In the Southern Dynasty, Sikong Mansion did not wait for Jiaopi and Quanhe cities to be captured, and then brazenly mobilized his army to cross Ying and march north. Although this was extremely shocking, after seeing such signs, Chi Hu led troops in Taihe, Xiangcheng, Shenqiu, The soldiers and horses from Mengcheng and other places did not hesitate at all and moved quickly; Wulu Lie directly ordered the soldiers and horses from Shenqiu, Xiangcheng and other places to come out and gather towards Taihe, the forward army camp.
After crossing the Yingshui River, the main force of the former army of Sikong Prefecture of the Southern Dynasties only stopped briefly in the Zhangzigou area, and then went on to fight non-stop towards the Taihe Camp. When Uluru Lie saw this scene, he also directly ordered to assemble at the Taihe Camp. Thousands of cavalry came out of the camp and formed an array - at the same time, the 100,000 cavalry assembled by Prince Ping Yanzong in Mengcheng and Bozhou also came to the north of Ruyin to fight together.
The storm was raging, and nearly half a million soldiers and horses from both sides were deployed in Ying, Bo and other states on the left bank of Ying River. The war was about to break out.
Zhong Changqing stood on the watchtower, looking at the Southern Dynasty army rolling in as black as a lead cloud, his heart trembling.
In the Second Battle of Huainan, Zhong Changqing and Cao Cheng's troops accepted the control of Prince Ping Yanzong and participated in the attack on Shou, Lu and other places. He once led his troops across the river to attack Jianye Prefecture, but in?? ???????????????Qinhuai River Estuary and other battles suffered repeated heavy losses.
During the Battle of Yingzhou, the remnants of Zhong Changqing participated in a sniper attack on the Jingxiang Army in the battle to cross the Huaihe River west of Huaichuan City and were defeated. Some of the troops fled to Huaichuan and were wiped out, and some of them withdrew to Jiaopi. At this time, no one knew. How many people and horses were annihilated, and how many people and horses were surrounded in the two ruined cities of Jiaopi and Quanhe.
Although Uluru Lie promised Zhong Changqing that he could recruit elite new troops from military households in various places, Zhong Changqing had no time to organize and train the new army at this time, and there were only dozens of guards around him.
With no troops to defend, Zhong Changqing could only stay with Wulu Lie, the king of Zhennan, to provide military advice.
The plan of the two governments to withdraw from the Hehuai River has been approved by the Khan's court. Prince Jingzong's palace has sent envoys three times and finally completed the work. It is agreed that if necessary, it will decisively abandon the Weihe Plain and will make preparations in advance to shrink the troops to Long. On the right and preparations for Weibei.
The evacuation plan drawn up by the two governments puts Heluo and Western Beijing first. Especially Western Beijing may be captured at any time. 160,000 military households and up to 500,000 households need to be evicted in batches first. Those who moved to Puzhou, Zezhou, Luzhou, Taiyuan and other places north of the Yellow River, those old, young, women and children who were unable to leave or had no value, were massacred by cavalry at the last moment, and all possible cities and villages were set on fire. Only a piece of scorched earth was left.
No one expected that the Sikong Mansion of the Southern Dynasties would so quickly demolish more than forty forts outside Jiaopi and Quanhe, and then surround the two cities of Jiaopi and Quanhe without attacking them, and directly raise their troops to brazenly attack them when the flood season is approaching. Cross Ying and head north.
This leaves no time to implement the withdrawal plans drawn up by the two governments.
Xuzhou and Chenzhou have just organized an evacuation of 20,000 to 30,000 people to the north. At this time, they have not begun to cross the Yellow River and have temporarily stayed in Zhengzhou.
Not counting the tens of thousands of troops garrisoned in Yingkou, almost 200,000 elite troops from Sikong Prefecture of the Southern Dynasties entered the north of Yingshui. At least the northward retreat in the west of Beijing and the subsequent massacre plan could only be suspended.
Of course, in the face of the Sikong Prefecture of the Southern Dynasty who was marching north across Ying without stopping, many generals advocated avoiding a hasty decisive battle and instead withdrawing the main force of the cavalry to Luyi, Zhecheng and other places one or two hundred miles away to the north, to fight with The main force of the Sikong Mansion in the Southern Dynasty entered the north bank of Yingshui River and kept distance.
Taihe, Shenqiu, Dancheng, Xiangcheng and other cities east of Chenzhou
The pool can be defended by 60,000 to 70,000 Han troops reinforced from Pu, Ze and other Hedong states.
In the opinion of many people, as the flood season is approaching, they can directly open the levee on the north bank of Yingshui River and divert the flood water into Ruyin, Taihe and other counties. They are not afraid that the soldiers and horses of the Southern Dynasty will really be able to attack the cities during the rainy and flood season.
If we rush to a decisive battle at this time, the chances of winning are really low.
In comparison, the morale of the soldiers and horses in the Southern Dynasties was much stronger than theirs.
However, the king of Zhennan, Ulullie, defied all opinions and decided to have a decisive battle now.
Zhong Changqing was very aware of the Zong Wang's difficulties, which boiled down to four words: "insufficient food and fodder".
Even if all 40,000 to 50,000 cavalrymen are pulled to Luyi and Zhecheng in the north, the southern route of Wanqiu, Taihe, Xiangcheng and other cities close to the north bank of Yingshui River stores grain, including Xuchang, which focuses on the defense of Caizhou soldiers and horses in the Southern Dynasty. , are not enough to consume 100,000 Han troops for two months.
Zhong Changqing knew very well that if he really wanted to call on the main force of Sikong Mansion in the Southern Dynasties to attack, although he was not worried that the defense zone of more than 300 miles from Xuchang to Taihe would be surrounded, there would really be a chance to continue from the north line in the future. Does the southern route deliver supplies?
The Southern Dynasty Sikong Prefecture has such strong manufacturing and logistical supply capabilities. Can it really make the Southern Dynasty Sikong Prefecture withdraw its troops just by opening the embankment on the north bank?
You must know that Xuchang, Wanqiu, Shenqiu, Taihe, Xiangcheng and other cities are almost all located on the north bank of Yingshui River. The Sikong Mansion in the Southern Dynasties can use Yingshui River to transport men, horses, war equipment and other materials, which can completely reduce the impact of floods. to the lowest.
Zhong Changqing knew that he could not delay, as any further delay would only cause the tragedy of Jiaopi-Quanhe to happen again, and he also knew that the prince knew this very well.
Now it is unrealistic to decisively abandon Xu, Chen and other places and withdraw directly north.
However, Chihu spent so much effort to recruit more than 200,000 elite infantry and cavalry reinforcements in Yingzhou and neighboring Bozhou and Chenzhou, and then withdrew without fighting a battle. Who can he explain to him?
Moreover, the 200,000 soldiers and horses of Sikong Mansion in the Southern Dynasty have been deployed. If they withdraw now, except for the main cavalry force, which may be intact, can the other soldiers and horses be safely withdrawn to Zhengbian and other places when they are in a hurry?
Even if the odds of winning are not high, you still have to fight.
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The naval forces of both sides were the first to engage in battle.
Three thousand Xinyang naval forces, as the vanguard of the navy, fought out from the Zhangzigou water camp under the leadership of Commander Xu Ling. The core operational goal was to dismantle and clean up the troops deployed in the Yingshui River south of the Taihe camp. obstacles to open up the Yingshui channel to the west of Taihe.
The navy had to go upstream and withstand the attack of war weapons deployed by the enemy camp near the bank, cut off the iron ropes blocking the river, pull out the wooden piles one by one, and drag aside the sunken ships in the river.
Once the Yingshui River to the west of Taihe is successfully opened, in addition to the war equipment placed on the naval warships to attack the Taihe enemy camp near the Yingshui, the armored warships can also go further upstream to control the Yingshui to the west of Taihe. Through the river, some elite soldiers and horses were sent directly to the west of Taihe enemy camp to disembark, interfering with or even cutting off the communication between Taihe enemy army and Shenqiu and Wanqiu.
Even forcing some of the captive troops to return to the Ying River west of Taihe to set up defenses would be of great strategic significance.
Although Yue Hailou was determined to develop naval combat capabilities in the early days, on the one hand, the focus of the General Administration of Military and Horse Capital in the west of Beijing was to use Xuchang on the western front as a stronghold to move southward, which required a lot of effort.
The focus was on the development of infantry and cavalry, and after the disastrous defeat in the Battle of Ruying, effective resources had to be used in the construction of the Xuchang defense line on the west wing. There were really no more resources to tilt toward the navy.
The commander-in-chief of the military and horse capital in the west of Beijing has navy camps built in Wanqiu, Ruyang and Huaichuan cities, but its navy has always been around 6,000 soldiers and more than 200 warships, which is much higher than that in Beijing and Xiangzhou. The naval forces developed in Xinyang, Zhouqiao, Luoshan and other places were slightly larger.
Before the Second Battle of Huainan, iron-armored warships had not yet come out, and Jingxiang did not show much prominence in the development of the navy. At that time, the generals in the west of Jingzhou thought that the navy of Yingzhou was not as good as that of Prince Yanzong in Xuzhou. Although the naval force has developed, there is no problem in moving upstream of the Huai River and controlling the Ru River and Ying River.
The armored warships built by Jingxiang and Jingxiang first showed great success in the water battle of Fengsha Lake in the Second Battle of Huainan. Then, before the Battle of Peishui River Estuary, they inflicted heavy losses on the navy of western Jingxi in the battle to block the Huaihe River waterway. All the suffering.
At that time, the Jingxi Navy set up three blockades in the upper reaches of the Huai River, but they were all forcibly broken through by the Xinyang Navy. They also lost a large number of men, horses and warships. They also completely realized that they were related to the Jingxiang (Xinyang) River???? ????????????The military gap.
Before the Battle of Yingzhou, Xu Huai made further adjustments in the name of Sikong Mansion to strengthen his naval force on the Huaihe River. In the upper reaches of the Huaihe River, Xinyang Navy was the main force, and the number of soldiers was expanded to more than 8,000, with large and small warships. There are more than 400 ships, including more than 60 armored warships of various types, and their strength is far superior to that of the Western Beijing navy.
Therefore, when the Battle of Yingzhou broke out, Yue Hailou and others immediately gave up the idea of competing with Beijing and Xiang to win the Jianghe Lake, and retracted the limited navy force to the inner line to avoid the battle, mainly using various obstacles to block the Yingshui River.
As Ruyin, Yingshang and other cities fell one after another, the Jingxi navy with less than 4,000 generals could only retreat to Wanqiu and Xuchang to wait and see.
However, at this moment, the 200,000 infantry and cavalry gathered by the Prince of Nanzong in Chihu and the Prince of Pingyan in Pingyan were forced to fight to the death with the 200,000 Nanzong soldiers who crossed the Ying River north. The navy in the west of Beijing still had a chance. Do you want to stay back and conserve your strength?
If the frontal battlefield is defeated, and cities such as Taihe, Shenqiu, Wanqiu and even Xuchang fall, and the Jingxi navy has not gone out to fight, will more than 200 warships be completely handed over to the Sikong Mansion of the Southern Dynasty to take over?
The death order given by the King of Zhennan, Ulullie, to the Jingxi Navy was to prevent the Xinyang Navy from dismantling the obstacles in the Yingshui River south of Taihe at all costs, and to ensure that the soldiers and horses of the Southern Dynasties did not use the waterway to bypass the possibility of returning to the west of Taihe. .At least until the outcome of the land battle is determined, even if the Jingxi navy scuttles all the warships on its own, it must maintain the blockade of the Yingshui River south of Taihe.
Although the Xinyang navy had an absolute advantage over the Jingxi navy, due to fighting upstream, it was necessary to open the river channel in the shortest time. The enemy built multiple barracks near the shore and placed trebuchets and other war equipment to coordinate the blockade.
The river course made the water battle that initially broke out south of the Taihe Navy Camp not as easy as imagined.
However, the warships of the Xinyang navy still faced the enemy camp, and the arrow stones fired by the enemy ships sailed upstream, stopped in front of the iron cables blocking the river, and chopped them with giant axes.
Countless giant trees rushed in from the upstream. The naval warships also relied on their structural strength far superior to that of the ships of the day. They refused to retreat. After cutting the iron ropes that blocked the river, they groped their way upstream through the maze of hidden piles submerged in the water.
Kill them so that the boats behind can pull out the hidden piles and drag the sunken ship aside...
