In the end, the team under the command of Hui Qu is still the main force of Yuan Shujun's army, although he was caught off guard in the face of the strange tactics of the Junzi army, collapsed and fled, and the Junzi, who has always disliked hard battles, also tried his best to chase and kill, eager to give birth to three heads and six arms to slash, but in the end, he got rid of the pursuit of the Junzi army, and the Yuan Shu soldiers on the southern front who escaped back to Feicheng alive under the leadership of Huiqu's brother Huicheng are still as many as more than 5,000 people - of course, when these more than 5,000 Yuan Shujun soldiers fled back to Feicheng, they were already embarrassed and exhausted, as soon as they returned to the city, they wailed and cried countless people.

Originally, with the running ability of the Junzi Army, there was absolutely no problem in the long-distance run until Hefei City, but after nearly a hundred miles of pursuit, although the war horse could still support it, the up and down of the Junzi Army were so tired that they couldn't even lift their arms, and there were even cases of soldiers falling off their horses one after another. Seeing this scene, Tao Ji, who regarded the Junzi Army as a treasure, had no choice, in order not to make a mistake, he could only order the troops to be withdrawn and return to Quyang to hand over the order to Tao Ying, and Tao Ying was more afraid of unexpected losses than Tao Ji, so he had already discharged Chen Zhi to lead the army south to respond, so that the exhausted Junzi Army successfully withdrew to Quyang.

The Junzi Army won more with less in this battle again, although the battle was brilliant, the results were not very satisfactory, especially after roughly figuring out how many defeated soldiers fled back to Feicheng, Tao Ying was still used to turning around in the lobby with his hands behind his back, his face was quite melancholy, and when he asked the reason, Tao Ying replied frankly: "I found that I underestimated the southern front army of Yuan Shujun's army, you can think about it, in the case of the death of the commander, the collapse of the army and the full pursuit of the Junzi army, nearly half of the defeated soldiers can still escape back to Fei, How can such an army be comparable to the enemy we encountered on the battlefield of Zhuyi last year? ”

"Second brother, it's not that the enemy is too powerful, it's that the younger brother's troops are too small." Tao Ji protested loudly: "The Junzi army only has 1,500 people in total, and it is certainly not easy to kill all the enemies after chasing and killing more than 10,000 enemies, if you expand the Junzi army to 3,000 people earlier, you can destroy at least 10,000 enemies on the battlefield this time!" ”

"Expand the army of gentlemen to three thousand? You told me to go up there and find such a war horse? Tao Ying asked helplessly, and didn't want to entangle with his stunned cousin on this topic, but continued to analyze: "If my expectations are not bad, after the reinforcements transferred by Yuan Shu from Lujiang receive this news, the march will definitely be much more cautious, and we want to rely on the Junzi Army to rely on a lone army to severely damage Yuan Shu's Lujiang reinforcements, I'm afraid it will not be so easy." ”

"What the lord said is true, as long as Yuan Shu's Lujiang reinforcements are not stupid, they will definitely be extremely cautious in the next march and battle, and they will not give our army a good chance to break through." Lu Su agreed, and said: "Our army has found out that Yuan Shu's Lujiang reinforcements are more than 20,000 troops, plus nearly half of the Liyang army that fled back to fat, if the lord wants to adhere to the tactics of various breakthroughs, the army facing the Lujiang reinforcements cannot only rely on the Junzi army, and must dispatch more troops to be sure to take Yuan Shu's Lujiang reinforcements." ”

Tao Ying pursed his lips and didn't speak, and Chen Zhi next to him said worriedly: "Strategist, it's too risky to do this, right?" The main force of our army is only about 35,000 people, and this force must not only protect the grain road, but also control several footholds in Yicheng, Dangtu and Quyang, and guard against the main force of Yuan Shu's northern line in Shouchun and the Qiaorui division in Yinling. ”

"Uncle Zhi's worries are justified." Lu Su nodded, smiled again and said: "However, according to Su's opinion, after the main force of our army goes south to fight the reinforcements of Lujiang, Yuan Shupifu may not have the courage to attack Quyang with all his strength. ”

"How so?" Tao Ying turned back to Lu Su and asked.

"Yuan Shu is arrogant and judgmental, and he is fierce and inward-looking, if he had the courage to come to a decisive battle with our army, then he would have come a long time ago." Lu Su replied calmly: "It has been five days since our army took Quyang, and the distance between Quyang and Shouchun is only more than forty miles. But in the past five days, Yuan Shu not only sent troops to counterattack, but also sent the army sent to rescue Quyang back to the west of Feishui, relying on Feishui to be tightly armed, which is enough to prove that Yuan Shu is already afraid, and he no longer dares to hope that he has repeatedly lost the northern front team at the hands of our army. In this case, our army may not have to take a risk. ”

Tao Ying began to be tempted, walked to the map sand table and groaned and analyzed, Lu Su also followed to the sand table, compared the distance and said: "Lord, we can also take a step back and prepare for the worst, even if Yuan Shu has the courage to send troops, our east bridge Rui found that the situation is not good, besiege Wei to save Zhao desperately send troops to attack Quyang and Dangtu, we also have cities to defend in Quyang and Dangtu, and we can hold on to the main force without too many troops." The distance between Quyang and Hefei is only 220 miles, and it will only take three days for the main force to return to reinforcement at most, and Yuan Shupifu's main force on the northern front will go out of the city to fight in the field, which will also give our army a chance to break him through. ”

Tao Ying pondered for a long time, and finally ordered: "Summoning Yicheng, let Song Xian cross the river to the south, and give the righteous deal to Qin Yi and Xie Yan to join forces to guard, Song Xianjun moved to Dangtu, when the more than 8,000 soldiers in Tu City Song Xian and Zang Ba were one and a half, and the seven thousand Xuzhou veterans under Zang Ba left two thousand to Song Xian to assist in defending the city, and the remaining five thousand people let Zang Ba personally lead the south, and take the Huainan troops as the vanguard to monitor Qiao Rui outside the city of Yinling, no need to attack the city but only in the field, once Qiao Rui is out of the city, immediately face the head!" Wait until I kill Yuan Shupifu's Lujiang reinforcements, and then personally lead the army north, join forces with him to attack Yinling City, and shoot the stinky cockroach of Qiaorui. ”

Lu Su respectfully agreed, and immediately put pen to paper, Tao Ying explained: "Zijing, the matter of the proposed order is handed over to Chen Ying, from now on, you will personally supervise, and immediately start to strengthen the city defense of Quyang, I will personally lead the army south to fight Yuan Shu's Lujiang reinforcements, Quyang, the largest granary of our army, will be entrusted to you." Lu Su agreed again, immediately went down to organize auxiliaries and people to start strengthening the city defense, Chen Deng's brother Chen Ying took over the errand of the proposed order, wrote the military order for Tao Ying, Tao Ying signed the seal after verifying that it was correct, and sent a fast horse to deliver Yicheng and Dangtu not to mention.

……………… Deputy Director Tao and Lu Su's abacus, which has been broken, are very good, while reinforcing the city defense of the foothold, the troops are dangerous, continue to disperse the forces that are not dominant, and concentrate the elite troops to form a local trend of relying on the strong and bullying the weak, ready to eat Yuan Shu's Lujiang reinforcements, Yinling defenders and Shouchun garrisons one by one, and also calculated the distance and is ready to return to help at any time, but although the wishful thinking is good, the development of the next war has greatly surprised the expectations of Deputy Director Tao and Lu Su.................. First of all, let's look at the little Yuan Sangong's side, Lu Su said, the timid little Yuan Sangong was really scared, in just over five days, the Xuzhou army first wiped out the main force of the Yuan Shu army on the north bank of the Huai River, and broke through the Huai River defense line that was pinned on by the Yuan Shu army's civil and military officers in a few hours, and then connected three Huainan cities in one go, and beat Qiao Rui, the chief general of the northern line of the Yuan Shu army, to hide in the Yinling City and dare not show his head! Such bad news came one after another, and the little Yuan Sangong, who was strong in the outside world, was frightened, and naturally not only did he no longer have the previous arrogance, but also did not dare to have the courage to directly confront the Xuzhou army.

Xiao Yuan Sangong was also like this in Kuangting back then, Kuangting battle, Xiao Yuan Sangong, who was supported by the Black Mountain thieves and Hun soldiers, was arrogant at first, and was defeated by the big Yuan Sangong and Cao Boss together, Xiao Yuan Sangong was timid and simply didn't even dare to meet Cao Boss's face, and would rather throw down the old nest Nanyang and jump thousands of miles into Dabie Mountain, and run to Huainan to grab the territory of Chen Wen, the assassin of Yangzhou at that time, rather than dare to stay in Nanyang to fight with Cao Boss.

Because of this, when the Xuzhou army relied on the help of Neiying to take Quyang, Xiao Yuan Sangong, who was sitting on tens of thousands of troops in Shouchun, did not even have the courage to counterattack Quyang, and blindly just retreated to the Feishui defense line, and sat back and watched the Xuzhou army stand firm in Quyang City, forty miles away, and at the same time, despite the resolute opposition of the lord Bo Yanxiang, who had advanced far away, he dug his own grave and sent Runan, inviting the famous boss nemesis Liu Huangshu to go south for reinforcements. And when he received the news of the fiasco of Huiqu's reinforcements, Xiao Yuan Sangong was furious and asked Zhang Xun why he did not personally lead the army north to reinforce him, and he also had no courage to leave Feishui and Shouchun Jiancheng to protect, and he sat back and watched the Xuzhou army gain a foothold in Quyang, just hoping that the Lujiang reinforcements could reach the northern line smoothly, and he did not have the courage to send troops to receive the reinforcements, so he gave the Tianci fighters that were broken to Deputy Director Tao.

On the side of Yinling Qiaorui, in fact, long before the fiasco of the Huiqu army, General Qiaorui had already considered sending troops to contain the Xuzhou army, or sending troops to meet the reinforcements of the southern and western fronts, so that his own reinforcements could successfully reach the northern front, reverse the dilemma of the Huainan army on the northern front fighting separately, and turn the Huainan war into a battle, and use the advantage of more soldiers and sufficient food to drag down the Xuzhou army that had few soldiers and needed to transfer grain and grass. It's a pity that General Qiaorui's strength is insufficient, the army's mobility is not as good as the Xuzhou army, and the grasp of the field battle out of the city is really not big, plus Tao should be extremely vigilant against Qiaorui, and always leave the main force in Quyang, which is forty miles away, to monitor Qiaorui, so even if the poor General Qiaorui knows that the Xuzhou army may adopt various tactics to break through, he can only honestly retreat in Yinling City, and the army does not dare to go out of the city for ten miles at will, almost watching the Huiqu reinforcements being heavily damaged by the Junzi army and retreating.

And now, Tao Ying, who is very vigilant about Qiao Rui, has transferred Zang Ba to contain Qiao Rui full-time, and the poor Qiao Rui General has no courage to go out of the city at will, so he can only desperately strengthen the defense of Yinling City, prepare for a long-term hard battle, and at the same time try his best to contact Hefei, constantly pray to the sky, pray that the reinforcements sent by Liu Xun can be cautious and steady, and successfully reach the northern line to meet with friendly troops to stabilize their foothold, and then Yuan Shujun has hope of reversing. And General Qiao Rui's heartfelt prayer was not useless, and the only miscalculation of Deputy Director Tao and Lu Su was also on Liu Xun's support army............ Although the reinforcements sent by Liu Xun from Lujiang are located in the west of Shouchun, because of the convenience of marching and the assembly point of the army in Shu County, the 20,000 reinforcements led by Liu Xun from his younger brother Liu Kai and the Huiqu reinforcements sent by Zhang Xun are all going north to the north to reinforce the flat official road of Hefei, so when the support army led by Liu Kai and Liu Wei arrived in Hefei, they naturally bumped into the remnants of the Huiqu army, and also learned the details of the defeat of the Huiqu army from the mouth of the Huiqu brother Huicheng, and roughly understood the strength of the Xuzhou army.

"Fifteen hundred cavalry, and your army of twelve thousand is beaten like this?" Not to mention, Liu Kai really couldn't believe that the Xuzhou army was really so terrifying, and couldn't help but ask Hui Cheng: "General Hui, are you sure that what you encountered was only 1,500 Xuzhou cavalry?" Did you miscalculate the number, the Xuzhou cavalry is actually more than that? ”

"Fifteen hundred cavalry, indeed." Hui Cheng, who still had gauze tied to his forehead, spoke in a very depressed tone, and replied dejectedly: "The ranks of the hypocrite army are very neat, almost like a scalar tape, I have counted carefully, the hypocrite army only had a thousand cavalry at first, and then five hundred people came. ”

Liu Kai was a little stammered, and sighed after a long time: "I heard that the hypocrite army has never suffered a defeat since its debut, and it really deserves its reputation, this battle is difficult to fight." ”

"General Hui, Ye has a problem." At this time, Liu Ye, who had been listening all the time, opened his mouth and asked slowly: "General Hui, listen to your introduction, the most difficult point of the Xuzhou Junzi Army is that you can release arrows anytime and anywhere, even if you are in the midst of a rapid charge, you can also turn around and release arrows on the galloping war horses, and our cavalry can't catch up with them, and they can't hit them - then may I ask General Hui, what is the range of the Junzi Army's horse bow?" Can it be compared to a foot bow or a strong crossbow? ”

"This ......." Hui Cheng really didn't think about this, but fortunately, Hui Cheng, who was able to be careful enough to carefully count the number of enemies on the battlefield, was more careful, and after carefully recalling it for a long time, Hui Cheng slapped his thigh and exclaimed: "Yes, how did I forget this?" The hypocrites use short horse bows, and although the range is about the same as that of ordinary wooden bows used by infantry, our strong crossbows and stumbling crossbows can shoot farther than theirs! ”

"Sure enough." Liu Ye nodded, then turned to Liu Kai and said: "Second general, although the Junzi Army in Xuzhou is powerful, it is not to be feared, when our army encounters it, as long as it fights in formation and shoots at it with a strong bow and crossbow, then even if it can't catch up with the Junzi Army, it can shoot them away." ”

Liu Kai twisted his beard and calculated, and after a long time, he nodded, and said: "Mr. Ziyang is reasonable, it seems that in the future, our army will encounter the gentleman's army, and the only way is to shoot with a bow and crossbow, fortunately, our army often fights in water battles, there are many crossbowmen in the team, and the gentleman's army will not suffer a loss, and equipping cavalry is far more expensive than equipping infantry, even if our army is to exchange three foot archers for a gentleman's cavalry." ”

"Uncle, little nephew suggests that when our army goes north again, we must be more cautious." Liu Xun's eldest son, Liu Wei, on the other side, said: "In this way, once you encounter a surprise attack by the Junzi Army, you can immediately form a phalanx to meet the enemy, fortunately, the terrain in the north is open, which is very suitable for our army to form a formation and fight." ”

Liu Kai was very satisfied when he heard this, and immediately nodded in agreement, and when he discussed the time to go north with Liu Ye, the staff officer of the army designated by his brother, Liu Ye picked up the military intelligence report of the remnants of Huicheng in the past few days, and shook his head while saying: "The second general does not need to be anxious, only by knowing himself and knowing the other can he win a hundred battles, please let me read the military intelligence report in the past few days, and then discuss the time of sending troops with the second general." ”

"What Mr. said is extremely true, then Mr. Lao Ziyang has to worry a lot."

Liu Kai also had great respect for Liu Ye, a resourceful Han clansman, not only did not urge Liu Ye, but also deliberately lowered his voice and discussed with Hui Cheng in a whisper about the northward movement of the Lujiang Army and the Liyang Army. When Huicheng, who was eager to atone for his crimes, agreed to let the Liyang Army accept Liu Kai's command, Liu Ye had already quickly finished reading the military intelligence reports collected by the remnants of Huicheng's remnants in the past few days, and closed his slender eyes and pondered for a long time, Liu Ye suddenly opened his eyes sharply and said sharply: "Second general, our army must not go north!" Once you go north, you will inevitably encounter the main elite of the Xuzhou thief army, and you may even encounter Tao Ying himself! At that time, the Xuzhou thief army will wait for work, and our army will be more auspicious! ”

"How does Mr. Ziyang know?" Liu Kai asked in surprise.

"I know from the troop arrangement of the pottery thief!" Liu Ye picked up a letter and said solemnly: "This letter was sent by General Yinling Qiaorui, and it is clearly written that Tao Ying did not use the main force of Quyang that was close at hand, but he was transferred from Dangtu to station Zang Ba outside Yinling City to confront General Qiaorui, but he did not launch a siege!" It can be seen from this that the task given to Zang Ba by Tao Ying is only to contain General Qiao Rui, so that General Qiao Rui has no time to send troops to meet our army! Tao Ying's purpose of arranging the thieves in this way is very obvious, that is, to free up his main combat force, form a local advantage, and break our army in each way! And Tao Ying's first target to annihilate the thieves must be our Lujiang reinforcements! ”

Of course, Liu Kai's brain couldn't keep up with Liu Ye's thinking rhythm, and it took a long time to barely understand Liu Ye's analysis, and then Liu Kai asked suspiciously: "Mr. Ziyang, Tao Ying annihilated the thief and asked Zang Ba to contain Qiao Rui and let his main force free up, and it may also be that he was ready to put his main force into the Shouchun battlefield, how do you think that Tao Ying will send the main force to deal with our army?" ”

"In this situation, it is impossible for Tao Ying to put the main force into the Shouchun battlefield!" Liu Ye categorically rejected this possibility, and analyzed: "Shouchun is my Huainan capital, the lord has been operating in Shouchun for many years, the city is strong, the grain and grass are sufficient, and the guards are as many as tens of thousands, even if Tao Ying destroys the thief even if he has the kind of thunderbolt car used to attack Tu, it is difficult to break Shouchun in a short time, and once Shouchun is attacked, our garrisons around the country will definitely go all out to rescue, and the Shouchun defenders will form an internal and external attack, and the Tao thief's extermination will inevitably do everything possible to avoid this unfavorable situation. It is inevitable that Shouchun will be placed in the last link of each breakthrough tactic, first annihilating our reinforcement army, then pulling out the nail of General Yinling Qiaorui, and finally concentrating on attacking Shouchun calmly! ”

After listening to Liu Ye's analysis, Liu Kai, Liu Wei and Hui Cheng and others thought carefully, their faces gradually became solemn, and after a long time, Liu Kai was the first to nod and said: "Mr. Ziyang's analysis is very reasonable, if our army goes north, it is very likely to encounter the main force of the Xuzhou thief army, and maybe it will also encounter Tao Ying's thief himself." ”

"If that's the case, then we're going to have a hard time." Liu Wei was embarrassed and said: "If you continue to go north, you will encounter the main force of the Xuzhou thief army who is waiting for work, stay in Hefei to defend the city, and the lord will not be able to explain it, so he is in a dilemma." ”

"Otherwise, we will stay in Hefei to defend the city, and then think of other ways when we stabilize our position." Hui Cheng, who had already been killed by the Junzi Army, said cautiously: "If our messenger makes a detour to Chengde, he will still be able to get in touch with the lord, as long as he explains the reason to the lord, maybe the lord can understand some of our difficulties." ”

"No!" Liu Ye shook his head again and continued to analyze: "Not to mention that with the surname of the lord, he will definitely not listen to our explanation, even if we violate the military order to stay in Hefei, Tao Ying can quickly adjust the order, first send troops to attack Yinling, pull out the nail of General Qiao Rui, and then calmly arrange the next battle." ”

"What then?" Liu Kai was also embarrassed.

"Second general, don't worry, this matter has not yet been decided, and our army still has a chance to turn around." Liu Ye said confidently: "In a certain opinion, although the lord is eager for our army to go north for reinforcements, Tao Ying is bound to be more anxious than the lord, and I hope that our army will immediately go north to fight a quick battle." A certain has already thought of a plan, using Tao Ying's eager battle mind to destroy the thieves, with the strength of our army, to break the Xuzhou thief army, and reverse the situation on the northern and southern fronts of Huai in a war! ”

"What is Mr. Ziyang's plan? Please tell us quickly. Liu Kai asked with great joy.

"No." Liu Ye smiled and agreed, and said: "This plan should be divided into several steps, the first step is to send an envoy to visit the lord, explaining that our army has a clever plan to break the enemy, first let the lord feel at ease, and then ask the lord to send people to pay close attention to the movements of the thief army in Xuzhou, once the main force of the thief army is found to be south, immediately send an army to counterattack Quyang, and there is no need to necessarily recapture Quyang, only need to let Tao Ying know that his rear is in an emergency, and he is more anxious to defeat our army ....... ”

(To be continued)