Chapter 127: Crossing the Sea and Crossing the River
It was the end of May, and it was rainy and windy along the coast of Jiangsu and Zhejiang.
With Cao Ziang's accommodation and convenience, Chu Zheng walked southward from Shanyin to defend the sea embankment, and crossed the Yangtze River from Jiangmen to go south to Yudong. When Chu Zheng set foot on the land of Yudong, a typhoon passed through, and hurricanes and heavy rains swept the territory of Yudong.
The road was damaged in several places.
Chu Zheng was anxious to see Lin Fu, and in order to express the critical situation of Yangxin, he headed south despite the wind and rain.
Fortunately, the hurricane has passed. Although we don't know whether the next wave will come again, there is still a certain gap. Chu Zheng and his entourage rode south in the wind and rain. Although it was difficult, it was not very dangerous.
After entering Jiaxing, Chu Zheng realized that the wind disaster in Yudong was relatively light.
This typhoon happened to cross Changguo Island and entered at the junction of Haiyan and Pinghu counties in the southeast of Jiaxing. It swept all the way north. By the time it reached Yudong, the wind had weakened a lot. Changguo Island and Pinghu County were severely affected.
Houses, fields, and roads were everywhere destroyed by the hurricane. There were many casualties and tens of thousands of people were left homeless.
At this time, Chu Zheng could slightly understand how miserable it was when tens of thousands of people drowned in the Xisha Island hurricane in one night. Only then could he understand why the Jiangdong Left Army, which was mainly composed of the Xisha Island refugees and their bravery, was loyal to Lin Fu and why they were so brave.
Fight without fear of life or death.
The road was destroyed and it was difficult for the cavalry to move. It was not until the third day of June that Chu Zheng and his party arrived at Menshandu in the south of Haiyan County.
There were many fishing boats anchored at the mouth of Menshandu to take shelter from the storm. Chu Zheng wanted to hire a boat to take them across the river.
The mouth of the Qianjiang River in the Menshan Ferry section is unusually wide, and there is a distance of fifty miles to the shore of Cixi. The fishing boats are all small, and the weather was cloudy at that time, and the wind had not completely subsided.
No one was willing to take the risk of sending Chu Zheng across the river for a few taels of silver, so they all advised him to go to Haining and take the Tazi Mountain crossing to Shangyu on the other side, which is only twenty miles away. It is also convenient to go to Mingzhou Fucheng by land from Shangyu.
Chu Zheng didn't know that Lin Fu, Gao Zongting and others were in Shangyu. He thought that he would take a detour to Haining and walk for two more days. He might as well stay at Menshandu for one more day. Maybe the weather would improve tomorrow and he could cross the river directly.
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There is a fishing port in Menshandu, forming a large town. Although there is no inn in the town, you can rent a house. You can sleep in the night, listening to the howling wind, rain hitting the eaves, and the sound of rain on the eaves.
, Chu Zheng was worried that he still wouldn’t be able to leave at dawn.
Not knowing when the storm would stop, Chu Zheng was awakened by a knock on the door. When he woke up, he heard someone knocking on the door of the owner's house. Hearing the door open, someone asked the owner outside the yard: "Are there six people there before nightfall?"
One of them broke his left arm and spent the night at your place..."
Jiaxing belongs to the Zhejiang North Zhejiang Envoy Division and is Dong Yuan's territory. Although Dong Yuan was also a figure from the East Fujian Army, and Chu Zheng and Dong Yuan also knew each other, the current situation is complicated and people's hearts are unpredictable. Chu Zheng is worried about Dong Yuan
After detaining a few of them, there was no publicity after leaving Yudongnan.
Ordinarily, Dong Yuan had no chance of knowing that they were passing through Jiaxing, but someone knocked on the door in the middle of the night and asked, so Chu Zheng couldn't help but be alert.
No matter what, Chu Zheng couldn't meet Dong Yuan's swordsmen. Even if a few of them were captured by Dong Yuan, their lives would not be in danger. Hearing someone coming over, Chu Zheng opened the door and asked: "
Who is looking for me?"
"Captain Chu, it's me!" A young voice came from the darkness.
Chu Zheng sounded familiar at first, but couldn't remember who it was for a moment. The retinue held up a lamp and walked over from behind, only to see the face of a young man in his twenties. Chu Zheng hadn't recognized it yet, but the retinue behind him was enthusiastic at first.
He slapped me with a palm: "Chen Xiaoyan, why is it you?"
Chu Zheng then recognized the man as Gao Zongting's school boy. He hadn't seen him for five or six years. The young man back then was already a handsome young man.
"Why are you here? Mr. Gao asked you to come here. Where are Mr. Gao's people?" Chu Zheng asked.
"Sir, he is on the boat. His identity is sensitive and it is inconvenient to go ashore. I knew that you were looking for a boat to cross the river at Menshandu, so you asked me to come to you. Fortunately, the town is not big, otherwise I would have broken my legs." Chen Xiaoyan said.
When Chu Zheng arrived, he wanted to find Gao Zongting first. Unexpectedly, Gao Zongting's people had already arrived at Menshan Ferry. He quickly paid the rent with his master and followed Chen Xiaoyan to the ferry with his retinue.
At this time, the wind and rain have subsided, and there are faint stars in the sky. People who go to the ferry can see the dark shadow of a large sea ship like a mountain parked not far away, rocking by the wind and waves.
Chu Zheng first took a small boat to the center of the river and then climbed onto the ship. Gao Zongting, wearing a long gown, stood on the deck and watched Chu Zheng board the ship with a smile. Among the Eastern Fujian army, Gao Zongting had the best relationship with Lu Jingyan. He was not like Dong Yuan and Chen Zhihu were so difficult to get close to, but they had good relations with the generals under the Eastern Fujian Army.
"Why is Mr. Gao crossing at Menshan?" Chu Zheng respectfully saluted Gao Zongting and asked casually why Gao Zongting was in Haiyan.
"I made a special trip to pick you up, but I didn't expect to catch you there - Changguo Island was severely hit by the storm this time. I accompanied the envoy to inspect the disaster situation on Changguo Island. I knew you were coming, and I was afraid that you would go astray, so the envoy asked me to sit down. The ship comes here to try its luck." Gao Zongting explained the reason why he came to Haiyan and added, "You are really right to come to Mingzhou. Ao Canghai, Tang Fuguan, Chen Dingbang, Yang Zichen, Yu Wencheng, Yu Wenbei are all in Mingzhou—— Quan Shan's letter was one step ahead of yours, complaining that you were passing through Chongzhou and went to see him first."
In the Qingzhou Army, Chu Zheng was just a small Yang Xinwei. In the past few years, he had brought out more than a thousand elites, and the Gu family and his son had taken away the military power. Apart from five loyal retinues who wanted to follow him, Chu Zheng was left alone with no one to rely on. At this moment, Chu Zheng felt a surge of warmth in his heart, as if he were returning to his hometown. Lin Fu made a special trip to ask Gao Zongting to cross the river to pick him up, and he felt even more moved.
After getting on the big ship, Chu Zheng didn't realize how big the wind and waves were at the mouth of the Qianjiang River. The Lin Zhengjun quietly set off and headed for Changguo Island. Gao Zongting invited Chu Zheng into the cabin to explain the situation in Qingzhou in detail.
Chen Zhihu attacked Leling and Gu Siyuan led his troops to attack it.
After several days of fierce fighting in Leling, Gu Siyuan still failed to recapture Leling. When the rebel general Zhou Zhzhong led his troops to cross the Zhulong River and enter the south bank, Gu Siyuan was forced to lead his troops to retreat to Yangxin and defend the city.
Huaidong was aware of the apparent development of the situation in Qingzhou, but the specific troop deployment and defense strategies of the Qingzhou Army were far less detailed than Chu Zheng.
Before Chu Zheng went south, Gu Wuchen moved his troops to Yangxin in order to firmly maintain his confidence in Yangxin and Zhulong River. He urged the soldiers and civilians to step up the construction of defenses on the south bank of the Zhulong River. At that time, he recruited nearly 40,000 civilians from Yangxin and surrounding areas. , the Qingzhou Army also has more than 20,000 troops stationed in Yangxin.
Since the garrison was scattered at various points of the defense, when Chen Zhihu unexpectedly led his troops to attack Pingyuan Mansion, the garrison in Lelingdang was less than two thousand, and the garrison gathered in Yangxin City was less than four. thousand.
The Leling garrison was defeated by Chen Zhihu's strange attack. Gu Siyuan was unable to gather enough troops in Yangxin to immediately counterattack Leling. Only then did Chen Zhihu finally gain a foothold in Leling.
If the Qingzhou Army had not divided its troops into defensive bases and could not muster enough troops for a counterattack, Chen Zhihu's troops, no matter how brave and skillful they were, and Chen Zhihu was a famous general in the world, would have been exhausted after several days of forced marches and rushed to attack Leling.
If the amount is less than 3,000, the possibility of eviction is high.
Chen Zhihu's troops are all elites who have experienced many battles. Once they gain a foothold, they will be as solid as a rock. The Qingzhou Army, which has not been expanded in a hurry and has insufficient armor, can be defeated. The only hope is that the Liang family can mobilize elite troops to join forces with the Qingzhou Army to recapture Leling.
The Liang family should not have any thoughts of watching the fire from the other side at this time. The defeat of Chentangyi had already proved that the Liang family and his son were not generals that could be relied on. However, the slow reaction of the Liang family and his son this time is still disappointing. Maybe they
His ability is to bully and bully the refugee army.
At this time, it is unclear how many troops Yanhu will invest in Yangxin, but since Chen Zhihu has been transferred from the Western Front this time, Yanhu will definitely invest less troops in this battle.
After learning some details of Qingzhou's military deployment from Chu Zheng that Huaidong did not know, Gao Zongting stood up, holding the candle on his back and let out a long sigh.
Chu Zheng also knew military strategy, and of course he knew that the situation in Yangxin was extremely critical.
Linzi Prefecture is located in the lower reaches of the Yellow River. Due to the Yellow River bursting its banks in the ninth year of Chongguan, floods spread wildly in the lower reaches of the Yellow River, and Linzi Prefecture suddenly became a vast country.
The civil strife over the embankment construction of the Yellow River made efforts to repair the old embankments of the Yellow River come to naught. However, the water flowed along the low-lying areas. After several years of twists and turns, the water of the Yellow River was finally diverted by the Zhulong River, Wei River, Xiaoqing River and other rivers.
The Zhulong River and the Xiaoqing River flow through the territory of Linzi Prefecture. The Zhulong River flows in the north of Yangxin City, and the Xiaoqing River flows between Yangxin and Guangrao. The Xiaoqing River actually forms between Yangxin and Guangrao, shielding the natural resources in the southern part of Linzi Prefecture.
barrier.
But when the main force of the Qingzhou Army gathered in Yangxin and Chen Zhihu established a foothold in Leling, the rebel general Zhou Zhizhong led his troops across the Zhulong River. The Xiaoqing River became an obstacle that hindered the main force of the Qingzhou Army from calmly withdrawing from Yangxin.
There is only one wooden bridge on the Xiaoqing River. Enemy soldiers are peeping nearby. It is difficult to use this wooden bridge to evacuate tens of thousands of soldiers and civilians to the south.
At the moment, the main force of the Qingzhou Army can only gather in Yangxin to defend the city...
"Yanhu chose this time to attack Yangxin, which was not conducive to the dispatch of his cavalry, but in fact he also took advantage of the violent summer and autumn storms in the East China Sea to prevent the Huaidong Army from attacking its rear by sea - it depends on how long Yangxin can hold out!" Gao Zongting said!
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Yangxin is not far from the sea. When Chu Zheng was commanding the local soldiers in Yangxin, he often went to the seaside for training. However, how can the storms in the Bohai Bay compare with the violent East China Sea in summer? In the past, only sea ships were known to be borrowed from Huaidong.
It is extremely convenient to travel between the north and the south, but I didn’t know that sea people often say that the dangerous sea journey can be so terrifying.
This time I came to Mingzhou to find Lin Fu and Gao Zongting. After walking through the southeastern coastal areas that had been hit by hurricanes, I knew that even if Huaidong and Qingzhou were not at odds, it would be impossible for Huaidong to take the sea route to aid Qingzhou before the storm season passed.
Huaidong's troops are almost all on the southern front. Even if they ignore the She family's military pressure in Zhejiang County, they can all be drawn out - not by sea. Tens of thousands of soldiers and horses crossed the Qianjiang River, entered northern Zhejiang, went north from Hangzhou, and along the
The west bank of Taihu Lake passes through Pingjiang Prefecture, then crosses the Yangtze River to Chongzhou, takes Hanhaidi Avenue to Shanyang, crosses the Huaihe River and enters Huaisi, then crosses Yishan through Yinan and enters Qingzhou Prefecture - even if Dong Yuan and the Liang family agree to give Huaidong
The army took advantage of the road, and after all this trouble, 30,000 to 50,000 troops entered Qingzhou Prefecture, at least two months later.
Distant water cannot save nearby fire!
We can't count on Huaidong. How can we count on Dengzhou Town or the Liang family? Can we count on the Changhuai Army farther west?
Obviously, Yanhu's troops in southern Shanxi must be dispatched to contain the Changhuai Army and the Liang family. Even if Liu Yefei ignores the past suspicions, the troops in Dengzhou Town are really limited, combined with the troops stationed in other areas in Qingzhou except Yangxin.
, we can gather more than 20,000 miscellaneous soldiers, but we are still unable to defend the territory, how to rescue them?
At the moment, we can only hope that the Gu family and his son will lead the main force of the Qingzhou Army to defend Yangxin. As long as Yanhu's soldiers and horses are dragged south, the siege will be relieved. Fortunately, Gu Wuchen had previously focused on defending Yangxin, and the food and grass reserves in Yangxin were relatively sufficient, so he could