Han Shizu

Chapter 455
The situation on Shouchun's side was just as Zhao Kuangyin, who was hundreds of miles away, had guessed after the war. The Northern Han commander Wang Jun's strategy to lure the enemy had also entered a critical stage.

While the Battle of Wokou was going on, Liu Yanzhen was deployed to the north of the Southern Tang Dynasty and had led an army of 10,000 troops and more than [-] strong Huainan soldiers to Shouchun. In addition, the Luzhou Army marched north, known as [-], aggressive and powerful.

In the camp of the Han army, under Wang Jun's order, they had already moved subtly and made preparations for withdrawing troops.Li Chongjin, who was heading east, and Wang Quanbin, who was going south, sent out two groups to intercept the troops.

Li Chongjin led the Guardian Army to meet the Tang Army west of Anyuan County, Haozhou. According to Wang Jun's order, they fought a small battle.As a result, the feigned defeat turned into a real defeat. After all, the Tang army was outnumbered. If Li Chongjin hadn't cut off his wrists, left one of them behind, and retreated decisively, he would have been entangled by the Tang army and wiped out.

Returning in disgrace, feeling that his fame had been lost, Li Chongjin felt ashamed and indignant.However, what was unexpected was that Wang Jun had a pleasant face and comforted Li Chongjin. At that time, the army had already retreated to Xiacai along the Fei River, and Wang Jun instead entrusted Li Chongjin with the important task of making Li Chongjin the rear guard of the army.

Sometimes, in this defeat, it is more difficult to win the battle than to win the battle.Li Chongjin proved this with the lives of more than 1000 soldiers.

Wang Quanbin's side was much more sophisticated, and he had no intention of confronting Luzhou Zhang Quanyue's army, so he kept his eyes on the edge of Feishui.After receiving Wang Jun's order to withdraw the troops, they withdrew quickly, and joined Li Chongjin in the rear of the palace to guard against the Shouchun defenders' pursuit.

On the side of the Tang army, when the army came, they looked at each other across the Feishui River, and saw the huge and empty Han camp.Knowing that the Han army had retreated to Xiacai Ferry, the Tang army commander Liu Yanzhen laughed loudly: "The Han thieves are afraid of our army. They fled to Xiacai far away. They are afraid of losing their way and stick to it. If they pursue it, they will surely win a big victory. Send an order , send troops to Cai!"

At the same time, He Jingzhu of Shouchun City was ordered to attack Zhang Quanyue who had come from the south, and asked them to gather troops with him and send troops to the northwest.Two more envoys were sent to inform the north and the south to let the Haozhou navy and the supplemented Shouzhou navy attack the Han army's Xiacai and Zhengyang pontoon bridges to support his main attack.

Hearing Liu Yanzhen's military order, He Jingzhu advised him immediately: "The commander-in-chief is coming from far away, and the veterans are tired. Let the soldiers rest first, and then plan later. Moreover, the Han army is strong, and they retreat before fighting. If they chase them rashly, there may be accidents." Change. The king is a general, bearing the orders of the king, and shouldering the responsibility of defending Huainan, so you should act prudently!"

He Jingzhu's persuasion can be described as faithful advice, but Liu Yanzhen, who has entered his own state, could not listen to it, and reprimanded He Jingzhu's emissary: ​​"I have seen the combat power of the Han army before, and the Guardian Army is known as the elite of the Northern Han Dynasty. I was defeated in one battle, and I was simply vulnerable. I think He Shijun is old, and as a guard, he is so timid when he is about to fight."

"Go back and ask He Jingzhu on behalf of my commander, why didn't you go out of the city to pursue the Han army when they were retreating, procrastinating and buying time for our army to encircle. You tell him that this commander missed him because he was guilty of delaying the war. Let him leave the city quickly, join forces with someone, and pursue Xia Cai, otherwise let the Han army flee to Huaibei, don't blame our military for being ruthless!"

Liu Yanzhen's words spread to He Jingzhu's ears, and the old general became furious, he couldn't contain his anger, and he scolded Lizi directly.Immediately, Bai Liu Yanzhen was sent to speak. He was ordered to guard Shouchun, and he dared not leave without permission. The king wanted to pursue the Han army, and he went by himself. Shouchun had no soldiers to adjust.

When Liu Yanzhen got the answer, she became even angrier, scolded the old man, and almost beheaded the messenger.

The same suggestion as He Jingzhu reported was that Zhang Quanyue, the commander of the Baoxin Army from Luzhou, heard Liu Yanzhen's order and sent someone to tell him: "The commander-in-chief was ordered to come north to relieve the siege of Shouchun. Now the Han army has withdrawn. , then the goal will be achieved. Gather heavy troops, observe the enemy's situation, and supplement it with the advantage of the navy, and calmly break it. The so-called poor bandits should not be chased, why rush to chase and kill them, and give the enemy an opportunity to take advantage of!"

It is a very simple truth to say good advice, but many times, it is difficult for a person in a situation to understand.

Facing He and Zhang's advice, Liu Yanzhen only felt that they were cowardly evading and perfunctory his military order.The anger caused people to question Zhang Quanyue: "You are in Luzhou, next to Shouchun. However, for nearly half a month, you have delayed your march. You have never fought a battle or lost a soldier. How cowardly you are! You should attack the bandits from the commander, and stand invincible." achievement!"

He also issued a strict order to ask Zhang Quanyue not to talk too much, but to lead the army to accompany him.Zhang Quanyue's temperament is not as staunch as He Jingzhu's, he had no choice but to follow him, and asked to be the rear, the first runner-up of the army, Liu Yanzhen smiled timidly, and agreed.

As for the disobedient He Jingzhu, Liu Yanzhen has no other choice for the time being. He is busy chasing him and has no time to entangle with him.
Because of the agreement between He Jingzhu and Zhang Quan, in order to avoid the noise from other generals, Liu Yanzhen summoned all the generals and said forcefully: "The situation of the Northern invaders and the enemy is all in my heart, how do you know? Those who frustrate me, beheaded!"

Then the military march was arranged, and a team of more than [-] people, including Zhang Quanyue's army and civilian husbands, headed down to Cai.

Of course, as a person who is familiar with military books, Liu Yanzhen doesn't know the truth that the poor should not chase after them.

However, one thing he said early on was that he wanted to smash the Han army and take Wang Jun's head as a sacrifice to Jinling, and he didn't want to be anticlimactic.

Second, easily defeating Li Chongjin made him have some wrong estimates of the comparison of the combat power between the Tang army and the Han army.

Three, he visited the camps left by the Han army, and found that in the Han camp, there were a large number of missing public and private property, tents on carts, and even traces of burning food and heavy ordnance such as throwing cars.The pontoon bridge that hangs over the Feishui and connects the two banks has not had time to be destroyed.These signs all indicate that the Han army left in a hurry.

It is precisely because of this that Liu Yanzhen has the confidence to pursue boldly and win the battle.

Of course, Liu Yanzhen didn't know that before retreating, Wang Jun severely scolded the soldiers and civilian husbands for cleaning up too cleanly, scolding them for being stupid.Under the careful arrangements of Wang Jun and Murong Yanzhao, Liu Yanzhen came all the way north, and it was difficult to figure out what she had experienced and seen.

Xiacai is not far from Shouchun, but the distance of [-] miles, even with heavy baggage, more than half a day, is enough for Liu Yanzhen's army to visit Xiacai.

And along the way, Liu Yanzhen saw more situations that reassured him.For example, soldiers of the Tang army captured some peasants. Liu Yanzhen personally questioned them, and the man replied that they were drafted laborers from Huaibei.

Hearing this, Liu Yanzhen was overjoyed, and rewarded those civilian husbands with money and food to show the benevolence of his Tang army.

Along the way, the Han army spared no effort to harass them. In Liu Yanzhen's view, this was just a poor delaying method of the Han army. It took little effort to repel three waves of Han army's harassment one after another. Liu Yanzhen sent an order to urge the army to speed up.
From the beginning to the end, Liu Yanzhen seemed to ignore that the Han army really wanted to delay his advance, so why did they abandon the horse army.

When the Tang army approached Cai Fuliang under the urging of Liu Yanzhen, the scene on the bank of the Huai River was beyond Liu Yanzhen's expectations.

According to his estimation, when he led the troops to arrive, the Han army should be in great chaos, mixed together, with tens of thousands of troops rushing to cross the pontoon bridge.
However, the reality is that the Han army set up a stronghold on the shore, and the formation was huge, solemn and silent, sharpening their knives, and waiting for the Tang army with murderous aura.The setting sun in winter, releasing dim light, shone on the armor of the Han army, reflecting a penetrating cold light.

Seeing the scene, the Tang army was immediately awed by it, including Liu Yanzhen, looking at the Dazhai army formation of the Han army backed by water, they couldn't help but feel palpitations.The arrogance that he used to rely on to defeat Li Zhong and win a big victory at the beginning became clear all of a sudden. It was precisely because of his thorough study of military art that Liu Yanzhen knew the horror of the Han army.

Seeing this, Liu Yanzhen was in a hurry, and almost tremblingly gave the order to let the army line up to meet the enemy.In front of the formation, horses were rejected, sharp knives were placed, wooden signs were erected, and barbed caltrops were placed in front of the formation to prevent Han cavalry from raiding.Fortunately, the distance gave Liu Yanzhen some time to react.

In the formation of the Han army, a tall general platform has been set up, and Wang Jun sits on it, looking at the situation of the Tang army.Although it was far away, Tang Jun's panic could be seen, and he did not intend to give Tang Jun a buffer army, and immediately ordered a war.

The flag was waved, and the Han army's formation slowly moved, maintaining a tight formation, like a giant war beast, slowly pressing towards the Tang army.

After entering the range of the bow and crossbow, the arrows were fired together, and there was a general order. The bow and crossbow formation of 5000 people did not hesitate to consume more than [-] arrows towards the Tang army formation.Faced with this almost strategic blow, even though Tang Jun had large shields, wooden plaques, and carriage frames to resist, he was seriously injured in a short time, and there were many casualties.The most important thing is that the morale has dropped sharply, the position is unstable, and they are shot directly, and it is too late to counterattack.

After the rain of arrows, the infantry immediately launched an attack.When assigning tasks in front of the station, Li Chongjin resolutely asked for orders to lead the holy army to attack, intending to avenge his previous humiliation, and Wang Jun agreed.With the right wing of the Xiaodi Army, the left wing of the Fengguo Army, and the Tiger Army's light cavalry, they launched a full-scale attack on the Tang Army with more than [-] cavalry.

Tang Jun, in the face of the attack of the Han army, could not resist at all.Counting the rush to Shouchun, we spent almost a day marching, covering a distance of more than [-] miles without rest.As far as Xiacai, he has not eaten, how can he be the opponent of the Han army who is waiting for work.

On the side of the Han army, there are many wise generals and more brave generals.Taking the Guardian Army as an example, Li Chongjin and Wang Yansheng burst out of the irritability they had held back for a long time. They led their troops to charge and smash through the Tang army's front line.

The rest of the army, Wang Quanbin, Sun Li, Gao Huaide, Guo Chongwei, Shi Yanchao, etc., are all generals fighting hard.Wang Jun supervised the battle at the back, and Murong Yanzhao's army commanded at the front. All the soldiers fought hard. The Tang army, whose morale had been lost, failed to hold out for half an hour, and was defeated before sunset.

After the success of the infantry and the defeat of the Tang army, Murong Yanzhao issued another order to send the tiger army with more than [-] cavalry to attack and chase the north.

　Thanks to book friends "Panda in Tsing Yi", "The Wind Blows the Owl and the Moonlight Breaks", "LastButOne", "PZm", "Wang Nianjun", "Jinyu Liaoyuan", "Chaozi's Dad", "Little Man with Great Power" , "Maple leaves flutter like what year jop", "Panda Burning Incense gl", "Anla'an", "Shuanghua" for rewards.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)