When Yue Hailou heard this, he almost fell off his horse.
He grabbed the reins and stared at the messenger sent by Yang Jingchen, hoping that this was just a joke.
Didn't Xu Huai and others repeat the same trick of running thousands of miles to attack Taiyuan in Wuyang and Ye County and attack Bianliang?
Yang Congzong, beheaded Xu Huai in front of the formation?
How can this be?
Whether the Chushan Army defended Qingyi Ridge, Xinyang and other places in the early stage, or took over from Youxiaosheng Army in the later stage and also guarded Ye County, Wuyang, Zhaoling and other places, Yue Hailou had to open one eye and stare at it even in his sleep.
Every plant and tree on the Huaihe River is covered with water.
From Huaishang to Bianliang, there are two large rivers, Ru River and Ying River, in between. Chenzhou is along the two rivers. I don’t know how many scouts were deployed. Did Xu Huai fly to Bianliang?
Zhong Changqing, Mo Lihu and other generals were also shocked, and their hearts were filled with waves.
The letter for help written by Yang Jingchen at the Zhuque Gate Tower was very sloppy and simple. Seeing that Yue Hailou had not recovered from the shocking news, Zhong Changqing caught the messenger and asked:
"Ba Ge and Yang Congzong both have the courage to be unstoppable. How could they be so easily killed by thieves in front of the battle?"
Yang Congzong and Bage have martial arts that are rare in the world, but they are second best.
More importantly, Yang Congzong was the actual commander of the Xiongzhou Army.
More importantly, as Deputy Wanhu, Bage had the heavy responsibility of leading two thousand red cavalry to sit in Bianliang.
Xu Huai invited the rebels to launch a surprise attack on Bianliang at dawn, and advanced deep into the South Outer City through Nanxunmen in the early morning. However, two commander-level figures from the Bianliang garrison died in front of Longjin Bridge before noon?
This is something that Zhong Changqing and Mo Lihu both dare not imagine!
Under normal circumstances, for Yang Congzong and Ba Ge to be commander-level figures, it would be no less difficult for them to die at the same time than for the entire city of Bianliang to fall.
This news was even more shocking to them than Xu Huai's personal visit to Bianliang.
They have been confronting the Chushan Army in Ruying for almost a year, and have fought countless battles. They have to admit that Xu Huai and the Chushan Army are very strong and difficult to fight. Over the past year or so, they have deeply felt what talent is.
What is called frustration, what is called powerlessness.
However, Xu Huai and the Chushan Army were not so miraculous as to kill two commander-level figures from the Bianliang defenders in half a day?
Isn't this what the legend calls "taking the head of a general out of a million soldiers like a treasure in a bag"?
"The thief army raided Bianliang to seize Nanxunmen, and their troops advanced very quickly inside Nanxunmen. Originally, we didn't know that thief chief Xu Huai had arrived in Bianliang, but it was only after the thief army captured Changtai Bridge that thief chief Xu Huai ordered
Its embroidered white tiger banner with gold borders was raised above Nanxun Gate."
This time Yang Jingchen formally asked for help from Yue Hailou, Xiao Qian and the Zhennan Zong Palace. The level of the messengers was also different from the previous two batches. He was a general of the Xiongzhou Army. He watched the entire battle of Longjin Bridge from the Zhuque Gate Tower.
At the moment, he just said in shock,
"At the beginning of Ba Ge, I judged that the bandit army contained some elites with extremely strong combat effectiveness. When the bandit chief Xu Huai raised the White Tiger flag, he saw that the morale of the generals was low, so he and General Congzong led two thousand elite soldiers to form an array in front of Longjin Bridge.
Xu Huai, the thief chieftain who captured Nanxunmen, took the lead and led thousands of elites to charge north along Lichang Street. After a fierce battle, the Longjin Bridge was finally too narrow, and the thief army immediately searched for boats after breaking into Nanxunmen.
The boats blocked the rivers on both sides of Longjin Bridge, causing General Congzong and General Bage to die in battle, and the reinforcements were unable to enter the south of Longjin Bridge for reinforcements..."
Whether the messenger was urging Yue Hailou to send troops as soon as possible, or as a member of the Xiongzhou Army, he would intentionally or unintentionally cover up some low-level mistakes made by Yang Congzong and Ba Ge. The description of the Battle of Longjin Bridge was somewhat over-the-top.
, will more or less exaggerate the hidden strength of the Chushan Army.
Zhong Changqing and Mo Lihu were even more shocked. Xu Huai did not lead a small number of elite troops to sneak into Bianliang. Instead, he directly led thousands of Chushan's most elite troops to sneak into Bianliang, and gathered rebels from Yanling, Weishi and other places to attack Bianliang.
Liang launched a surprise attack.
Although Xu Huai's intention to raid Bianliang seemed so unbelievable to them at this time, things had already happened and they could not close their eyes and watch.
Although Yang Jingchen's troops suffered a great disaster at this time, led by Xu Huai, Zhong Changqing had no intention of rejoicing in the misfortune. In addition to the fact that they and Yang Congzong were on the same pirate ship, more importantly, thousands of Chushan elites had learned from their eyes and noses.
, across Ru River, Ying River dive to Bianliang.
Even if Bianliang can be defended in the end, the Zong Palace will inevitably question Yang Jingchen's responsibility for the evacuation, but can Chenzhou escape the relationship?
If Bianliang fell, the consequences would be even more unimaginable.
"How is it possible? Thousands of Chushan elites are not water rats, how can they pass through our eyes and noses?" someone shouted, refusing to believe the bad news brought by the messenger from Bianliang at this moment.
In his opinion, if Xu Huai sneaked to Bianliang with thirty to fifty people or even three to five hundred people, he might be able to do so without being noticed, but how could thousands of people pass by quietly?
Yue Hailou frowned deeply, looked at the Chushan soldiers and horses entering the north bank through the pontoon under the dim dusk, and said bitterly: "Maybe this is the east of Chushan..."
Scouting and spying capabilities are always limited.
Aware of the unusual movements in Chu Mountain on both sides of the Nishui River, Yue Hailou concentrated his limited elite scouts and spies in Zhaoling, Wuyang and other places. He also tried his best to arrange for people to infiltrate into the refugee groups south of Wuyang in order to have the opportunity to sneak into Chu.
The Shan army's camp spied on the news at close range, intending to find out Chu Shan's intentions on both sides of the Nishui River.
At the same time, in order to confuse Chushan, elite troops were secretly gathered in Heishigou, and a lot of effort was spent on blocking the news.
All these will inevitably weaken their reconnaissance power outside Zhaoling, Wuyang and other places.
And because they had long believed that Chu Shan intended to make big moves on both sides of the Nishui River, even if they had noticed some unusual moves by Chu Shan before, they tended to think that they were setting up a enchantment formation for the Nishui plot, and thus lost their vigilance in other directions.
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In addition, there are ruins of rivers and rivers, nine out of ten houses, and a large number of empty villages and fortresses. In theory, as long as Chushan prepares for a long enough time, such as one or two months or even two or three months, it is indeed possible to dismantle thousands of elites into
Zero, dispersed across Ru River, Ying River, and lurked near Bianliang, waiting for opportunities.
The root cause of all this is most likely that their minds are too deeply immersed in both sides of the Nishui River.
Some people couldn't help but ask: "What is Xu Huai's intention? Even if he can kill Yang Jingchen by surprise, even if he can capture Bianliang City, does he think that a mere few thousand troops can defend Bianliang City?"
"Perhaps it's just the same old trick!" Even though Zhong Changqing felt that there was still something unclear about the matter, with the many facts in front of him, it was not difficult to guess what Xu Huai and everyone in Chushan had planned since July.
The intention is to "attack but not capture, in order to enhance its power!"
They had learned about the changes in Bianliang twice before, but they didn't really take it to heart because they couldn't figure out why Xu Huai had to choose to wage war in Bianliang, so they believed that the army's assault on Bianliang was just Chushan's plan to seize the opportunity to attack the east and attack the west.
Just to change their perspective from
Zhaoling was moved.
As a qualified military commander, even if it is known that Xu Huai personally led thousands of elites and invited tens of thousands of rebel troops to raid Bianliang, we should still ask: What did Xu Huai want?
Of course, now that something has happened, it is easy to speculate on the motive by following various clues.
Take Xu Huai's thousands-mile attack on Taiyuan as an example. Is it just to capture Taiyuan?
Afterwards, the benefits of running thousands of miles to attack Taiyuan were too great for the Southern Dynasty.
The first is to kill Cao Shili, Li Chulin and other generals, annihilate 20,000 to 30,000 troops on the northern front, severely damage their deployment on the northern front, and give Gu Jiqian, Xiao Linshi and the Fuzhou troops and the remnants of the Khitan tribe plenty of time and space.
The movement of 100,000 Taiyuan soldiers and civilians to the south became the most critical move in pushing King Jing Zhao Tuan to go to Xiangyang and take the throne. Xu Huai's personal reputation also rose to an unprecedented height through this campaign, making him one of the commander-in-chief at a young age.
This time Xu Huai repeated his old tricks. It is hard to imagine that he really wanted to capture Bianliang City, but what if he succeeded in the surprise attack and finally successfully retreated from Bianliang to Chushan?
On the one hand, this will disrupt their combat deployment in the Hehuai area. At the same time, it will also stimulate the fighting will of the soldiers and civilians of the Southern Dynasties and resistance forces such as Hedong, Hehuai, and Hebei. This will in turn affect the combat situation of both sides along the Huaihe-Qinling line.
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They also found out clearly at this time that the Zheng family wanted to abandon Heluo and lead the Shenwu Army and the Luoyang Prefecture Army to retreat southward. They had a fierce dispute with Xu Huai in front of Emperor Jianji, which was enough to give Xu Huai enough motivation to fight in Heluo.
Huai played a trick and slapped the Zheng family hard on the face.
Xu Huai is very cunning, but no one can deny that he is extremely sharp.
The raid on Bianliang was successful and then successfully withdrawn. Xu Huai's personal reputation will undoubtedly reach a higher level.
At this time, the Chushan Army's troops and horses on the Huaihe River were moving, and many signs showed that all this was to prepare for Xu Huai's surprise attack on Bianliang and then the smooth retreat southward:
Chushan's soldiers and horses on both sides of the Nian River gathered on the north bank, with the intention of dragging them into the Liutiao River, Caohuai River and Heishigou. They were unable to assemble elite troops more effectively to intercept Xu Huainan's retreat.
Before dusk, the Chushan Navy suddenly dispatched from the direction of Zhouqiao and scuttled dozens of boats at the mouth of the Ru River. The intention was to temporarily block the warships of the Yingzhou Navy in the Ru River, so that the Chushan River, which had limited strength, could
The army entered Yingshui and supported Xu Huainan's retreat through the waterway.
The Chushan elites who raided Bianliang immediately captured the three city gates of Nanxun, Guangli, and Baekje, as well as the Changtai and Longjin bridges. Except for Nanxun Gate, the others were all located on the Cai River in the southern outer city of Bianliang.
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The Cai River flows southward through Bianliang and flows into the Yingshui River in the west of Zhiwanqiu City in Chenzhou.
At present, as long as it can be confirmed that the Chushan navy is indeed heading for Yingshui, we can basically conclude that Xu Huai plans to go south along the Cai River after evacuating from Bianliang, and then meet up with his navy warships in the west of Wanqiu City in Zhizhou, Chenzhou.
Yue Hailou stood up and dismounted, and the guards took out the map of Hehuai River and outlined the Cai River, Ying River and Chushan's camp on the north bank of Huan River. From the map of Hehuai River, everyone could see Xu Huaiji more clearly.
The intention of the people in Chushan was that after Xu Huai led his troops to withdraw from Bianliang to the south, they would first meet up with his navy in the west of Wanqiu City, and then set up a pontoon bridge on the Ying River. Xu Huai and his troops only had to cross the Ying River and then go southwest.
After retreating to his main camp on the Kuanshui River, there was only eighty or ninety miles of land left to travel.
The problem they faced at this time was no longer to consider whether to reinforce Bianliang or whether Yang Jingchen could hold Bianliang City, but to consider whether they could cut off Xu Huainan's retreat!
