Zhao Jiu, who was originally in a certain state of sadness, quickly cheered up as he crossed the river and walked north, because even if he lacked military literacy, he understood that the right deputy marshal of the Jin Army walked north so neatly that he had already made Zhao Jiu feel sad.
The situation in Henan has completely changed.
The problem in this matter is not how many soldiers Wanyan Talan still has, nor whether he still has the will to fight or whether he can fight. The problem lies precisely in his leaving Henan itself.
You know, Talan is the nominal commander of the 120,000-strong East Route Army, and the actual leader of the central group of the three major Jin Army groups in Henan.
He is here, and as long as he holds on in Henan, no matter how many soldiers he has, then all the main forces of the Jin Army in Henan will still be an organic combination, whether it is the Wushu Group across the Five Rivers area, or the so-called easternmost front
Huazhou Group and Nanjing Group both have a common echo.
But as soon as he left, not to mention the Nianhan remote control of Daming Mansion on the eastern front, Wanyan Wushu's group was completely isolated!
Due to the strong combat effectiveness and mobility of the Jin Army, the Song Army did not dare to say that the opportunity had come at this time, but at least they had seized the initiative!
In fact, in the next three days, Han Shizhong sent envoys to write letters one after another according to the changes in military information. While constantly telling Zhao Guan's family in Tokyo City his views, he also constantly revised his plan.
In fact, on the twentieth day of the first lunar month, with the new news...that is, under Wanyan Wushu's command, Wulin Da Taiyu, who was supposed to besiege Fangcheng, personally led thousands of cavalry brigade to appear in the five provinces where Yue Fei was responsible.
The matter of the Hefang District... was sent to Zhengzhou and Kaifeng by Yue Fei. However, Han Shizhong's plan was to immediately adjust to layers of delays to lure the enemy deeper, and then do his best to set up an ambush at the junction of Zhengzhou, Yingchang Prefecture, and Kaifeng City.
, bit Wanyan Wushu hard.
This plan has a clear sense of personal revenge in it, because it is basically a replica of Wanyan Wushu's plan to ambush Zhujiaqu Town and defeat Han Shizhong, except that the prey and the hunter are completely reversed.
Then, of course, the Zhao Guan family immediately sent a decree to express their agreement... The reason is very simple. First, the plan is indeed feasible; secondly, Yue Fei is here to deliver the news. The matter itself, that is, the news that Wu Lin Da Tai wants to appear in the Wuhe area is simply
It was a day and a half ago, and we are pressed for time. It would be good to have a plan to deal with the enemy!
Let’s not talk about Han Shizhong and Zhao Jiu becoming more and more courageous. On the other hand, after Wu Lin Taitai appeared in the Wuhe area, Wanyan Wushu really chose to withdraw his troops across the board and come to the Wuhe area.
Already.
It won't work if he doesn't come.
In other words, it doesn't matter if he doesn't believe it.
Let's say that at the beginning, Wanyan Wushu heard that Changshe had been defeated and Han Shizhong was out of trouble. Although he was angry and shocked, he didn't have much doubts and hesitations... because victory or defeat is a common thing for military strategists, and Han Shizhong was
The chief general of the Song Dynasty who said, "Miracle always accompanies me," and with so many troops from the Tokyo Remaining Division on the opposite side, if you lose, you will lose. It makes sense when you think about it.
In fact, when the first wave of troops collapsed and the messenger arrived at Nanyang City, the fourth prince of the Jin Kingdom just discussed it with Han Chang and Ba Lisu for a moment, then gritted his teeth and decided to return troops to rescue and try to retake
In the land of five rivers, the strategy of bypassing Ruzhou and returning north from Xijing cannot be accomplished.
After all, at that time, Wu Shu was already stuck in the difficult decision of whether to divide his troops and go to Xiangyang. To put it bluntly, the defeat of Tarlan made him no longer have to choose.
However, when more defeated troops arrived there, Wanyan Wushu became suspicious and panicked, because he firmly did not believe what these people said that the Zhao Song officials personally appeared on the battlefield and actually instigated the attack.
One battle.
This is ridiculous!
Because just a few days ago, everyone, including Wu Shu's own military knowledge, was telling the fourth prince that Zhao Jiu used the Song Army's 10,000 soldiers as bait on that day and successfully tricked the Jin Army and the Song Army.
Everyone, including everyone, then fled to the fortified city of Xiangyang, which was blocked by the Han River... This already made him very angry, okay?
But now, all the people who fled told him that Zhao Jiu did not go to Xiangyang, and that the official of the Song Dynasty tricked him, the fourth prince of the Jin Dynasty, twice... double-layered!
So, can this kind of thing be believed?
So, in the early morning of the tenth day of the first lunar month, because the situation was in dire straits, a battle of luring the enemy and blocking the enemy broke out in the south of Nanyang City. The Jin army won a great victory and Zhao Jiu escaped from Nanyang;
On the twelfth day of the first lunar month, Zhao Jiu went straight to Yanling, killed Du Chong and gained military power;
On the thirteenth day of the first lunar month, the Yanling-Changshe battle broke out. In just one hour, the Jin army, which had underestimated the enemy, suffered a devastating blow.
On the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, the Lantern Festival, Zhao Jiu rushed to Tokyo City and peacefully took over the Tokyo Left-behind Division from Zongze. Zongze passed away that night. But on the afternoon of the same day, Wanyan Wushu also met Wulin Dataiyu.
The fast horses escorted the Talan tribe to defeat at the foot of Nanyang City.
In fact, so many things happened on this day that Ta Lan probably escaped the Yellow River on the same day.
On the sixteenth day of the first lunar month, Han Shizhong's pursuit force encountered the five Yelüma troops who were caught off guard in Zhengzhou and won a great victory.
On the eighteenth day of the first lunar month, Wulin Taiyu's troops, who finally received the order, had just appeared in the Wuhe area, and settled in Wuyang that night, joining the remnants of the Jin army who had left Xiangcheng, Yancheng, and Xiping gathered here. It was considered a complete decision.
All previous messages.
However, considering that Wulin Da Taiyu had been in Fangcheng, the center of Nanyang and Wuhe areas, only a hundred miles away from Wuyang, Wanyan Wushu probably hesitated for a day and a half before accepting this fact.
Only then did a decision be made and military orders issued.
What's even more interesting is that it had only been three days since Wulin Dataiyu appeared in the Wuhe area. Wanyan Wushu and his main force of 30,000 Jin Army cavalry rushed to Wuyang with great momentum and joined forces with Wulin Dataiyu.
In other words, after all the previous news from Changshe was completely confirmed, Wanyan Wushu did not leave any soldiers in Nanyang, and the whole army rushed towards Wuhe at a high speed... Then he plunged into Yue Fei's emergency defense line
within.
In other words, the gap in military strength is huge, and the gap in combat power is even greater. In addition, the Song army has a city to defend, so it is impossible for Yue Fei to cause any substantial damage to Wanyan Wushu... But the war is not just about field battles and defending the city.
of.
"What do you mean you can't cross the river?"
On the twenty-second day of the first lunar month, in the morning, by the Lihe River, Wu Shu, who had been sitting on his horse for a long time, finally waited for the news, but couldn't help but stare coldly at the Meng An in front of him.
"Fourth Prince, we have found out clearly that on the night when General Wu Linda came to Wuyang, all the bridges on the Li River were demolished and burned by the Song army on the other side in one night, not just the one in front of us...
..." Meng An, who had just returned from a hard gallop, was also on the horse, with a look of embarrassment on his face. "Moreover, the ice melted and the water rose, making it difficult for several shoals. We can barely cross the river on horseback, but it is extremely difficult to cross the subsequent baggage."
Wu Shu opened his mouth, but no attack came out.
"The army marches, clears roads across mountains and builds bridges when encountering water." At this moment, Wanyan Balisu suddenly looked at him coldly. "If there is no pontoon bridge, we will find a place with stable water and build a pontoon bridge... Is this the Huai River or the Huaihe River?"
Han River, can’t we do it?”
Na Meng An An was startled and immediately took the order to leave. However, he was asked to temporarily cut down trees and prepare to build a pontoon bridge in front of the ruins of the old pontoon bridge.
Seeing Meng An leave and give the order, Ba Lisu solemnly advised Wu Shu: "Fourth Prince, please forgive me for saying bluntly, since the Song army has begun to set up defenses here, it means that the land of Wuhe has been exhausted.
It is under the control of the Song Army, so at this time, we must be more careful to wait for the baggage behind us, and we cannot easily abandon our reserves and move forward."
Wu Shu nodded repeatedly, but he didn't know whether he was perfunctory or if he really listened.
Han Chang also wanted to interject and ask whether he should be careful about Nanyang Wang De behind him, but he saw that Wu Shu's hand holding the riding crop was trembling slightly, but he didn't say anything more - he knew very well that this fourth
The prince's unwillingness, anger and sense of absurdity at this time made it clearer that the fourth prince was forcibly suppressing some desire at this time.
Obviously, if there was anything Wanyan Wushu wanted to do urgently at this moment, it was to rush over, find the disobedient Zhao Song official, and devour him alive!
In fact, if he had not known that the Zhao Song official family was here, judging from the current situation, Wushu should have been on the safe side and walked directly from Ruzhou in the west to the north, and first went to Luoyang, Xijing to find out the military situation and stabilize the situation.
.
Logging and building bridges are very slow. This is not only because the Song army was prepared and collected possible ferries in advance, but also because a river like the Lihe River, which may be large or small, really needs to be built with a pontoon bridge.
There was no need for ships to make a base, and more importantly, at this time, Wanyan Wushu and others realized the adverse consequences of abandoning the craftsmen camp in order to lure the enemy in Nanyang, and now abandoning the civilians to concentrate the main cavalry troops coming at a high speed.
In a word, the bridge can always be built, but when there is a lack of the necessary number of Han people and craftsmen accompanying the army, it will inevitably be somewhat clumsy and slow.
Not only that, but something even more devastating was yet to come. The Jin army finally managed to roughly float a bridge, and then sent a small group of elites to cross the river from a distant shoal in an attempt to anchor on the opposite side... However, the small team
The troops did not wait, but first waited for the fire ship floating down from the upstream.
After the fireboat, there were the remaining soldiers and horses of the small force that hurriedly fled back. The leader, Pu Liyan, was wounded and kowtowed to him. They had just taken off their armor and braved the cold water to cross the river, but they were ambushed on the other side. About three people were ambushed.
Four hundred Song troops equipped with leather armor, crossbows, and short-sighted soldiers had long been waiting in the increasingly prosperous reeds opposite the shoal.
After a short battle, more than half of the fifty-man army was quickly lost, and they had no choice but to jump into the river and swim back with their horses in embarrassment.
The high-ranking officials of the Jin Army on the south bank of the Li River looked at each other. No one was going to deal with Pu Liyan who had escaped, and no one was looking at the still flaming river, just to see the fourth prince.
"We can only send people to cross the river and check the north bank of the river." Wanyan Wushu used his military knowledge and military logic deduction ability and said nonsense.
"How many people should be sent to cross the river?" Wu Lin Da Taiyu finally said with a frown. "Fourth Prince, the Song army has been prepared for a long time. If we send too few people, we may risk death if we go to such shoal again. But if we send more people, we can send more people."
How much is appropriate? How much time will it take?"
"Then what do you think I should do? What can I do?" Wu Shu suddenly blushed, and his hands holding the horse's reins were covered with veins.
Wulin Taiyu was shocked, but he could only look at Han Chang and Ba Lisu.
"The three of you are fierce, go up and down together to find shoals, and cross the river together... As much as you can cross, then control the situation." In desperation, Ba Lisu turned around and gave the order.
After receiving the order, three cavalry brigades, which in the past could have slaughtered the city and defeated the army, galloped together, causing the ground beside the river to tremble slightly. They were indeed very impressive, but when they thought about such majestic cavalry, they would immediately have to risk the asymmetry of the cavalry.
Swimming in danger of life, but only to build a pontoon bridge. Although they are not very skilled, several senior officials of the Jin Army only think it is a bit absurd.
However, this time, it worked after all... After asymmetric attrition and long suffering, in the evening, the pontoon was finally erected.
Once a pontoon bridge has been built, as long as this bridge is preserved, countless pontoon bridges can easily be built tomorrow.
In this regard, Wulin Taiyu probably received Wu Shu's unwarranted scolding, and because he was angry, he crossed the river alone and became the vanguard with three Meng'an.
However, that night, the Song army suddenly launched a surprise attack.
For a time, gongs and drums were blaring and torches were waving. I really don’t know how many Song troops were attacking. Not to mention that the Jin troops who swam over during the day were exhausted and panicked when they were about to attack. Even most of the Jin troops on the south bank of the river were panicked for a moment.
Get up and deal with it.
However, as the Jin Army on the south bank of the river sent emergency personnel to support after stabilizing the situation, the originally safe pontoon bridge was exposed at night, and was taken advantage of by the Song Army... A group of well-equipped Song Army grabbed it along the river bank.
Come over, throw the oiled firewood and the torch together, and the fire will burn the poor pontoon bridge again.
That's all.
However, what really made Wu Shu collapse was that after a night of tossing, when the Song army retreated at dawn, the Jin army counted the number of people, only to find that not many people died last night. It can be seen that those gongs, drums, and torches were just a trick to deceive the soldiers and tire them out.
Only the Song army who rushed all the way to the pontoon bridge and burned it had some connections.
But the Song army only left behind a vulgar remark of "You are a great man from Ruzhou" after successfully burning the bridge.
Who knows who Grandpa Niu of Ruzhou is?
But no matter what, the Jin Army brigade is here. Since there are no casualties to worry about, and there are people on both sides of the strait, the Jin Army finally built the pontoon bridge again, and this time it was safe and sound. It was busy until noon, and several pontoon bridges were connected. Most of the Jin Army
We started to cross the river, and by nightfall we had already passed 178.
However, at this time, the top brass of the Jin Army were calculating carefully by the river, and discovered a huge problem.
You must know that the Jin Army's 35,000 cavalry, combined with the remnants of the Talan tribe, have returned to the 40,000 they had when they first marched.
As for such a large force, the front has crossed the Lihe River, but the rear has not yet left Wuyang City. But what is even more frightening is that the baggage they brought from Nanyang is still slowly coming to Wuyang. So this situation
Next, in order to guard against the Song army, as a precautionary measure, according to Bali Su's suggestion, the entire army should wait at the Lihe River and wait until the entire army has crossed before marching to the next river.
Of course there is no problem with the plan of pulling away from Su, because after the defeat of Talan, for the Jin army, the Wuhe area in front was in chaos, or simply, it should have all become an area occupied by the Song army. Then if the Song army every
Rivers are controlled by this intensity, so only by crossing a river can we know the situation behind a river... Otherwise, who can guarantee that the next time the Song Army will not send the main force to attack at night to stop it?
However, if you do this, a huge problem will arise. If it is just one Li River, it will probably take three or four days to cross it. If all five rivers are crossed, how many days will you have to wait?
Won't there be fighting in the middle?
Do you dare to leave those troublesome cities alone?
But in this case, will the army's baggage be enough? Can we still be as invincible as when we came and let the Song Dynasty city in Kaicheng provide food and grass by itself?
And if the baggage cannot be supplied... what if the 40,000 cavalry are really smashed here?
"I was so lazy!" Wanyan Wushu, whose eyes were bloodshot by the bonfire, was filled with resentment. "If I knew where he was, why would I lose my authority like this?"