Xiapi has been in chaos since the fifth day of May.
The sergeants were busy loading supplies onto the ship. A closer look revealed that they were mostly weapons, food, property, gold and silverware and other items.
Don't say that warriors are hard-pressed to part with their wealth. In fact, if you don't let them bring these things, you can blow up the camp on the spot.
In addition, there were many old, weak, women and children on board the ship.
The Huai Army has controlled Xiapi for several years. Many families of sergeants have moved here, as well as officials and family members of military schools. They also have to flee with the army.
As a result, more than a hundred ships, large and small, were packed to the brim, and the defenders of Xiapi could only proceed on foot.
On the morning of the sixth day of the lunar month, Xiapi guard general Qin Shiqiu personally led 4,000 people across the river and arrived at the west bank of Surabaya. They knew that there were Xia soldiers on the east bank, so they deliberately avoided it to be safer.
That evening, Navy Commander Zhou Ben ordered all materials that could not be moved to be gathered together and burned.
Zhou Ben is a native of Suzhou, a descendant of Zhou Yu, a famous general in the Three Kingdoms. In his early years, he served as a general under Zhao Kun, the governor of Chizhou. After Kun was defeated, Zhou Ben surrendered to Yang Xingmi and became a general in the Huainan army. Because he was very brave and proficient in water warfare, he established a
He had many military exploits, so he was promoted all the way, and now he is the governor of the Huainan Military Prefecture.
There are a total of more than 7,000 land and sea troops in Xiapi, all under his command, including more than 4,000 infantry and 3,000 sailors, all from Chi and Xuan prefectures.
To be honest, Zhou Ben never thought that one day he would abandon the defense of Xiapi and flee in a panic. Because this city is so defensive and surrounded by water. With the cooperation of the navy, it is almost impossible to be broken. Even if the enemy digs embankments and floods
It's useless. At most, we can just wade into the water and fight. If it doesn't work, we can retreat by boat. What can we do?
But having the escape route cut off is another matter.
A scout came to report that thousands of Xia bandits attacked Suqian County. The more than a thousand Xuzhou soldiers who defended the city only resisted for one day, then took off their uniforms and dispersed into the countryside. The county magistrate and county lieutenants were also idiots.
The Tutuan countryman was killed in the process, and the matter ended in vain, resulting in a lack of troops in the city and making it easy for the Xia people to capture it.
In fact, Zhou Ben knew that the Xia people's goal was not the city of Suqian at all, but the dock outside the city.
They just wanted to control the ship station and cut off the river. Conquering the city was just a side task, but they didn't expect it to be completed easily.
After receiving the information, Zhou Ben was panicked and decided to run away on the spot. Of course, it cannot be said that he ran away directly. He led the boat division south to attack Suqian.
The news has been sent to Linhuai, Qingkou and Xuzhou respectively. Zhou Ben found it very interesting that he did not leave without saying goodbye.
What a bunch of rubbish! Zhou Ben spat, boarded the ship, and ordered to sail overnight.
Going south from Xiapi to Suqian, the boat ride was very fast and it took almost two days to arrive. But because we had 4,000 infantrymen with us, it was not that easy.
It was not until the tenth day of May that they finally saw the slightly dilapidated Suqian city wall and the busy Confucius at the dock.
At this time, a light rain fell from the sky, which seemed to indicate that the plum rain season between the Jianghuai River and the Huaihe River had officially begun.
Zhou Ben's face looked a little ugly, the pontoon bridge had been built.
At the same time, I'm a little lucky. Fortunately, he made a decisive decision and didn't delay for too long. Otherwise, if you wait a few more days, I'm afraid I would have to spend a lot of time to cross the river with an iron chain for you.
"General Qin, if we don't destroy the pontoon bridge built by the thieves, I'm afraid it will be difficult for you and me to return to Huainan." Zhou Ben pointed to the bridge across the two sides of Surabaya and said, "Today we can only fight."
Qin Shiqiu said with emotion: "What Zhou Dutou said is absolutely true. In this battle, there is no way to retreat!"
After that, he got down from the ship's building and went to reorganize his troops.
****
On the east coast of Surabaya, Wang Jingxing, the Marquis of Yuhou, the capital of Yi Congjun, noticed this large fleet, with hundreds of large and small ships. It was surprising to hear that it was just a partial division.
The Huai army's fleet did not drop anchor, but continued to rush forward, heading straight for the pontoon. The anchor was of course a stone, not an iron anchor. Because it cost too much iron, it was impossible to popularize it and could be used on some major ships.
It's awesome to use.
The boat took advantage of the current and hit the pontoon with a "bang". There were a few sergeants left behind on the pontoon. At this time, they were all shaken to pieces and could not stand upright.
"Whoosh! Whoosh!" A dense rain of arrows fell on the deck.
The Huai soldiers were condescending and started killing Xia soldiers while they were rolling on the ground.
At the same time, a large group of sailors and sergeants jumped off the deck and rushed onto the pontoon to fight.
"Kill the thief!" A group of sergeants from the east bank of the pontoon rushed over holding thick and wide wooden shields.
This is a warrior from Yi Congjun.
Things were so hasty that they only had time to build a pontoon bridge and reinforce it. As for other items, such as iron cables, artillery carts, and shield carts to defend against crossbows, they had no time to prepare and had to carry it.
One party was in a hurry to escape, and the other party tried desperately to stop it. The two sides started a fierce battle on the pontoon.
The Huai army used a tactic of adding fuel to the fire. The number of people who came down at once was small, and before they could gain a firm foothold, they were all chopped down by the long spears and short knives of the rebel army. The arrows on the boats of the Huai army were very dense, and even if they were blocked by shields, they were very lethal.
It was still not to be underestimated. No amount of iron armor could stop the heavy armor-piercing arrows fired at close range. The soldiers kept screaming and falling into the water, dyeing the river red.
Zhou Ben looked at it from a distance, feeling a little anxious in his heart.
What does the Xia people mean by this? It is meaningless to carry arrows from a high position on an unobstructed pontoon, causing heavy casualties. He does not even need to send sailors off the ship, he only needs to let them shoot arrows and fire crossbows.
It only takes a little more time to eliminate all these Xia soldiers - even the most powerful soldiers in the world are made of flesh and blood, and they will be torn to pieces standing in front of a huge warship.
From the west bank of the river, uniform shouts of death rang out.
Zhou Ben looked around and saw that it was Qin Shiqiu who was impatient and left a thousand men to guard the baggage vehicles. He led 3,000 soldiers, killed more than a hundred soldiers from the volunteer army on the west bank of the pontoon, and prepared to come over to help.
That's good! With their help, the Xia soldiers on the pontoon can be cleared faster, and the pontoon can be dismantled faster, and they can escape southward.
"Woo——"
"Woo-"
The sound of horns sounded one after another, followed by the dull sound of hoofbeats and the painful neighing of horses.
Zhou Ben was shocked and looked for news, only to see a large group of cavalry emerging from the woods to the west.
Their queues spread out widely. It seemed that because of the slippery rainy weather, some sergeants and their horses fell to the ground one after another, so they had to do this. But the speed has slowly increased, and the long spear held diagonally in their hands has slowly been leveled.
The target was directly at the three thousand soldiers of the Qiu tribe of the Qin division.
"Damn it! What a cunning thief!" Zhou Ben was furious. He kicked the deputy general who was still stunned and said: "Let the second commander pull out the anchor and come up to me. Don't save arrows, right?"
Shoot on the shore."
But it was too late.
The surging wave of cavalry rushed to the shore in the blink of an eye. The Qiu Division of the Qin Division was cut into two sections, then three sections, four sections...
The silver spear easily pierced the Huai soldiers' bodies, and the flying arrows fell into the crowd, creating great chaos.
The Huai army collapsed on the spot.
The sergeant who lost his mind rushed onto the pontoon bridge, jostling each other, and people kept falling into the water.
Some people were so anxious that they waded directly into the river, ignoring that they were still wearing iron armor.
There were still people who knelt down and begged to surrender, but in the chaos of the war, no one noticed what they were saying, and they were directly submerged in the thicket of war horses.
The pontoon bridge was crowded with people. They did not dare to rush to the east bank because there was a large group of Xia soldiers waiting for them on the opposite side, and they did not dare to turn back. They could only cry and shout on the pontoon bridge, begging the navy to save their lives.
The cavalrymen of the Silver Spear Army put away their light spears, took out their cavalry bows and fired a burst of fire.
The drizzle affected the power of bows and arrows, but at such a close distance, it still caused great panic, and more Huai soldiers fell into Si River.
"Chi la -" As the crowd shook violently, the pontoon bridge, which had long been damaged due to the collision of the ship, could not bear the weight and was disconnected.
"Plop! Plop!" The raging river water broke through the pontoon bridge, and the Huai soldiers fell into the river like dumplings. They only flopped for a while and then disappeared.
The crying on the river became more intense.
The boat shook violently and drifted down the river.
Zhou Ben reacted, his expression extremely ugly.
He did not expect that the pontoon bridge would be broken in such a way - at the cost of four thousand innocent souls.
There were also sobs on the ship. It was the sergeant's family members who were crying.
Their father, elder brother, and younger brother died so tragically in front of their eyes, most of them with no bones left, which greatly shocked their hearts.
"Alas!" Zhou Ben closed his eyes and couldn't bear to look at it anymore.
The boat went down the river in such a hurry that there was no time to save the lives still flopping in the water.
This battle was so miserably defeated!
****
Qin Shiqiu's head was sent over.
Under the awning, Shao Shude took it with one hand, looked at it carefully, and asked: "How is the bandit army doing?"
"The thief general Qin Shiqiu led an army of 4,000 infantry, which has been defeated. He planned to behead more than 800 people and captured 1,600 others. The rest fell into the water and they do not know whether they are alive or dead." Li Yixian reported.
Shao Shude nodded, and then looked up at the sky. The rain was getting heavier and heavier.
Since the expedition, the Silver Spear and Flying Bear armies have fought in various places and achieved great results.
In the first battle in the west of Xu City, Chen Hanbin was beheaded, and more than 3,300 people were captured and killed.
When World War II came to the north of Huaihe, the traitor Zhang Jian, the governor of Sizhou, was severely wounded, and two thousand people were captured and killed.
In the third battle in the southeast of Hong County, the thieves wiped out Feng Jingzhang's 3,000 troops, and the remaining 2,000 soldiers in Hong County asked to surrender.
During the fourth battle in Suqianxi, the four thousand bandits were almost completely wiped out, and the bandit general Qin Shiqiu died among the rebels.
Taking advantage of the high mobility of the cavalry, they were able to attack the few with their numbers and wait for work. Within a month, they had killed two thieves and captured more than 14,000 generals.
These four battles are almost the pinnacle of Shao Shude's understanding of cavalry combat.
Exploit strengths and avoid weaknesses, attack when you can, retreat when you can't, repeatedly harass, mobilize enemy forces, and use high mobility to create local advantages in mobile warfare. Use more to attack less, use strong to attack weak, and annihilate the enemy's effective strength.
To put it bluntly, these military principles are very simple and not profound. However, without the bonus of military experience from years of fighting, and without the strong troops built by oneself to enforce orders and prohibitions, they will not be so easy to implement in detail.
Shao Shude remembered that twenty years ago, he was still stumbling to learn from Song Le, Zhang Yanqiu, and Zhuge Shuang, summarizing and summarizing. When encountering the enemy, he liked to fight in array, fight stupidly, and use more troops and supplies to overwhelm people.
Now, twenty years later, he has his own understanding of marching and fighting, and has his own accustomed tactical routines.
This is how human progress comes.
"Please call me the cavalry tactical commander." Shao Shude muttered in his mind and said, "Let Wang Jingxuan build the pontoon bridge, and I want to cross the river."
