Ning Zechen sent a messenger to Huangchuan to inform him of the overall strategy of Huaidong. From then on, the whole picture of the Chaishan ambush unfolded in front of Dong Yuan and everyone in Huaixi.
At that time, Liu Tingzhou, who was in charge of grain and had entered Huangchuan City to meet Dong Yuan, stood up on the spot and was speechless for a long time.
Dong Yuan sat alone in the quiet room for nearly an hour. When he came out of the quiet room, without consulting Liu Tingzhou, he acted on his own initiative and directly asked the clerk in front of the account to record his order: "Guangshan, Xixian Zhucheng
, upon receiving the order, the entire army was immediately mobilized, and all soldiers, horses and accompanying soldiers and civilians were sent south along the Shiyan River to attack the villages on the eastern front of the Suizhou Army in the upper reaches of the Shiyan River;
On both sides of the upper reaches, soldiers and horses from Pingchang, Shangliang and Yuehe villages at the western foot of Tongbai Mountain and Gaoliangdian Yuan returned to their headquarters. Except for Xiao Kui'an who led the Zhengyang garrison to monitor the enemies of Queshan, all the others abandoned their current defenses and immediately moved along the river.
Go south along the Guzhu River and attack the Suizhou Army's western defense line at the junction of Tongbai Mountain and Huaishan Mountain, with Xiao Kui'an leading his headquarters to rigorously attack Zhengyang and other cities on the north bank of the Huaihe River..."
Wang Muti, a member of the army in the camp record office of the Huaixi expedition, took notes and wrote military orders. He wrote hundreds of words in a flash. He picked up a pen and paper and read it again to correct any mistakes. He gave the draft of the general order to Dong Yuan for review. Dong Yuan was speechless after reading it and handed it to Liu Tingzhou.
: "Tingzhou, do you think this is okay?"
Although it had been an hour, Liu Tingzhou had not yet been able to fully digest the fact that Huaidong's troops stationed in Luzhou had sneaked into the hinterland of Jingxiang and captured Fancheng on the night of the 18th - a great victory in the battle of Jingxiang was imminent, and General Dong Yuan could make the trip.
The soldiers and horses were mobilized to press against the northern foot of Huaishan Mountain. Whether it was to expand the victory or to compete for the victory, Liu Tingzhou subconsciously did not feel that there was any problem.
Liu Tingzhou took the manuscript drafted by Wang Mu. He also saw some mistakes and omissions in the text. He read it over and handed it to Dong Yuan. He said: "The recruiter has thought carefully about it. I feel that there is nothing inappropriate..."
"Then copy and seal it, and send fast cavalry to the armies to deliver the order."
Dong Yuan threw the manuscript to Wang Mu and others to copy several copies. He sat in front of the long case and signed the seal in person, and gave Liu Tingzhou a military order to counter-sign. Liu Tingzhou had no doubts. As the general manager of the camp, Dong Yuan recruited envoys and recruited them.
Although he has military power, he does not have the title of supervising the army. He can just countersign the military order, and there is no need to use a formal seal. He can immediately sign his name with a pen and ink.
Seeing that Dong Yuan did not discuss how the Huaidong Army set up an ambush in Chaishan, Liu Tingzhou saw that it was getting late and he had to go see the loading and unloading of grain and fodder, so he left Dong Yuan's tent first.
After pushing the door open and leaving, Liu Tingzhou only took two steps before he realized something was wrong. He subconsciously wanted to slap himself twice, but the deal was already done. It was impossible to erase the name on the countersign of the general's order. He looked up at the dusk in the western sky.
, smiled bitterly, and continued walking to the grain camp...
***************
Queshan, adjacent to Tongbai Mountain in the west, is the hinterland of the Central Plains and the throat of Henan and Hubei. It is named after Queshan six miles southeast of the city. Chen Zhihu’s Queshan camp was stationed between the remaining city of Queshan and Queshan to contain Huaixi in the south.
Xiao Kui'an's troops stationed in Zhengyang and Tao Chun's troops stationed on the Wishui line to the west.
The news of the surprise attack on Fancheng by Chaishan's grain-enforcement troops was first reported to the Nanyang cities in the north by defender Puama, who did not make the problem too serious at that time. After Puama's death in battle, Fancheng and the entire Qiaodu District in the south of the city were
After the fall, Fancheng was actually under the control of the Huaidong Army. It was not until the early morning of the 19th that Azig successfully sent his cavalry to bypass Fancheng and inform the specific enemy situation in the direction of Xinye, Nanyang, Biyang and Wuyang.
Due to this delay, Chen Zhihu stayed at Queshan Camp until noon on the 20th, and only then did he learn the news that Fancheng had been accidentally attacked by five thousand ambush troops in Huaidong.
Gao Yi, who was with Chen Zhihu in Queshan, and Leng Zilin, who was in Wuyang, both thought that as Azig requested, they would send reinforcements directly from Wuyang to Fancheng to join other troops, then recapture Fancheng and restore the food route. However, Chen Zhihu
Xinqi was sent to ask Leng Zilin to stay put in Wuyang and come to Queshan to meet him.
It is one hundred and fifty miles from Wuyang to Queshan, and Xinqi's galloping back and forth delayed most of the day. It was already early morning on the 21st when Leng Zilin arrived at the Queshan camp.
There were fires all over the Queshan camp. Judging from the situation inside the camp, it seemed that mobilization before the battle was being carried out. Leng Zilin didn't understand at all, so he could only go to the camp to see Chen Zhihu, the king of Ruzhou.
After running for 150 miles without stopping, Leng Zilin dismounted and knocked down two horses. Leng Zilin was quite puzzled by Chen Zhihu's decision to stand still. He was very confused and even said
Resisting the mood, he walked into Chen Zhihu's tent, panting, unbuttoned his pocket, pulled open his lapels, looked at the long table with a cup of warm tea, picked it up, drank it, and asked in a low voice: "Commander Hu, Fan Cheng
The military situation is urgent, and all the cities must rush to receive the letter. Queshan can't catch up at the moment, so I can only lead the army from Wuyang. Commander Hu summoned me to Queshan to discuss matters. Is there anything I can't give an order directly? This time again and again.
, don’t say it will delay you for a day.”
"Sit down." Chen Zhihu raised his head and glanced at Leng Zilin. He told him to sit down in a calm voice and continued to stare at the map.
Leng Zilin asked Chen Zhihu to stop him, then sat down in a muffled voice.
At this time, Gao Yi opened the door and walked in. Leng Zilin looked up and wanted to ask what was going on and what happened?
Chen Zhihu raised his head and asked Gao Yi: "Have you returned from the expedition to Zhengyang? What's going on in Huaixi, Zhengyang..."
"There has been no movement from Xiao Kui'an in Zhengyang, but I have sent four hundred cavalry teams to go around Zhengyang to Pingchang. The Moon River will pierce the line. There should be a response at dawn..." Gao Yi said.
"What happened?" Leng Zilin was confused.
"Idiot." Chen Zhihu scolded Leng Zilin disdainfully, but had no intention of explaining his confusion. He continued to stare at the map, as if his eyes were piercing it.
Gao Yi came over and explained to Leng Zilin in a low voice, "Commander Hu thought Huaidong would not be so careless in ambushing troops..."
"What do you mean by such a gross omission?" Leng Zilin asked, "Does Huaidong have a back-up plan besides the sneak attack on Fancheng?"
"Now Gao Zongting is Lin Fu's adviser," Gao Yi said, "It's not like you don't know how powerful Gao Zongting is! Furthermore, it's not like you haven't seen the power of Lin Fu in recruiting red-coated girls in Huaisi. I
I also suspect that Huaidong is hiding a more powerful and deadly backhand!"
Leng Zilin stood stunned on the spot, realizing that he had indeed thought too little about Wuyang.
In the twelfth year of Chongguan, Liu Miaozhen led the remnants of the Huaiyang army and was almost surrounded and annihilated by them. However, Lin Fu used Sun Zhuang, a hidden man, to abandon Suyu to open a gap and let Liu Miaozhen escape eastward. Afterwards, Lin Fu pretended to kill Sun Zhuang.
He was a strong general, but what happened next was shocking. Not only did Liu Miaozhen lead the Huaiyang army to Huaidong, Liu Miaozhen herself also married Lin Fu as his concubine.
I have heard more stories about losing my wife and losing my army, and I can hear a lot of happy stories about "winning my wife and losing my soldiers" several times.
For Huaidong, it was naturally extremely enjoyable, but Chen Zhihu, Gao Yi, Leng Zilin and others were extremely cowardly about it - not to mention whether Gao Zongting was behind the recruitment of Liu Miaozhen, but the whole story showed Huaidong's plan.
It's so wonderful that it can be called the pinnacle.
Huaidong has risen rapidly in recent years, and now it is under the orders of the emperor and has occupied half of the country. Is it Yi Xiangyu?
"What will be the back-up plan?" Leng Zilin asked, "Huaidong still has ambushes in the hinterland of Jingxiang?"
"It's not that there is another ambush problem, but since the fall of Nanyang, the whole thing may have evolved into a strategy to lure the enemy deep in Huaidong..." Chen Zhihu raised his head at this time and said in an unusually hoarse voice, with a trace of emotion on his face.
A long scar, which looked extra ferocious under the light, pointed at the map and asked Gao Yi. Leng Zilin walked closer and took a closer look.
Before looking at the map, Chen Zhihu marked out several key points that he suspected. Outside Fancheng, a key point in the hinterland of Jingxiang was Suizhou.
Leng Zilin also instantly figured out where the suspicion lay: since the Huaidong ambush troops could disguise themselves as Chaishan grain guards and approach Fancheng without making a sound, why didn't they attack Suizhou?
All this seems to indicate that Huaidong has enough backing skills to attack Suizhou...
Only then did Leng Zilin understand why Commander Hu ordered four hundred-man cavalry troops to penetrate into the hinterland of Xinyang from Zhengyang's defense line. If Huaidong really had the back-up plan to attack Suizhou, Huaixi's troop deployment in Xinyang would inevitably be very difficult.
Something is about to change. They sent a cavalry team of a hundred men to attack. Seeing the changes and reactions in the deployment of troops and horses in Xinyang in Huaixi, they can more or less corroborate their guesses. This is also the fastest way to verify their guesses - otherwise, they will wait for the news of the fall of Suizhou.
If we pass it over and take measures, it will only be delayed by a day or two, but it will be too late.
"What if," Leng Zilin asked with a chill running down his spine, "if abandoning Nanyang without aid is really Huaidong's strategy to lure the enemy, what should we do?"
"Are you feeling afraid again?" Chen Zhihu raised his head and glanced at Leng Zilin, his eyes like lightning, seeming to pierce into Leng Zilin's heart.
Leng Zilin avoided Chen Zhihu's lightning-like eyes, cheered up, and said: "Sui Shuaihu has enjoyed all the scenery in these years, so why should we be afraid of death?"
"Shuai Hu, do you think Dong Yuan will give in?" Gao Yi asked.
"It's hard to say," Chen Zhihu shook his head and said, "I'll know tomorrow if I ask..."
Hearing Gao Yi and Chen Zhihu discussing Dong Yuan's surrender, Leng Zilin's eyes moved to the map again.
Queshan is located at the east foot of Tongbai Mountain, across the Zhengyang County guarded by Xiao Kui'an to the south. If Dong Yuan gives way, allowing them to pass directly through Zhengyang territory, they can take the valley road at the middle foot of Tongbai Mountain and enter Biyang territory -
—This is the most convenient and fastest way for Queshan soldiers and horses to enter the Nanyang Basin.
Otherwise, we have to go north along the eastern foot of Tongbai Mountain, and then go around to the west foot of Tongbai Mountain and then go south to the Nanyang Basin via Fangcheng, which will take more than 400 miles of detour.
In other times, more than four hundred miles would be nothing, and a forced march would only take four or five days, but now, four or five days is enough to completely decide the outcome of the Jingxiang battle.
Only then did Leng Zilin understand why when he entered the Queshan Camp just now, he saw that the camp looked like it was about to leave. It turned out that Commander Hu wanted to lead the main force of the Queshan Camp directly to aid Fancheng, instead of just sending
Use the few troops and horses in Wuyang to help.
Leng Zilin spent that night in the big tent with Chen Zhihu and Gao Yi to calculate the situation of the battle. At about dawn, a detective horse came back with further news: "Except for Xiao Kui'an leading more than 10,000 troops to defend Zhengyang City, there was no movement.
Huaixi's soldiers and horses in the villages at the western foot of Tongbai Mountain all show signs of gathering and ready to go!"
"Okay." Chen Zhihu clenched his fists and frowned, just as he was about to pass on the order. Gao Yi Xiaoyi asked: "Commander Hu, what if Dong Yuan gathers his troops not to go south, but to attack the Queshan camp?"
"Then fight him!" Chen Zhihu said, "What are you afraid of?"