At dawn, the snow on both sides of the Yongjin River finally lightened up, and piles of bonfires were still burning brightly.
Hundreds of generals are leaving the camp in an orderly manner, with pieces of armor slapping against each other, war horses neighing, firm steps trampling on the remaining snow, ruts crushing through the frozen mud, cold wind howling, and war flags flapping.
, as if a giant dragon soared into the sky, and a frenzy surged.
Xu Huai, who personally rushed to the front camp to see off the troops heading north, was standing on the inspection platform with a knife in his hand, watching this scene. He took his eyes back for a long time and said to Fu Liang, the commander of the first group of generals heading north.
:
"Since the Red Husbands invaded the south, Yue Hailou, Zhong Changqing, Gao Xiangzhong, Meng Jie and others have become the minions of hawks and dogs. In order to please their master, they massacred the city and looted the land. They killed my father and fellow villagers with even greater ferocity. Their hands were stained with the people of the Central Plains.
The blood of the common people. This is the blood debt that the army must recover during the Northern Expedition. Now, they are also the first stumbling block that our army must ruthlessly smash in its northern expedition to expel the Huru and regain the Central Plains. The significance of this
, Come to think of it, I don’t need to tell you more. In addition, Liu Gong and General Fu Qian led the Xuanwei army to defeat Jiaopei. All the officials in the court discussed the crime and wanted to severely punish Liu Gong. The late emperor asked me for my opinion. I wrote to the late emperor, Liu?
Duke, General Fu Qian had the duty of underestimating the enemy and losing his army. However, when the Hu barbarians invaded the south, the generals were panicked and surrendered like clouds. Like Liu Gong, General Fu Qian was not afraid.
How many people are there who are living and dying going north to defend the enemy? Now it’s time for us to take the flesh and blood of the enemy to comfort and pay homage to General Fu Qian, to comfort and pay homage to the descendants of the Fu family and the tens of thousands of generals of the Xuanwei army who died in Jiaopi.
!”
Fu Liang couldn't help but burst into tears when he thought of the past that he couldn't bear to look back on...
Although the Fu family is not as prominent as the Zheng family, Gao family, Gu family, Liu family, etc., they are still one of the few general families in Vietnam.
Fu Qian once served as the commander of the Jinghu North Road Military and Horse Command and the Xuanwei Army. However, Jiaopi was defeated miserably and the Xuanwei Army was almost completely destroyed. Dozens of Fu's sons and Fu Qian were killed on the battlefield. Fu Liang followed Xu Huai to guard Huaichuan and cover Huangchuan.
The soldiers and civilians of other places had meritorious service in withdrawing southward and redeemed their merits, but the Fu family suffered unprecedented heavy losses, and it was even more embarrassing for the family of tens of thousands of Xuanwei Army soldiers.
The Red Husband Cavalry has strong field combat capabilities and high mobility. It is not afraid of ambushes in open plain areas. It can escape in all directions if something goes wrong and can quickly regroup. Therefore, Xu Huai does not expect to capture the main force of the Red Husband Cavalry and severely damage it in this battle.
But the more than 60,000 surrendered Han troops gathered in the Jiaopi-Quanhe area on the right bank of Yingshui River, under the jurisdiction of the General Administration of Military and Horse Capital in the west of Beijing, and reinforced from Huaizhou, Zezhou, Xiangzhou, Weizhou and other places, were this.
The key objectives and core goals of the campaign.
The main reason why we abandoned the enemies of Yingshang and Lugou east of the Yingshui River mouth and assembled heavy troops to encircle and annihilate the enemies of Jiaopi and Quanhe was that Jiaopi and Quanhe were located to the south of Ruyin and formed horns with each other.
If Shi Hu, Wu Sanrong, Xiao Xu and other generals can successfully capture Ruyin City, they can use Ruyin City to cut off the retreat route of the Jiaopi-Quanhe enemy; if they fail to attack Ruyin City, Shi Hu, Wu Sanrong, and Xiao Xu will also
Hui led his troops to retreat slightly to the bank of Yingshui River, and cooperated with the main force of troops to surround the enemies in Jiaopi and Quanhe.
Although he did not have the opportunity to participate in the raid on Ruyin, Fu Liang took the initiative to lead the troops and led the first group to set out from the camp along the Yongjin River.
As the most dangerous forward troops, they are likely to encounter the interception of the Red Husband Cavalry, but Fu Liang will regard it as an opportunity for the Fu family to wash away the shame of the disastrous defeat at Jiaopi.
After bidding farewell to Xu Huai and others, Fu Liang got on his horse. Surrounded by his guards and soldiers, he followed the large army and faced the crowds of people.
The vast amount of fine snow was falling as we embarked on our journey.
The sky was getting brighter, and the Yongjin River, which had been completely frozen, was shrouded in the blue morning light. Xu Huai stood on the inspection platform and looked at the soldiers and horses leaving the camp on the left and right and heading north, like ferocious beasts.
The giant black dragon leaped across the snow-white land covered in thousands of miles of snow.
"The enemy's front line in Jiaopi shows no signs of sending troops to intercept!"
"There are no large groups of enemy troops coming out from the east of Jiaopi!"
"Several small groups of captives were galloping towards Yingshang, Lugou and other places, but our army's scouts and horses could not intercept them all!"
Chen Zixiao and others are in charge of the Military Intelligence Staff Department, but at this juncture, the latest military intelligence passed on needs to be reported to Xu Huai simultaneously so that Xu Huai can control the trends on the battlefield at any time.
After Xu Huai heard the latest reconnaissance and confirmed information, he did not delay any longer. Surrounded by his bodyguards, he, Wang Ju, Han Gui, Liu Shiwang and others rode their horses back to the camp on the south bank of the Yongjin River.
After the upgrade, the Military Intelligence Staff Department was officially in charge of military intelligence spying, combat plan formulation and execution, etc. It was also the command center of the operation at this time.
Although no new military orders have been issued for the time being, reconnaissance and surveillance of enemy forces in all directions are being operated more intensively, and all intelligence must be collected first.
All at once they were gathered at the Military Intelligence Staff Department - the compound where the Military Intelligence Staff Department is located was also busy with people coming and going.
In addition to being led by Chen Zixiao and assisted by Zhang Xiongshan and Zhou Jing, after the escape from Beijing incident, the original Niushoushan Rebel Army was also reorganized into the Fourth Town of Xiaosheng Army, with Xu Xin as the commander. Wang Jun was transferred back to Sikong Mansion by Xu Huai, and
Served in the Military Intelligence Staff Department.
Seeing Xu Huai, Wang Ju, Han Gui, Liu Wangshi and Niu Er returning from the expedition, Chen Zixiao, who was on duty in the capital hall at this time, Wang Jun came over and said:
"Yue Hailou should have transferred all the cavalry gathered in Jiaopi and Quanhe to Ruyin. Ruyin cannot avoid a fierce battle!"
Ruyin is more than a hundred miles away from the Yongjin River camp. Especially the enemy army has noticed the movement of the Selected Front Army to Ruyin just before Yinshi. Then the number of enemy scouts east of Jiaopi increased greatly. They are still unable to know the Selected Front Army.
How is the progress of the army arriving at Ruyin City?
"When will Mo Lihu and Shan Xue's troops arrive at Ruyin City at the earliest?" Xu Huai asked after sitting back at the long desk.
"It should be around the time of the morning - the expectation is good, Yue Hailou should notify the enemies in Yingshang and Lugou, and also send all the cavalry directly to Ruyin, but the Pingyan Sect gathered in Yingshang and Lugou
The royal cavalry will be able to reach the gates of Ruyin City within the Shenyou period at the earliest today!"
Chen Zixiao said,
"I have sent people to continue chasing Yin Peng, Sun Yanguan, and Xu Pang. I asked his troops to throw away their vehicles and equipment, and speed up the advance to Ruyin with light equipment."
Limited by the number of war horses and generals who are good at riding and shooting, even if the Khitan remnants are increased by selecting the vanguard army, the total number will only be 15,000 cavalry.
This is also the only mobile combat force that can attack Ruyin directly at the fastest speed on a snowy night. It is led by Shi Hu, Xiao Xun, and Wu Sanrong. The Military Intelligence Staff Department also has important officials such as Yan Xiaoyi and Chen Man.
The characters sneaked into Ruyin City in advance to cooperate in capturing the city.
After selecting the vanguard cavalry, the 15,000-horse infantry led by Yin Peng, Sun Yanguan, and Xu Pang also set out for Ruyin City later last night.
Fifteen thousand horse infantry, including
Six thousand heavily armored infantry.
Even if packhorses are used instead of foot power, the mobility of horse infantry is much higher than that of infantry, but it is far from being comparable to regular cavalry.
On the one hand, the generals have poor riding skills, not to mention that night travel in the snow requires higher riding skills. On the other hand, the equipment of the horse infantry is more complicated and heavier than that of the cavalry. In addition to the weight of the armor, heavy shields and spears
, heavy crossbows and more arrows will limit the marching speed.
What's more important is that when the vanguard cavalry is intercepted by a large group of enemy cavalry, they should fight if they can, and run away if they can't. The response is much more flexible, and there is no need to pay too much attention to the formation when marching.
However, the horse infantry needed to march in a denser array with sufficient depth on the left and right, so that when encountering a large group of enemy cavalry to intercept them, they could dismount and form a battle formation as quickly as possible.
Before the cavalry and infantry set off, the Military Intelligence Staff also considered the possibility of failure in selecting the vanguard cavalry to raid Ruyin. At that time, they would need to form formations on both sides of the Yingshui River to resist, or to contain the superior enemy forces and counterattack from Jiaopi, Lugou and other places.
, so Yin Peng, Sun Yanguan, and Xu Pang led the horse and infantry out, and also brought a large number of light chariots.
These are destined to further slow down the march.
According to normal estimates, if there is no big deviation in the direction of the troops led by Yin Peng, Sun Yanguan, and Xu Pang, they would have arrived in the area east of Jiaopi at this time, but they should still be forty or fifty miles away from Ruyin City.
Since it was confirmed at this time that the enemies of Jiaopi did not attack south or east immediately, a fierce battle would break out at any time inside and outside Ruyin City. Of course, Chen Zixiao needed Yin Peng, Sun Yanguan, and Xu Zan to lead his troops to further speed up the march to Ruyin.
March as fast as possible to rendezvous with the cavalry units of the selected vanguard army as soon as possible.
Xu Huai nodded, approving Chen Zixiao's handling.
Xu Xin'an walked in from the outside at this time and said: "Since Yue Hailou doesn't have the guts to lead his troops to fight south from Jiaopi, I should be able to lead my troops to set off now!"
For this battle, Xu Xin'an led the Tianxiong Army's fifth town to Huaichuan to gather, and together with soldiers and horses transferred from Biyang, Xiangyang and other places, organized a reserve force of up to 30,000 soldiers and horses, which was also the backbone of the rear army.
Main force.
Currently, five armies, led by generals such as Fu Liang, Wu Chihai, Chen Jin, Han Wende, and Yu Gong, are heading towards Jiaopi-Quanhe from the front.
If Yue Hailou sends troops south from Jiaopi-Quanhe to conduct a frontal interception, the reserve troops and horses commanded by Xu Xin'an will not be dispatched for the time being. They need to decide which direction to deploy more troops based on real-time changes in the battlefield.
However, the enemies from Jiaopi and Quanhe showed no signs of massing to the south or east at this time, which meant that the five troops heading north from the banks of the Yongjin River could successfully enter the reserve position. The 30,000 troops commanded by Xu Xin'an
Even if the troops and horses continue to be used as reserve troops, they can advance to the east of Jiaopi and set up camp there to isolate Jiaopi from the enemy at Yingshang-Lugou.
Xu Huai looked at Chen Zixiao and asked, "What do you think, Zixiao?"
"Xin'an can lead 10,000 soldiers and horses to assemble at Majzhuang first to prepare for the battlefields of supporting Ruyin and Jiaopi," Chen Zixiao said, "However, we still need to stay on the Huaichuan and Yongjin River sides.
Some elite soldiers and horses to guard against the possibility of a roundabout counterattack on Huaichuan..."
Xu Huai said to Xu Xin'an: "Let Cheng Xiao and Su Mi lead 10,000 troops to Ma'erzhuang. You should stay here to help me with the affairs of the rear army..."
