On October 22 of the 18th year of Tianbao, the forward army of the Northern Expedition of the Tang Army arrived in Huaizhou, and successfully completed the division with Wang Yuan's department and Wang Sili's department. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 ｉｎｆｏ

"Hahaha・・・・・・ welcome General Chu, General Bai and the two General Li to Huaizhou, we will miss the welcome, forgive the sins, forgive the sins!" Wang Rare and Wang Sili took dozens of generals and local officials from Huaizhou out of the city to greet them.

Chu Ge hugged his fists on behalf of the generals and said with a smile: "I've been waiting for the two generals and other generals for a long time!" ”

Wang rarely said: "The army came from afar, and the local officials and people prepared some food and wine to comfort the army. ”

People were so enthusiastic, Chu Ge and the others were not easy to refuse, and immediately ordered the army to be stationed on the spot to eat, but not allowed to drink, and several of their main generals followed Wang Rare and others into Huaizhou City for a banquet, leaving their respective lieutenants to greet outside the city.

After eating and drinking, and having eaten and drunk, the maids brought tea, and each sat behind a low table to discuss the route of the march.

Wang rarely asked: "General Chu, although we have received an official letter from the Marshal's Mansion for this Northern Expedition, we are not clear about the specific task, and I don't know what arrangements the marshal has for our two troops and horses?" ”

Only then did Chu Ge take out an official document from his arms and said: "This is a military order written by the marshal himself, please look at it with the two generals!" ”

Wang rarely had a personal soldier behind him come over and deliver the official document to him, he read it again, and then asked the personal soldier to send it to Wang Sili, and Wang Sili also quickly read it.

Wang said rarely: "The marshal said that the two of us led our troops to be stationed in Huaizhou for a long time and were familiar with the local terrain and folk customs, so we were given two tasks: first, a part of the men and horses were dispatched from all over the country to follow the four routes of the vanguard army, responsible for exploring the terrain, reconnoitering the enemy, guiding the way for the vanguard army, cooperating with the main force of the Northern Expedition vanguard army, and negotiating with the local people; Second, he is responsible for protecting the grain routes, transporting supplies for heavy loads, and taking over the cities attacked by the vanguard army at any time, etc.! The commander's military order, we will complete it to the letter, if General Chu has any orders and dispatches, just speak! ”

Chu Ge's specific position is not high, his position is the governor of the Beiting Broken Leaves Governor's Mansion and the former military envoy of the Beiting Army, while Wang Rare is the envoy of the Longyou Festival, Wang Sili is also the envoy of the Hexi Festival at this time, in terms of specific positions, both of them are higher than Chu Ge, but Chu Ge's official rank and military rank at this time are from the second rank and the general of the town army respectively, but they are higher than these two, these are the accumulation of achievements, and they can't be fake, and Wang Rare and Wang Sili and others Although their positions are high, their records are not very ideal. Therefore, these two people were polite when they spoke to Chu Ge and the others.

Chu Ge asked, "What is the deployment of the rebel army around Xinxiang?" ”

When Wang heard this, he asked people to carry out a map, and then walked to the map and pointed to the map and said: "Now the outposts at the forefront of our army have been operating in the area of Xiuwu and Wuzhi counties, and the rebels have deployed 3,000 people each in Wuzhi and Xiuwu, since the news of our army's Northern Expedition came out, the rebels' strength in these two counties has increased to 5,000, and the strength in other counties is 3,000 or 5,000, Yinzhou (now Huojia County) has 20,000, and Xinxiang has 5,000, Cui Qianyou's main force of 100,000 horses and horses was gathered on the front line of Suozao (now Yanjin) and Yangwu (now Yuanyang County), Li Huaixian now has 70,000 or 80,000 horses in his hands, and the elite is only 30,000, gathered in Kuangcheng (now Changyuan) and Fengqiu! ”

Chu Ge said: "Before our army set off, the marshal had already deployed, and after arriving in Huaizhou to join your two divisions, General Li Siye led the Chinese army and the second and fourth armies of Henan to march to Wuzhi County, and after breaking through Wuzhi County, the troops entered Yangwu; Our front army, the left and right armies and the Henan first, third, fifth, and sixth armies marched to Xiuwu County in the northwest, and after capturing Xiuwu and Yinzhou, they were divided into two, and the left army Bai Xiaode and the Henan Fifth Army entered the Gongcheng in the north, and after taking the Gongcheng, the troops entered Weizhou (now Weihui), while our front army, the right army Li Shengbu and the Henan First, Third, and Sixth Army marched to Xinxiang, captured Xinxiang and then marched to Sujuo, and asked the two generals to help a lot during the battle! ”

Wang Sili and Wang Tianren hugged their fists and said: "It's easy to say, it's easy to say, I'll try my best to cooperate!" ”

On October 25, the Beiting Forward Army divided its troops into two routes and attacked at the same time. The first route was Li Siye's Chinese army as the main force, and the second and fourth armies of the Henan Army marched to Wuzhi County with the assistance of the second and fourth armies.

At this time, the three armies in front of Beiting, the left and the right and the first, third, fifth, and sixth armies of the Henan Army led by Chu Ge arrived at the foot of Xiuwu County and set up camp to prepare to attack the city on a later date.

Unexpectedly, it rained heavily on this day, and it rained in a large area north and south of the Yellow River, which temporarily blocked the Tang army's northern expedition, and the two armies of Chu Ge and Li Siye had to temporarily abandon the siege plan.

Chen Liu (that is, Bianzhou, Tianbao changed Bianzhou to Chen Liu in the first year, the previous chapter is wrong), on the edge of the Yellow River.

In the afternoon, Zhao Ziliang stood on the edge of the Yellow River in his coat, looked up at the heavy rain in the sky, and his mood couldn't get better, the weather was unfavorable, not manpower could forcibly change, now this heavy rain has not been long yet, with the extension of time, if this heavy rain falls for a few days, it will be impossible to fight for at least ten days and half a month, and the muddy road can make it difficult for the army to move an inch.

Gao Shang, Cen Shen, Zheng San, Du Fu, Wang Wei, Wang Zhen, Huang Fuxian and other staff members all rode beside Zhao Ziliang in robes, and everyone was not in a good mood.

Cen Shen sighed: "It seems that this day is not for me!" ”

Gao Shang said: "Dashuai, the rain is only temporary, if it rains in a large area, General Chu and General Li and others of the vanguard army will definitely decide whether to march at their discretion, Dashuai don't have to worry, this heavy rain will not fall all the time!" ”

Zhao Ziliang shook his head and sighed: "I'm not worried that they will force the army to attack during the rainy season, I'm worried that the longer this heavy rain falls, the colder the weather will be, the first batch of winter clothes has not yet been transported, if the weather suddenly becomes cold, the front-line soldiers are afraid that they will not be able to bear it!" In fact, according to my original intention, I wanted to wait a few more months, and use this winter to strengthen the training of the 200,000 Henan army again, and wait until tomorrow spring, with 300,000 elite troops, we will definitely be able to wipe out An Qingxu and Shi Siming's rebels with a devastating momentum, but the imperial court asked us to send troops at this staggered time in autumn and winter, hey・・・・・・"

When the staff heard this, they all sighed.

Zhao Ziliang stared at the endless warships lined up from left to right on the riverside to the distance, and some soldiers standing guard in their robes and spears stood guard without moving, and asked, "What time is it?" ”

"Dashuai, it's just past the hour, and it will be dark in another hour!"

Zhao Ziliang looked up at the sky, and a bold plan popped up in his heart - forcibly crossing the river!

After pondering for a moment, he shouted to Zheng San: "Zheng San, how many sets of robes and blankets can be transported in an hour?" ”

Zheng San was stunned for a moment, but still replied: "Blankets should be available to everyone in the Beiting Army, all of them have been used before, and there are 10,000 sets of robes in the Chenliu warehouse for the time being, which can be called at any time!" ”

Zhao Ziliang thought for a while and said: "Pass the order, let the You Yi army and the escort army immediately make a fire to rebel, prepare blankets, and prepare to cross the river after dinner; Bring the clothes in the warehouse to the Youyi army and the escort army, if it is not enough, borrow it from other armies first, and make sure to make up the quantity; In addition, let the boatmen also have dinner with the rangers and escorts, and they are indispensable when crossing the river! Now it has only been raining for two hours, and the river water has not risen significantly, but if it rains for a long time, the river will inevitably rise sharply, and it will be much more dangerous to cross the river again! ”

Zhao Ziliang originally wanted to erect a pontoon bridge on the river, but considering that the water in the middle of the river is too deep, the boats used to erect the pontoon bridge cannot be fixed in place without a focus point in the middle of the river, and there are rebels stationed on the other side of the river, and the movement caused by the erection of the pontoon bridge is too large, and it takes a long time, and it is easy to be discovered and prepared by the rebels.

Cen Shen was a little worried: "Dashuai, is it too dangerous to cross the river at night?" And the task on our side is to contain Cui Qianyou and Li Huaixian, and they should not be the main attackers! ”

Zhao Ziliang shook his head and said: "The army is impermanent, the water is impermanent, many times on the battlefield the plan can't catch up with the changes, if we stick to the rules and tactics are dull, not only will we delay the fighter, but also may be seized by the enemy, this heavy rain has put our previous plan on hold temporarily, and the attack has been blocked, but this is not a chance, although there are some adventures, but it is worth it, on such a rainy day, can Cui Qianyou and Li Huaixian think that we will forcibly cross the river?" Maybe they are breathing a sigh of relief and letting their guard down at this time! Tonight is the best time for us to cross the river, if we wait until tomorrow when the river rises sharply, the danger of crossing the river will increase several times, needless to say, Chen Qing, give the order immediately! ”

Chen Qing hugged his fists and said: "Obey!" ”

After the order was given, the Tang army moved all the way, and a large number of sergeants transported a large number of clothes from the warehouse in Chen Liucheng to the barracks under the river embankment in wagons, and the barracks were nervously lighting fires to rebel, and the men had to prepare not only food for the nearly 20,000 cavalry of the rangers and guards, but also three days' dry rations for them, which had to be completed within two hours at the latest.

Since the cavalry officers and soldiers of the Rangers and Guards received the order to prepare to cross the river for battle, they are all preparing in the camp, and everyone is packing up, especially blankets, woolen sweaters, and changing shoes and socks. (To be continued.) )