By the end of September, the flood season has passed, but the water level of the Huaihe River has not completely receded. The reeds on the river beach are half submerged in the river water, and the turbid water waves gently hit the sand embankment.
Zhong Changqing reined in his horse and stopped on the sand embankment, looking up towards the south bank.
Zhong Changqing and Mo Lihu were both guest troops and did not need to undertake rear-rear combat duties. Their troops had already left for Yingzhou the day before yesterday.
However, Zhong Changqing did not believe that Xu Huai could endure Emperor Shaolong and his Qiandi generals secretly making peace with them without any reaction at all.
It was inconvenient for him to rush to the south bank to point out things, but he did not leave Beiying, but made excuses to stay.
It's like a big show. How can the addicted audience bear to leave the show until it ends?
Zhong Changqing was on the south bank before and felt that the mouth of the Pishui River was flat and there were no ups and downs in the terrain. But now he was standing on the lower north bank and found that the terrain on the south bank was not only undulating, but also higher than the north bank. At this moment, he would
His vision was obscured.
He could vaguely hear the sound of wind mixed with the sound of a horn, but his field of vision was filled with turbid river water, reed swamps, and the ups and downs of the natural sand embankment on the water side.
Except for the civil servants who were making a mess at the south ferry of the pontoon and were being driven off the pontoon in an emergency, other places were blocked by sand embankments, making Zhong Changqing unable to
Confirm whether it was Jingsheng's army who came in for a surprise attack.
Zhong Changqing got on his horse anxiously and led his guards everywhere to look for high ground where he could see the other side of the river.
However, apart from a few purpose-built towering towers on the north shore, there are few places on slightly higher ground.
Zhong Changqing rode his horse to the west for several miles, and finally found a sand dune with a slightly higher terrain. He galloped forward and saw Mo Lihu coming from the other side with two attendants - and
Two groups of people were already standing on the sand dunes, looking eagerly at the south bank.
Seeing Zhong Changqing, Mo Li suddenly came over, and a young general who rushed to the sand dune first nodded to them and greeted them: "General Zhong, General Nayan, you and the King of Zhennan have said that we will wait for the main force of our army to withdraw."
When we get to the north bank, Xu Huai will definitely attack our rear troops like a vicious wolf. It seems that you are really right——"
"Tuola, what's going on over there?" Mo Lihu didn't sound proud at all. He saw two puffs of black smoke rising from the middle of the pontoon and asked with a frown.
"The horn sounded on the south bank, and there happened to be two groups of civilians on the pontoon transporting goods across the river. There must be spies from Beijing and Xiangzhou mixed inside, setting fires to create chaos. After the navy arrived, several people jumped into the river and escaped."
The young general Tuola smiled and said, "However, I think Jingxiang's tricks are nothing more than this. It is too simple to think of destroying the bridge with a few spies!"
The pontoon bridge is built on the undulating water. The agitated water foam and waves have already soaked the trestle bridge and the pontoon boat that uses buoyancy to hold the trestle bridge. Unless the entire pontoon bridge is soaked with kerosene from beginning to end, otherwise
Where is it easy to set fire to?
Chihu did not have the ability to make strong and light iron ropes. Located outside the mouth of the Pishui River, this giant pontoon bridge, which is more than three miles long, uses iron ropes to connect more than 80 small pontoon boats, and then connects them to the Huaihe River below.
A dozen giant boats were anchored and anchored, and then the giant boats were used to firmly hold the pontoon bridge to resist the impact of the current, thus reducing the requirements for fixed objects on both sides of the bank.
At present, this giant pontoon bridge has special protection personnel and horses on both sides. Every giant boat anchored at anchor is a guard sentry with respect to the pontoon bridge, and there are corresponding guards and guards stationed on the bridge.
It is undoubtedly not enough to think that just three or five spies could infiltrate and set fire to the pontoon.
Seeing Tuola's frivolous smile, Mo Lihu and Zhong Changqing had no intention of being perfunctory. Of course they didn't believe that Jingxiang really only had this trick.
"General Zhong, General Yan, look over there!"
Another general who was standing on a sand dune to watch the battle pointed to a long post about 24 to 5 miles south of the south bank. At this time, several groups of cavalry galloped out from behind the ridge. They were as large as several black tides heading north.
The water is flowing rapidly on the slopes, and the momentum is extremely majestic.
"This is also called General Zhong, so General Yan has already expected it. It seems that Jingxiang really drove the cavalry of the Selected Front Army secretly gathered on the northern slope of Huaiyang Mountain to launch a surprise attack immediately -"
Tuola sat astride the horse in order to see further, and commented calmly,
"From the foothills of Huaiyang Mountain in the north, it takes at least 130 to 40 miles to reach the mouth of the Peishui River. The cavalry from Beijing and Xiangzhou traveled 130 to 40 miles overnight and arrived at the mouth of the Peishui River without any rest.
Can directly enter the battle and launch a charge - look at those flashes, their proportion of armored and heavy cavalry is obviously much higher than ours.
The first-class elite cavalry. General Zhong, General Na Yan said before that its combat power is no worse than the royal cavalry, which is not an exaggeration. However, it is a pity that it is limited in scale and will not become popular after all. However, it is not in vain that the king of Zong specially provided the cavalry on the south bank.
They have prepared four thousand armored cavalry!"
From the beginning to the end, quite a number of generals in the Pingyanzong Palace were opposed to provoking internal strife in the Southern Dynasties in the name of peace, believing that this would bring no other benefits besides giving the Southern Dynasties a chance to breathe.
Tuola is a dissenter.
Although Tuola was praising King Zhennan and Zhong Changqing at this time, Yan Molihu's previous prediction of the battle situation was extremely accurate, but his slightly frivolous tone was insinuating that Zhennan Zong's royal family paid too much attention to the capital.
Xiang, because he was too incompetent before, he was afraid of being beaten by the Jingxiang army.
The Red Husband attaches great importance to cavalry equipment, but only one-tenth of the elite heavy cavalry even wear armor on their horses.
For example, Qie Buhei had 8,000 men and horses, but only a thousand armored and heavy cavalry.
Considering that Beijing and Xiang are likely to use the most elite cavalry of the Selected Front Army to launch a surprise attack this time, and the power of the elite Selected Front cavalry in a dense formation to carry out penetration operations, as well as the newly recruited heavy armored infantry in the Selected Front Army, it is very surprising.
It's so impressive that it gives people nightmares.
For this reason, Tu Ge, King of Pingyan, openly maintained that Qie Buhei would lead eight thousand cavalry to coordinate with Yang Jingchen's Xiongzhou Army, but in fact he secretly transferred 3,000 heavy armored cavalry to the light armored cavalry commanded by Qie Buhei.
.
Tuo La now wants to know how Zhong Changqing, Yan Molihu and the two of them will feel watching the front cavalry selected by Beijing and Xiang that they feared and thought to be invincible howling and groaning under the butcher's knife of the red armored cavalry.
…
"No! There's something wrong with this!"
Zhong Changqing was not in the mood to be angry with Tuola. He saw that the cavalry of the Jingxiang Selected Front Army had poured out from behind the slope crest for a while without any sign of stopping. On the hillock facing north, the Jingxiang Selected Front Army Cavalry
There are five pieces, each spread out to a depth of three to four miles...
However, the infantry and cavalry of the Beijing and Xiang troops were still pouring out from behind the slope, and Zhong Changqing felt chills running down his spine.
"How could the Beijing-Xiang army have so many cavalry in Huaixi? Xu Huai wanted to use the horses and infantry to make up the number. He wanted to bluff Yang Jingchen immediately, and then took the opportunity to rush into the depths of the camp and destroy Fudu?
"Mo Li suddenly took a breath of cold air and said
He said, "Is he trying to use deceit to buy time for the main force of Jingsheng's army to arrive?"
"Didn't it say that the front army selected by Beijing and Xiangzhou in Huaixi only has 4,000 cavalry and 2,000 heavy armored infantry?"
Tuola also noticed something abnormal at this time, and it became difficult to breathe, and he screamed:
"Hell, there are already seven or eight thousand cavalry and heavy armored cavalry deployed on the slopes on the north side. I don't know how many cavalry are still behind. What the heck, where did so many cavalry come from Jingxiang? Look at them.
The light cavalry on the flanks, galloping and drawing their bows, definitely look like novices using their horses and infantry to make up their numbers!"
Being timid, Yang Jingchen thought of luring the enemy deeper into the camp. He did not pull all the soldiers and horses out of the camp on the south bank. In addition to pulling out the seven or eight thousand infantrymen immediately and forming a formation in front of Fudu, he also pulled out two thousand soldiers and horses.
Lightly armored cavalry and hundreds of armored heavy cavalry were deployed on both wings of the camp.
The light cavalry of the two armies were the first to engage in battle on the flanks.
Cowardly or not, Yang Jingchen knew very well that in addition to the astonishing power of the heavily armored infantry dismounting and advancing in formation, Yang Jingchen also knew that the Beijing-Xiang selected vanguard troops also needed to prepare their formation before carrying out a penetration assault in a dense formation.
The Jingxiang Army cannot be allowed to calmly deploy the array. Of course, it must first drive the fastest light cavalry to press in and suppress the Jingxiang Army on the north slope.
Gang expanded his space and constantly tried to shake his position.
However, apart from the three large groups of 4,000-5,000-foot cavalrymen and horses forming an orderly formation in the middle, Zhong Changqing and Mo Li suddenly took a cursory look and could confirm that the front troops selected by Beijing and Xiang were immediately engaged in the battle on the two wings and the front flanks.
, the light cavalry that covered the formation of armored heavy cavalry and heavy armored infantry was no less than 4,000 men and horses, and all of them seemed to be skilled in bow and horse.
"Khitan?!"
Zhong Changqing almost groaned when he thought of a possibility.
Although he could not guess why so many Khitan cavalry appeared on the Huaixi battlefield, he was almost certain that Xu Huai did have extra elite light cavalry to mobilize at this time. In addition to borrowing troops from the remaining Khitan troops, there were also
Any other ways?
"Aren't the remnants of the Khitan all staying deep in the Tubo Highlands? It's still thousands of miles away from Dali. How could they have gone to the Central Plains? Previously, more than a thousand Khitan remnants came to Beijing and Xiangzhou. How much time did they spend on the journey?
Not even a year, but at least half a year, right?"
Mo Li suddenly asked with trembling fear,
"Tubo is thousands of miles away from the Central Plains. The mountains are high and the rivers are far away. How can a cavalry of this size be transferred from Tubo to Huaixi in less than a year and a half? Unless Xu Huai had anticipated this a year ago?"
This is not right. Xu Huai sent people to ask for help from Xiao Linshi. He must not delay for more than half a year on the way to report the message? No, no, the light cavalry on both sides are not pretending to be, they are indeed elite cavalry. The only possibility is to be in the middle
The heavy armored cavalry formed in the formation were made up of horses and infantry - Xu Huai was full of tricks, and Yang Jingchen suffered heavy losses at his hands. This was probably a trick against Yang Jingchen!"
"It's the Khitan cavalry,"
Zhong Changqing had to face the cruel reality painfully, and said to Tuola again,
"General Tuo La, please report to King Ping Yan Zong immediately. We need to dispatch naval forces to transport reinforcements to the south bank. Jingxiang borrowed a large number of cavalry from Khitan this time, and the scale of the one-time raid was far beyond the
Previous predictions: Cowardly or not, Yang Jingchen wanted to lure the enemy deeper and arranged a formation of seven or eight thousand infantry in front of the Fudu. It was impossible to stop the Jingxiang army from penetrating and destroying the Fudu. Considering that there were probably more soldiers from Jingxiang and Xiangzhou.
As a backup, just in case, reinforcements need to be sent to the south bank in advance..."
