As early as March, Xu Sihui, who had surrendered to the Northern Qi Dynasty, reported to the Southern Liang Dynasty that Chen Baxian was busy quelling the civil strife. The Qi leader Gao Yang decided to continue sending troops to Jiangdong. Minister Zhao Yanshen was appointed as the southeast leader, and he established the government of Murong Yan, the governor of Liangzhou, Zhang Baoluo and others.
The commander-in-chief Xiao Gui, Dongfang Lao and other generals who had previously launched an army in Pengcheng once again led a mighty army to the south.
Since the Northern Qi Dynasty's goal this time was to cross the river and directly attack Jiankang, boats and other water warfare equipment were also the focus of tactical use in this campaign. However, Yiyang in the upper reaches of the Huai River and Hefei, an important north-south transportation artery, were both occupied by the Western Wei Dynasty
, also made it difficult for the Northern Qi army to take the Feishui River. The route from Chaohu went straight to the Yangtze River, so they could only choose the Huainan East Road, which was still under the control of the Northern Qi Dynasty.
To the east of Huainan, in the territory of the Northern Qi Dynasty, there is also a waterway, Zhongdu Water, that connects the Yangtze River and the Huai River. The Zhongdu Water is the Hangou, which connects the Yangtze River from the Jiangdu under Guangling County, and connects to Sheyang Lake in the north and then connects to the Huai River. Liang Liang
Emperor Wu took advantage of Hou Jing's betrayal of the Eastern Wei Dynasty and launched the Battle of Hanshan. The Nanliang army followed this route north to Pengcheng.
However, combat marches on waterways were not what the Northern Qi was good at after all. In addition, Huainan had been in turmoil for many years, so the Zhongdu River was quite congested and the navigation conditions were not good. With civilians mobilized to step up dredging, the Northern Qi army did not arrive until May.
Arriving at Guangling, Huainan, they deployed along the north side of the Yangtze River in an attempt to cross the river.
At this time, although the Sanwu Land in Nanliang had basically been pacified, Xiao Bo of Guangzhou still refused to obey orders, and even aggressively sent troops several times to cross the Yuling Mountains and march north in an attempt to contact the Nanchuan powerful men to jointly fight against Chen Baxian.
In the old years, Chen Baxian rose to prominence in Lingnan because he put down the Jiaozhou rebellion. He was appointed by Emperor Wu of Liang as the governor of Xijiang River and the governor of Gaoyao in Guangzhou. Soon after, Hou Jing's rebellion broke out in the Southern Liang Kingdom. Yuan Jingzhong, the governor of Guangzhou at the time, wanted to raise troops to respond to Hou Jing's rebellion.
He plotted against Chen Baxian, but Chen Baxian led his troops to counterattack and kill him.
After defeating Yuan Jingzhong, Chen Baxian invited Xiao Bo, a member of the Nanliang clan who was the governor of Dingzhou at the time and was in charge of Yulin, Guangxi, to Guangzhou to take charge. He himself planned to unite his troops to march north to King Qin to quell the rebellion. Although Xiao Bo was invited by Chen Baxian to Guangzhou
, but he did not want Chen Ba to lead the Lingnan troops northward, and tried to obstruct them. However, Chen Baxian broke through and headed north.
From this level of origin, Xiao Bo can also be regarded as Chen Baxian's old boss. Chen Baxian has now become a powerful minister in charge of the power of Nanliang through a series of events such as King Qin's suppression of the rebellion and the attack on Wang Sengbian, while Xiao Bo still holds the position.
Lingnan was not very willing to obey Chen Baxian's orders.
If it was just Xiao Bo's group causing trouble, Chen Baxian wouldn't pay much attention to it. But now Xiao Bo is trying to lead an army into the Nanchuan area in the north of Ling Dynasty, intending to unite with the local Nanchuan powerhouses. This will undoubtedly double the threat.
Nowadays, in addition to the local powerful Nanchuan powerhouses in Jiangzhou, there is also the presence of Wang Lin. Wang Lin is cunning and fierce, and is also a hidden danger that cannot be ignored. If she joins forces with Xiao Bo, they will definitely become the leader of Southwest China.
Serious trouble.
The world is really strange. Of course, Wang Lin was appointed as the governor of Guangzhou by Emperor Xiao Yi of the Liang Dynasty. His original intention was to replace Xiao Bo who ruled Lingnan. Xiao Bo was once forced by Wang Lin like a bereaved dog. It was only through the Battle of Jiangling that he succeeded.
I breathed a sigh of relief. Now the original enemies have the possibility to unite because of Chen Baxian's existence, which shows that the current situation in Nanliang is complicated.
In order to prevent the two sides from joining together and suppress the space for activities of this opposition force, Chen Baxian, shortly after quelling the Sanwu rebellion, led a group of troops westward to Nanchuan with Zhou Wenyu, the governor of Southern Yuzhou, as the commander-in-chief of his army.
At the same time, he sent envoys to persuade Hou Qi, the former governor of Jiangzhou, to surrender, who was expelled by the local tyrants of Nanchuan and Wang Lin, and appointed Hou Qi as the governor of Wuzhou to guard Poyang County.
However, Zhou Wenyu's brigade was sent out, but before it could make any achievements, the rebel general Xu Sihui, who was entrenched in Qin County, led his troops across the river, attacked and occupied Caishiji. At the same time, the Northern Qi army from Liyang also crossed the river to attack Gushu, and
The occupation of Liangshan, an important river defense area near Gushu, officially kicked off the Northern Qi army's cross-river operation.
The loss of the important defense areas in the upper reaches of the river immediately made the defensive situation in Jiankang City become more serious. Now Chen Baxian's available troops were insufficient. Coupled with the loss of Guangling and the situation where the Northern Qi army gathered in Guangling, he was very difficult in arranging defense.
There are some who are stretched thin and care about one thing at the expense of the other.
Regarding the fall of quarrying and other places, Chen Baxian had no good plan to deal with it. He could only order Zhou Wenyu of Xuancheng to lead his troops back to defend as soon as possible, but he still had to lead the main force to garrison Jiankang. Because the Qi army in Guangling downstream was also
Taking advantage of the situation, they marched forward and launched a cross-river attack. Their frontline was directed towards Jiankang City.
The Northern Qi army invested more than 100,000 troops this time, and launched attacks from Liyang, Qinjun, Guangling and other places. Although the Qi army was not good at water warfare, it tried its best to use tactics such as marching through various routes and raiding key points of river defense.
Dispersing Liang Jun's interception force and shortening the time the team stayed in the river.
Therefore, not long after the Qi army launched its attack, various river defense strongholds along the river were successively destroyed, and the entire river defense front was penetrated and destroyed. The Qi army's ranger scouts even reached the south of Jiankang City in a very short period of time, and even approached
Qinhuai River.
Although it was only a small group of wandering horses, it caused great shock and fear to the soldiers and people of Jiankang City who had just settled down. These soldiers and people who had been devastated by war seemed to be frightened, so they dragged their families with them one after another.
He fled out of the city.
The large-scale flight of soldiers and civilians intensified the atmosphere of panic. Many defenders were also worried. Some generals even advised Chen Baxian to abandon Jiankang for the time being to avoid the enemy's attack, and then launch a counterattack when the time was right.
Given that Chen Baxian had once accomplished the feat of going upstream and attacking Wang Sengbian, such a proposal did not seem so absurd. Of course, the most important thing was that it showed that the soldiers really did not have the confidence to win.
Facing a group of worried soldiers, Chen Baxian just smiled and said: "Although the Qi army seems to be powerful, it lacks the vital agility in using troops. The division and brigade patrolled for many days and repeatedly missed the opportunity to fight. Now it has entered the rainy season."
The season is rainy and cloudy, which makes it harder to use the troops. When the weather is in jeopardy, it will be difficult to boost morale!
The river is naturally dangerous, the imperial residence in the east of the river is built, and the city of Jiankang is nestled against the river and surrounded by mountains. How can the thieves take this lightly? Northerners are good at walking on dry land, and water and swamps are my hometown. Now I am sitting on the river and looking at the river. Although the thieves are turbulent, they can be attacked halfway across the river.
How can we retreat when we enjoy this advantageous location?
Moreover, the bandits are rampant and have made enemies in all directions. Li Boshan of Wei also regards them as an old enemy who must be punished. In order to punish the bandits, he sent envoys to me, hoping to attack with me from above and below, and defeat the bandits! You officers and men do not need to be afraid, but
Listen to the punishment and it is not difficult to defeat the thief!"
Hearing that Chen Baxian was so confident, the generals, although still not too optimistic, finally felt a little calmer and no longer fearful of the enemy as before.
But although these ordinary generals were comforted, Chen Baxian's real confidants, such as Hou Andu, knew very well that the situation was not as simple as Chen Baxian had described.
In particular, the content about the alliance with the Western Wei Dynasty is just a verbal message from the Western Wei Dynasty. Whether the other party will cooperate in sending troops, how many troops will be sent and when will be sent are all unknown. And even if the Western Wei Dynasty sends troops, it will successfully help Nan
Liang's attempt to resolve this crisis is just a dangerous trick to drive away a tiger and devour a wolf. If you are not careful, it may become even more dangerous.
At least according to the current situation, the Northern Qi army can easily break through the important river defense positions along the Hengjiang River. This is also because the power of the Western Wei Dynasty in Huainan has not exerted the slightest effective containment effect. Therefore, even if the Western Wei Dynasty made a promise, its credibility
It also has to put a big question mark on it.
The current development of the situation did not allow everyone in Nanliang to carefully evaluate the role and value that the Western Wei Dynasty could play in this battle, because as people from all walks of life scrambled to cross the river, they soon launched an attack on Jiankang.
First, the Qi army crossed the river from Qin County and arrived directly to the west of Jiankang City. They first launched a fierce attack on Stone City. However, under the stubborn resistance of the defenders, they had to retreat and take the next best option, marching into Xiye City.
Although it was not as big of a threat to Jiankang's defenses as Stone City, they finally managed to capture a stronghold on the outskirts of Jiankang.
Although the Qi army successively captured Caishi, Gushu and other places, due to the small number of troops invested in this direction and Zhou Wenyu's timely counterattack, the enemy forces here did not take the opportunity to expand their results.
, and the defensive pressure from the southwest of Jiankang is also relatively small.
Therefore, Chen Baxian was able to focus on the northern area of Jiankang City. In addition to the heavy troops stationed in Stone City and Taicheng, defenses were also set up in Zhidu, Mufu Mountain, Zhongshan and Fuzhou Mountain along the river to block the attack.
A steady stream of Northern Qi troops came from the south on the river.
However, due to the initial loss of the river defense front, despite the heroic fighting of the soldiers, the Qi army still swarmed ashore and pressed forward step by step towards Jiankang. Chen Baxian's so-called situation of blocking the river to defend and attacking halfway across the river did not occur at all.
Instead, they were defeated by the Qi troops who swarmed ashore and were forced to send additional troops to the front lines in Stone City and Taicheng in order to stabilize the front.
Just when the two sides were engaged in a bitter battle, fortunately, the continuous rain during the Meiyu season did not fail. Heavy rain poured down for several days, causing the river to surge. The soldiers of the Qi army who landed were stationed in low-lying areas along the river, and the camp was completely flooded by the river and
Flooded by rain, the situation suddenly became difficult.
Just when the situation seemed to be improving, suddenly a Qi army cavalry led by its general Murong Yan braved heavy rain to bypass Zhou Wenyu's defense line, took Fangshan and the east bank of the Qinhuai River to kill Jiankang Dongfucheng.
, and even the vanguard directly knocked on Taicheng, which immediately caused a shock in the capital. Even Liang Emperor Xiao Fangzhi was rushed out of Taicheng by the imperial guards in desperation, and went boating on the river to avoid the war.
Fortunately, due to poor communication between the enemy's two divisions, Chen Baxian seized the opportunity to lead his troops back and drove back the enemy troops in a bloody battle. However, the defense line to the south of Jiankang was also penetrated, and Zhou Wenyu had to lead his troops to retreat.
In the southern section of Dacheng, the two enemy armies of Gushu and Quarry were also able to press against the south bank of the Qinhuai River.
Just when the defenders of Jiankang City were in a terrible situation of fighting on two fronts and being attacked from both sides, the Western Wei Dynasty, which had been silent for a long time, finally took action.
Douluning, the general manager of Yingzhou, sent troops from Jiangxia and led 20,000 people on land and water boats down the river. He joined Wang Jie, Lu Xida and other soldiers, and met with Quan Jingxuan of Hefei at Ruxukou, and then advanced by land and water.
They attacked Liyang directly, conquered Liyang, an important town in the north of the Yangtze River, with lightning speed, captured Sima Gong of Xingtai in the Northern Qi Dynasty alive, and guarded nearly 10,000 people.