The Huai River lies in the north of Shouzhou, which is the junction of the Central Plains and the south, like a natural barrier, protecting the land of Jianghuai. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info

As the saying goes, "to defend the river, you must defend the Huai", the Jianghuai is one, and with the Huaihe defense line, the regime that seizes the south has enough strategic depth; On the contrary, if the army from the Central Plains gains a firm foothold in Jiangbei and confronts the Jiangnan regime across the river, then the defense of the Qianli River may become a breakthrough for the other side everywhere.

Therefore, after Yang Xingmi completely defeated Sun Ru more than ten years ago and reoccupied Guangling, it didn't take long for him to send troops north, successively capturing Shouzhou, Sizhou, Chuzhou, Haozhou and Guangzhou on the south bank of the Huai River, and then relying on the favorable conditions here to establish a solid defense line as the forefront against Zhu Quanzhong.

With this line of defense, Huainan's strategic security was initially guaranteed, and in the Battle of Qingkou eight years ago, Zhu Quanzhong's plan to go south was thwarted in one fell swoop.

Generally speaking, if you send troops from the Central Plains to conquer Jianghuai, there are two routes, east and west, of which the eastern route is to cross the river from Chuzhou and go straight to Guangling along the Grand Canal. Zhu Quanzhong chose this route during the Battle of Qingkou that year, but he suffered a crushing defeat.

And this time, Zhu Quanzhong chose the route to the west, which is in fact the route chosen by most of the Central Plains expeditions to Jianghuai in history, both the former Qin Fujian and the later Zhou Shizong Chai Rong chose this route.

This is because if you take the western route, as long as you capture Shouzhou, you will face the Huainan Plain in front, the terrain is flat, and there are several large rivers and rivers that are also gentle, which is conducive to marching; And even if the war is unfavorable, you can retreat along the same path, as long as the people behind the palace are not too incompetent, and the whole army will not be wiped out.

But the biggest problem with this road is the fortified city of Shouju. If the enemy in Shouzhou City has strong enough combat power, even if he chooses to bypass Shouzhou, his rear roads and flanks will be greatly threatened.

Therefore, if you want to take the western route, you have to capture Shouzhou first, or at least surround Shouzhou first.

In mid-September, the Liang army was assembled and began to cross the river to the south.

More than 10,000 soldiers and horses are boundless, not to mention that now the Liang army has 200,000 troops, if they are all put together, no battlefield can accommodate so many soldiers at the same time, and at the same time, logistics support is difficult to maintain, so the division of troops has become an inevitable choice.

This time, Zhu Quanzhong chose to divide his troops into three routes, of which the western route was led by Yang Shihou, with a total of 30,000 people, to attack Gwangju; The eastern route was led by Kang Huaizhen, with a total of 50,000 people, and attacked Haozhou; The remaining 120,000 troops were led by Zhu Quanzhong himself, crossing the Huai River from Yingzhou to Shouzhou.

On the south bank of the Huai River, looking at the army that was constantly crossing the river to the south, Zhu Quanzhong was full of pride for a while, and his heart was full of hope for victory.

Three days earlier, when the Liang army arrived at the edge of the Huai River, the 15,000 Huainan army had already been waiting on the south bank of the Huai River under the leadership of Li Chengsi.

Zhu Quanzhong was not at all surprised by the Huainan Army's preparations in advance, after all, the 200,000-strong army was so huge that it was impossible to hide the Huainan Army's meticulous work.

However, this year, the water level of the Huai River is relatively shallow, and this time he went south just in time for the dry period of the Huai River, and now the water flow of the Huai River is gentle, and the river is not deep, which is not conducive to the play of the Huainan Water Army.

Therefore, after the Liang army forcibly crossed the river from multiple places at the same time and had already occupied several strong positions, Li Chengji saw that he could not prevent the Liang army from crossing the river, so he led his army to withdraw to Shouzhou, preparing to hold on and wait for reinforcements.

In this way, the Liang army crossed the Huai River at a very small cost.

Zhu Quanzhong was very happy about the success of the first battle, and what made him even happier was that with the help of several local guides who had taken refuge in him, they also managed to find several places where the river was shallow and the infantry could directly wade across the river, which greatly accelerated the Liang army's crossing of the river and also reduced the need for boats.

"King, we lack warships in the north, and every time we cross the river to the south, we will be threatened by the Huainan navy, but this time there are these shallow places, whether we cross the river to the south or cross the north back in the future, it will be much easier." Beside him, Li Zhen, who went out with the army, looked a little excited.

He suggested: "The king, his subordinates feel that as the saying goes, if you can't win this time when you go south, you must first consider a way out; If you wait until the battle is unfavorable and then retreat hastily, you may be taken advantage of by the enemy. Therefore, there is a suggestion from his subordinates that our army can mark these shallow places, and when it is necessary to retreat in the future in case of unfavorable war, they can wade directly along these shallow places to cross the river without waiting for the transportation of ships. ”

Zhu Quanzhong's face was happy, and he nodded again and again: "This method is very good, you can try it." ”

Although he has the confidence to win in his heart, Zhu Quanzhong is also an old man, so he naturally knows that any accident can happen on the battlefield, and the city of Shouzhou is strong, and whether he can capture it in the south this time is also a question, so he has to prepare in advance.

So after listening to Li Zhen's suggestion, Zhu Quanzhong agreed without much thought, and ordered someone to carve a stone statue about the same height as ordinary people, and then threw it into the shallow place in the water, and the water surface just overflowed the waist of the stone statue as a mark.

After doing this, Zhu Quanzhong began to lay out further plans for the march.

The place where they now crossed the river was to the west of the city of Shouzhou, seventy miles away from Shouzhou; Not far to the south is Huoqiu County, where there are not many defenders, only a local tyrant named Zhu Jing, who led more than 1,000 troops to garrison the local area.

Therefore, Zhu Quanzhong immediately decided to take it first, as a garrison for the army, and at the same time, he could also hoard logistics baggage here to prepare for the siege of Shouzhou in the future.

That night, the vanguard of the Liang army rushed to Huoqiu, but they were greeted by an empty city, both the defenders and the people in the city had withdrawn, and the food and baggage and other things that might have been used by the Liang army were either transported away or simply burned on the spot. As for the outside of the city, it is now the end of September, the autumn harvest is basically over, and the grain in the field has long been harvested.

As a result, the Liang army only found a few hundred catties of grain that was hidden by the people privately after a raid, and it was obviously far from enough to supply the army.

"My lord, it seems that the enemy army is planning to deal with our army by means of fortifying the walls and clearing the wilderness." Seeing this result, Li Zhen twisted his beard and said.

Zhu Quanzhong frowned, it is normal for the enemy army to clear the wilderness, but this time the enemy army did it so thoroughly, withdrawing the people and the grain and grass baggage, so that his logistics baggage needs to rely entirely on the transportation of the rear.

Fortunately, after years of operation, the Central Plains has recovered some vitality, and the reserves of grain and grass are relatively sufficient.

If you want to say why the Liang army can gradually gain the upper hand in the battle between the Liang army and the Jin army, the sufficient guarantee of logistics and baggage should be regarded as an important reason. Li Keyong is a barbarian of Shatuo, who does not know production, only knows robbery; And he plundered not only on the territory of other feudal towns, but also on his own.

However, as the war continued, many places in the north were already starved of resources and had nowhere to grab, so when engaging the Liang army, his army was often not guaranteed in terms of logistics.

Although Zhu Quanzhong's army also likes to loot, he generally only robs on the enemy's territory, and the military discipline on his own territory is still relatively strict, so after these 20 years, he already has a relatively stable rear, which can ensure that his army gets enough food and grass to carry the burden.

For example, this time, although Huainan used the method of fortifying the walls and clearing the wilderness to deal with them, because he had a solid rear, there was no need to worry about the heavy grain and grass in the short term.

The only thing to worry about is that now the logistics are all dependent on rear transportation, and once the supply line is attacked by the enemy, the logistics cannot keep up, and the army may run out of food and grass.

"Ordered the Yingzhou regiment to train Gao Jixing as a transshipment envoy, responsible for the supply of grain and grass! Let him be careful not to give the enemy a chance! Zhu Quanzhong immediately ordered, and then ordered Kou Yanqing to lead the army south, preparing to loot everywhere to attack Huainan's economic base.