As the soldiers and horses of Huozhou and Shouzhou moved south, the defenders of Chaozhou were mainly under the command of Xu Mingzhen's second son, Xu Sizhao.

According to the original plan, Xu Sizhao replaced Wen Bo as the general of Chaozhou, and led his troops to be mainly responsible for the defense of the southwest flank or the attack on the Huaixi Forbidden Army under Li Zhihe.

The 20,000 elite infantry soldiers of Wen Bo's department, after a preliminary rest, will enter Chuzhou and join the main cavalry of the Shouzhou army, which is convenient for mobile combat, on the one hand, suppress Han Qian and Xuzhou Shuiying who appeared in Tangyi, on the other hand, cooperate with Chen Kun to send troops from Zhongli to disturb Huaidong from the west flank, and cooperate with the elite cavalry of the Liang army led by Emperor Zhu Yu and Han Yuanqi and others and the Xuzhou soldiers to attack Huaidong from the north.

In the last days of Yanyou's second year, there was nothing wrong with such a plan.

Since the Jinling Incident, the forbidden army and the Shouzhou army controlled by the Anning Palace have not fought a smooth battle, and the materials are extremely scarce, and too many aspects need to be adjusted.

They also thought that the main force of the Naval Division and the most elite Right Shenwu Army had been annihilated, and the Huaixi Forbidden Army had suffered heavy losses and had not been able to capture Chaozhou City and was forced to withdraw, and they needed to rest and recuperate.

The combat effectiveness of an army has never been measured by numbers, so Han Qian wantonly recruited troops and horses in Tangyi and incorporated thousands of strong people into the battalion in a short period of time, and the generals of Shouzhou also did not think that Han Qian could launch a large-scale offensive in a short period of time.

There are only 3,000 standing soldiers and horses in Xuzhou, in fact, they have repeatedly confirmed that Han Qian transferred 2,000 men and horses from Xuzhou - Chenzhou Xi's family, Sizhou Yang's family, Yezhou Tian's family and Xuzhou have always been on good terms, and the people of Sizhou are in turmoil and Siye and Siye, and they all guessed that Han Qian was doing things behind his back, so in this case, it is impossible for Han Qian not to stay in Xuzhou at all-counting Jiangzhou soldiers and Guangdefu soldiers, Han Qian only has 6,000 trained veterans available in Tangyi.

It is also necessary to consider that the Jiangzhou soldiers and the Guangdefu soldiers are used as local military equipment, and the training of armor and equipment is weaker than that of the elite of the forbidden army.

Han Qian originally formed the Chishan Army in Maoshan, in addition to having the foundation of the remnants of Taowu's military households in the early stage, he mainly took advantage of the confrontation between the soldiers and horses of Chuzhou and the Anning Palace, and could not be distracted from the south, so he first took the family clan lords in the south of Gyeonggi to train the troops.

After capturing Shangjiabao, Han Qian quickly led his troops to move to Langxi and Guangde between Fuyu Mountain and Jieling Mountain for training, and opened contact with the soldiers and horses of Chuzhou.

After delaying for a period of time again, after the conditions in all aspects were relatively mature, Han Qian finally took the Xuanzhou army, which was also a hasty and large-scale expansion in a short period of time, to open up the situation for Yueyang's soldiers and horses to advance eastward.

In any case, Zhao Mingting, Wen Bo, Wen Ruilin, and even Xu Mingzhen would not despise Han Qian's ability to lead the army into battle, and also believed that it would also take time for Han Qian to think of reorganizing a team of more than 20,000 people with combat effectiveness.

After all, Han Qian is a human being, not a god.

Not to mention that the battlefield has experienced many bloody battles, and there are no major problems in assisting in defending the city without sufficiently trained recruits, but in the field or participating in offensive operations, a large number of problems will be exposed.

In such a short period of time, Han Qian launched two large-scale battles on the north bank of Chuzhou one after another, and the generals of Shouzhou felt that they could understand.

Han Qian relied on the vast area of Jinling and Jiangdong to defend Tangyi, and he would not be willing to be suppressed in a lonely city on the north bank.

As long as the troops allow, even at the cost of a little casualties, it is necessary to master an area with depth, which is what a famous general does.

However, including Wen Bo, Zhao Mingting, Wen Ruilin and others, they all thought that after these two battles, the Tangyi soldiers that had been formed early had been squeezed to the limit, and it was impossible to make any big moves in a short period of time.

In the previous two battles, the Tangyi soldiers relied on the advantages of war weapons, and the casualties were much less than those of the Shouzhou army, but the number of generals killed on the battlefield would not be less than 2,000, and the number of soldiers who were injured and lost their combat effectiveness in a short period of time should also exceed 2,000.

They had reason to believe that the elite veterans in Han Qian's hands had been extremely consumed in these two battles.

Even if the scale of the Tangyi soldiers is still expanding in the next ten days, the Shouzhou generals also have enough reasons to believe that the combat effectiveness of the Tangyi soldiers will only be thinned, and the ability to fight in the field and attack will become weaker.

Before the main force of the Great Chu Water Division was destroyed in Hongzepu, the old army of Zuo Guang, who had lost its territory, secretly formed the Chishan Society, which was unexpected by Xu Mingzhen, Wen Bo and other Shouzhou generals.

In addition to the 2,000 elite congregations, the Chishan Society also provided more than 2,000 shipwrights and sailors to be incorporated into the Xuzhou water camp to ensure that more than three-quarters of the 2,000 elites transferred by Han Qian from Xuzhou could be incorporated into the soldiers who could land and fight as the backbone.

Han Qian can use elite veterans, just these two points, Xu Mingzhen, Wen Bo and other Shouzhou generals are estimated to be nearly 3,000 people less.

In a short period of time, the Tangyi army expanded sharply to 24,500 soldiers and horses, and the proportion of elite veterans was only slightly more than 20%.

In addition, Xu Mingzhen, Wen Bo and others mistakenly thought that the two battles of Puyang and Tingzishan would cause great casualties among the old soldiers of Tangyi, which would make the proportion of old soldiers of Tangyi soldiers drop even more sharply.

Calculated by the latter, the proportion of elite veterans in Tangyi is nearly forty percent.

If the people of Guangde Mansion, which is dominated by the old department of the Zuo Guangde Army, are counted, the proportion of elite veterans of the Tangyi soldiers is more than fifty percent.

In the two battles of Puyang and Tingzishan, the Tangyi soldiers seemed to have suffered heavy casualties, but in fact this was not the case.

Han Qian organized troops in Tangyi, and the new and old soldiers were not evenly distributed, but the Class A battalion and the Class B battalion were distinguished.

The proportion of elite veterans in the Category A battalion is much higher than that in the Category B battalion, one accounts for almost seventy percent, and one only accounts for two percent.

In the two battles of Puyang and Tingshan, the Category B battalion was mainly used as the main force, and the more elite Category A battalion was deployed on the flank, mainly by inserting forward and counterattacking, so as to stabilize the situation and share the pressure of the Category B battalion.

Han Qian arranged it like this, firstly, in such a cruel war of attrition, he could only be ruthless, and more of the new pawns were used as consumables, and secondly, he wanted to paralyze the judgment of Xu Mingzhen, Wen Bo and others.

In fact, more than 4,000 casualties in the two battles of Puyang and Tingshan had a rather limited impact on the combat effectiveness of the Tangyi soldiers.

There is another point that Xu Mingzhen, Wen Bo and other Shouzhou generals ignored, that is, the military attache training system in Xuzhou.

They thought that Shouzhou had 3,000 standing troops, and the number of military attachés at the grassroots level would remain at 3 to 500 at most.

Even if a large number of veterans can be promoted during the expansion, it still takes a long period of study and adaptation for these veterans to adapt to commanding a squad of more than a dozen people to fight.

Even the study of combat signals such as the golden drum and battle flag is an extremely complicated and painful matter for those who cannot read a few words.

In fact, Xuzhou has five counties in addition to seven counties

In addition to the formation of a group of officials based on the children of Zuo Si in more than 10 townships, more than half of the 3,000 standing officers have received more than one year of literacy and basic operational command training.

After the Jinling Incident, Lin Haizheng, Zhao Wuji, Zhou Chu, Feng Xuan and others left the command system of the Xuzhou soldiers for a time and went to various counties to take charge of county affairs.

Han Qian's arrangement was not only to make it easier for Zhao Qi, He Liufeng, Xiao Dahu, Dou Rong, Wei Xu, Guo Ke, Xi Fa'er, Lin Zongjing and others to serve as generals at the battalion command level, but also to facilitate Lin Haizheng, Feng Xuan, Zhao Wuji, and others to adapt to handling more complicated military and political affairs in addition to commanding troops.

At the same time, Han Qian took turns to dismantle the 3,000 state soldiers, on the scale of the sentinel team, to participate in garrisoning, industrial construction, reclamation, reclamation of rivers and canals, and arresting thieves and criminals.

When Han Qian coerced the scouts, disciples, and engineers of the Zuo Division to enter Xuzhou, they had already begun to use limited resources to systematically cultivate all kinds of talents.

The Shouzhou generals led by Xu Mingzhen and Wen Bo could not deeply understand this point, and how could they have accurately judged the combat effectiveness of the Tangyi soldiers, which had been rapidly expanded to 24,500 in just one month, and then how could they accurately judge Han Qian's combat intentions?

Even when they received the news that the Tangyi soldiers had entered the Yuxi River by warship and attacked Dongxi Pass, the vast majority of the Shouzhou generals still believed that Han Qian was eager to fight for control of the Chaohu River and ensure that the communication between the east and west of Chu would not be weakened.

At this time, the defenders of Chuzhou and Chaozhou were still slow to react.

Everyone knows that the Yuxi River is seriously silted.

Even if Dongguan Village is lost for a while, it is extremely difficult for the warships of Xuzhou Shuiying to enter and exit Chaohu Lake.

The vast majority of Shouzhou generals thought that they controlled most of the strategic points on the east and west banks of Chaohu Lake, not to mention that they thought that Dongguan Village could hold out for many days, and even if Dongguan Village was lost for a while, they would easily be outflanked and recaptured from the left and right.

Wen Bo was aware of some problems at the time, but it was difficult for him personally to convince the other generals who were slack or wanted to reinforce Liyang and Dongguan Zhai more safely.

When the main force of the Liyang defenders was transferred from the mountain and lured out of the city, when Zhou led the troops and horses into the siege of Liyang City, and when Lin Haizheng, Zhao Qi, and Su Lie led their troops into the predetermined interception area, Xu Mingzhen, Zhao Mingting, Wen Ruilin and others thoroughly understood Han Qian's combat intentions.

At this time, the reinforcements they sent from Chaozhou City and Chuzhou City, one of which had a total of only 4,000 people, and the other reinforcement was slow under the disturbance of a small group of detectives and cavalry of Tangyi soldiers, and they were still north of the Chuhe River and Zhegao River, which originated in Fucha Mountain.

At Wen Bo's suggestion, Xu Mingzhen immediately ordered the reinforcements from Chaozhou City and Chuzhou City to reinforce Liyang, as well as the Liyang defenders who were led out of Liyang City to the southern foot of Weixu Mountain, to camp and defend on the spot, so as to avoid a hasty field battle with Tangyi soldiers.

Liyang Guard General is Wen Bo's general, and Liyang County was temporarily included in the Chuzhou Theater, not only did he receive the military order jointly issued by Xu Mingzhen and Wen Bo, but his troops were also at the southern foot of the Wet Xu Mountain, and Xiao Dahu's troops fought for a day, and they did not get the slightest bargain.

The Liyang Keeper has realized the seriousness of the problem.

Seeing that Zhou led his troops to Liyang City, he did not expect to defeat the enemy of Shannan in a short period of time, nor did he expect to withdraw into Liyang City in time without solving the enemy of Shannan.

In fact, as long as his troops can stick to the southern foot of the Misu Mountain and not be annihilated, they will be able to contain more Tangyi soldiers in Liyang, and they will not be able to free up their hands to enter other battlefields for reinforcements.

In addition to the general of Kai Liyang, who acted according to the order as soon as possible and dealt with it correctly, the generals who led troops from Chaozhou City and Chuzhou City to reinforce Liyang, even if they received Xu Mingzhen's military order, still believed that their troops were elite cavalry, and tried to take advantage of the unstable foothold of the Tangyi soldiers on the east and west flanks of Fucha Mountain, and killed the Tangyi soldiers by surprise.

Wen Bo personally rushed to the western foot of Fucha Mountain to sit in the town, mainly because the second wave of reinforcements from Chaozhou City to the south of 4,000 soldiers and horses, was his subordinates who stayed in Chaozhou City and had not had time to transfer to Chuzhou for the time being.

However, he and the second wave of reinforcements entered the battlefield at the southwest foot of Fucha Mountain, and the first wave of 2,000 reinforcements from the south of Chaozhou City had already hit their heads on the rudimentary defense line hastily established by the Tangyi soldiers.

The loss of more than 800 elites, not to mention the dispersal of the positions established by the Tangyi soldiers in the upper reaches of the Zhegao River, did not even exchange the casualties of the Tangyi soldiers.

From the south of Fucha Mountain, from the east foot to the west foothill, there is no direct river connection.

The Chuhe River flows eastward from the southeast foot of Fucha Mountain, and the Zhegao River, which is connected with Chaohu Lake, flows directly to the west from the southwest foothills, and there is no stream between the Chuhe River and the Zhegao River.

And even the upper waterway of the Chu River in the southeast of Fucha Mountain has become shallow and narrow, and if it were not for the ice and snow, the cavalry could directly cross the river.

Large-scale supplies are difficult to transport to the west of Fucha Mountain in a day or two.

Lin Haizheng mainly relied on more than 2,000 mules and horses that had been prepared long ago, and dragged chariots and weapons from the west bank of the Wushou River as soon as possible and entered the preset interception position.

Even before the enemy's main reinforcements arrived, Lin Haizheng could prepare for one more day, and the defense line would not be perfect.

And now that they have judged the combat intentions of Han Qian and the others, Wen Bo also knows very well in his heart that even if Liyang City falls, they must not ask the Tangyi soldiers to establish a stable and strong camp on both flanks of Fucha Mountain.

At that time, not to mention the counterattack to recapture Liyang City, the communication between Chaozhou and Chuzhou City will also be cut off.

That is to say, at that time, as long as the Tangyi soldiers advance north along the Puyang River and the troops reach the Mopan Valley between the north and south sections of the Wujian Mountains, Chuzhou City will fall into the encirclement of the Tangyi soldiers.

Wen Bo sent someone to meet Xu Sizhao and asked him to draw as many troops and horses as possible from the west bank of Chaohu Lake, and at the same time directly commanded his subordinates, and at the same time set up camp for rectification, he divided his troops to launch a strong attack on the interception position of the Tangyi soldiers at the western foot of Fucha Mountain.

At this time, He Liufeng had already led his troops to capture Dongguan Village, and the strength to attack Liyang City was enough, He Liufeng on the one hand divided his troops to join Xiao Dahu, and attacked the enemy army who retreated to the shallow valley in the southeast of the Misu Mountain, and on the other hand, Han Bao took more than 400 armor soldiers along the eastern foot of the Misu Mountain, crossed the mountains and mountains, and rushed to the western foot of Fucha Mountain sixty miles away to reinforce Lin Haizheng.

On the other hand, the more than 2,000 people who were requisitioned from Jiangzhou had already arrived on both sides of the Yuxi River on the same day that He Liufeng led his troops to capture Dongguan Village.

At this time, these people were brave, they were all bare-chested, and they trampled barefoot on the river beach, freezing and biting

In the mud, the ropes dug deep into their flesh, and with all their strength, they dragged the warships with their pointed bottoms into the mud at the bottom of the river, step by step.

From the west foot of Fucha Mountain to the bay on the east bank of Chaohu Lake, there is a thirty or forty mile long Zhegao River to communicate.

As long as a part of the naval warships can enter Chaohu Lake through the mouth of the water, and then enter the Tuogao River, it will be able to effectively support the interception operation led by Lin Haizheng at the western foot of Fucha Mountain.

A large number of materials arrived from Jiangzhou and other places, through the Yuxi River to Dongguan Village, after unloading in Dongguan Village, as long as less than ten miles of land, you can go to the mouth of the water to load the ship again, sent to the west foot of Fucha Mountain for the construction of the camp.

This road was much faster, faster, and safer than the land transportation at the southern foot of Fucha Mountain, which had been infiltrated by a small group of enemy horsemen......

In addition to Tiancheng, Feng Xuan, and Gao Shao staying in Tangyi, Tingshan, and Puyang, on the 23rd of January, Han Qian, accompanied by Han Donghu, Han Chengmeng, Feng Yi, Xi Yi and others, rushed to Dongguan Zhai to take the town.

The success or failure of this battle is whether the city of Liyang can be successfully captured, whether the enemy army in Liyang can be successfully annihilated, so that the Tangyi soldiers can be connected to the south of the Chuhe River, advance and retreat freely, and will not be cut by the enemy on several battlefields and cannot quickly reinforce each other.

Another key point is whether it can successfully establish a stronghold at the western foot of Fucha Mountain and block the enemy reinforcement in the direction of Chaozhou at Fucha Mountain and north of the Zhegao River.

Han Qian's arrival at Dongguan Village, on the one hand, was to personally supervise the attack of the enemy troops in Liyang, on the other hand, to follow up the reinforcements on the battlefield at the western foot of Fucha Mountain, which would mainly transit through Dongguan Village, and on the other hand, it was also to make it more convenient to persuade the defenders stationed in the cities west of Gyeonggi to send troops to fight with the Tangyi soldiers.

In addition to the Huaixi Forbidden Army led by Li Zhihe in Shuzhou, there were also guards responsible for guarding Jinling City, and the Right Longwu Army based on the early Yuan Hongzhou soldiers and the later Jiangxi Recruitment Army, with Yang Fan, the son of King Shou (Yang Zhitang, King of Yuzhang County), as the commander of the capital to defend the counties of Gyeonggi.

Yang Fan's commander made the main general's tooth tent, which was located in the quarrying city of more than 50 miles southeast of Dongguan Village, and the western areas of Beijing such as Fanchang, quarrying, and Nanling to the west of Jinling City, and stationed 10,000 elites of the right dragon army.

The guards and the right dragon army are the last combat forces of Gongwei Gyeonggi, and they will not be dispatched easily.

For the monarchs and ministers of Great Chu, even if the north bank of the Yangtze River is lost, this last combat power will not be easily bet on the decisive battle.

Huaixi and Huaidong are lost, as long as Dachu can hold on to Jinling City, he can still expect Jiangdong, Liangzhejiang, Jiangxi, and Hunan Prefectures to continuously organize troops and horses to come over for reinforcements.

If even the last point of the battle power of the imperial capital is lost, and the Liang army can take Jinling City by crossing the river, how much space will Da Chu have for dying and struggling?

However, when Han Qian went out to defend Tangyi and made it possible for the situation on the north bank to stabilize, the Privy Council also authorized Yang Fan to mobilize a part of the soldiers and horses of the Right Dragon Wu Army to go to the north bank to fight with the Tangyi soldiers.

Whether the Right Dragon Martial Army is willing to cooperate or not, the initiative is not in Han Qian, he can only rely on Feng Yi, Feng Yi and others to lobby and bewitch as much as possible.

The combat effectiveness of the Right Dragon Martial Army is not very strong, from the early Yuan Hongzhou soldiers to participate in the war of cutting the domain, the main generals and military attaches under the leadership of Yang Zhitang, Yang Fan and his son, have not had any outstanding performance, but in fact, there is no lack of generals who are eager to make contributions.

And as long as there are such generals, they can stand up and take the initiative to ask Yang Fan for battle, as well as enter the north shore to temporarily accept Han Qian's moderation to participate in the battle, even if they are hit hard, it will not affect the foundation of the Right Dragon Martial Army, Yang Fan will not refuse, and will even actively support it.

Li Pu was demoted to the people, and Zhou Bingwu was left in the Privy Council as the deputy privy councillor.

If Yang Zhitang wanted to replace Li Pu as one of the two privy envoys, or even go further, and command the envoys and privy envoys of all the camps of the forbidden army, the Right Dragon Martial Army really needed some dazzling performances.

In the end, in addition to the 2,000 soldiers and horses of the Youlongwu Army, which crossed the river into the north bank and participated in the siege of the enemy army retreating into the shallow valley at the southeast foot of the Wet Sushan Mountain, on the 25th, Tan Yuliang sent his brother Tan Xiuqun to lead three battalions of Tianping generals and Qiao Weiyan to lead 500 Wugang County soldiers and volunteers to arrive at Dongguan Village.

After the news of the destruction of the Right Shenwu Army was confirmed, the imperial court issued the edict of King Qin to the states.

On the one hand, it takes time for the prefectures and counties to assemble the state soldiers and civilians to prepare the weapons and materials needed for the expedition, and on the other hand, when the situation collapses, those who rush to the battlefield first are destined to suffer heavy casualties.

Even the local officials who were loyal to Da Chu were not willing to be a stepping stone for others to establish the merits of King Heqin.

If King Qin's edict wants to play a role, and if he wants to gather enough soldiers and horses to defend Jinling, it will not be effective in one or two months.

However, as long as the edict of King Qin is issued, not to mention Tan Yuliang, who led the balance to guard the Wuchuan River Valley, Qiao Weiyan led the soldiers of Wugang County in Shaozhou and acted in the edict bravely, and Chai Jian, the commander of Shaozhou Assassin Shi and Zuo Shen Wuwei, could not openly stop it.

Qiao Weiyan led the Wugang County soldiers to fight poorly, and at this time he replaced a garrison of Dongguan Village to intercept the enemy troops trying to advance eastward from the southern foot of Qibao Mountain. He Liufeng was ordered to lead the elite of the first battalion that had been replaced, and the elite of the third battalion of Tianpingdu, which had been reinforced by Tan Xiuqun, to rush to the upper reaches of the Zhegao River by the warship that had been dragged into Chaohu Lake.

At this time, Lin Haizheng's troops held out at the western foot of Fucha Mountain for four days, and the casualties had exceeded 3,000, and the number of destroyed weapons was unknown.

At this time, Wen Bo was at the northwest foot of Fucha Mountain, after deducting more than 3,000 casualties, and also gathered an additional 8,000 cavalry and foot soldiers, and if he attacked for another day or two, he could defeat the current Tangyi soldiers and open the channel for reinforcements to enter Liyang from Fucha Mountain, but when he saw more than 2,000 reinforcements arriving, he couldn't help but feel a burst of despair in his heart.

Although they still have an absolute advantage in the number of soldiers and horses, how could he not see how elite the Chu army that has been newly reinforced by him over the years has been in command?

Tan Yuliang led the rebel army to accept Zhao'an, and reorganized the elite six battalions of Tianping Capital to garrison the Wuchuan River Valley.

The elite of these six battalions themselves are all veterans of the rebel army, in addition to the children of the Tan family, there are also a group of military attachés in Xuzhou such as Diao Blind who continue to hide their identities and serve in them.

The three battalions of infantry led by Tan Xiuqun are weaker in terms of expansion potential and large and medium-sized weapons and equipment, but the elite level of the field charge of the same scale will not be slightly weaker than the Xuzhou soldiers, and even stronger than the Tangyi soldiers who have been incorporated into a large number of new soldiers.

When such a new force enters the battlefield, how can Wen Bo not be surprised?

(End of chapter)