In ancient and modern times, at home and abroad, the most important thing for large armies to fight is to pay attention to diseases.
Especially in summer, when corpses are exposed to the sun, it is most likely to cause a horrific death-level epidemic like cholera. In addition, the weather is too hot, which is not conducive to large-scale military campaigns.
Therefore, Zhang Gao tentatively sent Gao Huaide to lead an army of 5,000 men, and broke through two Xiaozhai forts of the Qing and Huai army. After a provocation, but Liu Renzhan could not hold on, he withdrew his troops and waited for the heat to subside before attacking again.
At the same time, Zhang Yan did not go to Haozhou at all, because Gao Huaide already had 20,000 horses in Haozhou city. He took another 20,000 people there, and 40,000 people plus 780,000 civilians were all crowded in Haozhou, carrying supplies and supplies. The pressure is too much.
So Zhang Gao simply retreated to Guide Mansion, and sent more than 10,000 soldiers to go to various states to eat. During this period, he also called Queen Cao Yanxi and Zhang Xianjing to come and reunite for a few days.
Then he went to Xuzhou, appeased the local people, and re-established three garrison troops in Xuzhou, using the fields after Wuning Town was moved. By the way, he also listened to Li Cunhui, Pan Mei, and others' plans to capture Yangzhou.
On September 15th, when Zhao Kuangzan and Zhang Xianyu escorted Cao Yijin's coffin to Chang'an, and Queen Cao Yanxi and Third Lady Cao Yannai went to greet it, Zhang Gao once again gathered his army in Suzhou.
Prior to this, Tian Guogong Liu Zaisheng had led an army of 15,000 land and sea troops down the Ying River from Yingzhou (Fuyang, Anhui) to attack the Qing Huai army's Anfeng City on the north bank of Shaipi.
Anfeng City is located in the southwest of Shouzhou, in the middle of the "Chuan" shape formed by the three rivers of Lushui, Tangshui, and Feishui (Dongfei River). Not only is it easy to defend and difficult to attack with Shapipi as its back, but it can also send troops to control these three rivers at any time. .
As long as we have these three rivers in hand, we can ensure that aid supplies and troops can be quickly delivered outside Shouzhou City by waterway.
But if the Zhou army occupied Anfeng City, they could stab the chrysanthemums of Shouzhou City from behind, especially the Dongfei River. At this time, the Yellow River had not yet come to 'plunder' Huainan, and Wabu Lake had not yet appeared.
To the south of Shouzhou, the Wabu Lake area where the Dongfei River flows is fertile and wild for thousands of miles and has a large population. The Zhou army could easily collect food and husbands here and use Shouzhou people to attack Shouzhou city.
Liu Renzhan naturally knew this truth. He built Anfeng City into a small fortress early and sent the powerful general Huangfuhui to lead 4,000 people to guard it. The people in the city had already moved away and stored enough food for eight months. Behind the scenes, Even in Shaopi, there is no need to worry about water sources.
Liu Zaisheng came with 15,000 people, of which only 3,000 were from the forbidden army of Wuwei Town. The rest were from the state guards and the Changzheng Jianyong from various inspection departments. They fought around for several days, but they really couldn't knock the door open. This bastard shell.
So Liu Zaisheng simply left two thousand men to guard outside the city, and personally led the rest of the troops to the northeast to directly participate in the siege of Shouzhou.
As a result, Huangfu Hui was immediately embarrassed, because he discovered an unsolvable problem, that is, the Zhou army had too many mules and horses, so that if they only dispatched tens of thousands of people, they could almost do it There are half a mule and horse per capita.
This time Liu Zaisheng went to Shouzhou, and the two thousand men he left behind relied on their high mobility to kill Huangfuhui.
His purpose in guarding Anfeng City was to control the upper reaches of the three rivers: Lishui, Tangshui and Feishui. However, the Zhou army had two thousand cavalry and mounted infantry outside the city, so he did not dare to leave the city at all, let alone talk about anything. Control these three rivers.
Huangfu Hui tried to send hundreds of people out of the city to test the situation. As he expected, the Zhou army who stayed on the opposite side immediately came out with hundreds of people to confront them.
They were about to leave the city. When the Zhou army sounded a gong, they would immediately dispatch twice as many troops as they did and rush to the battlefield quickly.
If they were not far from the city, the Zhou army would only send a few dozen people to follow them from a distance. If there was any abnormal movement, they would summon large troops through something called fireworks.
Huangfu Hui and several of his officers looked at each other in shock. They had never seen such a thing before, and they could rely on a large number of cavalry to play hide and seek with them.
But even so, Huangfuhui still didn't take the next step rashly because he didn't know whether Liu Zaisheng really left or pretended to leave.
However, Huangfuhui was on the top of the city and saw the Zhou army transporting cart after cart of grain and grass to Shouzhou, and he felt very anxious.
You must know that Liu Zaisheng has been hoarding supplies in Yingzhou, which is close to Shouzhou, since Liu Renzhan attacked Haosi and Sizhou last year. When the Zhou army besieged Shouzhou this time, at least half of the military supplies must be supplied by Yingzhou.
He kept letting the Zhou army's baggage pass by, completely wasting the purpose of Liu Renzhan asking him to guard Anfeng.
So Huangfu Hui gathered the best horses in the city and sent out several groups of sentries to scout at night.
These sentinels continued to explore the area more than fifty miles away from Anfeng City before reporting that it was safe.
Because Anfeng City is only about ninety miles away from Shouzhou, and no enemy troops have been seen for fifty miles, it is natural to really go and besiege Shouzhou.
Huangfu Hui was overjoyed and immediately ordered 3,500 of the 4,000 soldiers and horses in the city to leave the city and storm the Zhou army's stronghold outside the city.
On the Zhou army's side, the Caizhou Zhongwei of the Guard Corps were left behind. They only had 2,000 men, and some of them had to be sent to escort the army supplies. In addition, Huangfu Hui's troops were also very powerful in combat, so they could only defend the stronghold and fight hard.
Huangfu Hui personally put on armor and took the lead in the fierce attack. The two sides fought from early morning to nearly noon. Seeing that the military stronghold of Caizhou Zhongwei was crumbling, Huangfu Hui suddenly heard the sound of horse hoofs. He looked up and couldn't help but scream. He saw the Zhou army coming from behind.
Coming from three sides, they stirred up dust all over the sky.
It turns out that Liu Zaisheng did retreat to a distance of fifty miles, but the two thousand cavalry of the Forbidden Army under his command in Wuwei Town were all Hexi dragon horses. In addition, Huangfu Hui's Youyi Cavalry only had more than a hundred cavalry. It was impossible to conduct a blanket search and interception in Wuwei Town.
You Yiqi had already taken a detour, but instead monitored Huangfuhui's departure from the city.
As soon as a fight broke out on his side, Liu Zaisheng dispatched five hundred of his most elite cavalry to encircle and suppress the scout cavalry who were searching for Huangfu Hui, while the rest quickly rushed to the battlefield outside Anfeng City.
Amidst the thunderous sound of horse hooves, Huangfu Hui's army, which had been fighting for more than two hours, was extremely exhausted. They wanted to retreat, but the Caizhou Zhongwei of the Zhou army in the military camp suddenly came out of the city to entangle them.
In panic, Huangfu Hui's troops were defeated by the Zhou army who ran back for more than fifty miles.
Huangfuhui still wanted to save him, but was killed by Murong Xinde, the commander-in-chief of Zhongwu Town. He was immediately seriously injured and fell to the ground.
More than 3,000 people were scattered like birds and beasts, and the gates of Anfeng City were not even closed in time, and they were directly rushed in.
After the stronghold of Anfeng City was removed, Liu Zaisheng left Murong Xinde with 3,000 men to guard it. The supplies from Yingzhou could finally be safely transferred to Anfeng City.
Moreover, Anfeng City is only 150 miles away from Luzhou, which is Hefei, which is enough to monitor the movements of the Luzhou Baoxin Army in the Southern Tang Dynasty.
On September 23, Zhang Gao led 20,000 infantry and cavalry to Haozhou. Before he arrived, Gao Huaide and Fu Zhaoxu had already led 15,000 troops and tens of thousands of civilians and marched westward to the vicinity of Shouzhou.
Liu Renzhan's defense in Shouzhou was very comprehensive, showing his ability as a famous general of the Southern Tang Dynasty.
Shouzhou is the gateway to Huainan. Historically, when the Northern Dynasties attacked the Southern Dynasties, they usually attacked Shouzhou first in order to occupy it and then use it as their base camp on the Huaihe River. Then they divided their troops into two groups to attack the north of the Yangtze River.
The most famous one in history is of course the Battle of Feishui. Fu Jian of the former Qin Dynasty lost hundreds of thousands of troops here, leaving behind idioms such as "Every tree and grass are in disarray, the wind and cranes are shaking".
Later in the Southern Song Dynasty, the Southern Song Dynasty court also defeated the Mongolian army outside Anfeng City, which Liu Zaisheng had just captured, and kept Huaiyou in peace for more than ten years.
It's just that it's a bit strange when it comes to Zhang Shengren. Others captured Shouzhou first, and then went down the Huaihe River to conquer Haosi Prefecture, Huaiyin Prefecture and other places.
But the last time Zhang Shengren sent troops, he first attacked the Huaiyin Mansion, then went straight to Yangzhou, and finally blackmailed the two states of Haosi from the Southern Tang Dynasty.
This is all thanks to the opponent's foil! If there were the Eastern Jin Dynasty during the Feishui War in Jiangnan at this time, or the Liu Song Dynasty, or even the Nanchen Dynasty, they would not be so easy to deal with.
But Yang Xingmi not only took over all the luck of his descendants, but also all the luck of the Southern Tang Dynasty.
After him, only Li Min had a few successes, and the rest were completely incapable of success. Before Shouzhou was conquered, Yangzhou was lost first.
Therefore, at this time, Zhang Yan did not need to attack Shouzhou at all, because he could surround Shouzhou and then send a large army to attack Yangzhou.
However, this also has a disadvantage, that is, if Li Jing resists the intimidation, Zhang Yan will have to wait for Ma Zhaoyuan, Zhao Yanjin, Zhao Kuangyin, etc. to destroy the Southern Tang strongholds in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River one by one before he can cross the river.
Therefore, Zhang Zhang finally decided to use his thunderous power to capture Shouzhou, and then force Li Jing to surrender.
....
Shouzhou City is located on the south bank of the Huaihe River, and is protected by the Bagong Mountains to the northeast and northwest.
The Huaihe River passes through the Bagong Mountains, and to the north of Hexi is the Xiashi Mountain belonging to the Bagong Mountains.
To the southeast of Henan Province is Feiling Mountain, the main mountain of the Bagong Mountains. In the general sense, it refers to the Bagong Mountain.
To the southeast of Feiling Mountain is Zijin Mountain.
These three mountains perfectly wrap up Shouzhou City.
Liu Renzhan built a water fort on the Huai River, with trebuchets, crossbows and various small forts on both sides. It was extremely difficult to reach Shouzhou City directly from the Huai River.
Then the best way is to capture one of the two mountains, Feiling Mountain and Zijin Mountain.
Among them, Feiling Mountain is steep and the road is difficult to navigate. Zijin Mountain is slightly shorter and has a hilly shape, so it will definitely be the main target for breakthrough.
But Liu Renzhan had already thought of this. In the past few years, he built more than 20 large and small forts on Zijin Mountain, and dug tunnels to connect them, all the way to the foot of Shouzhou City.
On both the northeast and southeast sides of Zijin Mountain, he diverted water from the Huaihe River into a muddy area, making it extremely difficult for the cavalry to pass through.
With these arrangements, Feiling Mountain and Zijin Mountain are like two fists extending out of Shouzhou City, which can be attacked and defended. Troops and material support can be mobilized from Shouzhou City at any time.
The only weakness is that Liu Zaisheng quickly broke through Anfeng City and captured Huangfu Hui, which made the chrysanthemums in Shouzhou always feel a little cool.
....
After Zhang Yan led his army upstream and reached three miles east of Zijin Mountain, he couldn't help but take a breath of cold air. Liu Renzhan's Feiling Mountain and Zijin Mountain were definitely a tough nut to crack.
He felt a little uneasy, because in history, there were many wise masters who lost their minds because of their hot-headedness. Fu Jian of the former Qin Dynasty lost all his wealth here.
It is said that the older one gets, the less courageous one becomes. This is probably true.
However, Gao Huaide, Yang Jiye, Qu Yanqing, Fu Zhaoxu and others were not as hesitant as Zhang Yan.
They happily said to Zhang Yan: "Although Zijin Mountain has physical advantages, it is not as steep as Wangwu and Luliang in Hedong, and it is not very steep.
The main force of the Qing Huai army had just been defeated by us in Haozhou. Liu Renzhan did not defend the fortified city of Shouzhou, but instead placed them on the Purple Mountain. This is simply a recipe for death!"