In the past year, the two sides have engaged in high-intensity confrontation along the line of Fucha Mountain and Chuhe River, with strong vigilance and a rigorous military intelligence reconnaissance and communication system, which are far from comparable with the disarmament of the Chengping period.

Even if there is no news of Han Qian's gathering and mobilizing troops and horses on the west bank of the Wushou River, no matter how slow the soldiers and horses of the Shouzhou Army are stationed on the southern front, they will inevitably be alert when the first vanguard of the Tangyi Army crosses the default marginal line between the two sides and penetrates from the eastern foot of Fucha Mountain to the north to the southwest side of Wujian Mountain.

is just vigilant, but may not be able to judge the accurate intention of Tangyi soldiers this time at the first time.

Before the start of the march, Han Qian signed a military order to recruit more than 12,000 reservists who worked on many construction sites into the camps to supplement the shortage of troops on the front line of the Chuhe River and Fucha Mountain during this period - and before that, thousands of young and strong men were recruited from various tunzhai and large and small construction sites in the name of repairing the post road for weddings and relatives, and gathered on the post road on the south bank of the Chuhe River, in order to complete the transformation from a servant to a soldier in the shortest possible time.

In order to further confuse the enemy army, Puyang, Tangyi, Tingshan and other places simultaneously implemented corresponding sortie plans; The big wedding in Liyang City will also be held as usual and will not be suspended.

At least on the surface, this raid operation seemed to be a gift for the wedding of Han Qian and Wang Jun.

Of course, the more important thing is to raid the troops and horses, and adopt the method of "attacking by different routes", and the sub-divisions quickly penetrate into the hinterland behind Chaozhou City from the gaps in different positions of the enemy's defense line, and then assemble and rendezvous at a certain point in the hinterland behind the enemy to achieve the purpose of "joint attack operations".

Of course, all this does not expect to be able to deceive the enemy for a long time, but even if the enemy army is delayed for a day or two and cannot accurately judge the combat intentions of this side, it can create more advantages for the surprise attack in the early stage.

In addition to horses, there was no means of transportation for rapid assembly and mobilization, and even if there were sufficient horses, the reserves of horse materials such as beangrass were insufficient, which directly determined the distance of the cavalry troops and the length of time they stayed outside.

Once the enemy general misjudged and the direction of the cavalry unit was deviated, in addition to delaying time, it would also increase the consumption of limited combat materials, and also increase the physical consumption of soldiers and horses.

For a time, except for a burnt wolf smoke rising into the sky; Fast horses hunched on the scout messengers, facing the bitter cold wind, galloping between Chaozhou City and Chuzhou City, delivering all kinds of true or false news.

In addition to Chaozhou City and Chuzhou City raising vigilance at the first time, the walled cities built by the Shouzhou Army along the middle and upper reaches of the Puyang River, on the southwest flank of Chuzhou City, on the north bank of the Tuogao River and on the north side of Fucha Mountain were also prepared for war and strict defense.

The gates of the fortresses were closed to restrict the entry and exit of pedestrians, and more scouts and horses were released to stare at the movements left and right, and a large number of sealed war materials, such as tung oil, thistles, rolling stones, bundles of arrows, and newly made bed crossbows, were all moved to the walls, and the young and strong men in the walled city were organized, or the city walls were strengthened, or the walled cities were sent to destroy the roads.

Although the Huaixi Forbidden Army behind the Lujiang defense line did not move for the time being, the Shouzhou Army stationed on the west bank of Chaohu Lake also did not dare to slack off and directly entered the state of war.

After all, no one knows whether this is just an unconventional restlessness of the Tangyi soldiers on the day of Han Qian's wedding, or a full-scale counterattack that the Great Chu Dynasty has been planning for a long time.

More than a dozen fast horses also galloped towards Huozhou and Gwangju, reminding the garrison there to be careful that the Zuowu Guards who entered Suizhou could kill Tongbai Mountain at any time......

In front of Fangzi Cottage in the middle reaches of the Puyang River, Wen Bo stopped on the bank of the river surrounded by a group of cavalry, frowning and looking at the hundreds of Tangyi soldiers who were retreating south.

Tangyi's generals and pawns were arrayed and reorganized, and they only disturbed Fangzi Cottage on the periphery before, and did not spend any effort to attack the village, the generals had sufficient physical strength and complete arrows, and there was no consumption.

"Is it a feint?" Wen Ruilin panted and climbed off the horse, walked to Wen Bo's side, looked at the Tangyi soldiers who were gone, and asked suspiciously.

Wen Boshen nodded solemnly.

As the chief general of the Shouzhou Army in Chuzhou, Wen Bo was immediately worried that Han Qian might send troops to capture the many walled cities that they had renovated and built along the Puyang River in the past half a year.

Considering that there is an elite Tangyi soldier who is extremely active in the depths of the Wujian Mountains, and there is no need for the walled city along the Puyang River to be lost, Chuzhou City's connection with the outside world will become extremely fragile.

Therefore, Wen Bo immediately led the guards and cavalry out of Chuzhou City and rushed to Fangzi Cottage, which is the most important terrain in the middle reaches of the Puyang River.

The Puyang River flows from the west side of Fangzi Cottage to Chuzhou to the south, while a tributary of the Shiliang River, which runs through Shiliang County and eventually flows into Hongzepu, flows through Fangzi Cottage on the east side.

Although Fangzi Cottage has a battalion of elite foot soldiers guarding the palace, although the Puyang River and Shiliang River are frozen at this time, and the warships of the Tangyi Navy cannot pass, Wen Bo is still not at ease.

It's just that he personally led more than 200 elite cavalry to rush over for reinforcements first, and the hundreds of Tangyi soldiers who attacked Fangzi Cottage did not entangle, so they withdrew directly.

"I'm afraid that all the villages along the Puyang River are not the target of this Tangyi soldier's move...... Wen Ruilin said hesitantly, at this time, more information on the eastern front has been gathered, and it is not clear for the time being that the Tangyi soldiers are going to fight on the eastern front.

Winbo tugged at the reins, and the horse under him turned, and he looked west.

The villages along the Puyang River are not the target of the Tangyi soldiers, Wen Bo does not believe that the Tangyi soldiers, whose strength has not increased much, will storm Chuzhou City in this winter, so the target of the Tangyi soldiers' abnormal movement this time is really not difficult to guess.

It's just that how are the Tangyi soldiers going to attack Chaozhou?

You must know that even if there is a considerable number of soldiers and horses on the western front, in order to cope with the adjustment of the Zuowu Guard, it is transferred to Yiyang and other counties at the northeast foot of Tongbai Mountain to strengthen the defense, but the whole territory of Chaozhou is under the auspices of Xu Mingzhen's second son Xu Sizhao, in addition to nearly 30,000 elite soldiers and horses guarding the Chaozhou City and the fortresses on both wings, there are still 20,000 soldiers in the northern hinterland who can quickly organize and become soldiers who defend the walled and fortified city.

Not to mention that Shouzhou gathered cavalry to reinforce Chaozhou, and it only took two or three days.

After pondering for a long time, Wen Bo frowned, and said to Wen Ruilin: "This change of the Tangyi soldiers is definitely not to seize one or two walled cities between Chaochu, nor can it

If we can imagine that we can take Chaozhou City, we must guard against them being very likely to follow His Majesty's strategy of plundering Huaidong last year, interspersed through the gaps in the defensive line, and enter the northern part of Chaozhou to wantonly attack the cultivation of our inner line......"

"Tangyi soldiers are really so kind, aren't they afraid of being made dumplings by us?" A general asked disdainfully beside Wen Bo.

In any case, in the minds of ordinary generals, the Shouzhou Army, which has 80,000 soldiers and more than 50,000 soldiers, is far superior to the Chu army of Jiangbei in terms of strength; It was only in the first two years that they had to make a truce and recuperate.

It's okay if they didn't attack Tangyi.

It is understandable that the Tangyi soldiers organized one or two offensives to attack the walled city on the edge of their defensive line, but the Tangyi soldiers dared to penetrate their inner hinterland for a long distance, didn't they look for death?

First of all, the rivers north of Chaohu Lake were frozen, and Tangyi's warships had no way to go north through the streams in the upper reaches of Chaohu Lake such as Nanqishui.

Secondly, the scale of elite troops that the Tangyi soldiers can draw out at this time to penetrate the hinterland of their inner line is limited - the scale of soldiers and horses is sufficient, the supply is limited, and they will not be interspersed at will for long distances, just directly attack the city and defend the wall.

With limited troops, and no warships to respond at any time, entering the inner line west and north of Chaozhou, but it will be surrounded and intercepted by several times the elite soldiers and horses.

Last year, His Majesty was able to attack Huaidong, mainly relying on the cold winter Layue, the ice of the river and the river, the rapid and mobile combat ability of the Liang cavalry, and the rapid advance and retreat, while Yang Yuanyan, the king of Chuxin, did not have many cavalry in Huaidong to encircle and intercept.

The Tangyi soldiers wanted to imitate His Majesty's strategy, but they did not absolutely suppress the mobile combat power of the elite cavalry of Shouzhou, so why should they follow suit?

The subordinate who can be relied on for Wen Bo is naturally not a fool, nor is Wen Bo willing to listen to whatever he says, first of all, he also puts forward his own opinions.

Wen Bo didn't waste time in explaining anything to his subordinates, so he immediately jumped off his horse, wrote a military order according to the horse sheath, and handed it over to the guards to ride fast horses to pass on, asking Zhufangzhai to obey his orders as quickly as possible, and dispatch the elite to assemble on the west flank.

Regardless of the intentions of the Tangyi soldiers, since it has been confirmed that their movements on the eastern flank are merely feints, then he should gather the elite forces from the various defensive villages as much as possible and tilt towards the western flank, which is also prepared.

More than a dozen military orders were passed out, and Wen Bo was also surrounded by more than 200 cavalry with Wen Ruilin first, and rushed to meet with the elite of 2,000 foot soldiers who were following them from Chuzhou City.

Because Tangyi has built large villages on both flanks of Tingzi Mountain and Fucha Mountain, and another elite continues to operate in the depths of the peaks and ridges in the southern section of Wujian Mountain in the north, the Shouzhou Army has no way to gain a foothold in the open area between the southwest foot of Wujian Mountain and the upper reaches of Chuzhou, which extends about 30 miles from east to west and 20 miles deep from north to south.

The westernmost anti-village in Chuzhou is built at the foot of Yumai Swallow Mountain at the southeast foot of Wujian Mountain.

Wen Bo led more than 2,000 infantry and cavalry to Yanzi Mountain, which stretched for only two miles from north to south and was only twenty or thirty zhang high, when the sky was already dark.

Today should be the wedding day of the wedding of Han Qian, the Marquis of Qianyang, and the daughter of Wang Wenqian, the assassin of Yangzhou.

It stands to reason that Han Qian shouldn't make too many moves on his wedding day, but when can Han Qian speculate with common sense?

At the beginning of the arrival of Hai, the messenger sent by Xu Sizhao, the lord of Chaozhou, from Chaozhou City, rushed to Yanzi Mountain, and confirmed that from yesterday's night to this afternoon, there were seven Tangyi soldiers, ranging from six to eight hundred people on each road, from the two wings of Fucha Mountain, that is, the open area of seventy or eighty miles from the east bank of Chaohu Lake and the eastern foot of Wujian Mountain, from the Chaodong defense line; In addition, there are two Tangyi soldiers, which were directly transported to the northwest side of Chaohu Lake by warship after nightfall yesterday, and then landed on the shore and interspersed from the east side of Chaozhou City.

These Tangyi soldiers and soldiers all rode military horses and war horses, and the advance speed was extremely fast, interspersed all the way from southeast to northwest, and Chaozhou could not get together enough horse infantry to intercept it when it was in a hurry.

Of course, the main thing is that they can't figure out the intentions of the Tangyi soldiers, and they don't even know whether this is a major counteroffensive that the Chu army has been planning for a long time.

Around nightfall yesterday, it was the time when Tangyi was the most frequent and active in the attacks of soldiers and horses in Puyang and Tingshan Zhucheng, and the passage from Chaozhou was blocked, and the scouts could not get through, so Chaozhou had no way to send the latest news to Chuzhou at the first time.

"The Tangyi soldiers are divided into nine roads, bypassing the southern line of Jianzhai and interspersing with the north of Chaozhou, Xu Sizhao's side also has no way to pass the latest news to the north in time," Wen Ruilin patted his forehead a little tricky and said, "If there are still generals in the north who mistakenly think that this change of the Tangyi soldiers is just to sneak attack one or two walled cities on the southern line, it is very likely to be negligent and will be taken advantage of by the Tangyi soldiers!" ”

"Just one or two places are negligent, and they are taken advantage of by the Tangyi soldiers, and it doesn't get in the way." Wen Bo said with a frown.

Under the rule of the Shouzhou Army, Chaozhou and Shouzhou have ten counties under their jurisdiction, and there are eleven counties in Huozhou and Gwangju in the west, and there are countless towns and towns and towns under their jurisdiction.

Among so many walled cities, there will inevitably be negligence, which will be taken advantage of by the Tangyi soldiers who drive straight in, but as long as the Tangyi soldiers stay for a short time, the damage they can cause is extremely limited.

Last year, the Liang army caused so much damage to Huaidong, mainly because 40,000 or 50,000 cavalry crossed the Huai River and stayed in the hinterland of Yangchu for more than two months.

I thought so, but Wen Bo always felt that Han Qian's use of troops would not be limited to this.

"Yes. However, he still has to send someone to tell Xu Sizhao to be careful, the Tangyi soldiers may kill a horse gun at any time, and it is best for him to guard the walled city under his command, especially Zhao Mingting's naval camp. Wen Ruilin said.

The naval battalion of the Zuolou Boat Army was built in the north of Chaozhou City.

Although it is a horn with Chaozhou City, because the water in Shuiyingwu Port has been frozen, the warship cannot move, and it is easy to become the target of Tangyi's attack at this time.

For the Tangyi soldiers, even if they could not finally occupy the naval camp, if a single soldier and horse could rush in and set fire to it during the attack, they could suffer heavy losses.

"The second prince thinks the same, he has strengthened the defense of the water camp in the north of the city for the first time, but he also specially asked me to come over and tell General Wen that the Tangyi soldiers may still withdraw into Wujian Mountain.

Then take advantage of the passage inside Wujian Mountain, enter the side of Chuzhou City, and attack Chuzhou City. The messenger sent by Xu Sizhao said.

"The Tangyi soldiers will not jump to Chuzhou through Wujian Mountain, the time is wrong,"

Wen Bo and Xu Sizhao are not familiar with each other, after all, before the Jinling Incident, the children of the Xu family mainly assisted Xu Mingzhen in garrisoning Shouzhou, and he served in the guard army, hearing that Xu Sizhao asked someone to send a letter to him to be wary of the possibility of the Tangyi soldiers' return rifles to Chuzhou City, he subconsciously frowned, and said in a deep voice,

"If they do this, even if we lose one or two walled cities negligently, but Puyang and other streams have just been frozen up, and Tangyi's naval warships can't pass, so we have enough time before the beginning of spring to gather 20,000 to 30,000 elite soldiers and horses to launch a large-scale battle. If Han Qian's intention was only to fight a battle with us in Chuzhou, why bother so much? At the same time, he would not have the luxury of destroying the well-garrisoned Zuolou Boat Army and Navy Battalion, they might be stranded between Chaoshou or Chaozhou and Huozhou, relying on the Huaiyang Mountain in the west, constantly looking for undefended targets to attack. Xu Sizhao should not passively defend the city in Chaozhou, but should immediately gather elite soldiers and horses to entangle them, delay them as much as possible, and force the Tangyi soldiers to not be able to advance and retreat freely between Huo Shou, and wait for reinforcements from all roads to surround them, so as to facilitate the annihilation of the ......"

"The Tangyi soldiers were dispatched so quickly, and the supplies they carried were bound to be limited, and it was impossible to carry heavy weapons and many chariots around them. Therefore, no matter how fast their speed is, it is impossible to gain too much between Huo Shou, and they may be more expecting Xu Sizhao to take the initiative to lead the troops to entangle? Wen Ruilin asked hesitantly.

It is too difficult to storm the walled city, and it is a good strategy to lure the snake out of the hole.

Wen Ruilin felt that if he was Han Qian, the Marquis of Qianyang, it would be the best strategy to lure the snake out of the hole and fight a quick war of annihilation when the raid soldiers and horses carried supplies were limited.

"Xu Shuai's speed of mobilizing elite cavalry between Huo Shou will not be slow, and Han Qian, the Marquis of Qianyang, should not take this risk, and there is no need to take this risk," Wen Bo said, "As for the heavy weapons and many chariots, it is indeed a problem......

In the cold winter season, the river is frozen and sealed, and it cannot be transported by boat, not to mention the whirlwind cannon is dismantled with long poles, piles and other bulky parts, and a bed crossbow and scorpion cannon weighing hundreds of catties and thousands of catties at every turn are not easy to transport.

In the territory of Chaozhou, the slightly smoother gallop road and post road have built a walled city and stationed guards at the key points.

A large amount of supplies, heavy weapons and parts, even if they are hauled by horse-drawn carriages on galloping roads and post roads, they can't go fast, let alone bypass galloping roads and post roads and walking through rugged wilderness fields.

And no matter how light the chariot is, it will be heavier than an ordinary carriage, and the military horse will be dragged through the potholed fields, even if the general's horse is tired to death, how fast can he walk?

Without all kinds of chariots and heavy weapons, the Tangyi soldiers who entered Huo Shou were weakened by at least half.

Wen Bo couldn't help but wonder at this time, was he too suspicious?

Even so, in addition to ordering scouts to scout the horses, strengthening the reconnaissance of the Fengling area on the southeast flank of Wujian Mountain, and ordering the elite soldiers and horses requisitioned from Zhuzhai to return to the defense village, Wen Bo did not immediately lead the more than 2,000 soldiers and horses who entered Yanzi Mountain directly with him to return to Chuzhou City, and decided to wait with Wen Ruilin in Yanzi Cottage for a day or two to wait and see the situation, and wait for further clear news to come before talking about anything else.

Wen Bo was busy until the early hours of the morning before he fell asleep with his clothes, but he didn't feel that he had much time to sleep, so he suddenly woke up from his sleep, sat in front of the bed for a while, and in the cold morning, he felt that his back was wet with sweat, and some panicked guards called Wen Ruilin, his generals and the messenger sent by Xu Sizhao.

Wen Ruilin came over earlier than he expected, and his face was also dignified.

Seeing this scene, Wen Bo's heart sank even more, and asked, "Mr. Wen also thought of it?" ”

"Tangyi soldiers raided the hinterland of Huo Shou, and suddenly it was impossible to attack the city and defend the village all the way, and the post road and gallop road could not be passed, but the river was frozen, and its baggage chariots could walk on the ice and quickly go west and north! The Tangyi soldiers are divided into joint attacks, and the location of the combined attack must be a target along the Nanqishui or Beiye River! Wen Ruilin said with a look of panic, "If it weren't for this, there would not have been a two-way Tangyi soldier who would have taken a boat to the northwest side of Chaohu Lake, landed near the mouth of the Nanqishui and Beiye River and interspers......ed it in the northwest direction."

It was only at this time that they thought about what the problem was, and at this time, it had been a day and a night since the Tangyi soldiers raided the soldiers and horses to the rear of Chaozhou.

"Yongfeng Village!" Wen Bo spread out the map, stretched out his hand and pointed to a point between the south and north rivers, and said.

The South and North Rivers both originate from the northeast foot of Huaiyang Mountain, and are located in the General Ridge at the junction of Huo, Chao and Shou Prefectures.

The Nanqi water flows out of the east mountain of the General Ridge, flows to the southeast, is five or six miles away from Chaozhou City, and flows into Chaohu Lake through the northwest bank; The Beiqi River flows out of the north bank of the General Ridge, flows for 200 miles to the north, and flows into the Huai River from the west of Shouzhou City.

The north and south rivers are not directly connected, but in the early stage, in order to enhance the connection between the Jianghuai River and the Huaihe in the central region, on the east side of the Jiangjun Ridge, a trunk canal with a sluice gate and a length of about 20 miles was excavated to connect the two rivers, and a chiway was also built along the canal.

Yongfeng Village is located at the mouth of the river where the main canal and the Nanqi River meet, and it is the main point of water and land transportation from Chaozhou to Huozhou and Huaiyang Mountain to Shouzhou.

The location of Yongfeng Village is very critical, it is garrisoned by the elite of the Shouzhou Army, but the parapet wall is too thin.

The Tangyi soldiers interspersed in, if they didn't carry heavy weapons and various chariots, even if there were only hundreds of defenders in Yongfeng Village, there would be no problem in holding on until the reinforcements came over, but it was difficult to say now.

Wen Ruilin also thought of a question, if the Tangyi soldiers used Anfeng Village as bait, and the Shouzhou troops in the north and west did not realize that the Tangyi soldiers who were interspersed with it might borrow the frozen river to quickly transport weapons and chariots, and rush reinforcements to the past, would they be hit head-on?

"Immediately gather all the guards and cavalry, and prepare to go to Chaozhou with me!" Wen Bo said immediately.

From the west of Yanzi Mountain to the northern foot of Fucha Mountain, it is an area controlled by the Tangyi soldiers, and the scattered scouts and scouts are very easy to intercept, and they may not be able to transmit the news to Chaozhou in time.

The best way is for him to personally lead two hundred elite cavalry to kill him.

It's easy to make sure their guess is correct, as hundreds or thousands of vehicles run over the ice and leave marks on the ice.