After the remaining troops of Lanzhou withdrew from Fuzhou, Xu Huai personally led a small group of cavalry for more than ten days in a row, passing through Guanxun Mountain in Langu, Loufan and other places to conduct guerrilla operations. The main purpose was to attack Cao Shixiong's rebels.
If the army is restrained, more soldiers and civilians from Lanzhou can be forced to withdraw into Fuzhou.
This time, they persisted in Loufan for another seven days, and after attracting part of the main force of Cao Shixiong's rebel army, they retreated across Guanlui Mountain.
Xu Huai was also very tired. He led his troops who were also very tired, and retreated into Fuzhou from the valley road in the south. Then they walked north along the Maoyuan Qiu Ridge. They saw that they were not far from Shengjun Fort and stopped at the east of the Yellow River.
rest on a ridge on the shore.
Xu Huailema looked at the frozen Yellow River at the foot of the mountain, which was tightly bound between the undulating Guyuanmao Mountains. The Yellow River slowly flows from west to east from the southern foot of Yinshan Mountain, blocked by the mountains at the western foot of Xishan Mountain.
It turns south and flows eastward after being blocked by the Qinling Mountains for more than 1,200 miles.
It is this 1,200-mile Yellow River waterway that splits the land of Shanxi and Shaanxi into two halves.
The Yellow River waterway runs for more than a thousand miles from north to south, and the section from the mouth of the Hun River to the south of the Baishui River is about three hundred miles, with Linfu Road on both sides.
Linfu Road belonged to Linzhou during the Sui and Tang Dynasties, and only Xinqin and Yincheng counties were established. After the establishment of the Dayue Dynasty, the land on the east bank was separated and Fugu County was newly established. Later, Fugu County was promoted to Fuzhou.
To the southwest of where Xu Huai stood, Fuzhou City was built on the western slope of Shiliang Mountain.
The city was built according to the mountains, with the mountains blocking the river. It was only more than 300 steps deep from north to south and less than 700 steps wide from east to west, and the whole city was shaped like a boot.
Compared with Kelan and other cities, Fuzhou City is small, only comparable to Yangkou Village and Guangwu Village. However, the city has a total of six large and small gates. There are urns on the Great South Gate and Xiaoxi Gate.
It has a city tower and is covered with bricks and stones. It was a standard military fortress at that time.
Although Fuzhou only controls Fugu County, it borders Dangxiang to the northwest and Khitan to the northeast. It has always been a battleground for military strategists. In addition to Fuzhou City and the military fortress Piantou Village in the north, there are seven buildings built in the territory based on the dangerous terrain.
A military fortress.
Linfu Road actually only covers three counties, and Dingkou is not as good as the upper county in the Central Plains. However, the folk customs are martial, and the rural soldiers, who are mainly recruited from peasants, have been fighting against the party members for a long time, and they are all brave and good at fighting.
As for Linfu Road, which is located in Luliang Mountain and west of Guanxun Mountain, as part of the Shanxi-Shaanxi Loess Plateau, the territory is crisscrossed by mountains and valleys, and traffic is blocked.
These factors all determine that the Red Hussars will not easily enter the territory of Fuzhou in the early stage. It is also a safer passage for Lanzhou and Shuozhou troops to move south and evacuate.
Xu Huai was munching on dry and cold wheat cakes when a dozen cavalrymen came towards Maoliang from the direction of Shengjun Fort.
The leader was Zhou Jing. He dismounted and handed the horse to the soldiers behind him. He walked towards Xu Huai and said in a high-pitched voice: "Yingzhou has fallen. After the city fell, all the soldiers and civilians were massacred."
…”
Tongbaishan soldiers withdrew from Shuozhou, and Xiao Linshi also abandoned Huairen.
, Jincheng and other walled cities shrank the remaining soldiers and horses back between the northern part of Xishan Mountain and the southern foot of Yinshan Mountain. As more and more red cavalry moved south, Yingzhou City was completely surrounded.
Even so, Guo Zhongxiong led less than 20,000 remaining soldiers to hold on to Yingzhou City for a full twenty days.
On his way back to Fuzhou Shengjun Fort, Xu Huai already knew the news of the fall of Yingzhou City. At this moment, when he heard Zhou Jing's report, he was still filled with sadness.
In the past month, the situation has changed dramatically.
Guo Zhongxiong and his remnant troops persisted in Yingzhou for so many days, but they could not stop the red cavalry from marching southward after breaking through Yanmen Pass.
Yin Chao and other Dai Xin guards and officials did not have the integrity of Guo Zhongxiong, and they quickly surrendered one after another, so that the forward troops of the Chihu people had already reached the gates of Taiyuan City.
In addition to Wen Hengyue's troops and local Xiang troops and rural soldiers, Taiyuan also urgently recruited reinforcements from Zelu, Jinfen and other places, but there were only 30,000 weak brigades available in the city.
At this time, the Chihu people not only completed the assembly of the eastern and western armies, but also divided their western armies and went south through Yuzhou to capture Juyongguan, the northwest gateway of Jizhou; their eastern armies were assembled and completed in Liaoyang, seizing the city with lightning speed.
Yuguan, the northeast gate of Beijizhou.
The main force of the Chihu people's Western Route Army is not in a hurry to go south from Yunshuo to complete the encirclement of Taiyuan. Currently, it is only using its forward troops to control the passes outside Taiyuan and restrict reinforcements from attacking Taiyuan City. Xu Huai speculates that the Chihu people want to complete the encirclement of Taiyuan.
The occupation of the last remaining Khitan land in Nanjing, Xijin Prefecture.
Although the remnants of the Khitan clan established a new emperor in Xijin Mansion, directly administered 11 counties and unified six states, recruited men from a population of 2 million, and recruited 80,000 to 90,000 new troops, but at this moment no one has
One would also think that how long the remnants of the Khitan army could survive the ravages of the Chihu cavalry, given that the two major gateway fortresses at Yuguan and Juyongguan were so easily lost.
Xu Huai did not have the opportunity to contact the princes and ministers of the Khitan who were retreating to the remaining areas of Xijin. The intelligence collection system that Tongbai Mountain Soldier had just established was still extremely short of manpower. Xu Huai did not have the luxury to send precious manpower to Xijin to collect information that was destined to be outdated.
, useless information.
However, isn't Xiao Linshi's choice enough to explain everything?
Xu Huai looked toward the endless snow-covered peaks to the east, thinking that maybe the remnant Khitan army that had retreated to Xijin had been completely repelled by the Chihu people, or perhaps they had chosen to surrender to the Chihu people.
The Chihu West Route Army was not in a hurry to go south from Yunshuo to besiege Taiyuan. Perhaps after occupying the entire territory of Xijin Prefecture, it gathered a larger force on the east route of Yima Pingchuan and headed south brazenly.
"I heard that Mr. Zhu Hang is coming to Fuzhou soon?" Xu Huai gathered his cloak in the biting cold wind and asked.
"Well, Mr. Zhu Hang has arrived in Fuzhou City. Wang Langjun, Mr. Qian, Mr. Lu, Mr. Shi, and Zhu Zhi set off for Fuzhou City to meet Mr. Zhu Hang. They also left a message asking you to come back.
Go to Fuzhou City!" Zhou Jing said.
"There's no rush, let's go back to Victory Army Fort first. We've been too tired these past few days. We're smelly. No matter how embarrassed we are, we have to clean up and go see people." Xu Huai said.
The imperial court sent Gu's descendants from generation to generation
Guarding Linfu Road is more of a privilege. The Linfu Road Military and Horse Division, which is at the same level as the Economic and Strategic Envoy Division, actually only controls local troops and horses in three counties.
Gu Jiqian, the contemporary head of the Gu family, not only served as the military commander of Linfu Road, but also served as the magistrate of the prefecture. Over the years, he had guarded the two prefectures of Linfu and knew more about practical matters and advance and retreat than the generals in the mainland.
The current situation is so critical, Gu Jiqian, the Gu family's descendants and other officials on Linfu Road are also in panic at this time. How could there be any dirty thoughts of fighting for power and annexing power?
After the remaining troops in Lanzhou withdrew into Fuzhou, Wang Gaoxing, Qian Zerui, Liu Yan, Chen Yuan and others negotiated with Gu Jiqian smoothly.
At this time, everyone was basically thinking about working together to defend Fuzhou from being breached by the enemy before the new decree from the imperial court was issued.
The Linfu Road Army and Horse Division only had 10,000 garrison troops under its jurisdiction. Gu Jiqian mainly concentrated his troops to Fuzhou City and Piantou Village; Liu Yan and Chen Yuan stationed themselves at Pinglu fortress to the east of Piantou Village and gathered the troops to the west. Military remnants.
The Lanzhou Military and Horse Supervision Department, headed by Wang Gaoxing and Qian Zerui, settled in the Shengjun Fort in the east of Fuzhou City. Xu Huai led the soldiers of Tongbai Mountain and the Jiezhong Division to station in the Shengjun Fort and was responsible for defending the gateway into Fuzhou through Lan Valley. The Di, Zhu Run, and Lei Teng divisions also returned to the control of the Lanzhou Military and Horse Supervision Department and were stationed at the Shenfeng Fort south of Shengjun Fort.
Before the arrival of the new decree from the imperial court, everyone also agreed that all ministries would accept Gu Jiqian's arrangements.
Xu Huai and Zhou Jing returned to Shengjun Fort and saw Liu Qiong'er, disguised as a man, walking out of the yard and asked:
"Uncle Chang and the others have already left, why didn't you leave with them?"
"I have decided not to leave. Now I am the only female dependent staying with you. It will be hard to change into men's clothes. My riding skills are quite good now, so I shouldn't be a drag on you." Liu Qiong'er said.
The three counties of Linfu Road are very barren and have a small population. There is very little grain that can be collected locally. In the past, the imperial court would transport a large amount of money and grain from the east of the river. Now the northeast of the river has been completely lost. Taiyuan is in danger, and the follow-up can only be from Fuyan. There are other places to replenish food and grass, but the quantity is limited.
After all, the Central Plains is about to be in chaos, and the Western Army must maintain its follow-up. Money and food can only be allocated from within Shaanxi in a short period of time. The food supplies for the troops stationed in various places are bound to be extremely stretched.
Therefore, from the moment it was decided to abandon Shuozhou City, in addition to the women and children who were injured and injured, they all evacuated south through Guanzhong. The work camp, Su Laochang, Xu Wukun, and Liu Qiong'er also had to evacuate back to Tongbai Mountain as planned. Xu Huai In the end, only 2,500 regular soldiers will be retained in Shengjun Fort, waiting for King Qin's edict.
When Xu Huai left for Loufan to conduct guerrilla operations, Zhu Hang had already sent someone to contact him early.
However, Zhu Hang's trip north this time was because Bianjing learned about the Chihu people's declaration of war and panicked and sent Zhu Hang to learn about the progress of the war. It was not to recruit soldiers and horses from various ministries to rush to Bianjing to participate in the defense of the north bank of the Yellow River.
What should be done next? The DPRK and the Central Government were also in a mess. At least before Zhu Hang went north, the DPRK and the Central Government still imagined that the northeastern part of the river would not be lost so quickly...
