Gao Cheng felt that there must be high-ranking people in the Southern Liang army, otherwise how to explain that they could see through their secret plan, it could not be that the commander of Southern Liang was afraid of the enemy like a tiger, and he couldn't even seize such a good opportunity as a half-crossing attack.

It turned out that Gao Chengqiang's crossing of the Huai River was just an illusion to induce the Liang people to set up an ambush, Duan Shao and others had already taken advantage of the night to leave the camp, extended the upstream to the west for thirty miles, and smuggled across the Huai River, just waiting for the Southern Liang ambush to kill, 50,000 cavalry rushed to the battlefield, and the Liang army suffered a counter-ambush, which was bound to be in chaos.

Compared with attacking the well-fortified city, he hoped to be able to destroy the enemy in the field, even if he could not completely annihilate the enemy, he could also shake the hearts of the defenders.

But now that the plan has failed, Gao Cheng looked at Duan Shao and the others who were in the dust, and always felt that he was just flattering the blind in the past few days.

"Your Majesty..."

Wang Wei was about to plead guilty, and it was he who offered this strategy to Gao Cheng in Runan City that day, but Gao Cheng interrupted:

"This plan is approved by me, it is not Wang Qing's responsibility, there is no need to say more."

Seeing that Gao Cheng did not punish the crime with this, Wang Wei hurriedly thanked him, he was originally just Hou Jing's staff, and he was suddenly promoted to a close minister of the Son of Heaven before the southern expedition.

'Well, everything is difficult at the beginning, but fortunately, Your Majesty is tolerant and does not take it as a crime. ’

Wang Wei comforted himself.

At the same time, seeing that the Qi army had all crossed the river, the Southern Liang Water Division also withdrew from the main stream of the Huai River, preparing to retreat to the Huaishui River, relying on the Huainan water system to assist in defending the city and harassing the Qi army.

This is also the biggest difference between the Huai River and the Yangtze River, the army crosses the Huai River, grain and grass can be transported by detour, at this time continue to intercept the river, it is better to retreat to assist in defense, after all, the Huai River defense line has been broken through.

Of course, Gao Cheng did not have the slightest joy of breaking through the Huaihe defense line, he already felt the thorniness of the Huainan Campaign.

Liang General Xiahou Xuan was worried that Gao Cheng ignored Shouyang and drove straight in, which is not unreasonable, after all, Emperor Taiwu of the Northern Wei Dynasty Tuoba Tao took this method to conquer Liu Song in the south.

However, he did not perceive the difference between Gao Cheng's southern expedition and Tuoba Tao's southern expedition.

Tuoba Tao was built on the basis of Liu Yilong's defeat in the Northern Expedition and the annihilation of a large number of field troops.

The army of the Northern Wei Dynasty surrendered, and when it encountered a city that was defended, it only needed to stay in the army to guard it, and the Liu Song army, which was firmly guarding the city, did not dare to go out of the city to attack and disturb the grain road, so it was able to drive straight into the Yangtze River without worrying about the grain road.

And Gao Cheng does not have such conditions, before the defeat of the Southern Liang and Northern Expeditions, the loss of Yang Yaren, but that was eight years ago, although Xiao Yuanming and others were afraid of the enemy and did not dare to fight in the field, but if Gao Cheng abandoned Shouyang and led the main force south, Xiao Yuanming still had the courage to go out of the city to give him the whole job.

If the defenders of Shouyang attack and disturb the Gaocheng grain road, the main force of the Qi army will penetrate deep into the enemy territory and cannot ensure the food supply, and the army will be in danger of annihilation.

When the news of Gao Cheng's cavalry crossing the river from the upper reaches reached Shouyang, Xiahou Qian also shut up, and no longer had the feeling of being unwilling that day, and there was only fear in his heart.

Xiao Li made up his mind not to interfere in the military, and it was all presided over by his cousin Xiao Yuanming.

Gao Cheng never expected that he thought that there were masters in the Southern Liang Army, but it was just that his commander Xiao Yuanming was frightened by his name and did not dare to fight in the field.

After all, Xiao Gao Wang led the army at the age of thirteen, never defeated, and had an army of 350,000 land and water under his command, he had already made up his mind to stick to Shouyang, for this reason, after Gao Cheng issued the edict of the Southern Expedition, Xiao Yuanming has been hoarding grain and grass, and the savings in the city are enough to support more than two years.

As long as there is the nail of Shouyang, Gao Cheng will not dare to go south with confidence.

It is true that Gao Cheng led the army to the outside of Shouyang City, it was the height of summer, and the scorching sun in the afternoon made people irritable, especially when he saw the towering Shouyang City, which made Gao Cheng frown.

Shouyang is Shouchun, although it is known as controlling the Huai water, but there is actually a short distance away from the Huai Shui, and the north of the city is the water that connects the Chaohu Lake and the Huai River.

The terrain of Shouyang is not dangerous, except for the water gate in the north, the other three sides are relatively flat, so the city is built extremely high, and there is a wide moat surrounding.

Gao Cheng didn't dare to approach, so as not to lose it.

Under the heavy guard, he inspected the east, south, and west of Shouyang, and Gao Cheng's brows furrowed even deeper.

At night, setting up camp, Gao Cheng asked the strategist:

"Do the ministers have a plan to lure the Liang people out of the city?"

He really didn't want to storm Shouyang, especially since the Liang army had a water advantage, and could continuously transport supplies into the city from the water gate on the north side, just like Jiangling, and the siege could not be encircled.

The city sent back the news before the closure of the city, the food in the city was sufficient, and there were 50,000 defenders, Xiao Yuanming also recruited people to help defend the city, if it was attacked, I was afraid that it would take huge casualties to gnaw down.

Chen Yuankang hesitated for a moment, and saw that his colleagues were still contemplating his eyebrows, so he said his thoughts first:

"The minister thought that it was better to leave a weak brigade outside Shouyang City to set up a village and guard the city, His Majesty personally led the main force to abandon Shouyang with great fanfare, and set up an ambush outside the city with fine horses, the Liang army saw that His Majesty was far away, and he would inevitably relax, or he would go out of the city to fight."

Gao Cheng shook his head when he heard this, this method is worth trying, and asked Wang Wei again:

"Does Wang Qing have any gains?"

Wang Wei didn't think of a good way for a while, so he seconded Chen Yuankang's plan:

"The minister thinks what Chen Gong said is very true."

Neither of them mentioned that they would cross the river with a small number of troops and take Taicheng directly.

After all, Hou Jing can succeed because Xiao Yan is unprepared, and now that Xiao Yan has accumulated soldiers and horses in Jiankang, he really wants to smuggle across the Yangtze River with a small force, but he is afraid that he will be able to get by and will not be able to come back.

Gao Cheng looked at Wang Hong and Wang Jun again, and the two of them also decided to try Chen Yuankang's method first in order to gain something for the time being.

But before that, it is still necessary to do enough play, and now there is a fight under Shouyang City, so that it is hopeless to break the city, lead the army to the east, and go south from Huaiyin.

On May 24 of the first year of Zhaode (548), that is, the second day of Gao Cheng's invasion of Shouyang, the people were already risking the arrows on the city wall to bury the moats on three sides.

The stones in the sky were mixed with arrows and flew wildly, and there were many casualties among the people of the Northern Qi Dynasty, but by the night of the same day, the moat was finally filled.

The next day, the Qi army was besieged by ants on three sides, and the cloud ladder was erected on the city wall, black smoke billowed on the city wall, and the hot dung juice was poured from the city, and the screams and wails resounded in the sky.

Gao Cheng stood far behind, and as far as the eye could see, countless tiny figures fell from the ladder like ants.

Even if he has led the troops for many years, he knows that he is not benevolent to the general, and he is not in charge of the army, but such a scene of ant-attached and strong attack has rarely been seen before.