There are strong warriors guarding the four sides!"
The rain has stopped, but the low-hanging dark clouds have not dispersed, and the sky is filled with gloom. The traces of the fierce battle before noon have not been erased from the battlefield. The land filled with arrows is like a crop field that has just been harvested after autumn.
The corpses of both enemy and enemy generals were everywhere, lying on the muddy battlefield, completely cold.
Occasionally, there would be one or two injured horses struggling to stand up from the dark, turbid muddy water, letting out helpless screams.
The old soldiers in raincoats sat in an array surrounded by chariots and horses, humming ancient military songs, and the generals and soldiers followed suit and hummed softly.
Suddenly, a low horn sounded, and the soldiers stood up in shock. Looking out from the gap between the car formations, they saw the enemy camp in front of them. The three gates were opened at the same time, and they could vaguely see the people in the enemy camp.
Hundreds and thousands of armored soldiers armed with shields, swords and spears have formed a dense attack array.
Several large groups of enemy cavalry came around from the camp at the rear at the same time, advancing rapidly like a black flood.
"The enemy is counterattacking, the enemy is counterattacking! Pick up your sword and spear!"
The generals and team leaders would put their swords in scabbards, beat the unresponsive generals, and yell and curse, ordering the generals to pick up their swords and prepare to fight.
It was not easy to assemble an attack in front of the enemy camp. The generals supervising the battle in front of the enemy camp saw that the rain was not heavy, so they did not withdraw their troops and return to camp to give up today's offensive.
Today's rain started before noon and lasted for nearly an hour before stopping. Most of the soldiers were exposed to the mist-like drizzle. The armor under their raincoats was already wet. They didn't feel very cold, but the hands and feet were wrapped, which was very cold.
It is inconvenient; and the crossbow is difficult to keep properly in the rain, the bow string is wet, and the arrows are weak and weak——
The heavy chariot that was finally dragged onto the battlefield by mules and horses had already sunk deeply into the soft muddy ground, making it difficult to move it with just manpower.
Seeing the enemy cavalry approaching unscrupulously, the experienced soldiers threw away their crossbows, untied their raincoats that were heavy from the rain, jumped on the chariot, and held their spears from the gaps between the chariot's baffle and the big shield.
The thorns stick out.
Although the enemy cavalry galloped out of the camp, they could not adapt to the humid weather in the Jianghuai River.
A crossbow cannot be kept dry unless it is exposed to rain, and the arrows it shoots are also weak and weak - it is often necessary to get within twenty or thirty steps before the mounted bow can exert some power.
The enemy cavalry quickly approached from the flanks, either panicking the Shenwu Army's generals on the flanks, or luring the Shenwu Army's out-of-control generals to come out to engage in battle. Through repeated pulls, the Shenwu Army's tight car formation became
loose.
The main force of the Red Husband's real counterattack was the armored soldiers who came out from the camp. At this moment, they were like a more turbulent flood, rushing towards the rock-like Shenwu Army Chariot Formation...
Eight or nine miles away, Hu Kai and Zheng Huaizhong, under the strict guard of their guards, climbed onto a hillock and looked at the fierce fighting battlefield with stern expressions.
In terms of combat effectiveness, the Shenwu Army is still inferior to the soldiers stationed on the east bank of Yanghu Lake, but it is not completely unable to withstand it.
The key now depends on how strong the fighting spirit and determination of the Zheng family and the many generals of the Shenwu Army are to fight the enemy to the death; at this time, the generals and generals of the Shenwu Army are all direct descendants of the Zheng family and the father and son. Now the Zheng family and the son can still
Gritting their teeth and persisting, the three to four thousand Shenwu troops who stood in front of the enemy camp and did not withdraw seemed to be suffering a lot of casualties, but they were able to stabilize their position; groups of cavalry, horse infantry quickly crossed from the rear camp, and in the mud
On the battlefield, fighting with the enemy, the momentum is not weak.
At this moment, Hu Kai became more and more convinced that as long as the Vietnamese generals could not fear death and rush to the battlefield to fight bloody battles, even if the casualties were far more than the enemy's, they would surely seize the final victory.
Since Emperor Jianji ascended the throne in Xiangyang, he has fought many battles with the Red Husbands and surrendered rebels, with fewer victories and more defeats. Heluo, Shaanxi, Xusu and other places were all occupied by the rebels. Only Chushan occupied the Huaishang River and Huaihe River.
The last corner of the land did not fall; continuous reinforcements were raised to make up for the lack of military resources. Tens of millions of people in the Hehuai and other areas fled south to avoid the war and were unable to make a living. The conflict with local governments over land became prominent, resulting in Huainan, Jiangnan, and Zhejiang.
Civil riots occurred frequently in Jingxiang and other places.
All of this means that the situation in Dai Viet still seems to be deeply trapped in a desperate situation of internal and external difficulties. The situation does not seem to have improved at all, and is becoming more and more serious.
Hu Kai knew, however, that the situation was already improving.
During the period from the fall of Bianliang to Emperor Jianji's accession to the throne in Xiangcheng, except for the Chushan army, which was unique and relied on Xu Huaiqi's strategic tactics and achieved great results, all the other soldiers and horses were not retreating steadily and were killed to a rout.
When Emperor Chien Ji ascended the throne, who would have dared to imagine that Dai Viet, which had its elite frontier troops killed and was completely defeated, and all areas were in chaos, could organize a battle of such a scale in such a short period of time, and not be completely at a disadvantage?
For ten months, Zheng Huaizhong, Liu Yan, and Han Shiliang marched hand in hand into the area between Feishui River and Qingluo River, and fought fierce battles with the Japanese soldiers almost every day.
The Shenwu Army suffered heavy casualties, with hundreds of generals dying on the battlefield, but the enemy army was not without casualties, nor was it without losses.
At least on the Huainan battlefield, Hu Kai was no longer afraid of this level of attrition.
Tens of millions of people fled south from Hehuai and other places to escape the war, which brought unstoppable chaos to the south, but at the same time it also provided sufficient soldiers for Dai Viet.
There were as many as one or two million refugees who were trapped in Yangzhou, Luzhou and other counties along the Yangtze River and had no livelihood. However, within a year of moving the capital to Ye, the Yuying Division recruited more than 50,000 people in Yangzhou and Luzhou.
The new soldiers were trained and their families were relocated near Jianye.
Hu Kai did not expect that the Yangzhou and Luzhou prefecture troops, which were mainly new soldiers, would be dragged into the bloody battlefield and have the ability to fight head-on with the brutal Japanese soldiers.
This is completely impossible to do.
However, Zheng Huaizhong, Liu Yan, and Han Shiliang were able to lead their troops to kill the enemy in a bloody battle regardless of their own safety. However, if there were casualties, Hu Kai promptly transferred groups of soldiers who had undergone preliminary training from Yangzhou and Luzhou and continuously replenished them to ensure that Zheng Huaizhong would survive.
The size of Liu Yan, Han Shiliang and other military commanders will not be reduced.
The various ministries have also used this to ensure that since ten months, they have maintained active and fierce offensives in the area between Feishui River and Qingluo River.
Even if it is difficult for Dai Viet to achieve a decisive victory in a short period of time, attracting the main enemy force between Feishui and Qingluo River has greatly weakened the offensive endured by Shouchun City, and at the same time strengthened the Shouchun garrison to hold on.
determination and will.
Seeing that the counterattack could not break open the Shenwu Army's front positions, the enemy quickly withdrew and returned to the camp. The Shenwu Army also suffered heavy casualties and could no longer launch a fierce attack on the enemy camp, so it retreated to the rear camp in turns.
Watching the enemy troops withdraw into the camp, in addition to the chariots and horses surrounding the Shenwu Army camp, thousands of civilians dispatched from the camp began to build two camps on the north side of the camp to continue to close the gap with the enemy camp.
distance.
"It has been raining for days, and the generals are exhausted. Every time they fight, they can only hold on to this point, so they have to retreat and rest. They cannot approach the enemy camp and continue to attack. They really betray your majesty's trust!" Zheng Huaizhong faced south!
He cupped his hands and said to Hu Kai.
"Runan Gong was too humble. For ten days, the Shenwu Army, under the leadership of Runan Gong and Wuyang Marquis, fought bloody battles and restrained the 40,000 enemy troops east of Yang Lake, making it difficult for him to take care of them. This is a great achievement.
What’s more, the Shenwu Army killed many enemies, and His Majesty has repeatedly praised the Shenwu Army’s generals for their bravery and skill in fighting. They are the masters of tigers and wolves in Vietnam.”
Seeing that Zheng Huaizhong was quite proud, Hu Kai certainly did not hesitate to praise him a few words and said with a smile,
"It has been raining for days and it is extremely inconvenient to fight, but I would like to ask Duke Runan to tell the generals that this kind of weather will actually bring greater trouble to the captive soldiers. As long as the soldiers are not afraid of hardships and persist in fighting, they will be able to drive out the captive soldiers."
Huainan!”
Of course Hu Kai knew that the attitudes of Zheng Huaizhong, Zheng Cong and his son had changed and they had become active in fighting the enemies east of Yanghu. The birth of the new prince was the key. He also knew that the birth of the new prince would make the situation in the court more delicate.
And it gets complicated.
However, in any case, the birth of the new prince can eliminate the bad blood between His Majesty and the Zheng family and his son, and can turn the Shenwu Army into a brave force that fights bravely. At least under the current situation, it is exciting.
Good thing.
Otherwise, it would be difficult to form the current stalemate if we only rely on Liu Yan and Han Shiliang's troops to fight bravely.
The situation seems to be at a stalemate at present, but the continuous rain has actually brought great inconvenience to the soldiers.
The soil is soft and muddy, the air is humid, clothes are moldy, horses' hooves are prone to fester after being immersed in wet mud for a long time, swords and guns are rusted, and bowstrings are weak. The range of trebuchets is also greatly reduced because the tips of the trebuchets are wet with rainwater.
Hu Kai now counted on Zheng Huaizhong, Liu Yan, Han Shiliang and other troops to continue the offensive.
As April enters, the weather gradually becomes hotter, and the soldiers who are not adapted to the Jianghuai climate will only face greater troubles.
It is not unimaginable that the rivers will overflow and diseases will breed. It is not unimaginable that the Japanese soldiers will have to give up the siege of Shouchun and withdraw from Huainan.
Only after the siege of Shouchun was lifted and the Japanese soldiers withdrew from Huainan, the Qinling-Huaihe defense line that the government and the public had been looking forward to since His Majesty Xiangyang ascended the throne could be truly formed.
After forming a confrontation with the Chihu people along the Zuoling-Huaihe River, Dai Viet could really free up its hands to quell the civil unrest in Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Jingxiang and other places, sort out people's livelihood, and accumulate more and stronger military power until the Chi
The Hu people were completely expelled from the Central Plains...
