Of course, Xu Mingzhen is also very clear about the situation in front of him.

In mid-July, the palace rebellion launched by Lu Qingxia did not make any waves in Jinling City, and Xu Mingzhen was also heartbroken, and directly ordered to behead more than 200 appointed generals and family members in Bianjing who had been seized by Su Song and other prefectures in the early period of Wuyang, and presented Wei Zhou, respected Zhu Rang as the emperor, and was crowned the king of Huainan County; Sima Tan then also killed the envoy sent by Emperor Zhu Yu of Liang to Xuzhou to lobby, respected Zhu Rang as the emperor, and was crowned the king of Huaiyang County.

This also means that apart from a battle between the Tangyi army and the Shouzhou army, there is no room for relaxation.

On both sides of Jiaoshan Gorge, in addition to the main force of 50,000 reinforcements to the Bianjun army, the forward battalion on the north bank also has a scout cavalry of more than 1,000 people led by Shen Peng and Zhao Ci, who will also cooperate with the reinforcement army to go north to participate in the battle.

The cavalry led by Shen Peng and Zhao Ci looked a little insignificant, only more than a thousand people, but they would be given to the reinforcement army to carry out the Northern Expedition in the legal name of the Liang-Chu coalition army.

At the same time, this scout cavalry is also mainly composed of generals recruited from Bo Chen, Song and other places, who are familiar with the terrain between the whirlpools, and will be responsible for liaising with the local area and conducting guerrilla warfare.

Although Xu Mingzhen had replaced the officials and guards of the four counties of Song and Su before the end of June, in such a short period of time, he could only barely grasp the defense of the main cities on both sides of the whirlpool, such as the nineteen counties of the four states.

Not to mention that Xu Mingzhen does not have the ability to extend his tentacles to every corner of the wider countryside, and even the officials, civilians and township soldiers in the nineteen counties of the four states may not be completely subject to the rule of the Yongshou Prefecture Army.

This also dooms Xu Mingzhen's rule on both sides of the Vortex River to be superficial.

If Han Qian only made Tian Cheng, Wen Bo, Lin Haizheng and others lead the Tangyi army, that is, lead the Chu army in the eyes of the subjects of Liang to the north, it would be difficult to ensure that the local forces on both sides of the whirlpool and the displaced people who were uprooted by the flood were used by Xu Mingzhen, and became a huge obstacle to resist the northward advance of the Bian's army.

Based on this, Han Qian specially wrote a letter to Emperor Zhu Yu of Liang, in addition to asking Emperor Zhu Yu of Liang to formally issue an order to invite the Tangyi army to the Northern Expedition, he also asked him to send a team of scout soldiers and horses to assist in the main force of the Bian's army.

The main purpose was to hope that the Liang army led by Shen Peng and Zhao Ci could contact the local forces and the displaced forces, win them over, and become a help to cut and weaken the Shouzhou army on the west bank of the vortex, rather than an obstacle to their northward movement.

Xu Mingzhen was also very aware of his disadvantages, so it was impossible to disperse more than 70,000 soldiers and horses in the vast area north of the Huai River, so that the main force of the reinforcement army would have a chance to divide and attack.

Seeing that Tangyi was gathering more and more soldiers and horses in Jiaoshan Gorge, in August, Xu Mingzhen decisively abandoned the walled city west of the whirlpool near the Huai River, and all the soldiers and horses guarding the palace went to the northeast and shrank along the whirlpool.

When Wang Chan'er's Empress Dowager's edict reached Jiaoshan Gorge, nearly 200,000 soldiers and civilians of the Shouzhou army withdrew to Suzhou east of the vortex, leaning on the back of Sima's Xu Si army, and its vanguard 10,000 elites shrank into the city of Xuyang, and abandoned all the cities south and west of the vortex.

However, on the northwest side of Vortex City, there are still 40,000 elite Shouzhou troops guarding the west bank of the middle reaches of the Vortex River, such as Dancheng, Luyi, Dakang, Wuting, Xinji, Bozhou and other walled cities.

The three cities of Luyi, Taikang and Bozhou, like Wuyang City, are all built on the Vortex River.

The Tangyi Navy could not enter the upper reaches of the whirlpool to fight, and the Shouzhou army defended these three cities, and could support each other by preserving a certain strength of the Zuolou Ship Army and the naval division, and it could also connect with the hinterland of Suzhou and Songzhou controlled by Shouzhou on the east bank of the whirlpool to form an organic whole.

The three walled cities of Dancheng, Xinji and Wuting, west of the whirlpool, can be said to be the prominent part of the Shouzhou army that deviates from the whirlpool, but the distance between them varies from the average of thirty or fifty miles, and the shortest distance between each other is only more than twenty miles.

This also means that it is difficult for the reinforcement army to simply divide which city is separate for siege.

Among the walled cities in the west of the vortex, the two cities of Wuting and Taikang are less than 50 miles away from the shortest distance of Chen Bian Post Road, and the cavalry troops set off from the two cities of Wuting and Taikang, and they can attack the baggage convoy and men and horses walking on the Chen Bian Post Road in half a day.

This meant that the reinforcements could not besiege any city alone, and once they wanted to bypass these walled cities on the west bank of the vortex and go north directly to join up with the defenders of Bianjing, they would return to the predicament that they had initially feared that the retreat route would be cut off by several times the enemy army at any time.

The reinforcement army fought from south to north, and the Shouzhou army may not dare to easily line up directly on the west bank of the Vortex River, and fight with the elite field of Tangyi with the Huai River on its back, but the reinforcement army bypassed Wuting, Taikang went north, and opened a distance of three or four hundred miles from the Huai River. It is not enough to be called a strong opponent of Tangyi.

At that time, the main force of the Shouzhou Army is not only very likely to be dispatched in a big way, but I am afraid that even Xu Si's army is very likely to cross Surabaya and Whirlpool and enter the west bank of the Whirlpool River to participate in the interception of the reinforcement army.

The Military Intelligence and Staff Department put forward a number of operational plans and repeatedly studied and discussed, but it could only bite the old Dancheng of Danxian County, which was destroyed by the war at the end of the previous dynasty and is now included in the border of Wanqiu County, Chenzhou Prefecture, and fought a tough and dumb battle with the Shouzhou Army.

Unable to besiege Dancheng from all directions, the current battle plan is to be deployed on the east flank led by Wen Bo to intercept the enemy forces from the east bank of Wuyang or other vortexes, and the main force is in Tiancheng and Lin Haizheng's leadership is slowly approaching Dancheng from south to north.

Even if they could not attract the enemy army out of the city for a field battle, they concentrated their forces on storming the southern city of Dancheng and expelling the defenders from Dancheng.

As long as the point of Dancheng is captured, the reinforcement army can win a certain defensive depth on the east flank of the Chen Bian Post Road, and there is no need to worry that the heavy soldiers and horses walking on the Chen Bian Post Road, which is more than 200 miles long, will be raided and cut off by the enemy cavalry at any time.

The so-called "good fighters have no great name" and the so-called "good fighters win without miraculous victories, no wisdom and no brave deeds", which is the situation in front of us.

Both sides are veteran generals, and their strength is comparable, and it is impossible for any major or fatal flaws to be exposed, and the process of the battle is destined to be uneventful, without imaginary twists and turns.

And the rise of Tangyi to this day, it is impossible to bet on the battle that will determine the overall situation of the world again, betting on conspiracy or sword going sideways.

On the third day when Wang Chan'er's edict was transmitted from Xiangcheng to the camp on the south bank of Jiaoshan Gorge, Jinling's aid to Bianhua was belated.

Although Han Qian only officially signed the summer dispatch order on the day he received the edict from Jinling, the three brigades led by Xue Chuan, Su Lie, and He Liufeng had already crossed the Huai River and advanced north by three routes for seventy or eighty miles.

Han Qian did not personally lead the troops north, but handed over the command of the reinforcement army to Tian Cheng, Wen Bo, Lin Haizheng, Xi Fa'er and others to lead the main force north, and he symbolically crossed the Huai River and entered the large camp on the north bank of Jiaoshan Gorge in Xia Cai County to supervise the battle.

In addition to Yang Qin and Tan Xiuqun serving as the general managers and deputy governors of the northern and southern camps of Jiaoshan Gorge, who were jointly responsible for the defense of the camp in Jiaoshan Gorge and the upstream and downstream Huai River, as well as the construction of Xia Cai New Town, Feng Yi, Guo Rong, Xi Xunqiao, who took over the history of Haozhou Thorn after Lin Haizheng, Wen Duqiao, who served as the counselor of the embassy, Guo Qi, Feng Yi and others, also accompanied Han Qian to supervise the battle in the camp on the north bank of Jiaoshan Gorge.

More than ten miles north of Daying on the north bank, a brand-new city is under construction.

In order for the Tangyi army to be able to resist the Weizhou rebels and the Mengwu cavalry in the future, the offensive launched by Pingchuan between Yingshui and Wushui was extremely necessary, and it was extremely necessary to build a military fortress on the north bank of the Huai River east of Yingshui - the flooding on both sides of the Yinghe River also limited the possibility of the enemy army moving south from the west of Yingzhou and Caizhou west of Yingshui in the future - Emperor Zhu Yu of Liang officially assigned the Xiacai area located on the north bank of the Huai River, east of the mouth of the Yingshui River, and west of the mouth of the Whirlpool River to Tangyi.

If this is not the case, in the future, Tangyi will only establish a defense along the south bank of the Huai River, and it will be extremely difficult to prevent a small group of enemy cavalry from scattering southward to disturb in the cold winter and the freezing season of the Huai River, and then there will be a large area along the south bank along the Huai River, and it will be difficult to guarantee the safety of agricultural production along the south bank.

No matter what the price is, building the breakthrough part of the defense line on the north bank of the Huai River will effectively curb the attack of the enemy cavalry.

The Yu River flows into the sea through Yingshui, and the areas of Xuzhou, Chenzhou, and Yingzhou located on the west bank of Yingshui are flooded on a large scale, with almost two or three million fields and three or four hundred thousand houses flooded.

Tangyi and Liang's army set up more than 40 camps for displaced people in Caizhou, Ruzhou, and on the south bank of the Huai River, and received more than 300,000 victims in the four months before and after.

However, this is not the whole of the Yuhe River disaster this time.

The topography on both sides of Yingshui is high in the west and low in the east.

On the west bank of Yingshui, there are also the Yumai peaks and ridges of Tongbai Mountain and Funiu Mountain, and the terrain is higher.

From the east bank of Yingshui to the east to the coast of the whirlpool, this piece is almost northwest to southeast, more than 600 li long, 130 to 180 li wide, and has a total area of nearly 100,000 square miles.

With the exception of the Gyeonggi area of Liangdu, this area has been largely controlled by Hsu Myung-jin's Shouju Army since last autumn.

Since spring and summer, under the influence of the Yu River, the disaster situation in this area has become more serious and severe.

This is also destined to cause far more people to be displaced from their homes in this area than on the west bank of Yingshui.

Previously, the Shouzhou Army blocked the passage to the north bank of the Huai River in Xia Cai and other places, and in addition to some of the displaced people who were forcibly relocated to the east bank of the whirlpool, a large number of people were stranded in Mengcheng, Lichuan and other places to catch fish and crabs to satisfy their hunger.

Han Qian decided to build a camp on the north bank and build Xia Cai New Town at this time, and used the north bank of Daying and Xia Cai New Town to construct a defense line on the north bank of the Huai River, and spent a lot of energy to build a pontoon bridge on the Jiaoshan Gorge, and another purpose was to receive the displaced people in this area as quickly as possible and relieve them to the south bank of the Huai River.

Standing on the north cliff of Jiaoshan Gorge, Han Qian was wearing scale armor and carrying a horizontal knife at his waist, looking at the turbid Huai River in the south.

Even if the water level drops day by day, but at this time the Huai River is still so mighty, the water floods over the remnant embankments on the north and south banks, and the water surface of the Huai River west of Jiaoshan Gorge is fully 20 miles wide.

Even if the flood waters will eventually recede after winter, they will not be able to recover the areas on both sides of the embankment east of Xingyang, and this time the flood will repeat itself again and again next year and the year after.

In areas flooded by the Yu River, salinization and sand accumulation will become more and more serious, making the land barren.

In any case, in the next year, a large embankment will be built on the south bank between the Jiaoshan Gorge and the Bagong Mountain to the west, in addition to reclaiming the wasteland, it is also to prevent the Yuhe River from eroding the fertility of the land on the south bank.

In addition, the Xiacai area has gathered enough young and strong people, and at the end of the year, it is necessary to start to break a hole in the east bank of the Yinghe River, dig a dry canal, and divert the water from the upper reaches of the Yinghe River from the north bank to the downstream, so as to reduce the large area of flood detention area formed in the upper reaches due to the narrowness of the Kip Shi Gorge, and reduce the pressure on the south bank embankment and flooding.

Regardless of how much surplus materials can be brought to Tangyi by the primary industrial products and the trade of the Chishan Society, the construction of the agricultural and primary industrial product production system in Huaixi has always been the foundation of Tangyi.

Han Qian stood on the top of the cliff mountain, talking to Feng Yi, Guo Rong, Wen Duqiao and others, Han Donghu and Huo Li led the guards to guard under the cliff, at this time Wang Zhe held a letter newspaper, climbed up the hill panting, and reported to Han Qian:

"I just received a letter that Xu Sidu Chu Mu led 6,000 horse infantry troops out of Xuzhou and advanced rapidly to the east bank of the vortex water, and it is expected to arrive in Xuyang before tomorrow afternoon and meet Xu Jin......

Han Qian took the letter and glanced at it, but didn't say anything.

Yang Yuanyan did not cross the lower reaches of the Huai River from Chuzhou to exert pressure on Xu Si's army, and Xu Si's army would inevitably divide his troops into the west bank of the vortex and participate in the encirclement and interception of the aid to Bianjing, which was something they had predicted before.

The new letter only confirmed their previous speculation, and it could even be predicted that the 6,000 horse infantry army led by Chu Mu was only the first Xu Si army to enter the east bank of the vortex to participate in the war, and there should be more Xu Si soldiers and horses advancing westward in the future.

In the face of such a letter, he didn't need to say anything.

At this time, Han Qian was more concerned about when the main force of the Mengwu cavalry would penetrate the west bank of the vortex south of Bianjing.

Since the invasion of the southern part of the Mengwu, the Weizhou rebels who contacted Zhu Rang and Liang Shixiong at the beginning disturbed the Hehuai, and captured Luze and other places with Wang Yuankui's Dingheng army, and then annexed Tian Weiye and Shi Jizu, the prince of Jin, and the Dingheng army to besiege Taiyuan.

After seizing the entire territory of the Jin Kingdom, the Mengwu people expelled the Jin prince Shi Jizu, Tian Weiye, and Wang Yuankui to attack Guanzhong, even if the Jin prince Shi Jizu died in the hands of Emperor Zhu Yu of Liang, the main force attacking Yongzhou and Huazhou at this time was still Wang Yuankui, Tian Weiye, and the Pingxia people who joined the army.

Outside of Guanzhong, the main force responsible for attacking Bianjing at this time was the Liang puppet emperor Zhu Rang's department, and the main force defending Heluo under the Liang Emperor Zhu Yuqiang was Liang Shixiong's department.

Although the figure of the Mengwu cavalry is also like a shadow, and has appeared on many battlefields, it has never been used as the main force, but this does not mean that the reinforcement army went north into the upper reaches of the whirlpool, and the figure of the main cavalry of the Mengwu will continue to shrink behind the new annex army.

Once the main force of the Mengwu cavalry went south, even if Tian Cheng led the reinforcement army to successfully capture Dancheng, Wuting and other cities, and forced the Shouzhou army to retreat to the bank of the Whirlpool River, the battlefield on the west bank of the Whirlpool was still a trap and whirlpool that was difficult to see for the aid army.

As long as the Mongol cavalry, which had absolute superiority in mobility, entered the battlefield on the west bank of the vortex and joined forces with the Shouzhou army, it was still capable of forcibly cutting off the connection between the Xiacai area on the north bank of the Huai River and the western region of Bozhou, so as to completely encircle the reinforcement army and the Bianjing Liang army south of Bianjing and northwest of Bozhou.

"That team of carriages and horses should be Li Xiu crossed the river with the family of the Marquis of Linjin......"

Guo Rong saw that on the pontoon bridge in Jiaoshan Gorge, at this time, a team of chariots and horses crossed the Huai River from south to north, and reminded Han Qian.

Yang Yuanyan sent his sons Yang Cong and Wang Wenqian to Jinling, in addition to asking Jinling to send officials to govern Chuyang Taizhou County, substantially abolishing the Huaidong Domain, and inviting Zhao Zhen's troops to participate in the crusade against the Jingxiang rebels, he also asked Yang Ye, the son of the Empress Dowager of Ming Cheng, to be the prince.

Although the matter of canonizing the emperor's younger brother was put on hold for the time being, and the political affairs hall did not pass it immediately, and Yang Yuanyan, the king of letters, mentioned that in addition to winning over the Huang family and the Jiangdong family, perhaps it was more important to express his position that he had no intention of coveting the throne, but this matter still angered Qingyang, who was respected as the empress dowager of Changxin.

When convicting Li Xiu and the people of the Linjin Marquis Mansion, Qingyang, who had been extremely low-key since the new emperor ascended the throne and listened to Shen Yang, Yang Zhitang, and Yang En, did not override the public opinion this time, and categorically decided to sentence the people of the Linjin Marquis Mansion to exile to Cai, and directly handed over Li Xiu and the people of the Linjin Marquis Mansion to Han Qian.

Even if Shen Yang, Yang Zhitang and others did not want to see Li Xiu and the Marquis of Linjin throw themselves into the arms of Tangyi, but Jinling ordered the Tangyi army to send troops to Hehuai, except for promising to allocate 800,000 stone grain and grain one after another before the end of the year, there was no other substantial support, and it was inconvenient to argue about this kind of matter.

Another group of ministers also knew very well in their hearts that Li Changfeng would rather die than be coerced by Lu Qingxia and others to flee westward, they thought that even if Li Xiu and everyone in the Linjin Marquis Mansion were sent to Xia Cai under the rule of Tangyi at this time, maybe it would be used by Han Qian at this time and strengthen Tangyi's military strength, but in the future, Tangyi would really break with the imperial court, maybe Li Xiu and the people in the Linjin Marquis Mansion could become the existence of curbing Han Qian's ambitions from the inside.

Therefore, only ten days after the official decision was made to exile Xia Cai, Li Xiu and everyone in the Linjin Marquis Mansion had already appeared on the pontoon bridge in Jiaoshan Gorge.

"Go and call Li Xiu and Li Changfeng's eldest son Li Chi." Han Qian commanded.

Cao Ba stood beside Han Qian, and after a long time, he saw that no one moved left and right, and then pointed to his nose and asked, "Are you asking me to call someone?" ”

Wen Duqiao was so angry that he wanted to kick him down, glared at him, and asked, "Do you think about how many military attaches are there at this time, apart from you, can you ask me or Lord Guo or Lord Feng to run for you?" ”

At the beginning of the new Fourth Town Army, Cao Ba served as the commander of the First Brigade, and was demoted by one level for violating the prohibition of alcohol in the army; Forming the advance army, he no longer wanted to lead the sturdy people to dig the canal and ask for the advance camp to go north to participate in the war, and was demoted to one level; When he was reinforcing the Bianjun, he thought about drinking again before going north to join the war, and drank too much, which caused heavy rain in Haozhou in early July, and the generals in Haozhou went to the embankment for flood control, but he fell asleep in the camp, and his official position was swept to the end and he was kicked out of the camp.

Following the example of the position of counselor of Shuitai in the Northern Qi Dynasty, in order to solve the old habit of the state and county chiefs using personal staff and guests to participate in political affairs, Han Qian set up three to five counselors in the state and county government offices, in addition to solving the problem of insufficient state and county officials, and also formally included private staff and guests in the Tangyi general system.

As a counselor of the Institutional Authority, Wen Duqiao is equivalent to a senior adviser, and he does not need to take on too heavy government affairs at his age.

Cao Ba muttered a few words, and then reluctantly asked Huo Li for a horse, and rushed to the bridge to wait for the people of the Linjin Marquis Mansion to cross the river.

"Why doesn't he want to see Li Xiu?" Seeing Cao Ba's reluctance like this, Han Qian asked curiously, "I sent him to run errands before, but I didn't see him so reluctant?" ”

"When Cao Ba was sixteen years old, I recommended him to be a halberdier in the Zuo Xiang camp of the first emperor's personal guard, at that time he was a bastard temper and caused trouble, at that time the Marquis of Linjin was the commander of the Zuo Xiang battalion, and he couldn't control him, and then he was cleaned up a few times by Li Xiu, who was four years younger than him, before he reined in a little, and he should have settled a grudge at that time." Wen Duqiao said.

"Oh, so there's still this old thing."

Han Qian listened to Wen Duqiao talk about some old things before and after the founding of Great Chu with great interest, and after half burning incense, Cao Ba brought Li Xiu and Li Chi, the son of Li Changfeng, with a tense face.

Li Xiushi was Chinese New Year's Eve and four-year-old, although he was in the prime of his life, but he was imprisoned in the Linjin Marquis Mansion for half a month, his temples were already frost white, and the whole person also gave people a sense of twilight, his thin cheeks were full of stubble, and he jumped off the horse with Li Changfeng's eldest son Li Chi, who was more than twenty-four years old, and climbed the cliff to meet Han Qian.

"King Li Jun in the world to the world for the common people as a thought, in the early years with the Emperor Tianyou to pacify the Jianghuai chaos, Jinling rebellion, although terminally ill, still in Maoshan Mountain, worried about the great Chu Qi, his mind, the world of three or five people also. Although the Marquis of Linjin is not as good as King Li Jun, in order to protect the Li family's style, he will not succumb to the enemy and sacrifice his life for death, which can be called heroic, Li Xiu, which step can you do? Han Qian stared at Li Xiu and asked.

Li Xiu stared at the mighty turbid Huai River in a daze, and after looking at it for a long time, he turned his head again and said: "There are more than 100 men in the Li family, and they are willing to be driven by the Hou Ye, and the horse leather shroud is not a problem, but I dare to ask the Hou Ye to place the women and children of the Li family on the south bank......"

"You expected that Tangyi would lose so badly in the battle against Hehuai this time that he couldn't even defend Xia Cai?" Han Qian stared at Li Xiu calmly, and said undoubtedly, "Feng Xuan, the deputy head of the Jiaoshan Gorge camp, also led the Cai County Order, I will allow the two of you to serve as county counselors under him, you can lead the Li family to find him." If Xia Cai can't hold it, I don't know how many soldiers and civilians will be buried in the Huai River, except for the remnants of King Li Jun and the Marquis of Linjin, your Li family has nothing special in my eyes, live and die with Xia Cai! ”

Li Xiu knew that he was not qualified to bargain in front of Han Qian, so he sighed in a daze, and before he turned around with Li Chi to retreat, he stopped his pace and asked, "I don't know Master Hou, is there any news about Li Qian?" ”

"Li Qian withdrew to Huayang, and the Jinling edict made him cooperate with the Liang army to build the Shuanglonggou plank road to pass Lushi County, but whether he will act according to the edict has not yet received his response." Han Qian said.

Huayang is a county under the jurisdiction of Shangzhou, but the upper reaches of Luoshui pass through the middle of its county border, but Huayang County to Lushi County in the south of Heluo, which is blocked by Mangling Mountain, Luoshui passes through Mangling Mountain and has nearly 70 miles of waterway reefs and dark cloth, shallow water and rapid, two walls and steep cliffs, so the water and land are not passable.

To bypass the blockade of Hangu Pass and the walled cities of Hangu Road (Taolinsai) for nearly 200 miles from Tongguan to Hangu Road, Heluo and Guanzhong are connected, and between Lushi and Huayang counties, it is another option to build Shuanglonggou plank road along the Luoshui River.

As long as Li Qi can follow the edict of Jinling, Emperor Zhu Yu of Liang can let him take charge of Huayang County, he has 2,000 elite soldiers, and then recruit thousands of strong people from Huayang, and start to build the Shuanglonggou plank road from the east side, which can reduce the construction time of the Shuanglonggou stack by half.

Li Xiu was familiar with the terrain of the world, and after hearing what Han Qian said, he didn't say that he would send someone to persuade Li Xuan, perhaps because he felt that he no longer had this qualification, so he made a salute, and led Li Chi to leave the cliff and join everyone in the Li Mansion to go to Feng Xuan to report......