Tang Tong originally left 5,000 field troops in Xiangyang. Adding in the 2,000 standing troops just dispatched this year, there were a total of 7,000 troops.
But later, all the five thousand field troops were transferred to Nanyang and followed Zuo Menggeng to Ruzhou. As a result, the huge Xiangyang City now only has a mere two thousand standing troops garrisoned.
Although the Red Lady originally set up two guards near Xiangyang, which could recruit almost 10,000 troops during the war, they were scattered everywhere and needed time to assemble.
Therefore, after receiving the warning from Gucheng, the city of Xiangyang was also in chaos. The garrison Qianhu and the prefect of Xiangyang hurriedly reported the situation while organizing manpower to defend and at the same time closed all the gates of Xiangyang.
But the speed of the Great Western Army was too fast, and they reached the foot of Xiangyang City in just one day. With the warning from Gucheng, and the two thousand standing troops in the city and the servants of some big families, it was easy to gather the city and defend it.
After all, Liu Wenxiu only brought 7,000 troops with him. In addition, he arrived in a hurry, and there was no time to build siege equipment, because by the time the siege equipment was completed, Ming army reinforcements would have arrived long ago.
Liu Wenxiu also knew that it would be a big joke to try to storm Xiangyang City, the largest city in the world, with only 7,000 men, so he pinned his hopes on the 3,000 men who took a detour.
Xiangyang is surrounded by water on three sides and mountains on one side. The widest part of the moat is more than 200 meters. Unfortunately, there are too few defenders in the city. In addition, their attention is attracted by the Daxi Army to the north, resulting in the defense of the southwestern mountain side.
The city wall has almost no standing army, all of them are servants of wealthy families.
The three thousand Daxi troops who made the sneak attack were all veterans who had experienced hundreds of battles. As a result, at dawn, they easily climbed up the city wall and invaded the city.
At this time, the military households of the two guards were still gathering.
When Wu Sangui received the news that the Daxi Army had sent a small force to attack Xiangyang, he was shocked and angry. Just as he was about to mobilize 10,000 troops to reinforce, news came that Xiangyang had been captured by the bandit army. He almost died.
I fainted immediately.
"Tang Tong is that stupid pig. I asked him to evacuate 20,000 people, but he actually evacuated Xiangyang's soldiers and horses. Ten thousand troops crossed the Han River under his nose, and he didn't even notice. It's so damned
, I must report it to Your Majesty and punish him for his oversight."
Wu Sangui roared and immediately put the blame on Tang Tong. Although in his opinion, even if Xiangyang was attacked by the bandit army, it would not matter much, but His Majesty did not think so.
It is conceivable that His Majesty will be furious when he finds out, and he, the supreme commander of the army, is definitely to blame.
After all, the task given to him by His Majesty was to focus on defense, but he drew away the army and wanted to encircle and annihilate the Chuang Army and the Daxi Army. Who would have thought that Xiangyang would be lost now.
"General, Xiangyang is an important military town. This matter is not a trivial matter. The top priority is to remedy the situation as soon as possible. As for the investigation of responsibility, we will leave it to you later."
The colonel in charge of training and ideological work frowned and said, very dissatisfied with Wu Sangui's attitude of shirking responsibility. In his opinion, Wu Sangui must bear the main responsibility for the sneak attack on Xiangyang.
Because after the former army arrived in Nanyang, Wu Sangui could completely dispatch some troops to go south to Xiangyang to garrison.
Wu Sangui actually regretted that he did not strengthen Xiangyang's troops in time and underestimated the enemy. The main reason was that he felt that it was impossible for the Daxi Army to cross the Han River under his eyes, so he felt that there was no need to waste troops on Xiangyang.
"Yes, General, it's better to go south quickly and recover Xiangyang."
The other students in the martial arts hall also said anxiously.
"No, you can't mess up your position at this time. This Great Western Army can reach Xiangyang without anyone noticing, and its strength can be up to ten thousand. Even if Xiangyang is occupied by them, how much can it accomplish?
I only need to keep an eye on Sun Kewang's main force to prevent him from going to Xiangyang. As for regaining Xiangyang, I can let Zuo Mengeng go."
Wu Sangui also put away his contempt and waved his hands.
He knew that he must not go south to recapture Xiangyang at this time, otherwise it would be bad if Sun Kewang led his army across the Han River to Xiangyang.
At this time, Zuo Menggeng and his army had just entered Ruzhou. After receiving Wu Sangui's urgent message, he had no choice but to order the army to move quickly, but he was happy in his heart.
After Liu Zeqing and Gao Jie received the news, they also hid in a deserted place with cunning smiles on their faces. They dug such a big trap, and Wu Sangui, the coach, would definitely not be able to bear it.
Sun Kewang, who was nesting in the mountains, didn't know that Liu Wenxiu had successfully attacked Xiangyang. But even if he didn't know, Sun Kewang had to bite the bullet and lead his army out of the mountains, preparing to forcefully cross the Han River and kill Xiangyang.
Because it was too difficult for hundreds of thousands of troops to cross the Han River secretly, and Tang Tong was heavily guarded, so there was no chance at all.
If you don't cross the Han River and continue to wander in the mountains, the army will be dispersed over time, not to mention the rations you carry are not allowed to wander in the mountains anymore.
In the end, Sun Kewang chose the Junzhou area of Xunyang as the place to cross the river, which happened to be the junction of the plains and mountains at the westernmost end of the Nanyang Basin.
It is only more than two hundred miles away from Xiangyang. As long as the army crosses the Han River, it can continue to cross mountains and ridges to Xiangyang.
Although the water flow of the Han River in this area is not as fast as the upper end, the river is very wide, more than a mile long. The ships along the river have already been gathered by Tang Tong to the south bank. If the army wants to cross the river, they can only cut down trees to build rafts and build pontoons.
Although Sun Kewang was very careful and secretly cut down trees in the mountains and built rafts, there was still too much movement and the stay was too long.
His intention to cross the river was too obvious. After receiving the news, both Tang Tong and Wu Sangui almost sneered and immediately led their armies to rush towards Junzhou.
Sun Kewang also knew that it was impossible to cross the Han River before the two armies arrived, and his face showed determination.
Immediately, Ainengqi was asked to carry hundreds of newly built rafts and lead 10,000 people across the river to intercept Tang Tong. He also sent 30,000 people to intercept Wu Sangui to buy time for the main force.
Otherwise, if Tang Tong blocks the attack on the south bank and Wu Sangui's army arrives on the north bank, hundreds of thousands of troops will really have to be placed on both sides of the Han River.
Both sides are almost competing for time. Xunyang is only a few dozen miles away from Junzhou. Even if the time for gathering troops and horses is included, Tang Tong with 10,000 horses can only kill them in two days, while Ai Nengqi only takes 10,000 troops.
Ten thousand men and horses have just crossed the river.
Both of them were almost red-eyed, and immediately started a big battle on the south bank. The fight was so inextricable that no one could completely eliminate the other.
Obviously, the 10,000 people Ai Nengqi brought with him were also elite and brave warriors in the Great Western Army.
Seeing that he could not defeat his opponent, Tang Tong had to turn from attack to defense. As more Daxi troops crossed the Han River, Ai Nengqi began to take the initiative to attack.
