It is only more than 40 miles from Longzui Mountain to Fancheng, and the sky is bright, and more than 1,000 horsemen are clustered around dozens of carriages of the Military Intelligence Department to go north, and there are still traces of fierce fierceness a few days ago on the Baihe beach, and there are brown blood stains on the river beach that have not been washed away by the rain and snow.

Lin Liang took the scarlet dag, looked at the charred artemisia grass on the white river beach and the corpses that had not been completely cleaned up, and rode his horse through the water.

The pontoon bridge on the Baihe beach was forcibly set on fire to the enemy navy four days ago, it was Su Tingzhan's sailors who fled north from Shicheng, and used the pontoon boat shield to grab the estuary and set it on fire, and Fancheng could not completely block the estuary - the pontoon bridge on the Baihe beach was destroyed, but thirty miles upstream, there was also a stone beam bridge on the road to Xinye north of Zaoyang, which became the main passage for the Huaidong army to enter Xiangfan, and Lin Jian was anxious to go to Fancheng, so he naturally waded directly into shallow water to cross the river.

Although the water of the white river is shallow, it does not pass the belly of the horse, and when you cross the river, your legs will inevitably be submerged in the icy water, and you will be soaked below your knees. After crossing the river, Lin Tie stopped his horse and wrenched his trouser legs, changed into dry riding boots, and from the direction where he sit, he could see the Yan warships patrolling the water on the Han River.

"It's a pity that our navy can't come up for a while!" Lin Jian pointed to the Han River outside the estuary, and said to Gao Zongting and Song Fu, "Otherwise, you don't have to risk crossing the river from the upper reaches ......."

This is the place where the Han River bends, from the mouth of the White River to the west, the Han River flows almost east-west, after the big bend, it flows slightly southeast from north to south, and a large area of silt is alluvial in the northeast corner. This silt is a flood channel in summer and autumn, when the Han water is thin, revealing a large mudflat, and the water surface is particularly wide, and the field of vision is full of whirlpools.

Because the other bank of the Han River is Lumen Mountain in the southeast of Xiangyang, the lofty mountains are steep from afar, resulting in the hanging wall on the south bank of the Han River; Many of the reefs that are in the same vein as Lumen Mountain are scattered in the waterway on the south side of the waterway, which is quite deep - these special terrains make the local people call this bend of the Han River a ghost turn, and boatmen who are familiar with the waterway need to be very careful to navigate the boat.

After the sharp bend, Yan Hu used the general Yang Xiong to command 200 warships and 6,000 water armaments; Although the Huaidong Water Battalion warships were advantageous, they could not easily break through this line of defense and enter the upper reaches of the Han River.

In order to prevent the enemy's pontoon boats from penetrating from the shallow waters of the Baihe River to the hinterland between Zaoyang and Fancheng, affecting the flank of the Huaidong Army moving westward, Huang Zuyu stationed a sentry on the west beach of the Baihe River to build a beacon pier as a warning line.

When he captured Fancheng, he got more than 5,000 people, which made Huang Zuyu have a relatively strong use in Fancheng.

In just a few days, the beacon pier of the west beach of the Baihe River is still quite simple, but it is also cut down for the fence, a layer of thick soil is rammed in the middle, the four corners of the wood erect the arrow tower, and there is a chest wall on the periphery to prevent the enemy from directly attacking the fence wall, blocking the west beach of the white river.

Fancheng is only twelve or thirteen miles away from here, and when the cavalry finishes crossing the river, Lin Tie will go to Fancheng under the embrace of Hu Cai.

The pontoon bridge of the flying feather cape has been destroyed, the small half of the iron cable of the land is hung into the Han water, standing on the headland, you can see the appearance of the water village in the northwest corner of Xiangyang City on the opposite bank, put the mirror in front of you, the high flag erected in the north corner of the water village is written with a big "Yang" character......

Yang Xiong abandoned Hanjin and fled north on the 21st, and on the way to the north, he was ordered by Ye Ji Luorong to serve as the commander of Xiangyang and the naval army, and his family and children all went to Yunguan in the upper reaches of the Danjiang Estuary with Su Tingzhan.

Yunguan has "Qintou Chuwei, Yiyu sub-county", although the terrain is connected with Xiangfan, but the old Hanzhong Mansion.

The extravagant abyss of the extravagant flying bear is in Yunguan at this time, and it should be put on a posture of riding on the wall to watch, and it can go north to Guanzhong or west to Hanzhong.

It's just that Hanzhong City is far west of the Qinling Mountains in Bashan, and it is nearly a thousand miles away from the Xiajiang waterway.

Although the Cao family gathered nearly 20,000 soldiers and horses in Hanzhong, it would take seven or eight days for the news of the Battle of Jingxiang to reach Hanzhong, and Lin Jian thought to himself that the Cao family was afraid that it was only at this time that they would know the scale of the Battle of Jingxiang, and they simply did not have enough time to intervene in the Battle of Jingxiang.

Another is that the upper waterway of the Han River is sandwiched between the lofty mountains and mountains, and the waterway is extremely dangerous, and there are dangerous shoals everywhere. At present, no matter how many soldiers and horses the Cao family has in Hanshui, there is no way to go straight down Jingxiang along Hanshui in a short time.

Lin Jian entered Fancheng and first summoned Zhou Tong, Liu Zhenzhi, Chen Yan, Huang Zuyu, Zhou Bin, Chen Daozi and other generals above the brigade commander to discuss matters; Ao Canghai, Yu Wencheng, Gao Zongting, Song Fu, Zhou Pu, Sun Zhuang, Tang Xitai, Zhao Bao, Luo Wenhu and others also attended the military meeting.

There were not many defenders in Fancheng, only more than 5,000 people, and Chen Yan and Liu Zhenzhi both left Fancheng: one along the north bank of the Han River to the west, and the other along the Shiqiao Ridge in the northwest of Fancheng, less than 40 li from the enemy city of Xinye and less than 50 li from Dengzhou.

"In addition to the soldiers and horses in the northwest of Zaoyang, Zhang Jiheng and Yu Wencheng have gathered on the front line of Shiqiaoling, and all the troops of the third brigade of the cavalry battalion have also been transferred.......

Even if the flanks are left to cover the soldiers and horses, after Zhang Jiheng and Yu Wencheng go north, plus the previous Liu Zhenzhi and Zhang Zhuang, the troops gathered on the front line of Shiqiaoling will exceed 50,000 elites......

At this time, guarding Dengzhou was Chen Zhihu's general Gao Yi, and guarding Xinye was the Liang family's rebel general Tu'an.

As for how to fight the final battle of Jingxiang, the Military Intelligence Department and all departments have made full arguments, and at the moment they are only making some adjustments in light of the actual situation. The military discussion time was very short, after the military discussion, Lin Jian and the generals had a brief meal in Fancheng, and Ao Canghai, Sun Zhuang, Yu Wencheng and others went north to Shiqiaoling; After a short rest, Lin Jian also went out of Fancheng and went west along the north bank of the Han River to Huanglongtan to see the army, accompanied by Zhou Pu, Gao Zongting, Chen Yan, Huang Zuyu, Tang Xitai, Luo Wenhu and others, and Zhou Tong stayed in Fancheng.

Huang Zuyu's division was merged into the First Town Division of the Chongcheng Army, making the strength of the First Town Division of the Chongcheng Army more than 24,000; Huang Zuyu served as the deputy commander under Chen Yan, Chen Yan led his troops to project to the south bank, and the front base of Huanglongling was presided over by Huang Zuyu.

The road from Fancheng to Huanglongtan has been repaired, and the hills on the north bank are much smoother than the lofty mountains of Longzhong Mountain, west of Xiangyang City on the south bank. Due to the relatively gentle terrain, a larger area of mudflats was deposited than on the south bank. It is difficult for the enemy army to land on a large scale on these mudflats, but from Fancheng to Huanglong Beach for more than 40 miles, it is still on the side of the Baihe Beach, and a beacon pier and a defensive fortress are set up at a dangerous place every seven or eight miles, and elite soldiers are stationed to guard against the enemy army controlling the Han River to attack the north bank......

Although the name of Huanglongtan is the beach, it is actually a low stone ridge that directly forces the north bank of the Han River, the front base of the first town division of the Chongcheng Army is on the west side of the Huanglong Beach, and then there is the Zanyang and Baiyang Pass guarded by the enemy general Su Tingzhan, and the mouth of the Danjiang River into the Han River is just after the Baiyang Pass.

Because Yanhu did not have enough transportation capacity to transport the soldiers and horses from Xiangyang on the south bank directly through the Danjiang waterway to Wuguan upstream, or even further to Danfeng County or Shangzhou Fucheng, most of them landed at Baiyang Pass, and then Baiyang Pass went to Xichuan along the east bank of the Danjiang River.

Because the road on the east bank of the Danjiang River was so bad that it was no better than going from Huanglongtan to Zanyang, the enemy at Baiyangguan moved very slowly to Xichuan, so that the enemy troops gathered at Baiyangguan at this time were even far more than the two cities of Xinye and Dengzhou.

Huanglongtan Linhan Water is a headland mountain named Longclaw Rock, the depth of the headland mountain is more than 200 zhang, such as the dragon's claw probes into the Han River, there are more than 10 zhang high from the water; Lin Jian walked up to the Dragon Claw Rock and looked at the Miaotan Ridge on the opposite bank like a dragon lying horizontally, the two sides of the bank were so close that the trees on the opposite bank could be clearly seen.

Miaotanling is a waterfront horizontal ridge between Xiangyang and Gucheng County, is the remaining vein of the northern foot of Jingshan Mountain, longitudinal and horizontal 20 miles, several main peaks are 1670 zhang high, it is the west of Xiangyang, east of Gucheng, the largest mountain range on the south bank of Hanshui except Longshan. It is the mountain gate rock on the opposite bank that Lin Lian looked at in the past, which is already the northwest foot of Miaotan Ridge, and the mountain height is only about 20 zhang, and the dragon claw rock here is sandwiched on the Han River, and the distance is only 300 steps away.

Tang Xitai came to Fancheng as early as the 21st, touched the hydrological terrain of this piece twice, and said: "The Han River came from the upstream, blocked by the dragon claw rock, and was forced to flow in a semi-solitary shape to the Shanmen Rock on the outside of the Miaotan Ridge on the other side of the river. When sending people to dive, you can even see that there are empty pots under the water, and there is no bottomless ......"

Lin Tie nodded, along the way, there are enemy sailors monitoring the Hanshui on the Han River, only this section of the water is extremely dangerous, even if the enemy sentry ship wants to anchor and land, it is very likely that the water will be wrapped in the water and crash into the rocks, and it is not possible to patrol frequently.

Of course, although this water surface is only two or three hundred steps wide, such a turbulent water flow makes it impossible for the Huaidong Army to arrange an armed crossing here......

Huang Zuyu said: "About every two hours, the enemy will have sentinel ships passing by, but after hearing the news, he will send a large number of warships against the current, not to mention that it will take a day; However, the enemy navy came faster in the west of Gucheng and Baiyangguan, but the enemy did not consider that there would be opponents upstream, so most of the ferries in the upper reaches were arranged for generals to cross the river, and at most they were small patrol boats, which could not be anchored before such turbulence......"

"How many people have we lurked in Miaotanling?" Lin Jian asked, "If you give the enemy post a spot, how long can you hold it?" ”

"At this time, there were sixty-one people lurking in Miaotan Ridge; Once the cableway is erected, before dawn, including the armor, can send a battalion of elite troops over," Huang Zuyu said, "The enemy's post road from Xiangyang to Gucheng is in Miaotan Lingnan, and they are considering using the valley between Miaotan Ridge and Jingshan to block the soldiers and horses that I are pursuing from the south, so their camp is built at the valley mouth at the southeast foot of Miaotan Ridge, and the ropeway we want to erect across the river is connected to the opposite bank at Shanmen Rock at the northwest corner of Miaotan Ridge. For such a long time, it will be possible for us to send a battalion of elite troops over and establish a defensive position on the south side of the mountain gate stone......"

"Okay, I'll be waiting for your victory in Fancheng!" Lin Jian said, looking at Gao Zongting, "What else is there to worry about Zongting?" ”

Gao Zongting smiled and asked Luo Wenhu and several other commanders of the Military Intelligence Department to join the army and stay, and he and Zhou Pu accompanied Lin Jian back to Fancheng; Lin Jian came to inspect the front base, maybe the enemy army also had scouts lurking on the periphery, and he and Lin Jian had to stay here for a long time, which could easily arouse unnecessary vigilance of the enemy army.

Lin Liannan returned, Chen Yan and Huang Zuyu returned to the front camp on the west wing, and Luo Wenhu stayed in the col on the north side of Longclaw Rock with Tang Xitai. It looks like a camp in front of Huanglongtan, but in fact thousands of men and horses have been preparing for several days to erect a suspension bridge over the Longclaw Rock River.

The reason why the confrontation Shanmen Rock Frame Suspension Bridge was chosen is that in addition to sparing the enemy's sight and the turbulent water making it difficult for the enemy's naval warships to stay for a long time, there is also a key reason that there are giant trees in the dense forest behind the Shanmen Rock that can bind the suspension cable, which is a natural fixation to lock the suspension cable.

In order to accommodate the terrain on the opposite bank, the north bank had to choose Dragon Claw Rock.

There is no grass on the dragon claw rock, there is no giant tree that fixes the suspension cable, and it is easy to attract the attention of the enemy patrol ship on the water by digging holes in the hanging stone on the side of the river, so the iron pile is inserted into the stone gap behind the huge rock, and tens of thousands of catties of molten iron are slowly poured into the stone gap, and the iron pile and the huge rock are generally connected into a whole.

Walking down the back of the rock, thirteen I-shaped iron pillars about four zhang high were erected there as if they were taking root, Luo Wenhu secretly sighed: change other forces, let alone build a suspension bridge, in just seven or eight days, it is impossible to erect these thirteen iron pillars here.

It's ridiculous that Luo Xiancheng wanted to cut Suizhou as the king before he died!

With such a turbulent current, even if there are fixed objects on both sides, it is extremely difficult to erect a pontoon bridge directly; Even if the current does not destroy the pontoon bridge, the enemy forces will destroy it in one rush if they make several boats upstream to fill it with earth and stones; However, with both the surface and the opposite shore under the control of enemy forces, how easy is it to erect a suspension bridge overhanging the water?

At that time, ropeways or suspension bridges were erected between the gorges and rivers: generally the hemp rope could not be used, the hemp rope was too soft, and if it was pulled three or four hundred steps long, the rope would swing directly to the water, and it would become a pontoon bridge. It is also impossible to use iron chains, and the iron ropes that are intertwined are too heavy.

The tension of the suspension bridge and the pontoon bridge on the iron cable is a completely different concept, the pontoon bridge has a pontoon boat as the bottom, and the iron cable is supported, mainly to resist the impulse of the water flow on the pontoon; And an iron cable weighing thousands of catties is suspended directly above the water, and the direct tension of the iron cable on the fixing of the lock bridge on both sides of the strait will be amazingly large, and the strength of the iron cable itself can withstand such a strong tensile force is also a question. Not to mention that people and animals can walk on it, and it is easy to crush the chain bridge directly.

In the world, rope bridges were built over streams and rivers, and bamboo ropes were usually made with light weight and strong strength and rigidity. However, even if a bamboo suspension cable can be erected from the Dragon Claw Rock and the Shanmen Rock on the opposite bank overnight, even if the suspension cable is extremely straight and does not swing down at all, it is only 145 zhang from the water surface. The enemy forces control the water, and the ship passes under the bamboo ropeway, and it can be burned by raising fire......

Before seeing the wire rope produced in Huaidong, Luo Wenhu could not imagine that the Huaidong Army could first build a ropeway and then a suspension bridge between Longclaw Rock and Shanmen Rock......