After mobilizing the troops, Shen Shuren boarded the ship in person and took advantage of the morning light to lead the troops on the journey——
He went there in person to boost morale and to make a gesture so that he could better undermine the morale of Liu Xiyao's side.
But in order to ensure his personal safety, he will not be on the front line in person during the decisive battle. At that time, he will only need to hide on the ship and provide firepower and moral support to the friendly forces on the shore. The job of commanding ashore is still the responsibility of Zhang Huangyan, Zuo Zixiong and others.
Shen Shuren now has a reorganized regimental training camp and a thousand non-staff Shen family servants and sailors.
About a thousand of these people were scattered in Qishui County and several other counties to undertake defensive work. Including several previous battles, there were hundreds of casualties in total.
Therefore, the number of troops in this attack was only 3,000 at full strength. Fortunately, they were all selected as best as possible and the wounded were left to defend the city.
Opposite Liu Xiyao, there were only more than 6,000 troops before. After seven or eight days of delay, some of the lightly wounded soldiers barely recovered their combat effectiveness, and the number was estimated to have risen to 7,000.
Judging from the fact that the number of people is still nearly 2.5 times that of the official army, field battles seem to be risky.
But Chen Shuren was very confident. He knew that Liu Xiyao's elite cavalry had been destroyed by Liu Xiong and Yidou Gu before. At least half of the brothers in the old camp were killed by Niu Ziquan's sneak attack around the back. The remaining half , and quite a few died in the trap of storming the west gate of Qizhou.
Therefore, those veterans who have fought with Liu Xiyao for more than two years and joined the army before the last surrender to the imperial court will not exceed 2,000 at most. The remaining 5,000 of the 7,000 are either fish belly or newly captured in Huangzhou. A strong man is nothing to be afraid of.
…
Watching the fleet go away, on the tower of the south gate of Qizhou City, a group of female relatives were also uneasy, and a few burst into tears.
Chen Shuren and Zhang Huangyan are about to go on a field expedition, so their wives and concubines will naturally be worried. After all, they are all civil servants.
Zhang Huangyan's wife, Mrs. Sun, couldn't help but think that her father and uncle died in the rebellion, which made her mother and aunt widowed. She was also quite resentful of Shen Shuren for allowing Zhang Huangyan to accompany the army.
Chen Yuanyuan and Dong Xiaowan are also a little sad. Chen Yuanyuan was taught singing since she was a child, and she doesn't understand the justice of the country. Dong Xiaowan has a more rigorous upbringing and is a girl from a wealthy family.
Although Dong Xiaowan was the youngest among the three, she was quite responsible at the moment and advised Sun tactfully:
"Sister Sun, don't worry. Brother Zhang is skilled in bow and horse, and Zuo Dusi is brave and brave in battle. My young master asked him to go to help him get more credit, so that he can be promoted together in the future.
The last time Liu Xiong was annihilated, after a battle of grain, the young master reported a battle report to Mr. Yang Ge. What it said was that Brother Zhang personally risked the arrow to reinforce and shot down Liu Xiong's mount, and then Zuo Dusi took the opportunity to kill him. Listen. It is said that Mr. Yang Ge later replied to the letter and mentioned a word of praise. Although it is not worth an immediate promotion, it should not be underestimated if he has accumulated a lot."
The thing Dong Xiaowan mentioned was something she saw with her own eyes.
That was about ten days ago. Chen Shuren stayed up late at night to work and write official documents. She was beside her, adding incense to her red sleeves, helping to spread paper and polish ink.
Strictly speaking, when Liu Xiyao's eldest son Liu Xiong was shot down and killed, it was impossible to find out who shot the arrow. It was just that the random arrows were hit by stray arrows.
But it is better to benefit from outsiders than to benefit one's own family. Since there is no evidence, Shen Shuren will of course place the blame on his cousin.
Mrs. Sun had never heard of this before, but now she realized that her brother-in-law was adding money to her husband's resume, and she couldn't help but feel ashamed:
"Sister Dong, my sister is short-sighted. Don't be as knowledgeable as me. You have good intentions, but in these troubled times, alas..."
Dong Xiaowan forced out a smile and comforted:
"Those who achieve great things do not stick to trivial matters. In these troubled times, if you want to be alone and live in seclusion, I am afraid that the tree will be quiet but the wind will not stop. Only by having power and soldiers can you keep the peace of the army and the people of a place, and the preservation of relatives, friends and old friends."
…
Let’s not mention the resentment of those behind with long hair and short knowledge.
After Shen Shuren set sail with the fleet, the first thirty-mile voyage was completed in just an hour.
This section is along the Qishui River. The rivers in the Dabie Mountains have a relatively large drop. The water speed is very fast, so the boat speed is naturally also fast.
When they arrived at Huangzhongkou Town, they did not see the whereabouts of Liu Xiyao's troops at all. Sure enough, they had already started to retreat, so so far, the whereabouts of the Shen family army have remained secret.
Liu Xiyao was so trusting that he didn't even let the scouts behind the palace go, he just withdrew all at once. At most, he just divided the baggage, food, grass and soldiers into two parts.
All of this was obviously the result of Shen Shuren being exhausted and paralyzed by the enemy for many days before, making Liu Xiyao feel that he was very timid.
"It seems that the suddenness of this battle has added another layer of protection. I ordered the fleet to sail a few miles farther to the center of the river after entering the Yangtze River, and sail along the channel on the Ezhou side of the south bank, so that it can be more concealed. some.
In addition, troop transport ships are not allowed to display flags, and their formations must be spread out as much as possible. This ensures that even if a ship is seen from the other side of the river, it cannot be confirmed whether it is a military ship."
After Shen Shuren observed the situation clearly, he immediately added an order, which the Shen family's sailors immediately and unconditionally executed.
This second section of the voyage, sailing in the Yangtze River, is much slower than the first section because it is against the current.
Fortunately, the sailors of the Shen family are now the second most elite in the world. They are very good at using crosswinds. The hard sails used by the Shen family's ships are also of good quality. The flow speed of the Yangtze River is far less than that of small rivers in mountainous areas. The wind can withstand the water, that is, Continue to move forward steadily.
In the Huangzhou and Ezhou areas, the land routes on both sides of the river are even more difficult to travel. When Su Dongpo came here to serve as the deputy envoy of the regiment training, it was on the bank of the Yangtze River between Huanggang County and Qishui County that he wrote the "Red Cliff Ode" -
Although Su Dongpo actually made a mistake and mistook Chibiji in Huangzhou for the Chibi Ancient Battlefield, the real Chibi Ancient Battlefield should be further upstream from Wuchang.
But in any case, the words describing the scenery in "Hou Chibi Ode" were what Su Dongpo saw during his field trip. "The river flows with sound, the bank is broken for thousands of feet, the mountain is high and the moon is small, and the water falls and rocks appear." They are all based on the topography of the river bank near Qishui County. Real portrait.
When Liu Xiyao's troops passed through these areas, they inevitably had to climb some mountains, and their march became even slower.
Unfortunately, they had no better way to go, so they had only this option - if they didn't go along the river, but went deeper inland to find a way, they would really have to wade through the high mountains of the Dabie Mountains.
When he first came to attack, he was able to let his troops travel so far in two days and one night. It was for a sneak attack that he chose to march. This time, the withdrawal was not so urgent. He had to carry so much property and walk for three days. It is normal to camp and sleep at night.
After a day and night of sailing, Shen Shuren's troops finally arrived at Lanxi Town near Qishui County in the early morning of the next day. It was a small town at the mouth of the Xishui River where the Xishui River merged into the Yangtze River, and it also blocked Liu Xiyao's return journey. superior.
After crossing the Xishui River, further north is the boundary of Huanggang County, which is Liu Xiyao's base.
Before Liu Xiyao's troops arrived, Shen Shuren immediately ordered Zuo Zixiong and Zhang Huangyan to take the main force ashore and form an array, relying on the town's original terrain as much as possible.
Not long after they were busy, as the sky turned brighter, the officers and soldiers looked through the telescope and discovered: on the mountain road along the Yangtze River in the south, a long snake-like formation of bandits and baggage troops appeared.
The bandits did not have telescopes, so they naturally could not detect the enemy at the same time.
Chen Shuren did not come ashore, and Zhang Huangyan had no way to ask for instructions, so he immediately gave the order: "Zuo Dusi, let the soldiers hide first! This bandit is just a baggage baggage and has no fighting power. If you get close enough, ambush him, otherwise he will be scared away!"
Zuo Zixiong thought about it for a while, and he was convinced, and immediately asked the soldiers to hide in the town.
The thieves' baggage team walked forward carelessly. When they were only a mile or two away, they gradually realized that the atmosphere was not normal - in Lanxi Town, there was no sound of people or dogs barking. Even if most of the original people had fled, It's so eerily quiet.
However, by the time they could hear something unusual, it was obviously too late. As the baggage convoy stopped, the general sent out scouts to check, and the officers and soldiers had already rushed out of the town.
The thieves' baggage team brought so many oxen, donkeys and rickshaws, so of course they had no time to escape. Under a sudden attack, hundreds of people were easily killed and captured.
Nearly a thousand people abandoned their supplies and dispersed in a hurry.
…
Liu Xiyao's main force was about twenty or thirty miles behind the baggage troops. After more than an hour, he was rewarded for his loyalty in defeat.
"Report! Your Majesty! Something bad happened! The official army suddenly appeared in Lanxi Town in front of us and blocked our army's return route along the Xishui Ferry! In the early morning, they also ambushed our army's baggage team and destroyed our army. All the food and property that could easily be harvested and plundered were taken away!”
Liu Xiyao was so shocked that his jaw almost dropped: "Officers? Where are they? Are they Zuo Liangyu's men and horses crossing the river from Ezhou? They came so fast... If I had known, I shouldn't have acted out of anger a few days ago. Kill Zuo Liangyu’s concubine and her entire family.”
Until this moment, Liu Xiyao's first reaction was still thinking of Zuo Liangyu.
There was nothing he could do about it, Shen Shuren gave him the impression that he was too cowardly, cowardly, and shameless.
"No, no, it has nothing to do with Zuo Liangyu, it's just Shen Gouguan who came with his troops to chase us!" the scout cried with a sad face.
"Guan Shen? How did he run in front of us? This is impossible!" Liu Xiyao couldn't figure it out for the moment.
It was his adopted son Liu Sandao who thought for a while and speculated:
"No! Father! Could it be that we took the Yangtze River? Yesterday at dusk, we saw boats approaching in the distance, so we didn't worry too much. But we didn't see any boats this morning. I'm afraid those boats were He didn't rest at night, so he rushed ahead of us!"
Only then did Liu Xiyao realize that the Shen family was a maritime business family with extraordinary strength on the water, and they indeed had this strength.
Liu Xiyao gritted his teeth and said: "No matter what! Now that things have happened, we can only move forward together! Take back the food and grass! Take back the way back! Soldiers, follow me and move forward quickly! When we meet on a narrow road, the brave will win!"
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