In the early morning of the 11th, the Anfeng Zhai guards were killed by the Tangyi soldiers who rushed into the village from the gap, and the soldiers and civilians in the village immediately chose to surrender, and the Tangyi soldiers went out of Fucha Mountain to the north on the seventh day, and the first large-scale battle between Chaozhou and Huozhou came to an end temporarily.

In this battle, the Tangyi soldiers added together the slightly injured people, and the casualties were less than 100, but the Shouzhou army had more than 1,500 corpses discarded on the battlefield.

In addition, there were nearly 400 remnants of Anfeng Village who surrendered, and the Tangyi soldiers also took over the nearly 20,000 people who fled into Anfeng Village in panic before the war to escape the war - Han Qian They did not expect to capture so many soldiers and civilians, and the small 20,000 people are equivalent to the population of a prosperous state.

After dawn on the 11th, the weather came down, the cold wind howled, and the goose feather snowflakes fell one after another in the afternoon, blocking the mountains and rivers for days.

Wen Ruilin's more than 4,000 horse infantry, reinforced from Chaozhou, did not brave the heavy snow until noon on the 17th, and came over with great difficulty, one foot deep and one shallow, to meet Xu Mingzhen.

In addition to the remnants of the first batch of defeated soldiers, plus more than 4,000 soldiers and horses rushed from Chaozhou and 3,000 horse infantry urgently transferred from the west of Huozhou, Xu Mingzhen's troops near Gaocheng increased to more than 10,000.

It's just that the heavy snow weather hinders the transportation of the post road.

Not to mention such large weapons as whirlwind cannons, it is quite difficult to transport the winter clothes needed by the generals, the various tools used for camping, the rations and horse materials for the generals, especially the bean grass and horse fodder for eight or nine thousand military horses and war horses, which consume eight or nine times as much as tens of thousands of soldiers, and it is even more inconvenient to requisition and transportation.

The status of Gaocheng is far inferior to that of Anfengzhai, there are only five or six hundred households in the city, and the materials that can be collected in the city are far less than that of Anfengzhai, and the consumption of tens of thousands of horses needs to be requisitioned from other states and counties.

For the time being, the Shouzhou army could only take Gaocheng as the core, and stationed its soldiers and horses in several villages east of Gaocheng and west of Anfeng Village, and did not dare to easily surround it and attack to recapture Anfeng Village.

Of course, it was also unexpected, after the Tangyi soldiers captured Anfeng Village, to their surprise, they did not wait to destroy the dam sluice at the mouth of the Anfeng Canal, so that the Shouzhou generals realized that the problem was not what they initially predicted.

The camp where the Chaozhou reinforcements were stationed, located in the northeast side of Gaocheng, was originally a post station called Sixteen Miles, which was exactly sixteen miles away from Anfeng Village, so it was named.

The post station is not big, there are only more than 20 houses in the yard, more than a dozen soldiers are stationed, but there is a village called Xujiaji Village adjacent to it, which is the place where the Xu family of Huodong Haohu gathers to live, the houses are horizontal, and there is a tall walled wall on the periphery, which is built in a valley with dangerous terrain, which is easier to defend and difficult to attack than Anfeng Village.

When the Tangyi soldiers attacked, in addition to more than a dozen soldiers at the post station, the Xu family also organized more than 200 nearby township soldiers to guard the village, and did not fall into the hands of the Tangyi soldiers.

The camp is slightly rebuilt on the basis of the sixteen-mile shop post station and the Xujia collection village.

From Chaozhou, less than 200 miles, but the heavy snow weather is difficult to march, more than 4,000 horse infantry stationed in the camp, is already tired of people on their backs.

And in such a cold weather, it can be said that there is a world of difference between guarding the palace in the camp and marching in the snow day and night.

The generals lacked cold clothing, and along the way, not only countless frostbitten people, but even dozens of soldiers froze to death when they stayed in the field. To be honest, even if there are sufficient supplies here, these soldiers and horses will have to rest for a few days before they can regain a certain combat effectiveness.

After a little rectification here, Wen Ruilin and Xu Jin, the chief general of the Chaozhou reinforcements, rushed to Jimingling, and saw Xu Mingzhen, the commander of the Shouzhou Army, Huo Guogong, and Xu Mingzhen, the envoy of the Shouzhou Festival, who were there to inspect the enemy situation at this time.

Xu Jin is the son of Huaiyang Mountain Liukou, captured by the Shouzhou Army when he was young, filled into the army as a pawn, brave and good at fighting, repeatedly made military exploits, and later accepted as a righteous son by Xu Mingzhen, so he was one of the main generals of the Shouzhou Army.

Jiming Ridge is located between Anfeng Village and Gaocheng, the main peak is only more than 20 zhang high, but the north and south stretch for more than ten miles, at this time it is the outpost camp of Shouzhou Army from the west to force Anfeng Village.

Wen Ruilin led the horse, from the slippery path, with Xu Jin

Surrounded by many guards, stepping on the snow and climbing the mountain with one foot deep and one foot shallow, along the road, you can also see that there are many corpses of Shouzhou army generals buried under the snow on both sides of the mountain path, and they have not had time to collect them, it is hard to imagine how badly Xu Mingzhen was beaten by the Tangyi soldiers a few days ago without warning.

Walking into the outpost camp near the main peak, I saw Xu Mingzhen standing on a black-brown boulder from a distance, looking at Anfeng Village, which was ten miles away, and there were fine snow flakes falling down from the sky.

Xu Mingzhen is just over fifty years old, but her sideburns are frost white, and her face is thin, as cold as the mountain rock under her feet.

"Father-in-law, Huo Guogong......" Wen Ruilin followed Xu Jin to pay homage, but Xu Mingzhen didn't turn around for a long time, and Wen Ruilin didn't know what to say.

The Shouzhou army suffered a big loss in front of Anfengzhai a few days ago, and could only sit and watch Anfengzhai fall into the hands of the enemy, it seems that Xu Mingzhen did everything because he did not know the enemy and responded to the battle in a hurry, but the more critical reason was that his son Xu Sizhao was too hesitant in Chaozhou.

Xu Sizhao and the generals guarding the nest were worried that they would be caught by the enemy's plan to lure the snake out of the hole, until the Tangyi soldiers interspersed in front of Anfeng Village, and they had 30,000 elites in Chaozhou but did not move.

Otherwise, as long as Chaozhou sends three or four thousand elite cavalry to entangle, even if it can't see through the Tangyi soldiers' strategy of hiding from the sky and crossing the sea, it can greatly slow down the marching speed of the Tangyi soldiers, so as to gain enough time for the reinforcements to enter Anfengzhai in time.

Different masters, different styles.

If Xu Mingzhen continued to use Wen Bo to guard Chaozhou, the situation in the early stage would not be so unfavorable and passive to Shouzhou.

It's a pity that Wen Bo is used to guard Chuzhou, instead of Wen Bo to guard Chaozhou, Wen Ruilin can see that Xu Mingzhen is selfish.

The importance of Chaozhou in the whole Huaixi is much higher than that of Chuzhou.

In addition to the topography, Chuzhou is more vulnerable to the attack of Jinling and Huaidong soldiers and horses, there are a few empty cities left in Chuzhou, and the households have been driven south of the Chuhe River by Han Qian.

Chaozhou is different.

Even if both sides of Chaohu Lake are war zones, there are not many households, but the vast area north of Chaozhou, along the Nanshui River to the west and along the Beiye River to the north, is the hinterland controlled by the Shouzhou Army, and there are more than 200,000 people living and breeding in these places.

In this situation, of course, Wen Ruilin will not poke Xu Mingzhen's scar, and His Majesty will definitely be able to see through Xu Mingzhen's careful tricks at that time, so he will not think about pointing out Xu Sizhao's responsibility for delaying the fighter at this time, the key is how to fight the follow-up battle.

After another half an hour, Xu Mingzhen slowly turned around, looked at Wen Ruilin, and asked, "Mr. Wen, do you think Han Qian personally led his troops to capture Anfeng Village, what do you want to do?" ”

Except for when Wen Ruilin set off with Xu Jin to lead the reinforcements from Chaozhou, the news from the inside line had confirmed that Han Qian and Wang Wenqian's daughters did not appear at the big wedding held in Liyang, Han Qian had already set up the banner of the head of his Tangyi camp, the Marquis of Qianyang, and the squire of the military department in Anfeng Village at this time.

Wen Ruilin, as one of the few officials assigned by Bianjing to Huaixi, has a low rank, but his status is quite special.

Wen Ruilin arched his hand, and talked about the latest information he had learned along the way and the opinions he had exchanged with Wen Bo Kuaima several times:

Han Qian sent a large number of scouts to enter Huaiyang Mountain along the Nanqishui River Valley, and on the night of the twelfth, Kong Xirong's main force also jumped out of Wujian Mountain and braved the heavy snow to enter Yongfeng Village to meet Han Qian. In the short term, the Tangyi soldiers were clumsy because of the lack of troops, and they should have to give up Wujian Mountain, which had been operating for nearly a year in the early stage, and they did not even consider the possibility of retreating to Wujian Mountain under the unfavorable situation of the war here, which shows that they have a deep plan for Huaiyang Mountain......"

"......" Xu Mingzhen let out a long breath, they couldn't judge Han Qian's intentions at first, but it had been four or five days, and he couldn't guess it when he saw that there were constantly Tangyi soldiers entering Huaiyang Mountain along the Nanqishui River Valley.

What's more, they have been in Gaocheng for the past few days, only a stone's throw away from Anfeng Village, and they saw that nearly 20,000 Tangyi soldiers had surrendered Anfeng Village in batches in the past few days

The military and civilians were sent to Shen Jiaji, thirty miles to the southwest.

There is the river valley pass where the Nanqi water flows out of the main mountain of Wujin Ridge on the northwest slope of Huaiyang Mountain.

Although the terrain there is not particularly dangerous, thousands of elites have been requisitioned, and under the supervision of thousands of elite soldiers of Tangyi, they are braving the snow to build fences and other fortifications in the river valley.

"When Yang Yuanpu and Yang Yuanyan conspired against each other, Han Qian was in Lishui to base Maoshan and use the Chishan Army to strengthen the Red Mountain Army, and he claimed to take the mountain as the city, and this time he also wanted to repeat the Maoshan incident in Huaiyang Mountain?" A middle-aged scribe stood beside Xu Mingzhen, looked at Wen Ruilin and asked.

Wen Ruilin recognized this person as Xu Yin, the head secretary of the Shouzhou Jiedu Embassy, and also the head of the Xu family in the Xu family Jizhai where the Chaozhou reinforcements were stationed, and the Xu family was a local family of Zonghao in Huaixi.

Xu Yin once served in the Privy Council, and after retreating north with the Anning Palace, he was given a heavy responsibility.

Niu Gengru, Wen Duqiao and others moved to Bianjing with Empress Xu, and Xu Yin can be said to be one of the most important advisers who stayed by Xu Mingzhen's side.

Obviously, he didn't initially guess the fundamental intention of the Tangyi soldiers to launch this raid.

Speaking of using the mountain as a city, Wen Ruilin was initially worried that Han Qian would focus on operating Wujian Mountain, and then use Wujian Mountain as a base to continuously plunder and attack the hinterland of Chaohao and Chaohao Prefectures, depleting and attacking the strength of the Shouzhou army.

Therefore, in the early stage, he also advocated the Shouzhou Army to build a large-scale tunzhai on the west and north sides of Wujian Mountain.

However, during the period when Kong Xirong led his troops to garrison Wujian Mountain, although he also continued to kill Wujian Mountain, Han Qian has been moving tens of thousands of mountain people in Wujian Mountain to Liyang, Tingshan, Wushou and other places for resettlement.

Now that I think about it, Wujian Mountain seems to stretch for nearly 200 miles from north to south, but there is a fault zone between the north and south sections, which has been cut off by them with superior soldiers and horses.

And only in the southern section, the peak ridge of Wujian Mountain stretches for 100 miles from the southwest to the northeast, but the depth between the east and west is only 30 miles, the main peak is only more than 40 zhang, and there are too many passages between the peaks and mountains that can enter and exit Wujian Mountain.

They also only waited for the defense system of the outer fortifications to be completed, and then they would send small groups of troops and horses into the mountains in batches to clear them.

This is not the same as Maoshan at that time.

In the early days of the Jinling Incident, Anning Palace confronted the Chuzhou army, and there was no time to look south for a while, so Han Qian got a chance to breathe in Maoshan Mountain, which was even narrower.

However, after the Chishan Army became a little larger, Han Qian quickly led the Chishan Army to move south, and arrived in Anji, Guangde and other counties between Jieling Mountain and Fuyu Mountain to take root.

This is mainly because Maoshan is also too small.

Huaiyang Mountain is completely different.

Not counting the Tongbai Mountain at the junction of Guangdeng and other states, from the Jiuli Pass to the east to which Lishan County belongs, Huaiyang Mountain has more than 500 miles of stretch, and the danger of the mountain is far compared with Wujian Mountain.

And only along the Nanqishui River valley into the mountain, more than 100 miles away to reach more than five or six hundred zhang high, the main peak of the eastern section of Huaiyang, Baimajian, is the boundary between Huaixi Huozhou and Jingxiang Suizhou.

More importantly, there are only more than 10,000 people who have fled into the southern section of Wujian Mountain to live and reproduce or escape the war, but in the foothills of the northwest slope of Huaiyang Mountain, in the past 100 years, I don't know how many people have fled into it to avoid the war and have raised children and taken root.

These mountain peasant households have built hundreds of large and small villages according to the river valleys and hills in the mountains, and farming has long been on a certain scale.

The Shouzhou army has a weak binding force on the villages in the mountains, but in previous years, the summer and autumn grain was collected, and more or less every year it was still able to collect tens of thousands of stone of grain and 20,000 or 30,000 pieces of cloth.

The easy-to-defend and difficult-to-attack terrain, tens of thousands of mountain peasants fleeing from households, and relatively mature production of grain and other materials will provide the necessary conditions for the Tangyi soldiers to take root on the northwest slope of Huaiyang Mountain and implement the strategy of using the mountain as a city.

It's just that all this is too uncomfortable for the Shouzhou Army.

The heartland of Chaoxi, Huodong and Shounan will be completely exposed to the front of this Tangyi soldier.

If they build a defensive belt around the northwest slope of Huaiyang Mountain, not to mention how many additional soldiers and horses will be invested, how much will the loss of farming within this defensive belt be?