At the end of the day, the Changshan Battalion stormed the west bank of the Sishui River; the Fengbu Battalion and the Cavalry Battalion withdrew from the east bank. Before the last group of soldiers boarded the ship, they set fire to the camp built by the refugee army on the east bank of the Sishui River.
burn.
In full view of the refugee army, the three thousand cavalrymen of the Changshan Camp bypassed Suyu City and went straight to the west; the Shuiying warships raised their sails and rudders, carrying the wind and the cavalry camp to the northwest...
…
I left the military camp in Jiangdong and stayed in Yu. My next goal was to stay in Suining, which is in the west and north of Henan!
Chen Hansan touched his chest and shouted, swinging his horse whip in the air. Chen Zhi and Li Liang looked horrified, and Zhang Gou was so depressed that he vomited blood:
The 3,000 warriors he and Chen Zhi led were not as elite as the Jiangdong Left Army's armored soldiers, but they risked their lives to bite off a piece of Jiangdong Left Army's flesh in the field. But from the night before to now, they were stunned.
No chance of field battle with Jiangdong Zuojun was found!
In the early hours of last night, we pursued them to the banks of the Yishui River. The left army from the east of the Yangtze River had broken through the Yishui camp and crossed to the west of the Yishui River. In the early hours of this morning, they pursued them to the bank of the Sishui River. The left army from the east of the Yangtze River had already occupied the camp at the east of the river in Sishui. However, they were dragged down to a state of exhaustion.
Dare to counterattack and seize the camp rashly.
It was still possible to cross the Yishui River last night because the Yishui River heading south from Tancheng was artificially shallowed by the barrage, and the water was forced into the Surabaya River. As the most important river connecting the Jianghuai and Heji Rivers, the Surabaya River is so wide and deep that
Not only the Yishui River, but also the Shu River, the narrowest part of the Suyu River is three or four miles wide. In summer, the water is strong and the current is rapid. There are not enough ferries. How can so many soldiers and horses cross the river?
go?
What's more, the Jiangdong Left Army's water camp still left more than a dozen warships here to monitor it.
Upstream, there are several ferries in Suining, but Jiangdong Zuojun stayed in Yuyu instead of going to Suining. The intention was clearly to completely blockade them on the east bank of the Surabaya River.
Suyu City is supported by more than 3,000 elite troops led by Sun Zhuang from Siyang. Although Suining has 5,000 or 6,000 defenders, their combat effectiveness is even worse than the defenders of the Hedong camp last night.
At the beginning, the officers and soldiers in Suyu City took the initiative to withdraw. The refugee army captured Suyu City without much effort, and Suyu City's city defense measures were not damaged much.
Suining is different.
The refugee army spent a lot of effort to capture Suining at the beginning, and several sections of Suining's city wall were destroyed. Later, facing the threat from the officers and soldiers in Huainan, the refugee army concentrated its efforts on Suyu, Yishui Camp and the narrow streets of Shushui.
The line of defense at Qiao Daying was built, but it failed to take care of Suining.
The city defense conditions in Suining are much worse than those in Suyu.
Every attack by Jiangdong's left army hit the refugee army's weak points accurately and fatally.
First, they abandoned the Shushui Narrow Bridge Camp, which had the largest concentration of elite refugees, and instead attacked the Yishui Camp. They abandoned Siyang and Liu Tingzhou, and instead attacked the Suyu Hedong Camp, which had been depleted of its elite troops. Boarded the
On the west bank of the Sishui River, they abandoned Suyu instead of fighting, and headed towards Suining, where the defense was empty.
Zhang Gou was about to cry but had no tears. He looked to his left and right. On the east bank of the Sishui River, he and Chen Zhi's troops, together with Chen Hansan's troops and Li Liang's troops, gathered up the defeated soldiers. There were nearly ten thousand soldiers and horses, but they were blocked.
On the east coast, it has become a distant water that is beyond reach and cannot quench the near thirst.
He, Chen Zhi's troops and Chen Han's three troops were all exhausted. If he wanted to intercept the left army in Jiangdong, he had to get ahead of his water camp warships and find a ferry to cross the river on the northeastern bank of the Sishui River in Suining City.
, but it is simply not realistic.
The Fengli Camp and the Cavalry Camp of the Jiangdong Left Army also became exhausted after two days and two nights of continuous fighting, but they could take a short rest on the ship while they rushed to Suining by boat.
Zhang Gou clenched the saber at his waist, his fingers turned white, and his mouth was about to burst. He thought: Mr. Gan would probably be so angry that he vomited blood in Suyu City.
There are eight or nine thousand defenders in Suyu City, but the only one who can be called an elite soldier is Gan Ye, who led more than three thousand soldiers and horses from Siyang overnight. However, these more than three thousand tired troops could not even stop the troops who had just been transferred from Chongzhou.
Chang Shanying, the cutting-edge division of the Jiangdong Left Army, has forcibly landed on the west bank, let alone rashly leaving the city to pursue; otherwise Suyu will not be protected.
Now we can only hope that the Xuzhou camp will have reinforcements to support Suining.
However, it is only sixty miles from Suyu to Suining, but it is a full one hundred and sixty miles from Xuzhou to Suining. Even if Xuzhou knew the news after nightfall yesterday and dispatched reinforcements, it would be almost impossible to arrive in Suining ahead of the Jiangdong Left Army.
Impossible.
Thinking that they had 150,000 or 60,000 soldiers and horses in Huaisi, but they were defeated by the Jiangdong Left Army with less than 10,000 soldiers and horses in Huaisi, and Zhang Gou felt a sense of dejection and powerlessness in his heart.
There is nothing we can do now. With the warships of the Jiangdong Zuojun Shuiying blocking the Sishui River, we cannot even send people to swim across the Sishui River during the day to contact Gan Ye. We can only hope that Suining's defenders can hold on longer.
As long as the Suining defenders can hold on and hold the Jiangdong Left Army outside Suining City for three or four days, and once they have calmed down, all crises will be resolved.
But, how long can the Suining garrison last?
Under the harassment of Chen Hansan's cavalry, the left army from Jiangdong captured the Hedong camp in Surabaya in just one night. Zhang Gou really had no confidence at all how long the elite defenders of Suining could hold on.
Seeing Jiangdong's left army divided into land and water routes, heading west to Suining in the north, Chen Hansan didn't say much, nor did he send anyone to contact Sun Zhuang on the west bank of the river to order all his troops.
The corpses of the dead were piled up and cremated, while the injured were transported away in horse-drawn carriages and returned to Tancheng.
Sun Zhuang, a descendant of Sun Ganzi, was on the west bank. Chen Hansan had no right to restrain Zhang Gou, Chen Zhi and others. As a general of Malantou, Li Liang was not willing to follow Chen Hansan to retreat to Tancheng, just to the east.
The bank continued to collect the rout.
Zhang Gou couldn't take care of that much, so he and Chen Zhi immediately arranged for their troops to camp on the east bank of the river to rest and regain their strength. At night, Zhang Gou took off his armor and swam across the river in person through the water camp warship blockade of the Jiangdong Left Army.
Enter Suyu City to meet Sun Ganzi.
He hurried into the city and walked to the large tent of the refugee army occupying the county government office. The yard was filled with the smell of burning rosin torches. After entering the hall and entering the yard, Zhang Gou heard the sound of bowls being thrown, dishes being smashed and tables being kicked, followed by poles.
It roared like a wounded beast: "You all fucking ate shit, and you lost Suining in less than two hours!"
Zhang Gou felt a chill in his heart. The Yishui camp and the Hedong camp in Sishui fell successively. Suining should have been more prepared, so that he wouldn't be unable to hold on for two hours, right? He didn't wait for the announcement and walked in bravely.
When Sun Zhuang saw Zhang Gou come in, he was even more furious and kicked him away: "Even a three-year-old child can hug one of the strong man's legs at the risk of his life. What kind of food are you? You just let Jiang Dongzuo watch."
The army is crossing the river!"
Sun Gou didn't dare to hide, so he was hit hard on the chest. He almost suffocated, but he still hugged the furious Sun Zhuang from left to right.
Zhang Gou knelt down and wailed: "The dog has embarrassed the commander, but the Jiangdong left army fought too hard. Every punch hit us where we were weak. We followed and ran for two hundred miles, many
My brother vomited blood while running, but he didn’t fall behind, but he just couldn’t catch up..."
Sun Zhuang was so angry that he opened many wounds on his shoulders and abdomen, and the blood flowed out. He was hugged by the left and right and pushed to the seat, unable to move. He saw that although Zhang Gou was not seriously injured, his expression was dull.
He didn't close his eyes for days and nights, and then he snorted heavily and said: "You got up to speak, and you didn't do anything wrong. Why should you kneel down? I hate it. The great situation created by An Shuai was destroyed in front of you. You
How can I have the face to meet An Shuai? Even if I die in battle under the city, I still don’t have the shame to meet Mr. Quan who is under the Nine Springs!"
Hearing Sun Zhuang mention Yang Quan, who died in the Hezhong Prefecture at the beginning of the year, Zhang Gou also looked sad.
At this time, Zhang Gou quietly told Zhang Gouning the details of Suining's fall: "Suining was fully prepared to defend the city, but he never thought that the people in Suining's South Village were all disguised as officers and soldiers..."
"What?" Zhang Gou couldn't believe it. "Didn't those soldiers and horses come from the direction of Zhoukou in mid-April? How could it be possible that they were all the work of officers and soldiers? Besides, it would only take two months for them to defend Nanzhai. That's it.
How can the meticulous work of the officers and soldiers not reveal any flaws?"
"Yeah, who would have thought? The Jiangdong Left Army attacked Suining, and the Nanzhai group asked to take refuge in Suining to help defend. No one was there to guard them, so they opened the south gate and let them in to help defend. The south gate allowed them to take advantage of the situation.
After seizing the city, they raised a flag and claimed that they were under Gu Siyuan, the son of Gu Wuchen, the left minister of the Jiangning Military Department. They did not know whether it was true or not, but it was true to welcome the left army from Jiangdong into the city." He added, "In addition, the west side
There were also water camp warships entering the Bianshui River, and they seemed to be under the command of General Yang Shi of the Dongyang Army..."
"Ah!" Only then did Zhang Gou realize how difficult the problem was. Many generals in the refugee army couldn't figure out the relationship between the court officials, but he knew it clearly. Seriously speaking, both the Jiangdong Zuo Army and the Dongyang Township Army were Gu Wuchen.
In just two or three years, Gu Wuchen was able to rise rapidly from Jiangdong's Deputy Inspector to Jiangning's Zuo Shilang of the Ministry of War, and was in charge of the Jiangning Water Camp. He mainly relied on the military exploits of Jiangdong's Left Army and Dongyang Township Army. This Yang
Shi is also a close confidant of Gu Wuchen.
After entering April, the officers and soldiers stationed in Huaidong and Huaixi were mainly Jiangdong Left Army and Dongyang Township Army.
If the soldiers and horses lurking in Nanzhai were not secretly bribed by the officers and soldiers later, it is indeed possible that the troops of Gu Wuchen's son Gu Siyuan came to lurk in advance. However, Zhang Gou also had contact with the soldiers and horses in Nanzhai, and it is true that most of them were refugees from Hezhong Prefecture.
There are also quite a few family members, so no one has any suspicion. How could he suddenly become Gu Siyuan's subordinate?
No matter what, the coming battle will be difficult.
From Xuzhou to Huai'an, the Sishui River flows from northwest to southeast and is about 300 miles long. Suining is located at the middle point.
Now Suining City was easily captured by Jiangdong Zuojun, and the warships of Jiangning Water Camp and Jiangdong Zuojun Water Camp appeared in Si River and Yishui River at the same time, cutting their superior force in Huaisi into four pieces.
Siyang and Suyu are one piece; the soldiers and horses surrounding Xuzhou are one piece; the west side of Bianshui River is one piece; and the east side of Sishui River is one piece.
The troops and horses west of Bianshui River and east of Sishui River are temporarily separated from the outer line.
Whether the soldiers and horses in Siyang and Suyu want to concentrate their efforts to eat up the Huaihe reinforcements led by Liu Tingzhou, or the soldiers and horses surrounding Xuzhou concentrate their efforts to capture Xuzhou, they will be interfered by the Jiangdong Left Army in Suining.
Judging from the current situation, the Jiangdong Left Army is likely to concentrate its forces and turn around to go south, first to rescue Liu Tingzhou's reinforcements who are worried about running out of food. After all, Yue Lengqiu can still hold on in Xuzhou City for a while, even if they are in Suyu City
There were more troops inside, but without the cooperation of water warships, they could not prevent the Jiangdong left army from advancing on land and water from Suining south to aid Siyang.