Hundreds of thousands of soldiers and civilians retreating south from Hezhong Prefecture were blocked on the north bank of the Beiru River, making it difficult to move south smoothly for a while. Although the Beiru River is not as wide and spacious as the Yangtze River and Huaihe River, the dilapidated ferry cannot build pontoons and lacks ferries.
With only dozens of small fishing boats collected, it took two days to ferry over 20,000 people.
On the one hand, Liang Chengyi sent cavalry to drive a large number of refugees to Huangbai Valley in the upper reaches of the Bei Ru River, taking a long detour so that they could cross the river in the shallow water from the upper reaches; on the other hand, he urged his troops and their accompanying family members to cross the river faster, and at the same time, his son Liang Yanshun took the lead.
The elite troops followed Yuan Jinsheng across the river first to Wuyang to take over the defense. Only half a day after Liang Yanshun and Yuan Jinsheng crossed the river, enemy soldiers pursued them to the Zhishan Pass, which was less than thirty miles away from Beiru River.
Liang Chengyi was not too worried. The main force of Chen Zhihu's command was still on the north bank of the Yellow River in Mengjin, the main force of Yuan Lishan's command was far away in Tai'an, and there was no large-scale westward movement in Jining. The enemy troops who were the first to catch up were recovered, mostly from Xingyang.
, garrison troops arriving from Daliang and other cities.
Xingyang and Daliang were under the jurisdiction of Chen Zhihu under the jurisdiction of Henan. However, after the autumn of last year, Yan Ting transferred Chen Zhihu to cross the Yellow River north and then west to Guanzhong to participate. Yanhu's troops in Henan were extremely limited, and most of them were weak brigades, which were only used to defend the city.
base.
Of course, Yanhu also stationed a large number of elite cavalry in Jinan, under the command of Ye Jiduo, but it was a long way from Jinan. Even if the news of the withdrawal from Hezhong reached Jinan, it would take at least two or three days to react.
Not so fast.
Liang Chengyi asked Tan Ma: "How many soldiers and horses does the enemy have, and how many cavalry are there?"
In order to prevent enemy soldiers from chasing from the north, Liang Chengyi led his troops to temporarily camp there in the wide valley formed by the confrontation between Zhishan and Damen Mountain. He was not afraid of a small group of enemy soldiers chasing from the north, but he was worried about the pursuers.
There were a large number of enemy soldiers in the army. They circled to the east foot of Yushan Mountain and attacked from the lower reaches of the Beiru River, which caused quite a headache.
Tan Ma reported back: "There are about three thousand enemies chasing the enemy, both on foot and on horseback. They come day and night and approach the Huangque Ridge of Zhishan Mountain to wait and see. General Liang Dai is worried about the enemy's night attack. Please send troops to reinforce Zhishan Pass..."
"Liang Dai has 5,000 troops and horses, and a simple camp to rely on. He is afraid that 3,000 enemy troops will seize the camp. What a softie!" Fang Keshan, the captain of the left military academy, came over to discuss the matter. He had a rift with Liang Dai, the commander of the troops and horses in the rear.
, No matter Liang Dai is the nephew of the old boss Liang Xi, or the cousin of the new boss Liang Chengyi, he will not forget to ridicule him when he has the opportunity.
Liang Chengyi frowned, ignored the conflicts among his generals, and said: "It's not like asking three thousand enemy soldiers to watch behind you. Keshan, when you go back to the inner city, beware of enemy soldiers coming around from the east.
If I go to Zhishan Pass and eat up these pursuers, the problem will be simpler..."
If there are enemy soldiers biting on the tail, no matter how many there are, it will always make the soldiers and civilians blocked at the ferry unable to go south for a while, causing a lot of panic. Furthermore, if the enemy soldiers are not wiped out, they will gather more and more in a short period of time, and bite them eastward.
, a bite from the west also makes it difficult to defend here.
If this group of enemy soldiers is wiped out, other small groups of enemy soldiers will be deterred from pursuing them, which will buy more time for the soldiers and civilians in the river to cross the river and retreat south, and the area for crossing the river will be wider.
Liang Chengyi raised his head and looked at the sky. The setting sun had set, and the crescent moon was a little pale, but gradually became brighter. It was easy to travel at night under the moon, and it was also easy to fight at night.
Liang Chengyi ordered the left and right to continue crossing the river without stopping. He checked the three thousand cavalry and headed for the Yushan Pass. He met up with Liang Dai who was guarding the Yushan Pass. He planned to hold off until tomorrow and eat up the enemy soldiers who entered the northern section of Huangque Ridge in the Yushan Mountain.
When Liang Xi was in charge of the frontier army, ten of Liang Xi's nephews served as generals in the frontier army, known as the Ten Tigers of Liangmen. Over the years, the wars had declined, and only four of them were left, Liang Chengchong, Liang Chengyi, Liang Dai and Liang Chengchong, who were appointed as Fangcheng.
Lieutenant Liang Chengdong.
When the troops had the strength, they were transferred to the front ferry to weave ropes and build ferries. The camp here was very simple. The camp at Zhishankou mainly rested on a rocky mountain col rising abruptly in the wide valley of Zhishankou. The col was like a stone valley, south and west.
There are steep slopes on both sides, and wooden fences are built on the northeast sides.
Liang Chengyi led his troops to arrive late at night. A small group of enemy soldiers tried to attack the camp but were repelled. A gap was opened in the camp fence and a corner of the camp was set on fire. However, the enemy soldiers were repelled, except for a broken ground.
Apart from the broken limbs and arms, the broken halberd and broken arrows, the night gradually returned to silence.
The soldiers and horses entered the camp. Liang Chengyi and Liang Dai rode up Shishan surrounded by guards. Under the moonlit night, they looked at the crowds of people in the north. It can be seen that the enemy soldiers were repulsed by this night attack and failed to scare them away.
"Are there any other enemy soldiers coming from the north?" Liang Chengyi asked.
After joining forces with Liang Dai, he had 8,000 soldiers and horses. He was not afraid of 3,000 pursuers, but he was afraid that other pursuers would come to join him, which would make the enemy's force even greater.
"There is still a small group of enemy soldiers crossing the Yellow River in Mengzhou, about a thousand people," Liang Dai said. "It should be that after our troops withdrew from the river, Yan Hu transferred the soldiers and horses from southern Shanxi to go south. After nightfall, the troops in the north were
If a group of enemy soldiers come around, we won't have the chance to send our scout horses out to reconnoiter the situation to the north."
In the past, Liang Chengyi occupied Hezhong Prefecture and faced off against southern Shanxi across the river. Yanhu mainly stationed troops on the north bank of Mengjin for protection. However, there were also troops stationed on the north bank of the Yellow River east of Mengjin, ranging from about 1,800 troops. Each
The garrison in one city may not seem like many, but there are nearly twenty counties in southern Shanxi, and the total combined is very impressive.
Now that Liang Chengyi has abandoned Hezhongfu, the entire middle reaches of the Yellow River will completely fall into the hands of Yanhu. There is no need to garrison troops in the counties in southern Shanxi. The troops will be gathered at Hezhongfu at the ferry crossing. This is also the general trend. However, these scattered garrisons must be gathered to form a
A large force of pursuit cannot be accomplished in three to five days.
Liang Chengyi was not too worried about Yan Hu transferring the troops stationed in southern Shanxi to the south. What he was confused about was that Yan Hu was too impatient.
Liang Chengyi felt dissatisfied when he saw that Liang Dai had an advantage in terms of military strength and was suppressed by three thousand enemy soldiers in the valley, unable to get out. However, he also knew that he should give up the southward retreat from Hezhong. Coupled with last year's great rout, the morale of the soldiers in Hezhong was greatly reduced.
Feeling low and lacking in fighting spirit, they all thought that they could retreat to Nanyang safely, but they were unable to fight to the death.
Liang Chengyi ordered the generals behind him: "Dong Biaozi, you and Chen Shen will each have 300 horses, stick to Dayu Mountain, and go to the north of Yushan Mountain. After driving the enemy scouts out of the mountain pass," he then said to Liang Dai, "
You and your generals will lead 2,000 infantry out of the camp and march out to the north. We cannot force 3,000 enemy troops to stay in the camp with 8,000 troops and dare not leave."
Liang Chengyi did not blame Liang Dai, but first sent his troops to fight out at night to compete with the enemy for the terrain at the north entrance. Liang Dai felt guilty and did not defend himself, so he immediately sent troops out of the camp according to Liang Chengyi's deployment.
Take advantage of the night to fight for the terrain of Zhenshan Pass. After dawn, you can have the opportunity to eat up the enemy soldiers who are chasing after you, which can also boost your low morale.
Liang Chengyi had a lot of cavalry under his command. At the peak of Hezhong Mansion's military strength, there were 50,000 troops and more than 10,000 cavalry.
Last year, the battle to cross the Yellow River failed. This time, Liang Chengyi retreated south with four to five thousand cavalry. The three thousand soldiers and horses who followed Liang Chengyi from the ferry to join Liang Dai were all cavalry. At that time, 600 cavalry galloped out and were divided into two teams.
Taking advantage of the moonlit night, he went to kill the pursuing troops in the north of the mountain.
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Yanque Ridge is the remnant of the Hengshan Mountain from Zhishan Mountain to the north. It is a barren ridge forty to fifty feet high and seven or eight miles long. There are huge rocks and sparrow heads on the top of the ridge, so it is named Yanque Ridge.
Chen Zhihu stood on the bird stone, watching the Hezhong Army attacking from the Yushan Pass under the moonlit night.
What Liang Chengyi never expected was that the soldiers and horses chasing him from the north were actually the garrison dispatched from Xingyang or Daliang. They were elite troops led by Chen Zhihu himself and chased across the river from the east of Mengzhou.
Although the number of these pursuers was small, only about 3,000, they were indeed the warriors who had fought with Chen Zhihu for many years.
After being transferred to Jinzhong to fight against Guanzhong after the autumn of last year, although the number of troops around Hezhong Prefecture decreased sharply, both Chen Zhihu and Yan Ting paid close attention to the movements of Hezhong Prefecture.
The overall strategy of the kings of Yan, Ye Ji'er, Ye Ji Luorong, and Ye Ji Duodi, on the western front was to use strong military pressure to seize Guanzhong, force the Cao family to retreat south, and seize the south passage to Jinghu Lake.
Hezhong Prefecture and Guanzhong are closely interdependent. Liang Chengyi could not bear the pressure and withdrew early. This was not something that the kings of Yan and Hu could not consider. In fact, the purpose of diverting the troops around Hezhong Prefecture and storming Guanzhong was to kill Liang Chengyi.
Scared away from Hezhong Mansion.
Around the second day of June, after it was confirmed that Liang Chengyi was going to flee south, Chen Zhihu led his troops to march eastward from Hejin in western Shanxi, passing through Hengqu to the north bank of the Yellow River in Mengjin.
It was early summer, and the Yellow River was fast-flowing, wide and dangerous, making it difficult for a large group of soldiers and horses to cross the river. After Liang Chengyi withdrew from Hezhong Mansion, there were still a few soldiers and horses left to monitor the south bank of the Yellow River in Mengjin.
Chen Zhihu immediately made a decision and handed over the main force of troops to Gao Yi to temporarily lead them across the Yellow River from Mengjin Huaibei to confuse Liang Chengyi. He himself led 3,000 elite troops to travel eastward at night and crossed at the ferry east of Mengzhou.
The Yellow River passed through Xingyang and headed south in pursuit. Liang Chengyi thought that these 3,000 pursuing troops were Xingyang's 3,000 weak brigade.
It was when he was about to catch up with Yushan that Chen Zhihu ordered the Henan soldiers and horses from Xingyang and Daliang cities to come and join him.
Seeing the Hezhong Army attacking at night, under the crescent moon, all the people were covered with dark shadows. It was not clear what soldiers and horses were dispatched. In short, there were no less than two thousand people. General Leng Zilin said to Chen Zhihu: "Tiger
"Shuai, the troops in the river have evil intentions and want to eat us all. Should we retreat back, lure them to spread out their troops first, and wait for Xingyang and Daliang troops to come over before counterattacking?"
Chen Zhihu was a former bandit. He was saved by Li Zhuo on the execution ground and has been working by Li Zhuo's side ever since.
At the beginning of the East Fujian War, the Zhejiang and Gansu armies were facing unfavorable battles. The Jiangxi side called She Feixiong to attack Fuzhou. At that time, Li Zhuo, who was the deputy envoy to the inspection and also knew the Fuzhou Prefecture, ordered Chen Zhihu to lead Fuzhou prisoners to form an army and go to the city.
head into the battle.
From then on, Chen Zhihu led the army independently, and his subordinates were either pardoned felons or bandits. After being gathered by Chen Zhihu, they became the most powerful and murderous force in the East Fujian Army.
Such a powerful army, like Gao Yi, Leng Zilin, and Chen Zhihu, all came from big bandits. They may value personal kindness, but after Li Zhuo's death, they had no loyalty to the court. They killed people.
They were so numb that when they suppressed the refugee army in southern Shanxi and Henan, they showed no mercy at all. After they surrendered to Yanhu, they naturally showed no mercy when they killed people.
Chen Zhihu shook his head and said: "Xingyang, the soldiers and horses of Daliang will not be able to arrive before the sun sets tomorrow. Now Liang Chengyi is driving the refugees to Da Meng Mountain so that his troops can cross the Beiru River as soon as possible and drag them
The day before, I didn't say anything about asking the river army to cross the river with more than 10,000 people, which would be detrimental to the future. I had planned to storm their fortress. Since they are going to fight, it is really good, and they must not retreat north..."
As soon as Liang Chengyi withdrew, the Cao family would naturally not hold on, and its troops on the south bank of the Wei River also began to withdraw. However, after capturing Guanzhong, the biggest obstacle to the western route was removed, but Nanyang must be captured and troops marched to the banks of the Han River.
, can finally open up the western route going south.
Liang Chengyi's Hezhong soldiers and horses only numbered more than 30,000. They were elite and capable of fighting, less than 10,000 people. In the overall situation of the confrontation between the north and the south, they were not very important. However, if the more than 30,000 soldiers and horses in Hezhong Mansion were allowed to escape smoothly,
Arrive at Nanyang and join Liang Chengchong's troops. There will be more than 60,000 troops guarding Nanyang.
Once the situation develops like this, it will be difficult for Nanyang to bite. This is definitely not what Dayan wants to see.