Pingle Mansion City, surrounded by water on several sides and surrounded by mountains on one side. Only the hilly terrain to the northeast is more open.

Like many cities built at the confluence of rivers, Pingle City is at the confluence of the Li River and the Lechuan River (Tea River), which has the advantage of water transportation. The Lechuan water surrounds from the north of the city and flows into the Li River in the east of the city; The water of the Li River surrounds the south of the city. To the southeast outside the city, there is also a mountain range that runs through the east and west, and the ridge blocks the southeast corner of Pingle City.

On the afternoon of the 10th day of the first month of August, the main force of the Han army reached the north of Pingle Mansion and arrived near a ferry port on the west bank of the Lechuan River. There are several islands in the middle of the river here, which is convenient for erecting pontoon bridges.

But the army could not cross the river immediately, and the pontoon bridge was not completed at this time.

Guy was on the Lechuan water, and the forward men and horses failed to find enough ships in time; The civilian boat they found from the Li River was about to pass through Pinglefu City, but it was intercepted by the official ship of Pinglefu, and so far they have not been able to row to the Lechuan water.

The vanguard army once sent an envoy to Fucheng to persuade him to surrender, but unfortunately, the government saw that Wu Gao's 100,000 troops had arrived in the area south of the Li River, so they not only refused to surrender, but also sent the envoy of the Han Wangjun to Wu Gao's camp!

Zhu Gaoxu was furious when he heard the news, and blurted out in public: "I don't know how to lift!" Does the prefect think that Wu Gaojun will protect them? ”

The generals showed indignation on their faces, and there was a humane: "When Wu Gao is destroyed, we will also raze Pingle Mansion!" ”

Only then did Zhu Gaoxu gradually suppress his anger and said quietly: "It has nothing to do with my Ming people. "These martial artists, if you don't restrain them, it's quite terrifying.

"Drive!" Zhu Gaochi patted his horse and ran towards the river, and the generals also followed one after another. He reined in his brown horse on the riverside, looking at the lush islands in the middle of the river. On the clear water of the river, the soldiers are busy erecting a pontoon bridge.

After a while, Wang Yu, a former military general, greeted him, dismounted and hugged his fists to salute.

Zhu Gaoxu asked directly: "When will the pontoon bridge be erected?" ”

Wang Yu said: "The last general ordered the brothers in the upper reaches of the Lechuan River to row the boat back overnight, and the boat bridge should be able to pass through the army by tomorrow night." ”

"Set up by noon tomorrow!" Zhu Gaoxu couldn't help but order.

Wang Yu gritted his teeth, clenched his fists and said, "Order!" ”

Zhu Gaoxu watched for a while, and then returned to the Chinese army in the village on the west bank of the Lechuan River. Right Chang Shi Houhai and the generals saluted and continued to discuss something. Zhu Gaoxu didn't even listen to a word, still thinking about his own business.

If you think too much, especially before you fall asleep, your brain is too active, and you can easily lose sleep. In the past two days, Zhu Gaoxu has suffered from insomnia again without exception, and his spirit at this time is not very good.

The situation of the rivers near Pingle City, falling on the map, is like a crooked and oblique herringbone; The city is on the right side of the word "people", and there is a mountain range in the southeast.

The current Wu Gaojun is just below the "human" glyph; He may have to come to the right of the "man", because there is no road to the south, and the terrain is not suitable for walking the army. According to the news of Tanma, Wu Gaojun will not be able to reach the south bank of the Li River until noon tomorrow at the earliest.

If Zhu Gaoxu's army hadn't been late in crossing the Lechuan River, he should have arrived on the north bank of the Li River before Wu Gao! In that case, the Han army's army would confront and defend the riverside according to the river, and with the mountains and rivers, Wu Gao would be delayed for a while.

But now it seems that Zhu Gaoxu feels that when his main force of men and horses arrived in the area on the north bank of the Li River, Wu Gao had already crossed the Li River......

Although the Han Wangjun maintained an active offensive posture, there were now less than 60,000 men and horses under Zhu Gaoxu's command; If you open up a decisive battle with Wu Gao, the chances of winning are not great. Once defeated, Zhu Gaoxu's split attack will become a situation of being broken by each one.

Therefore, delay Wu Gao's army, delay the time of the battle, and wait until Sheng Yong's army appears in the southern area of Wu Gao, then it is the time for a decisive battle!

At this moment, a shout came from outside the door: "Report! Lu Liangwei commanded Chen Zhen and Governor Sheng Yong to report to the army! ”

Zhu Gaoxu immediately raised his head and said, "Send it in." ”

Since Zhu Gaoxu left Libo County, Qingyuan Prefecture, this is the first direct contact between the army of the Middle Road and the South Road. Zhu Gaoxu took two military newspapers from the guards, opened them and looked at them, so he naturally read Sheng Yong's letter first.

Judging from the content of the letter, Sheng Yong had sent a letter once before; But Zhu Gaoxu didn't receive it, and he didn't know that there was a problem on the road. This time, Sheng Yong sent people to the east of Laibin County and detoured from the mountain road.

The messenger was in the east of Luorong County and found the defeated Chen Zhen of the vanguard army. Chen Zhen sent someone to escort the team, and the team bypassed Wu Gaojun's scout activity area from the roads of Guilin Mansion and Yangshuo County, and finally arrived at Zhu Gaoxu's Chinese army.

Zhu Gaoxu carefully read the date and place of Sheng Yong's description of his march, and then mentally calculated against the map. He estimated that Sheng Yongjun was currently about four days away from Wuzhou Mansion; And the size of the army of more than 70,000 people, the march from Wuzhou Mansion to He County, it will take at least seven days!

After calculating for a while, Zhu Gaoxu came to a judgment: if there would be no continuous rainy days in the next 11 days, Sheng Yong's main force would arrive in He County 11 days later, that is, around August 21......

Zhu Gaoxu had guessed a few days ago that Wu Gao would definitely want to go to He County. Therefore, after he occupied some post stations, he sent people to search the files and official documents from the post office, and found out the distance of the post roads in Hexian and other places; Scouts were also sent to scout horses to estimate the distance of the nearby roads and compare them with the information recorded on paper.

So he now remembered in his mind that the length of the post road from Pingle Mansion to He County, and the booklet of the official mansion was two hundred and thirty miles.

If you sit back and watch Wu Gao's army march normally, Wu Gao will arrive in He County five days later, that is, around the Mid-Autumn Festival! The main force of Sheng Yong's army can't catch up no matter what, which may also be the reason why Wu Gao decided to go to He County first.

Once Wu Gao arrived in He County, he could go south to the Canton Mansion of the Provincial Envoy of Guangdong; You can also take the mountain road to Shaozhou Mansion (Shaoguan) first, and then go to Jiangxi to send political envoys......

Before the start of the war, Zhu Gaoxu had already set the strategic goal of this campaign, and tried his best to annihilate Wu Gaojun, at least he should drive Wu Gaojun to the direction of the political envoy in Guangdong!

Otherwise, whether the general battle in Huguang should be fought or not will have to be reconsidered.

Zhu Gaoxu was silent for a while, and still passed Sheng Yong's military order to the generals present. He then read Chen Zhen's recital.

After Chen Zhen took over Wang Bin's military power, he was nearly a hundred miles away from Wu Gao's army and followed the march; He left the wounded soldiers in a stockade, left a hundred households to protect the wounded soldiers, and led the main force of the vanguard to continue the march eastward. After Wu Gaojun left the vicinity of Leping Fucheng, the forward army would be able to join the main force of Zhu Gaoxu's middle route army.

…… On the afternoon of 11 August, the troops under Zhu Gaoxu's command crossed the Lechuan River from the pontoon bridge one after another. The avant-garde Wang Yubu failed to build the pontoon bridge before noon, but it was much earlier than he said at the beginning, "the army can pass at the earliest night".

Sure enough, at this time, Wu Gao's army had not yet crossed the Li River, but most of the men and horses had already reached the north bank of the Li River.

At this time, the distance between the two armies was already very close! The armies of both sides were located to the east of the city of Pingle Fu, separated by a long mountain range; The west end of the mountain range reaches the bank of the Li River.

One after another, scouts came back nearby and went to the Chinese army to report the military situation.

Zhu Gaoxu soon learned that Wu Gaojun's army had taken the lead in occupying a mountain range near the city.

"Go to the front army to send an order to Wang Yu and immediately enter the eastern mountain range of the city. Choose a place to camp and build fortifications to the east of the enemy's front! Zhu Gaoxu immediately decided.

"Order!" The pro-soldier holding the order flag answered, and rushed out of the Chinese army with a horse.

At this time, the sun was already in the west, and Zhu Gaoxu ordered the army to choose a place to camp; The troops will probably camp in the hilly area on the east bank of the Lechuan River, near the camp of the forward army, tonight. Zhu Gaoxu also asked the generals on duty that night about the deployment of open and secret posts and scouts.

The distance between the two armies is probably only about ten miles, and the situation is already quite tense. However, there should not be a big battle today, and it is impossible for Wu Gao to order an army of 100,000 to attack at night; Otherwise, the enemy army did not go to the place, and the formation might be out of order. Tonight, the Han Wang's army only fires and prepared for the enemy's surprise attack on the camp.

Zhu Gaoxu arranged for a while, and then took the pro-army cavalry and rode to Wang Yu's forward army camp in person.

They climbed the long hillside road to the ridge that stretched east and west. The sun was almost setting, and Wang Yu's 5,000 men and horses were still busy digging trenches and repairing earthen walls.

Zhu Gaoxu first looked west along the ridge. The front of the officers and troops was also on this mountain range, far to the west; However, the shape of the mountain is uneven, and no enemy troops can be seen here.

His gaze shifted, looking south. At the foot of the mountain range is a long, narrow and flat land at the foot of the mountain, where the official road is located.

To the south of the official road, the terrain begins to undulate, and a large number of abrupt mountains stand on the ground...... This kind of abrupt mountains is very distinctive, as if it is composed of limestone; When Zhu Gaoxu led his army through the southern part of Guilin Prefecture, he saw a similar mountain shape.

Separated by a long mountain range, the landforms of the north and south are very different.

"Meet the prince!" Wang Yu rushed over and saluted.

Zhu Gaoxu waved his hand and said, "You build the camp as soon as possible, so that the soldiers can rest for a while." ”

Wang Yu clenched his fists and said, "The last general will obey the order." ”

Zhu Gaoxu said again: "The main thing you are doing here is to send people to keep an eye on the movements of Wu Gaojun's main force. If the enemy's superior forces attacked, General Wang could wait for the opportunity to withdraw from the mountains and move closer to the main force of the army. ”

Wang Yu nodded and said, "The last general understands. ”

…… Only ten miles southwest of the Han army, Wu Gao's army swaggered and camped, and it was obvious that he showed no signs of avoiding a decisive battle this time.

After the main force of Zhu Gaoxu's army walked out of the mountainous area on the side of Rongxian, the terrain was relatively flat, and it was difficult to hide the traces of the army. What's more, the two armies have been chasing for many days, and at this time, Wu Gao must have figured out how many people Zhu Gaoxu has.

Wu Gao was cautious and adventurous, but as an experienced veteran with a near-multiplier advantage, there was no reason to be afraid of such a battle.

Wu Gao should be willing and happy to have a showdown with Zhu Gaochu this time, but of course Zhu Gaochu is unwilling.

1 second to remember Aishang:. Mobile version reading URL: m.