On the bank of the river, they decided on a countermeasure. Ye Ji, Luo Rong, Zhou Fan, and Tian Chang made up their minds and rode back to the big tent. Dozens of orders were sent to various places in Jingxiang by fast gallop. They also summoned the generals below to inform them.
current situation.
Although the situation on the east bank of the Han River is irreversible, Chen Zhihu led his troops into Nanyang, and Dong Yuan of Huaixi Province had different intentions towards Huaidong, so the situation on the west bank of the Han River does not seem to be the worst: at least the Huaidong Army
There is still some time before the main force enters the west bank of the Han River, and there is no immediate danger of overthrow. However, the channels for withdrawing from Jingzhou to Xiangyang and from Xiangyang to Wuguan are still open - Ye Ji Luorong, Zhou Fan, Tian Chang, etc.
The general's calmness also made the generals below feel more at ease.
This is also where the west bank of the Han River is stronger than the east bank: on the east bank, Shewenzhuang is only the nominal commander-in-chief, and even Yang Xiong's troops may not all obey his orders, let alone Sun Jichang, Zhong Rong, Ma Dekui,
Sun Jichang, Meng Anchan and other foreign generals; while the soldiers and horses on the west bank are either the elite of Ye Jiluorong's headquarters, or direct descendants of Zhou Fan, Tian Chang, and Ye Jiluorong personally sits in Jingzhou, the command system is in order
, as long as Zhou Fan, Tian Chang and Ye Jiluo Rongxin are together, it is still possible to stabilize the morale of the army in a short period of time.
Even if Zhou Fan and Tian Chang were unwilling to obey Ye Jiluorong's military orders at this time, they would not be able to escape faster than Ye Jiluorong. The retreat routes including Jingmen, Xiangyang and Nanyang (Wuguan) were actually still in Ye Jiluorong.
With the soldiers and horses of Ji Luorong's direct line under their direct control, Zhou Fan and Tian Chang also knew in their hearts that if they wanted to escape and ascend to heaven, they must not mess up their positions; there was no possibility of them surrendering to Huaidong.
Luo Rong told Ye Ji that even if Tian Chang, who had recently joined the She family, was not so reliable, Zhou Fan could still trust him. After all, most of the families and relatives of Zhou Fan and his generals were in Yanjing City, so it was impossible to
Concerned about his military orders.
Furthermore, after the troops and horses on the east bank collapsed, most of the troops left on the eastern front, including Luo Xiancheng's troops and the She family, were newly attached soldiers; Ye Ji Luorong led the West Route Army going south,
The real elites are concentrated on the western and northern fronts.
Ye Ji Luorong's headquarters had 40,000 elite cavalry, and Zhou Fan's troops had nearly 40,000 new auxiliary elite troops that had not been seriously damaged. Tian Chang and Han Li's troops combined had 26,000 men before attacking Jingzhou.
At that time, nearly 20,000 soldiers and horses were still intact. On the northern front, Chen Zhihu and Tu'an still had more than 60,000 elite soldiers. If the grain road had not been cut off from Fancheng and the soldiers and horses on the western and northern fronts had been concentrated, there would have been ten more soldiers.
Sixty thousand elite soldiers may not have the strength to compete with the main force of the Huaidong Army.
The northern retreat became the goal of overwhelming all troops and horses on the Yan-Hu western front, but the prerequisite for the northern retreat was to capture Jingzhou.
Fancheng fell, and the evacuation route from Xiangyang west to the Danjiang River to the north was very narrow. Evacuating all the 100,000 troops and horses on the west bank of the Han River to Guanzhong was not something that could be accomplished in three or five days. First of all, make sure that the Huaidong Army could not be overwhelmed.
A large number of troops landed from Jingzhou to cover up their retreat.
At this time, the most terrifying thing is that the morale of the army is shaken. If you lay everything out, let the generals below see the hope of retreating to the north, and let the generals below realize that taking Jingzhou is the prerequisite for retreating north, it will not cause too much trouble.
The excessive panic only aroused the enthusiasm of middle-level generals.
This in itself is also the quality that an elite army should have when facing crises and difficulties. It is like a ferocious beast. Even if it falls into a trap, it will struggle violently and produce extremely destructive power.
Tian Chang knew that the She family was completely dead and would never rise again: She Wenzhuang still had a legacy plan in Huangpi. On the one hand, he did not want Beiyan to lose too miserably, so as to force Lin Fu to adopt more gentle methods and make She Wenzhuang more gentle.
It is possible that the remnants of the clan whose families stayed in northern Fujian could escape the blood-awakening purges; on the one hand, Shewenzhuang wanted to eliminate Ye Jiluorong's hatred for Sheyuan and Su Tingzhan who fled first with the Shicheng people, so that Sheyuan and the eight surnamed people could
After escaping to the north and escaping the bloody purge of Beiyan, Tian Chang had to consider his own future. Not to mention the hatred he had accumulated with Huaidong before, his troops participated in the Nanyang massacre, and his hands were full of blood. There was no way to survive.
Go back.
If Tian Chang wants to dispel Ye Jiluorong's suspicion and completely integrate into the newly attached Han army system, he can only do his best to attack Jingzhou; even if he uses up all his troops, Ye Jiluorong will still look at it.
He worked hard and achieved great results, so he fled north with him.
Ye Ji Luorong also had no intention of sacrificing Tian Chang and Zhou Fan's troops to alienate them. He deployed his 10,000 elite cavalry along the north bank of the river. On the one hand, he was to guard against the southern passage of the city. Hu Wenmu not only did not escape, but instead mobilized reinforcements from the river.
Entering the city; on the one hand, after Hu Wenmu retreated from Jingzhou, he used these 10,000 elite cavalry to rear...
Ye Jiluorong has experienced many storms and heavy rains in his life. Of course he knows that even if he wants to escape alone, he will not be able to escape. He must keep trustworthy soldiers and horses in the rear, and also reduce the worries of Zhou Fan, Tian Chang and other generals.
****************
Hu Wenmu stood on the remaining wall of the inner city of Jingzhou, watching Yanhu withdraw the troops and horses from the south of the city. Although Yanhu gave way to the south of the city to escape into the Yangtze River, the troops and horses gathered on the north side of the inner city were denser, and Hu Wenmu was filled with heart.
Bitterness: Should we hold on to the last soldier, or should we take advantage of the situation and withdraw?
These two choices are extremely difficult for Hu Wenmu, and he is unwilling to make them, but is there a third choice?
At dusk, after Yan Hu withdrew the soldiers and horses blocking the south of the city, Senior Hu, under the cover of dozens of guards, rushed into the remaining city of Jingzhou and joined his father Hu Wenmu. Obviously, Yan Hu would not pay attention to the small group of soldiers.
Landing into the city, more soldiers and horses want to land. The nearly ten miles from Jiang'an Pier to Nancheng will be a bloody death zone. The elite cavalry deployed by Yanhu on both wings are by no means a decoration.
Looking at his father with a thin face, a messy beard, and bloodshot eyes, as if his energy had been drained, Senior Hu was not excited about the impending victory.
"The fighting spirit of the Hu captives seems to be showing no sign of fading!" Senior Hu climbed onto the broken wall and looked at the Yan and Hu soldiers and horses who completely controlled the broken city in the north.
When you come in, you can foresee that the coming attack will be like a storm.
"The trapped beast is still fighting!" Hu Wenmu said softly, looking at the eldest son walking over. At this time, there was no joy at all about the victory and joining forces. In front of them, there was still a life and death test.
In order to capture the city of Jingzhou, the commander Ye Jiluorong concentrated almost all his elite soldiers and horses on the outskirts of Jingzhou. If they could be easily defeated, Ye Jiluorong and the elite Yanhu troops under his command would have gained a bad reputation over the years.
It's a name in vain.
Of the 30,000 defenders, far more than half were killed or injured while defending the city, and those who were defeated when the outer city was breached, divided, surrounded and forced to surrender to the enemy. At present, there are less than 8,000 people who retreated to the inner city with Hu Wenmu. Can they
There were less than 6,000 people who stood up and took up weapons to fight the enemy. Even if Hu Wenmu abandoned Jingzhou City and retreated to the river at this time, Hu Wenmu would have done well, but things would never be as simple as they seemed.
"When will the reinforcements from Huaidong arrive?" Hu Wenmu asked softly.
"Even if there are reinforcements, it will take four or five days at the earliest." Senior Hu said.
It is no longer possible for the Jinghu Army's tens of thousands of weak soldiers on the south bank to break through the blockade of the river bank by Yanhu soldiers and horses and send reinforcements to Jingzhou City. And Huaidong had to concentrate its troops and horses to break through the eastern Hubei defense line before that.
It is possible to divide troops to aid Jingzhou. After all, the overall strategy in Huaidong and whether Jingzhou can be defended will not have a decisive effect on the entire war situation.
Even if Lin Fu would consider sending reinforcements to Jingzhou when the overall situation on the eastern front was decided, it would still take four to five days to go upstream from the east of Huangpi for four to five hundred miles and the northwest wind was strong after winter.
In fact, Senior Hu saw no sign of Lin Fu sending reinforcements directly to Jingzhou in Jiangxia.
Hu Wenmu looked at the generals around him. After four or five days, how many of them would survive?
Hu Wenmu was not afraid that Lin Fu would catch him because of abandoning the city. He was not willing to accept it - victory was within easy reach. Who would be willing to face the final victory without help?
"Does Prime Minister Zuo have anything to say to you?" Hu Wenmu asked softly, his voice so soft that even he himself could not hear it.
"Prime Minister Zuo didn't say anything else. He just asked Zuo Lian to bring a note to the child..." Senior Hu said, taking out the note from his arms that Zuo Chengmu asked his son to hand over to him personally.
The note was crumpled, and I asked Senior Hu to keep it close to his chest for two days.
Two days ago, Mr. Hu was in Jiangxia. Zuo Chengmu sent his son Zuo Lian from Huangpi to cross the river to meet Mr. Hu. Mr. Hu galloped from Jiangxia to the south bank of Jingzhou, and finally had the opportunity to cross the river and enter Jingzhou City today. He sent this letter
Leave it to Hu Wenmu.
There are only a few numbers in the note: It is dangerous to go against the flow, so it is better to imitate Zhang Han.
Hu Wenmu let out a long sigh, expressing too much unwillingness and reluctance.
Of course, Senior Hu knew what Zuo Chengmu meant by these few numbers, and he watched his father make the decision nervously.
Hu Wenmu sighed bitterly again and looked at the armored generals beside him: "I'll stay in the rear, you guys prepare. After nightfall, you and the seniors will retreat to the river first. Be careful, don't let the horse lose its front hoof in the end..."
"Sir!" All the generals on the left and right were reluctant to persuade, "We have a great victory ahead of us, so we can't give up halfway!"
"We did not give up halfway. The generals guarded Jingzhou with me and contained the main force of the Hulu forces for twenty days, creating favorable conditions for the Privy Council to defeat the enemy's main force on the eastern front on the east bank of the Han River. These were all fought by the generals.
Come, you will definitely be able to share in the glory of Jingxiang’s victory,” Hu Wenmu said loudly, “Now, there is no need to fight these ferocious beasts and increase casualties.”
Senior Hu turned to look at the deepening dusk in the sky, suppressing the urge to shed tears. Perhaps this could make everyone happy:
If the Hu family was unwilling to give up their power after the war, then giving up Jingzhou at this time would be a stain on Huaidong's attack. Naturally, the victory of Jingxiang's victory had nothing to do with the generals of the Jinghu Army. Instead, they would have to worry about giving up their power.
Huaidong liquidation.
If the Hu family conformed to the general trend after the war and were willing to give up their power and give up their efforts to separate Jinghu, then the Jinghu Army had held on to Jingzhou for so long and successfully attracted the main force of the Yanhu Western Front and replaced the main force of the Huaidong Army in Jingzhou.
Annihilating the enemy on the eastern front created favorable conditions; temporarily abandoning Jingzhou City after completing the campaign objectives was just to avoid unnecessary casualties; what's more, in the past few days, the defenders themselves suffered more than 20,000 casualties, and they also annihilated the surrendered soldiers and the enemy.
There are as many as 30,000 to 40,000 soldiers...
As for the civilians in Jingzhou City, they had already suffered heavy casualties when the outer city of Jingzhou was captured. The success or failure of the inner city had nothing to do with the civilians.
History is always written by the victors.
This is what the few numbers on Zuo Chengmu's note mean.
Even though the Jinghu army was crippled like this, Hu Wenmu felt strongly unwilling to make up his mind to let go of the power in the separatist area.
Jingzhou's remnant army intends to withdraw, so Tian Chang will naturally not risk another attack - after all, adding one more wounded soldier will make it more difficult to retreat north.