The open fires in Jundu Village were extinguished in the early morning, but after dawn, there were still black smoke pillars heading straight into Yunxiao. Standing on the remaining city of Zhongmou, it was clearly visible. The frightened horses that escaped from Jundu Village also stopped in twos and threes.
Drinking water on the beach on the north bank of Caishui River.
Yang Qingshan gritted his teeth and watched the scene, but he could not resent Xiao Qian for sitting and watching the fall of Jundu Village without coming to rescue him.
After learning the news of the attack on Bianliang, Xiao Qian immediately gathered 4,000 troops and marched eastward across the river. However, because the Bianliang messenger was vague, he misjudged the Chushan Assault Cavalry's powerful penetration combat capabilities, which led to Xiao Heng's surprise.
He died in battle beside the ancient crossing of the Cai River, and even his head was cut off by the Chushan army.
Who can accuse Xiao Qian of neglecting the war at this time?
After Yang Congzong died in front of Longjin Bridge in the Battle of Bage, Yang Jingchen, in addition to sending dozens of messengers to various places to ask for help, ordered the gates of the inner city to be blocked. After that, no news about Bianliang City came out.
Yang Qingshan couldn't figure out what was going on in Bianliang. He broke out of the army capital village last night and didn't dare to rush to Bianliang City, which was only thirty miles away.
He first met up with the Yunzhou cavalry on the outskirts, then crossed the river together and entered Zhongmou Cancheng.
Xiao Qian was not over fifty years old. He was originally in the prime of life, but he seemed to have aged a lot overnight. He stood behind the wall a little exhausted. Because the Yunzhou Cavalry crossed the river from the north bank to the south overnight, Cai Cai
There were no soldiers and horses to contain the Chushan Army and the rebels north of the river. At this time, several teams of rebels and horses rushed from the military capital stronghold to the river beach on the north bank to capture the war horses that escaped from the military capital stronghold last night.
The second son he loved the most died for the leader of Chushan in front of his eyes. The grief and anger in Xiao Qian's heart did not dissipate so easily. He stared at the Yunzhou Cavalry generals who climbed up the city wall with his eyes as if they were stabbing people, and angrily said
:
"Heng'er died in battle. It may be said that he was careless, and it was his fate. The enemy's situation is unknown, and the Yunzhou cavalry should not rush into a decisive battle. However, before I return to the south bank, I ask you to lead the cavalry to actively harass the Chushan army from the side and rear.
, so that they could not attack Jundu Village with all their strength, but who led his troops to enter the east slope of Huaishugang from the flank to meet the enemy? Who led his troops to approach Jundu Village and try to cooperate with the defenders? Watching Jundu Village finally end
If we fall, just shoot a few broken arrows randomly from a distance, what the hell is this called harassment?"
The generals remained silent.
They originally wanted to observe the battle first and wait to get a closer look at the enemy's details before making plans, but they did not want the military capital to fall into chaos from the beginning of the attack and then fall quickly, making them lose the meaning of harassing them from the side.
However, they couldn't blame Yang Qingshan for losing the military capital too quickly. At this time, they were sprayed bloody by Xiao Qian, so they could only suffer in silence.
"Xu Huai led Chushan soldiers and horses to raid Bianliang from Nanxun Gate. After that, he used elite soldiers and horses to control the city gates and bridges of Baekje, Guangli, Longjin, Changtai and so on. The attack was extremely sharp. These places are located in
Above the Cai River in the South Outer City, the Chushan troops and thieves entered Bianliang from Nanxunmen and were mainly stationed in the area enclosed by the Cai River in the South Outer City. They waited until yesterday to launch a new attack on the outer area.
, and it is also obvious that the bandits from Yanling, Weishi and other places are the main force, and the pace will be much slower."
Zhu Wentong saw that the generals in Yunzhou were speechless after being trained by Xiao Qian, and said to the side,
"In addition, Chushan soldiers and horses not only searched for boats in the southern outer city, but also recruited his father and king from the surrendered troops of Bianliang.
Xiaocheng's old troops, combined with the unusual movements of Chushan's southern troops and horses in the Shuishui and Yingshui areas, it can be seen that my commander-in-chief was very foresight in judging that he would most likely escape from Caihe..."
Zhongmou is only fifty miles away from Bianliang City. Xiao Qian no longer believes what the Bianliang messenger said. Yesterday afternoon, he sent a large number of reconnaissance cavalry to Bianliang to comprehensively investigate everything that happened after the Chushan Army raided Bianliang. There were a lot of
The information is gathered.
Zhu Wentong was once a retainer of the Cai Mansion, and his familiarity with Bianliang City was far beyond that of Xiao Qian and other Khitan surrendered generals who had never entered Bianliang City several times in their lives.
In addition to thinking that he had more say in the situation in Bianliang City at this time, he also did not forget the purpose of his trip, intending to persuade Xiao Qian to send troops to the Wanqiu area, join the main force of Chenzhou, and then blockade the Chushan Army along the Ying River.
south escape route.
Xiao Qian just looked at Zhu Wentong coldly.
He was more convinced of Yue Hailou's judgment, but Zhu Wentong was not qualified to speak on behalf of Yue Hailou in front of him.
Furthermore, Yuehailou sent Zhu Wentong across the Yingshui River to the north the night before yesterday. If Zhu Wentong could endure the hard work, it was only two hundred miles from the north of Zhaoling to Zhengzhou City. He should have arrived in Zhengzhou as early as yesterday morning and sent Yuehailou to Zhengzhou.
The handwritten letter was delivered to him instead of waiting until yesterday afternoon to catch up to Zhongmou.
"There is some truth in what Zhu Langjun said,"
Xiao Qian was appointed as the governor of Xijing, and Yao Chengxiao followed him. He always thought that Xiao Shi relied on him as his right-hand man. At this time, he became the governor of Zhengzhou Jiedushi.
He knew that the resentment and anger in Xiao Qian's heart would never go away, but things could not remain at a stalemate.
Others did not dare to say anything at this juncture. Yao Chengxiao could only stand up and persuade Xiao Qian.
"Fights are fleeting, so decisions must be made early in order to make arrangements calmly..."
From what we know so far, Chushan has at least two to three thousand elite soldiers and horses who successfully sneaked into Bianliang under careful arrangements. At this time, they also captured a large number of horses from the military capital village. Simply based on the size and combat capabilities of the cavalry,
It is no longer a match for Yunzhou Cavalry.
Therefore, after the fall of Jundu Village, no matter how sad and angry Xiao Qian was, he immediately collected more boats from Zhengzhou and evacuated Yunzhou Cavalry to the south bank.
The problem is that in addition to the unstoppable two to three thousand elite cavalry in Chushan, in addition to the old tribe of Jingshengzu who aggressively recruited Bianliang troops, Yanling, Weishi and other places also had tens of thousands of thieves accompanying them to fight.
Now Yang Jingchen led nearly 10,000 elite troops to seize the city in Bianliang and did not actively think about fighting back. Yue Hailou had no intention of leading his troops to the north for reinforcements. He only wanted to intercept along the Ying River, relying solely on the troops mobilized from various places by the Zhengzhou Jiedu Envoy Office.
Soldiers and horses are incapable of fighting Chushan to the death near Bianliang.
And even after the Zhennan Zong Palace received the news, it immediately dispatched a main cavalry force from Taiyuan southward for reinforcements. It would take ten days and a half at the earliest to cross the river and enter the Hehuai area, so it was not expected in a short time.
"Tell me, how are you going to fight this battle?" Xiao Qian sighed softly, calmed down a little, and said to the generals beside him.
"It is said that Xu Huai is very cunning and good at using strange strategies. Isn't his intention of retreating south along Caihe River too obvious?"
Most of the generals in Yunzhou were the descendants of powerful people in Xijing when the Yan Dynasty was completely in decline, and they were contaminated by their racial heritage.
This bad habit will not completely change just because he joins the Red Guards, but when it comes to knowledge, Chengfu is even better than ordinary generals.
Quite a few of them did not agree with Yue Hailou's judgment. The reason was that Chu Shan's exposed intentions were too obvious.
Now seeing Xiao Qian's face softening slightly, someone boldly raised a question,
"What if Xu Huai is collecting boats in Bianliang and mobilizing troops from the south to Wanqiu and Xihua areas to deceive others and attack the west? What if Xu Huai successfully lures all our intercepting troops to the south?
Line Wanqiu area, but its real intention is to move west from the south of Zhengzhou and penetrate to the eastern foothills of Songshan Mountain, how should we respond?"
The reason why the Yunzhou generals have such thoughts is that deep down in their hearts, their subordinate soldiers and horses can be sacrificed at any time. No matter how many casualties there are, they have no concern.
Just like the first Northern Expedition of the Southern Dynasties, the Tianxiong Army once captured the outer city of Datong in Xijing, but Xiao Qian only led his direct troops to guard the inner city and did not leave, completely ignoring the fact that the Han army stationed in the outer city at that time was killed and screamed.
The ground is in disarray.
Just like this time, Yang Jingchen immediately ordered the inner city to be sealed off, completely ignoring whether the 30,000 to 40,000 Bianliang surrendered troops in the outer city were dead or alive.
If Yanling, Wei's bandits, and the old Jingsheng army and family members recruited from Bianliang are taken into account, Xu Huai's only choice may be to go south along the Cai River.
However, if the rebel armies in Yanling, Weishi and other places, as well as the old troops of the Jingsheng Army and Jiaxiao, are just bargaining chips that Chushan can give up at any time, and Xu Huai finally just wants to lead the elite cavalry in sneak attack to retreat to Chushan, then even if it is successful, then
They listened to Yue Hailou's words and led their troops to the vicinity of Wanqiu to intercept. The gap left between Zhengzhou and Xuzhou was too big.
If they had received a souvenir from Yue Hailou before noon yesterday and had followed the plan and failed to intercept the Chushan elite, they could have just laid all the blame on Yue Hailou's head without any fuss; Zhennan
It is impossible for the Zong Palace to blame them for their incompetence in fighting.
However, Xiao Xi was beheaded at Caihegudu North at noon yesterday. Can they still view the upcoming interception battle with such a detached attitude?
"Shuai Yang and Marshal Yue have sent envoys to Xuzhou to see the third prince. Maybe we can wait and see if there is any news from Xuzhou?" Yao Chengxiao looked at Xiao Qian and asked hesitantly.
Last year, Yue Hailou's troops attacked Chushan and finally retreated sadly. This proved that Yue Hailou seemed to have 60,000 troops along the Yingshui River, but his elites were actually limited.
In the short term, they could not count on Taiyuan cavalry reinforcements. What they could really count on were the elite Pingyan troops stationed in Xu Bo and other places.
Ping Yanzong's palace has fifty or sixty thousand elite cavalry on the east road, and more than one hundred thousand Yanji surrender troops.
In Yao Chengxiao's view, if the third prince Tu Ge could immediately mobilize 10,000 elite cavalry to rush over for reinforcements after gaining the trust, the Chushan troops and horses lurking in Bianliang would never be able to fly back to Tongbai Mountain even if they had wings.
In Yao Chengxiao's view, it doesn't matter what Yue Hailou suggests, or even what they think. What's more important is whether the third prince Tu Ge will send reinforcements. What's more important is whether the third prince Tu Ge will send troops.
Rushing for reinforcements, and how to intercept the Chushan elite who sneaked into Bianliang this time...
