"At this time, we may have a chance to break out of the siege. If we delay, until Liang Jun crosses Huainan and marches south, we will be dead!"
Li Xiu seemed weak, but at this moment, she was staring at Chen Mingsheng eagerly, insisting on her opinion and not giving in.
"The 20,000 cavalry led by Xu Mingzhen have been competing with the Liang army's cavalry in Huainan and Huaibei for many years. Although we have more than 16,000 troops, only 30% of them are remnants. At this time, we still don't know what is going on in the south. How can we break through?
"Chen Mingsheng endured the severe pain in his right arm and left rib, and earnestly advised, "At this time, we must defend the city. Your Majesty and the Duke will definitely send troops to support you!"
Chen Mingsheng was stabbed in the left rib and right arm by Gao Long, but fortunately, Li Qi came to talk to Chen Mingsheng at that time. When Chen Mingsheng was caught off guard and stabbed by Gao Long, he reacted very quickly, dodged the assassination of Gao Long's subordinates, and pulled out his weapon.
Kill Gao Long with a sword.
After forcing back the three generals around Gao Long, Li Qi led a sudden attack in the courtyard and less than ten of his guards were killed. He held on in the narrow courtyard until Li Xiu led reinforcements and rushed Gao Long's side.
Dozens of cronies who besieged the government office were killed, and Chen Mingsheng's life was saved without causing chaos in the city.
Xu Mingzhen suddenly led 20,000 cavalrymen to Bieziding, south of Yandun Mountain. Li Xiu and Li Qi were still a little confused. Seeing that they were unable to defeat them, they could only lead more than a thousand cavalry wandering around and retreated to Zhongli City in a hurry.
Join the main force of the Shenwu Army on the right.
However, after Gao Long's failed assassination attempt last night, Li Qi, Xu Jing and Wei Huang all believed that there was a bigger conspiracy against Da Chu. They defended Zhongli City and would most likely not be able to wait for the arrival of reinforcements.
Zhongli City was in ruins. Even after the Jinling Incident, the Shouzhou Army took over Haozhou and only repaired Zhongli City hastily. The city was far from solid and could not be compared with strong cities like Chaozhou and Shouzhou.
More importantly, when Chen Mingsheng and others captured Zhongli City, the food in the city was set on fire by the defenders. Even after they recaptured Zhongli City, they immediately transferred a batch of food and grass from Chuzhou, but apart from the tens of thousands of civilians in the city, this batch of food and grass was only enough.
Sixteen thousand of them had enough to eat for half a month.
Of course, as the deputy privy envoy, the Youshenwu Guards were the core elite created by the emperor. In addition to Li Xiu and Li Qi's 3,000 elite cavalry, there were also more than 4,000 infantry. This means that the entire army has
More than 7,000 district war horses.
Even if the excellent war horses are to be preserved, nearly four thousand horses can still be slaughtered and preserved, and they can still be sustained for a long time.
This is also the key to why Chen Mingsheng, Wei Huang and other generals advocated sticking to Zhongli.
Wen Bo led the Chaozhou garrison to hold on for more than half a year under the siege of 780,000 to 80,000 elite imperial troops in Huaixi. Why did they hold on for less than two months before the Huaihe River thawed?
In Chen Mingsheng's view, even if Liang Jun could cross the river and go south at any time, based on past experience, there would be no precedent for Liang Jun not to retreat when the Huaihe River freezes and unblocks.
When defending a city, the odds of winning in a field battle between 16,000 and 7,000 weak brigade troops leaving the city and 20,000 Shouzhou cavalry are always much higher.
Li Xiuze strongly advocated breaking out of the encirclement and fought out from the east and south gates of Zhongli City. To the south was Longyou Lake, which was nearly ten miles in radius, and to the southwest of Longyou Lake was the northern section of the Wujian Mountains.
The soldiers of the right Shenwu army are well-equipped, and the generals are strong and brave. They have just been surrounded, and their morale is not weak. Before the enemy cavalry can advance to the city to build a fort, they only need to fight in an open area of less than twenty miles, and enter five
In the hilly areas of the Jianshan Mountains, Xu Mingzhen's 20,000 cavalry will greatly reduce the threat to them.
In addition to the fact that it was worth fighting at the tactical level, the most important thing was that Li Xiu realized that the enemy's plan was huge.
Gao Long was originally a general in Tanzhou. He persuaded Wen Ruilin to surrender and surrender to Da Chu, and he gained the title of deputy commander of the You Shenwu Army. Gao Long assassinated Chen Mingsheng in order to create chaos for the enemy to take advantage of. Is there any problem with Wen Ruilin?
?
Are there any problems with Miao Yong who was persuaded by Wen Ruilin, and other generals and military attachés who followed Gao Long and Miao Yong?
Are these people involved in the previous destruction of the Dachu Navy in Hongzepu?
If all of these are connected, it means that the Shouzhou Army and the Liang Army behind the scenes have great intentions, and the combined force will be far beyond their imagination.
The most direct consequence is that the main force of the Forbidden Army under Chaozhou City is very likely to be severely damaged by the enemy's subsequent attack, and their defense of Zhongli will be meaningless, and they will not be able to escape the tragic ending of defeat.
Or maybe the main force of the Forbidden Army was alert in time and retreated to Chuzhou or Shuzhou, but the enemy's hundreds of thousands or even more than 200,000 troops went south. They must first capture the northernmost city of Zhongli before they can attack the city to the south of Zhongli to ensure Huaihe.
The land of the west fell back into their hands.
Under the full force of the enemy's attack, the city lacked the necessary defensive materials. Can it really persist until the imperial court mobilized reinforcements from various counties and counties for reinforcements?
Although Chen Mingsheng was the capital commander, and Xu Jing, Wei Huang and other generals listened to his orders, except for Li Chong who was closer to Chen Mingsheng, Li Qi and other Li family members all stood on the side of the deputy capital commander Li Xiu.
There is no doubt that the Youshenwu Army, which was born out of the Youguang De Army, was mainly developed based on the children of the Li family absorbing the children of the Gyeonggi family and then integrating the Xuanzhou soldiers.
In this process, the children of Li family played a leading role, and the generals were deeply aware of Li Xiu's outstanding commanding ability and Li Qi's martial prowess.
Li Xiu insisted on breaking out of the encirclement, and Chen Mingsheng could only try to persuade him not to take risks.
"My father often said that it is a taboo for a soldier to be concerned about one's own life when faced with danger, and to forget one's life when one sees advantage," Li Xiu did not appreciate it and said fiercely, "If you are greedy for life and afraid of death, Li Qi and I will be the vanguard to fight for the enemy."
The soldiers will fight their way back to the south and make a bloody path."
"What do you mean?" No matter how good-tempered Chen Mingsheng was, when he saw Li Xiu mocking his greed for life and fear of death by using the name of his father, Li Yu, the king of eastern Zhejiang Province, Chen Mingsheng became furious and stared at Li Xiu and asked.
"It's better to break out of the encirclement as soon as possible. Once Liang Jun's infantry crosses the Huaihe River, it will be too late to break out." Gao Chengyuan sat behind the case and said in a deep voice.
Although Gao Chengyuan only led less than 3,000 navy troops to abandon ship and land ashore in the end, as one of Yang Yuanpu's most trusted generals, his status and reputation were still higher than Chen Ming.
In addition to being a general at the same level as Chen Mingsheng in the army, he also had a higher military attache rank than Chen Mingsheng.
When Chen Mingsheng was tough, he could force Li Xiu to obey orders, but when the two armies were merged together, the command power would theoretically belong to Gao Chengyuan.
Gao Chengyuan was ashamed of his disastrous defeat and asked Chen Mingsheng and others to save him when he was the only remaining soldier. He stayed in Zhongli City in a low-key manner and gave up his position even when discussing matters.
However, just because Gao Chengyuan didn't speak before, it doesn't mean that Gao Chengyuan's words will have no effect.
"General Gao, what do you mean?" Chen Mingsheng looked at Gao Chengyuan in surprise and asked.
"Nine out of ten navy commanders of Da Chu died. Gao will personally deliver his head to His Majesty's case to plead guilty." Gao Chengyuan looked up at the rafters and said in a hoarse voice.
"General..." Seeing that everyone was leaning towards breaking out of the encirclement and seeing that their morale was still good, Li Chong finally spoke up to persuade Chen Mingsheng to obey the crowd.
"Okay, okay..." Chen Mingsheng said angrily.
…………
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Deciding on the final plan to break out, Li Xiu and Li Qi took the initiative to lead their elite cavalry out of the west city to fight. They tried their best to resist the main force of Shouzhou cavalry from the west, and gave the horses and infantry to break out from the south city along the west bank of Longyou Lake.
Make more space.
In Nancheng, the horse and infantry led by Li Chong and Xu Jing will immediately advance to the southwest side of the city to serve as the connection between the two groups of soldiers and horses. Gao Chengyuan will lead the remaining soldiers of the navy in the center, with Chen Mingsheng, Wei Huang and other generals slightly behind.
Afterwards, the northwest wing withdrew to the south, while Gao Long's generals remained at the end.
After Gao Long and his subordinate generals and guards were eliminated, Gao Long's generals had the worst morale and the weakest combat effectiveness. With this arrangement, it can even be said that they and tens of thousands of civilians in the city were abandoned.
Zhongli City prevented the enemy cavalry from attacking their flanks and rear without restraint.
We chose to break out before dawn the next day, when the eastern sky showed a slight hint of morning light, and the city gate opened.
The enemy sentries wandering outside the city also immediately discovered the change. The alarm was loudly sounded, and hundreds of scouts immediately gathered together and roared around to intercept.
Li Xiu and Li Qi led their cavalry to pour out from the west city gate like a black tide. Their strong bows and powerful crossbows fired arrows that roared in the air like the wind. The war horses howled in the real cold wind. Soon the swords and halberds collided with each other.
When they come together, a shower of blood is stirred up, and the living body falls to the ground and struggles, or like a fish in a dry pond taking its last breath.
The role of the enemy's sentry cavalry is only to conduct reconnaissance and delay the defenders' breakthrough for the first time.
When they saw that the situation was not right, they retreated.
The Shouzhou cavalry stationed several miles away could not directly advance to the city. They were always on guard for the defenders to break through. They almost reacted as quickly as possible. Groups of fine cavalry galloped out of the simple camp gate, and even
Knocking down the simple wooden fence wall directly, it was like a flash flood coming head-on.
The dark surges collided in the morning light, splashing with sparks of blood and flesh.
The cavalry led by Li Xiu and Li Qi, with the Li family's children and the guards of the county and prince's palace as the backbone, and the strong youth of the villagers as the foundation, was as indestructible as a rock.
People continued to fall around Li Xiu and Li Qi, but then more generals came over to protect their flanks.
Li Xiu sent Ma Shan, and Li Qi sent Euphorbia. They didn't have to worry about turning back, they just stabbed and slashed the enemy in front of them, intent on killing the enemy. When they saw the arrows flying towards them like a swarm of locusts, they only saw them.
He raised his arms to block his face.
The core generals all wear one or two layers of leather armor in addition to their scale armor. Although their vital points are difficult to be hurt by arrows, the horses under their crotches are difficult to block arrows.
When Li Qi was surrounded by guards on his left and right, he changed to the third war horse. His right leg, which was not protected by the scales, was shot through by five arrows from top to bottom. Two arrows even pierced the skin of his leg.
The horses under his crotch are connected together.
By this time, they had already seen the peaks and ridges at the northern foot of the Wujian Mountains peeking out from the early morning mist.
In order to prevent him from falling off his horse, Li Qi asked Hu Sui to take a rope and tie his waist and legs to the saddle of the newly replaced fourth war horse.
"Xu Mingzhen is nothing more than a thief!"
Li Qi looked at the Shouzhou cavalry who were being killed by them on the flank and was so frightened that they did not dare to press forward. He couldn't help but roar and shout to encourage them.
The enemy cavalry can also take turns attacking to save energy, but they must rush to the front of Wujian Mountain in one go before they can take a breather.
There was no room for them to relax in the last remaining stretch of the road.
Li Qi, Li Xiu and others led the cavalry to resist the greatest pressure and rush forward, but the cavalry was still faster than the infantry starting from Nancheng and had already moved some distance south.
The horse infantry led by Li Chong and Xu Jing were initially able to take into account the connection between the cavalry and infantry to break through the encirclement. They deliberately suppressed the speed and even sent out small groups of elite combat forces from time to time to rush around and kill on the rear flank.
The enemy soldiers who came forward generally kept pace with Li Qi, Li Xiu and the others.
However, through the early morning mist, he could see Yashan Mountain on the northeasternmost side of the Wujian Mountains right in front of him. At the same time, in the gradually brightening morning light, he could see the enemy cavalry gathered on the right front wing as dense as gloomy black clouds.
Xu Jing could no longer think too much about it, and began to order his troops to increase their speed, and rushed towards Yashan with all their strength, and soon surpassed Li Qi, Li Xiu and the others.
"snort!"
Li Pu's eldest son died early, Li Chong was the second son, and Li Qi was the youngest. However, Li Qi was brought up in Yuzhang by his uncle Li Yu since he was a child, and his relationship with Li Chong was far less than his close relationship with Li Xiu. He
At this time, seeing Li Chong and Xu Jing acting like this, Li Qi snorted coldly. He was dissatisfied and disdainful, but he didn't say anything. He raised the halberd to his knees and led his troops to attack a group of enemies from the side and front.
The rider hit him head-on.
At this time, Li Chong couldn't care less about his brother's contempt. He was thinking that if he could get to the foot of Yashan first and stand firm, he might have enough energy to divide his troops to support the subsequent breakout troops.
But he couldn't see that at the foot of Yashan Mountain directly in front of them, in the dense forest, more than a thousand cavalrymen and horses, all wearing black armor, followed the gesture of the commander Pang Xiong, picked up their weapons one after another, turned over and rode on the back of the horse.
Get up, pull up the reins, and step out of the woods at an extremely slow speed.
On the fallen grass, Xuan Jiaqi looked like the god of death harvesting life, waiting for the first wave of defenders to break out...
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The biggest shortcoming of the armored heavy cavalry is the lack of the ability to maneuver over medium and long distances. However, the Central Plains war horses selected by the Xuanjia Cavalry are strong and tall, which overcomes the problem of insufficient short-range impact speed to a certain extent. In a short period of time, it is even faster than
The dwarf horses introduced by Dachu from Sichuan, Yunnan and other places were faster.
In the wilderness of less than four or five miles from the southeastern shore of Longyou Lake to the foot of Yashan Mountain, once more than a thousand black armored cavalry increased their speed, they surged forward like a black angry wave, and the ground shook like thunder.
If Li Xiu and Li Qi led 3,000 elite cavalry, they might dare to confront more than 1,000 black armored cavalry in the vast wilderness. But usually, unless absolutely necessary, they would still choose to avoid it and try their best to distance themselves.
To weaken the enemy's horse power.
For Li Chong and Xu Jing at this time, they were both horse and infantry behind them.
As for the so-called horse infantry, the main combat mode is to use horses, mules and other livestock to save physical strength during movement, carry out medium and long-distance maneuvers at a fast speed, and dismount to fight in formation when encountering the enemy.
The training of generals on horseback and horse fighting is not as good as that of real cavalry. The armor they are equipped with mainly consists of shields, spears and long bows that are inconvenient to handle on horseback. They are not suitable for horse fighting, let alone hedging against heavy armored cavalry.
.
Seeing the enemy cavalry all in black armor fighting out of the woods at the foot of Yashan Mountain, Li Chong's heart beat like a drum and his face turned ashen, as if there was an invisible giant hand made of iron, squeezing his throat tightly.
, making him breathless.
On the left is Longyou Lake. Although it is frozen, Longyou Lake is open for more than ten miles. It is unclear whether the ice on the lake can withstand thousands of cavalry trampling on it.
What's even more terrible is that Longyou Lake is extremely shallow, and large reeds are exposed on the ice. They can be ignited with rockets and burn into pieces, which can also melt the lake ice.
On the right is Li Xiu and the cavalry of Li Qi.
Retreating are the remnants of the navy under Gao Chengyuan.
They could not charge forward, and were only three or four miles away from the enemy's heavy cavalry charge line. They hurriedly dismounted and formed a formation, able to withstand the impact of the first wave of heavy armored cavalry groups that hit them like a huge wave.
?
"Go southeast!" Xu Jing shouted.
To the southeast was the gap between the southern end of Longyou Lake and Nha Mountain, which was about four miles wide. The edge of the gap was 700 steps away from them, which was slightly further than the enemy's cavalry forward line. However, counting the time, they rushed forward.
They could reach the gap before engaging the enemy cavalry, and then break out to the east along the edge of the lake shore. However, the only people who could break out of the gap in time might be them and hundreds of people around them.
Not to mention Gao Chengyuan's troops behind them, the more than 4,000 horse infantry led by them behind them were only three miles apart at this time.
What they did was actually pulling the entire array of horse and infantry behind them diagonally to the southeast, and then directly exposing their flanks to the enemy's heavy armored cavalry to rush and kill them.
The only good thing is that they and the personal guards around them may successfully escape.
Xu Jing was the head of the Privy Council's Staff Department, but Li Chong was the commander of the group of horse and infantry behind him. However, he only hesitated for a moment, then gritted his teeth and shouted: "Let's go!" He took the lead in galloping to the southeast...
"Idiot!" Seeing this scene, Li Xiu couldn't help but yell.
The enemy had an ambush hidden under Nha Mountain. How could they leave a gap on the southeast side?
If you don't dare to dismount and form a formation to fight the enemy, even if you step on the ice of Longyou Lake, your chances of winning will be slightly higher!
However, Li Chong did not dare to risk his life. The situation was already bad and he could not change it. Whether he, Li Qi and the men behind him could survive, how many people could survive, and whether they could successfully cut through the right front
The enemy cavalry were approaching as densely as a dark cloud.
Gao Chengyuan led the remnants of the navy behind the horse infantry. The terrain was slightly lower, and the men were on horseback. However, friendly cavalry was galloping in front and on the right side. The field of vision was not wide, and he and the generals were just trotting forward.
Among the generals of the Dragon Bird Army, Guo Liang was already a young and brave general who was awarded the post of General of Yuhou more than ten years ago just after he passed the age of weak crown. It was only because of the rebellion of the old Dragon Bird Army chief that the old army suffered heavy losses and was implicated.
It's just a few hundred old soldiers who have been guarding the old Longque Army for ten years.
Li Zhigao, Chai Jian, Zhou Shu and others were young generals who grew up in the army following the first general of Chu, Li Yu, the king of eastern Zhejiang Province. Li Yu retired, and Li Zhigao, Chai Jian, Zhou Shu and others became the backbone of the Xinchang Hou Mansion.
, ability and knowledge are all extraordinary.
Gao Chengyuan was selected by the late emperor as a guard of the Chongwen Palace because of his loyalty, bravery and studiousness. Later, he was able to command the guards at Linjiang Marquis Mansion, and then served as the capital of Yuhou in the Longque Army. Only then did he have the experience of truly commanding more than a thousand men. Later, because of Yanyou,
The emperor trusted him and entrusted him with the important task of organizing and training the water camp.
He knew that his talents were mediocre, so he never dared to slack off when training his generals.
More than 3,000 remnants of the navy trotted out of the city for more than ten miles, and the distance between them and the horse and infantry was only five or six hundred paces. In fact, the entire formation of the horse and infantry was pulled to the left by Li Chong and Xu Jing in front.
When Gao Chengyuan turned to the side and cleared his sight ahead, he discovered that the forward line of more than a thousand Xuanjia Cavalry was less than three miles away from him.
At this moment, Gao Chengyuan seemed to have been struck by thunder, and he subconsciously reined in his horse, almost falling off the horse.
"Run to the lake!" The generals on the left and right shouted.
Gao Chengyuan turned his horse's head in confusion, and wanted to turn east with his subordinates and the generals, thinking of taking the risk of walking through the ice of Longyou Lake, but the next moment he suddenly came to his senses and shouted: "Don't panic, generals."
Charge forward, don't be afraid of death and follow me on the left front to block the enemy's advance!"
The generals on the left and right were all senior generals brought by Gao Chengyuan in recent years. When they heard Gao Chengyuan's order, they were puzzled at first, but they were used to obeying Gao Chengyuan's orders. Then they each led their own horses, and Qingluo's family followed them. There were about three
Hundreds of people, following Gao Chengyuan, gathered on the left front wing and made way for the passage on the right to allow the remaining soldiers behind to continue moving forward.
By the time Gao Chengyuan led them on horseback and rushed to the left front towards the flank of the Xuanjia Cavalry, the front of the Xuanjia Cavalry was already like a sharp knife, cutting into the flank of the horse infantry.
The flanks of the entire cavalry and infantry formation had no resistance at all, and no military attache stepped forward to pull out a group of troops to block the front of the Xuanjia Cavalry. When the entire formation was pulled to the left, it was already due to the
Fearful of war and death, it has been compressed extremely tightly and chaotically against the lake shore.
In fact, the moment they came into contact with the more than 300 cavalry forwards of the Xuanjia Cavalry, the horse and infantry formation had already collapsed, and some people even fled to Longyou Lake to the northeast of them.
If they had just chosen to flee towards Longyou Lake, they would have been blocked by the rout of horse and infantry troops, and they would have been completely routed.
Because the Xuanjia Cavalry was tilted toward the southeast in response to the horse infantry formation, in order to make it easier to attack the flanks of the horse infantry, during the impact process, the three waves of cavalry formations also adjusted their directions and moved toward the northeast.
The Xuanjia cavalry forward has already entered the cavalry and infantry formation. The second group of cavalry formation is less than 200 steps away from the flank of the cavalry infantry. Their speed has reached the extreme. It is impossible to adjust the direction hastily without causing chaos. Only the third group can
The more than two hundred heavy armored cavalry were moved a little further away. The speed had not reached the extreme yet, and the direction of the sprint could be adjusted. At this moment, both the left and right generals understood that Gao Chengyuan was going to lead them to fight to the death and hold down the two hundred heavy armored cavalry.
He helped other remnants of the Navy escape into Nya Mountain and fight for a chance to survive...
