After all, the cold season has not yet entered, and the afternoon sun is quite warm on his body. Xu Huaile stopped on a flat hill and looked at the surrounding wilderness.

Groups of armored soldiers approached Linying City and formed a formation. Groups of cavalry were also waiting on the flanks and rear wings of the A-seat array. Young and strong civilians and auxiliary soldiers were sent out with the army to cut down trees nearby to build horses, antlers, etc.

To remove obstacles, the four city gates along the Yinghe River should be initially blocked from the outside.

Linying City is the most common prefectural and county city on the Hehuai Plain. Similar to Xihua City, the city walls are less than two feet high, the stacked walls are incomplete, and there are no urns, towers, towers, war sheds, outer walls and other ancillary defenses.

Facilities, the gates of the four cities are only more than ten feet wide.

A preliminary blockade on the outside of the four city gates can prevent the elite cavalry of the Red Army from suddenly coming out.

In the fierce battle in the early morning, although the Red Husband Cavalry suffered heavy casualties, the Chushan Army did not gain the slightest advantage.

Including the cavalry troops led by Tang Pan who came to meet at dawn, the 10,000 Chushan troops suffered more than 2,000 casualties in the fierce battle in less than two hours. This was one of the few vicious battles since the rise of Chushan.

However, after paying such a high price, it was finally worth the money to successfully divide the enemy forces west of Xiaoquegang-Miaowanggou, especially to encircle the Red Husband Cavalry, which was the most powerful and threatening force in Linying City.

"It should be Prime Minister Hu Gong and his friends who have arrived!"

Wang Xian said when he saw a cavalry team of more than 200 people walking slowly from south to north.

Soon, several cavalrymen arrived at Pinggang and reported that Hu Kai, Yang Lin, Deng Gui, Zhang Xin, Xu Wuqi and others were coming to Linying City under the cavalry guard.

After large-scale enemy reinforcements are able or have the conditions to enter the south bank of Yingshui River, there will still be a long period of time available, but how to advance the subsequent war more steadily and how to reduce unnecessary casualties as much as possible?

Further discussion is needed.

Xu Huai needed to stay in Linying to supervise the war. He originally thought that Xu Wuqi would represent Chushan and discuss a new strategy with Hu Kai, Yang Lin, Deng Gui, and Zhang Xin, and get the permission of Emperor Jianji, who was in Wuyang to fight in person.

, all the soldiers and horses can act according to the plan, but they did not expect that Hu Kai would rush to Linying in person.

Yin Peng and Han Qi acted as frontline commanders and were responsible for keeping an eye on every move in Linying City. Xu Huai led Wang Ju, Xu Xin'an, Tang Pan and others on horseback to greet Hu Kai and others.

"Chu Shan made such a big move, but it was so hard to hide it from us!"

Seeing Xu Huai and others galloping towards him, Yang Lin dismounted with Hu Kai and others and said with a smile.

"At first I just wanted to move Yue Hailou's rebels away from the mountain and try to dig out the stone canal before the year. However, I never expected that Yue Hailou was so stubborn and wanted to take a piece of Chushan.

I am only willing to eat the meat, so I have to ask Your Majesty, the Prime Minister and the commanders to send troops to help..." Xu Huai bowed and accompanied Hu Kai on his horse to the Jian camp where he is currently stationed in the southeast of Linying City.

Introducing the situation of the two battles at Xiliu Xikou and Linying City since yesterday.

"Is there any chance to surround the enemy forces south of Yingshui this time?" Zhang Xin asked excitedly.

Since the fall of Bianliang, Dai Viet has not won any battles, but they are all partial.

Including Chushan forcing Yue Hailou and his troops to retreat from both sides of the Mingxi River at the beginning of the year, and annihilating tens of thousands of enemy troops before and after. Although it was a great victory, it was far from enough to fundamentally reverse the passive situation between Ruying, where the enemy was strong and we were weak.

.

On other battlefields, Dai Viet was retreating steadily.

Zheng Huaizhong's abandonment of Heluo was regarded as a last resort in the hearts of most of the generals at home and abroad, and thus gained the understanding of most people - Chushan had always been an isolationist.

Now that we have the opportunity to kill 40,000 to 50,000 enemy troops in one fell swoop, it will most likely be the most exciting victory since the fall of Bianliang. It will not only help further stabilize the Huaishang defense line, but also greatly boost the morale of the Vietnamese soldiers and civilians, and will greatly improve the morale of the Vietnamese army and civilians.

There will be far-reaching positive impacts on other battlefields as well.

"Whether we can completely annihilate the enemy forces on the Western Front depends on God's help!" Xu Huai pointed to the top of his head and said with a smile.

The most ideal situation is that the temperature is very high throughout the winter and the Yingru River will not freeze.

Then they only need to intercept the westward advance of the Yingzhou navy north of Miaowanggou and south of Xihua City, and then they can buy enough time to capture the fortresses and cities occupied by the enemy forces on the western front one by one.

If there is only one month left, there are still nearly 6,000 elite red soldiers and 2,000 infantry intact in Linying City, and there are veteran generals like Muchi and Yue Hailou in charge, how much price will it have to pay to attack by force?

Come down?

Linying City was the most important material transfer station for the enemy troops from Xuchang to the Yingnan company camp. There was no shortage of grain, various war weapons, and arrows stored in the city.

Therefore, Xu Huai advocated encircling Linying City instead of attacking it. The focus was to coordinate the southward retreat of Xihua City's troops and at the same time forcefully attack or persuade the scattered enemy troops stationed in the fortresses west of Miaowanggou to surrender.

At present, in addition to the enemy troops retreating to Linying City, the enemy troops divided on the western front are estimated to be nearly 50,000 surrendered troops and more than 20,000 strong men who were threatened by the surrendered troops and went south to build forts.

Even if these troops can be successfully wiped out, it will be the most glorious victory since the fall of Bianliang.

Of course, this also requires God’s blessing, the temperature remains normal, and the freeze period will not come early this year.

In addition, in addition to the main forces of Xuanwu Army and Zuo Xiaosheng Army participating in the battle as soon as possible, the Huai Palace Army and Heluo troops are also needed to hold back the enemy troops from the east and west lines as much as possible so that the captive troops cannot easily escape to reinforce Xuzhou.

, Chenzhou.

…………

…………

The old Yingshui Road flows east through the south of Xuchang, enters Linying County, turns a big bend south, and then flows northeast from the north of Zhaoling, connecting with the Baling River, Qingmin River, Dalanggou River, Cai River, etc.

It merges in Xihua and other counties, passes through Wanqiu County, then turns to flow southeast, and finally merges into the Huai River.

At the beginning of the Dai Viet Dynasty, a new river channel was excavated between the old Yingshui River and Qingmin River, so that the new Yingshui river course passed through the north of Linying County to the east.

At this time, Chushan Army and Zuo Xiaosheng Army formed the siege of Linying City. In fact, nearly 50,000 surrender troops were divided between Linying and Miaowanggou. The only pity was that nearly 50,000 surrender troops were divided between Linying and Miaowanggou.

The Wanji surrender army was mainly composed of Xiao Qian and Yin Chao troops. The main force of Chenzhou army under Yue Hailou, as well as the Yanji surrender army who came from Bozhou and other places to reinforce Yanji's surrender army, were mainly divided by the floods in Xiaoquegang-

East of the first line of Miaowanggou.

This was mainly determined by the reinforcement route of the vassal troops sent southward.

Xiao Qian's and Yin Chao's troops both headed south from the western front, crossing Ying via Xuchang.

Yesterday, Xu Huai led his troops to penetrate Linying City overnight. It was too late for the enemy troops on the western front to wait until dawn and then withdraw into Linying City.

Currently, there are two main gathering areas of enemy troops in the area about 60 miles between Linying City and Miaowanggou:

First, Xiao Qian, the puppet envoy of Zhengzhou Jiedu, led more than 20,000 soldiers and garrisoned near Juling Town, 20 miles west of Linying City; second, seeing that there was no hope of retreating to the west, in the early morning, under the leadership of the surrendered general Zhong Changqing, he carefully

The west bank of Liuxi retreated eastward, and a part of the Chenzhou Army evacuated westward from the flooded area, totaling about 26,700 troops, were mainly stationed near Guanqiao Camp, about 11 or 2 miles east of Xiliu River.

Considering that the Chushan Army has been undertaking arduous combat tasks on the Huaihe River for a long time, Xu Huai led his troops to sneak attack Bianliang, Xu Xin'an led his troops to receive reinforcements, and Tang Pan led his troops to arrive at Linying City for the first time to participate in the fierce battle, which accumulated a lot.

Hu Kai advocated that in addition to besieging Linying City, the Chushan Army would mainly coordinate the southern troops and civilians to withdraw from Xihua City, and continue to block Yingshui; Zhang Xin and Deng Gui would lead the main force of the Xuanwu Army to siege Guanqiao.

Camp the enemy; Yang Lin will take the main force of Zuo Xiaosheng's army and control the Xiangcheng garrison Zheng Jiang's troops to besiege the enemy in Juling Town.

Hu Kai also planned to have the Chushan Army take over the defense of Xiangcheng in advance and gather more troops and horses in the north of Xiangcheng to guard against the possibility of enemy reinforcements crossing the Ying River from Xuchang to the south.

Yang Lin, Zhang Xin, Deng Gui and others did not refuse to assume the main combat tasks in the next stage of the war, and even felt that they were stealing the military merits of Chushan. As for the Zheng Jiang Division of the Xiangcheng garrison, Hu Kai did not accept it at all.

It was considered that they would refuse to accept Yang Lin's control at this time and participate in the siege of the enemy forces in Juling Town.

Although the main offensive force is not particularly advantageous in terms of strength, the camps occupied by the enemy are basically a bit crude; and as a surrender army, it is impossible to be divided and surrounded in Juling Town and Guanqiao Camp at this time.

What a high morale and strong will.

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The Juishui River is intercepted at Xiaoquegang and goes northward through a stone canal. There are no ready-made streams and rivers to the north. The flood mainly floods northward along a narrow depression zone about four to five miles wide.

The flooded water reached the north of Miaowang Valley. Due to factors such as the high terrain of the remaining embankments and coastal areas on the south bank of Yingshui River and the abandoned canal between Ruying and Ruying, there was no way to discharge it directly into Yingshui. Instead, it turned to Shangshui County to the east.

spread.

In just four or five days, a flooded area ranging from several to ten miles north to south was formed south of Yingshui River, extending for thirty or forty miles from east to west.

This also forced the enemy troops on the eastern front to retreat again and again, and finally retreated into Shangshui County in embarrassment.

On the one hand, the terrain to the east of Shangshui County is higher. On the other hand, although heavy flooding continues to occur in the upper reaches of the Lisui and other rivers, as the flooding gradually increases, people can gradually recover from the gaps in the remaining embankments on the south bank of Yingshui River and some areas.

The abandoned creek channel flows into Yingshui, and the flooding basically stops in the area west of Shangshui City and does not expand further.

Of course, the more important reason is that after winter, the water volume in the upper reaches of the Shuili River and other rivers is limited. However, during the heavy rains in summer and autumn, it is basically impossible for the enemy troops north of Miaowanggou to have time to withdraw.

From Xiaoquegang to the north, the water was flooded and was far from being able to form a navigable river. The Chushan Army prepared a large number of small and light bamboo rafts at Xiaoquegang.

While blockading Linying City, the Chushan Army passed these bamboo rafts through the shallow flooded area and dragged them into the Ying River with cattle and horses. At this time, Xu Xin'an led thousands of elite soldiers to cross Ying north.

While Xu Huai was guarding Xihua City, some rebels and their families continued to retreat south along the Cai River from Yanling, Weishi, Fugou and other counties. By this time, the number of soldiers and civilians in Xihua City had increased to more than 20,000.

In addition, there were more than a thousand prisoners of war and more than five to six thousand people of Xihua County.

Xu Xin'an led thousands of Chushan elites and seven or eight thousand southern rebels and Guiyi generals as cover, and supplemented them with a large number of small bamboo cuttings. Thirty thousand soldiers and civilians quickly withdrew to Xiaoquegang for rest and recuperation.

At the same time, Shi Zhen started the construction of Zhaoling New City in Xiaoquegang.

Due to time constraints, in order to intercept the water in Lisui and other rivers northward in advance, the depth and width of the stone canal on the north bank were dug far lower than expected. In the dry season, the water volume in the upper reaches is small, so it does not matter. However, in order to ensure the high water season in summer and autumn, the Shun

The water flowing upstream of the Li and other rivers was directed to the north bank, rather than to the north of Wuyang, causing flooding in Zhaoling County. Subsequently, it was necessary to build a ten-mile-long embankment on the south bank of the Shuishui River west of Xiaoquegang and dig two water-dividing canals.

, water comes from a part of the upper reaches of the Li River, flows from Wuyang County, south of Zhaoling County, and is reintroduced into the main river channel of Ru River.

The construction of Zhaoling New City will not only ensure that subsequent water conservancy projects can be completed before next summer, but will also work with Xiangcheng to the west to ensure control of the upper reaches of the Sishui River.

Otherwise, if this area falls into the hands of the Japanese soldiers, it will be easy for the Shuili River and other waters to return to the Ru River. In the future, it will no longer be possible to create a large-scale floodplain along the Ying River to shield the Huaishang defense line.

strategic purpose.

The left and right Xuanwu Army, Zuo Xiaosheng Army and part of the Zuo Shenwu Army simultaneously launched a strong attack on the enemy troops gathered in Juling Town and Guanqiao Camp.

The frightening rescue battle suddenly turned into a divided and encircled attack on tens of thousands of enemy troops. While everyone in Xiangyang was stunned, their morale was naturally boosted.
To be continued...