If Liu Yan wanted to go to Tongguan Mountain to meet Xu Huai, they would have to spend at least two or three more days on the road, and they would also become tired and sleepy, which would add many dangers to the follow-up pass through the blockade of the Japanese soldiers;
Han Gui and Jiang Ping learned some basic information here, and Liu Yan could only go east to Runzhou with more than a dozen families with regrets.
Runzhou is an important town east of Jianye. It was called Dantu and Jingkou in ancient times. It belongs to the Liangzhe West Road (the Liangzhe West Road has a different concept from the later Zhejiang West Road and mainly covers Su, Run, Chang, Hang, Xiu, Hu, Yan and other prefectures.
It is also the most prosperous place in the world).
Runzhou is adjacent to the river and has mountains, with Ye built on the east side of the river, and across the river from Yangzhou, an important town in Huaidong. The southern section of the Jiangnan Canal and the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal starts from Runzhou, ends in Hangzhou in the south, and crosses the entire Taihu Plain. These all determine Runzhou
It has played a very important strategic position since history.
At the beginning of this war, the Military and Horse Deployment Department of the two Zhejiang West Roads assigned two thousand soldiers and horses from the small imperial army under the jurisdiction of the road to strengthen the defense of Runzhou.
At this time, in addition to the imperial army and the state army (water-containing army) under the jurisdiction of Runzhou, after the situation worsened, Runzhou also recruited a large number of local braves to collect the defeated troops of the Jianye Navy who fled eastward. At this time, there were a total of more than 15,000 defenders.
.
At least before the mass landing of the Japanese troops, it was more or less reassuring to have so many defenders gathered in Dantu County.
After Liu Yan arrived at Runzhou, the garrison general dispatched two small boats to escort them across the river while the navy was unable to seal tightly at night, and entered Yangzi County of Zhenzhou overnight.
Although Jiangbei Zhen, Chu, and Sanzhou were still nominally under the control of the Left and Right Xiaosheng Army at this time, except for Wushou and Liyang counties, other important counties such as Yangtze, Liuhe, Quanjiao, Wushou, Wujiang, and Qingliu
The city had not been captured yet, but Liu Yan and other generals were hiding day and night. When they arrived at Quanjiao County in Chuzhou three days later, they saw many villages destroyed by the invading soldiers along the way, and killings could be seen everywhere.
"Liu Hou..."
Yang Qiye, who led his troops to withdraw into Quanjiao and defended the two cities of Qingliu, was not cowardly enough to use a hanging basket to pull Liu Yan up the city wall. When he was patrolling the city, he saw Liu Yan coming to the city under the protection of more than a dozen generals, and ignored him.
Hundreds of soldiers were riding towards the city as if they had smelled something. They ordered the city gates to be opened and went out to greet Liu Yan in person.
Liu Yan is as famous as Deng Gui, Zhang Xin and Yang Qiye's father Yang Lin.
Yang Lin died tragically in Ruyang, and Yang Qiye inherited his father's ambition and took over Zuo Xiaosheng's army. However, in front of Liu Yan, he always regarded himself as his son and nephew, and he was respectful in handling etiquette.
In recent years, under the leadership of Yang Lin, Yang Qiye and their sons, the generals of Zuo Xiaosheng's army have experienced a series of bloody battles in Heluo, Ruying, Ruzhou, etc., and they have long tempered their iron will. Watching hundreds of prisoners riding towards this
When the troops came forward, they immediately separated out the corresponding troops and lined up to wait, so as not to disturb Yang Qiye and Liu Yan, who were meeting at the bottom of the city.
At present, in Quanjiao City, in addition to the 3,000 elite Zuo Xiaosheng Army led by Yang Qiye, there are also a large number of troops who fled eastward from Hefei, Feidong and other places.
They used to be Liu Yan's subordinates, but now they saw Liu Yan risking his way across the river under the escort of more than a dozen generals. After hearing the news, they rushed down to the city to see him, their eyes full of guilt.
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"Wen Jiang was incompetent and abandoned Feidong and fled. Please ask Liu Hou to punish him!"
Liang Wenjiang, the second general of Youxiaosheng Army, knelt in front of the city gate, took off his saber and raised it above his head.
Liu Yan did not take the sword raised by Liang Wenjiang, but looked into the distance. At present, among the cities west of Quanjiao, except for Jiezhong who is still holding on in Chaoxian County, Feidong, Wushou, Liyang and Hefei have all fallen.
, the west gate of Quanjiao is on a higher ground, Liu Yan can not only see the hundreds of captive cavalry approaching slowly, but also the camp set up by the captive soldiers on the north bank of the Chu River in the distance.
Liang Wenjiang, who led his troops stationed in Feidong and other places, saw Xu Pu's defeat at the foot of Hefei City and the subsequent fall of Hefei City. He decisively led his troops to abandon Feidong and retreat eastward. This saved part of the strength of Youxiaosheng's army, but due to the
Compared with Jie Zhong, who led his troops to defend Chaoxian County and refused to retreat, he seemed a little embarrassed. Many admonishment officials in the court used this idea to hold Liang Wenjiang accountable for his cowardice and fear of war, and his abandonment of the important town of Feidong.
After a long time, Liu Yan stretched out his hand to hold Liang Wenjiang's shoulder and said: "If you abandon Feidong and leave, are you afraid of the enemy and afraid of fighting, or are you planning to do something behind the scenes? The court has not yet decided, but in the next battle, you still have to fight."
I have a chance to prove myself.”
Seeing that the captives did not dare to approach, Yang Qiye slowly said to Liu Yan: "Marquis Liu has worked hard on this trip, we'd better go to the city first!"
Entering the temporary residence of the county government, Liu Yan issued the imperial edict.
In addition to Yang Qiye always respecting Liu Yan and treating him as his father-in-law, he also has a relatively young qualifications and does have many inconveniences in controlling the remnants of the Youxiaosheng Army.
At this time, Liu Yan was ordered to cross the river to supervise the war. Of course, Yang Qiye had no objections and immediately expressed his willingness to lead Zuo Xiaosheng's army and the Yangzhou army to accept Liu Yan's control.
Of course, the generals in the city headed by Yang Yaozong are most concerned about the situation on the south bank:
"There is news that just a few days after arriving in Jianye, Xu Shijun severely wounded the soldiers crossing the river and beheaded the captive general Wu Chi. Is this true or false?"
"I heard that in addition to the soldiers and horses of King Qin, the Suwei imperial army was also controlled by Shijun Xu. When will Shijun Xu lead the army to cross the river and drive the dogs across the Huaihe River? These days are really frustrating.
Well, like in the battle of Ruzhou, the old commander died in Ruyang. Although we are still sad to this day, we can fight happily. What is it now? Jianye Navy and Hefei soldiers and horses were defeated in a daze.
Those many people died inexplicably and unjustly!"
Zuo Xiaosheng's army also absorbed some Jian Rui recruited from Taiyuan survivors, but it was mainly based on the Caizhou Army led by Yang Lin and recruited brave men from Caizhou Township. However, this does not mean that the relationship with Jingxiang is not
So far, in the early days, the Chushan Army was even nominally considered a part of the Caizhou Army.
In addition to the fact that Xu Huai and Yang Lin served as generals in front of Hu Kai's tent as Caizhou's defense envoy in the early days, Emperor Jianji, at Xu Huai's instigation, rushed to Gongyi to take over the guarding army to block the westward march of the captives. At that time, Yang Qiye led a part of the Caizhou army and
Deng Gui, who represented the Military and Horse Deployment Department on the southwestern route of Beijing, led troops and horses to assist. Later, he followed Emperor Jianji and Xu Huai to cross the Yangtze River to aid Qinshui, Zezhou, and even some Caizhou Jianrui, who participated in the thousands-mile attack on Taiyuan.
Needless to say, during the Battle of Ruying, when the Chushan Army defended Caizhou and Zuo Xiaosheng's Army defended Ruzhou, when Yang Lin died in a heroic battle in Ruyang, it was Xu Huai who led the western aid at all costs to avoid Zuo Xiaosheng's army.
The entire line collapsed.
After that, the Chushan Army alone resisted the enemies of Heluo and Jingxi, while Zuo Xiaosheng's army, which suffered heavy casualties, withdrew to Xiangyang to replenish and rest.
Although Xu Huai issued an imperial edict to lure Zheng Huaizhong to death, Zheng Cong and his son, Yang Qiye and Zuo Xiaosheng's generals were all shocked when they heard the news, and finally followed Wen Hengyue to move to Huaidong silently, but Yang Qiye and Zuo Xiaosheng's generals were not.
No one has ever said anything wrong with Marquis Jingsheng and Jingxiang.
Compared with Deng Gui, who was based on the imperial army under the jurisdiction of Jingnan Road and took the initiative to cut off from Jingxiang after the Zhengshitang Incident, Yang Qiye and Zuo Xiaoshengjun generals were obviously too unlovable in the eyes of Emperor Shaolong.
Of course, Zuo Xiaoshengjun had fought too many hard and bloody battles over the years, which resulted in strong internal cohesion. In the end, Emperor Shaolong decided to attack Youxiaoshengjun, who looked softer, first, and removed Liu Yan's military power.
But I didn't want it to lead to such an uncontrollable collapse.
Regarding this, Yang Yaozong and other generals of Zuo Xiaosheng's army were also full of complaints and even extremely angry:
"If Marquis Jingsheng hadn't stepped up to turn the tide this time, how could Tianxuan's disaster be avoided from happening again? In my opinion, some people in the court were worse than those in the Tianxuan Dynasty, or they had never been changed at all.
If you mess around, there is still half the country that can cause disaster. The late emperor, the old commander, Marquis Jingsheng and Marquis Liu spent so much effort to reluctantly establish a defense line along the Huaihe River and Qinling Mountains. If Jianye falls this time, where else can it be rebuilt?
Line of defense?”
To be honest, among the many generals of Youxiaosheng Army who were massacred inside and outside Hefei this time, who among them was not Liu Yan’s old subordinate?
That year, Yan's second northern expedition failed miserably in the south of Yunzhou City. More than half of the hundreds of Liu's descendants who joined the army were killed or wounded, causing the Liu family to suffer heavy losses.
Although Liu Yan was dismissed from his general position this time and transferred back to the Central Committee as deputy envoy to the Privy Council, there are still fifty or sixty Liu family members remaining in the army - they are precisely the most elite military officials of Youxiaosheng Army.
He led his troops to follow Xu Pu to garrison Hefei, the most critical place. Hefei fell in chaos, and the Liu family's children once again suffered heavy casualties.
Liu Yan is still not sure about the life and death of his eldest son Liu Jingwu. His heart has long been numb with pain, and he just said in a gloomy voice:
"Don't complain anymore. Since all the generals have confidence in Xu Shijun, let's do everything we can. Xu Shijun promised to do everything possible to build a floating ferry between Chizhou and Qianshan.
If we concentrate our troops and horses from west to east to attack Lujiang and the Japanese soldiers west of Shucheng, it is not enough for us to just defend Quanjiao and Qingliu cities. We not only need to control Jilong Mountain and Baota Mountain, but also fight with
Wujiang County is connected, and we need to extend our military front to the north bank of the Yangtze River. At least we can no longer allow the Japanese soldiers to cross the area east of the connection between Quanjiao and Wujiang cities, burn, kill and loot. Although we may not be able to break the siege of Chao County immediately,
But I believe that if you all try your best to fight, the soldiers and civilians of Chao County will definitely see..."
The two counties of Quanjiao and Qingliu to which the Chu River belongs are located along the banks of the Chu River and are surrounded by low mountains such as Baochan Mountain, Jilong Mountain, and Baota Mountain in the south, forming a barrier-like mountain range in the north of the Yangtze River.
The northern part of the two counties is composed of a series of low mountains such as Zhangbaling and Fengyang Mountains, which form the Huaiyang hilly belt.
As the remnant of the Huaiyang Mountains, the Huaiyang Hilly Belt is located in the eastern part of Huaixi, extending northeast from between Luzhou and Chuzhou to the south bank of the Huaihe River and Hongzepu.
Although the mountains in the Huaiyang hilly belt are not very steep, they allow the infantry to rely on them to fight against the highly mobile cavalry. During the first Huainan battle, the left and right victorious armies also mainly relied on the Huaiyang hills to fight against the southern invasion.
Fighting with soldiers.
At present, Liu Yan does not expect to be able to immediately curb the offensive of the captive soldiers through the Huaiyang hills to the north, but he must also rely on Jilong Mountain and Baota Mountain in the south as much as possible to connect with Wujiang County facing the river in the south to contain more captives.
The soldiers were restrained, creating more favorable conditions for Xu Huai to lead the main force of King Qin to break through from the west...
