(Third update, just to make up for the previous missing updates)
Lin Fu rode overland and arrived at Shanyang County at dawn. However, the Jinhai and other ships departed from Shukou Camp at about the same time yesterday. It was not until the morning sun rose over the treetops that they arrived at the ferry north of Shanyang City to pick up Lin Fu.
Board the ship.
Lin Fu boarded the boat and went to the north bank to observe the terrain of Sikou. Several hundred light-armored cavalry took the official road and went to the ferry on the south bank of Sikou to cross the Huaihe River by boat.
The fleet was still three or four miles away from the north bank, when seven or eight paddle boats came out from the reed marsh at the mouth of the river to intercept them.
The branch of the river from Si River to Huai is seventeen or eight miles wide. Except for the three or four miles of waterway in the middle, the rest is almost covered by reed marshes. Standing on the bow of the boat, Lin Fu could not see the end of the reed marshes for a while. Although it was smaller than that of Qingjiangpu,
The reed swamp is smaller in scale, but it also forms a natural barrier to protect the warships of the refugee army.
The seven or eight boats were narrow and slender, and each boat was manned by six people, as fast as a shuttle. In addition to the oarsmen, there were more than twenty soldiers of the refugee army standing on the boat, shirtless and bare-chested, holding swords and shields.
Even before the boat came close, you could see the murderous intent in their eyes.
Many of Liu An'er's men were water bandits. They were fishermen and were good at boating and water warfare. After moving to Hanzhong, the refugee army once gave up all the warships in their hands. Most of the warships they have now were requisitioned.
Civilian ships were renovated.
The Jinhai was Lin Fu's ship and would not easily engage the enemy. In the escort fleet, two Jiyun-class warships, two loach ships, and four stern warships broke through the waves and stepped forward to resist the enemy.
Jiyun-class warships rely on sails and masts when traveling long distances, but there are sixteen large oars on the ship for engaging in battles. Four people work together to operate one large oar. In a short period of time, going backwards can be faster than going with the wind and the current.
The difference between the hulls of the ships was huge, and the warships of the refugee army did not have a numerical advantage. Before the Jiyun-class warships could exert their force, the two loach boats used their oars to meet them, and rushed into the eight fusiform warships of the refugee army.
Rampant like wolves among sheep.
Taking advantage of the ship's shape, it knocked over two enemy ships in a short time.
The remaining six fusiform warships saw that something was wrong, so they did not rush to pick up the man who fell into the water, so they turned around and fled into the reed marshes.
"They want to lure us into chasing into the reed marsh!" Ge Cunxiong stood beside Lin Fu, staring at the small-scale contact battle. Seeing that the refugee army warships dived into the reed marshes after a slight defeat, he ordered the warships to be restrained.
They were not allowed to enter the reed marsh to pursue. He pointed to the reed marsh on one side and said to Lin Fu, "In those days on the Huai River, small boats could not defeat the government's big ships, so they lured them into the reed marsh and lured them into shallow water.
Stranded in a narrow water, killing like this is so random, I didn’t expect that someone would use this method to deal with me today..."
Speaking of which, the first group of people who followed Liu An'er to raise the flag in rebellion were fishermen and boatmen who resisted donations and taxes. In their early years, the Gurdjieff brothers also led the fishermen who resisted donations and taxes to fight against the government. They left their hometown and went to sea when they had no other choice.
The reed marsh is difficult to deal with, but the size of the reed marsh at the mouth of the river branch cannot be compared with that of Qingjiangpu. If the boat goes upstream and pours enough lamp oil along the current, it can take advantage of the best wind. The reeds in a radius of more than ten miles
Although it is still tender and green, it can be burned to the ground very quickly.
Lamp oil was not cheap at the time, comparable to the price of meat. It would take hundreds of barrels of oil to burn this reed swamp.
Although the Jiangdong Left Army had some foundation, it could not withstand the outpost battle and squandered it like this.
If the refugee army came out to harass, they would send a boat to reject it, but they would not pursue the refugee army hiding in the reed marsh. Lin Fu looked at the terrain near Sikou and had no intention of attacking the small army hiding in the reed marsh.
The civilian army flowed down the river and rushed to Shukou.
At dusk, when he saw the newly recruited reinforcements of more than ten thousand crossing the Huaihe River setting up camp on the official road to Shanyang, Lin Fu was confused and sent people ashore to summon Xiao Kui'an and Ma Rulong to board the ship.
Although the envoys appointed by Jingkou were temporary dispatches, Lin Fu had control over the local military.
Although Lin Fu was indifferent to Liu Tingzhou's recruitment of volunteers to form a new army in Huai'an City, Liu Tingzhou had to inform Lin Fu of the entire process in writing. Lin Fu knew that the reinforcements crossing the Huaihe River were led by Xiao Kui'an as the main general and Ma Rulong as the deputy general.
Lin Fu called out to Xiao Kui'an and Ma Rulong, who couldn't escape and had to get on the boat to be questioned.
"Looking at today's weather, there will be stars and moon illuminating the road. You are traveling along the official road, and there are no enemies on the north bank that need to be alerted. It is only more than thirty miles away from Shanyang. Why did you stop and camp midway?
Lin Fu frowned and looked at Xiao Kui'an and Ma Rulong, "Wouldn't it be better to rush to Shanyang overnight?"
"It's not that we deliberately delayed, but these new recruits were careless and took Anjia's silver and ran away. We were traveling at night and there was no way to take precautions. Mr. Liu had no choice but to order us to rush against the bright sun..." Xiao Kui'an replied.
Before they even left Huai'an, the new soldiers were already having the problem of escaping. What's more, the time was so short and it was impossible to detect the details of the refugee army sneaking in. This was really worrying.
Lin Fu saw Xiao Kui'an off, and Ma Rulong went ashore and continued eastbound. The fleet followed the current, traveling very fast, and arrived at Shukou Camp before it was completely dark.
Compared with the delay and chaos of the reinforcements crossing the Huaihe River, Zhao Hu and his six thousand new soldiers had all crossed the Huaihe River before dusk and stationed themselves at Shukou Camp on the north bank.
Shukou Yingzhai is also at the east end of Shanyang Bay, where the Shushui River merges into the Huai River.
Lin Fu had firmly taken control of this place more than two months ago. The Shukou camp built on the north bank was impregnable. In addition to the regular dry camp, there was also a water camp, and a ferry was built on the south bank to facilitate the transportation of soldiers and horses.
Capital.
After Lin Fu landed, he didn't delay. He took Qin Chengzu, Ning Zechen and others who were greeted at the ferry, and went directly to the command shed. As he walked, he said: "If you have anything to eat, cold noodles, porridge, etc., bring them to you."
Let's bring these up and discuss things while we eat. Starting from tomorrow, the new soldiers of the Guards Battalion will be taken in turns to fight, and we will comprehensively strengthen contact operations with the enemy. Within two to three days, we will defeat the scouts under Chen Hansan.
All compressed back to the narrow bridge..."
"This is not easy," Qin Chengzu said. He approached the command shed, pulled out the map and spread it on the wooden table, pointing to a point more than 20 miles north of the Shukou camp. "Chen Hansan was at the river-sealing camp at Zhaiqiao.
There are 15,000 elite troops stationed, 2,000 of which are cavalry who have been with Chen Hansan for a long time. The number of cavalry is much higher than ours. Today, the guard camp was crossing the river, and there was a lot of movement. Chen Hansan sent to scout out the alert tourists.
The number of cavalry has increased greatly, with almost three to four hundred cavalry." He also pointed out several points around the Shukou camp, "We have to send infantry to set up camp here, here, and here to restrain Chen Hansan.
The activities of the Ministry of Cycling..."
"If we launch a strong attack on Chen Hansan's river-sealing camp at Zhaiqiao, how will Chen Hansan react?" Lin Fu asked.
Ning Zechen said: "Crossing the Huai River to aid Xu, if our main attack direction is Chen Hansan's narrow bridge camp, generally speaking, if we break it, we can take out the Shuyang defenders. Next, we must work together to capture Yan City
, to cross the Yishui River. At the same time, there must be a boat entering Surabaya from Sikou to meet us, otherwise even if we can reach the Surabaya River by land, we will be stopped outside Xuzhou..."
Ge Cunxiong said: "The refugee army in Siyang does not have the ability to block the mouth of such a wide river branch, but in Suyu and Suining there are measures to block rivers and seal ships. The water camp must enter Sishui from Sikou, and it must be connected all the way.
The bandits built two river barrage camps in Suining and Suyu. Considering that once the war breaks out, the bandits will strengthen the defense forces along this road at any time. It is hard to say how long it will take to break through..."
"The key depends on whether Liu Tingzhou can successfully cross the Huaihe River with his reinforcements. After crossing the river, whether he can successfully put pressure on the Siyang defenders will require Liu Tingzhou to attract Suyu and Suining's refugee troops to Siyang," Qin Chengzu said, "We
Before Liu Tingzhou, the more we bluffed against Chen Hansan's narrow bridge camp, the more Chen Hansan would doubt our determination to go north to aid Xu..."
"What is true is false, what is false is true," Lin Fu nodded and said, "I think Chen Hansan should be able to confirm the discord between me and Liu Tingzhou."
Qin Chengzu said: "If it were you, he would probably sit back and watch Liu Tingzhou cross the Huaihe River and die, and it would be impossible for him to go deep alone and risk the danger to rescue the enemy Yue Lengqiu. If Liu Tingzhou led the reinforcements to cross the Huaihe River and attack Siyang, they would be able to defeat them.
guess and dispel their doubts..."
Qin Chengzu and others have been dealing with Chen Hansan for more than ten years, and have suffered heavy losses at his hands. Their familiarity with Chen Hansan is probably far less than that of other generals in the refugee army.
Lin Fu thought about it for a while and said to Ge Cunxiong: "You lead the third water camp to the west and do your best to help Liu Tingzhou cross the Huaihe River. I will sign another letter and take it to Liu Tingzhou to merge the Shanyang County defenders into the Huaihe crossing reinforcements.
We will lead him across the Huaihe River to fight..."
The Shanyang County garrison belongs to the newly reorganized Huai'an Prefecture Army, and it is their fundamental responsibility to defend the countryside.
Although Liu Tingzhou was the prefect, he could not mobilize the government troops to cross the Huaihe River without Lin Fu's consent, so he could only recruit private soldiers to form reinforcements to cross the Huaihe River.
Compared with crossing the Huaihe River to aid Xu, it is more important to ensure that the defense line at the Huaihe River is worry-free.
The reinforcements that Liu Tingzhou built to cross the Huaihe River were simply a bunch of rabble. Less than 20% of the soldiers recruited from the government army were able to fight under the pretext of volunteering. Even if Liu Tingzhou could successfully cross the Huaihe River, it would not be able to form a diversionary force in Siyang.
the power of.
After the chaos broke out in Hongzepu, Shanyang County had been on the front line for a long time, and the defenders had good fighting strength. Lin Fu transferred the Shanyang County defenders to fight with Liu Tingzhou across the Huaihe River at this time, mainly because he did not want Liu Tingzhou to fight too ugly after crossing the Huaihe River.
.
The more important reason is that after the Shanyang County defenders are transferred, there will be a gap in the Huaihe defense line at the most critical position. In the view of Liu An'er, Chen Hansan and other refugee army generals, it is even less likely that the Jiangdong Left Army will go north at this time.