"There is a large group of elite cavalry in the Southern Dynasties hiding in the north of Huaichuan. When you attacked the city with all your strength, you were unprepared and were stabbed in the butt?"
Molihu did not wait to completely wipe out the enemies of the Southern Dynasty in Jiaopi and Chaiji before heading south.
These deserters temporarily took advantage of river bends and reed swamps to hide, but they were surrounded by Ru River, Ying River, and Huai River. They became turtles in a urn. The focus of their next strategy was to capture Huaichuan.
Huaichuan stands in Rukou to the east and is adjacent to the Huai River in the south. When Chushan City was just taking shape, Huaichuan was the most important land and water terminal in the upper reaches of the Huai River.
After seizing Huaichuan, the Chu army in Bianliang could advance towards Chushan and Qingyi Ridge leisurely to gnaw on the hard nut of Chushan.
Capture Huaichuan, Ruyin will become an isolated city, and Ruyin will be trapped. The Pingyan army on the east road will completely open the passage to the south to attack Shouchun.
Of course, even if the main force of Xuanwei's army was wiped out east of Jiaopi, Mo Lihu and Zhong Changqing did not think that Huaichuan City would be easily accessible.
South of Huaichuan is Huangchuan and Guangshan, where there are still three to four thousand Xuanwei troops stationed. You can quickly go north by boat along the Xiaohuang River and other rivers to reinforce Huaichuan; at the mouth of Shixi River in the southwest of Huaichuan, there is the Chushan Camp
Luoshan under their jurisdiction was garrisoned by three thousand Chushan elites who must not be underestimated. The leader was Xu Xin'an, a rising star from Tongbaishan.
To the west of Luoshan is Xinyang City, where Chushan also has troops stationed.
Considering that the Chushan elite stationed in Luoshan will be able to arrive at the foot of Huaichuan City as early as three hours after sunrise tomorrow after receiving the news.
At that time, it was not enough for them to just break through the city gate. They also needed to have enough soldiers and horses to control the entire city and suppress the Chushan reinforcements from landing before they could truly capture Huaichuan City.
Moli suddenly considered that Kuoti's troops were limited in strength. As a forward, even if he could quickly capture one or two city gates while the defenders were in panic and confusion, he still would not be able to control the entire city before dawn tomorrow.
Therefore, after the Xuanwei Army's organized resistance in Jiaopi and Chaiji was defeated, Molihu left more than 10,000 infantry and cavalry to garrison Jiaopi, Chaiji and other camps so that he could continue to encircle and defeat the defeated troops the next day.
After a short rest, the other troops and horses divided into two groups and headed south overnight before dusk, heading towards Huaichuan City.
Mo Lihu never thought that he and Zhong Changqing led more than 10,000 infantry and cavalry. When they were still thirty miles away from Huaichuan City, they encountered a forward messenger who hurriedly came to report that Kuo Ti not only failed to attack Huaichuan City, but also called a group of soldiers.
A cavalry raid that suddenly appeared north of Huaichuan was defeated.
Not only did Kuo Ti's troops lose three to four hundred men, but Kuo Ti himself was caught off guard and was severely injured by an arrow. He had to gather the remaining troops and retreat to a dilapidated village ten miles away from Huaichuan to rest.
How could there be organized Southern Dynasty cavalry in the north of Huaichuan?
Mo Li suddenly sat on the saddle, feeling startled and doubtful, and looked around.
Although the moonlight was beautiful, it was difficult to see far. In the distance, the wilderness, field ridges, woods, and cottages were all dark.
It was not difficult for him to guess that this cavalry was probably the elite of Chushan, but the question was how many troops from Chushan had entered Huaichuan? However, the messenger sent by Kuo Ti also had no idea what to ask, and Mo Li was so angry that he wanted to whip someone.
, angrily yelled: "A group of arrogant and incompetent fools asked others to stab them in the butt, but they didn't even know where the enemy appeared from!"
Zhong Changqing looked around with a gloomy face.
Zhong Changqing personally led a 3,000-horse infantry mixed with the 2,000 red elite cavalry led by Mo Lihu, and went south as the second group of troops. However, considering that Kuoti's troops were the vanguard, they did not carry any siege equipment.
, the covert attack on Huaichuan City might be blocked, and they carried simple equipment such as ladders with them, which slowed down their speed.
In addition to a large number of scouts scattered around the periphery to accompany them all the way, after learning that Kuoti's troops were attacked when they stormed Huaichuan, Mo Lihu sent double the number of scouts to search the periphery, but at this time he did not notice anything unusual.
.
"Xu Huai's military tactics are unpredictable, but Chushan's troops entering the left bank of Ru River must not be many. Otherwise, Chushan's army will definitely divide its troops and attack us before Kuo Ti Qianhu sends a message.
!" Zhong Changqing got off his horse, walked to Mo Lihu, and said firmly.
Mo Li's face suddenly turned as dark as water.
The Red Husbands attach great importance to spying on military intelligence, and they are also good at hiding their whereabouts. They usually send out a large number of scouts before military operations, hoping to search every corner of the battlefield.
However, in order to confuse Liu Xian, Fu Qian and other generals of the Xuanwei Army, Mo Lihu led his troops this time to cross the Yingshui River from Chenzhou and sneak all the way south.
In order not to expose their whereabouts and avoid scaring away the 20,000 Xuanwei troops, Molihu did not send any scouts to the south of Jiaopi until they attacked the side of Xuanwei troops from the east of Huilong River and surrounded them.
But he didn't want to let Chushan's elite infiltrate in, leaving them unaware.
Zhong Changqing ordered people to light a few more torches on the left and right. He spread out the map of Yingzhou and Caizhou on the north bank of the Huai River on his saddle and said:
"It is true that Xu Huai is good at fighting, but as the son of Wang Xiaocheng, he is cunning and cruel by nature. He has been lurking with the people in Tongbai Mountain for many years and rose up. The officials of the Southern Dynasty have always been suspicious of him - this is the emperor of the Southern Dynasty who issued an edict to rehabilitate Wang Xiaocheng.
, it is difficult to change suddenly. It is conceivable that Liu Xian and Fu Qian sent troops to Jiaopi without informing Chushan, which is not difficult to understand. Otherwise, Xu Huai would have led his troops to enter in advance even if he did not try to dissuade him.
Jiao Pi met up with Liu Xian and Fu Qian. Even if Xu Huai was for the benefit of Chushan, he would never let Xuanwei's army advance alone. From this, it can be seen that Xu Huai must have learned about Liu Xian's sending troops afterwards, and hurriedly
We led a small number of elites to come over by boat, and then landed in the afternoon and entered the area north of Huaichuan. Only then did our army scouts miss them..."
Mo Li suddenly looked at the dim wilderness under the sky. The additional scouts sent out should have searched the six or seven miles around, but nothing unusual has been found yet.
Except for some small patches of miscellaneous woods scattered between Ruying and Ruying, the area is all flat and flat.
Even on a moonlit night, it was hard to believe that a large group of soldiers and horses would be ambushed and they would be able to escape such careful investigation.
At the same time, Mo Lihu also believed in Zhong Changqing's judgment.
He came into contact with Chushan elites more than once or twice. The second prince asked him to lead troops and horses to help the Chu army led by Yue Hailou. He also valued his many battles with Chushan people. Based on his understanding of Xu Huai, Xu Huai
If Huai had a thousand elite cavalry north of Huaichuan and successfully concealed them from their sight, he would never be satisfied with just severely inflicting heavy losses on the few troops under Kuo Ti's command.
The Chushan Army was also very good at night fighting.
Although they had 5,000 cavalry heading south to Huaichuan on this trip, if they were really unprepared and were attacked by Chushan elites at night, Zhong Changqing's troops would not have time to form a formation to defend themselves, and they were destined to be attacked immediately.
Killed and routed.
The whole army was in chaos, no one could figure out what was going on, and everything was in chaos. Mo Lihu didn't think he could do anything else besides ordering his own cavalry to flee in all directions.
Mo Lihu called the messenger sent by Kuoti to ask for details before the attack.
"The person who has such superb archery skills is undoubtedly Xu Huai himself," Zhong Changqing said, "and various signs also indicate that Xu Huai only led a very small number of elites into the city at first, attracting the attention of Kuo Ti's troops.
After the city's head, the troops and horses hidden outside the city are then used to cover up Kuo Ti's troops. Doing so will not only cover up and kill Kuo Ti's troops by surprise, but more importantly, it can boost the morale of the soldiers and civilians in the city. It is definitely better than directly attacking Kuo Ti's troops.
It would be much better to have two to three hundred elite troops entering the city to assist in the defense..."
"That's right," Mo Lihu also made a decision at the moment and ordered, "The hundreds of households will listen to the order, and the tribes will immediately guard the left and right wings and the front and rear wings, with fifty steps between each team of ten people, and three hundred steps between each team of one hundred people! Months
When it reaches Zhongtian, all tribes must surround Huaichuan City..."
Since it was concluded that Xu Huai only had two to three hundred elite troops in Huaichuan, even though he expected that the defeat of Kuo Ti's troops would greatly boost the morale of Huaichuan soldiers and civilians, Mo Lihu definitely did not miss the opportunity to capture Xu Huai.
If Xu Huai can be successfully captured in this trip, the solid defense line that the Southern Dynasty has maintained in the eastern mountains of Tongbai Mountain for several years will become fragile due to the loss of Xu Huai as its backbone.
Even if Xu Huai cannot be captured and killed, and Xu Huai is forced to escape in embarrassment, it can still greatly dampen Chushan's momentum and make Chushan's hard nut no longer so difficult to crack.
It was uncertain at this time. Xu Huai had no small group of elites hidden outside Huaichuan City. In order to avoid Zhong Changqing's march being disturbed, Mo Lihu made a decisive decision and completely dispersed the two thousand cavalry and drove Zhong Changqing away.
His troops surrounded him and advanced towards Huaichuan City.
The soldiers and civilians of Huaichuan probably asked Xu Huai to use small means to arouse them. Of course, Mo Lihu would not waste his tribal elite in the siege battle. The cost of the siege would have to be borne by Zhong Changqing's troops; he would certainly not be able to do without Zhong Changqing.
The ladders and other siege equipment carried by your troops on this trip.
The cavalry of this tribe are dispersed and are less afraid of night attacks. Even if they encounter a large group of attacking enemies, they can disperse to the surrounding plains to avoid them.
At the same time, Mo Lihu and Zhong Changqing sent orders to the north. In addition to the 3,000 troops who had already set off to strengthen vigilance and continue to march, they also had to mobilize the troops and horses left behind in Jiaopi and Chaiji overnight.
Go south.
In any case, capturing Xu Huai and capturing Huaichuan City is far more important than staying in Jiaopi, Chaiji and other places to encircle and annihilate thousands of troops hiding in river bends and reed marshes.
After Huaichuan City was captured, these defeated troops would not be able to escape to the sky...
