Under the darkness of night, the horses began to trot. The sound of thousands of war horses' hooves gathered together, like a great tide coming from the riverside.
Zhao Bao rode his horse to Chen Zhi and said: "Zhao Bao, the forbidden cavalry army, was ordered by Commander Ao to ask General Chen for a battle to pursue the enemy..."
"You son of a bitch, it's really fun to chase him with the cavalry." Chen Zhi looked at Zhao Bao with some envy. He waved the horse whip in his hand and said, "In front of you is Li Bai Dao. You send someone to contact him, but don't send someone to contact him."
All the heads were chopped off..."
Since from Huangpi to the north, there were more than 100,000 defeated enemies. These enemy soldiers were clustered in clusters and filled the mountains and fields. They were not without any counterattack power, nor were they completely dispersed. Moreover, they were never completely dispersed.
To the north of Huangpi, the terrain is relatively complex. If the chasing Huaidong Army's infantry are too scattered, it will cause many unnecessary casualties, and there will be no way to maintain the lethality and penetration power of a sharp knife.
After completely defeating the enemy's defense line, Ao Canghai ordered the armies to organize their forces in units of battalions and sentries to pursue in depth. However, the speed of the infantry's pursuit in depth using sentries as units was naturally not as fast as that of scattered troops.
Fleeing enemy soldiers.
Moreover, once the enemy soldiers are asked to retreat to the backup defense line to collect the defeated troops, they can in turn further suppress and block the Huaidong Army's pursuit - this is also the fundamental reason why infantry camps in the field can defeat the enemy but annihilating them is often not ideal.
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In the predetermined plan, the Chaishan ambush will intercept the defeated enemy at Fancheng and Zaoyang, but the defeated enemy will flee to Shicheng on a large scale along the terrain. If the defeated enemy is ordered to defend Shicheng, they will then withdraw from Shicheng to the west bank of the Han River.
, will also be detrimental to the Huaidong Army's large-scale annihilation of the enemy forces on the east bank of the Han River, and will also be detrimental to the later war.
This is when the riding camp needs to come into play.
There were four cavalry battalions to attack and defeat, and they were deployed in three directions respectively. They were controlled by Chen Zhi, Yu Wencheng, and Zhang Gou. The cavalry mainly included the flanks of the pursuing infantry battalions, and cooperated with the infantry battalions to eliminate any fleeing enemies who might be organized along the way.
Break them up and quickly make a detour before escaping, blocking the enemy's escape routes to Shicheng and Xiaochang, so as to ensure that more escaping troops are blocked in eastern Hubei and captured or killed without losing the opportunity to escape.
To Shicheng...
The other two battalions of cavalry were controlled by Yu Wencheng and Zhang Gou, and their main purpose was to repeatedly cover up and kill the enemy. General Zhao Bao led two battalions of fine cavalry to cooperate with a brigade of horse infantry under Chen Zhi to quickly penetrate towards the direction of Shicheng, even if they could not take advantage of the chaos.
Shicheng should also be at the southwest foot of Dahong Mountain, and try to intercept the defeated troops as much as possible before entering Shicheng on the east bank of the Han River.
Because the generals who entered the battle at dusk had to stop and rest for a while; the second line of generals who went up to the north bank of the Baita River broke through to a depth of ten miles. Zhao Bao led more than a thousand light cavalry and soon
Passing through the outer perimeter of the Huaidong controlled front.
Zhao Bao, surrounded by dozens of riders, first galloped up a gentle slope and looked north.
The sky is covered with light clouds, but the night is not dark. Under the night, in the mountains and fields, the herds of beasts that are retreating among the sage grass like frightened locusts fleeing north can't be seen to the edge.
"Hahaha..." Thinking of the impending killing spree, the blood of Zhao Bao and the surrounding generals boiled with passion, and they roared loudly in the forest, as if giving a final warning to the fleeing prey ahead.
Li Baidao rode over and saw Zhao Bao patting the saddle with his sword excitedly. He said unhappily: "Go and report to the lord tomorrow. The merits of the cavalry camp, ten heads, can only be worth one of ours.
It's only reasonable..." Although his troops were on horseback, they still had to dismount and fight when encountering the enemy. They couldn't keep up with the Qingqi who wielded their sabers to cover up the enemy from behind and defeat them smoothly.
"They say Li Baidao is petty, and it's true." Zhao Bao laughed loudly, pointed at Li Baidao and said with a smile, "When we open the way for you, until the enemy is defeated, we are still afraid of your swords and spears.
Aren’t you satisfied with the blood of your enemies?”
Li Baidao said: "You are a wise boy, so go ahead and attack!"
Zhao Bao ordered the cavalry around him to blow the horns. The deep sound of the horns spread along the grass slope. The cavalry scattered on both sides of the grass slope formed two conical arrays and assassinated the enemy in front among the sage grass.
past.
Some of the routed enemies were clever enough to set fire to the wormwood in the field, but as soon as the fire started, it was not very powerful and could not stop Huaidong's armored light cavalry from behind.
When chasing and killing, Huaidong's standard saber has a better effect on killing enemies. It has a long, narrow and light blade, and a sharp blade. It can attack from the side and behind, and with one swing of the sword, it can bring out a swarm of enemies.
A rain of blood cut down a fleeing enemy to the ground.
Seeing the enemy defeated one after another, group after group being killed and chopped down by the armored light cavalry from behind, no wonder Li Baidao and the others were so "jealous".
If we really count the heads chopped off, if the four battalions of light cavalry were to cover up and kill them all, they would probably capture tens of thousands of heads. Their efficiency in chasing down and defeating the enemy was not comparable to that of infantry.
Of course, the purpose of the two battalions of armored light cavalry led by Zhao Bao was not to cut down more defeated enemies, but to cooperate with Li Baidao's 3,000 elite troops to quickly create a passage between the defeated troops and quickly penetrate into the stone city.
Although Li Baidao's troops were organized as infantry camps, they were equipped with riding horses when chasing the enemy, which was called horse infantry. As long as Zhao Bao led the cavalry to cover the flanks, they could quickly pass through the broken troops together and kill directly to the three hundred
Stone City inside and outside...
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Xiongjiagang, the main camp of the Hubei army and horses, was already a sea of soldiers from Huaidong.
Yu Bijiang hid in the crevice of the cliff behind the bushes in panic, but the Huaidong soldiers who were searching the mountain were unexpectedly careful, searching almost every inch of the mountain. Yu Bijiang held a protective knife in his hand
The knife, his teeth chattered, his legs trembled like a sieve, and he watched the two Huaidong soldiers touch him. After all, he did not dare to resist, threw away the saber, and shouted: "I surrender!" to the two Huaidong soldiers who touched him.
He was pushed to the ground, chewing the grass-smelling soil, struggling and shouting: "I am Yu Pijiang, the son of Yu Xinyuan, the deputy prime minister of the Political Affairs Hall. I was captured by the enemy. I want to see the Privy Councilor..."
Zhang Gou galloped up to Xiongjiagang, surrounded by dozens of cavalry, and looked at the mountains and fields northwest of Xiongjiagang. The mountains and plains were full of defeated enemies. According to the plan, the advance from the front of the Baita River was one step faster than here, in order to cut off more enemy routes.
An escape route along the Han River.
The Huaidong Army on the Changxuan Ridge side also began to pursue in depth, forming several black streams of iron in the night, like sharp knives, stabbing towards Xiaonan.
Xiongjiagang, once the main camp of Yanhu's eastern Hubei army and the large tent that Yanhu gave to the Fujian king Shewenzhuang, was now completely occupied by the Changshan Army's Second Town Division, but there were still some sporadic remnants of the enemy hiding in the ravines.
Although Xiongjiagang cannot be said to be absolutely safe, standing on Xiongjiagang can overlook the mountains and fields in the direction of Xiaonan, and can better command the troops to chase and annihilate the defeated troops in the night. Zhang Gou will naturally take him.
The command post moved forward to Xiongjiagang. This is also the reason why the Huaidong Army searched the mountains so carefully.
A dozen soldiers came over with a man tied up and said: "Report to the army, this man claims to be the son of Vice Prime Minister Yu Xinyuan..."
"Bring it up." Zhang Gou said.
Zhang Gou knew that Yu Xinyuan had a son who disappeared during the Huinan War. He was probably kidnapped by the Zhejiang and Fujian troops. When Emperor Yongxing returned to Jiangning, the ministers pushed Wang Xueshan out as a scapegoat, allowing Yu Xinyuan to escape the responsibility for Huinan's defeat.
, I didn’t expect to catch Yu Xinyuan’s son at this time, it was really interesting.
Zhang Gou didn't recognize Yu Bijiang, so he just asked someone to pull Yu Bijiang up. Seeing that he was wearing the official uniform of the Zhejiang and Fujian Governor's Mansion, he curled his lips and said, "It turns out that Mr. Yu surrendered to the enemy, so don't blame him.
You're welcome, little man." His voice was cold, and he ordered the people around him. "Take Master Yu, who has surrendered to the enemy, and take him to the camp together with the big fish. Tell him to look carefully over at the Hushan camp.
Screening, don’t let people have the opportunity to risk your favor to Mr. Yu, and don’t let Mr. Yu suffer too much injustice..."
As long as Yu Bijiang didn't die in the rebel army, he didn't care much about anything else. He bowed to Zhang Gou repeatedly and saluted: "Thank you, general, for not killing! Thank you, general, for not killing!" There is no trace of the princely integrity he had when he was in Jiangning.
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After Chen Zhi, Yu Wencheng, and Zhang Gou commanded their troops to break through the defense line, they pursued the enemy in depth and defeated them, while Zhao Hu and Su Pinxiao led their troops to march westward along the south bank of the Baita River to seize Hanjin City.
When they arrived to the east of Hanjin City, the defenders of the Baita River Defense Line's west flank camp had already abandoned their camp and fled north, while Yang Xiong from Hanjin City escaped even further, leaving behind a mess.
In the later period, there were still 25,000 soldiers and horses led by Yang Xiong guarding Hanjin City and the West Wing Gate Camp, 8,000 of which were naval troops, used to block the entrance of Hanshui.
However, Yang Xiong led his troops out of Dongting Lake to join the She family, leading 20,000 water bandits and a similar number of Jiaxiao Xiangxiang. After the She family abandoned Jiangzhou and retreated north, Yang Xiong also led his troops across the river and fled to the north bank.
Wenzhuang sent Yang Xiong to guard Hanjin, so Yang Xiong settled his family in Hanjin City.
In the later period, Shewenzhuang continued to transfer naval forces and warships from Yang Xiong to Shicheng in the upper reaches of the Han River and Xiangyang in the upper reaches of the Han River, reducing the size of Hanjin's naval forces to about 8,000. In the later period, Yang Xiong only
It was able to use sunken ships and hidden piles to block the Hanshui mouth, and lost the ability to go out of the Hanshui mouth and into the Yangtze River to fight against the Huaidong water camp. The total number of warships in Hanjin was also reduced to less than 200.
When Yang Xiong received the news of the Chaishan ambush attack on Suizhou at dusk, he knew that the situation was over, so he made up his mind to abandon Hanjin and flee north along the Han River. At that time, the defenders in Hanjin and the Yizha camp west of the Baita River joined the Hanjin city.
The generals and soldiers are small, with a total number of nearly 60,000.
Yang Xiong only had 200 ships in hand, and the last 20 or so large ships worth more than 200 shi were all transferred away by Shewenzhuang two days ago. How could these remaining small ships transport six ships in the middle of the night?
All the soldiers and civilians were loaded onto ships and shipped away?
In the end, Yang Xiong only had time to load the family members of his relatives and the main trusted generals on the ship, and led 8,000 direct soldiers and horses to escape through the waterway. The remaining 16,700 soldiers and horses and the total number of family members, about 30,000,
Yang Xiong could not take care of them at all and allowed them to leave Hanjin and flee north.
The hasty and unruly retreat soon turned into a rout. Even Yang Xiong's army and horses, which hurriedly fled north by water, were too frightened and panicked. When boarding the ship, they panicked and fell into the water. Countless people drowned.
, several ships even collided and sank.
When Yang Xiong blocked the Han River branch, he mainly used sunken ships and hidden piles. However, sunken ships and hidden piles could not block the Han River waterway watertight.
In fact, there are still a lot of gaps at the fork of the Han River, allowing some small ships to pass through them.
It's just that in the Han River upstream of the blockade, the enemy's water camp is heavily guarded. The Huaidong Army's water camp sends a small group of warships to infiltrate, which will not have any effect. It will also be scattered and eaten by the enemy, adding unnecessary
casualties. At this time, the enemy troops fled and abandoned the Hanjin open space. The enemy water stronghold behind the blockade was also caught in raging fires as the enemy retreated.
There is no blockade of enemy warships in the upper reaches. Large warships of the Jiyun level and above of the Huaidong Army cannot get through the blockade zone at the Han River branch. On the contrary, small and medium-sized warships such as stern warships and oar warships can get through before early morning.
, seven or eight ships passed through the blockade and docked at the pier outside Hanjin West City.
It is a pity that only these few warships and 500 to 600 soldiers from the water camp entered the Han River waterway, but they were not able to form a combat effectiveness.
Zhao Hu sent Su Pinxiao to immediately organize the army and civilians to clear a channel for Jiyun-class warships to sail into the Han River.
The faster the main force of the water camp can enter the Han River, it means that more enemy troops on the west bank of the Han River can be intercepted and annihilated to avenge the huge blood feud accumulated since the fall of the Central Plains.
The west bank of the Han River in Hanjin is located at the mouth of the Han River into the Yangtze River. A large area of land belongs to the alluvial plain of the Han River, forming a large area of lakes and swamps. The water in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River to the west is very strong, making the Yangtze River and Han River intertwined.
The northwest corner of the intersection became a famous flood relief area in history, and was also the northwest region of Wuhan in later generations. It was not a good place for the infantry camp to march north after entering.
The main force of the Huaidong Army wants to cross the Han River and enter the west bank of the Han River to pursue the enemies on the west bank. It needs to avoid the lake area at the northwest corner of the Han River and the Yangtze River. The suitable crossing point has to go northwest as far as Changlin County.
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Zhao Hu's troops were the first troops to enter the west bank to pursue the enemy in the plan, so they had to head northwest first, enter Changlin territory, and wait for the Shuiying warships to enter the Han River waterway. However, at this time, they happened to pursue the enemy from Hanjin.
The defeated enemy fled north.
Zhao Hu led Su Pinxiao to stay in Hanjin until Ge Cunxiong led the main force of the water camp to arrive. When he led his troops to bypass Hanjin and go north, it was already the early morning of the 22nd.
The sky is white and misty, and the mountains and plains are filled with abandoned families and desperate and nearly collapsed enemies...