(Little Zhengyi suffered from acute gastritis. He spent a long time in the hospital today and didn’t go home until after three o’clock to code. Today I will update a chapter with 5,000 words)
Early morning on the 23rd.
The wharf in the south of Jingzhou City was built by the Chu kings who patrolled the river during the Spring and Autumn Period. It has a history of 1,400 to 500 years and has been repaired for several generations. The several-mile-long docking shoreline is hidden in the early morning mist.
, like a swimming dragon.
At the upstream branch, the Jingshui River merges into the Yangtze River and passes between Yiling and Jingzhou. Going up the Jingshui River is the Jingshan Mountain that stretches thousands of miles between Jingzhou, Hanzhong and Xiangyang - Ye Ji Luorong rode his horse and hesitated on the east bank of the Jingshui River.
On top of the embankment, I looked around.
Not far to the north, there is a canal that diverts water from the Jing River to the north of Jingzhou City. Jingzhou Prefecture has complete water conservancy and irrigation, fertile fields, and is a land of fish and rice. Facing a large river, backed by dangerous mountains, and with fertile farmland capable of fighting, this was supposed to be a win-win situation.
After the war, the army was mobilized to control the floods, and the troops were stationed and expanded to prepare the good land for controlling the Yangtze and Huaihe Rivers.
Ye Jiluorong looked at this land lingeringly, thinking that he was about to abandon Jingzhou City and retreat to the north, and felt unwillingness in his heart that he could not suppress.
In the distance, on the water of the Yangtze River, there are more than a dozen platoon warships of the Jinghu navy looming in the mist. It seems that they are waiting on the river to withdraw their troops and then go ashore again to recapture the city of Jingzhou.
"Hu Wenmu simply gave up Jingzhou City. It seems that Huaidong did not put any pressure on him..." Hu Zongguo reined in the reins and looked at the warships on the river. There were not a few ships that picked up the remnants of the Jingzhou garrison led by Hu Wenmu to retreat from yesterday, but
Most of them are modified fishing boats, which are far less threatening than the Huaidong Shuiying warships.
Ye Ji Luorong nodded, Hu Zongguo's meaning was to speculate that Lin Fu might not have thought of sending elite troops ashore from Jingzhou to pursue their retreat.
Ye Ji Luorong would not think that Lin Fu's ambition would be limited to annihilating their troops on the east bank of the Han River. Since Lin Fu had no intention of landing from Jingzhou to pursue their retreat, one possibility was that Lin Fu had no time to detach his troops from Huangpi and go up the Yangtze River.
Above, another one is that Lin Fu believed that the Huaidong Shuiying warships could enter the Han River in time to intercept them halfway.
The road to retreat north was so long that Ye Jiluorong could not see clearly the fog covering the front for a while.
Because the change happened so quickly, Ye Jiluorong thought that Yanjing was still celebrating the upcoming victory in Jingzhou, right?
Thinking of this, Ye Ji Luorong felt even more desolate and bitter.
Even if the possibility of the main force of the Huaidong Army landing from Jingzhou to pursue their retreat is low, Jingzhou has to arrange rear troops.
Ye Ji Luorong's generals and deputy capital commander Pu Jieshi led eight thousand elite cavalry to guard the three cities of Jingzhou, Yiling and Changlin to cover the retreat of the troops retreating from the north. At the same time, Ye Ji Luorong's generals led more than 6,000 elite cavalry.
The severely disabled and injured soldiers were thrown to Pu Jieshi, who wanted to use them to defend Jingzhou City in the end and abandon them in Jingzhou City when the rear cavalry retreated.
Instead of evacuating from Jingzhou City to the river bank eight or nine miles away, there are more than 400 miles from Jingzhou all the way north to Xiangyang. If 100,000 soldiers and horses are withdrawn north, these 6,000-odd people will not be able to move with them, and more people will be needed to take care of them.
The seriously disabled soldier was probably going to be slowed down by half as he headed north.
A part of the cavalry was at the rear, but there were also 20,000 cavalry who had retreated towards Xiangyang last night.
Mainly because the cavalry can retreat north quickly and can reach Xiangyang in three days. On the other hand, Chen Zhihu, who is about to enter Nanyang, needs more elite cavalry to deter the Huaidong Army entering Fancheng to avoid Danjiangkou and Wuguan.
The flank of the river was penetrated prematurely by the main force of the Huaidong Army.
Next came the retreat of Zhou Fan, Tian Chang and Han Li's infantry.
If you want to avoid retreating into a rout, you must not retreat too fast; you must even consciously slow down the speed of retreating to the north, stopping from time to time to use Jingmen, Nanzhang, Zhongyi and other cities to pass through and reorganize, instead of tens of thousands
People ran towards Xiangyang in confusion.
The defense line in eastern Hubei collapsed in the blink of an eye. Hundreds of thousands of soldiers and horses were defeated, leaving the Huaidong Army to take advantage of the situation and kill them without any resistance. Ye Jiluorong had been fighting for more than 30 years and was no stranger to this situation, but
He has always led his troops to cover up and defeat the enemy, and he has never allowed anyone else to cover up the enemy.
It was precisely because he knew the horror of the defeat, and because he did not want less than eleven of the 100,000 troops on the west bank to flee to Guanzhong, and did not want the retreat to turn into a rout, that Ye Ji Luorong decided to capture Jingzhou City to protect the safety of his retreat.
Make the retreat calm and orderly, so as not to let the elite Huaidong Army run away behind.
To capture Jingzhou City, if the Huaidong Army wants to land on a large scale from the outside of Jingzhou City, it cannot be accomplished in three to five days; at least before the Huaidong Water Camp can enter the Han River, the Han River can still provide their flanks with
Safe enough protection.
As for Hu Wenmu leading the six to seven thousand remnant troops to withdraw from Jingzhou City, Ye Ji Luorong would not care. After all, his top priority at this time is to enable the one hundred thousand troops on the west bank to evacuate to Guanzhong smoothly and preserve the
The strength of the soldiers and horses on the Western Front will not be annihilated by the main force of the Huaidong Army, but nothing else.
It would be good if we could capture Jingzhou City to cover our retreat; even if we annihilate the six to seven thousand remnants of Hu Wenmu's army, for Ye Ji Luorong, it would only mean that his own side would suffer thousands of casualties at the same time, so what good would it do?
The retreat will not be urgent, and it is useless to rush to Xiangyang earlier. Xiangyang has not yet prepared enough ships to cross the river with so many troops and horses in a short time.
The good news is that Su Tingzhan accepted the appointment as the guard general of Baiyang Pass in the north of Shicheng, which means that Su Tingzhan can intercept Yang Xiong's troops who fled north, which means that Su Tingzhan and Yang Xiong have three to four hundred ships.
Ships can be used to withdraw the army to the north, but these three to four hundred ships cannot reach Xiangyang and Danjiangkou against the current in three to five days...
In addition, Meng Anchan also contacted, but after Su Tingzhan withdrew from Shicheng, heading north from Shicheng, although there were still suitable places to climb the city on the east bank of the Han River, time did not allow Meng Anchan to lead his troops to cross the river directly.
Go to the west bank of Han River.
There is no ready-made wharf. It is extremely unrealistic for most of the 20,000 cavalry to withdraw to the west bank of the Han River before Huaidong is attacked by troops from the south and north. Ye Ji Luorong can only order Meng Anchan to take advantage of Huaidong in the north.
Before the troops and horses on the front line could complete the complete blockade between Fancheng and Zaoyang, they could break through and enter the new wilderness.
If Meng Anchan's 20,000 cavalrymen could break out of the encirclement and enter Nanyang to join Chen Zhihu, the entire situation would be much more optimistic.
Thinking of this, Ye Jiluorong's heart also tightened secretly. He never believed in fate, so he also hoped that Meng Anchan could cross Zaoyang first.
By this time, Ye Jiluorong had almost figured out the development of the situation on the east bank of the Han River:
The main force of the Huaidong Army on the southern front had only pursued as far as Panpo (today's Jingshan County), and was planning to encircle and annihilate the nearly 100,000 infantrymen of Beiyan who had evacuated from Huangpi and Han River.
Except for Meng Anchan's cavalry, which was very fast, Northern Yan's soldiers and horses in Huangpi had long since escaped to the vicinity of Shicheng. Almost all other defeated soldiers and horses were intercepted at the southern foot of Dahong Mountain.
One hundred thousand infantry, even one hundred thousand dogs, would pounce and bite a few times after being surrounded, but the one hundred thousand scattered, panic-stricken defeated soldiers seemed like crops waiting for the Huaidong Army to rush to harvest.
The only thing that made Ye Ji Luorong feel better was that near Panpo, the 100,000 defeated soldiers at the southern foot of Dahong Mountain could delay the main force of the Huaidong Army's southern front for at least three or four days.
To the east of Panpo, Xiaochang, located between Dahong Mountain and Shuangfeng Mountain, was called Zhongrong. Wang Xianer abandoned it and fled north. Chizhou Army Commander Deng Yu led his troops to occupy Xiaochang, and actually blocked the southern foot of Dahong Mountain.
An escape route to the northeast.
The Huaidong Army on the northern front has no intention of encircling and annihilating Luo Xiancheng, Zhong Rong and other troops for the time being. Instead, its troops are rapidly advancing westward, hoping to block the gap between Fancheng and Zaoyang.
Luo Xiancheng had 50,000 soldiers and horses in Huaishan Mountain. After Zhong Rong and Wang Xianer fled north, they would bring more than 10,000 direct soldiers and horses with them, but most of them were scattered in the defense villages at the northern foot of Huaishan Mountain. Luo Xiancheng met Zhong Rong at Lishan Mountain.
Wang Xian'er will have 30,000 troops and horses at his disposal, but based on Ye Jiluorong and Hu Zongguo's understanding of him, he believes that he has no courage to recapture Suizhou City.
Even though Luo Xianyi was still in the inner city of Suizhou, the situation on the eastern front had completely collapsed. It would have taken a lot of courage from Luo Xiancheng before he dared to take the risk of sending reinforcements to the encirclement point to recapture the city of Suizhou.
And it was impossible for Luo Xiancheng to escape north through the Huaishan Mountains; even if Dong Yuan had not assembled 70,000 to 80,000 troops south of Xinyang and more than 10,000 elite troops from Huaidong Fengli Army, the mighty Huai River lying across the middle of Xinyang would not have been possible.
Luo Xiancheng, who didn't have a ship in the boat, could cross it - Ye Ji Luorong thought to himself that the special envoy he sent to Lishan to meet Luo Xiancheng, if everything goes well, would arrive at Luo Xiancheng's Lishan camp before noon tomorrow...
Ye Jiluorong reined up his horse and walked north, looking back at the Yangtze River reluctantly, and said to Hu Zongguo: "One day, we will drink from the Yangtze River again..."
After listening to Ye Jiluorong's heroic words, Hu Zongguo smiled, and felt that his smile looked so desolate in the morning mist. He pulled the horse's head, looked back at the roaring Yangtze River, and thought: Is there really a chance to drink from the Yangtze River again?
?
****************
On the afternoon of the 23rd, at the northern foot of Dahong Mountain, a strong wind blew from the mountain pass to the north, blowing away rocks and sand.
Luo Wenhu was riding on horseback, going against the wind, covering his mouth and nose with a cloth. The horse was breathing white air in the cold wind. There was a ridge across the front of his eyes, extending from south to north for twenty or thirty miles.
There are hills and mountains everywhere in Jingxiang. Without the help of local people as guides, Luo Wenhu, who often traveled between Jingxiang and Jingxiang in his early years, would not be able to recognize the mountain in front of him. However, Cao Peng had detailed maps along the way to compare.
He stopped his horse, pointed to the ridge in front, and said to Luo Wenhu: "This is Queyu Ridge, and Heishigou is in front. Liu Zhenzhi's army has engaged the defeated enemy at Longzui Mountain, and he is worried that the defeated enemy will come from Queyu Ridge.
Escape north along the valley road between Heishigou. Liu Zhenzhi will ask us to climb over Queshi Ridge before nightfall and guard the valley road between Heishigou. We will stop to rest for a while and send scout horses to explore the road south...
"
It has been two days since the main force of the Huaidong Army in Huangzhou launched a general attack on the Baita River defense line. The enemy cavalry who first fled north from the Huangpi and Xiaonan lines have entered the northern foot of Dahong Mountain.
Liu Zhenzhi, who was ordered to enter the south of Zaoyang and the northern foot of Dahong Mountain to intercept, marched westward to the bank of the Han River as early as the afternoon and engaged with more than a thousand defeated cavalry who had fled first.
Nearly 20,000 enemy cavalry from Huangpi and Hanjin fled north late at night on the 21st. However, south of Huangpi, the main force of the Huaidong Army, which was mainly infantry, was unable to pursue them. As Su Tingzhan led his troops to flee from Shicheng first,
This enemy cavalry passed through Shicheng yesterday afternoon but did not enter, and continued to flee north. It will probably pass through the northwest foot of Dahong Mountain on a large scale after tonight.
Because Chen Zhihu's general Gao Yi gathered his troops in Xinye to peek between Fancheng and Zaoyang, Sun Zhuang could not directly deploy his troops in Fancheng to block the gap of more than a hundred miles wide between Fancheng and Zaoyang.
Once Liu Zhenzhi was unable to intercept and route the enemy at the northwest foot of Dahong Mountain, he would have a large number of routed enemies flee to Xinye through the gap between Fancheng and Zaoyang.
The other enemy soldiers on the east bank of the Han River can be postponed for a while, but the 20,000 enemy cavalry fleeing north are cavalry directly descended from Yan and Hu. What's more, they have horse resources that are extremely scarce in Huaidong. How can they be allowed to escape easily?
Cao Peng suggested to stop and rest first before climbing over Quegui Ridge and entering the preliminary blocking position. Luo Wenhu looked back and saw that the loose team made him feel ashamed.
The four brigades led by Liu Zhenzhi set out from Luodian east of Suizhou at about the same time as them, but after two days and two nights of running down, not only were the four main brigades of the Third Town Division of the Chongcheng Army more than they had traveled, they had traveled more than fifty miles.
On the ground, they rushed into the interception position ahead of them and annihilated more than a thousand enemy cavalry who had fled first.
The 20,000 enemy cavalry who fled north from Huangpi belonged to Yanxi General Meng Anchan. When the Huaidong Army launched a general offensive, his troops were located behind the Huangpi defense line and broke away from the camp first to flee north.
When Meng Anchan's troops first fled from Huangpi, they were panicked and scattered. However, relying on the speed of their horses, they quickly distanced themselves from the main force of the Huaidong Army that was chasing behind them. After passing Shicheng, the cavalry had another force.
Signs of shrinking and reorganizing formation.
Although Liu Zhenzhi led his troops to annihilate more than a thousand defeated enemies in the encounter, it also alerted the large-scale enemy cavalry coming from behind. This means that the intercepting troops entering the northern foot of Dahong Mountain will usher in Yan and Hu fleeing north.
A strong cavalry attack, rather than a simple rout of cavalry crossing the border.
Luo Wenhu looked at the loose team behind him, and his confidence became low again.
At this moment, there was a rapid sound of horse hoofbeats. I reined in my horse and listened quietly. The sound of horse hoofbeats came from the north slope like a sudden rain. Soon there was a curtain of dust from a large group of horses behind the woods...
Luo Wenhu and Cao Bao were shocked. If the cavalry sent by Sun Zhuang came to join them, they would definitely send liaison officers first and would not approach rashly. If the enemy cavalry suddenly came from behind, how could the loose team of 3,000 people behind them do anything?
Can it withstand the attack of the cavalry?
Luo Wenhu hit the horse and ran back, shouting: "Zhou Gou Sheng, Zhou Gou Sheng!"
Zhou Sheng came over on horseback, Luo Wen pointed his tiger whip to the north and said: "You lead people to block that gap. If you can't block it for half an hour, I will chop off your head..."
On the north side is a mountain pass, which is a large gap through which enemy cavalry can rush directly. Blocking it can buy some time for the three thousand soldiers and horses behind them to shrink and form a formation. The infantry formation is united with guns and crossbows, so it is not afraid of being attacked at all.
The cavalry's attack should be relaxed, and the cavalry should be allowed to rush in. They will disperse as soon as they charge, and collapse as soon as they charge. The key now is to buy enough time.
Luo Wenhu reacted so quickly, and indeed he had some generals, but it was hard to say whether the soldiers under his command were up to the task.
Cao Peng and Luo Wenhu said: "I and Zhou Sheng will go over; you will form a defensive formation with spears and spears behind us..." With more than thirty Huaidong elites who had been incorporated into Luo Wenhu's command, they and Zhou Sheng
More than a hundred soldiers under his command rushed towards the mountain pass on the north side to block the gap.
Blocking the gap on the north side when the enemy's cavalry is approaching is bound to be in danger of death. Cao Peng was appointed by Cao Ziang to serve as Luo Wenhu's deputy commander and joined the army. He was also a middle-level general at the level of deputy brigade general - seeing Cao Peng risking his own life and personally
Leading people to plug the gap, Luo Wenhu sighed in his heart: Who can defeat such Huaidong Army?
Luo Wenhu didn't care to think too much. He rode his horse back and forth, whipped the panicked soldiers, and loudly conveyed orders. He tried his best to gather the long and loose team of 3,000 people to the steep slope of the right wing as quickly as possible.
Only with tight defensive footwork and relying on the steep slope on the right wing can the enemy's cavalry attack be broken...
Just as Luo Wenhu raised his heart to his throat, the sound of horse hoofbeats suddenly stopped outside the woods on the north slope. After a while, he saw Cao Peng, Zhou Sheng and others returning from the pass of the mountain. They were surrounded by people.
Two people.
"Clear the alarm, it's reinforcements..." Cao Peng ordered along the way to clear the enemy police.
Luo Wenhu was furious, what reinforcements dared to make such a joke?
"Luo Xiucai, your ability to lead troops in battle has not improved much. Grandpa rushed over with his cavalry. Before you could get your defense together, it was more than enough to knock you over twice!" said a black man next to Cao Peng.
The face knight laughed at Luo Wenhu mercilessly.
Luo Wenhu squinted his eyes and saw that the two people next to Cao Peng looked familiar, and couldn't remember who it was for a moment.
"Luo Xiucai doesn't recognize his old friend?" Chen Daozi reined in Sun Zhuang and laughed.
"Sun Ganzi? Sun Ganzi, why did you shave off your beard?" Luo Wenhu recognized Sun Zhuang at this time. In the early years, the refugee armies joined forces in Fanling. Luo Wenhu was also highly employed by Luo Xiancheng at that time, and he and other important generals of the refugee army were all
We are very familiar. I didn't expect to meet again on such an occasion after seven or eight years of separation.
"Don't you blame me for scaring you?" Sun Zhuang jumped off his horse, looked at Luo Wenhu, and asked.
Sun Zhuang was a senior general at the level of deputy commander in the Huaidong Army. His rank as cavalry commander was only lower than that of Zhou Pu. He came with his cavalry to help him, intending to scare him. Luo Wenhu really had no place to redress his grievances.
Compared with the resentment just now, Luo Wenhu felt more ashamed at this time: just as Chen Daozi said, if Sun Zhuang really wanted to lead his cavalry to charge forward, the defensive formation of three thousand soldiers and horses behind him would really be unable to withstand it. It has been quite a long time.
When they met in Fangling, he and Sun Zhuang were about the same status. He even felt that Sun Zhuang was brave but did not know much about soldiers. Who would have thought that Sun Zhuang led 5,000 light cavalry on Baihetan outside Fancheng three days ago?
Annihilating more than 10,000 elite enemy soldiers? When will he achieve such a glorious achievement?
"Why did Mr. Ganzi come here in person? Why didn't he join Liu Zhijun when he came?" Cao Peng asked Sun Zhuang before he had time to ask him more details.
"Fancheng has Huang Zuyu in charge of defense, Zhou Bin, and Tang Xitai to help him. If I don't come out, how can I get a chance to fight?" Sun Zhuang said, "I won't see Liu Zhenzhi. I'm with him and I'm the commander.
Him, or is he commanding me? Liu Zhenzhi said that your side is weak, and he is also worried that the opening to the west of Quebi Ridge is a bit big, so I will come and work with you to intercept and defeat the enemy. You will not disobey my arrangements, right?"