In early June, the Hezhong army was defeated in Ruyang, and hundreds of thousands of soldiers and civilians fled in all directions and fled into the wild.
In his early years, when Chen Zhihu borrowed the border from Henan and went north to guard the border, he eliminated bandits along the way, leaving a reputation for murder in Henan. When Chen Zhihu was appointed as the envoy of Henan and pursued the Huaiyang army, he almost surrounded Huaiyang for hundreds of miles.
It was turned into a ruined land and no prisoners were left alive, so its reputation naturally rose to the level of "Zhi'er cries at night".
At present, Chen Zhihu has defeated the Hezhong Army. Most of the hundreds of thousands of soldiers and civilians are thinking of escaping if they can. If they can't escape, they will resign themselves to their fate.
Chen Zhihu gathered the soldiers and horses coming from Xingyang and Daliang. There were 8,000 soldiers and horses in total. They were distributed along the south of Yushan Mountain and the north of Ruhe River. They blocked the passage of the refugees fleeing south and captured the fleeing people. However, due to the shortage of manpower, they had to guard against Nanyang.
The possible counterattack did not stabilize until Gao Yi led the main force of the Henan Army to cross the Yellow River and enter Hezhong Prefecture.
Although Ruyang belongs to Ruzhou, it is not far from Luoyang in the middle of the river. It is only more than a hundred miles south along the east bank of Yishui River.
After Chen Zhihu surrendered to Yan, he took charge of the military and political affairs of Henan and once stationed himself in the counties of Ruzhou, cutting off Hezhong and Nanyang.
After Yan Ting decided to attack Guanzhong first and transferred Chen Zhihu to lead his troops to western Shanxi to attack the east wing of the Cao family, the total number of troops stationed in Henan dropped sharply to less than 20,000, which was no longer enough to control the military pressure from Huaixi and Huaidong.
The vast Henan region.
In addition to giving up all the remaining land in central and eastern Henan, including Xuchang and Yanling, making it a buffer zone between Henan and the Huaihe River, Chen Zhihu also completely abandoned all counties in Ruzhou, leaving only Ruzhou City and Songyang City in the north.
A small number of garrison troops were left to monitor the hinterland in western Henan.
The city of Ruzhou is located south of Yushan Mountain and on the north bank of the Ruhe River, in the hinterland of western Henan. Songyang is located at the foothills of Zhongyue Songshan Mountain, north of Yushan Mountain, and is less than a hundred miles away from Yanshi and Ruzhou on the south bank of the Yellow River - the main force of the Henan Army.
When he went north to join the war, Chen Zhihu left Ruzhou alone and did not abandon the defense of the two cities of Songyang. In addition to monitoring western Henan, it also served as a springboard for attacking Nanyang.
Liang Chengyi retreated from Hezhong Prefecture and did not send troops to attack Ruzhou and Songyang City. He was only worried about the retreat plan and alerted Chen Zhihu in advance. He just wanted to withdraw from Hezhong as quickly as possible before Chen Zhihu led the main force of the Henan Army to pursue him.
, retreated into Nanyang.
Chen Zhihu was so afraid that the Hezhong army was undefeated, which was simply unreasonable.
Ruyang City is located south of Dayu Mountain and on the north bank of the upper reaches of Beiru River. However, Ruyang City has long been dilapidated and cannot be settled. Chen Zhihu drove captured soldiers and refugees to build a village at the ferry on the north bank of Beiru River.
Using the supplies left by the Hezhong Army, in just twenty days, a huge camp was formed on the north bank of the Beiru River in the valley between Dayu Mountain and Zhishan Mountain.
Since the city of Luoyang is only more than a hundred miles away from Ruyang, after Gao Yi crossed the river, he only left a few troops in Luoyang to take over the defense of Hezhong Prefecture, and then led the main force of the Henan Army to Ruyang to join Chen Zhihu.
In addition, Ye Jiluorong sent Meng Anchan and 10,000 cavalry from Chang'an to Ruyang via the Hangu Pass Road, which increased Beiyan's troops on the north bank of the Ru River to more than 50,000.
The number of cavalry exceeds 20,000.
On June 28, Yan Tingce appointed Chen Zhihu as the Prince of Ruzhou County and the General of South Henan. At the same time, he conferred the title of Yuan Lishan as the Prince of Jining County and the General of South China. He also appointed King Ye Luoji to be the governor of Shaanxi, Henan and Jin counties.
Fan Lan, a minister of the Han Dynasty in Liaodong, was the Xuanfu envoy to Henan and moved his headquarters to Luoyang. He also knew the Hezhong Prefecture and was in charge of food and salary matters for the West Route Army.
Strategically, Yan Ting regarded the entire Henan and southern Shandong as a strategic buffer zone with South Vietnam.
Except for the recovery of production in Daliang, Yanshi, Xingyang and other places close to the south bank of the Yellow River, almost all of the Huaihe Plain along the Qianli River and Huaihe Plain south of Daliang (Zhengzhou) and along the Wo, Bian and Si rivers has become a wasteland.
The Hehuai Plain, which was once known as the land of fish and rice together with Yanji, Jianghuai and Huhan, is now separated from grass, houses collapsed, and people standing there feel as if they are on the grassland outside.
What Yan Hu did was because, first, the South Vietnamese soldiers and horses, including the garrisons deployed on the north bank of the Huai River in Huaixi and Huaidong, were mainly infantry and could not get the support of the city forts. Under the threat of Yan Hu's cavalry, they marched towards the river.
The penetration distance of the hinterland of the Huaihe River is severely restricted; the large-scale deforestation of the Huaihe Plain of the Second River actually provided sufficient pasture for the Yanhu cavalry group to move south on a large scale and for the war horses to roam.
Meng Anchan was a general from Yanxi Zhuhu. He rode his horse on the mountain of Zhen, from the south of Zhishan to the Beiru River. There were grassy pastures. His strange tone of Guannei dialect was compared with the Gao Yi around him.
, Leng Zilin and other generals laughed and said: "The prince strictly ordered the soldiers and horses to cross the border and prohibited them from gnawing the wheat fields. I am still wondering, if they don't gnaw the wheat fields, what will the horses ride on eat?"
Although large areas of the Hehuai Plain are open to waste, due to farming activities in previous years, a large amount of wheat and beans were left in the fields, and some wild grasses grew and multiplied, making the Hehuai pasture more fertile. Therefore, this emerging pasture is more fertile than
It is more suitable to raise horses outside the customs.
"Autumn horses are fat. It is said that after autumn, the wild grass seeds are full, which fattens the war horses." Fan Lan and Chen Zhihu were discussing food and wages in the front. They heard Meng Anchan and other generals discussing horse food in the back and said with emotion.
One sentence, "It's easy to get food for horses, but it's a headache to eat people. Fortunately, the prince can attack decisively and intercept the Hezhong Army retreating south before the Beiru River..."
In the entire Hehuai Plain, Hezhong Prefecture was probably the least affected by the war. Although Liang Chengyi was incompetent, when he governed Hezhong Prefecture, the territory was generally peaceful, which led to the influx of a large number of refugees, further promoting the production of Hezhong Prefecture.
At most, Liang Chengyi raised 50,000 soldiers and horses in Hezhong Prefecture, and also had grain and grass to support Nanyang. Although the people of Hezhong Prefecture were severely taxed, it can also be seen from this that the wealth of Hezhong Prefecture is above Heluo.
When Chen Zhihu intercepted the Central Army in Ruyang, he intercepted more than 3,000 carts of baggage, 400,000 dan of various supplies, and nearly 20,000 mules, horses, and livestock. These supplies alone were enough to consume 100,000 troops and horses for half a year.
In addition, more than 80,000 soldiers and civilians from the river were captured and surrendered, which also provided enough troops and civilians for the subsequent southern expedition.
More importantly, controlling the Beiru River in advance and cutting off the channels for people in Hezhong Prefecture to escape southward will ensure that the farming in Hezhong Prefecture will not suffer a devastating blow and can continue.
Fan Lan estimates that after Hezhong Prefecture accommodates the refugees, there will be as many as one million people in Dingkou. If production recovers very well, the grain output will be no less than half of the counties in central Shanxi. Although production in Yanji and other places in Shanxi has recovered well, the army south
If transporting grain from the north bank of the Yellow River to the south would be very costly, being able to handle part of it from Hezhong Prefecture would greatly alleviate the pressure on grain and wages in the rear.
Of course, Fan Lan came from Luoyang. In addition to discussing food and salary matters with Chen Zhihu, he also discussed with Chen Zhihu the next war arrangements for Nanyang and Xinyang on behalf of the Emperor of Heaven, Prince Mu Ye Jiluorong.
Due to the restriction of food and grass, the scale of the direct attack on the west flank of Nanyang from Wuguan in Chang'an cannot be too large. The main attack direction on the west road can only be to attack Wuyang and Fangcheng in Nanyang from the north.
The soldiers and horses in Guanzhong will not continue to go to the Weishui River. They will gather on the south bank of the Yellow River towards Ruyang. However, the Cao family has not completely withdrawn from Guanzhong. Ye Ji Luorong cannot escape from Guanzhong for the time being. The early stage of the war in Ruyang
The preparations were naturally entrusted to Fan Lan and Chen Zhihu.
In fact, with Chen Zhihu's record and prestige, it would be reasonable for him to lead the army to attack Nanyang from the north. However, Chen Zhihu was too ruthless in his use of troops and was accustomed to not caring about the life and death of his friendly troops. Zhou Fan, Zhou Zhizhong, Sun Jichang and other new annexed generals were unwilling to do so.
Under the control of Chen Zhihu.
In addition, although the new attached army has eight divisions, the status among the eight divisions is also strong and weak, high and low.
The strongest three new auxiliary armies all came from the three towns of the former Yue Dynasty border army. Yuan Lishan surrendered the army on behalf of Ji Town, Chen Zhihu surrendered the army on behalf of Datong Town, and there was also a general, this time Zhou who was appointed as the king of Heyang County.
If it is complex, it means that Xuanzhen surrenders the army.
In addition, although the status of generals such as Sun Jichang, Mo Jiben, Zhou Zhizhong, and Tu An were lower than those of Yuan Lishan, Chen Zhihu, and Zhou Fan, during the southern expedition, their troops were often placed under the control of Yuan Chen and Zhou Zhou, but there were certain limitations.
independent status.
In Nanyang's troop deployment plan, the new auxiliary army under Sun Jichang of Chang'an was transferred to Guanzhong to cooperate with the Yanxi cavalry under Su Hehan to send troops from Guanxi to attack Nanyang.
On the Ruyang side, as the main attack direction, in addition to the main force of the West Route cavalry, which will mobilize more than 60,000 people to join the battle, the generals of Western Shanxi, Zhou Fan and Mo Jiben, will also be transferred from Guanzhong to join the battle.
Mo Jiben didn't talk about him. Zhou Fan's status was not lower than that of Chen Zhihu. With the surrendered troops from the original Xuanzang Town as the backbone, the more than 40,000 Han troops under his control could fight bravely. Zhou Fan led his troops to follow Ye Ji Luorong to sweep Guanzhong.
With outstanding military exploits, it was inappropriate whether Zhou Fan restrained Chen Zhihu or Chen Zhihu restrained Zhou Fan.
Of course, even if Wuyang and Fangcheng are launched from the north of Nanyang and the gate of Nanyang is opened, this is the main attack direction determined by the West Route Army, but at the same time, it has to be prepared for the reaction in the direction of Huaixi.
Obviously, Dong Yuan of Huaixi would not sit back and watch Nanyang fall, and watch Huaixi's flanks completely exposed to Beiyan's military front.
Therefore, the war in Ruyang still has to be divided into two parts:
It goes without saying that one part is responsible for attacking Nanyang from the north.
The other part is a partial division, advancing southeast along the Beiru River and Yingshui River, and advancing to the north bank of the Huaihe River. It is not only necessary to monitor Huaixi on the north bank of the Huaihe River, in addition to Tao Chun's troops stationed in Woyang, but also to make arrangements for Xinyang on the south bank of the Huaihe River.
The force of the attack was to contain the Huaixi soldiers and horses from aiding Nanyang in the west, and was actually responsible for protecting the flanks of the active Nanyang soldiers and horses from being attacked by the Huaixi soldiers and horses.
Although we still need to be on guard against Huaidong's troops in Luzhou marching to the northern foot of Huaishan Mountain to aid Xinyang and Nanyang, the main target of the battle is Huaixi. No one in the newly attached army is more familiar with Dong Yuan than Chen Zhihu, and the Emperor Ye Ji
You and the new king of Mu, Ye Ji Luorong, both hoped that Chen Zhihu could take on the important task of containing Huaixi.
Fan Lan came here to communicate this idea to Chen Zhihu. He hoped that after Mo Jiben led his troops into Ruyang, Chen Zhihu would immediately lead his troops to march southeast along the southern foot of Yushan Mountain and the north bank of the Ru River, and first occupy Suiping in the southeast of Ruzhou.
, Yicheng and other counties, directly threatened Xinyang's Zhengyang County on the north bank of the Huaihe River and threatened the flanks of Taochun's headquarters in Guoyang, and pinned the Huaixi soldiers and horses there unable to move.
Chen Zhihu stood on the Dushou Peak of Zhen Mountain, looking at the vast land to the south, thinking: Dong Yuan may be looking over here among the Xia Mountains on the bank of the Huai River.