At dawn, the sky is not bright yet, and only the vague shadow of the northern shoreline can be seen. Thousands of boats are racing against the river, none of them holding lamps, as if dark clouds are slowly spreading on the gray Huaihe River, heading towards the north shore, tense and tense, against the water.
It refers to Feixiaji, ten miles west of Siyang Ferry.
Ge Cunxiong stood on the deck of the stern cabin, looking at Feixiaji on the north shore. The lights were dim, like fireflies, and outlined the shadows of Feixiaji and Jitou Camp in the dim morning light.
The coastline to the west of Huaisi stretches for more than a hundred miles. The refugee army that has gathered in Siyang in the past few days has been close to ten thousand people, but they cannot keep the coastline of more than a hundred miles watertight. However, there are places suitable for large-scale landings.
There are only a few places where the refugee army has set up camps and strongholds, stationed with elite troops, and focused on defense.
There are more than a thousand refugee troops stationed in the Feixiaji camp, and the number is not that large. However, after the boat reaches the north shore, after Feixiaji's landing intention is exposed, nearby refugee troops will swarm to help, and the scale of the beach landing battle will quickly increase.
expand.
If this side cannot gain a foothold in Feixiaji in one fell swoop and overwhelm the refugee army before nightfall, the heavy losses will be unimaginable.
Although there were more than 14,000 troops crossing the Huaihe River, there were only 4,000 to 5,000 capable soldiers. They could not land ashore in one fell swoop, and they were driven down the river with heavy losses. It was almost impossible to organize another cross-Huaihe battle in a short time.
Lin Fu climbed the escalator to the stern deck. Ge Cunxiong saluted him: "Sir..."
Lin Fu waved his hand, asking Ge Cunxiong not to be formal, and said with a smile: "I can't show my face in public. It's not good for Liu Tingzhou to know that I'm here..." He just came to Shanyang secretly yesterday, and even Zhang Yubo didn't know he was here.
.
Lin Fu was not wearing armor, but was wearing a green shirt. He stood facing the wind, holding his hands on the thick wooden wall, and silently looked at the Huaihe River crossing fleet in the west without saying anything.
Lin Fu didn't say anything, and Ge Cunxiong knew that he would not be satisfied with what he saw.
It was the Shanyang County garrison who advanced first. After all, they had to gain a foothold on the north bank in one fell swoop. Without elite troops, there was no chance of landing successfully.
Shanyang County soldiers were supported by Huaidong salt merchants such as Ma Fu. Compared with other rural armies, they had sufficient food and salary, good soldiers and armor, and the soldiers they recruited were brave and brave.
Liu An'er revolted in Hongzepu, and the cities of Hao, Si, Shiliang and other cities on the west bank fell. When Chen Hansan rebelled, the situation in Huai'an was extremely bad. However, under the leadership of Liu Tingzhou and others who were still serving as general magistrates at the time, Shanyang County forcibly crossed
Overcome the catastrophe of city destruction.
The soldiers of Shanyang County have been fighting Huaidong bandits for a long time and are quite adaptable to water warfare. Before the Jiangdong Left Army came to Huai'an, they could be said to be the backbone of Huaidong's defense line.
For this crossing of the Huaihe River, Liu Tingzhou recruited veteran boatmen from the Huaihe River who were familiar with the water conditions. However, it only took two or three days, and the preparation was very inadequate, which was far inferior to the training in the familiar water camp.
It was dark at this time, and as soon as we got out of Shanyang Ferry, we saw boats colliding with each other, and many armor-clad soldiers fell into the water. The boats on the left and right came over to rescue people, and they were all in chaos. The scene in front of us was chaos.
No wonder Qin Chengzu frowned slightly after watching it.
Liu Tingzhou is on another ship, a Jiyun-class warship borrowed from here.
Liu Tingzhou put on his armor, a crimson official robe, and a straight-ridged sword hanging from his waist. He personally went to the bow deck of the ship. He seemed unmoved by the chaos around him. He beat the war drum resolutely and urged the ships to continue crossing the Huaihe River.
"Liu Tingzhou is so desperate!" Ge Cunxiong sighed.
Lin Fu was looking at Feixiaji on the north bank at this time. After hearing what Ge Cunxiong said, he turned back to look at Liu Tingzhou, which was a dozen boats away.
The sky was dim, and only Liu Tingzhou, wearing a crimson official robe, could be seen like a ball of fire in the morning light.
Lin Fu also felt what Ge Cunxiong said, and sighed and said with a smile: "This stubborn donkey is really hard to beat, scold, hate, and complain. He dragged tens of thousands of people to follow him to die for his own sake, so he could only
Let him. But if I want to plan for Huai'an, I can only send this stubborn donkey and the Shanyang County soldiers to the north bank, otherwise there is no chance for us to occupy the magpie's nest?"
At this time, there were more lights on the north bank. It was obvious that they had noticed the movement on the south bank and became alert. In the dim morning light, they saw countless black figures on the north bank holding torches and rushing out to the beach.
Be prepared to get on the beach here.
You can see that almost every place on the north bank where it is easy to land has been deployed with additional troops.
Since his whereabouts have been leaked and discovered by the other side, there is no need to continue to turn off the lights and hide.
Ge Cunxiong ordered all boats to light up lights. Before daylight, he began to use open flames to send messages. He also called the primary school to send a message to Liu Tingzhou: "You can go to see Liu Tingzhou in a small boat and tell him that I will lead the Shui Ying Ship."
The team deployed upstream against the current to help him spread out the defense focus of the refugee army on the north bank..."
At this time, the wind was southeasterly. The sails were raised and the oars were raised against the current at a very fast speed. In just a moment, the Shuiying fleet was far away from the Huaihuai fleet and headed upstream against the current.
As the boat passed through the middle stream, the fighting on the north bank broke out at Baitan, ten miles west of Feixiaji.
Baitan is another place on the north shore that is suitable for large-scale landings. Compared with Feixiaji, the terrain is more open, which is conducive to rapid expansion after landing on the beach.
Two days ago, the refugee army just rushed to build a beach defense camp there, with six to seven hundred troops stationed there.
Time was short, and the beach defense camp was too simple. It was mainly made of wooden palisades and no trenches were dug. The refugee army was focused on the ferry on the Huaihe River. They did not expect that there would be soldiers sneaking across the bank in advance and lurking there.
Approach from behind and launch a surprise attack on them.
Although the number of soldiers who launched the raid was small, only numbering one hundred and ten, they were all selected elites. The dead soldiers took advantage of the dim sky and took advantage of the refugee army leaving the camp to rush to the beach to launch a surprise attack and seize the northeastern part of the camp.
The gate of the corner of the village.
The refugee army was caught off guard. In the chaos, they could not figure out how many people came to attack the camp. The fire first broke out from the camp gate wall in the northeast corner. The fire spread along the beach to the inside of the camp, setting countless tents on fire.
It's as bright as day.
Standing on the deck, Lin Fu could clearly see the raiding soldiers rushing in from the northeast corner of the village gate, turning the Baitan camp of the refugee army into a pot of rotten porridge, boiling and causing chaos.
"If there were more people, we might be able to capture the Baitan Camp in one fell swoop," Ge Cunxiong said.
"The terrain of Baitan is too open," Lin Fu said. "The Huaihe River Crossing Army is unable to deploy quickly after landing. Without adjustments, Siyang Village cannot launch an offensive. For Liu Tingzhou, after landing, he won a
A foothold is more important. The terrain of Feixiaji is conducive to suppressing the counterattack of the refugee army after Liu Tingzhou lands ashore. Even if Feixiaji fails to land, Baitan is not a good alternative location..."
Ge Cunxiong raised his eyebrows slightly, and had to admit that Lin Fu was right. After all, the Huaihe Army was not the elite of the Jiangdong Left Army.
If it were the Jiangdong Left Army, the natural first priority would be to land from Baitan. After landing, they would go east and north along the Baitan embankment to defeat the refugee army that came to counterattack, and then they could lead the troops forward.
Heading straight towards Siyang Village...
But the Huaihe Crossing Army is not the Jiangdong Left Army. There are more than 14,000 people in the Huaihei Crossing Army, and only one-third of the soldiers who can fight are only one-third of the soldiers who can fight. Compared with the elites in the refugee army, it is also
Without an absolute advantage, it would be difficult to fight the battle so smoothly and without sloppiness.
The practical approach is to seize Feixiaji and use Feixiaji's favorable terrain to repel the counterattacking refugee army. Only after establishing a firm foothold on the north bank can we consider attacking Siyang Village or bypassing Siyang Village and going directly north.
Progressive issues.
The refugee army's strength in the Siyang area exceeds 10,000, and there are more than 20,000 soldiers and horses in Suyu, and they arrived very quickly.
The terrain of Baitan is not conducive to defense. Even if we successfully land ashore, it will be difficult to gain a foothold in the next counterattack. If the counterattack is delayed, the crossing of the Huaihe River cannot be considered a success.
Relatively speaking, the most dangerous part of ashore operations is that they cannot withstand the counterattack and are driven into the water.
Tens of thousands of people hurriedly swarmed ashore, and the crowds gradually dispersed. The front line could not withstand the pressure of the counterattack and collapsed and retreated. No matter how many troops and horses were in the back line, they could not exert their strength and could only retreat. There was definitely no chance to take it easy.
If you board the boat and escape, more people will be squeezed into the river and drowned.
This is why since ancient times, generals like to attack halfway across the river, and there are often cases where the enemy is driven into the water several times or even dozens of times and drowned.
Lin Fu stood on the deck and observed the situation on the north bank. At this time, the refugee army in Baitan also came to their senses and began to organize a reactionary force to drive out the attacking soldiers from the camp. The soldiers and horses on the left and right banks also quickly returned.
He asked for help, and said with a slight frown: "I haven't seen any movement over Feixiaji yet. It seems that Malantou is personally in charge of Siyang. We should work harder and help Liu Tingzhou capture the Baitan Camp..."
"Okay, I will personally lead the team ashore..." Ge Cunxiong said.
"Let others go," Lin Fu said, "but there is no one to command the water camp for you!"
Lin Fu and Ge Cunxiong also led the water camp fleet to go straight to Baitan. They wanted to confuse the refugee army at the critical moment, draw all their attention to Baitan, and cover up the landing of the main force of Liu Tingzhou's Huai army at Feixiaji.
Shore's intention.
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Siyang Village is not built against the north bank of the Huaihe River. It is eleven or twelve miles away from Siyang Ferry, but it is next to the west bank of Si River. The waterway from Si River to Huai River runs diagonally from northwest to southeast. The location of Siyang Village should be at
Directly north of Feixiaji.
Siyang Ferry intercepts the main position where officers and soldiers disembark on the south bank. Since the refugee army took control of Huaisi, they have built fortifications and the most complete fortifications here. In comparison, Feixiaji and Baitan are more worrying.
Malantou did not stay in Siyang Village. He led his convoy and rode to the embankment of Siyang Ferry. He was wearing iron armor, showing off his strong arms, and his goggles shone with a cold luster in the dim morning light.
, with his bright eyes observing every wave, every boat and every pawn on the Huaihe River.
It seems that the day has dawned too slowly. The officers and soldiers have already passed Feixiaji in a large fleet and headed straight for Baitan. There are still dark shadows on the water, making it difficult to see the reality of the fleet crossing the Huaihe River.
Although fighting had already begun on the Baitan side, the officers and soldiers had to sneak across and send many troops and horses. As long as the Baitan garrison camp was not lost, Malantou did not believe that the officers and soldiers would disembark from Baitan.
But it is difficult to say that when the Jiangdong Zuojun first came to Huai'an, they went straight to Shukou and chose a landing place that was unexpected. News came out from Huai'an that Lin Fu and Liu Tingzhou were not on good terms. Who knew that this was not a cunning plan by them to join forces to confuse this area?
Malantou was hesitant in his heart, but he was patient and was not in a hurry to send the elite soldiers left in Siyang Village to strengthen the direction of Baitan.