Fuyang faces a river on one side and is surrounded by hills and mountains on three sides, making walking difficult.
With the waterway under the control of Shejia's Eastern Zhejiang Navy, Dong Yuan led his troops from Hangzhou to aid Fuyang, marched westward from Gudang Town in the north of West Lake, and divided his troops into two groups after leaving the town: one went to Longwuzhai, and the other went to Longwuzhai.
Take the tunnel between Wuchao Mountain and Xixiang Mountain to aid Fuyang, and all the way through Zhuantang Town, take the valley road between Xixiang Mountain and Lingshan to aid Fuyang...
In order to buy time to attack Fuyang, Su Tingzhan not only controlled the waterway with naval warships, but also sent a number of elite troops to the east of Fuyang County to intercept reinforcements coming from Hangzhou; he also divided his troops to attack Shangyanwu in the north of Fuyang City in order to gain more time.
Establish a more stable interception position at Shangyanwu.
Shangyanwu is the last and most critical entrance to approach Fuyang City from the north.
It was about a hundred miles from Hangzhou to Fuyang, and the valley roads between the hills were also built as post roads. However, Dong Yuan did not lead his troops until noon on the 23rd to advance to Yanque Ridge in the north of Shangyanwu.
Standing on the Yanque Ridge, which is more than 40 feet high, you can not only see the tiled walls of the houses in Shangyanwu, but also clearly see the north gate tower of Fuyang City - presumably the Fuyang defenders can also see Hangzhou.
The city's reinforcements have already arrived at Yanqueling. After all, Yanqueling is only the last ten miles away from Fuyang City.
A stick of black smoke emerged from Shangyanwu and rose into the cloudless blue sky. Dong Yuan was finally a step too late, and Shangyanwu was captured by Su Tingzhan first. A small number of remaining soldiers fled hastily towards Yanqueling.
, the Zhejiang and Fujian rebels did not pursue them, they just entered Shangyanwu, or on both sides of the outer perimeter of Shangyanwu, they dug trenches and built forts using the hilly terrain that was conducive to defense to prevent counterattacks and seize the stronghold.
Dong Yuan had a gloomy look on his face. The sentry had just passed through the area controlled by the Zhejiang and Fujian rebels. He learned from the sentry that the west gate of Fuyang County had collapsed, and the She family's warriors were frantically snatching the west gate.
Fuyang County's 6,000 defenders, mostly newly recruited soldiers, have been defending the city for eight days. During these eight days, Su Tingzhan led the main force of eastern Zhejiang soldiers and horses to attack Fuyang in turns regardless of casualties, and had defeated the Fuyang defenders.
tired.
At this time, the Fuyang defenders still had the will to resist and did not collapse. They just saw reinforcements approaching from the north. However, in order to be able to support Fuyang City, they must first capture Shangyanwu.
Dong Yuan looked at the soldiers behind him, feeling heavy.
For two days, they fought hard to seize the road and defeated six intercepting teams of the Zhejiang and Fujian rebels along the road. The casualties were also heavy. More serious than the casualties was the fierce fighting for two consecutive days and nights. The generals were very tired from rushing on the road.
Most of these 6,000 to 7,000 people were warriors recruited by Dong Yuan when he was in Weiyang Mansion. Most of the generals were former soldiers recruited by Dong Yuan from the Eastern Fujian Army. They could not be compared with the newly recruited soldiers. But what they faced was also luxurious.
The tiger and wolf warriors of the family have extremely strong combat experience and will to resist. This will be a bloody battle.
During the ten years of the Eastern Fujian War, Dong Yuan had fully experienced the strength of the Eastern Fujian soldiers.
Eastern Fujian is located in a corner. It is extremely difficult to conquer the world from just a corner of Eastern Fujian, but it is even more difficult for outsiders to break into Eastern Fujian.
During the ten-year war in East Fujian, bandits were rampant in the East China Sea, and the imperial navy was at a disadvantage. The strategy of harassing Jin'an by sea was not feasible. If we wanted to invade East Fujian by land, we could only go eastwards via the Sanxi and Minjiang waterways.
Unlike ordinary rebels, the eight aristocratic families in Eastern Fujian are united.
At the beginning of the founding of the People's Republic of China, the eight surname clans that fled to Fujian only had a population of more than 2,000. However, they flourished for more than two hundred years and married into the local Yiyue people. The power of the clan expanded rapidly in Jian'an and Jin'an, almost reaching the number of eight surnames.
He is ranked fourth out of ten.
In other words, if Zonghao of the eighth surname, headed by the She family, bites the bullet and fights, the court will not have the possibility to recruit people and divide the local area. They can only engage in repeated tug-of-war along the narrow Minjiang River channel. The tug-of-war has been going on for a long time.
In two years, both sides filled in the flesh, blood and lives of countless generals.
Li Zhuo also went from deputy envoy to supervising the army to supervising the army and then to supervising Eastern Fujian. It was only in the seventh year of Chongguan that he finally took control of the entire Jian'an Prefecture in the middle reaches of the Min River. He was only a few steps away from pacifying the Eastern Fujian war. Perhaps it was too much.
The family cannot last another year or even less.
It was also God who helped the She family. At this time, the frontier army was defeated by Chen Tangyi. More than half of the 200,000 frontier army was wiped out. All the land in western Liaoning was lost, and the capital was in danger. The temples were also turned upside down. The Chu party replaced the Qin party, and Chen Xinbo was left idle to seize power.
——The Chu party would rather give the She family a chance to breathe than allow Li Zhuo, who belongs to the Qin party, to achieve peace in the southeast. Furthermore, it is also urgent to mobilize elite troops from the southern front to support the northern front.
It was against this background that the She family pretended to surrender, Chen Zhihu led his troops to the north, and Li Zhuo relinquished his military power and went to Jiangning to serve as Shangshu of the Jiangning Ministry of War.
After all, the commander-in-chief was unwilling to disobey the emperor's orders. He had too many worries in his heart. If he had persisted in fighting the last battle in East Fujian, the situation might have been very different.
Dong Yuan secretly sighed in his heart. He didn't know what was going on in the past, and it was useless to regret it. But now he must take advantage of the Zhejiang and Fujian rebels' unstable foothold to defeat Shangyanwu as soon as possible. After She Feixiong captured Linshui, he would inevitably
It is necessary to mobilize more elite troops and generals from the western front to reinforce Fuyang - counting the time, the western front troops of the Zhejiang and Fujian rebels may be halfway to reinforce Fuyang.
Going down the river from Wuyuan, from Chun'an, and from Tonglu, the speed will not be too slow; in the early days, there were a large number of wooden boats going up the river from eastern Zhejiang to the west. It seems that from that time on, Shefei Xiong broke through from the middle, and then mobilized troops and horses on the western front
Is it a plan to go down the river and move to the middle road to go north?
The Zhejiang and Fujian rebels have nearly 50,000 elite troops on the western front. They have already lost Linshui. Once Fuyang falls, let She Feixiong move all 30,000 to 50,000 elite troops to the middle...
There is no need to waste time on deducing the bad situation after the fall of Fuyang. Right now, we must first capture Shangyanwu, defend Fuyang City, and then wait for Haiyu Army and Meng Yishan's Ninghai Navy's old troops to go south for reinforcements...
Since the fall of Linshui County in the early hours of yesterday morning, Fuyang was in danger, and the news that the Zhejiang and Fujian troops were attacking Anji reached Haiyu, and Haiyu was also in a state of embarrassment and unprepared.
Fuyang, the middle channel near the water is open to the She family. The defense of Huzhou Prefecture is very weak and it is impossible to resist the influx of tens of thousands of She family elites. From Huzhou Prefecture to the northeast along Taihu Lake, there is Pingjiang Prefecture - including Chen Mingzhe and others
No one in Pingjiang Mansion expected that there would be such a big leak in the middle road.
Pingjiang Prefecture's defense has always focused on the eastern coast. The southwest is located behind Jiaxing, Hangzhou, and Huzhou. It is the inner line. Defense has never been given attention. Whether it is military garrison or walled city, it is far weaker than the east.
Although the Haiyu Army is named after Haiyu, it is actually the local military equipment of Pingjiang Prefecture. Neither Yu Xinyuan nor Chen Xiyan will tolerate the Chen family only caring about the safety of Haiyu County. After receiving Dong Yuan's message from Hangcheng,
After receiving the order, Chen Huawen immediately ordered Su Pinxiao to lead the Haiyu navy to cross the Dongjiang River into Taihu Lake to reinforce Huzhou Prefecture.
Chen Huawen also personally led the infantry of Haiyu Army to go south by land, planning to go to Nanxun first and coordinate with Huzhou and Hangcheng.
We must first protect the capital of Huzhou before we can calmly mobilize reinforcements from other places - but where can we mobilize reinforcements?
Chen Zhihu led his troops to the north, most of the Changhuai Army also went north, and the Huaidong Army also went north - the forces in Dangtu and Luzhou must be prepared to prevent Luo Xiancheng from taking the opportunity to advance eastward, and the Jiangning garrison is always in reserve and will not leave easily.
In Jiangning, Meng Yishan's troops, who went to Weiyang Mansion to rest a few years ago, still have less than 8,000 soldiers and horses who can cross the river and go south for reinforcements!
To transfer Meng Yishan southward, we have to wait for Jiang Ning's order, but it is difficult to say whether Meng Yishan will lead his troops across the river immediately after receiving the transfer order, or whether he will delay and wait and see.
Fuyang was in an emergency, and the situation could not tolerate any further delay. Chen Xiyan, who was recuperating in Haiyu County, decided to go to Weiyang and do Meng Yishan's work in person. At least Meng Yishan had to lead his troops across the river and enter Pingjiang Prefecture first.
Chen Mingzhe left for Chongzhou a moment earlier. In their opinion, the main force of the Huaidong Army had already moved north to Qinwang, but there were always some reserve forces on the Chongzhou and Shengsi defense lines that could be mobilized urgently to provide support.
Chen Mingzhe met Li Shutang on the way, and urgently sent someone to stop Chen Xiyan back from the way. When they met in Haiyu City, it was already early morning on the 23rd.
"What, Lin Zhizhi has returned to Huaidong!"
After learning from Li Shutang that Lin Fu had quietly gone south and that the main force of the Huaidong Army had not gone north to King Qin, Chen Xiyan could not conceal his inner shock.
Chen Mingzhe was also surprised and happy. What was surprising was that Lin Fu actually used such a big cover. The main force of the Huaidong Army lurked over after leaving Chongzhou. Without the reinforcements of the Huaidong Army, what would happen to the situation in Yanji?
At present, the She family is trying to attack from the middle. North Zhejiang, Pingjiang, Danyang, Huinan, and Jiangning are all in urgent need. No one is in the mood to pay attention to the situation in Yanji!
The main force of the Huaidong Army had already lurked in the sea area to the north of the Shengsi defense line at this time. After adjusting the deployment of going south to seize the She family's retreat, the south would have a great opportunity to turn the crisis around - this was something that made Chen Mingzhe overjoyed.
"My lord has received a secret report a long time ago and knows the critical situation on the southern front. When the north and the south cannot look after each other, Huaidong can only protect Jiangning first. My lord secretly returned to Huaidong from Jinhai to supervise the battle!" Li Shutang explained.
Of course, Li Shutang's clever explanation could not fool Chen Xiyan.
Someone in Fangjiabu defected to the She family, opening the door for the She family to surprise Linshui. This was something that was beyond everyone's expectations. This was also the key to the emergency in the middle, and Huaidong could not have known the news in advance.
The main force of the Huaidong Army left Chongzhou on the 12th and headed north. At this time, being able to sneak into the sea north of the Shengsi defense line and make preparations shows that Lin Fu used King Qin as a cover to carry out his plan to build a plank road openly and secretly cross Chencang!
Even if he were to cover up for Huaidong, Huaidong would still commit a serious crime of deceiving the emperor. In the past, Chen Xiyan would never have been willing to associate with a treacherous minister like Lin Fu who deceived the emperor. However, at this time, he
What options are there?
The situation in Yanji is in danger, but it is more important to protect Jiangdong.
"My lord returned to Huaidong for the first time, and he didn't know much about the situation in Zhejiang and Zhejiang. It was only after I arrived at Haiyu that I learned about the collapse of Linshui and the emergency in Fuyang," Li Shutang said.
Let’s discuss the rescue plan together!”
Even if Huaidong can achieve great achievements in this trip, he is not afraid of being investigated by the court for the crime of deceiving the emperor, but using King Qin as a cover is always unreasonable. Li Shutang invited Chen Xiyan to meet Lin Fu in Shengsi, and told him to have nothing to do with it.
Clearing the Qianguan Pass will at least stop the mouths of some Wu Party officials and scholars.
Chen Xiyan hesitated again and again. Although he knew that the court was unable to prosecute Huaidong for bullying the emperor, he was unwilling to associate with Lin Fu, let alone be related to this matter. However, he was also worried that the Huaidong Army did not know the situation in Fuyang.
, which delayed the opportunity to fight - once the troops of the She family leaked in from Linshui in Fuyang, all the descendants of Sanwu would suffer.
As long as Meng Yishan knew that the main force of the Huaidong Army had not gone north, he would decisively lead his army across the Yangtze River and go south to compete for military glory, so the Weiyang Mansion no longer needed Chen Xiyan to go in person.
However, Yuan Ning's navy crossed the river and then went south by land to reach Huzhou Prefecture. It would take at least three to five days. It is difficult to say what the situation will be after three to five days. It will not be worse.
In the end, Chen Xiyan, with extremely complicated emotions, took a boat with Chen Mingzhe and Li Shutang to Daheng Island to meet Lin Fu.
The main force of the Huaidong Army has been gathering in the waters north of Daheng Island since the 21st, adjusting its deployment and making final preparations before the attack. Chen Xiyan and Chen Mingzhe landed on Daheng Island with Li Shutang, and dusk had returned. The advance fleet
We are moving southward by the wind, and we must use the cover of night to quickly pass through the inner waters of Daishan and Changguo Islands, and go straight to the heart of the She family in eastern Zhejiang!
Since the She family has established a complete Fenghuo Dunzhai system in Daishan, Changguo Islands, Mingzhou, and Kuaiji Prefecture, after the main force of the Huaidong Army passes the Shengsi defense line, it can sneak to the inner line without being discovered for only one night at most.
It was too late to directly attack Fuyang, which was located in the middle reaches of the Qianjiang River and had twists and turns. Lin Fu's first step was to attack Mingzhou!