"In front of Yezigou, there was originally a wooden bridge leading to the east bank of the ravine, but two days ago the scouts rushed back to investigate, the bridge was washed away by a flash flood a few days ago, and it was not marked on the combat map. Although the stone foundation of the bridge is still there, there are no large trees to be found on the left and right, and it is difficult to repair the wooden bridge in a short period of time. In addition, there is a road valley more than ten miles to the south, and when Yezigou goes there, the riverbed suddenly expands by more than 20 zhang, and the river beach is not deep, and the cavalry can directly swim through the water......"

Feng Xuan watched as the combat staff spread the map on the saddle, outlined the route of the army with charcoal, and asked:

"Where did Cao Ba's department go?"

"General Cao Ba divided his part into three teams, all the way to the north line of Hengshanyu, all the way to the Nantang Bamboo Bridge, he personally led a way of soldiers and horses from this Yuxi beach to the east before noon, at this time should be repaired in Gaolongyuan." The operational staff officer circled a hill on the east side of Yezigou and marked the route of Cao Bawu's advance.

Feng Xuan looked up and saw the hazy sky and said, "Maybe there is a torrential rain, but can someone be sent north along Yezigou to keep an eye on the water situation?" ”

When swimming across the shallows, the most fearful thing is that the stream will rise sharply due to the showers upstream.

Although there is a special person in charge of scout reconnaissance of the nearby terrain and enemy situation, Feng Xuan will always confirm all the details when implementing a new combat plan to avoid omissions.

Receiving an affirmative answer from the operational staff officer, Feng Xuan signaled his headquarters cavalry to advance to the valley beach in the downstream direction, he squinted his eyes slightly, looking at the rising sun in the east, and had not withdrawn to the Baqiao camp for a night The latest news was transmitted, at this time, it was not clear whether the main force of the Chengde army had crossed the river to the north last night, and he was somewhat worried that the timing of his eastward march was still slightly early.

Although Wang Yuankui sent his envoys to see Jing Zhen and Kong Xirong and promised to unconditionally hand over all the soldiers and horses to surrender the city, the night before yesterday, the Chengde army sent another descendant to cross the Wei River and further strengthen control over Liquan and Chiyang on the west bank of Jingshui.

Jing Zhen and Kong Xirong expected that the so-called surrender promised by Wang Yuankui was very likely to be a delaying tactic, and he most likely led his troops to flee along the river valley on the west bank of Jingshui to Gyeongju and Yuanzhou in the depths of the Weibei Plateau.

Before, the Longyou Army sent troops from Tianshui and crossed the Longshan Mountain into Fengxiang, but the soldiers were divided into two ways:

All the way, Li Zhihe led Zhang Song, Deng Tai, Zhao Ci and other troops to the east from the south bank of Weishui, and then joined forces with Zhou Tong and Hao Zixia to go outside the city of Qizhou and besiege the remnants of Wang Xiaoxian in Qizhou.

All the way, Feng Xuan led Hou Mo, Cao Ba, Lu Ze, Li Zhi and other troops to advance eastward along the north bank of Weishui, and recovered Longxian, Qishan, Yongxian and other cities on the north bank of the upper reaches of Weishui along the road, and at the same time undertook the combat mission of blocking Wang Xiaoxian's passage north to the Weibei Plateau from the north bank.

Unexpectedly, Wang Xiaoxian was very backbone, not only would he rather die than surrender, but he didn't even lead his troops to cross Weishui from beginning to end and flee to the mountains and ravines of Weibei Plain to resist stubbornly, which made Feng Xuan's interception plan for their soldiers and horses on the North Road fall into vain.

The defenders of Longxian, Qishan, and Yongxian all surrendered to the wind, and they didn't get any battles these days, and Cao Ba and the others were full of depression.

Although this time they also undertook the combat mission of cutting off Wang Yuankui's headquarters from the north and fleeing the German army north, Cao Ba was still full of worries that Wang Yuankui, a useless bird, would directly choose to surrender, so that they could only do trivial things such as occupying the city and collecting surrendered troops all the way.

Feng Xuan was more inclined to the judgment of Jing Zhen, Kong Xirong and others.

When Zhao Mengji led the Shu soldiers to the north to attack Guanzhong, Wang Yong launched a mutiny and seized the power of Shu, Zhao Mengji and tens of thousands of Shu soldiers fell into a foreign land, initially occupied Qifeng and other places, and lived an extremely difficult life; After that, even if he defected to the Mengwu people and led his troops to garrison Mengzhou, he did not live comfortably, and the generals and soldiers even had to tighten their belts to live.

Zhao Mengji himself was also extremely frugal and hard, and after the great victory, Zhao Mengji finally chose to join him, but he did not mention the conditions that he did not know the height of the sky.

Of course, in addition to the Liangzhou army led by Li Zhihe and Chai Jian, Zhao Mengji was the first enemy general to lead his troops to reorganize and surrender, even if he bought horse bones, Han Qian would treat him well.

Of course, although Zhao Mengji led his troops to participate in the war against Heluo, he did not take advantage of anything.

Again, Zhao Mengji's defection to the Mugyu was forced by the situation, and Zhao Mengji would fall into such a bad situation, all because Han Qian helped Wang Yong launch a mutiny.

Therefore, the monarchs and ministers of Liang Guojun have a high degree of acceptance of Zhao Mengji.

For Wang Yuankui, the perception of Liang Junchen is much worse.

Wang Yuankui was the most direct culprit of the Heshuo Shock, not to mention the southern invasion of the Mongolian army, but also willing to be the pioneer eagle dog of the Mongolian army, chasing and killing a large number of Liang troops all the way, and had a deep blood feud with the old generals of the Liang army.

If Wang Yuankui controls a bigger hole card, or if the annexation of the German army can greatly change the direction of the battle, Han Qian may try to persuade Gu Qian, Zhou Daoyuan, Jing Hao and others to surrender to the German army on more favorable terms.

However, compared with Zhao Mengji, Wang Yuankui at this time was in the predicament of having no reinforcements from outside and being attacked on three sides, and the soldiers and horses of Daliang occupied the absolute initiative in Guanzhong, not to mention Gu Qian and others, even Han Qian would not leave any hidden dangers in order to avoid casualties of three or five thousand people.

Therefore, the conditions for Wang Yuankui can even retain the title of the king of Yongzhou County, so that each generation of Wang's children will be reduced to a first-class grace and enthronement, and the parliamentary court can also leave a place for Wang Yuankui, but Wang Yuankui must unconditionally hand over all the soldiers and horses to accept the reorganization.

Unlike Zhao Mengji, Wang Yuankui has been a feudal official for more than 20 years, and he has been attacking cities and plundering land all the way after joining the Mongolian army, all of which have been extremely smooth.

In Wang Yuankui's view, it was the military power that brought him all this, which made it impossible for him to give up the military power easily even when the mountains and rivers were exhausted.

When Li Zhihe led his troops to attack Qizhou, Feng Xuan already had the consciousness of leading his troops to blockade and intercept the Chengde army from the north and flee north to Qingyuan.

However, after the Longyou Army attacked Guanzhong from the west flank, the edict from Han Qian clearly stipulated that the Huatong Army, the Shangluo Army, and the Longyou Army needed to work together to attack the three routes of soldiers and horses in Guanzhong, and made it clear that Jing Zhen was the commander, Kong Xirong, Li Zhihe, and Feng Xuan were the deputy commanders, and they jointly discussed the follow-up battle plan.

Perhaps Jing Zhen himself had no intention of recruiting Wang Yuankui, and sent messengers to Qishan several times to meet Feng Xuan, asking Feng Xuan not to be too eager to gather the soldiers and horses in the north of Weishui to Qishan, let alone send troops and horses to the east into the Jingshui coast too early, so as to leave Wang Yuankui with the illusion that the negotiations could not be achieved and he could still flee north along the Jingshui.

Kong Xirong and Li Zhihe did not oppose Jing Zhen's decision.

Compared with the mobilization of countless soldiers, horses, and weapons to besiege Yongzhou City, which is the strongest in the world, I don't know if it will be delayed

How long will it take to defeat Yongzhou City, and if it is possible, they all hope to lure the Cheng German army from Yongzhou City into the Weibei Plain, north of Weishui and west of Jingshui, to fight a war of annihilation.

As long as this is the case, they will be able to end the battle in the pass in the fastest time.

Whether the battle in Guanzhong can be concluded neatly, or whether the Yongzhou Army cannot be captured for half a year or even longer, has a very subtle, direct and far-reaching impact on the subsequent battle situation on the northern and eastern fronts, and even on the relationship between Liang Chu and Liang Shu.

Feng Xuan also waited until Wang Yuankui sent troops and horses to further strengthen his control over Chiyang and Liquan before ordering Hou Mo, Cao Ba, Lu Ze, Li Zhi and other troops to march east from Qishan and other places.

There are only more than 100 miles from Qishan to Chiyang City in the south of the Jingshui River Valley, but the Weibei Plain has been in constant war in recent years, and the roads have been seriously damaged, and no one has repaired them.

In addition to Jingshui, the largest tributary of Weishui, there are a large number of streams and rivers in Laolongshan, Sagashan, Yaowangshan, Yaoshan, Huanglongshan, Liangshan and other rivers in the Weibei Plateau, which flow into the Weihe River vertically from north to south.

However, the pontoon bridges and wooden bridges that were originally erected over these streams and channels have not been repaired over the years, or washed away by floods, or have been damaged by man-made.

All these greatly hindered the speed of Feng Xuan and other troops to advance eastward.

Of course, this is also what they had expected for a long time, and even knowing this, they deliberately delayed and did not rush to transfer the labor battalion to the north to build roads and bridges.

All this is to strategically create the illusion that Wang Yuankui and Wang Mao still have a chance to flee north.

Of course, when Feng Xuan advanced from Qishan and other places to Chiyang and Liquan, there were broken roads and bridges along the way, and he was really anxious to scold his mother.

In order to overcome the difficulties of the advance of the army and complete the assembly as soon as possible in the passage where the Chengde army fled north, Feng Xuan could only divide more than 12,000 cavalry into more than a dozen roads and disperse them to Chiyang County.

Wang Yuankui has been running the Chengde army for more than 20 years, and nearly half of the 40,000 Chengde troops are cavalry, and Feng Xuan will separate and advance more than 12,000 cavalry, so he will naturally take a lot of risks, but compared with leaving the Chengde army in the Weibei Plain for annihilation, and not making the Qingyuan and other places that flee to the north become a hidden danger of maggots in the Guanzhong Plain, these risks must be taken.

What Feng Xuan desperately wanted to know at this time was, first, whether the main force of the Chengde army had crossed the Wei River to the north last night, and third, if the main force of the Chengde army had crossed the Wei River to the north last night, how long could the few soldiers and horses that they entered Chiyang first delay the main force of the Chengde army?

In addition, Feng Xuan is not very sure at this time, and the main army will be able to cross the Wei River and enter the north bank to participate in the battle before nightfall tomorrow.

Because Wang Yuankui scuttled a large number of boats in the bay where the Bahe River flows into Weishui, the Luoyang Navy and auxiliary troops cleaned up these sunken ships, which was time-consuming and labor-intensive, and the warships could not enter the upper reaches of Weishui and Jingshui for a while......

…………

…………

In order to clear the way to escape to the north, Wang Yuankui not only strengthened his control over the two cities of Liquan and Chiyang north of the Wei River and west of Jingshui, but also led tens of thousands of elite cavalry troops with his son Wang Mao into the western areas of Chiyang and Liquan and Wuting County.

Wang Yuankui also knew very well in his heart that the pontoon boats and wooden bridges above Jingshui were destroyed, and before the Luoyang Navy advanced westward, the soldiers and horses of the Liang army entered Tongzhou, and it was difficult to cross Jingshui in a short time, posing a threat to the main force of the Chengde army fleeing north.

At present, the greatest threat to the Chengde army is that the Liang army swept through more than 10,000 cavalry troops north of Weishui and southwest of Longshan as early as half a month ago.

This is also the main force of the cavalry unit of the Liang army.

The cavalry units of the Liang army have always been very limited in size, mainly assisting the heavy infantry on the battlefield, responsible for covering the flanks or pinning down the opponent's cavalry units, and rarely independently engaged in battlefield operations.

In addition, due to the greater dependence on roads and bridges of heavy warfare such as spring-arm bed crossbows and scorpion crossbows, cavalry units cannot carry these heavy battles when they are maneuvering quickly, and their combat ability to attack fortified positions is obviously much weaker than that of heavy armor foot soldiers.

The cavalry unit of the Chengde Army, stationed in the south of Yantan and other states in the early years, has long undertaken the heavy task of resisting the southward advance of the Mongolian army, and can be said to be the most elite cavalry in the Jin army; With Wang Yuankui joining the Mongolian army, his combat effectiveness was not weakened.

Wang Mao led 10,000 Chengde elite cavalry at this time, and he still had considerable confidence in resisting the Liang cavalry from the direction of Qishan and covering the western flank of the northern retreat channel.

At this time, he was more concerned about the speed of the main force of the Liang army around the west flank of Xianyang to rush across Weishui.

In addition to the 20,000 cavalry, the Chengde army also had 20,000 foot soldiers, plus nearly 20,000 people from the Wang family, slaves and maids, and generals.

From the time of crossing the Wei River, even if Liang Qi's interception and harassment were not considered, it might take at least three days for this man to carry a large number of cages full of jewels and treasures to safely withdraw to the Jingshui River valley north of Chiyang, just eighty or ninety miles.

This is also the most dangerous three days, and in Wang Mao's view, the most critical thing is whether he can successfully block the main force of the Liang army on the south bank from crossing the river in these three days.

When Cao Ba led his troops into the north of Wuting County, Wang Mao led more than 1,000 guards to garrison a village in the northeast of Wuting County, at the end of April in the Guanzhong Plain, there was already a bit of early summer heat, he climbed a low mountain in the north of the village, and could overlook the situation of the large group of Liang cavalry on the east bank of the Moyu River more than ten miles away.

The Moyu River originates in the valley in the west of Chiyang, goes south in Wuting County, joins the Qishui River flowing from the northwest, and then joins Weishui through Baishitan.

The Moyu River is also the most important natural barrier on the western flank of the Wude army's northward retreat.

At this time, it was early summer, and the rain in the Weibei Plateau began to be abundant, which made the water level of the streams and rivers developed in the Weibei Plateau generally rise sharply.

The bridges along the Moyu River were destroyed, the water level was slightly shallow, and there were only four or five river beaches that could be used by the cavalry to swim directly.

"Li Yuanshou's son, Li Siqi led 3,000 cavalry from Yuanzhou, and has now arrived at Yongshou, sent a messenger into Chiyang to contact, and agreed that his troops will leave the Jingshui River Valley and enter Chiyang tomorrow to meet our northward retreat......"

Several horses galloped from the north, dismounted and knelt down.

"It is said that Li Yuanshou is a cunning sand fox, it seems that it is not false at all!" Wang Mao snorted dissatisfiedly.

Taiyuan and Jinnan are facing great military pressure, and even if Wusu Dashi transfers some of its own elites from the North Courtyard to the south for reinforcements, the main thing is to strengthen the military defense of Taiyuan and Jinnan.

For the reinforcements in the Guanzhong region, Wusu Dashi was mainly ordered to occupy Yinxia and other places

Pingxia and other subordinate tribes sent troops south.

Wang Yuankui made people negotiate with the Liang army secretly, and at the same time did not give up sending people to Xiazhou to find Li Yuanshou for help, but Li Yuanshou's son Li Siqi led 3,000 cavalry and stayed in Yuanzhou at the northwest foot of Longshan Mountain, and did not go south for a long time.

To put it bluntly, everyone is not stupid.

Li Yuanshou must be worried in his heart that Wang Yuankui may lead the German army to surrender.

In the face of the Longyou Army before, he didn't dare to defend Qinzhou, and at this time, when Wang Yuankui was uncertain whether he was fighting or surrendering, how could he dare to easily enter the Weibei Plain to reinforce Wang Yuankui?

Two days ago, Wang Yuankui sent his troops to strengthen their control over Chiyang and Liquan, and Li Siqi led his troops to slowly move south.

Wang Mao believed that it must have been the main force of the Wude Army's infantry to protect Jiaxiao and start to cross the Wei River in the early hours of this morning, and after Li Siqi learned about it, he decided to lead his troops out of the Jingshui River Valley into Chiyang to meet their northward retreat, right?

As for what Li Yuanshou and Li Siqi father and son have in their hearts, Wang Mao is also very clear in his heart.

Located in the depths of the Weibei Plateau, the two prefectures of Qing and Yuan have always been barren, and the total number of people in the two states is less than 100,000, and the Wu De army of 40,000 or 50,000 horses and horses withdrew into Qing and Yuan, which will not only defend the gateway of the Liang army to the north along the Jingshui River Valley for Li Yuanshou, but also rely on the Pingxia Department in terms of grain supply.

Li Yuanshou saw that the Mongol army was frustrated and had the ambition to stand on his own based on the annexation of Hexi by Yinxia, but there were not many elites in the Pingxia tribe, and they were not good at farming and manufacturing, even if the Mengwu people were forced by the situation to agree to them to annex and annex the states of Hexi, it was very difficult for them to block the Liang army's troops on the western flank.

The northern retreat of the Chengde army can strengthen the strength of the Pingxia people from all aspects.

Of course, as long as they can firmly grasp the military power of the Wude Army, Wang Mao and his father Wang Yuankui have no opinion on whether they belong to the Mengwu people or the Pingxia people.

If the Mongol army can successfully attract the main force of the Liang army in Taiyuan, Jinnan, and the Eastern Liang army in eastern Henan in the future, or even inflict heavy losses on it, they may not have the possibility of seizing control of Yinxia and Xia from Li Yuanshou according to Qingyuan's anti-guest.

Wang Mao said to the scout who delivered the news: "You immediately go to Yongshou to see Li Siqi, and ask him to lead his troops into the vicinity of Heiniutan west of Chiyang before noon tomorrow, and my Li family's help to the Pingxia Department will ......not be forgotten."

Heiniutan is a shallow beach in the upper reaches of the Moyu River in Chiyang County, although it is not the easiest passage for Liang Qi to swim across the Moyu River to the east, but after crossing the Heiniu Beach, it is the outlet of the Jingshui River Valley to the east.

It was impossible for Wang Mao to ignore the possibility that the Liang army would concentrate its forces and force their way across the Heiniu Beach in order to directly cut off their northward retreat.

He had initially deployed more than 2,000 cavalry to intercept the Liang army's crossing of the river east of Heiniutan, but considering that as more and more Liang cavalry entered the Moyu River, he planned to continue to send additional troops and horses to the east bank of Heiniutan before noon tomorrow.

If Li Siqi could lead 3,000 Pingxia cavalry to reinforce Heiniutan in time, Wang Mao could concentrate his limited forces and not rush to the north to reinforce the troops and horses.

…………

…………

In the evening, Feng Xuan, surrounded by hundreds of horsemen, rushed to the east bank of Sanhe Bay to meet Cao Ba.

Sanhe Bay is located on the north side of the mouth of the Moyu River and the Qishui River, because the Moyu River increases sharply after the merging of the Qishui River, the Sanhe Bay is also the direction of the lower reaches of the Moyu River, the last shallow beach suitable for cavalry to cross the river directly.

In the end, the Chengde army did not cross the Moyu River and intercepted the cavalry troops advancing eastward, but the Chengde army firmly controlled the east bank in several shoals of the Moyu River.

There were many rafts that had been broken up on the beach, and there were also corpses of people and horses that sank in the direction of the downstream.

"Fuck it, the Cheng German army killed really hard, lost more than 300 generals, and was stunned that it failed to occupy a foothold on the east coast." Cao Ba watched Feng Xuan stride over, greeted him and spat into the barren grass, and said angrily.

The cavalry brigade under Cao Ba's headquarters was only composed of 3,000 elites, and the tentative contact in the early stage was reduced by more than 10%, which shows how resolute the enemy's sniping on the east bank is.

The enemy forces to the north and east were also very quick to reinforce the bay of the Mulberry River, and it was clear that this was not the most suitable beach crossing point for organizing a strong attack.

However, even if the enemy's interception forces were scattered and delayed, cavalry was assembled at every suitable location for crossing the beach and actively making preparations for crossing the beach to attack.

Feng Xuan climbed a gentle slope and saw that in addition to more than 3,000 enemy cavalry on the opposite bank, there were also a small number of foot soldiers on the outside of the river beach to build a simple defense line with horses and antlers to restrict their front cavalry from crossing the river, and quickly penetrated into the depths of the opposite bank.

In addition to these, the enemy army also had a small number of naval warships in the upstream direction, and Cao Ba had organized people to build floating rafts before, but it was difficult to scale them in a hurry, and it did not play a role.

This is also the most embarrassing part.

If they were given enough time, it would not take half a month, or even three or five days, to build a wooden bridge more than 200 steps long over the shoals of the San River Bay, despite the enemy's disturbance.

Even if it takes two more days to transfer the spring-arm bed crossbows and scorpion crossbows of the heavy armored infantry brigade on the south bank to shoot at the river beach on the opposite bank, it will be easier for the cavalry to rush to cross.

However, in the current situation, even if they delay for two days and then cross the Moyu River, almost 40,000 or 50,000 Cheng German troops can escape to the Jingshui River valley north of Chiyang, then their operational intention to encircle and annihilate the German army south of Chiyang and on the west bank of Jingshui will be completely defeated.

It seems that this does not prevent them from successfully recovering Guanzhong, but if they let go of the main force of the German army and continue to have the strength to threaten the flanks of Guanzhong, this battle cannot be regarded as a complete victory.

However, in the face of the temporary predicament, Feng Xuan said very calmly: "Now the enemy knows that they are going to flee for their lives, fight hard, and don't surprise anyone......"

To completely annihilate the German army on the north bank of the Wei River, they expected that the interception battle would be quite fierce, but Feng Xuan also believed that as long as they succeeded in cutting off the enemy's northward escape, the enemy's morale and will to fight would quickly collapse if they finally returned to the light.

"I heard from the scout that a Pingxia cavalry has entered Yongshou, and it may leave the Jingshui River Valley and enter Chiyang before noon tomorrow?" Cao Ba asked.

The scale of the cavalry of the Chengde army itself is stronger than theirs, and now there is another Pingxia Qiang cavalry about to step in, Cao Ba is inevitably a little impatient, and said: "The weather will not be bad tonight, and it is half a month, we must choose a breakthrough between Sanghe Bay and Wutingdu tonight to organize a night crossing, and kill to the east bank." ”

"The people of Pingxia shouldn't be able to get out of the Jingshui River Valley......," Feng Xuan said with a hint of uncertainty.