At the same time that the Tang army occupied Chenliucheng, Li Zhengji personally led an army of 50,000 to raid Puzhou and defeated the 10,000 Tian Chengsi army stationed in Puzhou. Thousands of Hebei defeated troops retreated to Huazhou, and Li Zhengji's army occupied Puzhou.
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Tian Yue was furious and immediately led an army of 30,000 troops into Puzhou. In the south of Puyang County, he encountered an army of 20,000 troops led by Li Zhengji's second son, Li Jing. A fierce battle broke out between the two armies. Tian Yue personally used his bow and shot Li Jing in the army.
, the Ziqing army was defeated, the Hebei army was in a state of disarray, and its troops pointed at Zhencheng. Li Zheng was already afraid of the Hebei army's edge, so he withdrew his troops from Puzhou and returned to Jezhou.
Li Mian led tens of thousands of troops north to Huazhou, stationed in Weicheng County, and confronted Tian Chengsi's Wei Bo army.
Li Zhongchen was not interested in the Central Plains and led his army south. On the pretext of encircling and suppressing Li Lingyao's remnant army, he sent troops into the prosperous Songcheng County and raped and looted wantonly. For a time, the people in Songcheng County were devastated, and the people seized the city and fled, wailing.
All over the fields.
The news quickly spread to Zhengzhou. At this time, Prince Li Shi led an army of one hundred thousand to Zhengzhou. In the morning, the news from Songcheng County was sent to the camp.
In the handsome tent, Li Shi slammed the teacup on the ground, smashing it into pieces. His roar came from the tent, "Damn thief, if you catch him, I will personally chop him into pieces."
Marching Sima Cui Nan walked into the tent and advised in a low voice: "Li Zhongchen is naturally ambitious. Although he has done things that are outrageous to both men and gods, His Royal Highness must remain calm."
Li Shi forcibly suppressed the anger in his heart, turned around and walked to the tent, looking at the sky with his hands behind his hands, his chest heaving violently. Cui Nan quickly winked at the guards, and the two guards stepped forward and quickly took away the tea cup fragments.
At this time, Li Shi said slowly: "I have been paying attention to Li Zhengji and Tian Chengsi, but I didn't expect that Li Zhongchen was a bad wolf. At least Tian Chengsi and Li Zhengji knew how to pretend to win over the people and would not plunder.
This Li Zhongchen is more hateful than a jackal, he is simply a demon. I must destroy this demon this time!"
Cui Nan said in a deep voice: "Since he sent troops to plunder Songzhou, it shows that his ambitions are not in the Central Plains. Weichen still remembers that he proposed to the court several times to establish a salt protection army. The purpose was to control Yangzhou. Weichen doubted his
The real purpose is to take advantage of Li Lingyao's rebellion to control the entire Jianghuai area."
Li Shi nodded, "Cui Sima's guess is very reasonable. Now he is retreating south in such a hurry, probably just to go south to Yangzhou. We must not let him succeed."
He thought for a moment and then ordered: "Let Ma Sui lead 15,000 cavalry to follow Li Zhongchen and wait for an opportunity to annihilate him. If he does not accept surrender, he must kill the entire army!"
This was the first time that Prince Li Shi issued a killing order. The Huaixi Army raped and plundered Songcheng County under his eyes, which made him hate him to the bone.
He then ordered: "Tell Ma Sui that whoever gets Li Zhongchen's head will be made an earl and rewarded with ten thousand taels of silver!"
After the order was sent out, Li Shi wrote another volume of pigeon letters on his desk and handed it to the guard, "Send the pigeon letters to Kaifeng County immediately!"
The guards hurried away, and Li Shi walked to the door of the tent with his hands behind his back and said to himself: "I hope you won't disappoint me this time too."
...........
That night, Guo Song led his cavalry to leave Wagang Mountain and head south quickly. Although Huazhou became the place of the Fourth Battle, there was no stage for him to display his talents. After all, he only had a thousand cavalry, and he retreated south.
However, Li Zhongcheng gave Li Zhongcheng a chance to display his talents. Not to mention that the prince secretly ordered him to go south to deal with Li Zhongchen. Even if the prince did not give the order, his target would still be Li Zhongchen.
A thousand cavalrymen galloped across the endless wilderness. On both sides of the road were large wheat fields. The wheat was almost ripe, and waves of wheat were rolling in the gentle night wind.
At dawn, they arrived to the east of Renqiu County. Seeing a large forest and a small river in front of them, Guo Song ordered the soldiers to rest on the spot. The soldiers and horses were exhausted. That night, they ran out of more than a hundred people.
inside.
The soldiers led their horses to the river to drink water. Liang Wu sent a few more people to guard the surrounding areas. Although the possibility of encountering enemy troops in this area was low, Liang Wu was still very vigilant and did not dare to be careless.
After feeding the horses, the soldiers leaned against the trees and closed their eyes to rest. The weather was getting hot now, so they didn't need to wrap themselves in blankets to sleep.
Liang Wu sat next to Guo Song and whispered: "Your Majesty, why did Li Zhongchen risk the injustice of the world and send troops to plunder? Isn't he afraid of being accused by thousands of people? I really can't understand this truth."
Guo Song smiled and said: "He is now sending troops to plunder Songzhou in order not to rob Yangzhou. He led his army all the way north. If he does not give benefits to the soldiers, I am afraid that the loyalty of the soldiers to him will drop a lot.
The reason why he is a soldier is just to eat and make money. He will bear the infamy and benefit the soldiers, and their loyalty to him will also increase. Everything has advantages and disadvantages, it depends on how you choose."
"The envoy said that he sent troops to plunder Songzhou in order not to rob Yangzhou. Could it be that Li Zhongchen's goal was Yangzhou?"
Guo Song nodded, "When Liu Xiangguo and I were managing salt in Yangzhou, Li Zhongchen wanted to send troops to Yangzhou, but he didn't have the courage at the time. Now Li Zheng has sent troops, and Tian Chengsi has sent troops. This opportunity gives him
How could he let it go? If he withdraws his troops and returns now, he must go to Yangzhou."
"So how should we respond?"
Guo Song pondered for a moment and said: "The prince's order to me is to try to hold them back as much as possible. I think we should start from the Huaihe River. Let's go to the Huaihe River first to see the situation."
After resting for two hours, Guo Song once again led his soldiers and set off.
Five days later, Guo Song led a thousand cavalry into Sizhou and rested in a forest about three miles away from Xucheng County.
Xucheng County is only twenty miles away from the Huaihe River, and about eighty miles away from Linhuai County, where the Caohe River enters Huaihe. The reason why we stopped here is because the dry food carried by the soldiers has been exhausted and must be replenished.
Guo Song asked Xu Jingnan to take a dozen soldiers disguised as grain merchants to Xucheng County to buy grain, while the remaining soldiers rested in the woods.
At noon, Xu Jingnan arrived with more than 20 flat-bottomed boats filled with grain, black beans and a lot of meat. Guo Song and his men came up to welcome him and said with a smile: "Xu Canjun bought a lot of grain!"
Xu Jingnan chuckled, "Food is relatively cheap now, and one stone of wheat only costs the same. I bought five hundred stone of wheat and five hundred stone of black beans, and another hundred tons of pork to give the brothers a toothpaste. I also bought a dozen large mouthfuls of pork."
pot."
Guo Song glanced at several boatmen and asked: "How are these boatmen?"
"These boatmen are all honest people and very reliable. I hired them together with the boat for a month. There are dense rivers here, and boats are the main means of transportation. Xucheng County is a major grain-producing county, and the price of grain
It has been low. If there is a shortage of food, we will replenish it, so that our logistical problems can be solved."
Guo Song nodded. What Xu Jingnan said made sense. It was not like they had a foundation in Wagang Mountain. Without a mobile supply point, food problems would always constrain their actions.
"As for the logistics issue, I will ask Xu to join the army. I will give you ten more soldiers to form a logistics army."
Xu Jingnan smiled slightly. This was what he was willing to do. He cupped his hands and said, "I would like to share your worries with you!"
The soldiers got food for cooking and steamed black beans for the war horses. Xu Jingnan said to Guo Song beside a big stone: "I also inquired about the news about Li Zhongchen's army crossing the river. They crossed the river in Linhuai County, but the ships were on the other side. They needed this."
The fleet will come over only after you notify us."
"Then how do we notify the other side?"
"This is the key. There is a garrison of more than a thousand people in Linhuai County. They are responsible for supporting Li Zhongchen's main army heading north. Considering their humble position, how can an army of more than a thousand people support an army of tens of thousands? In fact, there is only one possibility. They are responsible for arrangements.
Ships, I think, the order to notify the coming fleet from the other side is hidden in this army."
Guo Song nodded. Xu Jingnan's analysis was reasonable. In fact, they didn't have much time. Li Zhongchen's army would arrive at the Huaihe River in three days at the latest.
Guo Song made a decision immediately, "After lunch, let's go to Linhuai County!"
.........
Linhuai County is a middle county located on the north bank of the Huaihe River. To the east of the city is the canal. A large number of tankers enter the Huaihe River from here, and then travel hundreds of miles east, leaving the Huaihe River from Xuyi County and continuing southward.
The importance of Linhuai County is reflected in shipping transit. Its military value is not high, which makes Linhuai County not a strong city. The city walls are not high, the gates are dilapidated, and there are basically no defenders.
However, after Li Zhongchen went north, he left a thousand soldiers here. Their task was to support the main force going south. That is to say, when the main force going north needed a fleet, they would immediately transfer ships to go north to meet it.
At dawn, the gate of Linhuai County opened. Guo Song led several soldiers disguised as scribes and entourage to the county. Like other counties, Linhuai County only had the east gate and the west gate. There were very few horses along the Huaihe River, and it was too difficult to ride a horse.
Suddenly, Guo Song led several soldiers and walked towards the west gate.
He stood under the city and carefully looked at the city gates and walls, and shook his head. Such a city wall had no defense at all and could only restrain the people. In the eyes of any army, it was vulnerable to a blow. It was less than two feet high, and
It is very dilapidated and has not been repaired for at least thirty or forty years.
On the north and south sides, several city walls collapsed. The wall bricks were taken home by the people to repair their houses, revealing the sand filled inside and the rotten wooden piles, which were covered with weeds and moss. It was obvious that they had collapsed for several years.
Guo Song was no longer interested in the city wall, so he immediately turned around and entered the city to check out the military camps where a thousand supporting troops were stationed.