At the place where the violent explosion had just occurred, dozens of large trees were blown to pieces and scattered scattered within a hundred feet in radius. A large crater more than ten feet wide and at least one foot deep appeared in the middle.
General Lai Wenbo had heard of Iron Fire Thunder, but today he saw it for the first time with his own eyes. The powerful power made him despair.
At this time, a cavalry galloped over and shot an arrow letter into the city.
A soldier picked up the letter and handed it to Lai Wenbo. Lai Wenbo opened the letter and saw that it read: "The King of Jin dismounted the cavalry general Su Zhen to address the general of Xuancheng. Ten thousand troops have arrived. In order not to hurt the people in the city,
If you are willing to surrender to the Jin army, you will be treated kindly. If you are not willing to surrender, you can open the north city gate and leave by yourself. The cavalry will not chase you. If you resist stubbornly, the Jin army will not accept the surrender after the city is broken and will be killed!"
After reading the letter, Lai Wenbo looked at the soldiers at the top of the city. They were all panic-stricken. They were frightened by the big explosion just now and had no fighting spirit. Lai Wenbo thought again that if he abandoned the city and fled, Liu Shining would not forgive him.
He couldn't help but sigh and ordered: "Pass my order, Kaicheng surrenders!"
.........
As a thousand defenders surrendered, the Jin cavalry entered Xuancheng County, which meant that this strategically important city was successfully raided by the Jin army, and the war situation began to suddenly reverse.
At the same time, two hundred large ships, escorted by the Runzhou Navy, carried 20,000 soldiers along the south bank of the Yangtze River toward Jiangzhou.
The leader of this fleet is the cavalry general Yang Miao. Yang Miao is also a veteran of Hexi and once served as a heavy crossbow general. He, Su Zhen, and An Zhong became Li Bing's right-hand men.
This time Li Bing led 30,000 troops into the south of the Yangtze River. Together with the 10,000 troops returning from Guangzhou, there were actually 40,000 Jin troops. Together with the 20,000 militia troops, Li Bing could mobilize 60,000 troops.
.
This time Li Bing used nearly 40,000 troops to launch the Xuanzhou offensive, and the remaining 20,000 troops were deployed on the front lines in Jiangning, Changzhou and Huzhou to prevent Liu Shining from jumping over the wall and counterattacking in Jiangnan.
Li Bing himself was based in Changzhou and controlled the operation remotely.
At the same time, General An Zhong led 8,000 men into Xuanzhou from the direction of Jiangning County and rushed to Xuancheng. He was responsible for taking over the defense of Xuancheng and freeing 10,000 cavalry from Xuancheng.
.........
Xunyang County in Jiangzhou, which is today's Jiujiang, is where Bai Juyi wrote "Pipa Xing". However, Xunyang County has always been the home base of Liu Qia and his son. Their control area mainly covers large areas of land west of Taihu Lake and east of Ganjiang River.
Including the entire territory of Xuanzhou, Jiangzhou, Raozhou and Fuzhou, as well as half of Hongzhou, Jizhou and Qianzhou.
However, the territory controlled by Ma Sui was to the west of Ganjiang River and east of Xiangjiang River, while the west of Xiangjiang River was controlled by Liu Pi.
Liu Shining, who aroused public outrage this month because of his improper handling of his father's funeral, keeps a low profile and spends most of his time training new recruits in Xunyang County.
Liu Shining's 10,000 troops were completely destroyed in Changzhou, and the surrendered soldiers were not released, which reduced Liu's troops to 25,000. His 25,000 troops were divided into two, and half of them were stationed in Xuanzhou.
The other half are stationed in Jiangzhou. There are no soldiers stationed in other states, and only a small number of militia soldiers are responsible for maintaining local security.
This month Liu Shining recruited 10,000 young men in Raozhou, Hongzhou and Jiangzhou to form a new army. He was personally responsible for the training of this new army.
That morning, Liu Shining was training the formation of the new army on the campus. At this time, there was a commotion on the side of the campus, and a group of soldiers pushed a veteran with white hair and beard forward.
The veteran smelled of alcohol and was bleeding from the corners of his mouth and eyes. It looked like he had been beaten badly.
"Lord, this old guy is drinking and swearing again!"
This veteran is called Wang Yangui. He has followed Liu Qia in many battles in the north and south. He has always been Liu Qia's right-hand man. However, he has a bad temper and speaks mercilessly, which offends many people.
At that time, he also advised Liu Qia not to delegate too much power to Liu Shining. Although Liu Qia did not adopt it, he offended Liu Shining.
After Liu Shining came to power, he promoted his confidants and demoted the veterans. Wang Yangui was the first to bear the brunt. Wang Yangui was a fourth-grade Zhongwu general conferred by the late Emperor Dezong more than ten years ago, but now he was demoted to a logistics general by Liu Shining.
He was depressed and often got drunk. After drinking, he would curse Liu Shining.
When Liu Shining knew that he was insulting him again, he became furious and whipped his head. A blood mark immediately appeared on Wang Yangui's face. Wang Yangui turned his head away without saying a word. He was so filled with hatred that he lost his usual irritability.
Liu Shining was even more angry and whipped out his whip again, "Old man, if you want to die, I will help you!"
At this moment, aide Fan Hong shouted from a distance: "General! General!"
Liu Shining pointed at Wang Yangui and said, "Drinking is not allowed in the army. This person has seriously violated military discipline. I will drag him down and beat him with a hundred military sticks."
All the generals came forward to plead for mercy, begging Liu Shining to spare him one more time for the sake of his old master!
Liu Shining snorted, "If I don't kill this old man, I will give him an advantage. How can I be more lenient and drag him down and beat him? If he is beaten to death, I will give him a shabby mat!"
The soldiers dragged Wang Yangui down, and Liu Shining urged his horse forward and asked, "What's the matter?"
Fan Hong said anxiously: "General, I have received two urgent pigeon messages. One is from Qian Yi from Runzhou, saying that three thousand Jin cavalry have been heading towards Xuanzhou, and the other is from Li Feng, the chief general of Liyang County, saying that his
The scouts discovered that a large group of cavalry had entered Xuanzhou, numbering about 10,000 people."
Liu Shining was shocked, "Is this the Jin army planning to raid Xuancheng?"
"It should be like this. The contents of the two intelligences are consistent, but the number of people is a little different. One is 10,000 cavalry, the other is 3,000 cavalry. I don't know which one is correct."
"Go back to the military camp first!"
Liu Shining was a little flustered. How could the opponent have cavalry? This was something he had never thought of before. If the opponent was cavalry, then there would be problems with his army deployment. The cavalry could easily break through the defense line and raid Xuancheng. Xuancheng's three thousand defenders
Can you hold on?
When he returned to the main tent, he asked, "Is there any news about Xuancheng?"
Reporter Zhang Jun shook his head, "The latest news has been given to Mr. Fan, but there is no news now?"
Liu Shining stood in front of the map and looked at Xuancheng County on the map and felt regretful. He had known that he would be fine if he concentrated his troops in Xuancheng. Why did he have to divide his troops into three places and call each other the horns?
Staff officer Fan Hong advised: "If there are really only 3,000 cavalry, they will not be able to capture Xuancheng. If there are 10,000 cavalry, it will be irreversible now."
At this moment, a soldier said at the door: "General, urgent pigeon message from Xuancheng County!"
Liu Shining suddenly turned around and said sternly: "Bring the letter quickly!"
The soldier went into the tent, knelt down on one knee, and presented a pigeon letter. Liu Shining opened the pigeon letter, took a look at it, and breathed a little relieved, "It's from Lai Wenbo. Three thousand cavalry of the Jin army attacked Xuancheng without success. Now,
The destination is unknown!"
Fan Hong frowned, "Then why did Li Feng say it was ten thousand cavalry?"
"This can explain that the other party was bluffing and crossing the border at night. One person held three big flags. It seemed that the battle was huge. It is estimated that the spies sent by Li Feng hurried back without seeing everything."
"Then what's the point of the enemy sending these three thousand cavalry to raid Xuancheng?" Fan Hong asked again puzzled.
Liu Shining took a few steps with his hands behind his back and said slowly: "The opponent's target must be Xuancheng. I suspect that the cavalry is not used to attack the city. There should be other troops attacking the city."
Fan Hong's mind flashed, his brows furrowed and he said: "These three thousand cavalry should be here to deal with Li Feng and the others. Once another army attacks Xuancheng in a large scale, Li Feng will inevitably withdraw to Xuancheng, and these three thousand cavalry are waiting halfway!"
Liu Shining also thought of this. The high-speed movement of the cavalry was suitable for an ambush, but one thing he couldn't figure out was where would the other main force attacking Xuancheng come from?
At this time, another soldier reported at the door, "Urgent express message from Runzhou!"
The soldier walked into the big tent and presented another pigeon message. Liu Shining opened it and took a closer look. This was the second urgent message sent by Qian Yi from Runzhou. It was written very simply. Li Bing personally led 20,000 soldiers from Jiangning.
He headed towards Xuanzhou.
All of a sudden, everything was connected. It was the 20,000 troops led by Li Bing who actually attacked Xuancheng, and the cavalry was only used to ambush the retreating troops.
Fan Hong nodded, "I understand. The cavalry came from Changzhou and attracted all Li Feng's attention to the center line. The enemy's 20,000 troops silently entered Xuanzhou from the northern line."
"The question is, what should we do?" Liu Shining asked.
"I suggest you support Xuancheng. No matter what, Xuancheng is too important and must not be lost."
Liu Shining thought for a long time and nodded. He adopted Fan Hong's suggestion. All their food and supplies were in Xuancheng and they must not lose it.
He then added: "Immediately send a dove letter to notify Li Feng and Zhang Yansheng of Sui'an, asking them to lead their troops to retreat to Raozhou!"
Raozhou is heading southwest, so that it may be possible to bypass the enemy's ambush.
Liu Shining ordered his brother Liu Shichao to lead 10,000 new troops to guard Jiangzhou, and he personally led 10,000 elite troops to Xuanzhou.
.........
Just as Xunyang's 10,000 troops marched south, the spies who had been ambushing in Xunyang County immediately sent the news to Changzhou using pigeon mail.
In the Changzhou military office, Li Bing was discussing their battle plan with Wang You. The entire Xuanzhou situation was planned by Wang You. It can be said that all the links were interlocked, and the conspiracy was brought to the extreme.
In fact, the key reason is that Xuancheng County is too important. Liu Shining does not want to lose Xuancheng and Xuanzhou. Not only is Xuancheng County hoarding a large amount of money, food and supplies, but more importantly, once the Jin army captures Xuancheng, it is equivalent to occupying Xuanzhou, which can be easily cut off.
The connection between Jiangzhou, Hongzhou and Raozhou made Liu Shining trapped in Guzhou, so Wang You believed that Liu Shining would definitely save Xuancheng County.
Li Bing remembered something at this time and asked a little strangely: "Jiangzhou borders the Yangtze River to the north and Poyang Lake to the south. It has vast waters, but I haven't heard of them developing a navy?"
Wang You smiled and said: "I actually know the reason for this. Not only Liu Qia, but also Ma Sui did not develop a naval army. Both of them moved from the Central Plains to fight. After settling on the south bank of the Yangtze River, they only had a few thousand troops left.
People, their focus was on army expansion. Ma Sui expanded from 4,000 to 20,000, and Liu Qia expanded from 5,000 to 35,000. The monthly military salary alone was enough to kill them, and
The court of the Southern Tang Dynasty did not give them a penny. They could barely maintain the army. How could they have the money to build warships? Liu Pi had a naval army of several thousand people, but that was what Hun Yao left behind.
It has nothing to do with Liu Pi."
At this time, the soldiers reported at the door, "General, there is news from Jiangzhou!"
The soldiers came in and presented a pigeon letter. Li Bing unfolded the pigeon letter and couldn't help but laugh: "The military advisor's plan is indeed brilliant, he really lured Liu Shining out!"