Relying on their large number of troops, the Hezhong Army marched out of the Zhen Mountain Pass to intercept the enemy. They pursued the enemy and retreated to a gentle slope at the western foot of Yanque Ridge to form a formation. It was almost the time when the rooster was crowing, the crescent moon had not fallen before dawn, and there was a clear and bright sky. The Liang family's More than 4,000 soldiers and horses from the river rushed to the foot of Yanque Ridge, and the two armies fought together.
Over the years, Liang Chengyi has been guarding Hezhong Mansion, and his life has been easier than that of his brother Liang Chengchong.
The Cao family relied on Liang Chengyi to block the Yan and Hu troops from advancing westward along Hangu Pass. The two sides stopped their troops and exchanged supplies. The relationship has always been good, and there has been no large-scale military confrontation.
Huaidong was aggressively stationing troops in Xuzhou, and the troops that attracted Yanhu to enter the Hehuai area were concentrated in Shandong. In the ruined Henan, Chen Zhihu's army had only 50,000 troops at its peak. Chen Zhihu had to face the West at the same time in Henan. Liang Chengyi is in the middle of the river in the front, Liang Chengchong is in Nanyang in the southwest, and Dongyuan is in Huaixi in the south. Therefore, Liang Chengyi is in Hezhong Prefecture and is in the danger of mountains and rivers, so the pressure he shares is not great.
In addition, Hezhong is located between Heluo and Henan. It was the only large city in Henan that was not conquered by the refugee army at that time. It was relatively lightly damaged by the war. On the other hand, the land of Hezhong Prefecture is irrigated by the Yellow River and Luo River. The land is fully developed and the canals are complete. Guanzhong is a large city. During droughts, Heluo had abundant crops year after year and was a rare granary in the Central Plains at that time.
After Yanhu entered the pass, all the northern banks of the Yellow River fell into his hands. At that time, Liang Xi was guarding Shandong. According to his logic, the Liang family should abandon Hezhong Prefecture and concentrate their forces on Jinan. However, the Liang family successively abandoned Shanxi, Henan and other places to call the people at that time. Tao Chun, the commander of the Huai Army, ordered Liang Chengyi to lead the elite troops to guard the river. He also saw the wealth in the river and was reluctant to leave it to other people to defend it.
However, it was greed for the wealth of Hezhong Prefecture that caused the Liang family's troops to be scattered across the river and Shandong. After Gu Wuchen failed to defend Qingzhou, Liang Xi still had 60,000 troops in his hands, but he did not dare to defend Jinan and retreated to the south. On the way, they were besieged by the Yan and Hu armies, and only Liang Chengchong led the remaining troops to retreat to Nanyang.
If the Liang family had made the decision at that time to hand over Hezhong Mansion to the Cao family or ask the imperial court to send a general to lead an elite guard force, and Liang Chengyi led his troops eastward to Jinan to join forces with his father and brother, the Liang family would have had more than 100,000 troops and horses available in Jinan. Together with Gu Wuchen who was guarding Qingzhou and guarding the lower reaches of the Yellow River, Yanhu would conquer Shandong in the early years of Yongxing. It was by no means a simple matter.
Unfortunately, there is no regret medicine in the world. Liang Xi was betrayed and killed by his subordinates. Liang Chengchong led his remaining troops to retreat to Nanyang and lived a miserable life. However, Liang Chengyi lived a prosperous life guarding Hezhong Mansion, a prosperous land that was not greatly affected by the war.
After Liang Chengyi guarded Hezhong, a large number of refugees poured in, giving Hezhong Mansion ample human resources.
If it hadn't been for the unfavorable situation in crossing the Yellow River last year, the soldiers and horses in the river would have been strong.
The so-called method of generalship, as long as the money and food are sufficient and the discipline is strict, the fighting spirit of the soldiers will not be too bad.
Although the battle to cross the Yellow River failed last year, with a loss of less than 20,000 troops and horses, the retreat south this time was also hasty. However, seeing that the number of pursuers was small, relying on the large number to bully the few, the soldiers and horses in the river pressed towards Yanqueling, but they were still fierce and hard to see. The decadent appearance of the hasty retreat south.
The front has pressed towards Yanque Ridge, and the Zhishan Pass has been completely opened. The detective horse returned and reported that there was no trace of the enemy within thirty or forty miles. Liang Chengyi and Liang Dai discussed it, intending to eat up all the enemy soldiers who stayed at Yanque Ridge and refused to retreat. Go down.
In addition to leaving more than a thousand soldiers and horses to guard the camp, Liang Dai led another three thousand soldiers and horses to press towards Yanqueling. In the clear morning light, the dark shadows looked like a pack of wolves running in the wild grass.
Dayeng Mountain is to the west of Daying and Zhishan Mountain is to the east. But apart from these two mountains, there are endless hills as far as the eye can see. The mountains are mostly covered with dense forests, blocking the view.
Liang Dai was supervising the battle in the front line, while Liang Chengyi wanted to sit in the camp in the mountains, so he couldn't see clearly the battlefield ten miles away.
The messengers kept coming to report the battle situation, saying that the enemy troops were retreating steadily and were pressed into a canyon in the northern section of Yanqueling. However, by midday, the battle came to a standstill and there was no further progress.
Liang Chengyi was anxious. No one knew when the main force of Chen Zhihu's army would cross the Yellow River. From the south bank of the Yellow River, it was just over a hundred miles away. If the battle at Yanqueling got entangled, even if it dragged on all night, it might be particularly detrimental to the Hezhong Army.
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Liang Chengyi guarded the camp with his deputy Zhang Ding. Regardless of the midday heat, he rushed to Yanqueling surrounded by more than two hundred horsemen, hoping to personally supervise the battle and annihilate this enemy force that was most likely to be chasing from Xingyang before sunset.
Passing through the canyon among the hills, in addition to the sound of horse hooves approaching the sudden rain, Liang Chengyi also vaguely heard the sound of swords and halberds clashing in front of him.
Hearing that the sound was approaching too fast, Liang Chengyi felt something was wrong, so he galloped up a hill on the left and looked north.
This sight made Liang Chengyi tremble with courage.
Liang Chengyi thought that Liang Dai was leading his troops to besiege the enemy troops in the valley in the northern section of Yanqueling. He could annihilate all the enemy troops as soon as they attacked. Who would have thought that at this time, Liang Dai's troops were encircling the enemy troops outside the valley?
The soldiers and horses are being cut apart like sharp knives by an enemy soldier rushing out of the valley?
The enemy soldiers all wore black armor, which was the color of the armor of the Henan Army led by Chen Zhihu. Like a black torrent, the "earth dam" barely surrounded by Liang Dai's army was rushed to the point of bursting.
Chen Zhihu was a good general, but the resources Yanhu gave Chen Zhihu were limited. When the Henan army was at its strongest, there were more than 50,000 men, and it was impossible for all of them to be elites who had fought hard in hundreds of battles.
The elite main force of the Henan Army was brought to the north bank of the Yellow River by Chen Zhihu. Those who stayed behind in Xingyang and Daliang were all weak troops.
Liang Chengyi asked General Liang Dai to lead the troops, who were all elite soldiers in the Hezhong army. They fought with seven thousand against three thousand, and they still had an absolute advantage when the battle began. The enemy soldiers were retreating steadily. At this time, he asked the enemy soldiers to counterattack.
There are signs of collapse during the fight, how can Liang Chengyi not be frightened?
Liang Chengyi mentally cursed Liang Dai for his incompetence and thought that he would be removed from his general post after the war.
If he doesn't want to lose the good situation, he must block, intercept, and disperse the black torrent that rushes out. Liang Chengyi still has two hundred cavalry available in his hand. They are all elites selected from the army. He drinks the cavalry and the cavalry.
He charged towards the mouth of the valley.
This place was a little farther than two miles away. The Qingqi now increased their speed and could barely hit the waves of the black torrent, thus preventing the enemy soldiers from attacking Liang Dai's defensive formations on both wings.
After walking for more than a mile in one breath, he was sweating all over his body when he came back from the camp. He was panting heavily and pulled out his sword. Liang Chengyi swallowed a mouthful of saliva to moisten his dry throat and was about to start.
While charging, fierce drumming sound suddenly came from the woods on the side, and a group of enemy soldiers were seen ambushing in the woods and came out.
The enemy soldiers were mostly armed with bows and crossbows, and they were coming from the flanks. The slope to the east was quite steep, so the enemy soldiers could stand on the top of the slope and shoot down. Liang Chengyi reined in his horse and headed to the west to avoid it, and in the blink of an eye a rain of arrows came over him.
The mount of a bodyguard beside him was immediately hit by an arrow in the chest. He jumped up in pain and threw the bodyguard on horseback onto Liang Chengyi.
Liang Chengyi quickly avoided it, but the Zaoliu horse under him was also hit by several arrows. Seeing that it was no longer possible, he changed to another white horse and rode away to the hills to the west. He was caught off guard by the ambush and was killed.
I have no intention of taking care of Liang Dai.
There were about four to five hundred people in ambush. I don’t know how long they had been lying in wait in the woods. Liang Dai didn’t notice it?
Although Liang Chengyi did not raise a flag, his armor and the armor of his guards made the enemy soldiers recognize him as a general. The ambush troops were all infantry, but they still pursued him without giving up.
Liang Chengyi asked a partial general to lead more than a hundred cavalry to entangle the ambush, and he led only a few cavalry to join Liang Dai.
More than two hundred cavalry were suddenly covered by a rain of arrows from the ambush, and more than twenty people were lost in one fell swoop, which made Liang Chengyi feel very sad.
At this time, the enemy soldiers who came out of the valley to fight back had already penetrated Liang Dai's defensive formation on the outside. However, the formations on both wings were still intact and they were working hard to fight back in the middle to kill the enemy who had counterattacked.
The soldiers entangled them and annihilated them outside the mouth of the valley.
Before noon, we had an absolute advantage, and our troops were more than twice as many as those of the chasing enemy. If things didn't work out, we could still mobilize more troops from the ferry. We wouldn't be able to frighten the enemy soldiers out of their wits with a fierce counterattack.
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Seeing that Liang Dai could still hold his position, Liang Chengyi calmed down from the attack just now, reined in his horse, and asked Liang Dai with a stern face: "What's going on? You clearly pressed the enemy soldiers in the valley to fight, how can you call one of the enemy soldiers?"
The counterattack was in disarray? The enemy general was asked to hide an ambush in the woods to the east without being noticed. If I hadn't led my troops to come and just block the gap on the right wing, how would you have defended your right wing?"
Liang Dai's face didn't look good either, he wasn't there for Liang Chengyi to question.
When leading troops in battle, no one has a good temper. It is common to scold and scold on the battlefield. Liang Chengyi's tone of questioning was quite kind.
Liang Dai drove his horse over and said to Liang Chengyi in a low voice: "This enemy force is much more difficult than imagined. I am afraid that it is the elite of the Henan Army that Chen Zhihu transferred from the north bank..."
"Yesterday afternoon, Zhao Kui sent someone to Mengjin to confirm that Chen Zhihu and the main force of the Henan Army were still on the north bank to collect ferries. Is it possible that the elite of the Henan Army could fly to Ruyang?" Liang Chengyi asked. He only thought that Liang Dai had crossed the river last year.
They were discouraged by the defeat in the battle and lost their energy.
"The man who led the counterattack just now was the horse general Lu Xiong." Liang Dai said.
"How is it possible that Lu Xiong is never far away from Chen Zhihu?" Liang Chengyi shook his head and said, but when he said this, his heart skipped a beat. Lu Xiong was leading the horse in Ruyang. Could it be that Chen Zhihu personally led these three thousand enemies?
Lu Xiong once served as Li Zhuo's personal guard, but his reputation was not well known during the East Fujian War.
After Li Zhuo's death, Lu Xiong defected to Chen Zhihu, and later followed Chen Zhihu to surrender to Yan. He also stayed with Chen Zhihu as his bodyguard.
Chen Zhihu himself was a first-class general and was accustomed to leading the charge. As a personal guard, Lu Xiong had the opportunity to shine.
Lu Xiong was not good at riding a horse. He carried an iron-clad long stick and wore iron armor. During battle, he led the horse for Chen Zhihu, so those who knew him called him "the horse-leading general".
After the autumn of last year, Liang Chengyi led his troops to cross the Yellow River, hoping to pin down the Yanhu troops in the middle of Jin to share the worries of the Cao family. Then after crossing the river to the north bank, he met Chen Zhihu's returning troops and horses, and a bloody battle ensued.
Liang Chengyi's 20,000 elite troops who crossed the river were all lost, and Liang Chengyi only escaped with his own life.
In that battle, Chen Zhihu took the lead and charged into the battle formation. There were about a hundred generals in the Hezhong Army who were killed by Lu Xiong's iron-clad long stick. The Hezhong Army had no opponent to resist them.
Thinking that this enemy soldier might be the elite led by Chen Zhihu himself, Liang Chengyi felt a sense of foreboding in his heart. He still said to Liang Dai in a deep voice: "Don't panic, stay calm. Even if Chen Zhihu comes personally, what's the big deal?"
Rather than comforting Liang Dai, it is better to say that he is comforting himself.