The Huai River is rushing eastward, and light clouds like fish scales float in the blue sky.
After the heavy rain, the calm blue sky and the news of the defeat of the Huaihe River crossing force made people breathless.
Shanyang County and Feixiaji face each other across the Huaihe River, less than twelve or three miles apart. Looking far away under the clear sky, you can see Feixiajitou's cavalry fighting in a mixed manner, and the infantry are unable to resist the attack.
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Someone escaped by boat, but the news they brought back was too fragmentary. What can be confirmed is that the entire rear wing of the Huaihe Army was destroyed, Ma Fu, Ma Rulong were killed, and the lives of Liu Tingzhou, Xiao Kui'an, Teng Xingyuan, Tao Chun and others were uncertain, but it was also dangerous.
A lot of luck, a narrow escape from death.
Shanyang and Huai'an are forty miles apart. Shanyang was bombed, and the city of Huai'an was also bombed. The number of troops reached more than 14,000, and the elite soldiers from Shanyang County who crossed Huai'an were likely to be wiped out.
This is not news that anyone can bear easily.
There was Zhang Yubo in Huai'an City and Liang Wenzhan was in charge. At this time, the county magistrate Liu Tao was in charge of Shanyang County, and the defenders were Qianfu troops who had just been transferred from Huai'an City.
Liu Tingzhou not only organized the six battalions of Shanyang County soldiers into the Huaihe Crossing Army, but also transferred more than 2,000 government troops from Huai'an City. Today, the two cities of Huai'an and Shanyang are facing the bandits across the Huaihe River, but the total strength is less than 4,000 people.
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Huai'an City Government Yaxi Yafang, Huai'an Magistrate Liang Wenzhan, Huai'an Prefecture's Military and Horse Division, Hu Cao, Gong Cao, Fu Xue, Huai'an County Magistrate, County Lieutenant, Jiao Yu and other officials gathered together and gathered around Zhang Yubo, the general judge.
He makes up his mind.
Lin Fu and Liu Tingzhou both crossed the Huai River to lead their troops, and Huai'an City was led by Tongpan Zhang Yubo.
"Master Zhang, please report to the Zhizhi Envoy as soon as possible. I hope the Zhizhi Envoy can lead the troops into Siyang in time and rescue Mr. Liu..."
"The rear wing has been completely covered. Mr. Liu really has a narrow escape from death. The troops and horses are not enough. We still have to guard Shukou. If we act rashly, there are three advantages and two disadvantages. Who can defend Huai'an?"
Before Zhang Yubo could speak, Liang Wen began to argue, and the officials below him quarreled into two groups. One wanted Lin Fu to lead his troops to rescue Liu Tingzhou, and the other wanted to protect Huai'an regardless of Liu Tingzhou's life or death.
They all say that the defeat was overwhelming, but they never expected that Liu Tingzhou's Huaihe crossing army would be defeated so quickly. With more than 10,000 soldiers and horses, they collapsed almost at once. Zhang Yubo still admired Liu Tingzhou's character of risking his own life for the imperial court.
If there were still remnants of the Huaihe Army that had not been wiped out in Siyang, he would have supported Lin Futi's troops in marching into Siyang to rescue Liu Tingzhou, and it was better to do it sooner rather than later.
Zhang Yubo put his hand on the table, stopped everyone's quarrel, and said: "Whatever you think, I will send a fast horse to report it to the envoy. But no matter what decision to make, the envoy must have his own opinion, so we don't have to worry about it."
…”
"When the Zhizhi envoy receives a reply from Shukou, which will be almost after dark, should we first invite Mr. Sun to come over and discuss it together?" Liang Wenzhan said.
Zhang Yubo did not doubt that Liang Wenzhan suddenly invited Sun Jingtang to come over. Sun Jingtang was still sentenced to exile, but he was actually Lin Fu's right-hand man in Huai'an City. Zhang Yubo naturally did not shy away from asking Sun Jingtang, but it was urgent just now.
I didn't think about it for a moment, but when Liang Wenzhan mentioned it, he nodded and said, "That's fine!"
After learning that the Huaihe Army was defeated in Feixiaji, Sun Jingtang went into the city to meet Liang Wencheng first. At this time, he was in Dutingyi, only more than a hundred steps away from the government office, and he was invited in the blink of an eye.
come over.
At this time, everyone in Huai'an lost their sense of caution. Perhaps because the commander of the Zhizhi Envoy was nearby, they placed all their hopes on the Jiangdong Left Army, but they were too slow to save themselves.
Sun Jingtang came over and saluted Zhang Yubo, Liang Wenzhan and others. Zhang Yubo respected his status and asked him to sit across from Liang Wenzhan and said: "The new defeat on the north bank has made Huai'an people panic. They have sent flying cavalry across the Huaihe River to report to the envoys."
, but when the envoy gets a reply, it may already be after dark, so please ask Mr. Sun to come over and discuss ideas first..."
Sun Jingtang said: "Feixiaji was defeated, Shuiying should send a message to Shukou as soon as possible, and the system will not be later than here. No matter what decision the system makes in Shukou, there will be some differences between Huai'an and Shanyang."
Things can be done first..."
"Please speak to Mr. Sun," Zhang Yubo said.
"Deploying a battalion of government troops from each of the three southern counties to strengthen the defense of Huai'an City. Regardless of whether the deployment is to return to Huainan or cross the Huaihe River to rescue Liu Prefecture, the water camp will be used. We here cannot expect the water camp to be available all the time.
Help defend the Huaihe River," Sun Jingtang said. "With the fall of Feixiaji, not only a large amount of food and grass supplies were taken away by the bandits, but also a considerable number of civilian ships fell into the hands of the enemy. The bandits were able to organize tens of thousands of people to cross the Huaihe River in a short period of time.
We have to be on guard against the scale of the battle. The Jiangdong Left Army has an engineering camp with 2,000 auxiliary troops at Qingjiangpu North Beach. It was originally used for building embankments and reclaiming wasteland. It has organized battle training in its spare time. It cannot be taken out to fight in the field, but it can be taken to the mountains.
Yang County assists in guarding..."
Liang Wenzhan said: "Mr. Sun is not familiar with the situation in Shanyang County. I will go with him to Shanyang. The safety of Huai'an City will be left to you, Mr. Zhang?"
Huai'an County is the capital county of Huai'an Prefecture, and Liang Wenzhan's rank is one level higher than Puting County.
Nowadays, the life and death of Teng Xingyuan, the magistrate of Shanyang, is uncertain on the north bank. Shanyang is only presided over by the county magistrate Liu Tao. Zhang Yubo is not familiar with Liu Tao and does not know whether he has the ability to take charge of the overall situation. If the refugee army crosses the Huaihe River, Shanyang will be the first to bear the brunt. He hopes that Liang Wenzhan can go to Shanyang.
Yang is the best. The left army in Jiangdong is the most powerful force in the world. Although the engineering and supply camps are auxiliary troops, when organized, two thousand people should be able to defeat the three battalions of the government army.
Liang Wenbo signed the order immediately, and Sun Jingtang got up and returned to Qingjiangpu in the south of the city to make preparations.
In the afternoon, when the labor camp set off from the south of the city, Lin Fu's order from Shukou was sent back to Huai'an.
Lin Fu's order was almost the same as Sun Jingtang's suggestion. The biggest difference was that Lin Fu directly ordered Liang Wenzhan to temporarily assume the post of Shanyang County Magistrate and take charge of Shanyang's military and political affairs.
Lin Fu's appointment of envoys to Jingkou was a temporary assignment and did not have the authority to appoint personnel. What's more, the officials at the magistrate and county level were officials selected by the capital. However, when something happened, Huai'an Prefecture was in a panic, and no one jumped out at this time.
Questioning the legality and rationality of Lin Fu's letter. As for whether it will be recognized by the court afterwards, that is another matter. Let's get through the immediate difficulties first.
Besides, Huai'an County is the first county and Shanyang County is just an ordinary county. If Liang Wenzhan refuses to do anything in Huai'an County and seizes the seat of Shanyang County, others will not believe it and will just treat it as a temporary arrangement.
In fact, in terms of the entire terrain of Huaisi, Shanyang County is more important than Huai'an City. In addition, Ma Fu and Ma Rulong died in battle, and most of the Ma family's foundation is in Shanyang County.
******************
Lin Fu did not expect that the Changhuai Army would be defeated so quickly. It was noon when he received a message from Shuiying directly from Shanyang.
The terrain of Siyang was completely controlled by the refugee army. Apart from getting some fragmentary information from the soldiers who had escaped, it was too late to send spies into Siyang to confirm whether the main force of the Huaihe crossing army had been completely wiped out.
Further information will not be available until noon tomorrow at the earliest.
Lin Fu didn't have so much time to wait. Chen Hansanhui, who was more than 20 miles away to the north, got the exact news first. Chen Hansan and Sun Zhuang's general Chen Zhi had a total of more than 15,000 soldiers at the narrow bridge.
Horses, their movements have a direct impact on this side.
In the command shed, the Huaisi terrain was laid out on a large wooden table. Lin Fu was supporting the table with his hands. Qin Chengzu, Zhou Pu, Ning Zechen, Zhao Hu and others were surrounding, studying the current situation.
From the fragmentary information, Lin Fu and the others had speculated on the development pattern of both the enemy and ourselves in Siyang before the entire rear wing of the crossing Huaihe Army was destroyed, and they could also speculate on some things.
"The refugee army in Suyu and Siyang did not have much cavalry. The cavalry that annihilated the rear wing belonged to Sun Zhuang, the vanguard of the refugee army." Qin Chengzu pointed to the Feixiaji area and analyzed, "The cavalry led by Sun Zhuang is
Killing the rear wing and seizing Feixiaji was delayed for at least half an hour, and there was no chance to trample the rear flank of the Huaihe Army Headquarters. This can be said to be quite lucky. Tao Chun sneaked into Siyang a few days earlier, and would not have
If nothing is done, if Liu Tingzhou and Xiao Kui'an are smart, they should still have an elite force to survive and deal with the refugee army in Siyang. But if they want to escape, they can only wait for us to come and rescue them..."
"Ma Fu, Ma Rulong really deserves to die. If they don't die and escape, I won't let them go!" Lin Fu said angrily.
Lin Fu didn't blame them because of the horse uniform, and Ma Rulong died. The Huaihuai army attacked the camp of the refugee army and set up a fish scale formation. The rear was the weak point, but he left the elite Ma family private soldiers in the rear formation.
In fact, it made up for the shortcomings of the Fish Scale Formation to a considerable extent, which was probably something that Malantou, the commander-in-chief of the Refugee Army in Siyang, could not have expected.
It is true that the main camp of the refugee army in the north of Feixiaji is a trap, but whether the trap can trap people depends on their strength.
If he were in horse uniform, Ma Rulong had some courage and led more than a thousand elite troops to get stuck in front of the north ridge of Feixiaji. Since he protected Feixiaji from being captured by the refugee army, he could also protect the rear wing of the Huaihe crossing army's main formation. The situation was not good.
As for how sinister it is.
Who would have thought that Ma Fu and the others would be so stupid as to turn around and flee towards Feixiaji, turning their backs and leaving the cavalry of the refugee army to cover them up?
It is true that more people always die from stupidity.
Lin Fu stared at the map for a while, then made a decisive decision and said to Zhao Hu: "I'll leave this to you. In addition to guarding the Shukou camp, I also want you to lead the infantry to attack Chen Hansan's narrow bridge.
Camp, cover the whereabouts of my main force. You must hold on to the camp with a narrow bridge until dark at least before you can withdraw to the camp and hold on! Are you sure you can do it?"
"Yes!" Zhao Hu said decisively.
"Okay," Lin Fu said, then turned to look at Zhou Pu, "First you lead the light armored cavalry and cooperate with the new soldiers of the guard camp to drive all the scouts outside the Zhaiqiao Camp back to their nests. Mr. Qin and I will lead Feng Li
The battalion and the heavy cavalry will leave first, and you can rush to the designated place to rendezvous after dark!"
"Don't adjust the water camp?" Zhou Pu asked.
"The development of the situation is somewhat different from what we predicted before. The Changshan Camp will arrive in Huai'an one or two days later. If the Shuiying Camp needs to move, it must also move with the Changshan Camp!" Lin Fu said.
Qin Chengzu said: "The activities of the water camp on the Huaihe River can confuse the refugee army. I also thought that the water camp will not be transferred for the time being! Four thousand elite soldiers will be enough to defeat the enemy camp! We will kill him this time. Chen Hansan is an opportunist. In addition,
, Nan’an can also take the opportunity to make some arrangements.”