Ten thousand cavalrymen headed south under the leadership of General Su Zhen. They arrived in Changzhou at dawn, replenished dry food and fodder, and after resting for an hour, the army began to march westward.
They still took the Taihu North Route. The official road of this road was flat, but it was surrounded by many mountains and was relatively hidden. More importantly, this road was far away from Liyang County. Even if enemy scouts discovered them and five thousand enemy troops came to intercept them,
It's too late in time.
Another reason is that the cavalry can conduct a second supply in Yixing County, which is very important for the cavalry without logistical support.
The high-speed maneuvering of the cavalry was indeed far superior to that of the infantry, and it took only one day to reach Yixing County. They rested in Yixing County for two hours, replenished food and grass, and set off again at the first watch in the evening.
The reason why they chose to set off at night was because of the rich experience of the Jin army. Even if they were discovered by enemy scouts, because it was night, the enemy scouts could not use messenger eagles or pigeons to send letters, so they could only rush to Liyang County to deliver the letters. In terms of time,
It's too late.
After coming out of Yixing County, the cavalry speeded up. On the official road thirty miles west of Yixing County, seven or eight soldiers were resting on a nearby hillside. They were the first batch of scouts sent by Liyang County and had entered the boundaries of Changzhou.
.
These scouts have been in this area for more than ten days, and the dry food they brought is almost exhausted. According to the usual practice, they will return to Liyang tomorrow, and then another group of scouts will be on duty.
Nothing happened for more than ten days, and the scouts had already slacked off. They lay on the grass and slept wrapped in blankets, leaving only one person on duty to prevent wild beasts from attacking at night.
Suddenly, the soldiers on duty woke everyone up, and the leading brigade commander said unhappy: "What happened?"
"Boss, listen!"
The brigade commander listened carefully and heard only a rumble in the air, like the reverberation of dull thunder, but the night sky was clear and full of stars, and there was no sign of rain.
The brigade commander sat up, listened carefully for a moment, and suddenly shouted: "This is the cavalry, everyone, get up, there are cavalry coming!"
The nine scouts stood up one after another, hid behind a pile of large rocks, and looked down at the official road a mile away.
Not long after, a dark cavalry team appeared in the distance. They could not be seen, running at a medium speed, getting closer and closer, and soon passed in front of them, quickly heading to the west.
All the scouts were shocked from ear to ear. They had never seen such a huge cavalry, and their momentum was terrifying. When the cavalry brigade passed by, the brigade commander finally recovered, stood up and ordered: "We will return to Liyang County immediately to report
!”
The Jin army's 10,000 cavalry rushed across the border and continued to run towards Xuancheng. When the defenders of Liyang County received the news, it was already the soldiers of the next morning. The Jin army's cavalry had penetrated deep into Xuanzhou.
More than a hundred miles away, there is still one day's journey to Xuancheng.
Generally, there are two ways to attack and seize a city. It mainly depends on the strength of the opponent's defenders. If the opponent's defenders are strong, the cavalry attack will usually take the form of a sneak attack, taking advantage of the defenders' unpreparedness to attack the city at night.
However, if there are few soldiers defending the city, the cavalry attack will usually be suppressed with momentum, forcing the opponent to abandon the city and flee.
As for the Jin army, they had another powerful weapon for attacking the city, and they were not worried about not being able to capture the city.
Li Feng, the commander-in-chief of Liyang County, was immediately shocked when he learned that the cavalry brigade was crossing the border. He immediately sent a pigeon letter, informing the commander-in-chief Liu Shining in Xunyang County, Jiangzhou, of the urgent military information.
He was more worried about Xuancheng County. The cavalry was obviously targeting Xuancheng County. The key was whether the two food delivery teams returned to Xuancheng County. If they returned to Xuancheng County in time, Xuancheng's troops could still resist for a while.
If two food delivery teams have already come out, it will be troublesome.
They did not establish pigeon letter communication with Xuancheng County, so Li Feng sent a soldier on horseback to rush to Xuancheng County to inform Xuancheng to take precautions.
At the same time, shopkeeper Qian also sent an urgent pigeon message to Liu Shining in Runzhou, informing Liu Shining that the Jin army would send 3,000 cavalry to attack Xuancheng.
........
Xuancheng is located in the middle of Xuanzhou. It is a large city with a large population. The city here is tall and solid, easy to defend and difficult to attack. Three official roads intersect here. A large amount of food and supplies are also stored in the city. Its strategic position is extremely important. Once Xuancheng is captured
, you can attack Jiangnan to the east, Raozhou and Hongzhou to the west, and Jiangzhou to the north.
More importantly, attacking Jiangnan was a major strategy that Liu Shining had planned for five years. To this end, all the grain and grass supplies that his father had accumulated for more than ten years were stored in Xuancheng, making Xuancheng County a logistical hub for the attack on Jiangnan.
Of course, Liu Shining also invested heavily in defense. He had a total of 35,000 troops, so he put more than 20,000 troops in Xuanzhou. However, after losing 10,000 troops in the first attack on Changzhou, Xuanzhou's army was left with only one
Thirteen thousand people.
Liu Shining also divided his troops for defense. He stationed 5,000 heavy troops in each of the northern and southern counties on the border, leaving 3,000 troops in Xuancheng for defense. He considered that if the Jin army could not resist the counterattack, the two armies could quickly withdraw to Xuancheng.
But his assumption was that the opponent was infantry. If the opponent was cavalry, Liu Shining would not dare to deploy troops like this. The high-speed raid of the cavalry would tear apart his defense line and create a big hole in his defense.
The pigeon letter from the Qian family said that Xuancheng only had one thousand defenders, which was actually correct. Xuancheng originally had three thousand defenders, but Xuancheng County was also responsible for delivering supplies and food to the defenders in Liyang and Sui'an.
, each transport team was dispatched with a thousand soldiers to protect it, so that Xuancheng County often had only a thousand soldiers left.
The 10,000 cavalrymen led by Su Zhen happened to encounter two grain convoys setting out for the second time when they were still more than ten miles away from Xuancheng County. These two grain convoys would soon part ways, with one heading to Liyang County in the northeast.
, one branch goes to Sui'an County in the southeast.
After receiving the news from the forward, Su Zhen immediately stopped the advance of the army. What surprised him was not the grain transport team, but the two escort armies.
Su Zhen is also a veteran who has experienced hundreds of battles. He knows that once the two thousand food protection soldiers return to the county town, the raid plan against them will be a huge variable.
Su Zhen immediately said: "Where is General Li Mengrong?"
The deputy general of the cavalry, Li Mengrong, stepped forward and said: "The last general is here!"
"You quickly lead five thousand cavalry around behind the grain team to prevent the enemy troops protecting the grain from retreating to Xuancheng County!"
"Follow the order!"
Li Mengrong took the order arrow and shouted: "Follow me from the 6th to 10th Battalions!"
The five thousand cavalrymen left the group, and under the leadership of deputy general Li Mengrong, they took a circuitous route and ran towards the opponent's back.
Su Zhen led the remaining five thousand cavalry and temporarily hid in the woods beside the official road.
The grain transport team consisted of nearly 5,000 carts. They carried not only grain, but also cages of fat pigs and sheep. There were also at least 1,000 carts loaded with 100,000 copper coins, which were distributed to 10,000 soldiers.
The five-month military salary is to transport this large amount of money, so it must be protected by the army.
Of course, the two thousand soldiers couldn't walk. They sat on carts and followed the ox carts as they swayed forward.
After walking for about five miles, a low sound of horns suddenly came from the woods to the north, and countless cavalry were seen coming out of the woods and forming an overwhelming array on the grass.
Su Zhen waved his spear and said, "Attack!"
"Woo--Woo--"
The horn of attack sounded, and five thousand people shouted in unison, urging their horses to charge towards the grain transport team. The driver was so frightened that he jumped off the cart and ran away. The soldiers also jumped off the cart one after another.
Just listen to the general shouting: "Go back to the city! Go back to the city!"
The soldiers turned around and fled, running desperately towards the county seat. The Jin cavalry was chasing them. Less than three miles away, the soldiers behind were overtaken by the cavalry. They stabbed with spears and chopped with swords. Groups of soldiers
Killed and thrown to the ground.
Unable to escape from the war horses, the soldiers had to kneel down and kowtow to beg for mercy. The soldiers fleeing at the front had already seen the county town, but an equally large cavalry team suddenly appeared in front of them, blocking their way, leaving the soldiers in despair.
Ten thousand cavalry attacked from the front and back. Two thousand soldiers had no way to go. Hundreds of them were killed. The rest of the soldiers knelt down and surrendered. This interception battle took place several miles away from the county town. The soldiers on the top of the city could see clearly.
Clearly.
The overwhelming cavalry frightened a thousand soldiers on the city. The general was called Lai Wenbo, a general. He was also panicked and didn't know what to do. He abandoned the city and fled. He was afraid that Liu Shicheng would not spare him, but if he defended
He only has a thousand soldiers under his command, so how can he defend the city?
At this time, the soldiers chopped down dozens of big trees and piled them up two hundred steps away from the east city gate. Several firearms battalion soldiers placed a large iron fire mine under the big tree and lit the match rope. The cavalry retreated one after another.
Cover the war horse's ears with a cloth and cover the ears at the same time.
The thousand soldiers on the top of the city didn't know what was going on, and looked curiously at the big tree hundreds of steps away.
Suddenly, a red light burst out, followed by an earth-shattering explosion of iron fire and thunder. The whole earth was shaking and the city was shaking. Hundreds of steps away, the war horses screamed violently and retreated. The smoke was filled and broken wood in the sky.
Falling with a splash.
Most of the soldiers on the top of the city were unsteady and fell to the ground. It was the first time for most of the soldiers to see the iron fire thunder explode. They were so scared that they fell to the ground and shouted, as if the end was coming.
General Lai Wenbo slowly stood up and looked out. The smoke faded and he could see the situation at the explosion site. He was shocked and stunned.