The twilight is closing, and the biting cold wind is ruffling your water.
Several warships slanted into the reed marsh, and a pallet stretched out from the bow. A dozen guards first walked on the pallet and descended into knee-deep shallow water, and then led the war horses one by one from the pallet.
After getting off the boat, dozens of people gathered on the river beach.
Zhou Jing, who disembarked at the fork of the river in advance, led several scouts and led their horses from the woods beside the river embankment to meet up and told Xu Huai the bad news:
"Not only did Zhong Changqing's troops of the Puppet Chu army enter the right bank area of Yingshui River, but there was also an elite red cavalry force of about 5,000 people that sneaked to the north bank of Huilong River last night and joined forces with Zhong Changqing's troops to form an array.
More than 18,000 Xuanwei Army generals were surrounded in the plain east of Jiaopi. The battle lasted less than an hour before the Xuanwei Army array collapsed, and a small number of broken troops have fled to Huaichuan.
,Other circumstances are currently unclear..."
Xu Huai sat on a dead tree stranded on the river beach with his knife in his hand, staring at the vast Ruhe River, silent for a long time.
"Fuck!" Wang Ju spat viciously, pulled out his knife, and cut off a lone poplar tree on the river bank that was as thick as the mouth of a bowl to vent his hatred.
Guo Junpan squatted on the river beach.
Chen Zixiao walked to the river embankment with a heavy heart. The forest blocked his view and could not see the scene in the distance on the left bank of Ru River. At this time, the setting sun had not completely sunk below the horizon, rendering a bloody cloud, as if the sky was flowing.
Bleeding.
More than 18,000 generals of the Xuanwei Army were encircled and defeated, and the small number of soldiers and horses left behind in Jiaopi, Lucheng, Chaiji and other villages were destined to be unable to escape.
Xuanwei Army's 20,000 soldiers and horses were just gone?
The heavy loss was not just for the 20,000 troops, but also for the defense line in the eastern section of Huaishang, which was barely maintained in the first place. The main troops and horses were lost so easily. The hole was opened wide!
And the Xuanwei Army was defeated so easily and so tragically, which would inevitably severely damage the morale of the Ruyin defenders.
For the Huai Palace, if they can still bring the Ruyin garrison back to the south bank of the Huai River, it would be a blessing. They cannot be expected to send troops to help defend the Huangchuan, Guangshan and Jiuliguan lines.
How else to guard Huaishang?
At this time, Chen Zixiao saw Xu Huai standing up on the river beach and saying something, calling Zhou Jing. Guo Junpan and others looked shocked.
They were so far apart that it was hard to hear what Xu Huai, Zhou Jing, Guo Junpan, Wang Ju and others were talking about. Chen Zixiao hurriedly walked back to the river beach and heard Zhou Jing admonishing Xu Huai:
"The cavalry will attack Huaichuan City at any time, and there are only one or two thousand demoralized guards left in Huaichuan City. There is no way to defend it!"
"Jie Shuai is going to Huaichuan now?" Chen Zixiao asked in shock.
Zhong Changqing's troops and the 5,000 red cavalry did not need to wait to completely annihilate the remnants of Xuanwei's army near Jiaopi. There were no other strong enemies between Ru River and Ying River, so they would inevitably go to Huaichuan as soon as possible.
To cover up the attack, nearly one hundred thousand soldiers and civilians in Huaichuan will not be allowed to cross the Huaihe River and escape.
The first wave of troops sent to Huaichuan to cover up the attack were probably the most mobile elite Red Husband Cavalry; and Zhong Changqing's troops would inevitably move to Huaichuan later, and then they could use Huaichuan as a stronghold to plan the crossing of the Huaihe River.
matters.
Huaichuan City is not small, and they currently only have 300 elite troops available on the left bank of Ru River. Is it possible to hold on to Huai River until reinforcements arrive?
"Even if Huaichuan falls, the situation will not be so bad that it is irreversible. Perhaps there is no need to take such risks," Chen Zixiao advised, "Huaichuan's tens of thousands of soldiers and civilians as well as the hoarded
It is a pity to throw the supplies to the captive soldiers, but the situation is like this and there is nothing we can do about it!"
Guangzhou was assigned to the Xuanwei Army for defense. Liu Xian, as the strategic envoy of Jinghu North Road, personally led Fu Qian and other generals to Huaichuan to take charge. Not only were supplies piled up, but a considerable number of refugees who fled from the north were not evacuated to the south bank of the Huaihe River in time.
go.
The fall of Huaichuan, with so much supplies, soldiers and civilians falling into the hands of the enemy, will make the Huaishang defense line even worse, but there is nothing that can be done.
It is not difficult for them to imagine what kind of panic and panic it would cause when the news of the destruction of all 20,000 defenders in the three villages of Jiaopi reaches Huaicheng River. Even if they have 300 elite soldiers entering Huaichuan, they will never be able to catch up with the enemy before they attack.
Previously, the panic in Huaichuan City was calmed down.
No matter how high Xu Huai's reputation is, he is still a human being, not a god.
If they lead 300 troops into Huaichuan, they can stop the more than 1,000 defenders in Huaichuan from panicking. If they stop panicking, can they fight to the death with them to defend the city?
impossible.
At least tonight, they only have 300 elite men who can be used to defend the city. Only by holding on until Xu Xin'an arrives with reinforcements tomorrow can it be possible to calm down the panic of Huaichuan soldiers and civilians.
The problem is that the captive soldiers can mobilize up to 20,000 troops and horses overnight in the north of Huaichuan, including 5,000 elite Red Guards. The captive soldiers will definitely want to capture the extremely important node of Huaichuan City before the reinforcements arrive.
, what can they do with only three hundred people?
I'm afraid it will only be eaten in the end, and not even the dregs will be left?
"The rivers and Huaihe Rivers are broken, and I don't know how many people have been exposed in the wild. I can't even be tough, but people's hearts have collapsed, which will only make the situation more difficult. If you want to restore the situation, you will only die more."
"With so many people," Xu Huai said in a low voice, "the soldiers could not have thought that we had three hundred elites available in Huaichuan, and it was entirely possible for us to survive the night! We set off for Huaichuan immediately. As for how to fight, we
We’ll discuss it on the way!”
"The dead bird is in the sky, fuck him!" Wang Ju spat and growled.
"We must defend Huaichuan. We cannot all enter the city with 300 troops!" Chen Zixiao said, "It is impossible to calm the panic in the hearts of the soldiers and civilians in Huaichuan when they see that the commander-in-chief only led 300 troops into the city. We have no way to do it.
To prevent the soldiers and civilians of Huaichuan from fleeing from the city in panic, I’m afraid they won’t even be able to close the city gate, so I’ll ask the soldiers to rush in directly!”
Xu Huaigang was about to take the reins from Shi Hu. Hearing what Chen Zixiao said, he muttered: "Zixiao, you are right, we have to use the strategy of doubting the soldiers. This strategy of doubting the soldiers may not have much effect on the captives, but maybe
It can be useful to the military and civilians of Huaichuan!"
"Zhou Jing and I went to Huaichuan and falsely claimed that Commander Jie had led 3,000 cavalry to Huaichuan for reinforcements. Commander Commander Ji led his men and horses to lie in wait outside the city. As long as we could severely damage the first wave of enemy soldiers who came over to cover up the attack, it would be possible to stabilize the situation.
People's hearts!" Chen Zixiao said.
"No, I will go to Huaichuan in person. You come with me," Xu Huai said. "Uncle Qi and Master Ya will stay outside the city and be responsible for raiding the first wave of enemy cavalry and repelling them.
No need to fight! It won’t be easy to get through this night!”
The enemy had no idea that they had 300 elite cavalry outside Huaichuan City. With the cover of night, it was not difficult to unexpectedly repel the first wave of enemy attacks.
The real difficulty lies behind.
They didn't have time to go to Jiaopi to participate in the battle. The suspicion of the enemy could not scare the Red Husbands from attacking Huaichuan City. In the end, they still had to leave some elites outside the city to delay as much as possible the opportunity for the Red Husbands to attack the city.
, the number of elites who actually entered Huaichuan City to participate in the defense was even more pitiful.
Xu Huaijue
It was decided that he would enter the city in person in advance, not only to stabilize the hearts and minds of the soldiers and civilians in the city by using suspicion tactics, but also to do everything possible to organize the soldiers and civilians in the city to participate in the defense.
It's not that Chen Zixiao and Zhou Jing don't have the ability to defend the city, but they don't have the prestige for the time being to be able to frighten the last remaining officers of the Xuanwei Army in Huaichuan City, so that they can put aside their worries and suppress the panic in their hearts.
Follow orders and act.
At that moment, it was agreed upon that Wang Ju and Guo Junfan stayed behind to gather the 300 men and horses scattered in various riverbanks. Xu Huai and Chen Zixiao rushed to Huaichuan City first with only a few people including Niu Er...
…………
…………
The messenger Cheng Xiao asked Xu Huai to arrange a fast ship to leave Chushan and go to Huaichuan. He was still full of opinions and was even aggrieved that the people in Tongbaishan looked down upon the generals of Jingbei and Xuanwei armies.
He arrived in Huaichuan not much earlier than Xu Huai, but he landed directly at the dock south of Huaichuan City.
If it weren't for the urging of the escort arranged by Xu Huai, Cheng Xiao would have wanted to rest in Huaichuan for a night and then go north to Jiaopi tomorrow to meet with the strategic envoy Liu Xian and the governor Fu Qian.
's secret letter.
Although Cheng Xiao no longer planned to stay overnight in Huaichuan, he still wanted to meet with the Huaichuan guard anyway. After telling Chu Shan about his previous meeting with Xu Huai, he changed horses in the city and drove to Jiao overnight.
Pi.
Cheng Xiao entered the city from the south gate. Everything in the city was normal and there was no movement. However, when he walked to Liu Xian's office in Huaichuan, he saw that it was not dark yet and the gate of the office was closed.
The soldiers at the gate of the camp looked panicked and drove away the irrelevant people rudely.
At this time, Cheng Xiao suddenly realized that something was wrong. After reporting the matter, he walked into the government office from the side door and saw Meng Jie and other left-behind officers who were like headless flies. Cheng Xiao suppressed the panic in his heart and asked Meng Jie: "What happened?"
What's up?"
When five thousand captives rode from east to west along the south bank of the Huilong River and raided the rear of the Xuanwei Army, some scouts rushed back to Huaichuan to report the news.
At that time, Meng Jie and other generals still had a sense of luck, but in the afternoon it was quickly confirmed that the army had been defeated east of Jiaopi.
The city was relatively calm at this time. Meng Jie and others had blocked the news, so there was no panic yet, but this could not last long.
As long as some of the defeated soldiers fled to Huaichuan City, or the cavalry directly attacked them, then everything would no longer be under their control.
Cheng Xiao slumped on the chair and murmured in despair: "Twenty thousand soldiers and horses, they were all finished in less than an hour. Don't there be any news from the Commander-in-Chief, General Fu and others? How is it possible? How is this possible?"
Cheng Xiao murmured for a while, then suddenly, as if he had been whipped hard by a whip, he grabbed Meng Jie's hand and said: "We have to cross the river quickly, the Japanese soldiers will definitely attack under cover of night! We can still do it now
Take away the defenders in the city. Marquis Jingsheng said that he will bring 3,000 cavalry to Jiaopi as soon as possible to help in the battle. We will meet Marquis Jingsheng on the south bank, and we may have a chance to defend Huangchuan..."
Meng Jie smiled bitterly, and after some emissaries, he commanded the army to go north. Almost everyone in the city knew that he was leading the defenders to abandon the city and cross the river. I was afraid that if he gave the order, the whole city would immediately fall into panic.
When the time comes, there will be chaos and countless people rushing to the dock. Is it possible for him to lead the defenders across the river by boat from the air?
In the current situation, it is reasonable for them to lead the garrison to retreat south, and the responsibility for the defeat cannot be held on them. However, if they dare to abandon the garrison and leave, only a dozen generals will cross the river in the end. Do they really think they can save Xiang?
