At this time, ordering the defenders to leave the city and cross the river to retreat south would inevitably lead to great chaos. However, if the defenders were abandoned and only a dozen of them quietly crossed the river and fled south, they would eventually be charged with the crime of deserting before the battle.
Cheng Xiao and the generals and officials who stayed in Huaichuan City all looked towards the Sima Infantry Courtyard deployed on Jinghu North Road to promote Meng Jie.
The Economic and Strategic Envoy is the highest military and political officer of the First Route, and the Du Deployment Department is the military command organization of the Imperial Army. Liu Xian, as the Economic and Strategic Envoy of Jinghu North Road, also leads the deployment of troops and horses, and is also the top commander of the Imperial Guard Army of Jinghu North Road. Fu Qian serves as
The commander of the capital is the commander-in-chief of the Xuanwei Army.
Liu Xian led Fu Qian and other generals to march to Jiaopi. At this time, there was no news. Among the generals and officials who stayed in Huaichuan, Meng Jie and Xu Kang, the deputy envoy responsible for the transportation of grain and fodder, were promoted to the Ma Infantry Academy in charge of the imperial prison.
, the highest grade and status.
Cheng Xiao acted as an officer to appease the subordinates. Although his rank was not as good as that of Meng Jie and Xu Kang, he usually gained Liu Xian's trust, so he went to Chu Mountain to meet Marquis Jingsheng to explain the Xuanwei army's plans in person this time.
According to the battle plan, luckily he did not follow Liu Xian to Jiaopi.
However, at this time, no one would think of competing with Meng Jie for the title of General of Huaichuan.
Except for Meng Jie, who was the Huaichuan general whom Liu Xian married, everyone hoped that Meng Jie would make the decision to abandon the defenders and go south instead of making this decision for him.
Meng Jie is not stupid either. As a general, daring to escape before the battle is his first crime.
If he dared to initiate this proposal, he would be ruined and his family would be implicated. Instead of abandoning the defenders and running away at this time, he might as well hold on until the city was broken and find an opportunity to break out, maybe there would be a chance of survival.
"The Marquis of Jingsheng came with Cheng Langjun and a letter, saying that he would personally lead three thousand cavalry to Jiaopi to help him. Marquis Jingsheng was brave and good at fighting, and his subordinates were all strong soldiers. They rushed thousands of miles to attack Taiyuan and killed Hu Lu to death. These are all lies.
We only need to hold Huaichuan and wait for Marquis Jingsheng to arrive with his reinforcements. Why do we need to be so frustrated and hasty?" Meng Jie also encouraged himself, stood up, cheered up, and reprimanded the depressed generals, "Everyone is still the same.
Come with me to Beicheng quickly to see Fu Junhou to discuss the matter of defending the city!"
Fu Liang was the nephew of Fu Qian, the commander of the Xuanwei military capital. Like other children of the Fu family, he followed Fu Qian into the camp very early and served as commander.
Fu Liang was originally in the Xuanwei Army specializing in scouting and spying. Among the generals in the Xuanwei Army, few could match his proficiency in bow and horse. He was highly trusted by Liu Xian and Fu Qian. The same was true. Although Fu Liang was not yet qualified to be
He was called Junhou, and everyone from top to bottom called him "Fu Junhou". It was also believed that Fu Liang could gain another military exploit on the battlefield, and that it was a sure thing that Fu Liang would be promoted to Du Yuhou. Who could have imagined that there would be a disastrous defeat at Jiaopi?
In a previous encounter, Fu Liang was seriously injured by an arrow. This time he did not follow Liu Xian and Fu Qian to Jiaopi, but stayed in Huaichuan and was responsible for commanding the Xuanwei Army generals who stayed in Huaichuan.
In Huaichuan City, in addition to the 500 generals of the Xuanwei Army commanded by Fu Liang, there are also 300 generals of the Jinglue Division who are on duty at the camp, and 800 swordsmen and archers under the jurisdiction of the Wei Division of Huaichuan County.
.
Liu Xian didn't pay much attention to the local soldiers. He went to Huaichuan to take charge of the army and spared no effort to recruit brave men to join the Xuanwei Army. As the only city on the front line of the Xuanwei Army, Huaichuan had local soldiers under the jurisdiction of the County Weisi.
Horse expansion is quite limited.
Meng Jie could not abandon the city and his army and flee alone, so he thought that if Fu Liang was by his side when the city was broken, his chance of survival might be a little better.
Xu Kang, Cheng Xiao and others could not guess Meng Jie's thoughts. Although they all felt that the chance was slim, after hearing Meng Jie's words, they could not help but have the extravagant hope of waiting for Marquis Jingsheng to lead his cavalry to help.
Everyone stood up one after another and were about to follow Meng Jie to the north city gate tower.
Then he saw that Fu Liang had already walked into the courtyard with dozens of strong and powerful people.
"Marquis Fu Jun, what brings you to the office?" Meng Jie and Xu Kang were both startled and stood in front of the corridor of the government office and asked.
For more than a hundred years, Dai Viet has governed military affairs with culture. Therefore, although Fu Liang was the commander of the Xuanwei Army in Huaichuan, the specific defensive and offensive matters were controlled by Meng Jie, Xu Kang and other officials.
However, things are not absolute. The main force of the Xuanwei Army has been destroyed, and the enemy troops will attack at any time. The army is in chaos. Who can guarantee that Fu Liang, the commander of the army who knows that the main force has been destroyed, will still obey the control of the officials.
Scheduling rather than acting on your own initiative?
"Marquis Jingsheng is here. I have something important to discuss with Meng Langjun and Xu Langjun!" Fu Liang was about thirty years old and his left shoulder was still wounded. He was originally recuperating in the city, but the main force of the Xuanwei Army was in Jiaopi.
Edong was destroyed, Meng Jie, Xu Kang and others had no idea again, so Fu Liang had to take the wounded to the north gate to take charge.
"Jingshenghou, Xuhou..." Meng Jie and Xu Kang looked at the imposing young general next to Fu Liang.
Xu Huai's original plan was to sneak to Jiaopi to meet Liu Xian and Fu Qian. Hao Zi wore an ordinary soldier's uniform outside his armor.
Meng Jie and Xu Kang had never met Xu Huai. Now they heard Fu Liang say that the person next to him was Jingsheng Hou Xu Huai. How could they not be surprised?
When Emperor Jianji came to the throne, Fu Liang, together with some young generals from the Xuanwei Army and the soldiers from the Economic Strategy and Appeasement Department, came into contact with Xu Huai when they escorted Liu Xian to Xiangyang.
However, the cavalry guards around Liu Xian at that time were completely suppressed by the Chushan elite, and they were even quite embarrassed.
Xu Huai's original intention was to remind Liu Xian and the generals of the Xuanwei Army that no matter how overestimating the combat effectiveness of the elite Red Husbands was, in the eyes of Fu Liang and other generals of the Xuanwei Army, he felt slighted and felt that Xu
He even mocked them.
Sometimes you do a lot of things, but they may not be effective, or even have the opposite effect.
Xu Huai himself couldn't figure out whether Liu Xian and Fu Qian acted so rashly because of his repeated reminders.
Of course, no matter how Fu Liang disliked Xu Huai and Chushan in the past, under such dangerous circumstances, Xu Huai was able to rush to Huaichuan City in person, and it was certainly impossible for Fu Liang to turn Xu Huai away from the city.
Meng Jie and Xu Kang were still hesitant. Cheng Xiao walked to the corridor and saw Xu Huai clearly, almost crying.
He quickly walked up to Xu Huai and grabbed Xu Huai's robe, crying and complaining:
"I was too slow to do my job. I didn't deliver Xu Hou's letter to the envoy in time. Xuanwei's army was defeated in Jiaopi. Xuanwei's army was defeated miserably. Please ask Xu Hou to save Huaichuan's 100,000 soldiers and civilians."
…”
"I already know about the defeat of Jiaopi," Xu Huai took out the seal letter from his arms, showed it to Meng Jie and Xu Kang, and said, "I am now taking over the defense of Huaichuan. The Xuanwei Army and the Jinghu North Road Supervisory Department are in Huaichuan.
All generals must obey my orders. Meng Langjun and Xu Langjun, do you have any opinions?"
When the two armies are united, until there is no new decree or order from the court or the superior, the lower-ranking ones obey the control of the higher-ranking ones. This is the rule of Dai Viet.
Xu Huaide was granted the title of Marquis of Jingsheng, and he was promoted from the fourth rank to Yulu General. He went out to Shenzhou and served as the general manager of the military and horse capital of the Chushan camp and the commander of the Tianxiong military capital.
Regardless of whether Xu Huai's title, title, official rank, or actual lack of title, he was superior to Meng Jie and Xu Kang.
Theoretically, from the moment he walked into Huaichuan City, he was the highest military and political officer in Huaichuan City.
However, at this time, Meng Jie, Xu Kang and others were also needed to be willing to cooperate, so that he could truly mobilize the men, horses and weapons in the city.
If it were him, Meng Jie and Xu Kang might still be muttering in their hearts
After a while, they might form a group to resist Xu Huai's interference in military and political affairs on Jinghu North Road, but at this moment they were like headless flies, not daring to escape, and not knowing how to defend the city. Xu Huai appeared in front of them like a ray of light,
How can they be so long-winded when they want to take full responsibility?
And Xu Huai was so calm and calm, which made them feel like they had found their backbone.
"Listen to Xu Hou's orders in all matters!" Meng Jie, Xu Kang and others seemed to be drowning and grabbed a drifting beam. Their surprise turned to surprise, and they all saluted Xu Huai.
"Commander Chen, is Huaichuan County Lieutenant Xu Ling here?" Xu Huai recognized Chen Su, the deputy commander of the Guards Battalion of the Jinghu North Road Economic Strategy and Appeasement Department, and asked him directly by name.
"Xu Ling, a humble official, has met Xu Hou!" A middle-aged official came out of the corridor and saluted Xu Huai.
Dayue set up county lieutenants in various counties to take charge of the archers in the county, eliminate thieves and thieves in the countryside, and accept lawsuits.
There are no fixed rules for the promotion of inspectors.
Xu Huai had never met Xu Ling, but he knew that he was previously the inspection envoy of the Ruhuai River. He belonged to the Guangzhou Military and Horse Supervision Department and was responsible for the anti-smuggling and arresting of Ru River and Huai River in Guangzhou. He was later promoted to Huaichuan
County captain.
Xu Huai called Xu Ling's name at this time. In addition to Xu Ling's background as a military official, he had some experience in leading troops and commanding naval forces. More importantly, he was the chief archer of the Eight Hundred Swordsmen of Weisi in Huaichuan County at this time.
"Marquis Fu Jun, Commander Chen, Xu Weisi, Meng Langjun, Xu Langjun, Cheng Langjun and I are going to the North City Gate Tower to discuss matters at this time. Please arrange for people to immediately summon all generals and above to the North City Gate Tower to participate in the military meeting.
!" Xu Huai said.
Fu Liang's troops were stationed at the North City Gate, and Chen Su's troops were all around the office.
Because of Liu Xian, Fu Qian wanted so much to win a great victory that he almost drained Huaichuan's troops. Even the three gates in the southeast and west were replaced with county captains and archers to defend them. Now they mainly summoned the garrison and general officials from the other three gates.
Go to the North City Gate to discuss matters.
Meng Jie, Xu Kang and others regarded Xu Huai as a savior and immediately urged Xu Ling to arrange for manpower to summon all the county captains and generals to the North City Gate for discussion.
When he walked out of the office, he looked at the streets outside the gate that led directly to the north and south city gates. Except for pedestrians who didn't know the truth about the collapse of Xuanwei Army, there were no other soldiers and horses. Meng Jie couldn't help but ask Xu Huai: "I don't know if Xu Huai
How many troops will Hou lead to defend Huaichuan this time?"
Xu Huai motioned to the guards on the left and right to go further away, and whispered to Meng Jie, Xu Kang, Xu Ling, Fu Liang, Chen Su, Cheng Xiao and others:
"When Cheng Langjun came to Zhouqiao to report the news, I only had a thousand elite cavalry in the camp on the north bank. The other cavalry were deployed in Xinyang and Luoshan, and there was no way to assemble them immediately. I rushed to Jiaopi to meet Liu Shijun.
After rendezvous, they hurriedly ordered a thousand cavalry guards and a hundred armored guards to sail eastward, but did not want to land on the west side of Huaichuan. What they heard was bad news. The situation was very urgent now, and the enemy would attack at any time.
Come here, I can't bring more than a thousand elite troops into the city. These more than a thousand elite troops are ambushing outside the city at this time, waiting for the enemy army to attack the city without any precautions, and unexpectedly weaken its spirit. I will lead a few people.
The main reason for entering the city is to prevent enemy scouts from lurking over and spying on our whereabouts. Of course, the more than a thousand reinforcements may be less. To avoid panic among the soldiers and the people, you must remember to claim that the three thousand reinforcements are already in the city under the leadership of this prince.
If you are lying in ambush outside, you must not mess up your position! As long as we can defend until tomorrow, our general Xu Xin'an can lead thousands of elites from Luoshan to cross the river to help. By that time, no matter how many soldiers and horses the Huchu have to attack Huaichuan, I will also
