Chapter 551: A sneak attack on Chen Liu

After a moment, the personal soldier led the letter to Geshu Han's confidant in. He knelt down on one knee, clasped his fists to Li Qing'an and said, "I was sent by General Geshu, please see His Highness King Zhao!"

Li Qingan smiled slightly and said, "Thank you all the hard way, please get up!"

"Thank you, Your Highness, King Zhao!"

Geshuhan's confidant stood up and handed a letter to Li Qing'an: "This is my general's handwritten letter to His Highness."

A personal soldier took the letter and submitted it to Li Qing'an. Li Qing'an opened the letter. He looked it briefly and asked the sender again, "Does General Geshu have any verbal messages?"

"Report to Your Highness, General Geshu said that if Li Heng captured Jingxiang, he would form a situation of attacking the Central Plains with An Lushan. Please consider it!"

"I understand, you go down!"

Li Qingan ordered his personal soldiers again, "Take them down to rest, don't neglect them!"

The personal soldiers took the sender away. At this time, Li Qing'an handed Ge Shuhan's letter to Wei Qingping, "Sir, take a look!"

Wei Qingping took the letter and read it. He frowned and said, "Li Mao was willing to exchange 300,000 stones of grain for us to send troops. How could he have so much food?"

"He has!"

Li Qing'an knew the situation of Jingxiang very well and smiled and said, "Speaking of this, Li Mao's command of Jingxiang did take a big advantage. In the past few years, the canals were blocked, so the court intended to transport the Yangtze River to the Han River. A large amount of money and grain from the Jianghuai River were transferred to Jingxiang. However, the river channel of the Han River had not been completely cleared, so he temporarily placed the money and grain in Xiangyang. As a result, all of them were cheaper. Otherwise, he would not have the money and grain to build the royal palace and recruit soldiers on a large scale. Now he wants to give me 300,000 stones. How about this transaction? Can a deal be reached?"

Wei Qingping pondered for a moment and said, "General, I think Li Heng sent troops to attack Jingxiang, and things are not that simple."

"Oh?" Li Qing'an smiled with interest: "Sir, I really want to listen."

Wei Qingping sighed and said, "Does the General know that Li Wan and Yang Guozhong failed in the end?"

"I've seen your information. Li Longji secretly ordered Gao Xianzhi to arrest him overnight, right!"

"This is the key to the matter. Li Wan has obviously seized Gao Xianzhi's military power and Gao Xianzhi has retired at home. How could Gao Xianzhi lead the troops to arrest him? That night, Li Wan also used the gold medal to go to the camp outside the city to urgently dispatch troops, but no army came to pick him up, and no soldier came. Li Wan was killed in despair."

Li Qingan understood a little, "Sir, is the military power actually in Gao Xianzhi's hands?"

"That's right. Xi Yuanqing, Zhao Chongyan, Jia Chongyan and others who hold real power in Jiannan Army are all confidant generals brought by Gao Xianzhi from Anxi. Although his command power was taken away by Li Wan, he actually still controls the army. As long as he raises his arms, these generals will obey his command. Li Longji understands this, and Li Heng is also aware of it."

"I see!"

Li Qingan suddenly realized and smiled, "So Li Heng sent troops to Xiangyang as Zhengdong, but in fact he seized Gao Xianzhi's military power, right!"

Wei Qingping smiled and nodded and said, "I think this should be the case. The military power is not in my own hands. Li Heng is not in his throne. How could he put military power in Gao Xianzhi's hands? So this time, the Li army is the head coach and Gao Xianzhi is the deputy general, and the situation is a bit subtle. If I guess correctly, the Li army will remove Gao Xianzhi's confidant one by one, and Gao Xianzhi has ordered at the same time, and those generals will not be able to accept it."

Speaking of this, Wei Qingping walked to the map and pointed to the route of Jiannan's army and said: "General, please see, Jiannan's army has left Shu from Kuizhou. I guess they will stay in the Jingzhou area for a long time, nominally waiting for Li Lin's army, but in fact they are cleaning up Gao Xianzhi's confidant. As for whether to fight with Jingxiang Army, I don't think that Li Heng's focus is on."

Wei Qingping's analysis made Li Qingan fall into deep thought. He walked in the tent with his hands behind his back. The situation in the south is indeed very complicated. He sent troops to Jingxiang with advantages and disadvantages. The key is which one is more important. Just like Geshuhan's message, he did not want Li Heng to unify the south too early. He is now concentrating on dealing with An Lushan, but he does not want to be attacked from both sides. But at the same time, Li Mao is not a fuel-efficient lamp. He stationed 50,000 troops in Nanyang and stared at Dujido, but he has no chance yet. If Li Heng retreats his troops and he fights An Lushan fiercely, he will not be able to prevent Li Mao from taking the opportunity to attack Dujido.

"General, my subordinates think that keeping a confrontation in the south will do more good than bad things for us." Wei Qingping, who was on the side, whispered.

Li Qing'an nodded. Wei Qingping was right. Li Heng held Li Mao and he would not dare to attack Dujidao. It would be in his best interest to keep the South in a strategic balance.

Thinking of this, Li Qingan smiled and said, "I decided to give Brother Shuhan a face and send troops to help, but there is no need to go to Jingxiang. Just make one move, that's enough!"

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Two days later, Li Qing'an's order was sent to Chenliu. At this time, Chenliu was stationed by Li Guangbi's 20,000 troops. Chenliu is today's Kaifeng. His strategic position is extremely important. It can curb the Jianghuai army from the south and defend the Hebei army from the north, and it is also an important transit station for the Bianhe canal transportation.

This was originally Xu Shuyi's base camp, but in order to concentrate his troops to fight against Li Qing'an and to get An Lushan's support, Xu Shuyi gave up Chenliu and concentrated his army on the front line of Huazhou. Chenliu's important land was easily occupied by Li Guangbi.

On the day Li Qing'an's order arrived in Chenliu, Li Guangbi was ordered to send troops. He personally led 10,000 cavalry, equipped with two horses, like a sharp long sword, crossed Songzhou and penetrated into Xuzhou hundreds of miles away. Two days later, Li Guangbi's cavalry occupied Xuzhou, but he continued to go south and attacked Sizhou. After only one day, the vanguard of the Anxi Army: three thousand elite cavalry, rushed to Huaiyin County.

In three days, the Anxi cavalry took only three days to attack thousands of miles, from Chenliu to Huaiyin, less than 300 miles away from Yangzhou. The power of the Anxi army's thunderous power shocked Jianghuai.

Asking for help flew towards Yangzhou like snowflakes, the camp of the Jianghuai Army in Yangzhou was already in chaos. King Wu Li Lin was stunned by the news. He was originally ready to send troops to Jingxiang again to cooperate with the Southern Tang army to wipe out Li Mao's army. Now, the Anxi army has only taken one day to attack Yangzhou.

Not only did Li Lin not dare to send troops to Jingzhou anymore, he also quickly asked the Jiannan army in Jingzhou for help by sending letters. On the other hand, Li Lin ordered the Yangtze River's ferry to prepare. Once the Anxi army attacked Yangzhou, he immediately retreated to the Yangtze River and escaped the river by boat.

However, after the Anxi Army occupied Huaiyin, it did not continue to move south, but instead looked at Yangzhou and led arrows without firing.

This is Li Qing'an's momentum. The momentum means a kind of force and a trend. Here, it is not only a display of power, but also a threat and a warning. The Anxi army that reached Huaiyin only had three thousand cavalry, but this battle situation frozen Li Lin's 100,000 army and Li Hengdong's plan to take Jingxiang.

It was as if he had been imposed on the detent, and the entire battle situation in the south fell into a stalemate like a severe winter.

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But just like the bleak winter in the winter, there are forage animals that are not afraid of the severe winter. Although the Anxi Army headed south to the Jianghuai River with a thunderous force, some people still couldn't help but have the idea of ​​the Anxi Army.

This person was Xu Shuyi. He led 70,000 troops to huddle in the narrow area near the Yellow River in Huazhou. He did not dare to go south or retreat east. However, the Anxi army did not attack him and only confronted him in Zhengzhou. More than twenty days have passed, and the Anxi army has shown no sign of war.

The stalemate was too long, and Xu Shuyi's fear of the Anxi Army faded a little bit. He had the idea of ​​leaving bounds in his heart and had the idea of ​​testing the Anxi Army. At this moment, Li Guangbi led 10,000 cavalry to the south, and Chenliu had only 10,000 defenders left, which seemed a little weak. Xu Shuyi discovered the opportunity to break the deadlock. If he attacked Chenliu, Li Qingan would definitely divide his troops to rescue him, so that he would create opportunities for An Lushan Army on the north bank of the river and realize the original plan.

In fact, Xu Shuyi's concerns were not unreasonable. He believed that the reason why the Anxi Army was slow to break into the state was to wait for An Lushan to retreat and then deal with him. Therefore, he also wanted to start a war while An Lushan's army was still in Weizhou. Driven by this strong idea, Xu Shuyi personally led 30,000 troops to launch a lightning attack on Chen Liu.

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The Yellow River in the Tang Dynasty had not yet seized the Huai River and changed the route. There were no big rivers in Bianzhou, only countless small and medium-sized rivers, densely populated by river networks and fertile land, making Bianzhou the richest grain-producing area on Henan Road. There were large fertile fields everywhere, and there were no boundaries at a glance. Among the large fertile fields were villages and towns, as well as winding rivers and large forests.

At night, a cavalry brigade rushed north on the wide official road. These were ten thousand Anxi cavalry, marching north like rushing iron.

This Anxi cavalry was the Anxi army left by Chenliu. After Li Guangbi went south, he was led by the general Li Sheng. Li Sheng also returned from Longyou with Li Guangbi. After extermination of Tubo, there was no need for Li Sheng to stay in Longyou for a long time. Li Guangbi valued him and brought him back to the Central Plains.

The importance of intelligence and analysis of war trends are the basic conditions for being a famous general. The reason why Li Sheng is one of the famous generals in the middle Tang Dynasty is his meticulous thinking and accurate judgment of the situation, and his great ability to use surprise weapons.

As Li Guangbi led his army south, Chenliu had only 10,000 people left. Li Sheng was vigilant about Xu Shuyi. He also keenly judged that Xu Shuyi was likely to attack Chenliu. For this reason, he sent nearly a hundred scouts to Huazhou and stared at Xu Shuyi's every move. Almost as Xu Shuyi led 30,000 troops south to attack Chenliu, Li Sheng got the information as soon as possible.

He immediately sent a pigeon letter to Li Qing'an for advice, and Li Qing'an only sent one word back: Fight!

Li Sheng was full of confidence. Most people would think that the Anxi Army would defend Chenliu City to the death, relying on the strong and tall city walls, and then sending people to the main Anxi Army in Zhengzhou not far away for help. This is a normal and safe approach. However, Li Sheng immediately made a decision not to defend Chenliu, but took the initiative to defeat Xu Shuyi's sneak attack with the sharpness of the cavalry. This was undoubtedly an extremely bold and risky move.

The Anxi Army marched extremely fast. In just one day, the army arrived at Fengqiu County north of Bianzhou. It was already dark. Just as it was about to enter the boundary of Huazhou, Li Sheng ordered to slow down and wait for news from the scout.

At this time, a scout cavalry rushed from a distance. He rushed to Li Sheng, held his horse, and bowed his fists and said, "Report to General Li, Xu Shuyi's army is fifty miles away!"

Li Sheng was slightly shocked. Did Xu Shuyi's army arrive so fast? It was only fifty miles away, so Xu Shuyi should have discovered himself. He pondered for a moment and asked, "Did you encounter Xu Shuyi's scout?"

"We encountered a scout team and we had a fierce battle. Ten people on the other side were killed and eight were seriously injured, but one person still ran away with injuries. Husband and incompetent! Please punish the general."

Li Sheng waved his hand. There was no need for punishment. The other party was not a fool, nor would he send only a team of scouts. This kind of plain area is not like a mountainous area and is difficult to hide. His 10,000-strong army usually cannot escape the reconnaissance of the other party's spies.

He looked up and looked around. The area was low and the fertile fields were vast. A canal flowed from south to north. Compared with the south, the forests in Fengqiu County were not very dense and difficult to hide, but the land was flat, which was very conducive to cavalry fighting.

Li Sheng knew that a fierce general was inevitable, so he immediately ordered: "Tell me my order and the army prepares for the war on the spot!"

Ten thousand Anxi troops dismounted one after another. They fed the war horses water and hay, so that the war horses could maintain their physical strength as much as possible, and at the same time checked their carry-on weapons such as bows, crossbows, spears, etc. This is the war quality formed by many years of war in Anxi. There is no need for people to deliberately arrange instructions. Everyone knows what they should do. Many people sit cross-legged and keep their eyes closed. In the war, maintaining sufficient physical strength is the fundamental condition for victory.

Time passed little by little. An hour later, the scouts came again to report, "General Li, Xu Shuyi's 30,000 troops have reached ten miles away, and are speeding up and running towards us."

Li Sheng couldn't help but sneer. It seemed that Xu Shuyi had indeed discovered them, and he was eager to win the credit and wanted to annihilate them. It was a good thing!

Li Sheng immediately whispered: "Tell me my order and prepare for the battle!"

After an hour of rest, the Anxi Army became lively again. They all turned on horses, had crossbows on arrows, had their swords sheathed, had their round shields, and were sharp spears. A desire for war flashed in the eyes of every soldier.

They seemed to have become professional soldiers, war was their feast, and murder was their delicacy. They had not held such an exciting moonlight feast for a long time.

Under the cold moonlight, small black dots began to appear on the horizon in the distance. The black dots were getting closer and closer, forming a row of long black lines, covering the sky and rushing towards this side!

When they came, the Anxi Army was like a leopard that discovered its prey. The murderous aura began to burst out on them. This murderous aura was like a nuclear weapon bursting, and a strong shock wave spread to all directions.
Chapter completed!