Not only did Jingxiang suddenly receive reinforcements from seven or eight thousand Khitan archers, but they also received the support of Gu Fan and Deng Gui, who were in charge of Huaidong's military and political affairs.
The unexpected changes were so shocking that it could even be said to be soul-crushing.
In the face of these two major variables, Pingyan King Tu Ge has not dared to send reinforcements to the south bank to help the rear troops of the south bank fight for control of the Fudu area. Who can accuse him of being indecisive and timid?
Moreover, the seven to eight thousand Khitan archers and two super armored warships integrated into the Huaidong water camp are the bargaining chips that have only been exposed now. Who knows if Jingxiang has any hidden tricks that have not yet surfaced?
What they can know for sure now is that it is difficult to prevent the destruction of the pontoon bridge. They must now evaluate the possibility of the Huaidong Water Camp and the Xinyang Water Camp launching flanking attacks from upstream and downstream respectively, and attacking the mouth of the Peishui River through the waterway.
As early as yesterday, the message sent back by the scouts confirmed that the main force of the Jingzhou Navy was still in Tongling and Songyang. But do they still have such confidence at this time? Could it be that the actual movements of the main force of the Jingzhou Navy have also
Being tricked by Jingxiang?
Who dares to say that if more reinforcements are sent at this time, they won’t be able to fight with meat buns and dogs, and they will all be lost on the south bank?
Zhong Changqing was about to moan in pain. He claimed to have a deep understanding of Beijing and Xiangxiang, but his confidence was repeatedly hit hard. At this moment, he was completely subverted.
However, can they really abandon the rear troops of Nan'an and ignore them?
The number of troops in the South Bank Palace seems to be less than 40,000, which is not a particularly high proportion compared to the total of more than 250,000 East Route troops assembled by Prince Ping Yan Zong's Palace this time.
However, total military strength and elite military strength are always two different concepts.
There are only 8,000 armored heavy cavalry under the jurisdiction of Ping Yanzong's palace; half of them are on the south bank at this time.
The Han army under the jurisdiction of Ping Yanzong's palace seems to have many soldiers, but there are only eighty or ninety thousand soldiers that can be drawn out for field battles; at this time, there are thirty thousand on the south bank.
If we really abandon the nearly 40,000 rear troops and horses on the south bank, the losses suffered by Pingyan Zongwangfu and his family will be extremely heavy, even far exceeding the losses caused by the two-year confrontation on Zhennan Zongwangfu Middle Road.
Three years ago, the Prince of Zhennan Zong gathered 300,000 troops to attack Rucai from the center, and the confrontation lasted for nearly two years.
Although the cumulative casualties of the Zhennan Zong Palace during the two-year confrontation seemed to be greater, most of them were miscellaneous soldiers or civilians who were forcibly driven into battle, and the proportion of elite soldiers lost was actually not high.
Another is that two years of high-intensity confrontation operations have matured a considerable number of miscellaneous soldiers. Therefore, the overall size of the Zhennan Sect's elite troops has not shrunk in the two years of confrontation.
If Prince Ping Yanzong abandons the 40,000 rear troops and horses on the south bank, he will not be able to regain his strength within three to five years.
Zhong Changqing felt as if there was a weed growing in his heart. At this moment, he didn't know what to do to make the situation a little better.
"Report, the front troops of the victorious army of Beijing and Xiangjing have arrived at the mouth of the Pishui River!" A guard hurriedly walked into the tent at this time and reported.
Only then did Zhong Changqing come back to his senses from his trance. Looking at the sunlight coming in from the curtains, it was already afternoon before he knew it.
Is it already past noon? I don’t feel anything at all. Why am I so distracted?
Listening carefully to the guards and King Pingyan reporting the enemy situation, Zhong Changqing was still shocked: Even though it was already noon, the front of the Jingsheng Army, which had just set off from the Longshu River just after nightfall yesterday, could catch up at this time.
It’s amazingly fast to reach the mouth of the Pishui River.
Did he simply run away without considering the possibility of being intercepted or sniped?
Brother Tu and others stood up suddenly, walked straight out of the tent, and climbed to the watchtower on the south side of the tent.
The watchtower on the south side of the tent is located on the side of the camp near the Huai River. It is built of bamboo and wood and is more than seven feet high, like a seven-story tower. The watchtower also occupies a large area and is very large. Zhong Changqing,
As a deputy captain of ten thousand men, Mo Lihu was also qualified to accompany Tu Ge, King of Pingyan, to the watchtower.
The waterway of the Huaihe River east of the mouth of the Peishui River is narrow, and it is only six or seven miles wide including the river beaches on both sides. Standing on the watchtower seven or eight feet high, the generals can clearly see the floating ferry on the south bank and the east and south points.
The camp area has a panoramic view.
The eight iron ring ropes connecting the pontoon bridge to the huge rocks on the south bank had already been cut off by the Jingxiang bow cavalry with giant axes who broke into Fuduzha camp.
In the absence of this most important fixed support, nearly a hundred pontoons are covered with a large number of pallets and connected with iron rings to form a whole three-mile pontoon bridge. There is no doubt that there is no way to simply use a dozen giant ships.
, it can be fixed by anchoring in the Huai River.
At this time, Zhong Changqing saw three giant boats parked near the south bank of the Huai River without having time to lift their anchors. They were towed directly by the pontoon bridge and sank into the Huai River; the entire
The pontoon bridge was like a twisted dragon, leaning towards the north shore and barely disintegrating. However, a large number of pontoon boats and pallets were detached from the iron ring ropes and drifted downstream, making a mess.
If we can't regain control of the south bank, there is no possibility of repairing the pontoon. Now we can't bear to feel sorry for the pontoon being destroyed like this. What's even more worrying is that the dock near the pontoon has also been plunged into a sea of fire, with thick smoke billowing.
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The South Bank Fudu Wharf relied on the relatively solid foundation to the east of the stone cliff and was not easily impacted by the upstream tide. Thousands of civilians were forced to fill the embankment and build a large stockyard first, and then build a trestle outside the stockyard.
Extend into the water.
In this way, large ships can dock directly on both sides of the trestle to load and unload cargo, people and horses; this is also the most efficient shipping dock in the world.
However, the trestle pier, which was built with countless efforts and money, was now in a sea of flames.
After destroying the pontoon bridge and the trestle pier, the thousands of Qingqi from Beijing and Xiangzhou who had forced their way in through the gap were retreating calmly, seemingly not caring at all that they would send troops from the north bank to regain control of the pontoon area.
Theoretically, although the trestle pier was destroyed, a nearly level land was filled in by building an embankment near the floating ferry. If it could be recaptured and controlled, the efficiency of the rear troops and horses to board the ship from there would be much higher than that of the swampy riverbank.
However, seeing how confident the soldiers and horses of Beijing and Xiang are, do they dare to send troops from the north bank to help the rear troops retake the Fudu area? Aren't they afraid that the elites of Beijing and Xiang will suddenly attack through the gap again?
Although the assembly area of the Jingxiang Army is located to the south of Nan Daying and is farther away, it is more than twenty miles away. Zhong Changqing and the others can roughly see that new troops and horses are constantly arriving from the south.
Like a trickle of water, they continue to converge into the lake on the north side of the hillock, causing the Jingxiang army on the south side to continue to grow.
Obviously, Jingxiang had great confidence in the forward troops and horses they selected from the vanguard army and the Khitan cavalry, and believed that the forward troops could completely control the battlefield. Therefore, the main infantry force of the Jingsheng Army, which set out from the Longshu River, especially the mules,
The horse infantry part, where the horses acted as foot power, completely spread their legs around Jiangjun Ridge and ran all the way north in order to reach the battlefield as quickly as possible...
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"The floating ferry has been destroyed, and the soldiers on the north bank have not made any moves so far. They must have been frightened by the Khitan cavalry and the changes in the Huaidong water camp. At this time, in addition to forming a formation with heavy armored infantry and cavalry, we suppressed the two areas on the south bank.
The enemy's soldiers dare not leave the camp to fight, so they are urgently digging shallow trenches, building protective walls, and building a simple camp. They wedge the gap and point their troops directly at the Fudu area to prevent the soldiers from fighting.
Dare to use this area to board the ship and escape!"
In an old earth temple that served as a temporary chariot, Zhang Xiongshan told Xu Huai, Fan Zongqi, Fu Liang and others the details of the development of the battlefield situation from the early morning battle to the afternoon based on the map of the mouth of the Pishui River.
"We have just arrived and are not very familiar with the situation. The rest will be arranged by you!" Xu Huai, who had just arrived at the mouth of the Feishui River with the First Town of Jingsheng Army, was not very familiar with the situation, so he asked Zhang Xiongshan to
Sa Luhe, Shi Hu and others will directly arrange the next deployment.
"The two camps of the Red Husband are connected to the river by tidal flats, rotten land, and swamps. A section of the dirt road that was previously built to the water's edge was also washed away by the floods in the flood season. Even if we can't get through, the Red Husband wants to start again.
Repairing the dirt road to facilitate their evacuation near the river will not take three or five days," Saluhe laughed, "We only need to ensure that the front troops pass through the gap.
Point at the Fudu area, and then the navy will attack from upstream and downstream without stopping, contain a part of the Red Navy navy, and capture this part of the troops, no problem!"
In the end, it’s all about fighting for the next three to five days.
As long as they have a buffer time of three to five days, in addition to further controlling the peripheral areas of the Peishui River estuary, all the Qinwang soldiers and the Xiaosheng troops on the left and right will also come over one after another.
At that time, they can build a camp at the mouth of the Feishui River, push their elite soldiers and horses directly in front of the enemy's camp, tightly entangle the main force behind them, and wait for the Jingzhou Navy to rush into the Huaihe River to cut off their retreat.
After the Yunshuo Rebellion, neither Saruhe nor Shi Hai advocated cooperation with Chushan. However, in the early days, they also wanted to withdraw from the Yunshuo area from Xishan, and Xu Huai gave up all the tribes in Xishan to them for annexation.
They were in urgent need of replenishing their tribe's strength and couldn't refuse.
After Xu Huai traveled thousands of miles to attack Taiyuan, they also opposed sending troops to help. Xiao Linshi overcame the crowd and handed over the captured soldiers of Tianxiong's army, led by Xiao Yanhan and Wu Sanrong to help.
After that, there is nothing to say about the mutual exchange of goods during the Qinzhou period.
Saluhe was also opposed to heading south from Taoyuan to the Tubo Highlands. He did not want to surrender to the Chihu people, but simply thought that the road south was too difficult, and he did not think that Jingxiang (Chushan) might send men at all.
Meet them on the way forward.
Facts have proved that he underestimated the sincerity and determination of Jingxiang (Chushan).
Jingxiang (Chushan) not only sent elite men and horses, carrying a large amount of supplies, to travel thousands of miles to Lu River to meet them, but also opened the Qionglai Mountain Road at any cost to help them gain a foothold in Qionglai Mountain.
Yes, Jingxiang (Chushan) did this because of the interests of Jingxiang. However, it can overcome all difficulties and be fearless. Doesn't it prove the reliability of Jingxiang?
Especially at this time, the remnants of the Khitan are so weak, and reality forces them to vassalize themselves with powerful forces. Is there any better choice than Jingxiang?
Of course, another crucial factor in Saluhe's previous opposition was that he felt that Jingxiang (Chushan) was not strong enough to protect the remnants of the Khitan.
But at this moment, his worries were completely dispelled...
