"After enduring it for so long, it's finally our turn to make a move!"

Sima Fu stood on the bow of a small boat, looking at the fire rising into the sky in the distance, and said to the guards with a smile on his face. Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info

Since the surrender of the Huainan Army, these old generals have been assigned to different departments to serve as generals.

Some went to the Privy Council or the Command Department to serve as staff officers or transferred to civilian positions, some went to the local area to serve as the commander of the state army, and some went to serve in the elite foreign town army or the foreign army, but those who went to these elite troops can often only serve as deputy generals, after all, there is no shortage of generals at all levels of the six armies, and these people can only serve as deputy generals first.

Of course, there are also people like Sima Fu who entered the water division and served as a naval general.

Sima Fu is a native of Suzhou, proficient in water since childhood, and was a famous water player in the Liangzhejiang Army, and it was no exception in the Huainan Army.

He originally wanted to be a general of the two Zhejiang armies, but unfortunately, the two Zhejiang armies at that time were not strong, and the number was not large, and Sima Fu's strengths were not brought into play.

It wasn't until he took refuge in the Huainan Army that he really became a general of the Navy and was sent to the Huai River to guard against the Liang Army.

This time the Liang army went south, and Sima Fu immediately proposed to send a naval army to prevent the Liang army from crossing the river, but it was opposed by Zhang Xun.

This was because Zhang Xun felt that even if the sailors prevented the Liang army from crossing the river, they would be able to go upstream to join Zhu Quanzhong, and the current there was relatively shallow, and it would be difficult to continue to prevent the Liang army from crossing the river, so it was better to let them cross the river on the Haozhou side, and then cut off their retreat at a critical moment.

Therefore, Sima Fu could only hold his heart for war and wait for the order to attack.

More than half a month has passed, and it was not until today that Zhang Xun sent someone to give an order, asking him to find a way to burn the ships of the Liang army.

At this time, he had completed this task very well, and all the ships assembled in the ferry of the Liang army on the north bank of the Huai River were burned by him with a fire.

"People often say that northerners are good at cavalry, but they are not accustomed to water, and when they get to the water, they are landlubbers. Looking at the panicked enemy soldiers in front of him, who kept shouting, Sima Fu couldn't help but sigh.

"The order goes down, the fleet does not stop, continue to advance westward, destroy all the ships that can be seen along the river, and do not leave even a single ship to the enemy!" He excitedly gave the order.

In the camp of the Liang army, after receiving the news that all the ships had been burned, Kang Huaizhen immediately realized that something was wrong.

"The fact that the enemy's navy had stood still before, but now suddenly burned our ships, must be a sign that the Huainan army is preparing for a large-scale attack. In the general's opinion, the main force of the Huainan Army in Guangling must have been dispatched, and it must have rushed to Haozhou, and it was not even far from here. Therefore, our army must immediately go west to Shouzhou to join the king, otherwise the whole army will be in danger! Kang Huaizhen immediately made a judgment.

"However, the king's order to the general is to let our troops continue to attack Haozhou, without the king's order, if our army retreats without authorization, it will not be good for the king to be angry." Adjutant General Li Si'an said with some concern.

Li Si'an is also a general of the Liang army, no lower than Kang Huaizhen compared to the rank, at present, the Liang army is stationed in the east and west camps, and the camps in the east are under his command, so the weight of his words is also very heavy.

Kang Huaizhen shook his head and said in a deep voice: "It's all this time, if you have to wait for the king's order, it will definitely be too late in time, if it is dragged by the Huainan army, our army can only stay here to fight with the Huainan army with an absolute advantage in troops, and the consequences are unimaginable!" ”

This reason is actually very simple, but Li Si'an still disagrees: "General, after all, I haven't received the news that the Huainan Army has been dispatched from Guangling, maybe it's just that the general is thinking too much?" What's more, our army now has nearly 50,000 people, even if Yang Wu leads the main force of the Huainan Army to help, it is impossible to destroy our army in a short time. As long as our army holds out for a while, when the main force of the king arrives, our army may be able to defeat the enemy, why be in such a hurry to withdraw! ”

In fact, this is not only Li Si'an who thinks so, but other generals also think so.

For so many years, only the enemy army was so frightened that they fled after hearing the news of the arrival of the Liang army, and there was no one where the Liang army heard that the enemy army was attacking in a big way and fled in a hurry.

What's more, it is not clear whether the Huainan Army is attacking on a large scale this time, how can it flee without a fight so quickly?

Although these generals didn't say it clearly, Kang Huaizhen could still see from their expressions that they all thought that they were afraid of the enemy and avoided war!

He sighed and said: "You all think that you will be afraid of the enemy, but have you ever thought that our army has indeed been invincible over the years, and this time the king has indeed come with an army of 200,000 people when he goes south; However, the Huainan army has also been invincible in the south over the years, and even Qian Biao, the king of Yue, has been wiped out by them, and you must not underestimate them. was ambushed by Zhang Xun's ambush a few days ago, wasn't it because you underestimated the Huainan Army? ”

All the generals were a little ashamed, a few days ago Zhang Xun set up an ambush, and at the same time sent a small number of troops to challenge, pretending to fail and fled, at that time Kang Huaizhen tried his best to stop, but the generals, especially Li Si'an, insisted on pursuing, and the ambush was defeated, fortunately Kang Huaizhen was prepared, which prevented further defeat.

"General, maybe the Huainan army can't be underestimated, and even they are now rushing towards Haozhou, but if our army is here to contain the main force of the enemy, please ask the king to lead the army to converge, isn't this an opportunity to destroy the Huainan army?" Aribu General asked.

Kang Huaizhen shook his head and said: "It's not so easy, our army's ships have been burned, although the logistics reserves are still sufficient, but they can support ten days at most, if the king can't come to join our army within ten days, then our army will be really dangerous!" So at least our army should also move westward to minimize the distance between our army and the king's headquarters, and then set up camp and hold on to it before it is too late! ”

They are more than 200 miles away from Shouzhou here, and counting the time when the news reaches Zhu Quanzhong, if Zhu Quanzhong sets off immediately after receiving the time, there will be no problem in arriving in Haozhou within ten days.

However, this is under the condition that everything is not wrong, if there is any accident in the middle, such as the messenger who went to deliver the letter to Zhu Quanzhong was intercepted by the Huainan army, or Zhu Quanzhong did not lead the army to help as soon as he got the news, then there is likely to be a danger of running out of food on the Haozhou side.

"The general is right, our army should try to shorten the distance with the king, and the last general agrees to move west!" After thinking about it carefully, Li Si'an finally agreed with Kang Huaizhen's point of view.

Kang Huaizhen breathed a sigh of relief, the opinions of the other generals were not important, he only needed to show the authority of the chief general to suppress them; However, this Li Si'an's level is not lower than him, almost half of his 50,000 troops are commanded by Li Si'an, if you can't convince this person, you can't pass if you want to withdraw the army.

"Since you have all agreed to march to Shouzhou, then without further ado, it is better for our army to set off now! However, Zhang Xun's old guy will definitely come to stop our army, so someone must stay behind to break the queen, I don't know which general is willing to stay? ”

Generals, you look at me, I look at you, no one wants to take the initiative to stay at this time.

Kang Huaizhen sighed, and then a general stood up and said in a deep voice: "General, the last general is willing to stay and break the queen!" ”

Kang Huaizhen was overjoyed in his heart, looked at the man, and saw that it was his subordinate Yuan Xiangxian, and couldn't help but hesitate.

Although this Yuan Xiangxian is his general, he is Zhu Quanzhong's nephew, and his status is noble, so if something goes wrong after letting him stay, he can't bear this responsibility.

"The general doesn't need to worry, as long as the general is careful, there will be no danger!"

Kang Huaizhen hesitated for a moment, and finally nodded, after all, the Liang army had more cavalry that could be used to break the rear, as long as it was not encircled, otherwise Yuan Xiangxian's safety would be no problem.

On the same day, the Liang army began to march westward, preparing to go to Shouzhou to join Zhu Quanzhong's main force.

In the city of Haozhou, Zhang Xun was not surprised when he got the news that the Liang army had withdrawn to Shouzhou, since it was difficult to cross the river from Haozhou, Kang Huaizhen would naturally go to Shouzhou, which was safer.

It's just that the speed of the Liang army's actions is too fast, and they even started to act without even finding out the current dynamics of the Huainan army, which is not unpleasant.

However, now the main force of the Huainan Army led by Yang Wu is still nearly eighty miles away from Haozhou, this time it is to let the Liang army cross the river to the south, and it is to mobilize the army from all walks of life to help, if it is so easy to let the Liang army go back, then the previous preparations have been done in vain.

"Pursuit! Be sure to entangle the enemy and don't let them flee easily! Zhang Xun also did not hesitate to issue a military order.

For a time, in addition to leaving more than 1,000 Haozhou state soldiers, the remaining nearly 30,000 troops all went out of the city and launched a pursuit of the Liang army.

Zhang Xun even planned to personally lead the more than 500 cavalry assigned to the Youwu Xiang Army as the vanguard, but was stopped by Wang Xuan, the deputy governor.

Now Zhang Xun is already the governor of an army, commanding an army of 30,000, and he has a heavy responsibility, if something happens to him, the Huainan army will not let alone entangle the enemy, and may even suffer a big defeat.

Therefore, Zhang Xun could only stay and lead the army in the end, and ordered the general Li Zhang to lead the cavalry as the vanguard.

However, not long after the Huainan army set off, there was good news that the Xiao cavalry army led by Shi Yan and Hou Zan had arrived in Haozhou in advance, and it was less than ten miles away from them!

With the addition of this 3,000 cavalry, the certainty of catching up with and containing the Liang army is much greater.

"Pursuit, you must not let go of the enemy!"