The gloomy sky is like covering the earth, the cold rain is drifting, the cold north wind blows the dead grass and the yellow leaves float, and the countryside looks more and more deserted.

The straw raincoats in this world are extremely simple. Thousands of generals have trekked dozens of miles of muddy mountain roads. They walked for a long time in the rain. Their clothes and armor were soaked in the cold rain, and they were trembling with coldness, and they felt indescribable fatigue in their bones.

As the trembling generals were flushing, many of them had red faces, but their lips were pale and blood-red. Their bodies were swaying from time to time. At a glance, they knew that they were suffering from the cold rain. At this time, they just gritted their teeth and struggled to hold on and did not fall down.

Yang Lin stopped his horse and stopped in front of the Xicheng Gate of Xiangcheng. He felt very distressed when he saw this scene.

These are all generals who have been with him for many years, and have survived fierce battles again and again. If they died of illness after the cold rain, how unfair it would be for God.

However, this is a cruel reality that Yang Lin is unable to solve.

Sometimes the reduction in personnel caused by the epidemic is even more severe than the fierce and bloody battle. He led his troops to reinforce Heluo, stationed in Gong County and Yanshi. In the early stage, the logistics and fodder were distributed by Heluo, and was deducted severely. Later, the transportation was organized from Xiangyang by himself. The consumption of thousands of miles of land transportation consumed almost one-third of the money and grain, and the supply was always very tight.

Yang Lin was completely unsure of how many people could survive the war they faced next. They had just arrived in Xiangcheng and had just met his son Yang Qiye, but they had no time to ask about the more specific and detailed situation on Huai Shang.

However, judging from the official letters passed by the Privy Council repeatedly, Yang Lin could not see any reason to tolerate him being positive and optimistic.

Although Xiangcheng was previously led by Zheng Jiang, the second general of the Zuo Shenwu Army, Yang Lin, as the commander of Zuo Xiao's Shengjun, was the Marquis of Sheng'an. At the moment when he led his troops to Xiangcheng, he automatically replaced Zheng Jiang and became the lord general of Xiangcheng.

At this time, Zheng Huaizhong led the main force of the left and right Shenwu Army to remain in Luoyang, Mengjin and Yanshi. At the same time, more Luoyang troops were transferred to the upper reaches of the Luoshui River, located in Lushi County surrounded by the deep valleys of Xionger Mountain. It was obvious that Zheng Huaizhong had already made the war on Huai River. After Ruzhou between Funiu Mountain and Songshan was attacked by the main force of the Hulu, he led the main force of the left and right Shenwu Army to retreat to the upper reaches of the Luoshui River.

However, Zheng Huaizhong had no intention of breaking up with the court. At least he repeatedly and strictly ordered Heluo to station troops in Xiangcheng, Jiaxian, Ruyang and other cities to obey the control and dispatch of generals sent by Xiangyang, and actively participate in the military operation to rescue Xihua.

Therefore, Yang Lin led his troops into Xiangcheng to take over the defense and did not encounter any obstacles.

In addition, Yu Gong, the first general of the Zuo Xuanwu Army, also led 3,000 cavalry into Xiangcheng the day before, and was also controlled by Yang Lin.

After all the generals and soldiers settled in the barracks, Yang Lin met with Zheng Jiang, Yu Gong, Xiangcheng magistrate, county magistrate, county magistrate and commander of various troops at the headquarters, and then dragged his tired body back to the back house prepared for him by Zheng Jiang.

Yang Lin didn't have time to rest. Then the hot tea that the military officers had served signaled to retreat, staring at his only son Yang Qiye with a burning look, and asked in a deep voice: "What did you do to annoy Your Majesty? How could you send you to Xiangcheng?"

When the Hu barbarians invaded the south, Yang Qiye and his father Yang Lin followed Hu Kai to Caizhou to organize the king-supporting troops to build the Caizhou Army, the predecessor of the Sassing Army. Later, Yang Qiye directly led hundreds of elite troops, followed Emperor Jianji to defend Gong County with Hu Yu, and participated in a series of wars such as reinforcement of the Bishui River and raiding Taiyuan.

Although Yang Qiye's military achievements cannot be compared with Xu Huai and the main generals of Chushan, they are definitely among the younger generation of generals.

After Emperor Jianji ascended the throne in Xiangyang, Yang Qiye, as one of the most trusted generals, was responsible for the rotation of the palace ban with Yu Gong and others. It can be said that he was the emperor's direct lineage with a great future.

This time, Yang Qiye actually led only two or three hundred horses to Xiangcheng to accept the restraint and dispatch. Of course, Yang Lin doubted whether Yang Qiye had committed something and was kicked to him and made meritorious.

"I was entrusted by the Minister of the Pu Shu to send you a secret letter to your father." Yang Qiye smiled and took out the secret letter he had hidden in his body and handed it to Yang Lin.

"What secret letter?" Yang Lin asked in surprise.

Yang Qiye is the commander-in-chief of Du Yu, the commander-in-chief. If he is his son, he will temporarily put down such an important matter as commanding the troops and act as a messenger. How important is this secret letter? How can Yang Lin not be surprised?

Is there any change in Xiangyang?

Or maybe Your Majesty can no longer bear Zheng?

Yang Lin's mind instantly turned countless thoughts. His hands that had taken the secret letter were as heavy as a pound, and his face was extremely solemn. He almost held his breath and opened the secret letter.

"What? How to intercept the flood and divide the enemy?" Yang Lin saw the secret letter and could hardly suppress the screams in his heart. He stared at Yang Qiye and asked, "What's going on?"

"... The child was also ordered to follow the Shujin Prime Minister to go to the Marine Waters, and only then did he know all this," Yang Qiye told Chu Shan's deployment on the Marine Waters and said, "It was rainy and rainy in the upper reaches of the Marine Waters and Li Rivers in the morning yesterday, and the Shujin decided to cut off the Marine Waters in advance. Therefore, his father needed to overcome all difficulties within three days and lead his troops to cut between Xuchang and Linying to intercept the enemy troops that might retreat from Linying West!"

Yang Lin's troops retreated from Gongxian and Yanshi in just ten days, and walked hundreds of miles to Xiangcheng without stopping during the cold season. Without rest, they rushed to the scheduled interception battlefield. This was a very test of the will of the generals.

Before entering the predetermined interception battlefield, the real combat plan cannot be made public to the middle and lower levels of generals, and even the troops of Zheng Jiang, who are stationed in Xiangcheng, must be kept strictly confidential.

At this time, thousands of generals and soldiers of the Left Shenwu Army continued to defend Xiangcheng comfortably, but Zuo Xiaosheng Army was about to drag his exhausted body without stopping, and his injured body rushed to the new battlefield. How could the middle and lower-level generals not be resentful?

This is a great test of Yang Lin's control over the entire army.

"The Shuzheng means that before leaving the city, this matter will only be announced to the first-level generals of Duyuhou; after leaving the city, it can spread to the commander, the first-level general," said Yang Qiye, "However, the enemy is in the left-wing Linying area, with a total of 10,000 cavalry, intercepting them.

Fighting is still difficult..."

After the news that Emperor Jianji personally led his troops to fight, the enemy troops quickly further strengthened the gathering of troops on the right bank of the Ying River (south bank). In addition to the Xinzhou Army, the Yin Chao army, who were urgently mobilized from Puzhou and other places, further crossed the Ying River and advanced southward, and joined the Zhengzhou Army of Xiao Gan, the Chenzhou Army of Yuehailou, and some Yanji surrendered troops and horses, a total of more than 80,000 infantry after joining the army and horses of Yanji surrendered, each of them had 10,000 Red Guards entering the areas east of Linying and west of Shang River, forming a blockade belt of 10,000 miles long.

In addition, in addition to 10,000 defenders in Xuchang, more than 10,000 cavalry were deployed in the northwest of Xihua to prevent Xu Huai from leading elite troops from Xihua City to advance westward; in Wanqiu there were also a large number of garrisons, blocking the passage of Xu Huai to lead the submerged troops to cross the Cai River eastward again.

This means that Chu Shan has successfully attracted all the enemy troops with a total of up to 140,000 to Ruying.

Chu Shan did not expect to eat 140,000 enemy troops in one bite.

The overall combat policy is to use flooding to divide the 100,000 enemy troops south of the Yingshui River into two parts, east and west, the Chushan Army united the main force of the left and right Xuanwu Army along the coast of the Han River. Together with Zuo Xiaosheng's army, which was planned to advance from Xiangcheng to the northeast to intercept the enemy's defeat, the enemy troops were divided from four directions by nearly 70,000 troops and horses. The enemy troops west of Miaowanggou and south of the Yingshui River were captured to capture Chihu invasion south. Since the fall of Bianliang, it may be the most important and brilliant victory!

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Even in the dry season, it is quite difficult to completely cut off a Jing River, one of the four rivers and eight rivers between the rivers and the Huai River.

However, for half a year, Chu Shan secretly planned for this moment, almost every grain of rice that could be squeezed out by Chu Shan was deployed along the coast of the military water.

First of all, in July and August, when the water was at its peak, Chushan used the excuse to intercept enemy ships downstream to sank thousands of huge rocks and lay down a large number of wooden stakes in the river channel east of Xiaoquegang.

Although most of the wooden stakes and boulders were washed away by the turbulent flowing water, some of them were left behind, which also prompted a large amount of mud and gravel carried from the upstream to deposit in the river channel near Xiaoquegang, making the river channel shallow, although the water flow near Xiaoquegang became much more gentle and no longer so turbulent, this abnormality was far from enough to arouse alertness. The enemy would only mistakenly think that this was caused by the change in the water volume after the beginning of autumn.

The Chushan Army had long secretly built a batch of special small boats near Xiaoquegang.

Some boat cabins are located at both ends. After filling sand and gravel, they enter the center of the river. When opening the bottom plate of the middle boat cabin, they can directly irrigate into the river. Some boats are hollow and drive into the river. After entering the river, they sink bamboo cages filled with gravel and weigh more than a thousand kilograms or even three or four thousand yuan into the water.

Shipwrecks and large bamboo cages filled with stones are the key to quickly building the dam foundation.

In fact, as long as you prepare well enough, dam construction and interception will be far less difficult than imagined.

What's more, after the stone channel on the north bank is completely opened, the river water will be diverted to the north bank in time, which will greatly reduce the impact caused by the water flow, and will not significantly raise the water level to form unimaginable huge pressure.

In order to accelerate the construction of the Xiaoquegang earth and stone dam, Chushan also organized thousands of military and civilians to directly dump tens of thousands of stones and hundreds of thousands of stones of earth and stone along the coast of the army west of Xiaoqueshan, allowing the water to rush the sand and gravel to the dam to minimize the amount of projects near Xiaoqueshan.

Although there is a large amount, it can even be said that most of the sand and gravel will be deposited in the river channel west of the dam, raising the riverbed west of Xiaoquegang and making it level with the stone canal is also the original intention of Chushan.

Chushan sent a large number of scouts and scouts to spread to Xiaoquegang to prevent the enemy from infiltration, but it was impossible to block the Rushui River that extended hundreds of miles downstream.

As the earth and rock dam rises layer by layer, the water level of the downstream river suddenly drops, or even cuts off, which may cause the enemy's alertness to intercept the faster the flow, the more beneficial it is.

As the commander-in-chief, Hu Kai went to the camp on the north bank of the army to supervise the battle and insisted on putting on heavy armor. At this time, he was standing in the cold rain wearing a cloak. Looking at the earth and stone dam that had been exposed to the water in just two days, his heart was surging.

Although the earth and stone dam was less than two hundred steps long with the stone beams extending into the river, it was impossible for him to intercept the military water in such a short time; it was also impossible for him to imagine how sufficient Chu Shan secretly raised everywhere for this moment.

After the interception of the military water, the water in the upstream had already flowed from the Shikui to the north bank. The water situation was not very large at this time, but the good news was that the military water, and the rainy weather in the upper reaches of the Lishui River for several days, there was no sign of interruption.

Of course, the water situation in the upper reaches is relatively slow, and it is also related that the upstream garrisons dumped a large amount of earth and rocks to the two rivers of the Hanli River and tributary streams.

However, the army water has now been cut off, and the upstream water will be flooded to the north shore through the stone canal, and at a faster speed and greater water potential than expected, it will flow to Miaowanggou forty or fifty miles away.

It only took about three or four days to form a flooded area north of Miaowanggou and south of Yingshui Long Dike, which stretched 30 to 40 miles east-west and eight or nine miles wide from north to south. It was not until the west of Shangshui County that the terrain slowly raised up again to block the flooding and continue to extend eastward.

"...Reported to the Prime Minister of the Shu, the establishment of the Wuyuegang floating bridge has been completed. Ling Jian, the third general of the Zuo Xuanwu Army, can lead his troops to cross the army and go north at any time, just wait for the Prime Minister to give an order!"

"...Reported to the Prime Minister of Shu, the installation of the floating bridge at the mouth of the Mahuang River was completed, and the commander of the Right Xuanwu Army was in charge. Deng Gui, the Marquis of Nanye, could lead a large army to cross the army to the north at any time, just wait for the Prime Minister to give an order!"

Fast horses were galloping on both sides of the Marine River, summarizing the movements of the Xuanwu Army on the left and right that had entered the Marine River coast to Hu Kai.

Behind Hu Kai, 20,000 elite Chushan soldiers were in various camps and were ready to go.

Hu Kai's vision crossed the continuous camps on the north bank, passed through the cold rain, and looked towards the hazy sky in the north.

Although they are only fifty or sixty miles apart, they seem to be separated by thousands of mountains and rivers.

He didn't know if the enemy was alert at this time, nor did he know if the scout passed through the enemy's layers of blockades in time, sneaked across the Ying River, and spread the final battle time to Xu Huai's ears; he didn't know whether he knew that

In what way will Chu Xuhuai participate in the general attack on the enemy's troops on the south bank of Yingshui, or simply defend Xihua City...

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The Zhennanzong Palace finally transferred Yin Chao's troops from the north bank of the Yellow River to the south bank of the Yingshui River to meet with Yuehailou.

Although Yue Hailou is even more looking forward to Cao Shixiong leading his troops to reinforce, Zheng Huaizhong is about to give up Heluo. No matter from any aspect, Cao Shixiong's troops are the best choice for crossing the river and taking over Heluo.

Yin Chao was afraid of the enemy and the war in Taiyuan, which was an important reason why Xu Huai successfully rescued the 100,000 soldiers and civilians in Taiyuan. Zhennanzong Palace did not deal with Yin Chao very severely, but his troops should also bear greater responsibilities to redeem his mistakes.

Yin Chao was therefore appointed as the governor of Xuzhou and accepted the control of Yue Hailou.

Yin Chao was more or less dissatisfied with this arrangement.

Even if he could not violate the order of the Zhennanzong Palace, Yin Chao also ordered his generals to lead the main force to go south first. He himself slowly escorted the wealth and money he had robbed in the past few years. He rushed to Xuchang City for a few days, and finally arrived at the Yingnan camp at the urging of Muchi and Yuehailou.

The cold drizzle is endless.

Even though he knew that the reinforcements of the Southern Dynasty had arrived along the coast of the Marine River, more than 10,000 troops were even entering Xiangcheng, and after only one day of rest, he continued to march towards the western border of Linying County, Mu Chi and Yue Hailou did not rush to adjust their troops.

On the one hand, they suspected that the Southern Dynasty intended to attract their main forces to the Western Front, so that Xu Huai could lead the elite troops to the eastern front, and force the Ying River to break through the south in Shangshui County. On the other hand, they were waiting for the main forces of the Southern Dynasty reinforcements to cross the army and completely enter the southern part of Linying, east of Xiangcheng. This was the best time to mobilize troops to encircle and annihilate the main forces of the Southern Dynasty reinforcements.

In Yue Hailou's view, if you really have the opportunity to encircle and annihilate the main force of the Southern Dynasty reinforcements on the north bank of the Marine River, it would not be unacceptable to let Xu Huai lead a small number of elite Chushan soldiers flee south.

The rains and blind spots in thinking caused the scouts distributed outside the Chushan Lianying area to find that there was local flooding in the area south of Miaowanggou, which did not arouse alertness.

At the same time, the rainfall in different regions was not consistent, and Miaowanggou was rainy and rainy. It was not unimaginable that there were occasional heavy rains in Xiangcheng, Zhaoling and other places after winter. Scouts would habitually think that local flooding occurred south of Miaowanggou, which was caused by heavy rains in the south and west where they could not detect.

Who would have thought that the military water had been intercepted at this time?

Because of the rainstorm for several days, the Ru River still had a large amount of water flowing into the tributaries east of Xiaoquegang, so that the Ru River rivers east of Zhaoling did not have any interruption due to interception.

The water volume of Rushui River east of Xiaoquegang decreased and the water level decreased, which did not arouse the alertness of the scouts and detectives.

Yue Hailou led his troops to occupy Xu Chen and other places for less than two years. Even Yue Hailou and others did not have a complete understanding of the water conditions of the Ru and Ying rivers in different seasons. How vigilant is expected to be the scouts and detectives?

In short, the day after Xiaoquegang had completed the interception, Mu Chi and Yue Hailou met with Yin Chao, who had just arrived from Xuchang after urging him, were full of thoughts on how to completely lure the main force of the Southern Dynasty reinforcements north of the Marine River to encircle and annihilate them.

"The Marshal Yan, Shu, the enemy's army was dispatched from Xihua City," several fast horses came over and got off the horse, walked to Muchi, Yuehailou, Yin Chao, Zhong Changqing and others, reported, "The enemy's warships are full of generals and soldiers, and are heading against the current, as if they are looking for the beach on the south bank to land on the shore!"
To be continued...