In late autumn, mist enveloped the land on both sides of the Tangbai River, and hundreds of cavalry came along the post road.
The momentum of cavalry is always much more spectacular than that of infantry. Hundreds of cavalry look like three to four thousand men and horses coming overwhelmingly.
Without receiving any notice in advance, the Biyang defenders hurriedly closed the city gate and watched hundreds of cavalry bypass Biyang City and go to Zhufengtang's warehouse in the southwest of Biyang City. They had no idea what was going on.
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The cavalry did not move very fast. Many merchants who were heading north had encountered the enemy before and could not figure out what was going on in the north, so they turned back one after another. The news they brought back to Biyang City was that they saw Chushan Mountain along the way.
The soldiers and horses heading south for the second time were not only the six to seven hundred cavalry in front of them, but also more Chushan soldiers and horses behind them, who were advancing towards Nanyang.
Marquis Jingsheng had already led more than a thousand cavalry to Jianye. His Majesty was newly mourned, and Chushan mobilized troops and horses to go south. What happened?
Ning Ci, Zhou Yunze and others hurriedly climbed to the top of the city and saw that the first group of cavalry had entered the south warehouse of Zhufengtang. They were all shocked, but they did not dare to speculate or speak.
They had just received the edict announcing the death of Emperor Jianji the day before yesterday, and the prefecture and county yamen also arranged memorial services and mourning arrangements for officials and people based on the edict.
The imperial edict did not mention the Zheng family's father and son's reckless actions to abolish the throne, and their intention to commit misdeeds against the successor emperor Huai Wang. However, as the prefects of Nanyang, Ning Ci and Zhou Yunze were the backbone of the officials in the court.
There is old history, and Jin Zhuangcheng is serving as the Minister of Rites in the court, so the news will not be completely unheard.
Yesterday, several private letters were sent to Biyang City with whips whipped up. Ning Ci, Zhou Yunze and others also generally knew that after the death of Emperor Jianji, Xu Huai led his troops to detain Zheng Huaizhong, Zheng Cong and his son in the political hall.
Chushan and Prince Huai's Mansion sent troops to Huaidong to clean up the remnants of the Zheng family in Huaidong. This is something everyone can think of. But the problem is that if Chushan wants to send troops to Huaidong, they should not go directly from Xinyang, Huaiyuan and other places.
If we advance eastward along the south bank of the Huaihe River, how can we massively mobilize troops and horses southward?
"Mr. Cheng, maybe you should go and take a trip!" Ning Ci looked at Cheng Lunying with a gloomy expression and said.
After Zheng Huaizhong, Zheng Cong and his son led the main force of the Shenwu Army to Huainan, in the middle of last year, in order to mobilize the Nanyang Prefecture Army to participate in the garrison in Rucai and other places, Cheng Lunying almost openly sided with Chushan.
If something really happened in Chushan, Ning Ci didn't think that Cheng Lunying would definitely get the news in advance, but at this time, Cheng Lunying went to the Zhufengtang warehouse to meet with the commander of the Chushan cavalry who rushed to Biyang, and he could always get some news -
- Of course, Cheng Lunying would probably not tell them the truth when he got some information, but it was still better than them sitting around in the city without knowing anything.
Although there was no order from the Privy Council, Nanyang Mansion should refuse the Chushan Army to enter and exit at will, but in the current situation, Ning Ci did not feel that he should stand up and stand up.
Cheng Lunying was also full of shock and suspicion, but this time he did not refuse Ning Ci's request, and rushed to Zhufengtang Warehouse with several followers.
Zhufengtang's warehouse in the south of Biyang City is located on the bank of Bishui River. Initially, including warehouses and stables, it was only a courtyard covering an area of three or four acres. The dock is located on the south side of the courtyard and can only berth two four- and five-year-old ships.
A wooden sailboat that is ten feet long; with the emergence of the Chu Mountains, the freight transported by river through Biyang has become larger and larger, and the warehouses and docks have been continuously expanded over the years. Last year, Xu Huai moved tens of thousands of craftsmen, craftsmen and their families to Baihe
On the upper reaches of Longtan Ridge, a tributary of the Dongzhao River, a refinery and a porcelain-burning workshop were built.
Tangbai River is divided into Tang River and Baihe in Nanyang Prefecture, and they merge into the real Tangbai River in Xiangcheng County, Xiangyang Prefecture.
The Baihe River on the west side is affected by the undulating topography and soil quality of the west wing of the Nanyang Basin. The shipping conditions are very poor. Not only the tributary Dongzhao River can only pass through by shallow-bottomed sailboats carrying a load of twenty or thirty stones, but the main stream of the Baihe River is in Nanyang County and Xinye County.
, there are still large sections of shoals with only one or two feet of water depth, restricting the passage of boats.
At the same time, no dams have been built along the Baihe River, and the river course is often affected by floods.
Although the Tang River on the east wing does not have artificial dams, its terrain is relatively flat, flood disasters are less severe, and navigation conditions are much better.
In view of this feature, last year Chushan further expanded Zhufengtang's warehouse in the south of Biyang City, so that the iron materials and porcelain produced in Longtanling could first be transported out of the mountain by small boats, and then to the north of Nanyang County through the Tang River and Baihe River.
The goods arrived at Biyang from the Hengqu Canal and were transferred to medium-sized wooden sailing ships at the warehouse in the south of Biyang City for transportation to Xiangyang, Nancai and other places.
At the same time, Zhufengtang was able to purchase grain from various counties in Nanyang last year. It was first concentrated at the warehouse in the south of Biyang City, and then went north through Tanghe. After arriving at the Dongshedian warehouse in the south of Fangcheng County, it was then transferred to the land route through Fangcheng.
It was transported through the pass to the Nan Lishui River in the west of Wuyang, and then transported by river to Wuyang, Zhaoling, Xiangcheng, Liangxian and other places.
The difficulty and complexity of bulk commercial cargo transportation in the current era, as well as the relative topographic relationship between Biyang City and Chushan County, all determine the special status of Zhufengtang in the warehouse south of Biyang City.
At this time, the warehouse in the south of the city and the dock area expanded to more than 30 acres. Especially after the high and thick protective walls were built, the warehouse was no different from a small or medium-sized military fort. There were more than a hundred armed guards and more than 500 troops stationed there every day.
this.
In addition, the warehouse also used the depression on the west side to open a boat pool that can accommodate more than a hundred small and medium-sized boats.
After more than 500 Chushan riders arrived in Biyang, they were able to directly station themselves in the warehouse. After all, during the busiest season, the warehouse basically had to accommodate thousands of mules and horses to rest and transport goods here.
Cheng Lunying rushed to the warehouse in the south of the city and saw Xu Wujiang, Tang Pan and others standing in the courtyard. He was shocked and stepped forward, cupping his hands and saying, "Why are you here in Biyang?"
At this time, Xu Wujiang was the commander of the Chushan camp, and among the generals who commanded the army in Chushan, Tang Pan and Xu Xin'an had a higher status than other commanders and governors of the capital, and were second only to Xu Wuqi and Chen Zi.
Xiao and Wang Xian were the three major rulers.
The presence of Xu Wujiang and Tang Pan here means that the scale of Chushan's southward transfer of troops may be much larger than expected, and it is unlikely to be only two or three thousand troops.
"Mr. Cheng is here just in time. We are just about to send someone to invite Mr. Cheng." Xu Wujiang asked Cheng Lunying to go to the hall and explained, "The imperial decree may be delayed by one or two days before arriving at Nanyang Mansion. We are
After receiving the military order from the Commander-in-Chief, I dispatched first and did not have time to report to Nanyang Mansion in advance..."
Before Xu Huai set out from Nancai east to Jianye, he ordered Chushan to gather some soldiers and horses at the fort north of Fangcheng to prepare for the attack on the Dongjing bandit army. He even went to Biyang Warehouse in advance to gather supplies, including
The scale of grain procurement was increased from Nanyang counties, but Nanyang Prefecture did not notice anything unusual.
"Hou Xu has returned to Nancai and wants to personally lead Nancai's soldiers and horses to suppress the Dongjing bandit army?" Cheng Lunying asked in surprise.
Biyang is more than 800 miles away from Nanyang. In addition to the fact that Yi Chuan is not so stable and reliable, it is mainly Nanyang Prefecture. Xiangyang Prefecture is under the direct jurisdiction of the central government. In Jianye, Xu Huai proposed to recruit an army in Nancai.
Ma, participated in the suppression of the Dongjing bandit army. After the Privy Council issued the recruitment order, at this juncture, everyone knew that they had to send messengers to inform Yueyang (Jinghu South Road Zhiji Department) and Jiangxia (Jinghu North Road Zhiji Department) as soon as possible.
), no one thought of writing about Xiangyang Prefecture and Nanyang Prefecture in a hurry.
Xu Huai did not forget this point, and it can even be said that he did not mention it intentionally.
Xu Huaizhen wanted to remind the Privy Council that when writing documents about Xiangyang Prefecture and Nanyang Prefecture, it was necessary to clearly state the specific arrangements for the scale of additional mobilization of men, horses, grain, and baggage from the Chushan headquarters. The Privy Council would even make specific provisions for the transfer of men, horses, and baggage through Nanyang and Xiangyang in the writing.
, or restriction.
The Privy Council did not issue a document, but Xu Huai did have the conscription order in hand, so many things could be delegated to him. Even if the Xiangyang Mansion under Wen Hengyue wanted to impose restrictions at this time, Xu Huai would still turn his back.
At present, in addition to gathering a large amount of materials from Wuyang, Huaiyuan and other places to the warehouse in the south of Biyang City, Xu Huai also needs to set up a large transfer station at the junction of Nanyang Prefecture and Xiangyang Prefecture, and at the intersection of Tang River and Baihe River.
; After arriving at the mouth of the Hualing River in the east of Jingmen, the material supply line will also extend along the Hualing River and Changlin River to Jiangling County - in addition to mobilizing tens of thousands of heavy troops and a larger force, with vehicles
Horses and boats shuttled between various transfer stations to transport grain, ordnance and other supplies. At the same time, thousands of elite troops were stationed to protect these transfer stations.
This is also a necessary task for logistics support during the launch of the battle. Xu Wujiang, as Zuo Sima of the Chushan camp, rushed to Biyang to take charge. He was fully responsible for the normal and safe operation of the supply line from Wuyang to the mouth of the Hualing River; Tang Pan, as Xu Wujiang,
Wu Jiang's deputy is responsible for commanding the Chushan soldiers and horses that protect such supply lines...
His Majesty was recently mourned. In Jianye, Xu Huai not only used thunderous means to detain Zheng Huaizhong, Zheng Cong and his son, but also directly led troops to suppress the Dongjing bandit army after the burial ceremony. Cheng Lunying was shocked by this. Hearing Xu Wujiang talk about the supply line
After thinking about many key points for a while, I finally came to my senses and asked in surprise:
"It is said that soldiers are valuable and quick. Xu Hou is recruiting troops and horses in Nancai. He may need Chushan to directly supply some combat materials first. But at the same time, shouldn't we recruit various materials on the spot to reduce the loss on the road as much as possible?"
Cheng Lunying thought again and thought that the entire supply line was located in Nanyang Prefecture and Xiangyang Prefecture. There were no threats except the Zuoer Mountain bandits throughout the whole process. Chushan should ask Nanyang Prefecture and Xiangyang Prefecture to send troops to protect it and further reduce Chushan's consumption, instead of
Send so many Chushan elites to Nanyang and Xiangyang Prefecture.
Except that Xu Huai's real purpose is to send so many Chushan elites to Nanyang and station in Xiangyang Prefecture?
Cheng Lunying believed that he still had Xu Huai's trust. Thinking of this, he looked at Xu Wujiang in a low voice, and Tang Pan asked: "Does Xu Hou intend to suppress the bandits?"
"Commander Jie still wants to suppress bandits, but the situation between the DPRK and China is more complicated than imagined. We don't know much about it now. The military order we received is just this. There is no way to write too many details in the military order. We can only see the commander-in-chief after meeting him."
