Five Dynasties River Mountains Fengyue

Chapter 202 Deadly Fire Thunder
Zhou Xingfeng stood on the top of the sentry tower several feet high, from which he could overlook the battle on the beach in the distance.

His heart became more and more stable. At the beginning, when his navy was chased and beaten by Zhou Jun, he was still sweating, and the morale of the army was indeed hit.

Zhou Jun's hundreds of small boats began to cross the river, and he knew that Zhou Jun was going to launch a general offensive.

Afterwards, he became ruthless and sent general Yang Shifan to the east to preside over the army, and he himself presided over the defense of the western section.

Soon, the Western Front stabilized its position after a fierce battle.

In the east, Yang Shifan lived up to his high hopes, and quickly reorganized his manpower array to resist the Zhou army's fierce attack.

On his side, relying on the trenches that had been repaired in advance, the horses and sentry towers also resisted the offensive of the Zhou army, completely resisting the Zhou army in the area of ​​​​the shoal, and could not get over it anyway.

At this point in the battle, Zhou Xingfeng himself broke out in a cold sweat.

He had seen the bravery of the Zhou army, and it was true that the Northern army was good at fighting. The successive defeats of the Northern Han, Shu, and Tang countries in the past few years were not just bragging.

Not to mention the reckless dismissal of the navy, the dozens of elites rushing up from the east alone caused more than a hundred of his men to return home without a feather, and had to reorganize their formation.

At the beginning, the people on the east beach wanted to take advantage of the fact that Zhou's army had few people ashore and didn't care about the formation, so they rushed up and drove them into the water. Unexpectedly, those dozens of armored elites killed them to death.

And until now Zhou Xingfeng knew in his heart that there was no hope of winning, at most it would be a tie.

Because Zhou Jun has completely controlled the river, they can withdraw if they cannot be defeated.

And I must stick to my side and not let them break through the defense line by the river, otherwise Fang Yuezhou will have no danger to defend, and Zhou Jun will be able to reach Wuling directly when he enters the waters of Dongting Lake, and he will retreat further south as soon as he retreats!

At this time, Zhou Xingfeng couldn't care less, and said to the messengers beside him, "Allow the reserve team to Lao Tzu, hold on, don't let Zhou's army go on the road!"

The messengers got the order and began to deploy troops to the rear, while the Zhou army in the distance was also continuously sending more troops to the shore.

The battle ahead became more and more fierce. Zhou Jun once rushed up the slope, but fortunately they were all killed. He saw with his own eyes a Zhou Jun man in heavy armor with three spears stuck in his body and killed them in the sand. Only one crossbowman fell down.

To the east, Yang Shifan organized his men to re-arrange. The previous dense array of six rows, with large shields and spears, and crossbowmen on the sentry towers, forced the Zhou army to retreat to the beachhead for a stalemate.

At this time, half an hour had passed since Zhou's army landed, and the battle sounded one after another on the long front of about two miles.

At this most tense moment, the Zhou army on the western front suddenly stopped attacking the slope, but slowly retreated ten steps to form an array.

There was a moment of silence on the battlefield on the western front. Many Wuping soldiers were puzzled. Someone accidentally rushed too far and slid down the slope.

Zhou Xingfeng stood on the sentry tower, looked at the situation ahead, and wondered for a moment, what is this for?

Then I thought, is Zhou Jun going to withdraw?

His sentry tower is only a few dozen steps away from the front position, and the situation there can be seen clearly.

It is a wise choice to withdraw the troops if they cannot attack for a long time. If the soldiers are exhausted and powerless, then retreating is courting death.

Zhou Xingfeng glanced at the east, the situation in the east is still in a state of confrontation, Zhou Jun seems to have plans to retreat.
The reserve team in the rear is coming up to support the long riverside defense line, and the densely packed Wuping soldiers have an increasing advantage.

Zhou Xingfeng was even more sure of this idea, and then he was excited in his heart, and said: "Go down and tell the commanders, show me that the Zhou army will withdraw its troops, and when they are halfway aboard, start attacking immediately!"

As soon as he finished speaking, a loud noise suddenly came from the distant river, like thunder on a sunny day, which startled him!
Zhou Xingfeng was taken aback for a moment, before he could react, he turned around and saw fires flickering one after another in the distance, blue smoke rose into the sky, sand and gravel on the beach splashed everywhere, and a large number of soldiers fell to the ground
He saw someone's feet flying in the sky, someone covered his face and wailed, and blood gushed out from his hands.
Then the armored elites at the front fell to the ground one after another, howling ghosts and wolves on the ground, and there was filled with smoke everywhere in the position, and the crackling sound seemed like the surrounding vegetation was snapped by something.

For a moment, his brain froze.
Because Zhou Xingfeng couldn't understand what happened in front of him for a while.

When he came back to his senses, there were wailing everywhere in the distance. Many soldiers had broken legs and feet, crying and crawling forward on the ground.

The sound like a bolt from the blue continued, and every time it sounded, it was accompanied by flames and thick smoke. A large number of soldiers around were brought down, and soldiers in the distance were inexplicably injured or killed.

The corpses on the ground became shattered, and the frightened soldiers didn't know what happened. There were not many dead, but they all backed away in horror amidst the thunder, as if they had seen a ghost.

The explosion and flames and smoke lasted for a while, the sand was dyed red, and there were broken limbs and arms everywhere. The Wuping soldiers backed away in fright, making way for a large gap of dozens of steps.

Zhou Jun took advantage of this gap to rush up the slope that they had not conquered for a long time in the bloody battle, and then a large number of Zhou Jun soldiers rushed up, losing the condescending position, coupled with the previous fright, the Wuping Army in the western section was quickly defeated and collapsed.

There was a huge opening forty or fifty steps long in the overall defense line of the riverside.

Not only the soldiers, even Zhou Xingfeng himself felt as if he had seen a ghost. He who had always spoken sweetly didn't even know what to scold at this moment.

Seeing that the situation was not right, the subordinates had already reacted, and quickly helped the sluggish Zhou Xingfeng off the sentry tower, got on a horse and escorted him to the south.

Wu Ping's army was originally no match for Zhou's army. Now if there is a gap in this two-mile-long overall front, there is no room for recovery.

A gap was opened by Zhou Jun in the west, and Zhou Jun began to pour in in large numbers, rushing up the riverside road.

This avenue was originally behind the river bank, and it was the main artery for transporting supplies and replenishing troops for the entire riverside defense line. Because of its existence, the army of the southern battalion could be continuously replenished to the riverside, the wounded could be sent back, and the supplies could be sent to the river. Go to the defense line by the river.

Now a large number of Zhou troops are pouring into this main artery, and Zhou Jun followed this easy road, and quickly penetrated and surrounded the enemy from the side and back.

Many Wuping soldiers on the riverside defense line were confronting the Zhou army, and suddenly found that there was an enemy army emerging from behind them.

Those who didn't run were flanked back and forth, and the whole army was wiped out.

The battle lasted until the afternoon, and more and more Zhou troops detoured along the mainland along the river from the gap in the west, and on the two-mile-long river bank, the soldiers who went eastward were less aware of what happened, but as time went on, the war The balance of victory and defeat is gradually tilting, and the overall situation is becoming more and more obvious.

Just as Shi Congyun predicted at the beginning, hundreds of fire mines are nothing in front of tens of thousands of troops. These hundreds of fire mines only blow up a gap at a key point, affecting the victory of a small part of the entire long defense line. burden.

Afterwards, the impact of the outcome of this point began to expand, and finally affected the overall situation, deciding this difficult riverside battle.

At sunset, the defense line of the Wuping Army on the west side collapsed completely, and the Zhou army who boarded the south bank surrounded the enemy towards the east, and the Wuping Army, which was surrounded from the side, began to collapse gradually, and faster and faster.

Over time, a large number of Wuping troops on the two-mile-long front began to flee to the south, while the Zhou army surrounded them from the front and west sides, chasing and killing them all the way, capturing and killing a large number of Wuping soldiers.

Just at this time, Zhou Dynasty general Wang Huan also led troops to attack from the east, which caused the morale of the Wuping army to collapse.

The battle lasted from less than noon until sunset, and the situation became more and more clear. This head-on cross-river competition involving tens of thousands of people from both sides finally came to an end gradually, and the winner was determined.

Slowly, Wuping soldiers also found that their commander had already fled. On the south bank of the river, there were Wuping soldiers fleeing like ants all over the mountains and plains. Many people fled along the roads and trails to Yuezhou in the west.

In fact, there were quite a few soldiers from the Great Zhou, because the situation was too chaotic and complicated, and it was no longer possible to distinguish between the enemy and the enemy.

In Jiangbei, as the sun was about to set, the top of the mountain became colder, and the wind in the river became stronger and stronger. Shi Congyun could smell the bloody smell from the opposite bank even from a long distance away.

After the battle, the waves on the riverside were completely dyed red, and a large number of corpses, limbs and broken arms were floating in the river, but everything was not so conspicuous until dusk.

The fiery red sunset dyed the river into blood, and no matter how difficult it is to distinguish which is blood and which is water, it seems that everything is not so important.

Shi Congyun could see clearly that the casualties in this battle were heavy, and the beachhead troops of the Zhou army fought very hard. If the western front was not suddenly broken through by Huo Lei's surprise attack, the outcome is still unknown.

This shows that Zhou Xingfeng does have something.

At dusk, many small boats came and went, bringing all kinds of news from the south on the river, most of which were good news, such as the Zhou army broke through, surrounded the Nanping army from the side, the Nanping army began to be defeated, Wang Huan led a surprise army to attack the enemy from the east, etc. Wait.

After the initial stalemate and anxiety, good news kept coming one after another.

When the sky gradually darkened, Shi Congyun left the commander of the First Army of the Fourth Chamber of Controlling Crane, and Sun Yu led the troops to stay to guard the ferry on the north bank, and he took a boat and led the crossing of the Yangtze River by himself.

When crossing the Yangtze River, many ship wrecks left during the day have washed downstream or on the shore, and floating corpses floating on the river can still be seen from time to time.

After landing on the shore, the water on the river was still red, and many boatmen were setting up boats to help salvage the soldiers' bodies.

The corpses that were picked up were stripped to pieces, and several hills had been piled up by the river. At this time, it was hard to tell whether it was the Zhou army or the Wuping army.

After Shi Congyun got off the boat, the sky had completely dimmed, the sky was bright and full of moonlight, the stars were bright, and the river wind was mixed with a strong smell of blood. He ordered the officials in charge of salvaging the corpses: "Whether these corpses belong to our army or the Nanping army, they should be buried properly." Bar."

The officials nodded in agreement, and Shi Congyun then set foot on the land of Jiangbei under the protection of many personal soldiers and the support of officials.

The fighting here has subsided, and after he boarded the road by the river from the beach, the news spread quickly, and after a while, the two frontline commanders, Wang Huan and Wang Quanbin, came to see him.

"Tell me about the overall situation." Shi Congyun said.

Li Wang Quanbin cupped his hands, and then said: "Reporting to the commander, the main force of the bandit army has been defeated and is fleeing south.

Only a group of enemies in the east retreated to the top of the hill to resist. I heard that it was General Wuping Yang Shifan.

We told him to surrender, but he ignored it. It seemed that he was going to stick to it, and he was stubborn. "

"Where's Li Chuyun?"

"Li Dushi led his army to chase south. He said that he might be able to enter Yuezhou City by coercing the defeated soldiers." Wang Huan replied.

Shi Congyun thought to himself, Li Chuyun is indeed a thoughtful person.

"Call the people from the Firearms Battalion back and tell them not to chase after them. Count how many fire mines are left and report them to me."

That night, Zhou's army crossed the Yangtze River continuously, reached the north of Yuezhou, and then began to pursue the defeated army.

Shi Congyun issued repeated orders and repeated orders, not to use the excuse of chasing down the rout soldiers to harm the local people, and if found, they will be severely punished.

That night, Shi Congyun camped on the south bank of the great river, and when the next morning, various news came pouring in.

First of all, there is great news from the south. Li Chuyun coerced the defeated army, and he successfully entered Yuezhou City, and had completely controlled the city defenses, but Zhou Xingfeng was not caught. According to Li Chuyun's speculation, Zhou Xingfeng may not have entered Yuezhou, and went directly to It retreated south to Langzhou.

After crossing the Yangtze River, there was no danger for Yuezhou to defend, and it was normal for Zhou Xingfeng not to dare to enter Yuezhou.

Next is the situation of the pursuit of the various armies. After the pursuit reached the vicinity of Yuezhou, the various armies began to withdraw and captured more than 700 Wuping soldiers.

To the west, the Sichao Navy has driven most of the remnants of the Wuping Navy into the east waters of Dongting Lake, and blocked the intersection of Dongting Lake and the Yangtze River.

However, when the overall front of the Zhou army advanced to Yuezhou, there was still a Wuping army in the north guarding a small hill by the river, about 300 people, who vowed not to surrender to the death.

Persuading them to surrender won't do anything, but they are still very tenacious in fighting, and they won't be able to win for a while.

Later, the commander of the Firearms Battalion came to report to him that there were [-] fire mines left.

Most of the used ones were used on the western front yesterday. After the army rushed up, they didn't dare to continue to use them, so not many were thrown out, but because the Wuping army didn't know what it was at all, they were unprepared and played It worked wonders.

After hearing this, Shi Congyun transferred the Firearms Battalion to the rear again and asked them to keep Huolei safe.

Next, the casualty reports of various armies were sent over one after another. After collation and summary by the officers around him, they were finally put on his desk.

In this battle, the Zhou army killed a total of 250 people, killed more than 3000 enemy soldiers, and injured more than [-] people.

The total casualties of the Zhou army were about 4000.

More than 4000 casualties were killed in just one afternoon, which shows that the battle was tragic. If Huo Lei did not act as a surprise soldier, the casualties would have been even greater.

The battle at Sanjiangkou was different from Huainan's two-year stalemate.

This is caused by the geographical environment. The Battle of Sanjiangkou is destined to be a one-war battle, and it will not be seen for several years like Huainan.

Because once the Zhou army is allowed to cross the Yangtze River, Wuping will completely lose the possibility of fighting them, and there is no danger to continue to hold on to the south.

On July [-], after Shi Congyun entrusted Wang Quanbin with the task of besieging Yang Shifan and guarding the prisoners of war, he personally led an army of [-] to go south, camped outside Yuezhou City, and entered Yuezhou City by himself. Li Chuyun personally brought people to greet him.

On both sides of the street, there are Yuezhou people with eyes full of anxiety and fear.

After entering the city, Li Chuyun told him that they had captured Zhou Xingfeng's first wife Yan Shi in Yuezhou.

(End of this chapter)