As the sky grew brighter, Xu Huai arranged for the first batch of wounded soldiers to be evacuated to Ruzhou City (Liang County) for further treatment. At this time, Zhu Hang also embarked on his return journey to Jianye.
In the cold morning mist, Zhu Hang dragged his exhausted body onto the saddle and looked at the still messy battlefield, unable to hide his sadness.
A dozen people rode eastward at a fast pace and arrived at the Yanglougou River at three o'clock in the morning. They found that at this time, the soldiers of the Chushan Right Army had temporarily stayed at the mouth of the river for rest, and hundreds of civilians were already busy in the ice and snow:
Trees cut down from nearby slopes were carried to the river valley by mules, horses or direct manpower, and were simply processed into fence walls, and then buried in rows in the frozen soil.
Several groups of newly reinforced armored soldiers formed a formation near the fork of the river and were on guard; groups of armored cavalry cruised along the Beishui River east of the Yanglougou River, driving away and killing the enemy scouts that had infiltrated.
Heading east from the Yanglougou River, teams of mules and horses loaded with supplies filled the narrow post road, interspersed with teams of armored soldiers marching through the night, with tired faces but resolute expressions.
"Father, Chushan moves so fast!"
Zhu Zhi reined up his horse and stopped on the embankment. Looking at the hundreds of people and horses heading west, he couldn't help but sigh,
"Father, there is really no need to worry about Chushan's losses. Yuehai Tower and Cao Shixiong were all defeated by Xu Huai. I don't know how many losses he has suffered under Xu Huai over the years. Just from last night's battle, Cao Shixiong finally did not dare to fight for the protection of the mountain valley.
This is a glimpse. I feel that before the Chihu people went to the west of Beijing and Heluo to increase their troops, Cao Shixiong and Yue Hailou were not capable of eating a piece of Chushan's flesh!"
"Cao Shixiong, Yue Hailou is not an easy person. It is not difficult to eat a piece of Chushan's meat. But this winter, there is really no need to worry about Xu Huai not being able to defend Chushan!" Zhu Hang looked at the mules and horses in front of him like a heavy traffic.
The depressed mood is relieved a little.
During these years of traveling north and south, Zhu Hang also had a profound understanding of military affairs. He knew that the strength of Chushan's army could not be described with a simple sentence: "Xu Huai is brave and good at fighting, and his soldiers work together with one heart."
They learned the news of the fall of Ruyang in Luoshan, which was five or six hundred miles away. Xu Huai marched westward at night, but if Chen Zixiao was guarding Xiangcheng, Wang Xian and others would wait for Xu Huai to arrive in Ye County.
If there is any action, it is possible that Pishan has fallen and Ruzhou City has already fallen into the siege of Heluo enemy forces.
It was precisely Chen Zixiao and other generals who decisively sent reinforcements to Ruzhou before receiving Xu Huai's order. When Xu Huai arrived at Ruzhou, more than a thousand elite infantrymen followed him directly into the battlefield.
It was precisely the nearly three thousand elite infantrymen who rushed into the periphery of the Pishan Valley battlefield that forced Cao Shilou to give up the fight for the Pishan Valley and retreat more than ten miles away.
In addition to Xu Huai, the Chushan Army also had a number of outstanding generals such as Xu Wuqi, Chen Zixiao, Wang Ju, Wang Xian, Xu Wujiang, Xu Xin'an, and Tang Pan.
And now, only three or four hours have passed since the battle in the Pishan Valley. The second batch of troops from Chushan to reinforce Ruzhou have already arrived in Ruzhou or are on their way to Ruzhou, along with a large number of combat supplies.
, what kind of rapid mobilization ability is this?
However, the enemy's more than 10,000 elite Chihu cavalry belonging to the Heluo General Administration were still near Yique and Dagu Pass, and had not entered the Ruzhou Basin from the north of Guangchengze.
This increased the force to more than 1,500 cavalry and the more than 1,000 horse infantry who arrived in Ruzhou from Wuyang and other cities overnight, enough to cover the area from Xiangcheng and Ye County to Zhiliang County in Ruzhou for more than 150 miles.
transportation lines.
From this point alone, the Chushan Army's combat capability is already superior to that of the Chihu people.
Of course, Chihuren's strategic focus this winter is on Huainan, not Huaishang, but the situation in front of him does make him feel much more relieved than when he set off from Pishan...
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Pi Mountain is composed of two mountains that stretch for seven or eight miles from north to south. The highest peak is only more than 150 feet. Below a hundred feet, the slope is gentle and easy to climb. But above a hundred feet, the peaks and cliffs stand up steeply, like a sword held upside down.
Across the low ridges to the west of Ruzhou City.
Yang Qiye fought hard last night and suffered many injuries. At this time, he also retreated to Ruzhou for training. Yang Yaozong stayed in Pishan to take charge of coordination and liaison. He, Wang Xian, Shi Hu and other generals accompanied Xu Huai and Shi Zhen on the south cliff of Pishan.
.
The morning sun has risen, and the magnificent morning light shines brightly on the Ruzhou Basin where the remaining snow has not disappeared.
At this time, the field of view was very good, the sky was light and cloudy. Xu Huai and the others could almost see the terrain of nearly thirty miles to the left and right. They could also see the Heluo enemy troops camping on the slopes of the north bank of the Beishui River more than ten miles away.
situation.
"Cao Shixiong doesn't seem to want to capture Ruzhou this winter..." The wind was so strong that Shi Zhen said, his short beard under his chin was blown into a mess.
The battle is nothing more than "money and food". Cao Shixiong's ambition to take advantage of Ruyang's power and attack Yeliang County in Ruzhou with lightning speed has gone bankrupt. Facing Chushan who are constantly passing through Xiangcheng and Ye County for reinforcements
With their elite troops, they obviously no longer harbor the illusion of quick victory.
At this time, the scale of Cao Shixiong's intention to organize another battle in the Pishan Valley can be estimated based on the mobilization of his troops, horses, and supplies.
At this time, there was no sign of the Heluo enemy troops massively increasing their troops to the slope hills on the north bank of the Juishui River. The scale of grain and grass transported eastward from Guangchengze was also very limited, so it is difficult to imagine whether Cao Shixiong still had determination in this winter.
Then launch a major offensive further east.
Xu Huai was silent, but it wasn't that he didn't agree with Shi Zhen's judgment. He was really sad for Yang Lin's unfortunate death in battle.
Because of the Battle of Ruying, Zheng Huaizhong had much more time to abandon Heluo and retreat south. Not only did millions of people move south with him, but before the final withdrawal, Luoyang, Yanshi, Mengjin and other cities were burned to ashes.
The grain storage did not leave a grain of millet for Cao Shixiong.
Cao Shixiong led his troops to occupy Heluo, but all they got was a piece of leftover land. There were only three to five million people left in the counties, and many of them were hiding in the mountains.
In the past year, the General Administration of Heluo had under its jurisdiction nearly 70,000 soldiers and horses. The required grain and fodder supplies were extremely limited from local plunder, and almost all needed to be transported from the east of Hedong and northern Shaanxi.
If it were not for the unexpected factor of the stone cannon from the Western Regions, Yang Lin could stay in Ruyang until the river thawed, and Cao Shixiong was destined to sadly withdraw from Ruzhou this winter.
Although Yang Lin unfortunately died in battle and Ruyang fell, including the battle of Guangchengyi, Zuo Xiao's victory army also delayed the Heluo enemy for more than a month, which greatly consumed the Heluo enemy's already tight food reserves.
Otherwise, when Cao Shixiong led his troops to besiege Ruyang, tens of thousands of elite red cavalry would have retreated to Yique, and there would have been food near Dagu Pass.
Yang Lin implemented a very thorough policy of fortifying the walls and clearing the wilderness in Ruzhou. Not only did he drive all the people in the Ruzhou Basin into the mountains or into the city, leaving many villages without even a grain of food, he also ordered all counties and villages to do so before winter.
They set fire to the nearby bushes and grasses, leaving even the withered weeds for the Chihu men's horses to nibble on.
When Cao Shixiong led 30,000 to 40,000 infantry to besiege Ruyang, if tens of thousands of elite red cavalry were not temporarily withdrawn to the Yique and Dagong Pass areas, the fodder for the 20,000 to 30,000 horses would have to come from Yique and Dagong Pass.
To transport them from other places would require more transportation capacity than to maintain an infantry force of 100,000 or 200,000 people.
Yang Lin's defense of Ruyang not only greatly consumed the enemy's small food reserves in Heluo, but also the Guangchengyi, Ruyang defense battles and the Linye Pishan Valley battle also inflicted heavy blows to the Heluo enemy, with no cumulative casualties.
Less than 10,000 people.
At this time, the enemy forces in Heluo had not captured Song County. It was not unimaginable that Cao Shixiong would give up continuing the large-scale battle west of Ruzhou City when he saw the Chushan Army coming to reinforce Ruzhou.
Judging from the strategic arrangements of the Chihu National People's Congress, Cao Shixiong at this time should have overfulfilled the tasks assigned by the Zhennan Zong Palace. Next, he and Yue Hailou jointly restrained the Chushan Army from two directions. Who is it?
There is no way to blame.
Of course, even if Cao Shixiong attacked in a large scale, Xu Huai had no fear in his heart. What he said to Zhu Hang before was not empty words or lies to comfort people.
Previously, in order to confine the enemy forces in the west of Beijing to the banks of the Centipede River, they could not directly advance to Xiangcheng and carried out a siege under Zhaoling City. The Chushan Army suffered a lot of casualties.
However, the main defense line in Xiangcheng and north of Zhaoling is hundreds of miles deep. It is easy for enemy cavalry to pass through low mountains and shallow ridges, and the terrain is open.
With limited troops, the Chushan Army organized defensive operations along the Centipede River and the old route of Yingshui River, which were more than a hundred miles long. It was extremely difficult to resist an enemy force twice their own size.
Under such circumstances, during the confrontation at the Centipede River, the casualties of the Chushan Army were still less than half of the enemy forces in the west of Beijing. They also promptly recruited Jian Rui from Zhou Bingxiang to ensure that the left and right armies remained satisfied at all times.
In the Pishan Valley, the Chushan Army's defense line was only seven miles long from the north bank of the Beishui River to the southern slope of Pishan, which was equivalent to the length of the north wall of Chushan New City. Why did Xu Huai fear Cao Shixiong's indiscriminate attack?
In addition, the Pishan Valley is only twelve or three miles away from Ruzhou, and the reinforced Chushan Army took root in the Pishan Valley.
This winter, the Heluo enemy army is not yet capable of encircling the entire periphery of Ruzhou City for a long-term siege, and they dare not simply go around between the Pishan Valley and Ruzhou City to attack the Chushan Army as reinforcements enter Ruzhou.
Cutting surround.
Now it depends on whether the imperial court can make the Chihudong Route Army return from Huainan without success this winter...
