Cao Shixiong couldn't guess at the moment what method Jingxiang used to deliver naval warships directly into the Yishui River, but he was certain that the main force of Jingxiang's navy that had once roamed the Yangtze River and Huaihe River was entering.
In the Yishui River.
Otherwise, Jingxiang could completely go down the Yishui River, destroy the two pontoon bridges they had erected on the lower reaches of the Yishui River, and enter the Yellow River.
While Cao Shixiong ordered to assemble troops and horses in Yanshi, new news and reports continued to arrive, confirming that there were indeed only a hundred or so small and medium-sized warships from Beijing and Xiangzhou entering the Yishui River - mainly those on the west bank of the Yishui River.
Under the control of the Luo Bingma General Mansion, scouts have been dispatched to conduct emergency reconnaissance along the Yishui River south of Yique - it can currently be confirmed that the most powerful iron armor of the Nanbing Navy is located north of Song County and in the Yishui River.
There are only six warships, and there are sixteen other warships and battleships of the same type. Apart from these, they are all small warships such as gouges and red horse boats.
At this time, the southern army mainly consisted of six iron-armored ships and more than fifty warships, arrayed on the Yishui River north of Qifeng Village. The purpose should be to prevent the General Administration of the Heluo Army and Horses from entering the Yiluo River.
The force of the downstream water diversion battalion came to reinforce.
In addition, more than fifty other warships returned to the south of Yique County from the north of Qifeng Village. The scouts on the west bank also discovered the temporary trestle dock set up by the Nanbing soldiers in the south of Yique County. It is not difficult to judge.
, this part of the warships returned to the south of Yique County to organize more soldiers, horses, and war equipment to board the ships and release them to the north of Qifeng Village.
The trestle dock temporarily set up by the Nanbing soldiers in the south of Yique County is about thirty-six miles away from the beach landing on the north side of Qifeng Village.
Although it has already entered October, the water flow in the river between Song County and Yique is still quite turbulent. The boat speed is fast when going down the river, but it is much slower when going upstream. According to preliminary estimates, Nanbing went to Qifengzhai
To transport people and horses to the north, a round trip would take at least half a day.
In addition, due to the limited number of warships used by the Southern Army to deliver troops and horses, it is estimated that the number of troops and horses delivered at one time is less than 2,000, and this does not include horses or other materials that take up a lot of space.
As more and more accurate reports continued to arrive, Meng Jian and other generals also calmed down a little.
It was a risky plan for the Southern soldiers to unexpectedly send their elite soldiers and horses directly to the north of Qifeng Village. However, since it was a risky plan, it also meant that as long as they dealt with it properly, they might have a chance to turn defeat into victory.
In particular, four to five thousand elite soldiers and horses can be urgently mobilized from Dugu and Zhenyuan passes, which means that they can assemble seven to eight thousand elite soldiers near Dingjiayuan Village in the north of Qifeng Village before dark today.
At that time, even if the southern troops concentrated and sent five to six thousand elite soldiers and horses to the north of Qifeng Stronghold, they would not necessarily be able to annihilate them all if they gathered the elite troops from Dingjiayuan Stronghold to fight south, and cooperated with the Yique defenders to attack from the north and south.
Cao Shixiong cheered up and urged Yanshi troops to go south and quickly rush to Dingjiayuan Village. At the same time, he sent a messenger to Gongyi, Luoyang and other places with his message. He gathered all the patrol ships from various places and pulled them to the north of Dingjiayuan Village.
Go to the Yishui River.
The General Administration of the Heluo Military and Horse Capital has never had an urgent need for surface warfare, so the scale of the water camp directly under its jurisdiction is extremely small.
However, due to the need to control public security, each county has basically a dozen patrol boats and hundreds of navy soldiers at their disposal.
Since the number of warships sent by Jingxiang to the Yishui was limited, Cao Shixiong thought of gathering all Luoyang's water warfare forces near Dingjiayuan Village.
He thought that even if Jingxiang was forced to deploy more warships in the downstream direction of Qifeng Village, it should be able to effectively limit the speed at which Jingxiang could send troops further north of Qifeng Village.
Cao Shixiong himself quickly set off for Dingjiayuan Stronghold surrounded by hundreds of cavalry guards. However, before they had traveled twenty miles, he saw the first batch of Yanshi garrison heading towards Dingjiayuan Stronghold stalled on the post road.
The post road from Yanshi to Dingjiayuan Village ran parallel to Yishui for a long period of time.
At this time, more than twenty Nanbing warships appeared on the river in front.
The first batch of Yanshi garrison troops heading towards Dingjiayuan Village were forced to deviate from the post road and are currently taking shelter on the slopes on the east side.
At this time, it was only eleven or two miles away from Dingjiayuan Village. Two to three thousand people and horses were traveling quickly on the post road, and it would not take an hour to reach their destination.
However, if we deviate from the post road and travel through the undulating slopes and valleys on the east side, we may not be able to reach Dingjiayuan Village even after dark.
Cao Shixiong rode his horse around to the front and saw that there were only more than twenty small and medium-sized warships in the Yishui River. In addition to four to five hundred armored soldiers on the warships, there was also a black war crossbow placed on the war shed.
Due to the huge size of the traditional three-bow bed crossbow, the arms of the crossbow are nearly ten feet wide, almost exceeding the width of a small warship. Generally, it is impossible to deploy medium and large warcraft such as the three-bow bed crossbow on a small warship.
This will directly hinder the advancement and retreat of naval officers on the warship.
Even large and medium-sized warships usually only place one or two crossbows on the top of the war shed.
However, compared with the traditional bed crossbow, the size of an iron-ridged crossbow with the same firing power is reduced by nearly half.
Not only can one or two heavy war crossbows be fixedly installed on the roofs of small warships such as Red Horse Boat and Zou Ge, but multiple additional heavy war crossbows can even be stored in the cabin.
A heavy-duty iron-spine crossbow with a shooting range of more than 300 steps weighs hundreds of kilograms, and is obviously unable to be incorporated into the army as individual soldier equipment.
However, in addition to mounting the wheel hub and using it as a crossbow on the battlefield, it can also be deployed in large numbers on warships. It is not difficult to have two or three skilled crossbowmen shooting through the portholes during battle.
Cao Shixiong saw more than 20 small and medium-sized warships appearing on the water in front, with more than 20 war crossbows placed on the roof, so he decided to let the guards around him dismount and raise their large shields to form a formation on the side of the post road near the river beach.
He thought that in this way, even if some guards had to be sacrificed, he should be able to cover the Yanshi defenders to quickly pass through the post road along the river in front and reach Dingjiayuan Village in time.
Cao Shixiong not only seriously misestimated the number of heavy war crossbows mounted on the warships, but also seriously misestimated the shooting capabilities of those heavy war crossbows fixedly installed on the top of the war shed.
The heavy war crossbow fixedly installed on the top is not a single crossbow, but three heavy war crossbows are installed in parallel on a fixed crossbow stand. After a launch, five or six people need to operate the gear winch at the same time to re-open the string.
In addition to the parallel war crossbow on the top that can fire three arrows at a time, there are also three to five heavy war crossbows in the cabin of each warship.
This means that more than 20 warships lined up on the river at one time can fire more than 150 heavy crossbow arrows with an effective range of more than 300 steps.
Although the firing speed of the heavy war crossbows was still slow, the overall number and intensity of firing were seven or eight times higher than Cao Shixiong expected.
Seeing a volley of fire, eleven of the guards who had been with him for many years fell forever in a pool of blood, and there were as many as twenty or thirty people injured. Cao Shixiong could feel his heart trembling, and there were waves in front of his eyes.
It turned black and almost fell off the horse.
Meng Jian and other generals followed the army. Seeing this scene, they almost closed their eyes in despair.
From here to Dingjiayuan Village, there are seven or eight miles of post roads close to the river bank, almost all of which are exposed to the attack range of Nanbing warships. A single salvo will kill or injure thirty or forty people. The three thousand Yanshi defenders want to
How many people have to die to get through this post road?
The small warships of Sikong Mansion in the Southern Dynasties are equipped with so powerful crossbows and are so numerous that even if they can gather two to three hundred patrol ships from Yanshi, Gongyi, Mengjin and other places, they can really effectively contain them.
Instead of being defeated by the Nanbing warships?
Not to mention that the Southern soldiers had six armored ships entering the Yishui River.
There is another more critical factor, which is the southern troops sent to the north of Qifeng Village. If they are also equipped with a large number of such crossbows, can they really defeat and annihilate them if they gather elite troops to attack from the north and the south?
Soon new news came from the West Coast, further confirming Meng Jian's and others' almost desperate speculation.
That is, the second batch of southern soldiers sent to the north of Qifeng Village was very small, only six to seven hundred armored soldiers, but there were nearly two hundred chariots and crossbows following the second batch of armored soldiers who landed.
At this time, Cao Cheng had rushed to Qifeng Village from Yique City and was organizing his troops to leave Qifeng Village to attack the mouth of the gorge on the north side. However, he was blocked and attacked by dozens of crossbows and crossbows set up by the southern army on the slope, causing heavy casualties.
, there is no possibility of breaking through the blockade from Qifeng Village to the north and successfully breaking through in the short term.
After hearing such news, Meng Jian and others felt their hands and feet trembling slightly.
However, in addition to Cao Cheng's 16,000 elite troops being blocked in the Yique River Valley, it also involves whether the tens of thousands of troops garrisoned in Dagu, Sheyuan and Yuan have the fighting spirit to continue to hold on.
No matter how high the cost, Cao Shixiong could not stop moving forward.
There was no way to go straight to Dingjiayuan Village from the Yanhe Post Road. Cao Shixiong and his troops could only deviate from the Yanhe Post Road and march toward Dingjiayuan Village from between the slopes and valleys on the east wing.
However, due to this delay, by the time Cao Shixiong led his troops to the vicinity of Dingjiayuan Village, the setting sun had already hung on the top of the Western Mountain, and Su Mi led more than a thousand armored soldiers to prepare on the east and north wings of Dingjiayuan Village.
Sun Yanguan did not immediately order Su Mou to divide his troops and march to Dingjiayuan Stronghold. It was not because he did not see the importance of Dingjiayuan Stronghold. It was because the number of troops that could be sent through Yishui at one time was limited, and the intelligence gathered by the scouts was lagging behind.
Accurately grasp the enemy's troop deployment on the east bank of Yishui anytime and anywhere.
Therefore, the first operational task is to ensure the successful completion of the blockade of the gorge on the north side of Qifeng Village.
Using two thousand armored soldiers and more than a hundred chariots and crossbows, and with the cooperation of some warships, they successfully blocked the valley that was only more than 20 feet wide on the north side of Qifeng Village. Only then did Sun Yanguan ask Su Mi to lead two battalions of heavy armor.
The infantry, surrounded by more than fifty chariots and crossbows and some fine iron shield chariots, advanced along the post road towards Dingjiayuan Village.
Also due to the blockade of the post roads along the river by warships, Su Mong finally led his troops to complete the formation outside Dingjiayuan Village before enemy reinforcements, and at the same time surrounded Dingjiayuan Village, which had only a hundred defenders.
Although Cao Shixiong immediately led the Yanshi garrison southward and sent envoys to Dagu Pass at the same time. Shenyuan Pass sent orders to mobilize elites to assemble at Dingjiayuan Village, but the defenders at Dagu and Shenyuan Pass were far less determined than Cao Shixiong.
They immediately received a report that Nanbing warships had appeared in the Yishui River and were delivering a large number of elite troops to the north of Qifeng Village. They were shocked and suspicious. At that time, Fu Liang and Cheng Xiao were leading their troops to attack.
Both levels were fierce and neither dared to make any moves.
After receiving the order from Cao Shixiong in the afternoon, the two generals just sent 500 soldiers and horses to the nearby Dingjiayuan stronghold.
Cao Shixiong led the Yanshi garrison to the outskirts of Dingjiayuan Village. More than a thousand armored soldiers from both passes stopped on a hillock in the southeast of Dingjiayuan and were in a dilemma.
Cao Shixiong did not dare to delay. On the one hand, he urged the two garrison defenders to mobilize more elite troops to join them, and on the other hand, he launched an attack all night against the southern soldiers who entered the outskirts of Dingjiayuan Village.
However, all the favorable terrain was occupied by Su Mou and his troops in advance. Less than 4,000 He Luohan troops launched attacks in batches from the rugged slopes and valleys in the direction of Dingjiayuan Village. Wave after wave of offensives were ruthlessly disintegrated, except for the hillsides and valleys.
Thousands of corpses were left behind until dawn, but they could not shake the heavy armored infantry formation at all.
At dawn, he saw that two thousand more armored soldiers from Jingxiang and Xiangzhou had been added to the outskirts of Dingjiayuan Village. Even if Cao Shixiong mobilized elite troops from Zhiyuan and Dagu Pass, and the number of soldiers and horses that could be directly mobilized increased to more than 6,000, he could only give up the futile effort.
attack.
King Wu Lulie of Zhennan was stationed in Zhongmou. After receiving the news, he sent Mo Lihu and Zhong Changqing to ride westward and arrived at Dingjiayuan Village at dawn to meet up with Cao Shixiong.
Seeing the scene in front of him, Mo Lihu could only ask Cao Shixiong to give up the aid to the Yique Valley and gather the existing troops to the east of Dingjiayuan Village to establish positions to ensure the garrison at Sheyuan and Dagu Pass.
When retreating north, there will be a relatively safe passage.
Mo Lihu also asked Cao Shixiong to immediately arrange for the carriages and the garrison at Dagu Pass to retreat in an orderly manner to prevent more and more elite southern troops from landing at Dingjiayuan Village.
Once the relatively easy-to-pass valleys to the east of Dingjiayuan Village are controlled by the Southern troops, the retreat channels for the garrison at Fuyuan and Dagu will be completely blocked.
In addition, Heluoqukou's plan to withdraw northward was also abandoned. They wanted to seize the last moment and arrange for the Han soldiers and their families in Luoyang, Yanshi, Gongyi and other places to withdraw northward.
Since the Dagu and Zhenyuan passes were composed of overlapping military fortresses, it was not until October 7th that Fu Liang and Cheng Xiao led their troops to completely open up the canyon across Songshan, Zhenyuan, Shuanglong and Wan'an mountains.
Enter the valley east of Dingjiayuan Village.
Before that, although there were no more warships in the Yishui River, Wang Xian also ordered Jiang Ang to lead thousands of soldiers to swim across the Yishui River on simple rafts, enter the west of the Yishui River, and attack the Longmen Mountain villages.
Then they directly bypassed Luoyang City and headed towards Mengjin and Maojin Ferry to pursue the enemy troops who were escaping hastily north.
As of the 15th, the troops and horses of the Heluo camp had occupied Dagu Pass, Sheyuan Pass, Luoyang, Yanshi, Gongyi, and Mengjin, except for Yique City and Yique Valley and a few cities such as Luoning in the upper reaches of Luoshui River.
, most of the Heluo area including Yiyang, Hangu Pass, Maojindu and other fortresses.
Due to the speed of the advance, which far exceeded the enemy's imagination, Cao Shixiong led 20,000 remaining soldiers to flee northward from Luoyang in a hurry. Except for tens of thousands of soldiers and their families, millions of soldiers and civilians were trapped south of the Yellow River.
To the east of Songshan Mountain, Tang Pan led the troops of the westward camp of Beijing to attack Xinzheng and other cities, forcing Zhennan Zong's main army in Zheng and Bian to shrink to Xingyang, Zhengzhou, Zhongmou, Bianliang and other cities near the Yellow River.
.
In the East and West Road areas of Jingdong, Prince Ping Yanzong abandoned the Xusu, Shang and Song Dynasties and other states, and shrank his troops to the Qingmi, Yi, Denglai and Weizhou states, trying to continue to control the central and northern areas of the East Jingdong Road...
When I received the news that the Nanbing warships had appeared in the Yishui River and were sending a large number of elite soldiers and horses to the north of Qifeng Village, I was shocked and suspicious. At that time, Fu Liang and Cheng Xiao led their troops to attack Zhenglie in two passes.
Didn't dare to take any action.
After receiving the order from Cao Shixiong in the afternoon, the two generals just sent 500 soldiers and horses to the nearby Dingjiayuan stronghold.
Cao Shixiong led the Yanshi garrison to the outskirts of Dingjiayuan Village. More than a thousand armored soldiers from both passes stopped on a hillock in the southeast of Dingjiayuan and were in a dilemma.
Cao Shixiong did not dare to delay. On the one hand, he urged the two garrison defenders to mobilize more elite troops to join them, and on the other hand, he launched an attack all night against the southern soldiers who entered the outskirts of Dingjiayuan Village.
However, all the favorable terrain was occupied by Su Mou and his troops in advance. Less than 4,000 He Luohan troops launched attacks in batches from the rugged slopes and valleys in the direction of Dingjiayuan Village. Wave after wave of offensives were ruthlessly disintegrated, except for the hillsides and valleys.
Thousands of corpses were left behind until dawn, but they could not shake the heavy armored infantry formation at all.
At dawn, he saw that two thousand more armored soldiers from Jingxiang and Xiangzhou had been added to the outskirts of Dingjiayuan Village. Even if Cao Shixiong mobilized elite troops from Zhiyuan and Dagu Pass, and the number of soldiers and horses that could be directly mobilized increased to more than 6,000, he could only give up the futile effort.
attack.
King Wu Lulie of Zhennan was stationed in Zhongmou. After receiving the news, he sent Mo Lihu and Zhong Changqing to ride westward and arrived at Dingjiayuan Village at dawn to meet up with Cao Shixiong.
Seeing the scene in front of him, Mo Lihu could only ask Cao Shixiong to give up the aid to the Yique Valley and gather the existing troops to the east of Dingjiayuan Village to establish positions to ensure the garrison at Sheyuan and Dagu Pass.
When retreating north, there will be a relatively safe passage.
Mo Lihu also asked Cao Shixiong to immediately arrange for the carriages and the garrison at Dagu Pass to retreat in an orderly manner to prevent more and more elite southern troops from landing at Dingjiayuan Village.
Once the relatively easy-to-pass valleys to the east of Dingjiayuan Village are controlled by the Southern troops, the retreat channels for the garrison at Fuyuan and Dagu will be completely blocked.
In addition, Heluoqukou's plan to withdraw northward was also abandoned. They wanted to seize the last moment and arrange for the Han soldiers and their families in Luoyang, Yanshi, Gongyi and other places to withdraw northward.
Since the Dagu and Zhenyuan passes were composed of overlapping military fortresses, it was not until October 7th that Fu Liang and Cheng Xiao led their troops to completely open up the canyon across Songshan, Zhenyuan, Shuanglong and Wan'an mountains.
Enter the valley east of Dingjiayuan Village.
Before that, although there were no more warships in the Yishui River, Wang Xian also ordered Jiang Ang to lead thousands of soldiers to swim across the Yishui River on simple rafts, enter the west of the Yishui River, and attack the Longmen Mountain villages.
Then they directly bypassed Luoyang City and headed towards Mengjin and Maojin Ferry to pursue the enemy troops who were escaping hastily north.
As of the 15th, the troops and horses of the Heluo camp had occupied Dagu Pass, Sheyuan Pass, Luoyang, Yanshi, Gongyi, and Mengjin, except for Yique City and Yique Valley and a few cities such as Luoning in the upper reaches of Luoshui River.
, most of the Heluo area including Yiyang, Hangu Pass, Maojindu and other fortresses.
Due to the speed of the advance, which far exceeded the enemy's imagination, Cao Shixiong led 20,000 remaining soldiers to flee northward from Luoyang in a hurry. Except for tens of thousands of soldiers and their families, millions of soldiers and civilians were trapped south of the Yellow River.
To the east of Songshan Mountain, Tang Pan led the troops of the westward camp of Beijing to attack Xinzheng and other cities, forcing Zhennan Zong's main army in Zheng and Bian to shrink to Xingyang, Zhengzhou, Zhongmou, Bianliang and other cities near the Yellow River.
.
In the East and West Road areas of Jingdong, Prince Ping Yanzong abandoned the Xusu, Shang and Song Dynasties and other states, and shrank his troops to the Qingmi, Yi, Denglai and Weizhou states, trying to continue to control the central and northern areas of the East Jingdong Road...
