Ye Jiluorong's order to massacre the city was intended to arouse the murderous spirit of the siege soldiers. Naturally, it was intended to be known to the entire army. However, it soon spread to Nanyang City and aroused the will of Nanyang soldiers and civilians to resist with all their might.
Before Liang Chengchong abandoned the city and fled eastward on the 16th, although the Nanyang city wall was repeatedly blown down by catapults, the soldiers and civilians were able to block it with wooden palisades and cloth bags filled with soil.
The garrison at the top of the city and the brave people also fought with arrows and stones like rain, fighting with all their strength and unyielding determination. They fought more bravely and resolutely than in the previous period.
On the 14th and 15th, heavy rain poured down in Nanyang. The Yan soldiers continued to attack the city, but the soldiers and civilians in the city did not go down to the fortress. They ignored the casualties and resisted in the rain. The strong wind that blew at that time actually drove both the enemy and us from the ruined crenellations.
It fell down to the city, and the mud washed away by the rain had long since been dyed blood red.
When Ye Ji Luorong felt a little regretful that the spread of the city massacre order had strengthened the will of Nanyang soldiers and civilians to defend the city, Liang Chengchong could not see that the soldiers and civilians' will to resist had become stronger.
The river was swollen, and it was possible that he could block the enemies on his flanks, so he decided to abandon Nanyang and flee eastward on a drizzly night on the 16th...
However, the road from Nanyang to Biyang was also washed away by the rain. Liang Chengchong took advantage of the rainy night to escape eastward, which did not buy him much time. The brigade of soldiers and horses was trapped in Tanghe County and was slow to advance and retreat, while the Beiyan cavalry that attacked from Fangcheng was
Defeated in the wild.
Liang Chengchong's life and death are unknown. After Liang Chengchong abandoned Nanyang and fled eastward, the newly attached Han troops who participated in the siege successively entered the city and raised their butcher's knives against the nearly 100,000 soldiers and civilians abandoned in Nanyang.
While in Jiangning, Shewenzhuang also launched troops to massacre and loot, but its main intention at that time was to create chaos and plunder supplies. The actual number of civilians massacred was limited.
This time, Zhou Fan presided over the siege and massacre of the city. He had no intention of killing everyone. At first, he just allowed his troops and Tian Changsuo to rush into the city and plunder, indulging military discipline and letting the generals vent their anger.
However, during the military meeting, his general Tu An offered advice to Zhou Fan in front of Ye Jiluo Rong: "Nanyang is related to the grain road. If it is not eliminated, massacre and plunder at this time will only make the hatred deeper.
It’s also easier to change!”
Tu An was originally a general under Liang Xi. He killed Liang Xi in Dongping and led his troops to surrender to Yan. His intention was to exterminate the soldiers and civilians of Nanyang, which had his own evil intentions. At that time, a low-level official in the newly attached Han army, Guo Pu, couldn't bear it and denounced Tu in person.
An: "With a human face and a beastly heart, we are not as good as dogs or rats." But these words reached Ye Ji Luorong's ears, and Ye Ji Luorong immediately ordered Guo Pu to be beheaded outside the camp.
Zhou Fan then ordered the massacre of An, and Tian Chang led his troops into the city again, strangled the soldiers and civilians in Nanyang City one by one, and killed them all to ensure that no one slipped through the net.
A very small number of soldiers and civilians fled Nanyang in chaos.
Of course, after Nanyang City was broken, there was sporadic resistance in the city, but this resistance was very weak in the face of the well-trained killing army. The Huaidong Army deployed a hidden line in Nanyang City, and only two or three people escaped.
, nearly ten people have lost their news, and their lives and deaths are unknown.
When news of the massacre reached Biyang, it not only failed to inspire Yuan Guizheng, Liang Chengyi, Liang Chengdong, Liang Dai, Yuan Jinsheng and other remaining Nanyang generals to have the determination and courage to hold on to Biyang City, but instead frightened them and made them frightened by the bloody massacre.
Lost his soul, he dared not defend the city against Yan Hu anymore.
When the soldiers and horses fleeing eastward with Liang Chengchong were defeated, and Liang Chengchong's life and death were unknown, they saw that the enemy coming south from Fangcheng was like a flood. Yuan Guizheng and others abandoned Biyang before the Yan soldiers came to encircle them, and headed towards Tongbai from the east city gate.
Escape into the mountains.
Biyang is located in the upper reaches of the Tang River, at the western foot of Tongbai Mountain. The north and south sides are protected by the remaining veins growing out of the branches of Tongbai Mountain. If it were not too far away from the main river of the Nanyang Basin, Biyang would be worse than Nanyang City simply in terms of terrain.
Much easier to defend and harder to attack.
However, after Yan Hu massacred Nanyang City, Yuan Guizheng and Liang Chengyi and other generals also lost the courage to lead nine thousand troops and tens of thousands of people to defend this city surrounded by mountains on three sides.
Although Tongbai Mountain spans hundreds of miles, and there is a valley road leading eastward to Zhengyang, where Huaixi general Xiao Kui'an is guarding, there are nearly ten thousand troops and horses, tens of thousands of generals and soldiers, and tens of thousands of Biyang people who fled in chaos.
They all ran away without a plan, but they gave the Yan and Hu cavalry an opportunity to seize the opportunity and kill them.
From Biyang City to the east, all the way to the deep valleys and old forests of Tongbai Mountain, as long as the cavalry can pass, there are corpses everywhere, and the streams and rivers are dyed red, and even blocked by corpses.
The pursuit of the Yanhu cavalry continued into Zhengyang County. After Xiao Kui'an led his troops to counterattack, they stopped massacring the fleeing soldiers and civilians.
After all the main forces on the western front occupied Nanyang, Chen Zhihu's troops also quickly made adjustments to the north of Xinyang, giving up the frontal entanglement with the defenders of Woyang and Zhengyang, and moved their troops to the west of Queshan, Runan and other places.
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On the 23rd, heavy rain fell like a curtain in Shouzhou; in previous years, after autumn, it rarely rained so heavily in Huaixi.
The advantage of heavy rain is that the water flow of the streams flowing from the eastern foot of Tongbai Mountain and the northern foot of Huaishan Mountain swelled, which also made the water in the upper reaches of the Huaihe River fierce, reducing the chance of the Yanhu cavalry to penetrate into the hinterland of Huaixi.
In addition, the center of gravity of Chen Zhihu's troops has obviously moved westward in the past few days, which makes Shouzhou breathe a little sigh of relief.
Dozens of fast horses galloped in the rain, treading water and puddles, causing water droplets to splash in all directions. It was raining so heavily, and if people were riding fast horses in the rain, the raincoats would not do anything. Yuan Guizheng was soaked like a drowned rat.
When escaping from Biyang, Yuan Guizheng, Liang Chengyi and others took the road and fled, and they were also somewhat panicked and did not choose the route.
Yuan Guizheng chose to take the valley road connecting Biyang and Zhengyang. Although this line was the most closely pursued by the enemy cavalry, Yuan Guizheng still fled into Zhengyang City to join Xiao Kui'an. The Yanhu cavalry's attack on Zhengyang was unfavorable.
, retreated back, but did not give up the valley road leading out of Tongbai Mountain in the east. Then, news came that the rebel general Tu An was appointed as the guard of Biyang.
Ye Jiluorong used Tu'an to guard Qinyang with clear intentions. First, he wanted Tu'an to clear out the Nanyang soldiers and civilians who had fled into Tongbai Mountain. Second, he wanted Tu'an to control the east passage out of Tongbai Mountain and contain Xiao Kui'an's troops in Zhengyang City.
, to cooperate with Chen Zhihu in the north.
It is precisely because of this that other Nanyang soldiers and civilians who fled into Tongbai Mountain were temporarily cut off the opportunity to escape into Zhengyang territory.
When Yuan returned to Zhengyang and could not wait for the news that Liang Chengyi and the others had escaped the pursuit, they had to rush to Shouzhou with Liang Dai to meet Dong Yuan.
Chu Wang Yuan Hancheng and Liu Tingzhou were waiting at the gate of the west city earlier. Yuan Guizheng reined in his horse, his feet were weak and his body was tired. When he dismounted, his foot tripped on the reins and rolled down, falling into the mud pond.
Yuan Guizheng was helped up by the soldiers on his left and right. He was covered in mud and was as messy as a beggar. When he saw Yuan Hancheng and Liu Tingzhou, he burst into tears: "Prince Chu, Mr. Liu, Nanyang's 200,000 soldiers and civilians died unjustly!"
Yuan Hancheng and Liu Tingzhou did not expect that Yuan would be so rude when he returned to power.
Although the news of the massacre in Nanyang came to Shouzhou, and they were extremely angry and filled with righteous indignation, they were more hard-hearted than ordinary people after all. Yuan Guizheng cried loudly under the city gate, making them realize that Daoyuan Guizheng was going to
The responsibility for the massacre of Nanyang was attributed to the failure of the reinforcements from Huaidong...
Huaidong did not send reinforcements, and Huaixi did not send reinforcements. Comparatively speaking, Huaixi had more responsibility to send reinforcements - Yuan Guizheng burst into tears, and Yuan Hancheng and Liu Tingzhou could not respond to him; even if they sent reinforcements
, Nanyang has only been guarded for a few days, can we call Huaidong and Huaixi to send reinforcements?
Even then, Huaidong's troops in the hinterland of Jiangxi had not yet fully assembled in Jiangzhou, so how could they assist Nanyang?
Even if all the responsibility lies with Huaidong, Yuan Guizheng doesn't have any soldiers at this time, and Jiangning is under Huaidong's control. What can Yuan Guizheng use to accuse Huaidong?
Lin Fu defeated Yuan Zhou's army so easily, but then killed Huang Binghao and his direct descendants afterwards. This was contrary to his previous recruiting and gentle style. He killed Huang Binghao to show some people...
When Yuan Guizheng was stimulated, Liu Tingzhou comforted him with kind words: "The envoy has not slept for several days and is in many physical discomforts. He came to pick up Lord Yuan grudgingly, but we forced him to come down - Lord Yuan still went first."
Please take a rest and tell us what happened in Nanyang in detail..."
Yuan Guizheng's eye sockets were sunken and bloodshot. Hearing Liu Tingzhou say that Dong Yuan was unwell, he clenched his fists tightly. He didn't expect that Dong Yuan would avoid seeing him. No matter how polite Liu Tingzhou said it, Yuan Guizheng was not.
How could a three-year-old child not hear it?
Yuan Guizheng escaped from Biyang and struggled to reach Shouzhou City in the heavy rain. His body was drenched by the heavy rain. For him, he was also exhausted at this time. Seeing that Dong Yuan was avoiding him, the last bit of strength in his body was gone.
After draining all the blood, he immediately vomited a large mouthful of blood and fell back.
Liu Tingzhou and Yuan Hancheng exchanged glances with each other in panic. Yuan Hancheng sighed and ordered Yuan Guizheng to be helped into his carriage and Yuan Jinsheng, who came to Shouzhou with Yuan Guizheng.
, Liang Dai and others asked him to go to the Prince of Chu's Mansion. Liu Tingzhou rushed to see Dong Yuan.
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In Dong Yuan's palace, Ding Zhiru, Chen Jingrong and others were sitting in the hall, listening to Liu Tingzhou's story with Dong Yuan about the return of the Yuan Dynasty to the city gate where he vomited blood and fainted.
Chen Jingrong said: "The matter of reinforcements must not be mentioned again. The fall of Nanyang was due to the Liang family's inability to defend and bear the responsibility for the defeat!"
Ding Zhiru always feels that things hurt others. Regardless of whether Liang Chengchong and Liang Chengyi can escape with their lives in the end, they don't have a single soldier in their hands. They are the lost dogs and drowned dogs. The responsibility for this defeat does not belong to them.
On whose head can it be attributed?
If you really want to ask Yuan Guizheng to go to Jiangning and cry out for the failure of reinforcements, which will lead to the defeat of Nanyang, in fact, Huaidong will not be blamed, but it will give Huaidong an excuse to question why Huaixi, which is just around the corner, does not send reinforcements!
Dong Yuan waved his hand and said: "Let's not talk about this matter. Let's ask Yongchang Hou to rest in Shouzhou for a few days. If he wants to go to Zhengyang to gather the remaining soldiers, then let him defend Fangjia'ao in the upper reaches of Meizhu River..."
Liu Tingzhou knew that this was Dong Yuan's condition in exchange for keeping silent about the military reinforcements for Yuan's return to power.
Fangjia'ao is an insignificant village to Huaixi. It is located in the valley at the east foot of Tongbai Mountain. It is better to leave it to Yuan Guizheng. If Yuan Guizheng and the Liang family can gather some remnant soldiers and rest for a while, it is better than nothing.
It will be better to go back to Jiangning.
Liu Tingzhou nodded and said: "Nanyang has been defeated. Hundreds of thousands of soldiers and civilians have been massacred. This is not the time to investigate who is responsible for the defeat. The war is far from over, and the next situation will be even more difficult."
At this moment, the rebel general Chen Zhihu's troops and horses were out of direct contact with the Guoyang and Zhengyang defenders, and their focus shifted to the west. While containing the forces in Huaixi, they focused more on protecting the flanks of Nanyang, Ruzhou, and Luoyang.
The situation is obvious. Luoyang, Ruzhou and Nanyang will be the rear food routes for the Yan-Hu western front army to go south to Jingzhou. While Ye Ji Luorong led the main force southward, in the western Henan region there was only Chen Zhihu's troops.
Compared with Huaixi in the situation area, Chen Zhihu shrinks to the west and changes his focus to containing Huaixi to protect the flanks. This is naturally a normal tactical adjustment.
At the same time, the troops of the rogue bandit Luo Xiancheng also retreated to the northern foot of Huaishan Mountain. After burning, killing, raping and looting for half a month, Luo Xiancheng abandoned Xixian, Huangchuan and other cities in the hinterland of Huaixi and retreated to Luoshan and Mafan.
, Shigang and other city fortresses close to the northern foot of Huaishan Mountain.
Luo Xiancheng's intention to shrink to the northern foot of Huaishan Mountain is also very clear. He wants to cooperate with Yanhu to transfer more troops to the southern front. Naturally, the number of troops in Huaixi will be greatly reduced. It is necessary to avoid being captured by Huaixi due to the reduction in troops.
Given the opportunity, Luo Xiancheng could only give up the Huaixi hinterland he occupied in the early stage and shrink to the northern foot of Huaishan Mountain.
Even if Ye Ji, Luo Rong, led the main force of the Yanhu Western Front Army and the She family, the main force of Luo Xiancheng's troops went south to attack Jingzhou, including Chen Zhihu's troops who moved to Queshan and Ruzhou, Tu'an's troops who guarded Biyang and went to Tongbai Mountain to suppress
With Luo Xiancheng staying at the northern foot of Huaishan Mountain, the enemy's total strength on the northern front will be almost 100,000. Yanhu's final strength on the northern front will be equivalent to that in Huaixi, making Huaixi short-term.
There was still no opportunity to turn defense into offense.
Dong Yuan would not be relieved or gloating because after Yanhu captured Nanyang, he did not go east to attack Huaixi but went south to attack Jingzhou, because after Yanhu captured Jingzhou, he was blocked by the Yangtze River and would not continue to go south in a short time.
Will turn around and attack Huaixi.
If Yan Hu's plan to conquer Jingzhou cannot be stopped, after Yan Hu captures Jingzhou, the Huaidong troops will not be able to gain a foothold on the north bank and will have no choice but to retreat to Jiangzhou.
At that time, the 100,000 troops left by Yanhu in Jingzhou, Hanjin and other places were enough to form a short-term confrontation with Huaidong's troops in Jiangzhou and Luzhou. Then Yanhu could free up nearly 300,000 troops.
The Malays attack Huaixi - how will Huaixi defend itself then?
"Should we ask the Privy Council to transfer Ning Zechen's troops deployed in Shanyang to Shouzhou?" Ding Zhiru asked.
General Huaidong, Lin Fu does not count, Fu Qinghe, Cao Ziang, Qin Chengzu do not count, there is also Yi Feng Nine Tigers, namely Liu Miaozhen, Zhou Pu, Zhao Hu, Sun Zhuang, Ao Canghai, Zhou Tong, Zhao Qingshan, Ning Zechen,
The 20,000 soldiers and horses of the Fengli Army under Ge Cunxin, Ge Cunxiong, and Ning Zechen were the actual 20,000 elite members of the Huaidong Army.
If Lin Fu transferred Ning Zechen to Huaixi and fought jointly with the Huaixi army, he would at least be able to contain more Yanhu troops on the northern front and reduce the pressure on the southern front.
Dong Yuan shook his head and said: "I'm afraid it's too late! When Zhong Rong goes south, Luo Xiancheng immediately retreats to the northern foot of Huaishan Mountain. We are chasing him in a hurry. He will retreat to Huaishan Mountain and Suizhou. How many soldiers and horses do we need to kill him?
Go in? Luo Xiancheng has not done much in recent years, but his strength is not enough to give a glimpse!"
Dong Yuan didn't know that Lin Fu had said the same thing in Qichun Can City - Dong Yuan had not united with Jinghu to attack Luo Xiancheng in the past two years. Of course, it was not because of Luo Xiancheng's performance, but mainly because on the one hand, the situation in Henan was not optimistic.
On the one hand, Luo Xiancheng is pretending to be a pig, but he may not have the ability to eat a tiger.
Liu Tingzhou sighed softly, Dong Yuan did not mention Dong Yuan or Tu An, but Luo Xiancheng. In fact, Huaixi wanted to switch from defense to offense, so it had no choice but to attack Luo Xiancheng.
Chen Zhihu is in Queshan, and Runan has 50,000 soldiers and horses, which is the most powerful. Even if all 100,000 soldiers and horses in Huaixi are pressed up, they may not be able to defeat Chen Zhihu. Tu'an defends Biyang. On the one hand, he attacks Biyang from Zhengyang.
There is only one passage to Yang, and this passage is not wide. Moreover, as soon as you exit from the valley road, it is blocked by Biyang City. No matter how many soldiers and horses there are, it is difficult to launch an offensive. Moreover, it is too close to Chen Zhihu's headquarters, less than two hundred miles away.
If you are not careful, you will give Chen Zhihu a way out.
Chen Jingrong beat his hands and said with regret: "If Biyang collapsed without a fight, Yuan Guizheng would have the nerve to come to Shouzhou to complain! If Biyang had not lost, the situation might not be so ugly!"
Biyang and Zhengyang each stood guard at the western and eastern foothills of Tongbai Mountain, with a valley road connecting them. Biyang was not lost, even though Biyang only had 10,000 defenders, but because Biyang directly threatened the Nanyang Basin, Biyang was still a guard.
The city would have contained at least 50,000 Yanhu soldiers and horses - but if Biyang fell, Yanhu would only need more than 10,000 garrison troops to close the gap.
The loss of 40,000 troops will have a huge impact on the pressure on the southern front.
Liu Tingzhou shook his head and smiled bitterly, and asked Dong Yuan: "Is it true that Luo Xiancheng can't be beaten?"
According to Yanhu's plan, Chen Zhihu cannot attack, Tu'an cannot attack, and if he wants to attack, he can only attack Luo Xiancheng's troops at the northern foot of Huaishan Mountain.
Dong Yuan shook his head and said: "It's difficult to fight. When Luo Xiancheng was at his most powerful, he claimed to have an army of 200,000, and he and Liu An'er were the two heroes. After he established his foothold in Suizhou, he reduced his troops to farmland and reduced his fighting force to 80,000 - in
While Luo Xiancheng's troops were decreasing, the strength of the Luo bandits was actually rising. Mr. Liu, you also participated in Min's fight against Liu An'er back then, did you find it easy?"
Liu Tingzhou shook his head bitterly. He couldn't despise Luo Xiancheng just because he was honest. How could a gangster who was as famous as Liu An'er be the same generation as Yi Yu?
Although the Huaisi Liumen Army has long since disintegrated, Liu Tingzhou still remembers the pain of the disastrous defeat he gave the Huaisi Liujun - now in the Huaidong Army, Liu Miaozhen, Sun Zhuang, Malantou, Chen Zhi, Zhang Gou, and Li Liang
All the brave generals were actually born in Huaisi.
Since Luo Xiancheng is as famous as Liu An'er and once had 200,000 troops under his command, how can he be among the few capable and brave generals?
During the four or five years that Luo Xiancheng occupied Suizhou, on the outskirts of Suizhou, one built a large number of defenses along the southern foot of Dahong Mountain and Qishan in the south, and the other was in the north, building a large number of defenses in Huaishan.
It is the line of defense against Huaixi.
No one would naively think that Luo Xiancheng, with 200,000 soldiers and horses, would only occupy one city in Suizhou.
The actual scope of Suizhou controlled by Luo Xiancheng goes as far as Chaishan, the heart of Huaishan Mountain, to the east; to the west, it controls Xiangyang, Fancheng and the fortress at Chakou as far as the Danjiang River enters the Han River; to the southeast, it controls Dahongshan, and to the south, it controls the insertion of troops
Mountain, Qishan, and to the north it controls the hinterland of the northern mountain range of Huaishan Mountain - this area includes almost fifteen counties.
Since Dong Yuan entered Huaixi much later, the valley roads in and out of Huaishan were actually under the control of Luo Xiancheng. Between Huaixi and Suizhou, Suizhou held the initiative, not to mention the northern foot of Huaishan now.
Luo Xiancheng also won some of the key fortresses.
With Chen Zhihu restraining him in the north, how many troops could Huaixi mobilize to attack Luo Xiancheng's troops at the northern foot of Huaishan Mountain? Even if Lin Fu transferred Ning Zechen to Huaixi to cooperate in the battle, it would be difficult to form a military advantage!
There were no outsiders in the hall, so Chen Jingrong lowered his voice and asked, "Will the Chongguo Guild be trying to get away with it again?"
Playing hard to get? Liu Tingzhou was a little confused, but on second thought he realized that he had heard something wrong. Chen Jinrong instead said that he was worried that Huaidong would sacrifice Jingzhou again this time, and had no intention of fighting the enemy in the east of Hubei.
Liu Tingzhou was also worried about this, and he looked at Dong Yuan.
Dong Yuan shook his head and said: "The ambition hidden in Lin Fu's heart is not so weak that he would not even dare to fight in a battle between Jing and Xiang! For Huaidong, Nanyang can be sacrificed, but Jingzhou is impossible
Sacrifice. Furthermore, whether Lin Fu is fighting with Yan Hu in Jingxiang or not, what choice do we have?"
Yes, they can only hope that Huaidong will resolutely march into the east of Hubei to ensure that Jingzhou is not lost - only when Huaidong and Yanhu form a tug of war in Jingxiang can Huaixi escape, otherwise Huaixi will have to
Directly facing the harsh situation of the influx of 300,000 Yanhu troops!
"It's of no use to me if I stay in Shouzhou. Why don't I take a trip to Qichun!" Liu Tingzhou said, "You can rest assured after seeing it with your own eyes."