Chapter 117: Marching straight into the Huaihe River Basin, Yuan Shu is about to be destroyed!
Shouchun, Huainan.

Ever since his Huainan navy ambushed Liu Bei's Qingzhou navy and finally won a great victory, annihilating the entire Qingzhou navy, Yuan Shu became even more complacent and arrogant.

In Yuan Shu's view, the imperial court's luck has run out!
The Jianghuai and Jingxiang regions are densely covered with water networks, including the Huaihe River and the Yangtze River systems. Without a naval fleet, it is impossible to make further progress in these regions!

The imperial court's strategy of sending troops south has already failed!

As for the court's future development of the navy and its comeback, Yuan Shu didn't care at all.

The imperial court could develop the navy, so why couldn't Yuan Shu develop one too? !
Yuan Shu has already gained an advantage at the starting point. In the race with the imperial court, he will surely widen the gap and be far ahead!

This made Yuan Shu gradually begin to realize his ambition and intention to "become emperor"!
If Yuan Shu wanted to split Jianghuai and use the natural barrier of the Huai River to divide the world with the imperial court, he would need to coordinate the forces in Jianghuai, Jingxiang, Jiangdong and other regions, and this would require a sense of righteousness!
This made Yuan Shu want to usurp the throne and proclaim himself emperor!

Yuan Shu had mentioned this to his ministers a long time ago, but was met with opposition, which made Yuan Shu give up.

But Yuan Shu did not give up and secretly accumulated strength.

Yuan Shu had people spread the prophecy that "the one who will replace the Han Dynasty will be Dangtu Gao Ye", secretly pointing at himself.

After all, "Tujia Tu" means "road", and Yuan Shu's courtesy name is "Gonglu".

Regardless of whether it is far-fetched or not, Liu Bang also claimed that his mother had intercourse with a dragon and gave birth to him, the son of destiny.

What we want is a myth and legend!
Moreover, the surname Yuan comes from Chen, which is the descendant of Shun. With earth succeeding fire, it is the right one to respond to the destiny.

Yuan Shu took advantage of the influence of Buddhism in Jianghuai and used Buddhists to fan the flames and spread rumors for him.

The spread of Buddhism in the Han Dynasty was bumpy and had little effect until Tao Qian of Xuzhou made use of Buddhism in order to stabilize Xuzhou, and Buddhism began to grow and develop due to the Buddhist Zuo Rong.

However, this also gave Buddhism an opportunity for development. It was necessary to win over the aristocratic families and rulers so that Buddhism could flourish and develop.

Yuan Shu tempted many Buddhist temples to support him by promising to make it the state religion after the founding of his country in the future. This in turn influenced the Buddhists' beliefs, making them believe that Yuan Shu was a man of destiny and the son of destiny!

Everything was almost done, and Yuan Shu was ready to go with the flow and ascend the throne to become emperor!
Who would have thought that the Han Emperor would personally lead the army and march south with the navy!

This is simply a God-sent opportunity!
In Yuan Shu's view, the imperial court did not have any naval fleet at all.

The only Bohai Navy was transformed into the Qingzhou Navy after the fall of Yuan Shao, but it was also ambushed and destroyed by Yuan Shu's Huainan Navy!
The naval forces of Xuzhou were also swallowed up and destroyed by Yuan Shu through fighting and suppression.

The Jingxiang area did have the Jingzhou navy, which was comparable to the Huainan navy. However, as Liu Biao of Jingzhou became seriously ill, his wife's family, the Cai family, came to power and openly opposed the court.

This clearly shows a strategic alliance with Yuan Shu!
The Bohai Navy, Qingzhou Navy, Xuzhou Navy, Jingzhou Navy, and Huainan Navy, the imperial court could not control any of them!

From then on, the imperial court no longer had any naval forces!
Even if Your Majesty controls a million troops, without a naval fleet, it will be difficult to move forward in the Jianghuai region!
As strong as the Bingzhou Wolf Cavalry, the Xiliang Iron Cavalry, the Youzhou Tuoqi, and even your majesty's Black Armor Army, they can crush the enemy in the north with ease.

But when they came to the south, they could only lie low to Yuan Shu!

It was based on this kind of self-confidence that Yuan Shu felt that the Han emperor was seeking his own death if he led the troops south in person, and that was like a gentleman standing under a dangerous wall!

Yuan Shu ordered the Huainan navy to go out in full force in order to capture and kill the Han Emperor Liu Bian!

As long as he succeeds, Yuan Shu can directly ascend the throne and become emperor!

This is the tactic of capturing the leader first!

Yuan Shu naturally would not be present at the scene in person. A gentleman does not stand under a dangerous wall. He was in Shouchun, Huainan, preparing to ascend the throne and become emperor!

Yuan Shu secretly ordered people to build an altar for the emperor to worship heaven. He needed to establish the title of emperor, appoint many officials, and make preparations. Of course, three thousand beauties in the harem were also indispensable.

Whatever the Han Emperor has, Yuan Shu must also have!
What the Han Emperor didn't have, Yuan Shu wanted!

Just when Yuan Shu was waiting for the victory song and good news, he suddenly received bad news:
"Report - General, the Huainan Navy was defeated and retreated at Yuzhou Mountain!"

"what?!"

Yuan Shu couldn't believe it and thought he had heard it wrong, so he asked again. When the messenger said it again, he was shocked!

"Impossible!!! Absolutely impossible!!! How could my Huainan Navy be defeated?!"

Yuan Shu has already started to call himself "I", and it is obvious that he has already deeply immersed himself in the story. But the problem is, the Huainan Navy, which he has placed great hopes on, has actually been defeated? !
Yuan Shu couldn't accept it!

The Huainan Navy was one of the two major navies of the Han Dynasty, as famous as the Jingzhou Navy, and even superior to the Jingzhou Navy.

How could the imperial court have a navy that could defeat the Huainan navy? !

This must be a false report of military intelligence to alienate the military's morale!
Thinking of this, Yuan Shu shouted angrily: "This must be a conspiracy of the enemy. Drag him down and chop him off. This will cause chaos in the army!!!"

The messenger cried and begged for mercy, but it was of no use. He was dragged away and chopped off by Yuan Shu's personal soldiers.

But some of his civil and military officials were already in a panic!
There is no wind without waves!

"Don't fall for the enemy's tricks. The imperial court doesn't even have a decent navy. How could it suddenly become so powerful? And even defeated the Huainan navy!"

Yuan Shu saw the panic-stricken civil and military officials and his calmness in calming people's hearts gradually calmed them down.

Of course, despite what he said, Yuan Shu still secretly sent his trusted confidants to ride at full speed to the mouth of the Huai River to see for themselves what the outcome of the battle was.

The civil and military officials under my command also think so! After all, Shouchun in Huainan is a long and difficult journey away from the mouth of the Huai River in Guangling County. The enemy may spread rumors and slander, which may alienate the morale of the army!

However, soon, news came one after another!

"Report - Your Majesty is leading the Han navy to march southwards. It is said that the navy fleet has several thousand ships!
"General, the Han navy fleet fought against the Huainan navy in the Yuzhou Mountain area and won the battle. The Huainan navy was defeated!"

"Report - more than half of the Huainan navy was destroyed in the battle, and they fled in defeat. They were chased by the Han navy and have now entered the Huai River!"

"Report - All defense lines along the Huai River are on alert to fight against the Han navy!"

"The Han navy fleet split up and headed south to surround Guangling County, seemingly intending to advance through the Yangtze River estuary!"

"..."

The Yangtze and Huaihe Rivers have a dense network of waterways, so even though the road is long and difficult, information can still be transmitted quickly.

News came one after another from the front line to Shouchun in Huainan, but with every piece of news, Yuan Shu's expression became more solemn!
Because it’s all bad news!

"Impossible!!! Absolutely impossible!!!"

Yuan Shu still couldn't believe it. "How could the imperial court have thousands of naval fleets?! It's fake!!! It must be fake!!!"

Even his civil and military officials couldn't believe it!
Building a naval fleet is not like recruiting soldiers, where you can directly recruit hundreds of thousands of soldiers!
The ships of the fleet take years to manufacture!

In order to manufacture large quantities of ships, only coastal cities have the conditions and ability to set up shipyards!

There is a shipyard in Jizhou Bohai, but it is impossible to mass-produce thousands of warships in such a short time!
Not to mention one shipyard, even if all the shipyards along the coast of the Han Dynasty were to start working at the same time, working overtime and without sleep, they would not be able to achieve the speed of mass production of thousands of warships!

So, where did the court's thousands of warships come from? !
You must know that not long ago, the Huainan Navy had just ambushed Liu Bei's Qingzhou Navy, and this navy unit loyal to the court was directly destroyed!

Why did the imperial court have thousands of warships in such a short period of time? !

"Could it be..."

At this time, his advisor Yan Xiang said in horror: "Is this another auspicious sign from heaven?!"

Hearing this, everyone was stunned!
"Yes, it is possible!

“When the auspicious sweet potatoes, potatoes and corn fell from the sky in the capital, which one of them was not a divine food?!

"If thousands of warships descend from the sky, it seems that nothing is impossible, right?!"

The civil officials and military generals actually believed it without a doubt!
Yuan Shu looked at him with a strange and gloomy expression!
There were rumors in Jianghuai that Yuan Shu had the destiny to replace the Han Dynasty. The civil and military officials under his command were skeptical, but in fact they did not believe it at all!
However, the news of "auspicious signs from heaven" coming from the capital was as rampant as cabbages in the market. It was simply nonsense, but his civil and military officials believed it without a doubt!

Yuan Shu didn’t know what to say!

Why is there such a big gap between people? !

The rumors about Han Emperor Liu Bian are true?! The rumors about Yuan Shu are false?!

Yuan Shu said in a deep voice: "Think carefully about this kind of deceptive nonsense that confuses people. Is there any common sense in it?!"

"No!"

Yan Xiang nodded, and then said: "But my lord, your majesty is the emperor, you can't judge by common sense!"

"..."

Yuan Shu was speechless and asked in a deep voice: "What should we do now?!"

Many of his civil and military officials wanted Yuan Shu to surrender, but they knew it was impossible.

Therefore, we can only come up with suggestions and make up for the loss!
But to be honest, if the Han navy fleet is really as powerful as the messenger said, it is simply unstoppable!

Even with the natural barrier of the Huai River, Yuan Shu's forces could not stop the imperial court from marching south!

Why is the Huaihe River called a natural barrier?

Due to the lack of a naval fleet, it was difficult to cross the river to fight, and the Huai River was not like the Yellow River, which would freeze in winter!
As long as we have a strong navy fleet, we can rely on the natural barrier of the Huai River to block the infantry and cavalry from the north!
But when the northern forces have a naval fleet, the natural barrier of the Huaihe River will no longer be a natural barrier!

At this time, it is a competition between the strength of the naval fleets of both sides!

Now it seems——

The world-famous Huainan Navy is actually not as good as the temporarily formed Han Navy!

You can already imagine what the result will be!
really.

Even though Yuan Shu ordered his civil and military officials to work together and pool their wisdom to find ways to remedy the situation, bad news continued to arrive.

The imperial naval fleet can now march straight into the Huai River, unstoppable!
All this shows that the natural barrier of the Huaihe River has collapsed!
The momentum of the imperial army marching southward is now unstoppable!
……

(End of this chapter)