It has only been less than fifty years since the Red Husbands rose up in Mobei; and it has only been sixteen or seventeen years since they annexed the Khitan homeland and marched southward, trampling the Central Plains with iron hoofs.
The Red Guard Cavalry has not encountered setbacks over the years.
Not to mention that the Chihu were pushed to the brink of destruction several times by the enemy at the beginning of their rise. Even after unifying the Mobei and Monan tribes and conquering the Khitan, it was not all smooth sailing for the party. They went through three large-scale expeditions before and after.
Combat.
Therefore, in the past thirteen or four years, the army has been repeatedly frustrated north of the Huaihe River, unable to cross the Leichi. In the eyes of many Chihu people, these are setbacks that must be endured to engulf the Central Plains, and have not affected their ability to dominate the world.
confidence.
After the tragic defeat of Yingzhou, Zhengbian, Heluo and other places were successively gained and lost. The Zhennan Zong Palace retracted the central defense line to the north bank of the Yellow River, and even advocated further abandoning Hedong and other places. However, the Pingyan Zong Palace delayed for three or four years.
They were unable to make up their minds to abandon the occupied areas south of the Yellow River and completely shrink their troops to the north of the Yellow River.
In addition to the unwillingness of many generals in Ping Yanzong's palace, the more important thing is that the royal ministers far away in Mobei, most of whom have not realized or are unwilling to admit that in just ten years, the Southern Dynasty has changed from the previous one.
Weak and bullied, incompetent at will, suddenly became so powerful and indestructible.
Without a clear understanding of reality, who is willing to easily give up his ambition to swallow up the Central Plains?
Compared with the disastrous defeat and heavy losses suffered by the Prince of Zhennan in the Battle of Yingzhou, the defeat of the Prince of Pingyan in the Second Battle of Huainan can only be said to be a setback, and it has been five or six years now (Pingyan
Prince Zong's Mansion lost relatively limited troops and horses in the Yingzhou Battle), and the losses have long been made up, and the military strength can even be better than before.
After autumn, when they saw that the Southern Dynasty crossed the Yellow River with an elite force and then went straight to the Zhangshui River, and then took frequent actions in Jicao and other prefectures that were formerly part of the north of Jingxi Road, the Pingyanzong Palace could basically judge that the Southern Dynasty was brazenly launching a winter campaign.
In the early stage of the battle, the focus will be on both sides of the middle reaches of the Yellow River, in the area north of the original Nanchao Jingxi East Road.
This is also the waist and abdomen area occupied by Pingyanzong Wangfu East Road.
However, Prince Ping Yanzong did not mobilize large numbers of soldiers and horses to reinforce Wei, Pu, Cao, Yun and other places to fight the southern soldiers along the middle reaches of the Yellow River. Instead, he sent groups of elite cavalry through Qingzi and other places.
Through the Yimeng Mountains across the central area of Qilu land, they gathered towards the Yizhou area in the south, intending to engage in a decisive battle with the main force of the Longwu Army advancing towards the southern area of Yizhou.
On the one hand, Prince Ping Yanzong does not believe that the Longwu Army led by Han Shiliang will gain full trust immediately after surrendering to Sikong Mansion. It does not think that the combat effectiveness of the Xuzhou camp, dominated by the Longwu Army, will increase in just two or three years.
How much improvement it has received can be compared with Heluo, Jingxi and Jingnan Xingying, which are direct descendants of Sikong Mansion.
Prince Ping Yanzong also knew that he did not have the strength to fight a full-scale battle with the Southern soldiers at this time, but if they wanted to defeat them one by one, if they wanted to severely damage or defeat one of the main forces of the Southern soldiers at the beginning of the winter battle, so as to reduce the pressure on other directions,
There is no more suitable goal than the Xuzhou camp.
On the other hand, Prince Ping Yanzong believed that the Sikong Mansion, under the control of Xu Huai, had no intention of further weakening the power of the Longwu Army through the war. In the first winter battle, they chose the southern front for a decisive battle with the main force of the Xuzhou camp, which undoubtedly had a greater chance of victory.
And if they could take the lead in severely damaging the main force of Xuzhou's camp in the south of Yizhou, they would surely expose the weakness of the southern Jianghuai hinterland again and force the southern Dynasty to give up its intention to invade Hedong and other places.
Taking a step back, Prince Ping Yanzong gathered troops and horses in Yizhou. If the Southern Dynasties were forced to mobilize large-scale troops and horses from Heluo, Zhengbian and other places in advance to reinforce the eastern front, they could also mobilize troops in Yizhou and other places.
Switching from offense to defense can also resolve military crises in other directions this winter.
Only in this way can the Red Husband's cavalry mobility advantages be truly brought into full play.
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Sizhou Zhisu is located in the west of Henan City. Near the wharf of the river where Yishui River enters Sishui River, groups of cavalry are filing down through the trestle. Sizhou is under the jurisdiction of Xuzhou Xingying.
The Yishui River originates from Yishan Mountain, flows through Zhijiqiu and Tancheng in Yizhou, joins the Surabaya River in the west of Suyu City in Sizhou, and then flows together into Hongze Puzhong.
Therefore, the Xuzhou camp will launch an offensive to recapture Yizhou in the north this winter. Suyu City, located at the mouth of the Yishui River, has long become a gathering place for the camp's grain, grass, supplies and troops. Han Shiliang also moved the camp's headquarters to Suyu.
Liu Shiwang came to Suyu with this group of cavalry to reinforce the eastern front.
After he disembarked and landed, he saw Han Shiliang, Zhang Xiongshan, Shi Hu, Wu Sanrong, Sun Yanguan and other generals who had arrived in Xuzhou in advance to camp, rushing to the dock to greet him.
He stepped forward and saluted Han Shiliang, Zhang Xiongshan and others.
After abandoning the rest of the crowd, Liu Shiwang took out Xu Huai's autographed letter, handed it to Han Shiliang, and said
"The mobility of the Red Husband Cavalry is far superior to that of our army. Its 50,000 to 60,000 elite cavalry have gathered in Yizhou, and their intention is to draw our troops to concentrate on the eastern front. However, if we really want to launch a large-scale attack from Heluo, Jingxi, and Jingnan
With the deployment of elite soldiers and horses for reinforcements, even if our army abandons its combat plan in other directions this winter, it may not be able to gather in the area east of Xuzhou in time to fight the main force of the East Route rebels - after all, our army's mobility is still far away
Far from being comparable to the main force of the Red Hussars, large-scale infantry transfers take too much time. The Prime Minister believes that there are currently two options on the Eastern Front. One is to withdraw all troops and horses from southern Yizhou and stick to the camp.
Waiting for the northern front to decide the winner first, and secondly, the camp in Xuzhou overcomes all difficulties, and this winter will have a decisive battle with the east route rebels in the south of Yizhou. However, in addition to the 20,000 vanguard cavalry selected by the Sikong Mansion and handed over to Han Shuai for control,
For the time being, we cannot mobilize more elite soldiers and horses for reinforcements. Sikong Mansion will respect Han Shuai’s decision on how to fight!"
"With the help of 20,000 elite cavalry from the selected vanguard, this battle has a high chance of victory!" Han Shiliang said in a gloomy voice.
He could order the Longwu Army and other Xuzhou camp troops to temporarily withdraw from southern Yizhou and retreat to the defense line of the camp north of Suyu and west of Haizhou.
However, once they choose to retreat from the south of Yizhou to avoid fighting, the main force of 50,000 to 60,000 cavalry assembled by the Chihu people on the east road can rely on their strong mobility at any time to quickly go to Qing Dynasty through the gorge between Yishan Mountain.
Transfer movement in the area east of Ziyi.
At that time, if the main force of the Jingnan camp, headed by Yang Qiye, is advancing to Jeju and Caozhou, if they do not want to give up their plan to regain the cities along the middle reaches of the Yellow River this winter, they will inevitably have to fight to the death with the main force of the East Route soldiers in Jeju or Caozhou.
In other words, unless the Sikong Mansion gives up this year's recovery plan, there must be a main force on the route that must take on the important task of decisively fighting the main force of the east route soldiers.
Now look at it, it’s either the Xuzhou camp or the Jingnan camp.
Now, Prince Ping Yanzong's palace has regarded the Xuzhou camp as a weak point and concentrated the main force of the cavalry on the southern line of Yizhou.
Maybe the Xuzhou camp can choose to avoid the war and hand over greater responsibilities to the Jingnan camp. Maybe the Sikong Mansion will eventually consider that the Longwu Army has been reorganized for more than two years and its combat effectiveness is slightly worse, so it will not blame it, but Longwu
Wujun should not expect to finally win the status he desires.
Besides, the Sikong Mansion transferred half of the elite cavalry to Xuzhou and put them under the control of the Xuzhou camp, and they also expected the Xuzhou camp to take on the important task.
It is impossible to expect to regain the Central Plains without bloodshed and sacrifice, and it is also impossible to expect that others will bleed without losing their own blood!
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Prince Ping Yanzong gathered the main cavalry in Yizhou, mainly to attract as many main troops as possible from other directions in the Southern Dynasty.
However, the Xuzhou camp did not retreat, nor did it wait for more reinforcements.
The troops gathered - in that case, it would take too long - the main force of infantry and cavalry with a total of 100,000 troops in Xuzhou camp, and the troops advanced north along both sides of the Yishui River. The battle of Yizhou was destined to be inevitable.
It is impossible for Prince Ping Yanzong to withdraw all 50,000 to 60,000 elite cavalry and 40,000 to 50,000 Han soldiers to defend the city. Once the main force of the Xuzhou camp is asked to calmly seal the city from the outside, even if it can defend the city, it will be destined to be in other directions.
Because of the lack of troops, he will be killed by the Southern soldiers.
If reinforcements from other directions of the Southern Dynasty cannot be attracted, then the Ping Yanzong Palace itself is very much looking forward to a victory in Yizhou as soon as possible, so that its main cavalry can be transferred to other battlefields as soon as possible for reinforcements.
This is also the key to using the time difference to defeat each one.
As soldiers and horses from Xuzhou's camp entered the southern area of Yizhou one after another, the captive soldiers also moved the 100,000 elite infantry and cavalry assembled to the north bank of the Shiliang River in southern Yizhou to fight.
The Shiliang River is an east-west tributary of the Yishui River located in the north of Tancheng County and south of Qiu County. It is a natural barrier to the south of Qiu City and the best battlefield for the Japanese troops to fight against the troops advancing from the north.
On October 24th, when there was heavy fog, Wu Sanrong and Longwu Army General Qu Xiang led 20,000 cavalry. They first advanced along the east bank of Yishui River to the area south of Shiliang River. They encountered a group of soldiers who had sneaked into the south bank of Shiliang River on a foggy night.
After an ambush of more than ten thousand captives, the two sides fought fiercely in the wilderness on the south bank of the Shiliang River, kicking off the Battle of Yizhou.
Commanders Wu Sanrong and Qu Xiang fought hard. The two sides fought on the south bank of the Shiliang River. They suffered heavy casualties on the first day, and in the end they had to retreat temporarily.
Early the next morning, Han Shiliang personally led his main troops across the Shiliang River to seek battle.
In addition to leaving 70,000 infantry and cavalry in formation north of the Shiliang River, King Pingyan personally led 20,000 elite Red Guard cavalry to swim across the river directly from the lower reaches of the Shiliang River and quickly circled behind the main force of the Xuzhou camp.
Conduct a pincer attack. ??
Xuzhou camp generals Qu Xiang, Fang Shengjing and other troops stayed on the south bank and were defeated by the Japanese soldiers one after another.
At that time, the battlefield was in chaos. Shi Hu, Wu Sanrong and Han Shiliang's eldest son Han Que commanded 20,000 elite infantry and cavalry. They followed Han Shiliang on the north bank and broke into the surrender Han army arrayed on the north bank of the Shiliang River. They took the lead in bringing down more than 30,000 soldiers.
The Han army was surrendered and defeated, and then the main force of infantry and cavalry was gathered on the north bank of the Shiliang River to engage in a fierce battle with the main force of the Red Husband cavalry.
In the afternoon, Sun Yanguan led more than 2,000 cavalry, forcibly tore through the enemy's blockade, and went north to attack Yizhou Zhijie Qiucheng.
In order to facilitate the rapid evacuation of the wounded and sick into the city for treatment, at the same time, the main force of infantry and cavalry set up multiple arrays in the south of the city to engage in fierce fighting. That is, Qiucheng did not close the city gate tightly, and as a result, Sun Yanguan led his troops to attack in the chaos.
Sun Yanguan then led his troops to occupy Jiqiu City before the reinforcements of the cavalry were launched, and secured a crucial anchor point for Xuzhou's troops who were camped on the north bank of the Shiliang River and continued to fight, gradually reversing the disadvantage on the battlefield.
Before nightfall, King Pingyan saw that there was no hope of victory, but the crucial Jiqiu City was unexpectedly lost. He was worried that after the main force of the Xuzhou camp established a foothold in Jiqiu City, they would spread their troops to the two wings of Jiqiu and block them to the north.
Finally, he chose to withdraw from the battlefield, bypass Jiqiu City overnight, and retreat north...
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On the sixth day of November, there was light snow in Nanyang. Dots of snowflakes fell from the hazy sky. The carriage carrying Princess Yingyun entered Biyang City in the light snow.
Although the war is raging and everything about the wedding is being kept simple, although today is the day when Princess Yingyun and King Qi arrive in Biyang City and it is not the official day of the wedding, the people who are looking forward to it have already packed the gate of the south city.
There are three floors, and the outer three floors are packed to the brim.
Although Xu Wuliang, Lu Xiong and others were not as prominent as Shi Zhen, Han Gui and others, as the elders of the Xu family, they had the kindness to teach Xu Huai.
The two of them waited at the South City Gate early to welcome the arrival of Princess Yingyun's car.
< br>"You have worked hard all the way, Mr. Liu!"
When Wang Ju and Su Laochang saw the carriage entering the city gate, Zhu Tong, Hu Yu and others accompanied Qi King Fu Liu Xian, who had a gray beard, to step out of the carriage first, and they all stepped forward to salute.
When Liu Xian was the military envoy of Jinghu North Road, although he led the Xuanwu Army and suffered a devastating defeat in Jiaopi, the Central Plains was in a state of decay at that time, and all the soldiers and horses in the south were as fearful of the enemy as tigers. It was rare and precious to be able to stand up.
Therefore, Emperor Jianji asked Xu Huai for his opinion on how to deal with Liu Xian. Xu Huai appreciated Liu Xian's rare resistance and advocated leniency.
When Liu Xian served as the economic envoy of Jinghu North Road, he was also a rare high-ranking general who had goodwill towards Chushan and cooperated with Chushan. Now Fu Liang and Cheng Xiao, who have become generals of Sikong Mansion, were once
He is a subordinate of Liu Xian.
Therefore, after the wedding was confirmed, Xu Huaili invited Liu Xian to be responsible for the academic teaching in the Prince Qi Palace and to serve as Prince Qi Fu. Naturally, everyone in the Sikong Palace had enough respect for Liu Xian.
In order to facilitate Princess Yingyun to continue to take care of Prince Qi after her marriage, Sikong Mansion transformed a house next to the Duke's Mansion into the new Prince Qi's Mansion.
Although the new palace only occupies a dozen acres of land and has hundreds of houses - in addition to the eleven-year-old Qi King Zhao Yin, Liu Xian as Qi Wangfu, Hu Yu as Qi Wangfu Zhanshi and many palace officials also
They all lived in Prince Qi's mansion with their whole family, but it was barely enough.
Princess Yingyun will also temporarily live in the new Prince Qi's mansion before her wedding.
"The palace is still a little cramped, so I have to aggrieve everyone first. Xu Huai originally wanted to come over to personally welcome everyone to move into the new palace, but he had just left the government office and there was an urgent military situation in Puzhou, so he couldn't get away for a while.
We can only entrust us to apologize to Mr. Liu and His Highness first!"
Zhou Yan, Zhu Duojin and his wife had arrived in Biyang in advance to arrange everything in Prince Qi's palace. Therefore, Su Laochang and Wang Ju welcomed everyone into the palace and could not make any additional arrangements. Except that King Qi was still young and had a bumpy journey.
Already exhausted, he went to the inner house to rest first, accompanied by the chamberlain and the palace maid, while the others rested in the side hall.
Su Laochang also briefly explained why Xu Huai did not come to meet him.
"What's the urgent military situation in Puzhou?" Liu Xian asked with concern.
Xu Huai did not wait for his wedding before launching the Northern Expedition. At this time, the war in Hedong, Yunji and Yizhou was in full swing, and Liu Xian could not help but be concerned.
"Han Shiliang and Han Shuai led Xuzhou soldiers and horses to recapture Yizhou. Although they suffered heavy casualties, they also severely damaged the east-route soldiers on the bank of Yishui River. Especially the good news of annihilating 20,000 red cavalry reached Bianzhou - my bastard
Zhang Boy, who used to look more stable than Xu Pang, did not ask for instructions this time, so he gathered Liu Huting and other generals with 20,000 infantry and cavalry, crossed the river directly into Puzhou, and wanted to kill in the south of Weizhou. This matter is not in the military intelligence staff
It was within the division's combat plan. When Xu Huai learned about this, he had to urgently summon the generals of the Military Intelligence Staff Division to study whether the combat deployment of Cao Yun, Qi Huai and other places needed to be adjusted accordingly!"
Su Laochang had no choice but to explain that Xu Huai was held back by something at this time and could not escape.
Liu Xian knew that Su Laochang's son Su Mi, together with Xu Pan and others, were the outstanding representatives of the younger generation of Sikong Mansion. He pondered for a moment and then asked hesitantly, "Young General Su Mi, do you think he has the main force to ping the Yanzong Prince's Mansion?"
Is it possible that all the troops and horses could be intercepted south of the Yellow River and surrounded and annihilated?"
"These bastards, who don't know the heights of the earth, think that the main force of the Donglu Cavalry was severely damaged in Yizhou, so they have no ability to break out to the north! They acted rashly, and now they have made the Sikong Mansion miserable!"
Although this battle could intercept and annihilate the main force of Prince Ping Yanzong's palace south of the Yellow River, it would definitely be an unparalleled feat. However, as a father, Su Laochang was more worried about the huge risks involved in Su Mung's move itself, and worried about other people.
The soldiers and horses of the various routes could not connect with each other. Su Miao's attempt to use 20,000 infantry to intercept the main force of the east-route Japanese troops retreating north from Qingzi, Jiyun and other places was like using a mantis' arm as a chariot...
