After entering May, the refugee troops dispersed in separate groups and spread across the land of Huaisi.
Along the way, Geping Tianyi's army was mainly stationed in Jining to guard against enemies in the north and northwest. This route had the largest number of soldiers and horses, but few elite troops were available.
Liu An'er also prepared an elite army in Weishan County, north of Xuzhou, in case Ge Ping could not withstand the attack of the Liang family's troops from the north. He also had to be prepared to be prepared for Cao Yiqu to suddenly send troops along the river and Bian to attack their flanks.
Along the way, the three troops of Chen and Han were mainly stationed in Yancheng County and the Fenghe Dazhai south of Shuyang City. In addition to surrounding the defenders of Shuyang and cutting off the communication between Xu and Yi to the south, the most important thing was to guard against the enemy in Huaidong.
Liu An'er still had more than 30,000 troops stationed in Hao and Si in Huaixi, and invited Gong Yucai to enter Shouchun to contain the enemies of Dongyang and Luzhou.
Liu An'er personally led his elite troops and his sister Liu Miaozhen's elite troops, a total of more than 100,000 people to besiege Xuzhou.
Since the army was raised in Hongzepu, hundreds of thousands of soldiers have fought all over the world, attacking cities and plundering hundreds of places, which has frightened officials and generals everywhere. However, in the past two years, hundreds of thousands of soldiers have been hungry and their horses are thin, and the government has slowed down a bit.
, Liu An'er felt that he was being restrained everywhere, and there were many soldiers and horses, but he could not deploy them. He repeatedly worried about food and grass.
If you think about it carefully, it's still because there is no solid foundation.
Xuzhou was called Pengcheng in ancient times. It could be defended against enemies from Henan and Shandong. It controlled the fertile land of Huaisi in the south and managed it, which could support hundreds of thousands of soldiers.
In addition to its beautiful scenery, Xuzhou also produces coal and iron. Mining coal and smelting iron can also strengthen the army.
Liu An'er was determined to capture Xuzhou as his foundation this time, and he also promised his generals that he would capture Xuzhou and divide the houses and land among them.
Except for Bianshui River and Si River flowing through Xuzhou, Xuzhou belongs to the Huanghuai Plain, which is also an extension of the southern part of Shandong Province.
The territory is undulating with hills and mountains.
There are Guangshan Mountain and Zifang Mountain in the east, Yunlong Mountain and Fenghuang Mountain in the south, Luliang Mountain in the southeast, Quan Mountain in the southwest, Jiuli Mountain in the northwest, Tongshan Mountain, Jingshan Mountain, Guishan Mountain, etc. in the northeast.
Although these hills are not high, ranging from 30 to 40 feet to more than 100 feet, standing on the Huanghuai Plain, they are obviously very prominent and have become a natural barrier to defend Xuzhou.
The refugee army besieged Xuzhou, first crossed the Bianshui River and the Sishui River, and successively uprooted the surrounding mountain fortresses.
When the Changhuai Army was sealed in the city, the surrounding hills and mountains became natural trenches for the refugee army to besiege Xuzhou.
The refugee army stationed troops on the hills, and then drove tens of thousands of civilians to set up camps and fences between the hills, dig trenches and walls, forming layers of siege barriers. A single gap came out in the northeast of Xuzhou City.
Liu An'er is not playing the strategy of "surrounding three buildings and weakening the will of the defenders".
Since Yue Lengqiu led the Huai army to the north to suppress the bandits, although there has been no serious battle, the accumulation of small numbers has greatly weakened the troops and horses. They have to divide their troops to guard Linyi and Shuyang. Finally, the Chang Huai army retreated from Xuzhou and increased its troops.
The local garrison in Xuzhou totaled less than 20,000 people.
Liu An'er came with more than 100,000 elite troops, intending to annihilate the Changhuai Army once again. The Changhuai Army was completely destroyed, and there would be no soldiers and horses between the Jianghuai and Huaihe Rivers that could compete with them. As long as they blocked the invading enemies from the north and northwest, they could
I have a few years to run Huaisi calmly.
Liu An'er deliberately left a gap in the northeast of Xuzhou City because in the northeast direction, where the Surabaya River flows, rocks stir up the water, the waves are rough, and the terrain dives into Xuzhou City. As long as the Yanshan Dike there is opened, the Surabaya River will flow from Jingshan Mountain
The mouth between Guishan and Guishan flows directly into Xuzhou City.
In addition to building barriers and releasing water to irrigate the city, Liu An'er also built a high platform on the slope between Nancheng and Phoenix Mountain.
Xuzhou City is four feet high and more than four feet thick. It is built with stone foundations, rammed earth slabs, and a city wall. It is extremely strong. The city moats were filled in and the Si River was diverted to irrigate the city. For nearly a month, no signs of damage to the city walls were seen.
Possibility of collapse.
Yue Lengqiu had no shortage of garrison troops in the city, and the refugee army attached ladders and ants to the city wall to no avail. Although it was time-consuming and laborious to build a high platform with earth and stone, it was simple and effective. The earth and stone were built under the base of the city wall, so that it was the same height as the city wall, or even higher than the city wall.
High, you can build a cloud bridge and rush up to the city head, which is much sharper than attacking from below. And your own archers, stone crossbows, and bed crossbows can also be placed on high rocks to suppress the city head and the defenders at the city head.
Assisting in siege, all have miraculous effects.
If there are any disadvantages to building a high platform for siege, it is that it is time-consuming and labor-intensive and is not conducive to a quick attack.
As a civil servant and leader of the army, Yue Lengqiu was famous for his good defense.
Five years ago, after the frontier army was defeated at Chentangyi, they were routed thousands of miles away.
At that time, Yue Lengqiu watched over the border as a doctor of the Ministry of War. When the border army was defeated, he led more than 10,000 remaining soldiers to guard Heihe, and later retreated to Linyu to organize the Yanshan defense line.
Liu An'er led his troops to abscond back to Sizhou at that time. He was familiar with the Liang family and his son, but had never met Yue Lengqiu. However, in the past six months, he had fought with Yue Lengqiu on both sides of the Ying River for more than half a year, and he had figured out his secrets.
Because of his habit, he adopted the water-milling technique to attack Xuzhou.
Liu An'er only lacked food, and most importantly, she lacked people.
In addition to the 200,000 soldiers and horses, there are also hundreds of thousands of military and family members who can be used as laborers. It does not take much time to build several high mountains close to the city wall from the east and south of Xuzhou City.
The refugee army built a high platform to attack the city, and built a high wall close to the city wall to defeat it. The offensive and defensive changes at the top of the city have changed in recent months, but the refugee army has not been able to attack the city.
What troubled Yue Lengqiu the most was the flood that poured into the city from the northeast corner, submerging more than two-thirds of the city.
Nowadays, only the northwest corner of the city, which is on a slightly higher ground, has not been flooded. Hundreds of thousands of soldiers and civilians, as well as refugees, are crowded there. Even the people from the Chu Palace can only squeeze into a small courtyard the size of three square meters.
Yue Lengqiu and other soldiers built causeways in the water to connect the four cities as a way for soldiers and horses to advance and retreat.
It was early June, and sometimes there were heavy rains. Although the heavy rain could force the refugee army attacking the city to retreat temporarily, the city was flooded more, and the northwest slope of the city became more and more crowded.
There are also many civilians who cannot retreat to the northwest slope, so they climb houses and trees in the flooded area. They have no place to light a fire, so they chew uncooked rice. However, their feces are drained into the drainage, and they die of starvation or drowning, and their bodies are also floating on the water.
, no one buried it.
The weather is hot, mosquitoes and flies breed, and varmints spread uncontrollably.
In the summer and autumn rainy seasons, the water will only get bigger, not smaller. The city will be flooded and will not recede. If the food runs out or the bandits invade the city, if the disease spreads, Xuzhou City will become a dead city.
Under the current situation, Xuzhou cannot wait for the water to recede in less than two months.
Standing at the top of the city, the rain was pouring down, and the raindrops could not stop the rainwater from pouring into his armor. He looked at the endless tents of the bandits and was determined to die. He knew the habits of the Liang family and his son, and he had made enough capital by capturing Jinan.
, it is impossible to easily go south and fight against Liu An'er.
Liu An'er was born in the frontier army and was punished by being exiled. In two or three years, he accumulated merits and became a general. In addition to being brave and daring to fight, he was also good at military affairs. In the frontier army, he was the most important person of Changxiang Marquis Liang Chengchong and served as the forward battalion of Liang Chengchong's troops.
Commander.
He is worthy of being the commander of the vanguard battalion. He will not be used unless he is a close confidant and will not be used unless he is capable of fighting.
The Liang family's father and son were unable to retreat in Jinan, and Yue Lengqiu suspected that they were secretly involved in something dirty with Liu An'er.
No wonder Yue Lengqiu had such doubts: Xuzhou city was destroyed, the Changhuai army was destroyed, Jianghuai fell, the She family marched into northern Zhejiang, and Beijing could not get enough food and salary from Jianghuai and Zhejiang, what would it use to support the frontier army? If the frontier army gave
If it is weakened again, it may be possible to barely maintain the Yanbei defense line, but no one can stop the Liang family from separatizing Shandong and Zhongzhou.
"Rebellious ministers and traitors will be punished by everyone!" Yue Lengqiu stood at the top of the city, cursing in his heart, but he forgot that when he went north to King Qin, he also sat on the wall and watched, letting Lu Jingyan, and King Yuan Jiancheng of Lu trapped Jinan until the city was broken.
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Yue Lengqiu had not considered breaking out of the encirclement. In addition to the opening from the northeast for irrigation, there was also an unsealed opening in the southeast. From there, one could go to Linyi.
But Yue Lengqiu knew that it was a tempting trap left by Liu An'er. They could not see the situation behind Luliang Mountain in the southeast at all from the city, but he knew that Liu An'er only needed to set up an ambush all the way behind Luliang Mountain, and when they broke through to the
A fatal blow can be struck when you are on the banks of the Surabaya River.
Even though he knew Liu An'er had a trap, but being trapped in the city meant death, the gap became extra tempting.
Yue Lengqiu weighed the advantages and disadvantages in his mind. When weighing the possibility of breaking out of the encirclement, he still had some chance of winning by seizing the bandit's stronghold on Luliang Mountain.
Correcting the refugees to rebel usually does not happen. But Liu An'er was well prepared. He had been dormant for nearly two years and gathered the forces of the 21 villages in Hongzepu, with three to five thousand elites.
After the uprising, Liu An'er quickly occupied Sizhou, Shiliang, Wuhe and other cities to the west of Hongzepu, obtained sufficient supplies, expanded his army to tens of thousands, and faced off with Zuo Shangrong who was guarding Haozhou for half a year.
Chen Hansan defected, and Liu An'er quickly sent troops to attack Haozhou. At first glance, Chen Hansan's rebellion was the key to Zuo Shangrong's defeat in Haozhou, but this was not the case.
When Chen Hansan rebelled, he only had 2,000 elite soldiers in his hands and threatened 3,000 to 4,000 people. Zuo Shangrong had more than 20,000 capable soldiers in Haozhou. If it weren't for Liu An'er's considerable number of elite soldiers at that time, Chen Hansan would have been defeated.
The rebellion could not have caused Zuo Shangrong to be defeated and killed in Haozhou.
After annihilating the Chang Huai Army, Liu An'er was one of the most notorious soldiers. He captured a large amount of soldiers and armor supplies, which made his troops more powerful.
Liu An'er abandoned Haozhou and marched into the Huai army. He joined forces with the invaders and moved to Nanyang and Hanzhong. At its peak, the number of troops was more than 400,000. He moved to Wuchuan and marched into Qin and Shaanxi, but it was unfavorable. He retreated from Wuchuan to Hanzhong, then went to Nanyang, moved to central Henan, and marched to Huaisi.
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The advance into Qin and Shaanxi was unfavorable, and Liu An'er did not suffer any serious losses, but his troops were reduced to 200,000. It can be seen that he stayed in Nanyang for several months to organize his troops.
If the opening in Luliang Mountain was a trap set by Liu An'er, based on the judgment of the strength of the bandits, Yue Lengqiu really didn't have much confidence in storming Luliang Mountain during the breakout, unless Lin Fu led an elite force and happened to appear in Luliang Mountain at the right time.
The back side cooperates with this side to break through...