On the side of the Huainan camp of the Northern Han Dynasty, while fighting against Chen and Xu Yuanying's army, in Huaidong, under the order of Liu Chengyou, the Huaidong Economic Strategy envoy Guo Rong's side also opened a battle plan for the reinforcements of the Southern Tang Dynasty.

In fact, on Guo Rong's side, the pressure is still relatively large, especially the pressure on the troops. The Huaidong Jingluo Han army deployed by Guo Rong only had 6,000 troops of Xu and Yi who followed him south, 3,000 Suzhou regiments, and 1,000 iron cavalry and a dragon army allocated by Liu Chengyou at the vortex, with a total of about 15,000 soldiers and horses, plus more than 10,000 servants recruited from Huaibei.

It seems that there are quite a lot of troops, but the garrison and combat tasks that these armies have to undertake are very arduous. Haozhou and Chuzhou must be garrisoned, especially Chuzhou, where the canal is about to rush, because in the face of Yao Fengjun, who has the intention of going north when he is stationed in Gaoyou, the force invested in the garrison cannot be less.

In addition, the Tang army stationed in Sizhou needs to be guarded against. Although due to selfish thoughts, Feng Yansi transferred his brother Feng Yanlu from Sizhou, and Guo Tingwei was in charge of military affairs alone, stationed in Xuyi, an important town in Huaiyang.

Under this operation, it made Sizhou more difficult to fight. As mentioned earlier, Guo Tingwei is a good general, has a strong ability to train soldiers, and is not afraid of the Han army. Since the southern expedition of the Han army, several battles, Sizhou's soldiers and horses have not suffered much damage, plus the follow-up of the Tang Dynasty, recruiting warriors and collecting defeated soldiers, Guo Tingwei still has to tens of thousands of troops to hold on, especially a naval army, although the scale is not large, but when Guo Rong is trapped by the enemy, he always throws a mouse taboo.

And Guo Tingwei is not a passive beater, he attacks from time to time, small-scale battles, although the results are not large, but it makes Guo Rong very uncomfortable. After the winter solstice, the weather became colder, and Guo Rong had to retreat and conservatively contain Guo Tingwei's army.

Zhao Kuangyin led an army to Zhaoxin in the southwest of Tun Xuyi, Xuzhou deputy envoy Cheng De Qintun north of Linhuai, Guo Rong led the army to garrison Duliang Mountain, which is across the Huai from Xuyi, into a triangle to control Xuyi. As for Chuzhou, it was garrisoned by Chen Sirang, the former Yizhou regimental training envoy, who was an experienced general.

But since the beginning of spring, after Huang Fuhui and Yao Feng marched north, Guo Rong had a headache, and Liu Chengyou's edict made him feel that he had a heavy responsibility on his shoulders. Fortunately, the Tang army was relatively slow, especially Huang Fuhui, I don't know what he was thinking, Chen Jue and Yao Feng's two armies had advanced, and he, the middle route army, was still guarding Qingliu Pass.

When Xuzhou Jiedu made Wuxing Dedu lead the army from Pengcheng to Linhuai, Guo Rongfang was reported, and Huang Fuhui sent troops. At this time, Yao Feng's army of nearly 40,000 troops on land and water had launched an attack on Shanyang. Chen Sirang's side, the army was weak, only more than 3,000 soldiers, facing ten times the enemy, even if the Tang division was not good at attacking the city, it was still very hard to defend. Letters asking for help poured in, but Chen Sirang's words were even heavier, if the reinforcements did not arrive, Shanyang would be lost, and he would die in battle.

Speaking of which, Huang Fuhui was the envoy of the Southern Tang Dynasty and Huainan, and he was the commander of the defense against the Han army, but the armies led by Chen Jue and Yao Feng were stronger than him. By the time his troops left Qingliuguan, counting the conscripts, the army he led was less than 30,000.

In the face of some critical situations, Guo Rong summoned Zhao Kuangyin and other generals to discuss the military situation, and after discussion, it was unanimously decided that they should take the initiative to attack.

Guo Rong's decision-making ability has always been very strong. directly ordered Zhao Kuangyin to lead 5,000 troops east to aid Chen Sirang, and then fight with the Tang army around Shanyang. Guo Rong himself led 1,000 iron cavalry and 3,000 dragon troops to the south to meet Huang Fuhui.

As for the Sizhou side, he left 2,000 soldiers and a part of the people stationed in the capital Liangshan, and asked for help to lead the Xuzhou soldiers to the south to contain Guo Tingwei in Xuyi. Guo Rong's arrangement is very risky, three ways to meet each other, three ways to outnumber, the slightest accident, the consequences are serious. Of course, this arrangement is also in line with his temperament.

The people who fought with Guo Rong were all young generals, like Zhao Kuangyin, Dang Jin, Zhao Yanjin, An Shouzhong, etc., and they didn't take pictures. And if there is any battle plan, it is to fight each other and play freely.

Guo Rong led 4,000 cavalry, went south from the capital Liangshan, and stared at the Huangfu Hui army rushing away. Under the deliberate encounter of the Han army, the two sides engaged in the upper reaches of Lai'an Water in Chuzhou. Because the scouts were scattered far enough, Huang Fuhui was aware of the movements of the Han army and adjusted the formation in advance. But Huang Fuhui underestimated Guo Rong after all, underestimated the determination and madness of the battle, and after fifty or sixty miles of running, regardless of the fatigue of the soldiers, he took advantage of the imperfect formation of the Tang army and launched an attack directly.

An encounter was fought very fiercely, Guo Rong drove forward, took the lead, and stared at the left flank of Huangfu Hui's army. The two sides fought fiercely for half an hour, ending with the defeat of the Tang army. The power of the 1,000 Han cavalry was too threatening on the battlefield, which was why Guo Rong dared to risk the jealousy of the soldiers and brazenly attack several times the enemy.

Of course, this battle of the Han army was not easy, so tired that it was difficult to make it all successful, so that the Huangfu Hui army retreated south to Lai'an County, north of Chuzhou. In this way, Huang Fuhui's Tang army was defeated along the way, and the enemy was contained.

After winning the first battle, Guo Rong found a village around him and let the soldiers rest. Since discussing with Zhao Yanjin and An Shouzhong, on the second day, he decisively decided to march to Lai'an, force the Tang army, and overpower the crowd.

Chuzhou, Lai'an County.

Since the war between the Han and Tang dynasties began for nearly four months, the war finally spread to this small city of Chuzhou, and the defeat of the reinforcement army made the people in the city panic. Under the greeting of the county magistrate, he directly occupied the county office, sitting on the court case, Huang Fuhui's expression was ugly.

Huang Fu Hui is the epitome of martial arts in this era, and there are still some fame, in the last years of Tang Zhuangzong, Wei Bo mutiny in Beizhou, it was this gentleman who took the lead in agitating chaos, and even pulled the bag to force Zhao Zaili to be the "leading brother", which caused a chain reaction, and the towns of the Central Plains and Hebei responded to the rebellion one after another, making Li Cunqiao lose his country for four years.

The more "legendary" statement is that Huang Fuhui is a good gambler, gambling with the sergeants of the army, and has no funds to offset it. Of course, Huang Fuhui is famous for this, more because of fate, at that time, the Later Tang Empire was already in dire straits, and the soldiers in Zhuzhen were like a pile of dry firewood, and Huang Fuhui was just a spark that ignited it.

Murder and arson gold belt, Huang Fuhui from a soldier, Bo a future of the king. When the Khitan went south to destroy the Jin Dynasty, this gentleman saw the Central Plains sinking land, and took the opportunity to lead the crowd to surrender Li Jing, and recruited a large number of Huaibei stragglers, thieves, and Ding Zhuang for the Southern Tang Dynasty. The likes of Xianshilang, Sun Lang, and Cao Jin who were mentioned before are all among them.

In the Southern Tang Dynasty, Huang Fuhui was valued by Li Jing, and the rewards of officials and titles were very generous. Although many people in the court questioned his identity as a "northern general", Huang Fuhui always felt that he had a clear conscience, and Li Jing still trusted him, otherwise he would not have commanded the Huainan reinforcement army, although it was only nominal.

Huang Fuhui's grade is not young, and after the year of knowing the destiny of heaven, he is probably more introverted as he grows older, and there are many less scoundrels and frivolities when he was young. The armor is very bright, very powerful, and the beard is very delicately cultivated. was just frustrated by Guo Rong, and at this time, the famous general was very resentful and unconvinced.

"Have the battalions returned? How many soldiers were lost? Huang Fuhui asked a general.

"Back to the envoy, it's basically back! As for the ...... losses," the general replied in a low voice, but in the face of Huang Fuhui's gaze, he said stubbornly: "Together with the killed, captured, and lost, there should be five thousand soldiers!" ”

"Humph! Shame, my army of 30,000, ten times greater than the enemy, has been broken by it! Huang Fuhui was suddenly angry, smashed the table, and said: "This Guo Rong is used to making these despicable tricks of surprise attacks, Haozhou and Chuzhou, were all attacked by him, and this time he attacked me again!" ”

After complaining, Huang Fuhui ordered: "Go down immediately, gather the soldiers, and reorganize the soldiers and horses!" Since Qingliuguan, another team of people will be transferred! Send scouts to spy on the movements of the Han army! ”

However, on the second day, Guo Rong also came south with his whole army and went down to the village five miles north of Lai'an. Knowing that, Huang Fuhui suddenly felt a sense of contempt coming to his face, and said angrily: "This Guo Rong is too deceitful!" How much more despise me, and am I really afraid of him? ”

After wandering for a while, the depression was difficult to fill, and Huang Fuhui immediately wrote a letter and ordered someone to send it to the Han army.

"What does this mean, Envoy?" The generals under his command couldn't help asking.

"Fight with the Han army, fight outside the city, and be ashamed!" Huang Fuhui said solemnly.

Hearing this, his subordinates were shocked and couldn't help but persuade: "Don't make the king!" We were defeated yesterday, morale has not recovered, the Han army wins more with less, one eliminates the other's strengths, the soldiers are sharp, or don't take the battle lightly! ”

"I think you are scared by the Han army!" Seeing this, Huang Fuhui couldn't help but reprimand: "We still have more than 20,000 soldiers, how many people are there in the Han army?" Why do you want to grow the enemy's majesty and destroy my ambition? ”

"Envoy, that Han cavalry alone will be difficult to deal with!"

"Don't say that the Han cavalry is the Khitan cavalry, I also saw it back then. All you need is a big shield, a spear, a horse, and a bow and crossbow, and if it dares to rush into battle, it will seek death in vain! Huang Fuhui waved his hand and said: "Okay, I have made up my mind, don't say more, frustrate me with big things!" Let's all go down and get ready for battle! ”

"However, you don't have to worry too much, then Guo Rong, whether you dare to fight with a certain sword and gun, a battle, it's still a problem......" Huang Fuhui said again.

Outside the city, Guo Rongzheng personally led the light cavalry to explore outside the city. Lai'an is just a small city, the city is not high, and the walls are not solid, but it is not easy for the Tang army to break it.

The enemy on three sides needed to be dealt with, after all, there was not much time, Guo Rong was still deeply worried, and just as he was thinking about how to fight next, Huang Fuhui's messenger came.

With doubts, Guo Rong immediately laughed, laughed, and said directly to the messenger: "You go back and tell Huang Fuhui that what he asked, the envoy should have got!" ”