In the night, the fleet slowly sailed from the east. More than two hundred pontoon boats began to build pontoons on the Huaihe River. This kind of special boats were specially customized for building pontoons. There are two sets of iron hooks on the front, rear, left and right of the boat.
And iron rings, use iron hooks to hook the iron rings, and the two ships will be fastened together. At the same time, they will build two rows side by side and spread two wide wooden boards to form a strong pontoon bridge. Even the cavalry and baggage can pass quickly.
In less than an hour, the pontoon boat was completed. Yang Meng, who was waiting on the south bank, gave an order and 30,000 cavalry boarded the pontoon bridge. The soldiers led their horses and headed towards the north bank of the Huaihe River.
At the fourth watch, 30,000 cavalry had already assembled on the north bank of the Huaihe River. At this time, they were still twenty miles away from the enemy camp. For the cavalry, it was just a meal.
"Set off!"
Following the order of General Yang Meng, 30,000 cavalry set off. Whether the cavalry would light torches when marching at night also depends on the specific situation. If the stars are bright and the moon is bright, and the scenery more than 20 steps away can be clearly seen, then it is not necessary.
You need to light a torch, and as long as the cavalry keeps a constant speed, it can basically maintain the formation of the team.
Of course, this also requires the cavalry to have skilled riding skills and the horses to be properly fed, both of which are indispensable. Although it is only a small march, the training level and logistics support capabilities of the army were fully demonstrated during the march.
A quarter of an hour later, a dark plank-shaped camp appeared in the wilderness ahead. It was Zhu Sijun's military camp on the north bank of the Huaihe River. This military camp had been built for many years and covered an area of several thousand acres. It looked like a small county town, with two-foot-tall plank walls standing tall.
In the wilderness, the upper part is eight feet wide, which is enough for soldiers to walk.
At this time, 20,000 troops were still sleeping soundly, and there were soldiers patrolling in front of the gate of the military camp. In order to prevent Qiu Jingzhong's army from making a surprise attack south, General Fan Wude had sent hundreds of spies to key areas in the north and northwest to keep an eye on Qiu Jingzhong.
Every move he made, but Fan Wude never imagined that the Jin army was coming from the south.
Thirty thousand cavalry accelerated in an instant and rushed toward the camp with overwhelming force. The soldiers guarding the camp gate were stunned. It took them a long time to react. They desperately sounded the alarm bell, "Dang! Dang! Dang!"
"boom!"
The cavalry broke down the gate of the camp and rushed into the camp like a flood that burst a dike...
There was no suspense in the war. The sleeping soldiers woke up one after another, but except for kneeling down and begging for their lives, they had no chance of survival. Even the commander-in-chief Fan Wude also chose to surrender.
At the fifth watch, groups of surrendered soldiers were escorted and concentrated in the wilderness. The Jin army cleared the opponent's camp and collected all the soldiers and armor, leaving the opponent with no room for resistance. The camp was converted into a temporary camp.
Prisoner of war camp, the surrendered soldiers were returned to the main camp and promised to release them back to their hometowns.
Yang Meng left 5,000 cavalry to guard the enemy prisoners of war. He split into two groups and ordered Ying Yanglang General Li Yan to lead 5,000 cavalry to guard Xiapi County in the north. Xiapi County is the northernmost town in Sizhou. Currently,
There is no garrison, but Qiu Jingzhong wants to enter Sizhou from Xuzhou, and Xiapi County is the place where his army must pass.
Yang Meng arranged the defense of Sizhou, and he personally led 20,000 cavalry to kill Bozhou...
After Qiu Jingzhong captured Songzhou, he attacked Xuzhou without stopping. Xuzhou defender Wei Chi Shouzhi was Qiu Jingzhong's old subordinate. He led his army to surrender to Qiu Jingzhong without any suspense.
Shortly after Qiu Jingzhong occupied Xuzhou, Gongsun Liangsi, the special envoy sent by Li Bing, arrived in Pengcheng County, Xuzhou.
In the morning, Qiu Jingzhong had just learned that the Jin army had captured Sizhou, which made him quite nervous. Obviously, the Jin army had a very thorough grasp of his actions, indicating that Guo Song was also paying attention to him.
Whether the Jin army will take the opportunity to destroy themselves and seize Xuzhou and Songzhou is what Qiu Jingzhong is most worried about.
Of course, Qiu Jingzhong also had a staff. His staff was called Hou Xicai, who was also a failed scholar. He was about forty years old and had been following Qiu Jingzhong for nearly ten years. He mainly helped Qiu Jingzhong handle various military affairs and sometimes discussed major decisions with him.
.
Hou Xicai advised: "General, you don't need to worry too much about the Jin army. I feel that Guo Song will not use troops against the general. On the contrary, Guo Song will support the general."
"Because of Zhu Si?"
Hou Xicai nodded, "That's it. If Guo Song wanted to seize Xuzhou and Songzhou, he would have done it long ago. Can those rabble-rousers stop the Jin army's attack? I feel that Guo Song is hanging Zhu Si step by step.
, Now the general is the best noose, how could he attack the general?"
Qiu Jingzhong's knot in his heart was untied and he immediately felt much better. He smiled happily and said, "Then I will feel more relieved."
As soon as he finished speaking, a soldier reported in the hall: "Reporting to the general, a man came from outside the city. He said he was a special envoy of the Jin army and came to pay a visit to the general!"
Qiu Jingzhong was startled, then laughed and gave Hou Xicai a thumbs-up, "Sir, you are really awesome!"
Hou Xicai also said proudly: "I humble my duty to greet the special envoy of the Jin army on behalf of the general!"
"Okay! I'll wait in front of the house."
.........
Hou Xicai accompanied Gongsun Liangsi to the temporary general's mansion, which was the Xuzhou government office. The original state government officials were driven to the county government office.
When Gongsun Liangsi got off the carriage, Qiu Jingzhong immediately came up to him with red eyes, held Gongsun Liangsi's hand and said sincerely: "I was looking forward to the stars and the moon, and finally the envoy from His Highness Prince Jin has arrived. I am so excited!"
Qiu Jingzhong's sincerity moved Gongsun Liangsi a little. He nodded and said: "His Royal Highness the King of Jin entrusted General Li Bing with full authority to take charge of the southeast war. General Li Bing has been paying attention to the situation of the general. In order to prevent the general from being attacked from both sides, we have sent troops to annihilate Sizhou.
20,000 scattered troops."
Qiu Jingzhong was startled and couldn't help cursing secretly in his heart. He obviously cut off his own escape route and even said it nicely. He was really helpless and had no choice but to laugh twice and invite Gongsun Siliang into the lobby.
The two sides took their seats, and Gongsun Liangsi said: "There is something I need to let the general know. Zhu Si has transferred Bao Tao Guards to Luoyang, and at the same time assembled Bian, Cao, Zheng, Chen, Pu, Ru, Xu, Hua and other states.
There are about 80,000 scattered troops, and they are heavily stationed in Chenliu County. This works out to about 2.78 million troops. We estimate that we will attack the general with all our strength. We hope that the general can be prepared in time."
"Thank you for your timely reminder. In fact, I am also prepared if..."
When it came to the word 'if', Qiu Jingzhong paused for a moment, but Hou Xicai understood what his lord wanted to say and winked at him desperately. It was not the time to make a request yet, but Qiu Jingzhong pretended not to see it and continued what he just said.
: "If you can give me some appropriate support, I think I can resist the threat of Zhu Si's army!"
Gongsun Liangsi seemed to have been prepared and was not surprised at all by Qiu Jingzhong's request. He said calmly: "I wonder what kind of support the general needs?"
Qiu Jingzhong was overjoyed and said quickly: "I have no shortage of money and food for the time being, mainly soldiers and armor. Of my 80,000 Flying Bear Army, only 50,000 have leather armor, and 30,000 have no armor. I also surrendered 20,000 Xuzhou scattered troops.
Their equipment is in a mess, I hope you can support us with 50,000 additional soldiers, I am extremely grateful!"
Gongsun Liangsi nodded, "We may not be able to provide the equipment of the Jin army, but we have also captured a large number of soldiers and armor of the Qi army. According to the instructions of His Highness the King of Jin, we can provide up to 80,000 additional soldiers and armor."
Qiu Jingzhong knelt down to the west, kowtowed three times respectfully, and shouted loudly: "Thank you for your love, His Highness King Jin. Qiu Jingzhong will never let down His Highness King Jin's expectations!"
Hou Xicai secretly sighed, how could His Highness the King of Jin be so kind? He was clearly using the general to weaken Zhu Si's strength, but he knew that Qiu Jingzhong was also pretending, and both sides were using each other.
At this time, Gongsun Liangsi said slowly: "In addition, we have two small requests, which we hope the general can meet!"
Qiu Jingzhong said quickly: "Don't say two, I will be satisfied even with twenty. Please tell Gongsun to join the army."
"The first request is about Bozhou. Not long after our army captured Sizhou, it also captured Bozhou. Currently, both Sizhou and Bozhou are the territory of the Jin army. I hope the general will not misjudge."
Qiu Jingzhong was stunned for a moment. He was about to send people to capture Bozhou, but he didn't expect to be overtaken by the Jin army again.
He was furious and said dissatisfiedly: "Am I only allowed to own Songzhou and Xuzhou?"
Gongsun Liangsi said calmly: "As I said just now, scattered armies from all over the country have been transferred to Luoyang. To the north of Songzhou are Caozhou and Bianzhou, and further to the north is Zhengzhou. As long as Zhu Si's army is defeated, these three states will be defeated.
How come you don't have any territory as a general?"
Hou Xicai also reminded in a low voice: "General, the Jin army has defeated the scattered armies in the two places and relieved us of our worries. This is a good thing!"
In fact, he was hinting to Qiu Jingzhong that the rice is already cooked, so don't dwell on this matter anymore.
Qiu Jingzhong thought of the weapon assistance promised by the other party, and no matter how much anger he had, he could only hold back his anger. He muttered for a while: "I wonder what the second request is?"