Their actions of such bravado would inevitably cause panic to the cavalry of the Kou Wen Buhua Division, who were confronting Meng Hui. Sure enough, not long after this attack, the cavalry in the north of Yingzhou was greatly reduced, because Kou Wen Buhua had to withdraw the cavalry that was confronting the Song army on land and redeploy them on both sides of the Han River, in case the Song army suddenly came to his rear at some point.

On the one hand, in addition to sending the rescued people to Jiangnan for resettlement, he also praised Chen Yingrui's courageous and courageous actions. This is not the first time Chen Yingrui has attacked the enemy at night, it is indeed the first time that he has independently mastered a night raid team. In this fledgling battle, he broke through 24 Mongol barracks in one fell swoop, setting an amazing record.

Chen Yingrui felt that such a record was just ordinary: "Although the camp is continuous, in fact, the defenders in the inner middle are less than 2,500 people, and they were suddenly attacked by our army at night, and most of them fled on horseback to the east, and our army could not intercept it at all." What's the point of just taking back some of the common people? ”

Meng Hui smiled meaningfully and patted him on the back: "One day you will understand that being able to save the lives of a common man will be more important than killing the heads of ten enemies on the battlefield. ”

And now there are 240,000 officials and civilians in Xiangyang City, 60,000 defenders, and everyone's life is tied to Meng Heng.

The Meng Heng fleet that set out from Yingzhou had a total of 700 warships and 30,000 horse infantry troops, of course, the vast majority of the infantry troops. The army marched all the way to the mouth of the Baihe River, and went down to the east of Xiangyang across the Han River. There is the Qing River in front of here, there is the White River in the back, and on one side is the Han River, which is surrounded by water on three sides and is easy to defend and difficult to attack, the reason why it did not break into the city is because on the waterway leading to Xiangyang, the Mongolian army has laid a star pile in the river in advance, and the Mongolians do not know the obstacles used in this kind of river. But they are the people of this age who are best at learning from people, whether they are enemies or things that have conquered peoples, as long as they feel that they are useful, they will learn and imitate them at great speed. It is not uncommon in water warfare in the Central Plains, and is used by the weaker side to stop enemy ships, and the thick wooden stakes are buried deep in the riverbed to block the passage of transport ships with deep draft. As long as the transport ship could not pass, Meng Hui's plan to supply the soldiers, equipment and food to the city would come to naught.

War is sometimes such a ridiculous thing. Opponents who have sacrificed many lives, damaged many ships, and are unable to defeat with their best weapons will be blocked by a simple row of wooden stakes at the end. Of course, the Mongols also paid a huge price for burying these rows of wooden stakes. On the east gate, in just three days, the Song army fought seven times from the city and desperately charged the Mongol army on the waterway. It was to block the Mongol army's project to block the waterway. They even dispatched the Tabai Army, which was the most powerful trump card, and the cavalry of the Xuanfeng Army and the Mongol cavalry to engage in close combat, and the fields from the east gate of Xiangyang to the Han River were covered with the corpses of the soldiers of the two armies. The field combat ability of the Song army is obviously not comparable to that of the Mongol army, even if it is mixed with the elite Tulong army troops, with the help of firearms and cavalry, it is still invincible to the powerful enemy iron cavalry in the end, but if it is not for the strict temporary order to repair two barriers to defend the Song army in advance, it is still unknown whether the Mongol army's star stakes can be successfully buried. Successfully blocked the waterway of Xiangyang, so that the encirclement of Xiangyang by the Mongol army was completed.

And as soon as they closed the waterway, they immediately began to storm Xiangyang City.

Under the onslaught of the enemy army for days, Xiangyang City finally looked forward to the reinforcements that he had been thinking about day and night. Although this reinforcement is only separated by a river, it wants to join forces inside and outside to lift the siege of Xiangyang. But it's not that easy. The speed of the Mongol army's movement was amazing, they immediately deployed cavalry on the east and west north sides of Meng Hui's camp to harass, while sending laborers to build a fence, Meng Heng had just set up a large camp, and was already under several sieges of the Mongol army.

A few days ago, the soldiers and civilians of Xiangyang, who were still rejoicing at the arrival of reinforcements, fell back into worry. The Mongol army is strong, and if you take the opportunity to include reinforcements and Xiangyang City in the hunting bag, it is the most ridiculous thing for the world. And it was not very difficult to do this with the strength of the Mongol army.

"But if they want to eat Meng Puyu, it is not as simple as Genghis Khan crushing 100,000 reinforcements under the central capital." Standing on the corner tower in the northeast corner, Zheng Yunming analyzed Zhao Kui one by one: "Back then, when the Jin soldiers rescued from the land, they all took a flat road. In the wilderness, he was ravaged by the Mongolian iron cavalry and was defeated. Today, Meng Heng came by water by military ship, and before the Mongol army attacked, he had already occupied a dangerous terrain and built a camp. It will not be so easy for the Mongol army to storm with iron cavalry. ”

"Now Meng Heng also learns from you, when the troops are stationed, they must build a strong camp." Zhao Kui put his hand on the pergola and looked in the direction of Meng Hui's camp, where the soldiers came and went to reinforce the wooden wall.

No matter what, he is also a man in his fifties, his eyesight is not as good as it was back then, and Meng Heng's camp is far away. The distant view is just a blurred outline. Zheng Yunming looked at him trying to squint his eyes and said, "Take out that thing, now is the time to use it." ”

Zheng Xian answered, turned around and gave an order, and a sergeant with a back ran down the city wall, and after a short time returned, he handed Zheng Xian a painted wooden box.

Zheng Xian held the box with both hands to Zheng Yunming's side, Zheng Yunming reached out and took it, pulled the lid of the box open, and took out a speculum from the box. It was handed over to Zhao Kui.

Zhao Kui didn't know what Zheng Yunming meant by handing him a brass tube with solid colored glass pieces at both ends, but he understood that Zheng Yunming was Xiangyang, no, maybe the first person in the Great Song Dynasty who liked to tinker with new things, so he stopped and waited for him to break it down in detail.

"The name of this object is called a speculum, last year craftsmen found that a piece of pure and colorless glass is polished into a convex shape with thin edges, and it can be magnified when used to observe things, so I thought, if two pieces are stacked together, will it be possible to enlarge the blurred and invisible things in the distance and make them clearly visible? After trying, it turns out that there needs to be a fixed distance between the two lenses in order to receive the effect of telescope, so this object is also called a telescope. ”

He said to Zhao Kui: "Please set the smaller end to the left eye and try it." Zhao Kui did as he said, and in the field of vision composed of glass discs, he clearly saw the situation on the north bank of the Han River. The Mongol cavalry galloped back and forth across the banks of the White River, kicking up clouds of dust, and they kept firing their bows and arrows at the opposite bank, and in Meng Hui's barracks, people could only run back and forth with shields and planks. The Mongol servants were hastily erecting tall fences, others were laying artillery mounts, and others were dragging heavy crossbows towards the riverbank.

"Come and see," Zhao Kui handed the speculum to Zheng Yunming: "The enemy is really preparing to attack the city and send reinforcements." ”

"I expect that the enemy's plan will come to naught. Now that our army is strong on the Hanshui River, we can't beat it and escape by boat, can the Mongolian cavalry still be able to go into the water to catch up" Zheng Yunming said, put the speculum in front of him, observed for a while, and slowly put down the binoculars.

"There's one thing that always feels weird to me." He said to Zhao Kui: "But since I tried the speculum yesterday, I have always felt that what is strange. ”

He asked the staff and generals behind Zhao Kui: "Since I came back, has anyone seen the figure of the enemy commander?" ”

Zhao Kui was startled, snatched the speculum from Zheng Yunming's hand, and looked seriously in the direction of Jiangbei and the North City Gate for a long time. Only then did he put down the speculum and sighed: "Sure enough, I didn't see Qu Out, nor did I see the cowardly Xue honor guard." ”

"From yesterday to today, I have observed for two whole days, and I have not seen a single guard of honor in the battalion, if it is said that in peacetime the commander can strategize in the battalion, when the Mongolian army is attacking the fortifications, there is no reason why he is still nested in the Ao Bao and does not come out to command the battle, unless"

"Unless it's Qu Chu who is dead!" Wu Qian suddenly woke up and shouted loudly.

"That's not it, if the Mongol army really doesn't mourn, it definitely won't appear so tough, after Meng Shuai's reinforcements arrive and successfully set up a large camp, they should be ready to slowly retreat. It will not increase the front line. I guess that if Qu Chu had received an urgent order from the north and needed to go back, and arranged for Tath to lead the crowd to storm in an attempt to force me to sign the alliance under the city, or Qu was sick and could no longer personally command the war, and the Mongol army must capture Xiangyang City as soon as possible, so that the commander could return to the north early to recuperate. ”

"And no matter what reason he can't come out to see things, the time left for the Mongol army can be calculated in days." Wu Qian said excitedly: "As long as we hold out for a few more days, the Mongolian army will definitely be able to leave without a fight." ”

"Does the staff officer just want to sit back and wait for the Tartars to collect their troops and go back?" Zheng Yunming smiled: "If the broom is not swept, the dust will not run away by itself, I have to think about how the battle will go tomorrow." Perhaps, tomorrow will be a battle that will decide the fate of Xiangfan. ”

On the same day, the generals of the Tulong Army received an order to assemble in the hall of the Metropolitan Division. When Wang Deng stepped into the lobby neatly, he found Zheng Yunming sitting cross-legged on the ground wearing the most ordinary soldier's linen jacket. Wang Dengzhi said that he meant to plan a big war again. Before the decisive battle, Zheng Yunming was accustomed to wearing the clothes of the most ordinary soldiers, and he wore iron armor to patrol the front-line battle position, and from the perspective of the front-line soldiers, he felt the feelings of the front-line soldiers about their plans. Wang Deng looked at the iron armor that he had taken off beside him and folded it neatly, obviously the general had just come down from the city not long ago.