Chen Mingsheng walked to the river and persuaded the Xinchanghou Mansion to leave this right and wrong matter; the most urgent task was for them to find a way to return to Yueyang first, otherwise, they would be trapped in the shallows, unable to display all their abilities.
Han Qian is not in Yanling at this time, so no one will stop them for the time being, but it is hard to say whether Han Qian, his grandson, will change his mind when he comes back.
When Xinchang Hou Li Pu saw Chen Mingsheng leading his men, he found a few lame horses abandoned by Han Qian. He was filled with bitterness and asked: "Let's go, how to go?"
If they want to return to Yueyang, they must either take the water route up the Yangtze River, or pass through Ningguo and cross the mountains between Xuanshe, and then borrow roads from Hongzhou and Yuanzhou to return to Yueyang by land via Hengzhou.
If they take the water route, they and more than 100 guards will find it. Whether they are looking for a large ship with a load of more than 2,000 stone or multiple medium-sized ships, it is not easy to fight in a chaotic situation. Moreover, once they enter the Yangtze River waterway, the target is huge and they are easily attacked.
The goal.
Besides, there are more than a hundred guards following them, but none of them can steer the sails and masts. Unless Yueyang sends a ship to pick them up, how will the waterway be used?
If they take the land route, with only a few lame horses and more than 2,000 miles of mountains and rivers, it would take them years of donkeys and months of horses to reach Yueyang?
Although Li Pu was also worried that Han Qian would turn his back on him, but if they wanted to get the ship or enough horses, they still had to wait for Han Qian to come back, or they would go directly to Danyang to negotiate with Han Qian.
When Li Pu and Chen Mingsheng were in a dilemma, Xiao Dahu and Shi Ji rushed back with their men and some horses to evacuate the women and children, and also brought back the news that it took only half an hour to severely damage the defenders and capture Danyang City.
Li Pu, the Marquis of Xinchang, was not at all excited.
In his opinion, it is not that difficult to seize Danyang City while the defenders are unprepared. The key is that they have now severely stung the Chuzhou Army. How to resist the Chuzhou Army's crazy revenge?
However, after hearing Xiao Dahu, Shi Ji sent people to disperse and mobilize the old, weak, women and children to evacuate to Maoshan after lunch. Xinchang Marquis Li Pu was even more shocked and shouted in his heart: Han Qian, you are a horse, you have to spend so much effort to capture Danyang City.
, and completely stirred up the Chuzhou army, and stirred up the anger, but you want to withdraw and defend Maoshan?
If you had already decided to retreat to Maoshan with so many old, weak, women and children, why did you lose your mind and insist on a sneak attack on Danyang?
Li Pu, the Marquis of Xinchang, was in a state of confusion. He had no idea what Han Qian's plans were. Chen Mingsheng, however, was greedy for Xiao Dahu. He used the more than 200 strong war horses they had brought back before noon. He thought that they had more than 100 elites. If they could have more than 200
With a strong horse, it will be easy to return to Yueyang by land.
However, Chen Mingsheng and his men ran over to seize the horse, but were beaten back by Xiao Dahu and Shi Ji.
Xiao Dahu and Shi Ji are both bold and bloody men. They are willing to be deserters for the sake of their parents and relatives, and they have fled all the way back to Jinling. How can they be afraid of Xinchang Hou Lippu and Chen Mingsheng, who have been clearly deprived of military power by Han Qian?
What's more, when they captured Danyang City in the early morning, the two of them and their generals were still excited, their blood was not cold, and they were so excited that they hated Li Pu and Chen Mingsheng for their incompetence.
Next, he beat to death two of Chen Mingsheng's guards who tried to seize the war horses.
In the end, Chen Mingsheng saw that the situation might get out of control, so he led his men to retreat to the house at the end of the port.
Shi Ji and Xiao Dahu are also unforgiving guys. What's more, Han Qian has not yet given the clear order to let Li Pu and Chen Mingsheng leave. He immediately arranged for people to block the house at the end of the port where Li Pu and Chen Mingsheng were retreating.
Shi Ji and Xiao Dahu brought back more than 200 people and organized the women and children to be evacuated to Maoshan in the first batch. Fortunately, Han Qian spent the past three days, while reorganizing the remaining troops, and selected two to three thousand healthy women to form a women's battalion. The women's battalion was difficult to use.
It is used for frontal charges and battles, but it can still be used for ordinary order maintenance and camp guarding to make up for the shortage of manpower.
Otherwise, just to protect nearly 50,000 old, weak, women and children, the 3,000 remnant soldiers would not want to do anything.
Although it is not difficult to break through the blockade of more than 200 strong women, Xinchang Hou Lipu and Chen Mingsheng are worried that if the situation gets out of control, it will only make their return to Yueyang more difficult. For the time being, they are patiently waiting for Han Qian to return.
…………
…………
When the sunset covered the clear sky, Han Qian crossed the Xipu River pontoon. He held the reins and looked back at the fields behind him and Danyang City, where the fire had just extinguished after a day of burning. The embers were not extinguished, and there was still intermittent black smoke coming from the city.
Soaring up.
"I thought Yang Yuanyan was so powerful. If he dared to send two thousand fine cavalry to cross here at this time, we would be in trouble today!" Kong Xirong's injury was not serious, but there was a hole in his thigh.
He could sit on the carriage and follow the team to retreat westward. At this time, apart from a dozen mounted scouts wandering around on both sides of the Xipu River in the north, there were no more Chuzhou troops rushing towards them like wolves and tigers, more or less.
disappointment.
"You were stabbed in the thigh and you didn't get enough. You need to recover from your injuries first. Then you will have the opportunity to charge into battle." Han Qian said with a smile.
Yesterday, the Shouzhou Army had 20,000 elite troops. Under the cover of the Louchuan Army Navy, they crossed the river from Chuzhou in the north and stationed themselves at Changchun Palace at the foot of the western foothills of Baohua Mountain. This increased the number of soldiers and horses in Anning Palace east of Jinling City again.
to more than 50,000.
Han Qian chose to raid Danyang City today mainly to take advantage of Shouzhou's troops and horses to quickly disrupt the situation and make Yang Yuanpu and Wang Wenqian suspicious and not dare to act rashly.
But even so, it is extremely dangerous.
Kong Xirong could just charge forward, but Han Qian needed to consider more factors. It was only after their main force withdrew to the west bank of the Xipu River that the hanging stone in their hearts was temporarily settled. But even so, they had to retreat to Maoshan tonight.
We can no longer stay in Yanling.
Yanling is only eighty miles away from Dantu, and less than sixty miles away from the Chuzhou Army's forward camp at Jingshan'an.
No matter how stupid Wang Xin Wang Yang Yuanyan and Wang Wenqian were, they should have known that he had arrived at Jinling by this time. When they came to their senses, whether the Chuzhou Jingqi came out from Dantu or Jingshan Nunnery, they only needed to attack Yanling.
Half a day is enough.
As a town port, Yanling had one or two thousand households living together, which was denser than an ordinary county town, with rows of houses, but without the protection of walls, it could not withstand the attack of cavalry, so it was not a defensible place.
At this moment, Shi Ji rode over from the direction of Yanling Port to report on the evacuation of women and children after they arrived at Yanling Port before noon.
After hearing what Shi Ji said about Xinchang Hou Li Pu and Chen Mingsheng trying to seize the horse but being beaten back, Han Qian just smiled and said: "Ignore them and let them go - hurry up and evacuate the last group of troops to
Maoshan, I can more or less sleep peacefully for a few days..."
Han Qian did not want to pay attention to Li Pu and Chen Mingsheng, and ordered the lifting of house arrest for Li Pu and others. However, Li Pu and Chen Mingsheng did not leave immediately. Instead, surrounded by more than a dozen people, they quickly found Han Qian directly.
"Mr. Li Hou came all the way to say goodbye to me?" Han Qian asked, holding a riding whip, leaning on the horse's back and squinting at Li Pu.
"Sue your mother!" Chen Mingsheng cursed in his heart.
Not only did they have no horses at this time, they didn't even have enough food for more than a hundred people to last for three to five days. Even after the dispute over the horse today, Shi Ji and Xiao Dahu even cut off their food.
So many of them had been locked up in the courtyard all day, without food, and were starving. Only now did Han Qian come back with three to four thousand remaining soldiers.
Li Pu looked at the soldiers and horses behind Han Qian and had no intention of entering Yanling Port. Instead, he headed directly towards Maoshan. It seemed that Shi Ji and Xiao Dahu's words about guarding Maoshan when they came back were true, but this was what he wanted most.
Impenetrable place.
Since Han Qian had already decided to retreat to Maoshan with his women and children, why did he raid Danyang City? Why did he have to sting and anger Yang Yuanyan with this evil dragon?
Isn't this unnecessary? Is this a result of losing one's mind?
Seeing that Han Qian looked lazy, as if he had returned from an outing, Li Pu felt as if there was a ball of thorny grass stuffed in his chest. He felt unspeakably uncomfortable. He stared at Han Qian sternly and asked:
"You took the initiative to attack the Chuzhou army and broke the alliance between the two families. Do you know the consequences? Do you want Yueyang to be enemies of Anning Palace and Chuzhou at the same time?"
Han Qian glanced at Li Pu and asked:
"What else?"
Li Pu suppressed the anger in his heart and said: "If you want to protect 40,000 to 50,000 old and weak women and children, it's not that there are no other ways to think of. Even if you lead 40 to 50,000 to 50,000 old and weak women and children to retreat to Maoshan, there is absolutely no need to fight with Chuzhou at this time.
The army is the enemy, and the soldiers and horses of Chuzhou will not do anything to you before they decide the outcome with An Ning Palace. You went to attack Danyang City today, captured Danyang City and looted it, but you had no intention of holding on. You are nothing more than
Venting hatred against Chuzhou is just a matter of personal revenge."
Faced with Li Pu's accusations and doubts, Han Qian just smiled.
No one would have imagined how tragic the siege of Jinling would be, and probably no one would understand why he wanted to break up with Chuzhou like a mantis at this moment, right?
Even if Shen Yang and Yang Yuanpu came over, it would be difficult for Han Qian to explain his motive for attacking Danyang City today. Of course, he didn't want to waste his time on Li Pu, so he just said lightly:
"Master Li Hou, it's unfair for you to say this. Mr. Li Hou, you are still standing here with your hair intact. What kind of hatred can I vent and what kind of revenge can I avenge?"
"You..." Xinchang Marquis Lipu didn't expect that Han Qian would bring up the matter of his father's torture, and said with a pinched neck, "I want to stay and see how you clean up this mess!"
"Master Li wants to stay, so Han Qian naturally doesn't dare to stop him, but if what happened before noon happens again, don't blame me, Han, for being ruthless in military law." Han Qian said.
Chen Mingsheng on the side was so angry that his nose was twisted. If Han Qian really had a little respect for the law, how could he incite the generals to mutiny and seize military power?