. A few days later, the 20,000 troops transferred from Qiao County entered Yinling City. Cao Cao appointed Cao Xiu as the governor of Jiujiang, responsible for guarding the five cities of Jiujiang, and appointed Man Pang as the governor of Xiapi. After handling and arranging these matters, Cao Cao led his army back to Yanzhou.
On September 26, Qisi, Li Feng and other generals surrendered one after another, and even Xiacai and Ping'a surrendered to the Andong Army. At the same time, after receiving the news that Shouchun had fallen and Yuan Shu had burned himself, the generals captured by the Andong Army surrendered to Huangfu Chaobo one after another, so that Huangfu Chaobo's subordinates added four historical generals, Yuan Huan, Qiao Rui, Le Jiu, and Li Feng, and two transferred military generals, Ji Bao and Li Gui.
Two days later, Huangfu Chaobo and Sun Ce signed an alliance agreement between the two families in Shouchun City. The two families agreed on a trade alliance and a military alliance against Cao Cao's army. Afterwards, the Andong Army withdrew from Shouchun City and officially handed over Shouchun City to Sun Ce's Army. At the same time, the Andong Army garrison in Chengde was ready to evacuate, waiting for Sun Ce's Army to send troops to take over the city.
After signing the alliance with Sun Ce's Army, Huangfu Chaobo did not stay in Shouchun any longer. After handing over the military affairs of Yuzhou and Lujiang to Huang Zhong, Huangfu Chaobo rushed to Luoyang under the escort of the cavalry. In addition to Pang Tong and his three companions, there were five new generals.
It has been more than half a year since the expedition. Fortunately, Xu Shu and Tian Feng of Sizhou were in charge, and there was no abnormality inside and outside Sizhou.
However, Huangfu Chaobo still wanted to return to Luoyang as soon as possible to deal with the government affairs that had been backlogged for half a year.
As for the other infantrymen of the Guards, as well as Huang Wudie's Huben Camp, Zhang He's Dajishi, Wang Yong's Xiongqu Camp and tens of thousands of other troops, they escorted the families of the surrendered generals back to Luoyang.
As for the arrangement of Lujiang, the main issue is the manpower. After consideration, Huang Zhong sent Han Xian to Shu County with three infantry soldiers and one cavalry of Jianwuying to assist Kong Xin in stabilizing the situation in Lujiang, and then returned to Runan on his own. The other armies began to return to their own garrisons, resting and reorganizing their troops, waiting for the next arrangement of the general's mansion.
Just as Huangfu Chaobo began to prepare to return to Luoyang, in Pingyang City, Langya, Xuzhou, Ye Laixiang was meeting an envoy in his general's mansion.
As the second player lord, it has been more than three years since April 193. Today's Ye Laixiang is no longer the same as before. Especially after Tao Qian's fall, Ye Laixiang made a lot of money by relying on the reputation left by the soldiers and civilians in Xuzhou.
Not only did he capture Xu Xi, Mao Hui, Xu Sheng, Cao Bao and Zhao Yu, but he also gathered nearly 10,000 defeated soldiers from Xuzhou and hundreds of thousands of people fleeing to the north, which instantly raised his strength to a higher level.
Today, Ye Lai Xiang has 13 cities in Langya and 4 cities in Taishan County, totaling 17 cities, with a population of nearly one million. In terms of officials and generals, there are Xi Zhicai in literature, Xu Sheng in martial arts, and seven historical generals headed by the two of them, plus several of his own transferred generals. It can be said that there is sufficient money, many soldiers and many generals.
Last month, Cao Cao secretly sent an envoy to contact him and conspired to jointly send troops to deal with Huangfu Chaobo. According to the plan of Cao Cao's army, Cao Cao's army will send troops to Qingzhou from the north, and invite Ye Lai Xiang to attack Donglai County from the south, attacking from both sides to drive Huangfu Chaobo's forces out of Qingzhou.
Cao Cao promised that after the matter was accomplished, Huangfu Chaobo's two counties in Qingzhou would each occupy one county. You know, although Donglai County is not as big as the counties in the Central Plains, it is also a county with 13 cities and a population of more than 600,000, which is more than half of Langya controlled by Ye Lai Xiang.
However, Ye Lai Xiang did not agree at that time, but told Cao Cao's envoy that he needed to think carefully before replying, but he did not directly reject Cao Cao.
What Ye Lai Xiang did not expect was that Huangfu Chaobo's envoy suddenly appeared in Kaiyang City in less than a month. After receiving the news, Ye Lai Xiang immediately asked someone to invite Huangfu Chaobo's envoy into the palace, and also sent someone to invite the military advisor Xi Zhicai.