Chapter three hundred and eighteen cut off its retreat
On May 20th, the imperial army led by Li Mian arrived at Chenliu. At the same time, the armies of Li Zhongchen and Li Zhengji also arrived at Chenliu. The three armies totaled 100,000 people and surrounded Chenliu County.
beat.
White Horse Ferry is one of the most important crossings on the Yellow River. When Yuan Shao's army went south, Guan Yu killed the fierce general Yan Liang at White Horse Ferry.
At this time, large ships loaded with soldiers came from the north bank of the Yellow River. Large ships kept coming to the shore. Groups of soldiers ran down from the bow of the ship and quickly gathered on the shore. Tian Yue stood in a pavilion, pressing the hilt of his sword.
, looking at the big ships on the river.
Tian Yue is about thirty years old, tall and burly, with strong martial arts skills and bravery in battle. He is Tian Chengsi's nephew, and he is also the most powerful, capable, and bravest among his nephews.
Tian Chengsi's eldest son Tian Xu was mediocre, indulged in drinking and sex, and could not inherit his career. If the career was forcibly given to him, it would only allow those ambitious generals to peep. After many years of repeated consideration, Tian Chengsi finally decided to give up his eldest son Tian.
Xu, cultivate his nephew Tian Yue as his heir.
At this time, a civil servant got off the ship, quickly came to Tian Yue, and handed him a letter, "This is the latest order from the old prince, and the general must execute it immediately!"
"Thank you for your hard work and join the army!"
Tian Yue opened the letter and read it. In the letter, Tian Chengsi asked him to leave 20,000 troops to guard Puzhou and Huazhou, and asked him to personally lead 30,000 troops to Chenliu to rescue Li Lingyao.
This time Tian Chengsi was determined to win the Central Plains. He had secretly supported Li Lingyao for many years and invested a lot of capital. If he really couldn't win Bian Song, he would still have a foothold on the south bank of the Yellow River. However, this was only the lowest goal. Tian Chengsi still wanted to capture Bian Song.
Li Lingyao became his inevitable chess piece.
Uncle's attitude was within Tian Yue's expectation. He also wanted to save Li Lingyao, but the specific method of rescuing him was still debatable. The other three families besieged Chenliu City but did not attack. Obviously, they wanted to besiege the city for reinforcements. In terms of military strength, his own
An army of 30,000 is certainly no match for the opponent's army of 100,000.
But each other had their own plans, which gave Tian Yue hope of defeating each one.
Tian Yue thought for a long time and finally gave the order: "Pass my order and the army will set off after a day's rest!"
.........
At night, Tian Yue led an elite army of 30,000 people under the cover of darkness and quickly marched toward the southwest. He thought over and over again and finally decided to use Li Mian's 40,000 imperial army as a breakthrough. As long as the imperial army was defeated, Li Zhengji and Li Zhongchen's
The troops will all retreat.
The team marched quickly. Because it was difficult for the horses to cross the river, Tian Chengsi's army this time was all infantry. As the sky gradually dawned, the majestic figure of Wagang Mountain was revealed in the distance. They arrived at Weicheng County, and the army rested on the spot.
At this time, three cavalrymen appeared in the woods on a small hill several miles away. They looked down at the army in the distance. After observing for a long time, they wrote down a letter of information, stuffed it into the letter tube, and tied it tightly to the pigeon's leg.
, threw the carrier pigeon into the sky, and the carrier pigeon spread its wings and flew to the west.
Weicheng County was only fifty miles away from Guo Song's camp. Half an hour later, Guo Song received the information sent by the scouts.
‘The Thirty Thousand Tian Army went south, with an orderly and well-trained team, equipped with leather armor, spears and swords, and received supplies from Weicheng County.’
Guo Song regretted a little. He was afraid of attracting Li Lingyao's attention, so he did not continue to seize the grain and grass supplies in Weicheng County and Xucheng County. It is said that the grain in the official warehouse of Weicheng County was tens of thousands of stones. Now it seems that it was just to retain
Provide supplies to Tian Chengsi's army.
Guo Song was pacing back and forth in the room alone. The current war situation was basically as he expected. Li Lingyao was waiting for reinforcements. Three armies were surrounding the city for reinforcements. Tian Chengsi's army was weak in numbers. He must have wanted to use various methods to defeat them.
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I don't know when the war will officially start, but Guo Song feels that he needs to take action.
.........
At night, Baima Ferry was extremely quiet. Hundreds of sentries patrolled back and forth on the pier. Thirty large ships of two thousand to three thousand dan were moored on the pier. This was a troop transport ship that Tian Chengsi spent two years building and cost a lot of money.
Huazhou's 10,000-strong army had to protect the safety of these 30 ships. The top priority was Huazhou's 10,000-strong army. Huazhou's garrison sent two thousand troops to patrol day and night, and no one was allowed to approach the ferry.
But there were loopholes in the defense of Tian Chengsi's army, that is, they did not have a navy. Tian Chengsi only built thirty troop ferries because of his ambitions for the Central Plains. He had no interest or financial resources to build a Yellow River navy.
, this resulted in Tian Chengsi's army being able to patrol the shore and unable to do anything about the situation on the water.
However, Admiral Huazhou also tried his best to prevent the fleet from being attacked from the water, so he arranged soldiers to patrol the ship to prevent anyone from entering the ship from the water. This was the greatest protection that Tian Chengsi's army could achieve.
Under the cover of night, it is difficult to see clearly what is happening on the water surface of the Yellow River.
There are no more than thirty ships at the Baima Ferry Pier, and only five large ships at most. The other ferries can only be parked side by side on the outside, tied together with iron chains, and covered with wooden boards, so that it is more convenient for soldiers to get on and off the ship.
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The five large ships docked on the shore are tied to the wooden piles of the pier with thick cables. Once the cables of the five large ships are broken, it is likely that all thirty large ships will float away with the current.
At the first watch, five hundred soldiers on duty were patrolling back and forth on the shore. Suddenly, dense arrows were fired from a distance. The patrolling soldiers were unable to dodge and screamed that they were hit by the arrows. Then there was a loud sound of horse hooves, and a group of more than a thousand people
The cavalry came rushing like thunder and were so unstoppable that the patrolling soldiers couldn't resist it and fled in all directions...
Guo Song ordered sternly: "Get on the boat and light the fire!"
More than 300 soldiers lit torches and rushed onto the ship. There were very few patrol soldiers on the ship. They were so frightened that they hid in all directions. Guo Song's men sprinkled the hay and sulfur powder they carried with them on the ship's deck, and threw the torches into the sail under the mast.
On the boat, the cloth sail was quickly ignited, followed by the hay, and the fire quickly burned and spread.
‘Woo——’
Guo Song blew the retreat horn, and three hundred soldiers came ashore like a tide and got on their horses. The cables of the five large ships were cut off. Under the guidance of the waves, the thirty large ships gradually left the shore.
, the ship was still blazing with flames, and the hiding patrol soldiers jumped into the water to escape.
"retreat!"
Guo Song gave an order, and a thousand cavalrymen turned their horses and ran westward, and soon disappeared into the darkness.
From the time they appeared to the time they left, it took less than two sticks of incense. It was not until a quarter of an hour later that Huazhou general Gao Yuewen led 5,000 soldiers from Baima County, three miles away. The ships on the pier had disappeared, only a few meters away.
Seeing a fire burning in the middle of the river from a distance, Gao Yuewen was stunned. He didn't know how to explain it to his little lord Tian Yue.
...........
Tian Yue got the news that the ferry was destroyed in Renqiu County, which made him shocked and angry. Without the ferry, how could they return to Hebei?
It was only early June, and there was still half a year before the Yellow River would freeze. Apart from holding on for half a year in the Central Plains, they had no way out.
With the escape route cut off, Tian Yue was not determined to burn the boat. Instead, he had to carefully consider the rescue steps and not act recklessly. After thinking about it for a day, Tian Yue decided to temporarily give up rescuing Li Lingyao and return to Huazhou.
Tian Yue repeatedly speculated on where the cavalry that attacked Baima Ferry came from. He finally concluded that this cavalry could only be sent by Li Zheng. At present, Li Zheng has only sent 30,000 troops to Chenliu to participate in the extermination of Li Lingyao.
During the operation, he personally led 50,000 troops to station in Jeju, eyeing Puzhou. Li Zheng was already waiting for his army to move south, so he took advantage of the situation and sent troops to seize Puzhou and Huazhou. The 20,000 troops he left behind might not be able to withstand it.
It can be said that it was the fire at Baima Ferry that made Tian Yue wake up. His uncle was far away in Hebei and did not understand the situation in the Central Plains. Although Bian Song was fat, the real fear was the old fox Li Zhengji. He
Knowing that he was going to rescue Chen Liu, he left the main force in Jeju, waiting for him to go south!
Just as Tian Yue's army slowly retreated to Huazhou, a thousand cavalry led by Guo Song had quietly returned to Wagang Mountain.
This surprise attack was very well done, well planned and well prepared, and it completely caught the enemy's surprise. Huazhou's army was guarding against Li Zhengji's army coming from the east, and the main force was one hundred and fifty miles to the southwest.
Outside, there is Wagang Mountain to the west. They never expected that an army would come from the west.
But Guo Song did not stay in Wagang Mountain for long. Not long after he returned to Wagang Mountain, he secretly set out for Chenliu County with two soldiers with high martial arts skills.
Guo Song knew very well that once Li Lingyao knew that Tian Yue had withdrawn his troops, he would probably abandon the city and flee south. Guo Song must deal with Li Lingyao before he fled south and get his head. His first mission would be completed.