King Jing Zhao Tuan and his party will stay overnight in Xiangcheng and wait until early tomorrow morning to set off south. However, in order to reach Xiangyang as soon as possible, King Jing Zhao Tuan only has hundreds of cavalry guards around him.
Although the Red Husbands had not focused their attack south of the capital at this time, there were still small groups of soldiers scouting in Xuzhou and Caizhou.
In order to ensure that King Jing Zhao Tuan's march south was safe, Xu Huai led the Chushan cavalry out of Xiangcheng before nightfall and spread out along both sides of the Ru River overnight to ensure that no small groups of soldiers penetrated into Wuyang south of the Ru River and Xiping level.
.
The counties in Ruzhou, including Xiangcheng, will be included in the defense area of Heluo Xingying Camp.
Zheng Huaizhong's eldest son Zheng Cong also commanded the left army of the Heluo camp and knew the identity of Ruzhou, and was stationed in Xiangcheng. Zheng Huaizhong also specially sent Zhao Fan to follow his son Zheng Cong to Ruzhou first to ensure that nothing went wrong in taking over the defense of Ruzhou.
King Jing Zhao Tuan, as well as the first batch of generals who followed him southward, Zhou He, Gao Chunnian and others, all stayed directly in the house behind the Yamen.
When the situation was deep, Hu Kai, Yang Lin, Liu Yan, Zheng Cong, Zhao Fan and others said goodbye and left the state government's back house. King Jing Zhao Tuan asked Qian Shangduan and Zhang Xin to see him off on his behalf.
Hu Kai, Yang Lin, Liu Yan and others walked out of the post office of the state government and faced Qian Shangduan. Zhang Xingong handed over his hand, got on his horse and galloped towards the Xicheng military camp. Hu Kai led his troops to Xiangcheng and kept talking to the generals.
Advance and retreat together, sleep and eat together.
Zheng Cong got on his horse and was about to gallop to the temporary station in Dongcheng. Zhao Fan was not in a hurry to get on his horse. He sat in the narrow alley and looked up at the night sky. The full moon was hanging in the sky, illuminating the long stone alley covered with residual snow.
He was clear and sighed with emotion:
"I think Xu Huai has always planned well. There were no casualties in the second attack on Yan. Only Chushan's cavalry was unscathed. When Bianliang fell, everyone from the Zhu Mansion and the royal family were rescued. Princess Yingyun also returned safely.
His Highness is beside him, but the concubine and the prince are inferior to each other - maybe this is God's will to trick people, or maybe people are not as good as God!"
Zheng Cong didn't know why Zhao Fan was talking about such useless nonsense. He turned to look at Zhao Fan impatiently and urged him to get on his horse and leave quickly.
Qian Shangduan and Zhang Xin, as close ministers of the palace, had many opportunities to serve the concubine and the prince in Bianliang in the past. When they first heard Zhao Fan's words, they felt melancholy and sad again, but when they turned back to the house, they felt more and more sad.
The more you think about it, the less interesting it is.
Zhang Xin and Qian Shangduan had a close relationship. He signaled the guards on the left and right to go their separate ways, and asked Qian Shangduan in a low voice: "What does Zhao Fan mean by this? Does it mean that Xu Huai intends to be a concubine, but he is not dedicated to his affairs?"
Qian Shangduan frowned slightly, shook his head at Zhang Xin, and said in a low voice:
"Don't care what Mr. Zhao means by this, we all have to pretend we haven't heard it before! You go and rest first, and I'll go see if His Highness is asleep at this time!"
Qian Shangduan knew very well that when His Highness ascended the throne in Xiangyang, he was not qualified to compete with Zhou He, Gao Chunnian and others for prime ministership, power and other positions. However, his advantage over Zhang Xin was that he was a close official who had followed His Highness for many years.
Therefore, Qiao Jien, as the official of the inner palace, should be responsible for the daily life of King Jing Zhao Tuan and Princess Yingyun, but Qian Shangduan would take the trouble to take care of all the details to avoid any mistakes.
Qian Shangduan walked into the courtyard where Prince Jing and Princess Yingyun lived. He was still thinking about what Zhao Fan had just said. However, he saw that the candles in the hall had not been extinguished yet. He walked to the corridor, looked in and said, "Your Highness, what are you talking about?"
Didn't you sleep?"
King Jing Zhao Tuan was sitting in the hall, nodded slightly to Qian Shangduan, and said: "I am tired, but not sleepy. When I saw Yingyun sitting in front of the corridor at night, she complained that I just scolded her, so I talked to her for a while...
"
King Jing Zhao Tuan then said to Yingyun:
"...It's not that my father doesn't understand your sadness of missing your mother-in-law, and it's not that my father must reprimand you in public. Doesn't it mean that my father doesn't miss you, my mother-in-law, and my father-in-law? But at this time, the mountains and rivers are overturned.
The life is in ruins, and the father is even more worried. You are just too concerned to ask more questions, but will Liu Yan and others misunderstand that you are accusing them of failing to rescue them? You know that your unintentional question will cause a lot of trouble.
How much alarm and worry?"
"One day I will have the opportunity to apologize to General Liu Yan," Yingyun said.
"You're not convinced in your heart, but it's not your fault,"
King Jing Zhao Tuan sighed lightly,
"Although my father is a prince, he has been walking on thin ice every day for twenty years since he was favored by the Renming Palace. He feels the words 'accompanying the king is like accompanying a tiger' more deeply than anyone else - so even if you can't understand it,
Don't ignore my warning to you today. The situation is as bad as it is now. If there is a slight mistake, let alone turning the tide, you and I will become prisoners of the Hulu like your mother and Abao. Tell me about it.
, if the monarch and his ministers are suspicious at this time, how can we expect the generals to guard the mountains and rivers with their lives and turn the tide? Your mother, my father, and the others may be in danger. You are the only daughter beside my father, so you should pay more attention to your own.
words and deeds……"
…………
…………
In the early morning of the next day, he rested for two hours wrapped in a felt blanket in the forest. Xu Huai came to sleep and saw that it was already dawn. He simply washed up, ate dry food, and got back on his horse with Wang Ju, Chen Zixiao and others, surrounded by the guards.
, go east along the south bank of Ru River.
At this time, the morning sun rises from the treetops in the east and shines on the vast wilderness on both sides of the Ru River. Milky white mist rises from the river and spreads to both sides of the river.
Ru River, Ying River, Cai River, and Bian River are all main tributaries of the left bank of Huai River.
The Ru River originates from the northern section of Funiu Mountain and flows through Yiyang, Jiacheng, Liangxian, Xiangcheng and other places. Although it has left the Funiu Mountain area, the two sides are still undulating hills and mountains, and it has not yet entered the real Hehuai Plain area.
However, the villages and houses on both sides of the Ru River have gradually become denser, and from time to time you can see the refugees sleeping in the hills and fields in ragged clothes, with desolate faces.
Xu Huai and his companions traveled all the way eastward, and received reports from time to time of encountering small groups of captives along the way. However, the Chihu people sent scouts along the Ru River, mainly to investigate the gathering of troops and horses in the southwestern region of Gyeonggi Province.
In Xuzhou to the north and Chenzhou to the east, there are currently no signs of large groups of captives gathering.
Even if the scouts from both sides encountered each other, they would always seize the opportunity, snap a shot, and quickly distance themselves.
"Obviously, the Battle of Taiyuan made the Chihu people no longer dare to ignore the threats on the flanks. After easily capturing Bianliang, they transferred the main force of the cavalry back to the north bank of the Yellow River and cooperated with the surrendered troops to capture Hedong, Hebei, etc.
The city that has not yet sunk -" Chen Zixiao said, "Although this will consolidate the Chihu people's occupation and rule north of the Yellow River, it will also buy us more time to consolidate our defense lines in the upper reaches of the Huai River..."
"Yes, I hope we can still make it in time..." Xu Huai said with emotion.
Although the attack on Taiyuan could not avoid the tragedy of the Bianliang Trap, it obviously had a great impact on the subsequent evolution of the war.
From this moment on, the trajectory of history should completely deviate from the established direction.
However, the most critical issue is that even if the historical trend has deviated from the established direction, it has not turned in a good direction at all, but has turned to another bad direction, which is not worthy of optimism.
Of course, it was pointless to think about all this at this time, so Xu Huai looked towards Ru River.
The Ru River flows diagonally to the southeast into the northern part of Shangcai, and the two banks become flat and wide. The Shah River, which originates from the mountains at the eastern foot of Funiu Mountain, merges into the Ru River, and continues to flow at a larger inclination toward the wilderness in the southeast direction, until it reaches the east of Xincai
, after joining the Wuzhai River originating from Qingyi Ridge and other mountains, it finally joins the Huaihe River in the north of Gushi County, Guangzhou.
The Chushan camp's defense area also ended at Rukou to the east. However, starting from the west pass where Tongbai Mountain Road enters Biyang County, Tangzhou, the Chushan camp's defense area was more than 400 miles wide from west to east.
Even if Wuyang, Shangcai and other places are not lost, the western part of the Chushan camp will be located under the cover of Wuyang and Shangcai defenders, and there will be no chance of engaging the enemy.
The entrance also has a defense surface of three hundred miles in depth.
Most of such a vast defensive surface is in plain areas.
When discussing the adjustment of the defense zone yesterday, Hu Kai advocated that the Qingshan Mountain to the north of Qingyi Ridge, Huaichuan and Xincai to the east should be included in the Chushan camp.
In this way, the Chushan camp included the four counties of Queshan, Zhenyang, Xincai, and Huaichuan on the north bank of the Huaihe River, and the seven counties of Chushan, Xinyang, Huangchuan, Guangshan, Luoshan, Gushi, and Shangcheng on the south bank of the Huaihe River.
Located between Tongbai Mountain and Huaiyang Mountain are the three passes of Jiuli, Pingjing and Wusheng.
With such a broad defensive surface and so many fortifications and passes, even if six or seven thousand men and horses were to be broken into pieces to fill it, there would still be plenty of loopholes.
Xu Huai went to Pu Ban to see King Jing and rarely expressed his opinions on other matters. Except that he wanted to stick to his identity and status at this time and not steal the limelight from Zhou He, Gao Chunnian and others. More importantly, his main thoughts were
I'm thinking about how to defend the upper reaches of the Huaihe River.
Towards evening, Xu Huai, surrounded by many guards, went down to the north of Xincai. At this time, a scout came to report that King Jing and his party had set off from Xiangcheng early in the morning and had successfully entered Fangcheng County, Tangzhou in the afternoon.
At this time, Xu Huai ordered to assemble his troops and gallop to Qingyi Ridge overnight...
