Luo Xiancheng quietly rushed to Fancheng and had a secret meeting with Yanhu envoys. Later, he sent Wei Zhang to Chaishan to ask the king to come out, which made the king, Tang Xitai, Zhou Bin and others in the hinterland of Huaishan confirm that Luo Xiancheng was determined to surrender to Yanhu.
Wang Xiang knew that Luo Xiancheng had taken this step, and those generals who were determined to follow him to surrender to Yanhu, there was no turning back from now on. Thinking about the past, he couldn't help but feel a little melancholy and reluctant to let go.
Zhou Bin had been living with Wang Xiang day and night in Chaishan for a year, and was very familiar with Wang Xiang's temperament and mentality. Although Wang Xiang was somewhat indecisive by nature, he was not confused about the overall situation.
When Wang Xiang showed his reluctance to leave his old master, Zhou Bin and Tang Xitai pretended not to see it.
Zhou Bin and Tang Xitai said: "She, Luo will raise his troops in three to five days. Xitai, please go to Luzhou as soon as possible and report to Commander Cao. Our weirs and ponds will be closed immediately according to the plan. After that,
Just wait for Luzhou soldiers and horses to sneak in..."
"Commander Cao intended to mobilize Fengli's army to advance westward to make preparations first, but the lord was afraid of alarming the snake too early, so he suppressed the proposal," Luo Xitai said, "Even if Nanyang falls, Luzhou soldiers and horses may not be dispatched immediately.
Mr. Zhou and Mr. Wang need to be patient in Chaishan."
"I have been waiting in Chaishan for a year, and I still have some patience," Wang Xiang said, putting down his reluctance to leave his old master, and said with Tang Xitai and Zhou Bin, "Nanyang is in danger, Suizhou, the She family, and the Yanhu soldiers and horses will send troops together.
, if Huang Binghao has other intentions, he will definitely not stand still in Yuanzhou at this time. The plan to lure the snake is completed, first go to Yuanzhou, eliminate the inner dangers in Jiangxi, and then send troops across the Yangtze River to advance northward. This is the order that Huaidong should have now.
, how can I be impatient if I wait a month or two more?"
Tang Xitai nodded secretly.
Whether Huang Binghao has a tacit understanding with the She family, the final veil will be unveiled when the Yanhu army approaches Nanyang City, Luo Xiancheng and the She family openly defect, and use troops against Nanyang and Xinyang at the same time.
If Huang Binghao really wanted to surrender to Yanhu in exchange for the wealth and honor of cracking the earth and becoming the king, he would definitely show some signs and make some changes.
According to Lin Fu's plan, if Huang Binghao makes any changes, Huaidong's troops in Jiangxi will give priority to eliminating Huang Binghao and solving the hidden dangers in the heart of Jiangxi, rather than crossing the river to join the war as soon as possible.
This kind of plan was only clearly established after Tang Xitai arrived in Yuzhang. Tang Xitai did not mention it when he came to Chaishan. However, the fact that Wang Xiang relied on the current situation to make such a judgment also shows that he did have some strategies in mind.
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It is a pity that Luo Xiancheng is greedy and has no ambition, so Wang Xiangzhi's talents cannot be fully displayed under his command.
Tang Xitai bowed to Wang Xiangzuo and said: "Your Majesty, please be patient..." Wang Xiang secretly attached himself to Huaidong and made great contributions to Huaidong by building the Huaishan Plank Road. In the future, if he wants to recruit the middle and lower-level generals of the Changle Army, he will inevitably rely on him.
, he is indeed talented, such a person is the most important in Huaidong, Tang Xitai was naturally polite to the king.
Tang Xitai did not stay in Jinshui Village for long, and said goodbye to Wang Xiang and Zhou Bin. Then, under the escort of several retinues, he left Jinshui Village and sneaked along the north slope of Hengqiling towards Fohou Ridge.
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Fohouling is the main ridge of Huaishan Mountain, extending from southwest to northeast. There are more than 100 dangerous peaks more than 1,000 meters high. It lies between Chaishan County, Suizhou Prefecture and Yu'an County, Luzhou Prefecture. It is the boundary between Jiangdong and Jinghu Lake.
The mountain is the watershed between Han River and Chao Lake.
Jinshui Village is still nearly sixty miles away from Fohou Ridge. This nearly sixty miles is sandwiched between Hengqiling and Daiyan Mountain. It is an extremely dangerous and desolate valley.
The stream is named Yanzi River, which gathers the water from the northern foot of Hengqi Ridge, the southern foot of Daiyan Mountain and the western foot of Fohou Ridge. It flows out of Jinshui Village towards Chaishan City, gathers other streams and rivers, flows to Lishan, and finally merges into Suizhou.
The main water system of Fuhe River.
Although Yanzi Creek originates from Fohou Ridge, the valley is extremely steep, like a wedge carved out by a giant axe. Rock cliffs stand on both sides, and the stream flows through strange rocks and strange pools. People can neither walk through it nor go boating.
, thus making Yanzixi Canyon an inaccessible destination.
Since ancient times, there have been many trails in the Huaishan Mountains used by mountain folk, woodcutters and medicinal farmers, which can travel between Luzhou and Suizhou. Private lords and scouts often use these secret trails when traveling around the Huaishan Mountains, but they are all very far away from the Yanzixi Canyon.
Far.
The Yanzixi Canyon has never been a passage in and out of the Huaishan Mountains. Although the Yanzixi Canyon is the shortest route through the Huaishan Mountains, due to the steep terrain, few people would think of using the terrain of the Yanzixi Canyon even if they want to pave the mountain.
However, the most important section of the Huaishan Plank Road connecting Fohou Ridge happens to be in the Yanzixi Canyon.
In fact, the overall idea is very simple. It is to build a weir in the Yanzi River outlet from Jinshui Village to raise the water level, and turn the shallow stream lined with strange rocks and closed to cars and boats directly into an excellent stream sandwiched between Hengqiling and Daiyan Mountain.
river course.
Because the cliff banks on both sides of Yanzi Creek are extremely steep and almost at right angles, even if the water level of Yanzi Creek is raised ten feet, the width of the river will only be thirty or forty feet.
As long as the weir dam is built, the water storage of the river will be completed soon, and the formed river will be directly connected with the military village built by Huaidong at the western foot of Fohou Ridge.
In comparison, after walking out of the Yanzixi Canyon, the section of Buddha and Monkey Ridge sixty miles away is even higher, but the mountain terrain is quite plain, with a highland meadow terrain. In the early years, mountain people set up a village there, which was affiliated to Luzhou Prefecture.
It is under the jurisdiction of Yu'an County, which is almost the westernmost edge of Luzhou.
However, after Huaidong took over Luzhou, the mountain people there were completely forcibly relocated, thus becoming Huaidong's military restricted area.
On the Jinshui Village side, also heading west from Jinshui Village, the terrain becomes more open, and villages begin to gather on both sides of the Yanzi River. The mountains on both sides also become easier, and the mountain people have even opened up a large number of terraces on the slopes.
However, after Wang Xiang took charge of Chaishan, the mountain people around Jinshui Village were also forcibly moved out and became a military restricted area controlled by Chaishan.
A high mountain may not necessarily be steep, and a short mountain may not necessarily be easy.
Jinshui Village and Fohouling Village are only sixty miles apart, but separated by the steep mountains of Daiyan Mountain and Hengqiling, there is little contact between the two places. After Huaidong was blocked, even birds and beasts were reluctant to walk this road.
Extremely difficult to obtain.
If an outsider does not have a precise spatial concept of geography and has only seen one of the two villages, Jinshui Village and Fohouling Village, he would never have imagined that the Yanzixi Canyon between the two villages would run through the last and most critical part of Huaishan Mountain.
ring.
Wang Xiang built a dam to block the stream downstream of Jinshui Village as an excuse to build two diversion canals from both ends of the dam to irrigate more paddy fields. When the water level of Yanzi Creek was raised, it went west through the diversion canals.
It can directly irrigate the slopes on both sides of the original Yanzi River downstream, transforming part of the terraced dry land to the west of Jinshui Village into high-yield paddy fields.
Since Yanzi Creek is to the east of Jinshui Village, the cliffs on both sides are extremely narrow. Even if you choose the widest place, the dam body is only more than 70 feet long, so the cost of building the dam is low. During the battle with Shangrao, the Huaidong Army was in Shanxi
Compared with the nearly 20-mile-long temporary dam built upstream, the Yanzixi Tang Dam naturally required a stronger construction, but since the length was only 70 feet, the manpower and material resources required were far less than the former.
When manpower was relatively abundant, and Suizhou was extremely short of food, even building a dam to raise the water level of Yanzi River in order to gain three to five thousand acres of paddy fields was considered normal thinking. When Wang Xiang was in Suizhou, he
A capable official who is famous for his governance. Even if people see him building a dam here to raise the water level of Yanzi River, no one will doubt the true intention behind it.
The main body of the pond and dam, which is less than 70 feet long, had been built before June, but it was still necessary to wait for the right opportunity to impound water at the junction to raise the water level. The Battle of Nanyang was about to start, and the time was ripe to impound water at the junction of Yanzi Creek.
After Tang Xitai left, Wang Xiang and Zhou Bin ordered the pond dam to be closed to store water.
Heavy rain fell in Chaishan that night. Tang Xitai rushed back to Foshan Ridge and could not walk by water, so he had to climb over the steep mountains and forests. He walked for sixty miles for a day and a night before arriving. By the time he arrived at Foshan Ridge, Yanshui Creek had been raised to a high enough level.
It was as if a big river had suddenly emerged between the deep gorges. Even upstream of Fohou Ridge, the water level had risen as much as three feet deep. A small lake covering several hundred acres was formed at the foot of Fohou Ridge.
Tang Xitai had a very hard time traversing the mountains and ridges. He was also caught in the rain at night, and when he arrived at Fohouling Village, he felt like a drowned rat. But when he saw that the last link of the Huaishan Plank Road was finally connected, he looked very excited.
The leader of Fohou Ridge, Huang Zuyu, who was favored by Lin Fu, selected and trained Jianrui from the supply troops. There were about 6,000 soldiers and horses in addition to the Chongcheng army. Since the spring, Huang Zuyu has been commanding and stationed at Fohou Ridge for training.
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Tang Xitai rushed back to Fohouling Village. In addition to the general Huang Zuyu, Cao Ziang and Chongcheng Army Commander Zhou Tong quietly sneaked to Fohouling to observe the situation in Jingxiang.
Tang Xitai didn't even change into his wet clothes, so he reported the latest situation to the west of Huaishan Mountain to Cao Ziang.
Lin Fu was far away in Yuzhang, and traveling by boat was inconvenient.
Even if the military situation is reported as quickly as possible, going back and forth from the hinterland of Huaishan Mountain to Yuzhang via Luzhou will still be delayed for six or seven days. Therefore, in the direction of Luzhou, Lin Fuyu has the power to deal with Cao Ziang.
The power and lost horses gathered in Luzhou were all controlled by Cao Ziang.
"Let's talk back to the stronghold..." Even though he knew that the final battle in Nanyang was approaching, Cao Ziang's heart was still as calm as usual. He looked at Tang Xitai in wet clothes, gave him a horse, and went back to the military stronghold first.
After returning to the stronghold, Tang Xitai changed into clean clothes and walked to the command shed. Cao Ziang, Zhou Tong and Huang Zuyu were all there, discussing the Jingxiang map.
Tang Xitai walked over and looked up at the map hanging on the wall.
The Changle army, the remnants of the She family, and the soldiers and horses of Chen Hansan and Yang Xiong between the Han River and Huaishan were actually under the close surveillance of the Huaidong scouts.
Starting from late June, the main force of the remnants of the She family's crossing the river, especially the elite combat force directly under the She family's control, almost 40,000 soldiers and horses, will gather in Shicheng.
Shicheng is located in the middle reaches of the Han River, across the Han River from Dangyang County in the north of Jingzhou Prefecture.
When Hu Wenmu was focusing on deploying defenses in Jiangxia, Shejianan crossed the Han River from Hanjin and went south to attack Jingzhou. They moved their troops upstream along the Han River and gathered in Shicheng. They wanted to cross the Han River from Shicheng and insert themselves into Jingzhou from Dangyang County.
, is still an option.
However, another more important geographical feature of Shicheng is easily overlooked.
Shicheng is located on the north bank of the Han River. From Shicheng to Xiangyang, the Han River runs almost straight from north to south. The waterway travels about two hundred miles, and there is no big geographical obstacle between the land and Xiangyang. The traditional Hanzuo Post Road is sandwiched between the east of the Han River
Between the bank and the western vein of the Green Forest Mountains, you can reach Fancheng where the Weihe River merges into the Han River.
As long as Luo Xiancheng gives up Fancheng, the elite soldiers and horses gathered by the She family in Shicheng can pass through Fancheng and attack Xinye, the southern gateway of Nanyang, in just two or three days.
Although no scouts had reported back yet, Tang Xitai suspected that the She family's troops in Shicheng had already headed north.
Cao Ziang pointed to the map and said: "Although the water level of Yanzi River has been raised, making it easier to sail, we can only cross four to five thousand soldiers at a time. We can send boats down during the day and return empty boats at night. No matter how good the arrangement is,
It would take half a month to sneak 50,000 troops and horses into Chaishan, plus the necessary supplies. Nanyang must give up. If they can hold on for three months, they will be considered lucky, but the soldiers here in Luzhou will definitely give up.
, we should immediately arrange to sneak across the Huaishan Mountains..."
Zhou Tong nodded and said: "After all the matters in Jiangxi are settled, we will decide to send troops here. It will take at least half a month. The situation is ever-changing, and half a month is too long to delay. Over in Luzhou
When setting out to empty camp first, at least ask Tang Fuguan and Sun Zhuang's troops to sneak into Chaishan and wait for orders!"