Han Shizu

Chapter 145 The Battle of Yedu (First Order)

On the north bank of the Bianhe River, apart from the city walls and barriers along the river, there are buildings of uneven heights.Standing on one of the four-storey buildings, looking out from a dangerous distance, looking at the scene of the bleak autumn wind and surging waves under his feet, Liu Chengyou couldn't help but feel a little melancholy in his heart.

Kaifeng is the most important thing in the world, the number of boats and vehicles, the throat of Heshuo, and the transportation of water through Huaihu Lake. The foundation of the city and the foundation of the capital lies in the Bianhe River.This golden waterway connecting the north and the south, with the shift of the political and economic center of gravity, has become more and more important. It is almost related to the lifeline of the country's destiny and is the lifeline of the empire.

Up here, it was supposed to be public transportation, private business trips, boats and boats one after another, endlessly.However, that grand scene, in terms of Bianhe at this time, only existed in words.Although as the Central Plains gradually stabilized, the number of boats and boats increased day by day, but the impact of the previous war and the destruction of the Khitan were too serious, and the sequelae were so far. In addition, the products of the Huaihai and Jiangnan were almost in the "enemy country" and the Bianhe River. There is still great potential for development.

Even though water transportation was slack due to the war, the cargo throughput on the river is still not small.

Naturally, Liu Chengyou will not have the leisure to lament the decline of the river transport, and the promotion of water transport is a matter for the future. As long as it can still be effective, it can support Tokyo.At this moment, the most important thing is the war in Yedu.

Since the outbreak of the battle against Du, it has always affected the hearts of the government and the opposition.He walked around the city, he was really a commoner, all worried about the imperial court, or worried about themselves.Since the fall of the previous dynasty and the invasion of Khitan, the city of Tokyo has been in chaos for seven or eight months, and it has become a little more stable in these two months.

Although life is still difficult under Xinhan's rule, it is better than no order, at least there is some hope.If the new court falls again, I don't know how long the chaos will last.Therefore, even if the current Han court is lacklustre in terms of governance, and there are even evils breeding, there are still no ordinary Li Shu who would expect him to collapse.From Liu Chengyou's point of view, this can only be explained by "people's mind-set".

The war in Yedu, just like what Liu Chengyou had worried about before, went wrong after all, and it was precisely because of his uncle Murong Yanchao.

When Du Chongwei first raised his troops, he used Chanzhou as the key to Tokyo, and was forced to be in the south of Guangjinfu. Yedu was also suffering from elbow and armpits, so he took the initiative to attack Desheng City (the North City of Desheng is now Puyang).

Although Du Chongwei yelled fiercely, he probably didn't have the ambition to march south to Kaifeng after taking Chanzhou.Its real purpose, more likely, is to attack Liyang to the west after taking Deshengkou, and block the Han army in Henan.Waiting for the news from the north, he has sent his son Du Hongsui to the north to ask for support, if the Khitan "father" can break through to the south, then he will still be rescued
On the side of the Han army, the imperial court's initial arrangement was not a decoration. Although all the troops were not in place, and the commander Gao Xingzhou was not in place yet, they were not afraid of Du Chongwei's ups and downs at all.

However, Murong Yanchao started to make trouble.He is conceited and courageous, but also shows his talent, and he is not convinced that Gao Xingzhou, the imperial court committee member, is handsome in his dying years.Hearing that Ye's soldiers had come to the south, they were delighted to fight. Regardless of the dissuasion of the defensive envoy Guo Rong, they led the [-] guards to attack. The two sides fought in the outskirts of Desheng City.

It would be fine if they were directly defeated, but the key point was that Du Chongwei's vanguard was useless, and was defeated by Murong Yanchao.As a result, Murong Yanchao's arrogance became more and more arrogant, and the word "enough is enough" probably did not exist in his dictionary. He led the army to pursue and stay away from the city defense.Then, they bumped into Du Chongwei's Chinese army brigade of more than [-] people.

The soldiers on both sides were brave, but under the command of the two chief generals, they fought like chickens pecking at each other.Murong Yanchao relied on the righteousness of the central government and the strength of the Forbidden Army, but he couldn't resist Du Chong's powerful army. After fighting recklessly for more than an hour, he was besieged in Lujiadian in Qingfeng County.

Seeing that the army was alone and in danger, Guo Rong, the defense envoy, worked tirelessly to lead the only thousand remaining soldiers in Desheng City, risking their lives to break through the blocking of the Ye soldiers, and forcibly rescued Murong Yanchao.

Responding to Murong Yanchao's defeated army, they fought and retreated all the way until they retreated to defend Desheng City and barely held it.

Guo Rong also had no choice, most of the army was brought by Murong Yanchao to fight, if Murong Yanchao was completely wiped out by Du Chongwei, then he would be hard to resist with only the remaining thousand soldiers and horses.If the Desheng Ferry is lost, it will inevitably affect Liyang in the west. If both ferries are lost, it will be difficult for the Han army to cross the north.

Even if Du Chongwei can be eliminated in the end, the price to be paid will inevitably double, and this is not just a problem of Du Chongwei's rebellion.

With a broad field of vision and a big picture, it was precisely because of seeing the possible consequences that Guo Rong chose to take risks and put all his eggs in one basket.Of course, Guo Rong's desire to gamble cannot be ruled out. The greater the risk, the higher the return.As a result, Guo Rong's bet was successful, and the ending of a narrow escape made Guo Rong hit the road of life.

And Du Chongwei was really pulling his hips. Guo Rong's more than a thousand soldiers messed up his position and rescued Murong Yanchao. With so many soldiers, he only needs to divide a small division to attack the North City of Desheng, and the Han army will inevitably be defeated.He just chose to fight with the Han army, step by step, until the Han army retreated to the city defense.

Regarding Murong Yanchao, Guo Rong was also very angry that the previous desperate persuasion was useless, resulting in the defeat of the army.Seriously, only after experiencing the work together, can you know how difficult this person is to serve.Du Chongwei attacked the pass fiercely and did not stop, so he had no choice but to retreat.After he retreated, Murong Yanchao took over the command again, blaming Guo Rong for his ineffective rescue.Now, Guo Rong was angry and sent someone to Tokyo to impeach Murong Yanchao.

The battle against Du, the first battle, ended with the defeat of the Han army, with more than [-] casualties.Of course, Du Chongwei was not able to please. The defeat of the forward and the fierce battle that followed caused the loss of nearly [-] troops, which was more than that of the Han army.However, no matter from the scene or the result, it was Ye Bing's victory.

In fact, the morale of Ye's soldiers was not high, and the soldiers' will to fight was weak, and they didn't have much rebellious will, and they were just threatened by Du Chongwei.But after the battle at Lujiadian, the morale of the Han army was not much better.

A bad start is not a good sign after all.

When the news of the defeat reached Tokyo, the whole court was in an uproar, and even a little caught off guard.Liu Chengyou was also extremely speechless, and secretly scolded Murong Yanchao for not doing enough, but not doing enough.Considering the importance of Deshengkou, the imperial court stationed heavy troops here to prevent Du Chongwei from going south.

With [-] forbidden troops in hand, they just need to hold on firmly, and when the other troops of the imperial court gather and attack in conjunction, they can be pushed steadily to Yedu.This Murong Yanchao insisted on being smart. If Guo Rong hadn't turned the tide, the situation of countering the rebellion would not be optimistic.

However, personally speaking, Guo Rong has earned enough fame all at once.In order to weaken the influence of the revelation, the imperial court used the spring and autumn style of writing in the first battle of Lujiadian, trying to avoid the defeat and not talking about it.

In order to reward the meritorious officials, and also to appease the hearts of the soldiers, Liu Zhiyuan surrendered, using him as the commander of the Deqing Army Capital, the leader of the Chanzhou Defense Envoy, and the Yedu Camp Arrangement Envoy.

As for Murong Yanchao's disposition, Liu Zhiyuan hesitated. According to the courtier's opinion, he should be punished. No matter how bad it is, he will be called back to Tokyo.As a result, Liu Zhiyuan insisted on putting it down lightly, avoiding his crime and not talking about it, and keeping him in front of the army, he still held his original post as Gao Xingzhou's deputy.

Murong Yanchao's defeat completely disrupted the anti-insurgency rhythm expected by the imperial court. The damage to soldiers and horses is not a big deal. The key lies in morale. Fighting with cold weapons, morale is sometimes more important than training and equipment.Before the coach was in place, Murong Yanchao's morale was drained.

Hearing the news of defeat, under the urging of the court, Gao Xingzhou, who was originally calm, had no choice but to speed up his rush to the front of the army.The old general worked tirelessly, galloped for hundreds of miles, joined the follow-up forbidden army and crossed the north to Desheng City. He didn't care about the dust and dust, so he wiped Murong Yanchao's ass with all his heart and soul.

It will take a few more days just to clean up the morale of the army and restore morale.Gao Xingzhou's ability to command the troops, of course, there is no need to doubt, and his prestige is also very reliable. Most of the Han Imperial Army who went to the expedition were "Jin Army", and Gao Xingzhou was the commander of the Later Jin Imperial Army for a period of time. Among the generals, Many people have stayed under his command.With this level of friendship, now they are fighting under the banner of the "big man", and Gao Xingzhou is giving orders, but there is not much stagnation.

After everything was ready, Gao Xingzhou led a horse infantry army of more than [-] people and headed north from Desheng City.But Du Chongwei probably showed his confidence in the last battle, and even led his army to the enemy. It was still the same place, and the two armies fought at Lujiadian.Du Chongwei thought that the morale of the Han army must have declined due to the previous defeat, but he underestimated Gao Xingzhou's ability to control the army.

As he got older, Gao Xingzhou used soldiers. While he was old-fashioned, he also gradually lost some vigor, focusing on safety.Seeing that Ye's army was defeated too quickly, he only asked the army to pursue and kill them cautiously, seeking safety.But Murong Yanchao didn't take it seriously. He lost face before and was eager to seize the opportunity to prove himself. He strongly suggested to advance quickly, which was rejected by Gao Xingzhou.Murong Yanchao angrily reprimanded him, countering him.

No matter who Gao Xingzhou was, he would not be influenced by Murong Yanchao, a "children". Under his pressure, he fought steadily, controlled the whole army at any time, and chased him all the way to the city of Yedu.

Gao Xingzhou rejected Murong Yanchao's suggestion to take advantage of the situation to make a quick attack. In his opinion, the city of Yedu was strong, and Du Chongwei had spare power, so it was inconvenient to attack by force.Murong Yanchao wanted to wash away the previous humiliation, and was impatient to fight, but Gao Xingzhou suppressed him.

The two argued endlessly, and in the end Gao Xingzhou suppressed it with military orders. He made up his mind to first weaken the enemy's morale, and then launch a fatal blow.But Murong Yanchao just couldn't wait, and even humiliated Gao Xingzhou in person. He was afraid of fighting. In his opinion, Gao Xingzhou was able to win with only a large number of soldiers. If he had enough troops in the previous round, he would have captured Du Chongwei as soon as possible.

Although the anti-rebellion Han army won the victory under the command of Gao Xingzhou, the disagreement between the commander and the deputy cast a shadow over the battle and directly affected the subsequent battle situation.

Murong Yanchao is like a shit-stirring stick, stationed in the city, every time a decision is made, it must be at odds with Gao Xingzhou, which greatly affects the morale of the army.Regarding this person, Gao Xingzhou really had the urge to kill him to show his military prestige, but considering his identity, he was extremely helpless.

In the middle, Gao Xingzhou tried to launch an attack, but the Ye soldiers might not be able to fight in the field, but the pressure of defending the city was always low and failed.Then, Murong Yanchao began to mock Gao Xingzhou.

In the midst of the turmoil, the counter-insurgency army besieged the rebel army in Yedu, and remained at loggerheads until now.

(End of this chapter)