Time passed, the night became thicker and thicker, and the cold wind on the river blew on people's faces, like a steel knife scraping through, making people feel painful.

Li Cunmiao always stood on the tidal flats, and under the light of the torches, he tirelessly stared at the river in the distance, where a large number of boats were busy lighting torches, and it was obvious that tonight would be a busy night.

At this moment, a sudden flash of fire appeared in the upper reaches of the river, and then, it seemed that shouts of killing came from a distance.

"It seems that the enemy's navy has arrived?" Li Cunmiao's heart sank, and his face was a little unsightly.

The enemy troops came too quickly, and according to his estimates, the enemy troops should arrive as early as tomorrow morning, and if they were slower, they might even arrive the day after tomorrow.

However, he still did not expect that the enemy army would arrive sooner than he thought.

Fortunately, the operation of crossing the river went smoothly, and by this time most of the more than 30,000 troops who were the main force had successfully crossed the Yellow River, and the rest should have had time to cross the river as long as they were faster; Even if the Jin army's navy could withstand the enemy army for a longer time, it would be able to cross the river with more troops.

The only regret is that it is too late to cross the river with all the more than 20,000 relatively old and weak troops.

However, after thinking about it, Li Cunqiao was relieved again: "Since the enemy's naval army can come so quickly, it shows that the enemy army is very well prepared and is waiting for the arrival of our army at any time." If you look at it this way, you can't stay here for long, and you must attack as soon as possible; Those old and weak soldiers will slow down the army. ”

Thinking about it like this, he didn't care anymore.

He patted the horse that sat down, and said in a deep voice to Shi Jingjiao, who was standing beside him: "There's nothing to see here, let's go back to the camp." Is there any news from Li Shaorong's side? ”

Previously, Li Shaorong had been sent out as a pioneer to open the way, and at the same time, he was also to find out the news for the army.

"King Qiqi, there is no new news yet."

As soon as the words fell, I heard the sound of horses' hooves in the distance, and when someone approached, I learned that it was Li Shaorong who rushed back in person.

Li Cunmiao hurriedly summoned him over for questioning.

"The king, the last general led the troops as the vanguard, all the way to the south, except for a few enemy troops, there was not even a single enemy army at all. The last general later grabbed a mouthpiece, and then he learned that the main force of the enemy army was basically concentrated in Pingyin, to the front line of Dong'e. Li Shaorong replied breathlessly, obviously very tired all the way.

"So, King Wu's plan is to concentrate his forces and prepare for a decisive battle?" Li Cunmiao's eyes flashed, and he understood Yang Wu's plan.

If Yang Wu only planned to block the Jin army, then he should distribute his forces in various places to block it, so that as long as he got the news that the Jin army crossed the river, he could deal with it as soon as possible; But Yang Wu chose to concentrate the army, and his purpose was obvious.

After figuring out this, Li Cunqiao then asked, "Is there any more specific news?" For example, what is the morale of the enemy army, what is the strength of the army, etc.? ”

Li Shaorong said: "This last general has not been able to find out, but judging from the prisoners captured by the last general, the morale of the enemy army is still very high. Of course, if it is compared with our army, it will definitely be inferior. ”

He explained: "At that time, the last general led the troops to encounter more than 30 enemy scouts, and the war horses on our side were extremely fast, surpassing the enemy horses, so they quickly surrounded the enemy army. But the thirty or so enemy troops fought our troops without fear of death, and most of them were killed in battle, and only two were wounded and captured. ”

Li Cunmiao's face was not very good when he heard this.

If the morale of the enemy army is still so high after more than eight months of siege, then this battle will be a bit difficult.

Of course, he also knew that those who could be selected as scouts were generally more elite soldiers, and it was normal for morale to be higher.

He pondered for a moment, and finally ordered: "Pass the order, when the sun rises tomorrow morning, no matter how many troops cross the river, the army must set out at once, and must not stop." Li Shaorong, you will continue to be the vanguard of the army and open the way in front. ”

"The last will be ordered."

Li Cunqiao nodded, "Since it is difficult to compare the strength with the enemy army, and it is difficult to have an overwhelming advantage in morale, then let's have a quick raid battle." Lone doesn't believe that there is an army in this world that can block Lone's iron cavalry on flat ground! ”

He no longer paid attention to the situation on the river, and went directly to his camp, and without removing his armor, he directly found a thick blanket to cover his body, and closed his eyes to rest on the fire.

……

Early the next morning, just as he gave the order, when the sky was just dawning, the entire Jin army camp immediately came to life, and countless soldiers lit bonfires and began to bury pots and cook.

At the same time, most of the boats that were still crossing the river had stopped, and only a few boats continued to ferry, carrying some much-needed baggage for the army.

At this time, the three armies of the Jin army, as the main force, as well as their weapons, armor, grain, grass, and baggage, had been safely transported across the river, and three thousand relatively old and weak troops had also successfully crossed the river.

As a result, the number of troops who were eventually able to cross the river reached 35,000 men.

The ability to successfully cross the Yellow River in just one day with 35,000 troops and the corresponding grain and grass baggage was not inefficient in this era; In fact, this is also a success that Li Cunqiao has carefully prepared for more than half a year on the North Shore.

If it was placed more than half a year ago, when Yang Liu Nancheng was just besieged by the Wu army, it would have been absolutely impossible for the Jin army at that time to cross the river so quickly.

As for the battle with the Wu army in the west, unexpectedly, after a night of fierce fighting, the Wu army was finally repelled by the Jin army; In other words, the ferry is still under the control of the Jin army.

This result made Li Cunmiao a little surprised, after all, he had heard of the strength of the Wu army's navy, if he wasn't afraid of the Wu army's navy, why would he be so restrained in the war; However, the Jin army's navy was just a temporary number of landlubbers, and its strength should be far inferior to that of the Wu army.

He didn't know that in fact, he far overestimated the reaction speed of the Wu army, there were not many Wu army sailors who rushed to the battlefield last night, they were just a few warships acting as the vanguard, and their main force was still behind, and it would take at least half a day to arrive.

In fact, the reaction speed of the army in this era is very slow, and Wu Jun's performance has actually exceeded Li Cunmiao's expectations.

And it is normal that the small number of troops that only rely on the vanguard failed to break through the blockade of the Jin army.

However, Li Cunqiao does not plan to change the previous order.

When they had eaten something, the sun had just risen, and with a command, the army set out.

After crossing the river from Liujia Village, until the front of the Horse Mountain, the terrain on this road is very flat, and only occasionally some small rivers block the way.

Such a terrain is too suitable for the Jin army, which has many cavalry.

Therefore, Li Cunqiao ordered Li Shaorong to lead a thousand cavalry as the vanguard to clear the way for the army, and at the same time to know the enemy's scouts; Shi Jingjiao led 5,000 cavalry to march from the right flank, ordered Zhao Zaili to lead the silver spear army to march from the left flank, and he himself led Congmazhi and the remaining cavalry as the central army, aiming directly at the Pingyin Wu army camp.

As for the combat deployment of the Jin army, whether it was Yang Wu, the king of Wu, or the generals under his command, they did not expect it at all.

……

Pingyin County is located thirty miles southeast of Yangliu Nancheng, and its south is a continuous mountainous area; The location of the Jin army crossing the river in Liujia Village is about 60 miles northeast of Yangliu Ferry, and the distance from Pingyin is 70 miles.

When they got the news that the Jin army had crossed the river, everyone, including Yang Wu, took it for granted that the goal of the Jin army must be to go straight to Yang Liu Nancheng, and together with the Jin army in the city, they should join forces with the outside to break the besieging Wu army.

That's what they think, and they naturally plan to do the same.

In fact, this is also what Wu Jun has always planned, that is, to focus on the direction of Yang Liu Nancheng, preparing for a decisive battle with the Jin army there.

I have to say that when the war came, these generals of the Wu army still broke out with great enthusiasm and high efficiency.

Previously, due to the rotation of the army, the army that retreated from the front of Yang Liu was somewhat disconnected from the army that was replenished from the rear, which led to chaos in some camps.

But with the news of the Jin army's crossing of the river, the confusion was quickly quelled: the newly retreated army asked for orders, hoping to participate in the next big battle, while the army that had been replenished in the rear accelerated its march in the hope of catching up with the decisive battle.

Early in the morning, new news came that the advance of the sailors who had gone to intercept had failed to break through the enemy lines and had been repulsed before dark.

However, those sailors looked at the Jin army camp from the river and found that the number of Jin troops who successfully crossed the river was large, at least twenty or thirty thousand people, and this news made Yang Wu and others deeply suspicious.

After all, such a fast speed of crossing the river was really beyond expectations, so Yang Wu felt that perhaps the judgment of the sailors was wrong, after all, they only observed the results from the river surface, which may not be very accurate.

Then there was news that a large number of Jin cavalry were moving southward and clashing with Wu scouts.

By the morning, there were many rumors that the main force of the Jin army seemed to have left the river crossing site and was currently heading south, but the scouts did not get specific and accurate information, and everything could only be speculated.

The reason for this is that the cavalry on the Jin side has launched a large-scale clearance, and they are brave and good at fighting, and their numbers are extremely large, completely covering the battlefield and making it difficult for the scouts on the Wu side to approach.

After getting the news, the generals of the Wu army immediately quarreled.

Lu Shi Zhoudang, who had just led the army to retreat from Yang Liu, stood up and asked: "Great King, the last general thinks that the Jin army wants to attack General Zhou as quickly as possible. The distance between Yang Liu and the Jin army is not far, and if only the enemy army goes south with cavalry, it will take more than half a day to arrive. Even with infantry, as long as you march faster, you can arrive tonight. The last general thinks that it is not appropriate for us to stay for a long time, and that we should immediately send troops to support. ”

During this period, the cavalry marched extremely fast, and it was not a problem to walk eighty or ninety miles a day, while the normal marching speed of the infantry army was about thirty miles, but in extreme cases, many armies could also travel sixty or seventy miles a day.

So after getting the news of the Jin army's dispatch, Lu Shizhou suddenly couldn't sit still.

His opinion was quickly refuted by other generals.

Zhu Qianyou immediately said: "Although our army has a large number of troops, it has not yet been fully assembled. If the troops are dispatched now, they can only dispatch 40,000 or 50,000 troops at most, and it is too hasty to send troops at this time, so it is better to wait another day or two. ”

Li Decheng also advocated waiting for the opportunity first, he said in a deep voice: "Great King, the minister thinks that the so-called news that the enemy army has been dispatched must be wrong, the enemy's speed of crossing the river cannot be so fast, and all 30,000 troops will be transported across the river in just one day. ”

His opinion was echoed by many generals: "Yes, if the main force of the Jin army has not yet crossed the river, then the so-called news that the Jin army has gone south is naturally false." At this time, the king of Jin should still be waiting for the army to cross the river at the ferry, and it should only be the forward cavalry of the Jin army going south. ”

In contrast, the veteran Li Jian was much calmer at this time, and he said to Yang Wu: "Great King, the minister thinks that it is of little significance to argue at this time whether the Jin army can transport 30,000 troops across the river in one day, anyway, the enemy's cavalry has already moved south, which is already an indisputable fact." ”

He looked at the generals and said in a deep voice: "Generals, everyone must know the combat power of the cavalry of the Jin army, and even if it is not enough for 30,000 troops to cross the river in one day, it is not difficult to let 10,000 cavalry cross the river. Just imagine, if the Jin army only moved south quickly with 10,000 cavalry, and attacked our army with Yang Liu's defenders inside and outside, would our army be able to resist it? ”

The generals were silent when they heard this, and Yang Wu began to groan.

Indeed, in fact, the Jin army did not need to cross the river too many people at all, as long as about 10,000 cavalry crossed the river, it could pose a major threat to the Wu army led by Zhou Ben.

You must know that if it is used well, it is not impossible for 10,000 cavalry to defeat the nearly 200,000 Wu troops along the Yellow River, not to mention the 40,000 infantry troops of Zhou Ben.

After all, such classic examples of warfare are not uncommon in history, and Li Cunqiao is also an expert in the use of cavalry, so no one can help but be wary of one or two.

So Yang Wu immediately stood up and asked, "Does Old General Li mean that our army must set off immediately to support General Zhou?" ”

"Yes, the last general thinks that he must immediately lead the army to set out, and as for the follow-up army, he can order them to come to support later."

Yang Wu paced back and forth with his hands in the tent, closing his eyes and pondering.

The other generals kept silent, waiting for Yang Wu to make a final decision.

For Yang Wu, if he sent troops immediately, the army that could be dispatched should be forty or fifty thousand people, which was also a great strength advantage for the Jin army; However, if you wait for a day or two, you can give full play to the strength advantage of the Wu army.

But in that case, the Zhou camp may be raided by the Jin army, and it is difficult to say whether it can block the internal and external attacks of the enemy army.

After being silent for a while, Yang Wu suddenly laughed: "What's wrong with me?" Could it be that he was frightened by the lightning speed of the Jin army's attack? Even if the enemy army wants to fight fast, is Lone afraid that he won't succeed? The soldiers are fast, and they can't hesitate! ”

Thinking of this, he ordered in a deep voice: "Chuan Gu's order, the troops that have been assembled by the various divisions should set off immediately at noon, and the rest of the army should quickly prepare to come to support. ”