Volume 5: Overlord of the Sea Chapter 623: Xichuan Surrenders
In May of the ninth year of the Chu calendar, Yan Yan, who was originally stationed in Jiangzhou, the capital of Ba County, and was blocking the offensive , suddenly learned of the bad news!
Jiangyang lost...
Lushui is the upper reaches of the Yangtze River as confirmed by later generations after its source was determined. Although it was generally mistakenly believed at that time that the upper reaches of the Yangtze River was the Minjiang River, the status of Lushui in Yizhou is undeniable.
It is only three hundred miles from Jiangyang to Jiangzhou in Ba County, following the Lushui River. Moreover, compared to Badong, Jiangyang is the rear of Jiangzhou!
More importantly, the original plan of the Xichuan Shuhou Mansion was to make Jiangyang an important town in the south and designate the Lu River as an insurmountable border for the southern barbarians. As for the south of the Lu River...it's okay if it's a little chaotic.
However, now that Jiangyang has been lost, it not only means that the Chu army may stab Jiangzhou from behind at any time, but also means that as long as Chu is willing, it can open the southern gate of Xichuan at any time.
By then, the Nanman rebel army will march north, and Xichuan will be defeated without a fight...
The only thing that could stop this from happening seemed to be the benevolence of the King of Chu, and Yan Yan did believe that the State of Chu would not do this.
Should we place our hopes on the enemy's integrity? Yan Yan couldn't help but feel a little discouraged.
At the same time, Bu Zhi came from Badong to lobby Yan Yan on behalf of the State of Chu. After appealing to Yan Yan's emotions and reasoning with him, Yan Yan, who no longer saw any chance of winning, chose to leave the city and surrender.
After all, the hope of maintaining order in Xichuan now lies in the benevolence of the Chu State. How can he have the face to not surrender?
The Chu army captured Jiangzhou, and although Yan Yan was unwilling to be a general and wanted to retire, after verifying that the Chu army had fulfilled its promise and had not harmed the people of Ba County, he wrote more than ten letters for Chen Dao and Guo Huai - all to the generals along the way!
Yan Yan had many old officials in Xichuan, and many generals were promoted by him.
After receiving Yan Yan's letter, Chen Dao and Guo Huai went up the Minjiang River and headed straight for Chengdu!
Zhang Ren, who was guarding Jiange, was even more anxious when he learned that the Minjiang River line in Ba County had been lost...
Facing Zhao Yun, Zhang Ren was already under great pressure - although Zhang Ren was also Tong Yuan's disciple, and was Zhao Yun's second senior brother, he was far inferior to Zhao Yun in terms of personal bravery and military strategy, and he only managed to hold on because of the danger and solidity of Jiange.
However, now that the Ba County area has been breached , it is useless for Zhang Ren to defend Jiange.
Zhang Ren originally thought that, after all, it was his own home that had fallen, and the news came from "behind", so logically he should have received the news much earlier than Zhao Yun, so he shouted at Zhao Yun to create confusion, and at the same time secretly withdrew from Jiange, wanting to return to defend the city.
Although there is no hope for Xichuan at present, Zhang Ren still holds the idea of defending the area west of Fushui River and driving out the people of Baxi and Zitong to stalemate with the Chu army...
In fact, it is just an enhanced version of the strategy of clearing the countryside!
However, he didn't know that Zhao Yun had received the news several days earlier than him, and he couldn't wait to expect Zhang Ren to be thrown into disarray after hearing the news.
Zhang Ren thought his bluff was foolproof, but Zhao Yun, who knew the truth, saw through it from the beginning.
Zhao Yun, who knew that Zhang Ren was plotting, simply did not expose it, but instead carefully tested the situation. Less than half a day after Zhang Ren's main force left, Zhao Yun quickly broke through Jiange, and then used the mobility of his transport cavalry to pursue and suppress the infantry in Zhang Ren's rear army!
Zhang Ren returned to fight Zhao Yun, but was defeated again, and only the remnants of his army fled in a hurry...
Zhao Yun didn't have much combat cavalry , only transport aircraft, so he didn't chase too much.
By the time Zhang Ren returned to Chengdu, Liu Zhang had already decided to surrender to Chu. Although the Chu army had not yet moved in, Liu Zhang had already locked himself in his mansion and refused to go out. The treasury in the city had already been sealed and Zhang Song delivered the letter of surrender.
When Zhang Ren rushed back, Zhang Song was just about to leave the city.
Zhang Ren originally wanted to persuade Zhang Song to go with him to meet the Marquis of Shu again and persuade him to fight to the death, but was rejected by Zhang Song.
Zhang Song was indeed thinking about Liu Zhang now, and that was why he rejected Zhang Ren...
He also told Zhang Ren that his suggestion was not reliable - even if they fortified their cities and cleared the fields, they would not be able to cut off the Chu army's military supplies. With a well-managed Badong as the rear, the Chu State itself did not need to fight to support the war, so fortifying their cities and clearing the fields would naturally have little effect.
Not to mention, at this time, there were still many people in the Shuhou Mansion...even including Huang Quan, Zheng Du and other people who were loyal to the Shuhou Mansion, whose family members had been infiltrated by the Chu State Enlightenment Department!
As for Wu Yi and his ilk...
Previously, because of , they were the most enthusiastic when fighting against the State of Chu. However, when the knife was really put on them, they were the fastest to back down, and they only thought about how to preserve their own interests to the greatest extent.
Moreover, judging from the external situation, the Han Dynasty has become a "pseudo-Han". Even if Liu Zhang wants to fight, he can only fight for Sima Yi's promise...
In other words, continuing to resist now will not only not help the situation, but will add to the danger and increase the losses.
Although Zhang Ren was loyal and brave enough to fight, there was no point in fighting now, so he could only stay at home and not come out...
Zhang Song submitted a letter of surrender to Zhao Yun, who accepted it on behalf of the State of Chu. He joined Chen Dao and Guo Huai in Chengdu and completely took over Chengdu.
Although there was still chaos in Yizhou, especially in the southern part, where the turmoil of the southern barbarians was still unsettled, the entire "south" had basically completely belonged to Chu, and there was no constraint from the rear.
