The more than 20,000 troops who decided to divide their troops and go south were the soldiers stationed in Nanyuan of the Beijing camp. They were surrounded by some of the princes, ministers and concubines who moved south, including the Queen Mother Liang, Shangshu Zuopushe and minister Chen Xinbo, King Yuan Jianhai of Lu and others.
Breakout south.
This group of troops left the Taihu camp on the afternoon of the 16th and headed southwest. At night, they stopped at Zhangjiaji, which is more than ten miles away from Yunya Mountain and more than forty miles away from Taimen in the south of Yanjing City. In the middle of the night, they stayed at Yunya.
The refugees at the northern foot of the mountain could clearly hear the sound of a large number of cavalry rushing across the border, like a raging flood, which made people tremble with fear.
It is said that the safest thing is to stay in Chengshouji and mix among the refugees. However, at dawn, Wu Qi sneaked up to Yunya Mountain to watch the battle. Chen Dingbang limped up and saw that in the dim morning light,
Like a black flood, the Donghu cavalry group spread out across the southern foot of Yunya Mountain. Like a flood and like ruthless sand, it swept towards Zhangjiaji.
The captive cavalry attacked at night. Counting the departure time from the Jizhou camp, they continued to march for at least ten hours on the road, with only a small amount of rest time.
The Donghu people had no intention of taking a break before attacking. Instead, they launched a pursuit array in the open area in front of Yunya Mountain. Under the increasingly bright morning light, they launched a merciless attack on the south-fleeing soldiers and horses stranded in the Zhangjiaji area.
And a determined attack.
"Looking at the size of the cavalry deployed in front of the mountain, I'm afraid there are no less than 20,000 elite cavalry," Chen Dingbang clenched his fists and stared at the battlefield in front of the mountain like a wolf, "There should be one elite cavalry to monitor Chen Zhihu in Sanhe -
In this way, no one has paid attention to the Beijing camp army and Xuanfu army that broke out to Jinhai in the east. They may not be intercepted until they get close to the outskirts of Jinhai. Donglu planned to use the main force of cavalry to defeat this side first, and then quickly turned around.
Fight to the east - Donglu will be rounded up this time!"
"I'm afraid that's it!" Wu Qi said.
Although in the later period, a total of 60,000 to 70,000 Donghu cavalry entered the Yannan and eastern Hebei areas to fight, in order to control the entire Yanji battlefield and take the initiative, while the Donghu people gradually relied on the Han army as the main force, their cavalry was also scattered in many places.
, the main cavalry force gathered in the Xianghe-Jizhou camp for rest and recuperation in the later period was only more than 30,000 people. Excluding the cavalry used to monitor Chen Zhihu's troops, the main cavalry force that the Donghu people could mobilize in Jidong was just this.
Chen Dingbang and Geng Quanshan were originally Lu Jingyan's trusted subordinates. They had been following Li Zhuo for a long time since Chongguan ten years ago. How could they have poor eyesight?
Apart from anything else, as long as we can safely escort Chen Dingbang to Huaidong this time, it will be a big gain.
Compared with the Donghu cavalry's swiftness like the wind, aggressiveness like fire, and ambition to devour everything, the 20,000 Beijing camp troops stranded in Zhangjiaji were really lackluster.
Led by Ye Jiduo, the troops that control the deep areas of Yannan are themselves limited, and their main defense targets are Liang Chengchong's tribe assembled in the plains and Tao Chun's tribe assembled in Qinghe. The interception forces that can be drawn out are relatively limited.
The Beijing camp troops fleeing south should know that the main threat on their way south is not in the front, but in the rear. They should pay attention to guarding against the main Donghu cavalry chasing them from the rear. Temporarily stationed in the camp, they should also take advantage of the river flow in summer.
Due to the turbulent nature, try to choose a relatively deep and wide river to cross to the south bank for a short stay, so as to avoid the direct attack of the Donglu cavalry.
The troops from the south-fleeing Beijing camp who stopped at Zhangjiaji after nightfall made a fatal mistake on their first night of breaking out. Although a pontoon bridge was set up overnight, in addition to the more than 2,000 forward troops and nearly 20,000 troops,
They were all stranded on the north bank of the Zhangjiaji section of the Wei River.
Beyond Yunya Mountain, for more than ten miles, there are almost no natural terrain obstacles except for two small rivers and ditches. Probably after the Donghu cavalry outpost passed Yunya Mountain, the Beijing camp army hurriedly deployed defenses in the rear formation, and it was a mess.
They unloaded the mules and horses from the baggage carts and piled them behind the formation to prevent the Donghu cavalry from charging directly into the formation.
The vanguard of the Donghu cavalry avoided the chaotic car formation, divided into two teams and went around to the flanks to find openings to penetrate, and ruthlessly shot the generals of the Beijing camp with bows and arrows in order to cause greater chaos.
The Donghu cavalry are mainly light cavalry and mostly wear leather armor. However, a cavalry regiment of more than 20,000 people must also be equipped with armored cavalry, and there are still a lot of them.
The hastily formed defensive formation on the rear by the troops fleeing from the capital was thrown into chaos under the shooting of the bows and arrows of the captive cavalry. The Donghu people temporarily organized a thousand-man armored cavalry, which was like a heavy hammer to launch an attack.
, and immediately knocked down one corner of the formation of the Beijing camp.
Several counterattacks organized by the troops fleeing south to the capital were weak and useless, and were easily disintegrated. Before the end of the day, the main formation of more than 20,000 people was penetrated by the Donghu people.
Due to time constraints, even though a pontoon bridge was set up, it was only a short time before the Donghu people caught up and launched a direct attack. The chariots of the princes, ministers and concubines who fled south did not have enough time to pass through the pontoon bridge and evacuate to the south bank. More
It is for protection in the middle of the headquarters. When the Donghu cavalry directly penetrated the formation and protected the chariots in the middle, it was like a hornet's nest poked by bamboo poles. Everyone was frightened, which directly led to the complete collapse of the entire formation.
There was no chance of resistance at all.
The performance of the Nanfleeing Camp from Beijing was quite surprising as it did not collapse at the beginning of the hasty battle. The entire formation was penetrated by the Donghu people, and the commander's flag was cut off, leaving it to protect the Nanfleeing chariots in the middle.
Complete chaos, the ending cannot be rewritten.
Just as Chen Dingbang expected before the war, the Donghu people would also gather forces to pursue eastward, and the main purpose here was to defeat them.
After the troops fleeing south from Beijing were defeated, the main force of the Donghu cavalry began to withdraw from the battlefield and shrink to the southern foot of Yunya Mountain. Only more than 3,000 cavalry were left to continue to control the battlefield, cut and chase the defeated soldiers and the princes and ministers who fled south, and fled south.
Only more than 3,000 people from the Beijing camp and some princes and ministers fled to the south bank and cut off the pontoon bridge in time.
Countless soldiers were chased and killed, panicking and forcing them into the fast-flowing river. Wearing armor, they would sink immediately after entering the water; countless people were entangled together, and no matter how good the water quality was, they would be dragged to the bottom of the river by other drowning people.
Looking at the shadows struggling in the river, Chen Dingbang seemed to be able to hear their desperate howls.
There were also a small number of broken soldiers who insisted on defending; more of the broken soldiers seemed to realize that there was no hope of escaping south, and turned northwest, towards Yanjing, or fled or broke through. More generals abandoned their armor and chose to go east to the barbarians.
Kneel down and surrender, like a forest that has just been cut down, with rows of people kneeling on the ground like wooden stakes.
The disparity in combat power was huge, and there was no suspense about the outcome. On the battlefield, the Donghu cavalry rushed left and right. The Beijing camp army, which the imperial court invested countless money and food to support, suffered miserably and suffered massacres or surrendered without resistance. Wu Qi, Chen Dingbang
The others felt uncomfortable after seeing this. Although three to four thousand people escaped, starting from Zhangjiaji and crossing Yannan, it was nearly 500 miles. In this area, there are more than 40,000 steps in Donghu.
Riding, it’s hard to say how many people will succeed in escaping south in the end.
Seeing signs that the Donghu people were sending people to control Yunya Mountain, Wu Qi, Chen Dingbang and others did not dare to stay on the mountain. They retreated from the path to Chengshouji at the northern foot and hid in the darkness of the tea shop. For now, they could only stay
Cheng Shouji used the refugees as cover and waited for an opportunity before leaving Yanji. He also gave up the idea of going to Sanhe to contact Chen Zhihu.
"It's better to keep the news that Li Bingbu gave Emperor Chongguan alcohol and medicine to die for the time being and keep it from Chen Zhihu for the time being," Wu Qi came to Chen Dingbang and said, "Even if there is still room to sneak into Sanhe, the road going south is almost completely blocked.
, it’s hard to predict how Chen Zhihu will react after knowing the truth - we can’t go to Sanhe to take this risk."
Although Chen Dingbang did not directly serve as a general under Chen Zhihu, he was from the same lineage of the East Fujian Army and knew Chen Zhihu well.
When the situation develops to this point, Chen Zhihu is very likely to detain them and throw them directly at the Donghu people.
At this time, the war was in chaos, and there was no way to send people to find Lu Xiong. Lu Xiong would have to wait until the outcome of the battle on the Sanhe front line to see Chen Zhihu. Could Wu Qi predict that when the Sanhe battle was over, Chen Zhihu would know about Li Zhuosheng's death?
The truth may not be that important.
Under Ye Jiluorong's attack, more than 20,000 troops from the Beijing camp fled south. Except for a few who escaped in time, they collapsed in less than half a day. Casualties and broken soldiers were all over the fields and valleys for a while.
With only a thousand defenders left in the Taihu camp, Kaicheng surrendered on the night of the 17th. In addition to retreating into Yanjing City, Chen Zhihu's passage south was tightly blocked.
Ye Jiluorong led the main force of his cavalry to rest for a while at the southern foot of Yunya Mountain. A small group of cavalry entered the upper reaches of the Yunchao River to set up a trestle, intending to drive the cavalry to the north bank to attack the flank of the Southern Dynasty's troops.
The Battle of Chaohe River was much easier than imagined.
The troops fleeing from the east were divided into the Jingying camp and the Xuanfu army. The only way to escape was to cross the Chaohe River to open a gap outside the Tianjin Sea and escape into the city. The jailers of the Jingying camp built a bridge to rush across and fought with the intercepted Xinfu.
A fierce battle broke out between the Han army and they gradually expanded their control area on the south bank. When they planned to transfer more troops to the south bank to participate, a Xuanfu army that was unwilling to move south with the emperor broke away from the formation directly from the left rear wing and headed northwest
Escape from the battlefield.
Although the retreating Xuanfu army only had four to five hundred people, the sudden change exposed the fatal weakness of the Xuanfu army at the rear, which greatly demoralized the entire army and became a key factor in the defeat of the Chaohe War.
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Ye Ji'er's eldest son, King Ye Ji Baishan of Duoluo County, led two thousand elite cavalry to cross the Chaohe River from the upper reaches at this time. Unable to wait for Ye Ji Luorong to lead the main cavalry across the river, he resolutely led two thousand cavalry to pounce on it, ruthlessly attacking
He bit the Xuanfu army's left rear wing and pursued them fiercely.
At that time, the Xuanfu army and the guards of the Beijing camp on the north bank had nearly 30,000 soldiers and horses. However, in less than a stick of incense, they were smashed to pieces by the two thousand fine cavalry led by Ye Ji Baishan. Following the Donghu
The number of cavalrymen crossing the river continues to increase, and the battle on the north bank becomes increasingly unsuspicious...
Thousands of guards from the Beijing camp who rushed to cross the Chaohe River were also in chaos. The newly-attached Han army who intercepted them seized the opportunity and defeated them in one fell swoop. Countless people were forced into the Chaohe River and drowned. Their bodies almost overwhelmed the already not spacious room.
The tidal river is blocked.
Although the Xuanfu Army was once one of the last few elite forces controlled by the imperial court, in the end the army was demoralized and there was not much will to persist in fighting. The order to break out came so suddenly that ordinary generals were not mentally prepared and almost subconsciously
Resist the move of the capital to the south. Even if there were no incidents of deserters forming an organization and leaving the main formation, it would be impossible to rely on such an army to open the gap for the Donghu people on the periphery of Jinhai.
Huang Jinnian, Lin Xuwen, Gao Zongting and others stood at the top of the North Wall of Jinhai City, watching the Dongfugitive troops and horses being completely defeated by the Donghu people - this was a serious blow to the morale of the Jinhai defenders, but the Dongfugitive troops and horses
It is impossible to cross the Chaohe River and establish a solid position on the south bank, and there is no way to go out of the city to respond.