Jingnan Strategy

Chapter 243 Battle of Yueyang Bridge

"Cuckoo..."

"Cuckoo..."

On August 1th, at the third quarter of the night (45:[-]), when late at night arrives, the low city wall becomes even more inconspicuous in the darkness. If it weren't for the weak firelight, perhaps no one would notice it.

On the rammed-earth city wall, which was about three feet tall, the soldiers on vigil were patrolling like a revolving door, seeming a little lax.

Outside the city, there was silence in the pitch-black night, with only the occasional cooing of birds and the sound of running water in the moat floating through the air.

Thin dark clouds blocked the moonlight, making the surroundings even darker.

"Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu..."

At this time, a creepy roar came from the city wall, suddenly breaking the quiet night.

The defenders raised their heads alertly, and at a glance, they saw a strange-looking black bird standing on the wall of the arrow tower.

"Mom, you scared me."

Seeing that the noise was actually a strange bird, the soldiers on night duty cursed and continued to patrol the city.

Soon, heavy footsteps continued to be heard on the city wall, and at this time, fire appeared in the night outside the city.

"Beep--"

A shrill whistle sounded on the low wall, and all the defenders were on alert. At the same time, they discovered the patches of fire in the night.

The fire covered an area for several miles, and came from north to south, instantly making the defenders of Xiong County alert.

For a moment, a strong wind blew inside and outside the city, but the strong wind came just in time to blow away the dark clouds covering the sky.

The moonlight of the Mid-Autumn Festival illuminated the outside of the city, which was an army of tens of thousands.

As they approached, the flags with the characters "Ming" and "Yan" appeared outside the city, making people's hairs go up.

"Enemy attack!!"

"Beep--"

"Clang! clang! clang! clang!"

For a time, Xiong County was awakened by the defenders. Although it was a frontline city, Xiong County was low and had rammed earth walls, so it had no defense, so only three thousand defenders were stationed here.

Facing tens of thousands of Yan troops outside the city, all of them held on to their spirits and did not lose morale because of the low city walls and their numerical disadvantage.

"Is it being sent out urgently?!"

He Cheng, the commander who crawled out of the gentle village and hurriedly walked up to the city wall, questioned the Qianhu official who was on duty at night. Hearing the news, the Qianhu official also ran over and bowed calmly: "Return to the general, he has been sent out and has not been attacked by Yan." Military obstruction."

"Okay! Just send it out!"

Knowing that the news had been successfully sent, He Cheng breathed a sigh of relief and began to prepare nervously for the enemy.

Under his watch, the Yan army surrounded the entire Xiong County, so that they did not dare to relax and could only stare at the Yan army, waiting for their next move.

He was watching, and so was Yan Jun.

"Drive... call!"

Qiufule, who came on horseback, stood in front of a group of generals. He bowed to Zhu Di and said, "Your Highness, according to what you said, Na Tangqi has been sent to the south to break out."

"Okay!" Zhu Di nodded calmly: "Wait for dawn and then take the opportunity to attack the city."

"Yes!" Qiu Fu bowed in agreement, then returned to the front line and waited for dawn according to Zhu Di's arrangement.

Watching him leave, a general following Zhu Di also asked: "Your Highness, why do you want this Xiong County to release Tangqi?"

"This place is only [-] miles away from Xu Kai's headquarters. If Xu Kai goes north with his cavalry, he may be able to arrive at noon."

"I'm just waiting for their reinforcements to come!" Zhu Di wanted to surround the point for reinforcements, but not absolutely.

He wanted to use Xiongxian to attract the Confederate army. With this time and distance, only [-] cavalrymen from the Confederate army could come to rescue Xiongxian in time.

Zhu Di had already received information from Yao Guangxiao. Although Geng Bingwen had an army of [-], most of them were infantry. There were only three cavalry units, namely Xu Kai, Yang Song, and Pan Zhong, and the total number did not exceed [-].

It is impossible for these fifteen thousand people to appear at the same time, so as long as he starts in advance, he can take the opportunity to annihilate one of them.

As long as these fifteen thousand cavalry can be wiped out, Geng Bingwen will become a lame man with one leg, and then he will be able to deal with him more calmly.

Thinking of this, Zhu Di narrowed his eyes and clenched his horse's reins with both hands.

Time passed little by little, and the Mid-Autumn Festival wind made people feel chilly. But for the several Tangqi who went south to deliver the message, it seemed as if there were evil spirits chasing them behind them.

I don’t know how long it took, but after changing horses continuously, the messenger successfully saw the fire ahead.

"who?!"

"We are the soldiers of Commander He from Xiong County. We are here to deliver an urgent message. Tens of thousands of Yan troops are besieging the city. We are here to ask for help!"

Tang Qi reined in his horse in front of the sentinel knight who suddenly appeared in front and reported his news.

The hundreds of Tangqi who appeared looked at each other in shock when they heard this. Finally, the official from Baihu who led the team ordered two Tangqi to pass the news to the rear.

"How many Mozhou defenders can support?"

Tang Qi, who was in a hurry, asked the more than a hundred cavalry in front of him. Their accents were strange, not like people from the Central Plains, but rather like Mongolians and Westerners.

"Mozhou?" The group of people smiled: "This place is still twenty miles away from Mozhou, but you met just in time. Our general was sent by Changxing Marquis to garrison in Xiong County, and he is on his way there now."

"May I ask your general..."

"Pingdu Governor Qian Shi, Commander Yang, and Commander Pan."

The two parties exchanged news with each other, and also asked: "How far is it from Xiong County? Why didn't the Yan army's cavalry pursue you?"

"If this place is still twenty miles away from Mozhou, then it should be forty-three miles away from Xiong County."

While the two parties were talking, the dull and dense sound of horse hooves suddenly sounded from the direction of Mozhou.

Not long after, the boundless fire appeared in the south and approached them.

"Where is the messenger?!"

Suddenly, a tall figure riding a big food horse galloped from the south, bypassing more than a hundred pond riders, and came to the middle of the two parties.

"Plain things!"

When the Songpan cavalry saw that the person coming was Ping An, they all bowed on their horses. Xiongxian Tangqi also learned of Ping An's identity and quickly bowed: "Under the sign is Xiongxian Chuanxin Tangqi."

"How many are the Yan army, how many cavalry, horse infantry, and foot soldiers are there?"

Ping An asked for details, and Na Tangqi quickly responded: "It's hard to see clearly in the night, but there shouldn't be many cavalry, because they didn't pursue the bidders and others, but there were a lot of infantry, probably forty or fifty thousand."

"Send the order to the whole army, hurry up and go north!" Ping An gave the order to the whole army before Tangqi finished speaking.

Soon, Jiuqiantangqi from Zhending headed north, and time passed little by little.

The confrontation in Xiongxian lasted from early morning to dawn. Since the Yan army had prepared and rested before attacking at night, the defenders of Xiongxian looked very tired after a night of confrontation, and many soldiers were struggling to maintain their spirits.

The long confrontation made them relax, thinking that Zhu Di might not attack the city, but what Zhu Di wanted was what they thought.

"Woooooo-"

Suddenly, a dull horn sounded, and the Yan army, which had already prepared a large number of siege equipment, began to attack the city with its entire army, coming from all directions.

They did not use Lu Gong's car, but only brought ordinary crash cars and ladders.

Since the city walls of Xiongxian County were low and there was no moat, when the Yan army swarmed up, the entire Xiongxian County was suddenly submerged in the 'ocean' of the Yan army.

The southern army defending the city tried to defeat the Yan army with bowl-mouth blunderbuss and Hongwu iron cannon. However, they did not have many firearms. The simple stone cannons and fire gate guns only caused less than a hundred casualties to the Yan army, and were defeated by the Yan army. He forced himself under the low earth city with steady steps.

The Confederate soldiers on the top of the city watched the enemy's movements vigilantly, guarding against their attacks.

The Yan army formed an array, divided into several troops, and advanced towards the city step by step.

The crashed car was pushed to the gate of the city. The soldiers of the Yan Army pushed the car forward with all their strength. The thin city gate was not supported by a thousand-jin gate, so it began to shake after several collisions. The Southern Army in the corridor began to frantically fight for the city. The door was blocked by leaning wood, but this was of no avail.

The kerosene was poured down from the top of the corridor and then ignited. Dozens of Yan Army soldiers were engulfed in the fire, but they were quickly rescued. Their robes covered them with sand and soil, and the flames caused by the kerosene quickly extinguished.

The burned people were carried down, but batch after batch of Yan troops had already rushed onto the city wall and the horse path, fighting with the Southern troops.

In close combat, the two sides fought hard. The Confederate army was already exhausted and began to retreat after a long stalemate.

"kill!!"

"Qing Jun is on his side and the country is in trouble!"

"The descendants don't kill!!"

The Yan army is not only attacking the city, but also attacking the heart. What they are showing at this moment is different from the Huaixi army like Lao Zhu who has entangled interests. They are simply fighting for Zhu Di personally.

Under such fierce and fearless fighting, the Southern Army retreated steadily, and was even forced to retreat off the horse road. The city gate tower was captured, and the kerosene could no longer pose a threat to the Yan Army.

Zhu Di saw the right opportunity and continued to have people crash open the city gate with a car.

The waiting officers and soldiers of the Yan army quickly raised their spears and short soldiers and prepared to attack.

Suddenly, there was a loud noise at the city gate, and the car crash successfully opened the door, and those Yan Army soldiers who were unable to rush onto the horse road also rushed into the city, forcing the Confederate soldiers into a desperate situation.

The Confederate soldiers were in a mess, shouting and clamoring, but they could no longer resist the enemy's offensive.

The entire Xiong County was filled with the smell of death and war, and the people hiding in the city huddled on their couches in fear, hoping that the former King of Yan would not attack them.

Time passed little by little, and when the shouts of killing were getting smaller and smaller, and even almost non-existent, Qiu Fu, who was in charge of the main attack, galloped out of the city gate with two heads on his horse.

He came to the front of the formation and threw the two heads on the ground.

"Your Highness, the commander He Cheng and the commander Xiao Quanbu surrendered were killed in battle. These are their heads. Xiongxian County has been captured. There are about [-] surrendered troops. In addition, there are about [-] mules and horses in the city."

Qiu Fu bowed and reported, while Zhang Yu and others behind Zhu Di showed proud smiles. They successfully captured the city.

"The surrendered troops were taken to the rear for training. In addition, two thousand people were sent to move the seriously injured soldiers and Xiongxian people and grain to Peiping."

Zhu Di did not relax like other generals because he knew very well that taking over a small Xiong County was just the beginning. Now he had to face the Southern Army that might attack from the south, and for this, he had to do it early. Fully prepared.

"Tan Yuan!"

After counting the time, Zhu Di spoke to a Qianhu behind him. Upon hearing the sound, a Qianhu in his thirties rode his horse forward and bowed at the same time.

"You lead a thousand men and mules and horses to the Yueyang Bridge nine miles south. After the Nanbing cavalry crosses the bridge, they will occupy the Yueyang Bridge. Don't let them retreat from the Yueyang Bridge!"

"If there is a cannon blast from our army, you will immediately lead troops to attack the rear of the Confederate army from Yueyang Bridge."

"The last general takes orders!"

Under Zhu Di's watch, Tan Yuan led a thousand infantry to Yueyang Bridge in the south.

Regarding this, Zhang Yu also curiously asked: "Your Highness, there are seven or eight bridges from Mozhou to Xiongxian in the north. Why do you think the Southern Army will come to Yueyang Bridge?"

"I don't know, maybe it's a feeling."

On the battlefield, Zhu Di had an intuition. He could clearly deduce that the Confederate army would go north from Yueyang Bridge. Even if not, he could force the Confederate army to Yueyang Bridge.

"The whole army is resting and waiting for the Confederate cavalry to cross the bridge!"

Zhu Di got off his horse and sat on the ground. Seeing that he had no airs, everyone also followed his example and sat down one after another, recovering the energy consumed by the fight just now. The sky began to lighten slowly, and the distance of nine miles was not too far for Tan Yuan who had obtained the mules and horses.

Except for the two-quarters of hours he spent leading the mules and horses out of the city, it only took him two-quarters of an hour to reach the Yueyang Bridge nine miles away.

He brought [-] people with him. After [-] people dismounted, he looked at the situation around Yueyang Bridge.

Peiping is sparsely populated, and even there are very few trees. Even around the river, there are rarely groups of trees, which cannot cover the traces of a thousand of them.

"Qianhu, there is no place to set up an ambush here."

An official from Baihu came forward on a draft horse and spoke, but Tan Yuan looked around and then seemed to find something. He dismounted and walked to the river and broke a bunch of wild rice.

He put the wild grass in his mouth and found that he could breathe normally, then he said to the people behind him: "One thousand people dismount, and two hundred people lead all the mules and horses away and sweep their tails clean."

He shook the wild grass in his hand: "We will use this to set up an ambush!"

After that, he led a thousand people who got off their horses to break many wild grasses on the shore and carefully hid under the Yueyang Bridge.

Time passed bit by bit, and when the sound of horse hoofbeats sounded faintly in the south, Tan Yuan took the lead and walked down the cold and biting river water, turning back with a stern face:

"You're a man, just stay in the water with me for a quarter of an hour!"

Although his words were discussing, his tone was not.

Under his leadership, a thousand infantrymen of the Yan army walked into the water wearing armor and holding long wild grasses.

During the Mid-Autumn Festival, the flowing river water in the north was already very biting, and everyone was enduring it.

They breathed through wild grass and submerged themselves in the water.

Gradually, the sound of horse hooves became more and more frequent. Even if they were in the water, they could still hear the sound of horse hooves on Yueyang Bridge.

They crossed the bridge very slowly, and because the sky was not completely clear yet, the Yan army in the water was not discovered.

A quarter of an hour, two quarters of an hour...

They stayed in the water for longer than Tan Yuan said. It was so long that many of them were numb and even in pain. They wanted to surface, but were held tightly by the people around them.

Finally, when the Confederate cavalry completely passed Yueyang Bridge and drifted away, livid faces slowly appeared in the water.

Perhaps they should be thankful that it was not winter, otherwise none of them would have survived for a quarter of an hour.

But despite this, many soldiers also suffered from frostbite.

Tan Yuan was also one of them, but he had no time to wait for the soldiers to warm themselves by the river.

He led his men from the river beach to the flat ground, and finally formed a formation at Yueyang Bridge, occupying the Yueyang Bridge, the nearest bridge on the Southern Army's retreat route.

Ping An, Yang Song, Pan Zhong and others had gone far away, and Tan Yuan and the others could no longer hear the sound of horse hooves.

But they didn't hear it, but the Yan army in Xiong County heard it.

"Woooooo-"

The horns sounded anxiously, and the Yan army took up their posture early. Zhu Di personally led five thousand cavalry in front of the formation. He did not place the cavalry on the left and right sides, but asked his infantry to hold lances on the left and right sides.

Such a formation was undoubtedly a taboo for military strategists, but he did not change the formation. Instead, he led the army on foot and marched south.

The Yan army cooperated very well. Even if more than [-] troops marched in formation, the formation was not disordered at all, unlike the Bohai Navy during the Battle of Tieling, which only formed a formation to pursue dozens of steps before the formation dispersed.

This kind of cooperation was what Zhu Di had practiced leading his troops all year round. Any soldiers from Daning, Beiping, and Liaodong, even newly captured soldiers, could quickly join in.

Gradually, the sound of horse hooves in the south became louder and louder, and the flag with the word '朙' began to appear on the horizon, followed by a large number of cavalry.

"Shut up!"

Ping An, who had been leading the army to the front, discovered that the Yan army had formed a formation and headed south, and knew that Zhu Di had expected that they would come for reinforcements.

He glanced at Xiong County, but it was too far away to see whose flag was hanging.

"I'm afraid it's difficult to defend Xiong County. Do we want to retreat?"

Pan Zhongce immediately stepped forward to inquire about safety. Yang Song on the side also followed closely. Looking at the formation of the Yan army, he pointed at the five thousand cavalry in the middle army and said: "The cavalry is placed in the middle army. It should be that there is no time to change the formation." , we are now covering up the army and charging, as long as we are not trapped by Yan Ni's infantry, we can defeat the Chinese army and capture the Yan common people alive!"

Ping An's doubts were dispelled by Yang Song. He was already brave, and his cavalry was close to one-third of the Yan army. There was no brave general in the Yan army that he could like, so he naturally wanted to capture Zhu Di alive in a fight. To make a name for yourself.

"Send the order to the whole army to charge at the first word, follow my banner!"

"The last general takes orders!"

Yang Song and Pan Zhong responded, and the cavalry began to deliver instructions throughout the army.

Time passed little by little, and when the Yan army was less than [-] steps away from the southern army, the sound of trumpets like fried beans suddenly sounded from the south.

"The time has come!"

The moment Zhu Di heard the trumpet, he shook the reins of his horse, took a few steps out of the team, then turned his horse's head and looked back at the five thousand cavalry he had accumulated in the past few years: "Brothers, follow my banner, In one word, the cavalry charges!"

"The last general takes orders!"

Qiu Fu and Zhu Neng led their generals to bow, while Zhang Yu had already gone to the left wing to control the infantry, preparing to cut off the eastward escape of Ping An and others.

"What's that noise to the south?"

"Was ambushed!"

Yang Song was undecided, but Ping An was gloomy.

He had fought side by side with Zhu Di many times, and naturally knew that Zhu Di often used trumpets as signals when dealing with the Mongols.

Obviously, Zhu Di will do the same this time.

Ping An turned his attention to the east, and sure enough, Zhang Yu's [-] and [-] infantrymen were encircling a large area to the east.

However, as a result, there were only less than [-] people guarding Zhu Di, of whom [-] were cavalry.

"Blow the trumpet and charge!"

"Woooooo-"

The melodious horn sounded, and Ping An led his army to attack Zhu Di's five thousand cavalry. He was still praying that Zhu Di would not be timid to retreat into the infantry formation because of his own presence.

"Blow the horn! Charge!"

"Woooooo-"

Almost immediately, Zhu Di led the [-] cavalry troops to launch the charge safely.

Five thousand cavalry left the town, and Zhang Xin, who commanded the Yan Army's right-wing regiment, also began to order the regiment to connect with Zhang Yu's troops to reduce the fighting space for the cavalry on both sides.

For a moment, the Yan army's infantry was shaped like a bowl, attacking the Southern army's cavalry in the south.

But on the battlefield, Ping An became even more excited when he saw that Zhu Di dared to lead the cavalry to charge against him.

"Crush the traitors and destroy Yan Ni!!"

"The Qing Dynasty will be in trouble for the country!!"

For a time, the slogans of the two parties collided south of Xiongxian County where the sky was bright.

The ground on the battlefield has been trampled to pieces, revealing a brown color.

A tense atmosphere enveloped the entire battlefield, with only the deafening sound of horse hooves and fierce war cries intertwined on the battlefield.

In this smell mixed with the smell of smoke and blood, the cavalry from the two sides rushed towards each other in a mighty manner, bringing up dust all over the sky.

The Songpan cavalry under Ping'an did not engage in hand-to-hand combat with the Yan army's cavalry. Instead, they relied on their fast horses and strong bows to attack the Yan army's cavalry several times with mounted fire.

The two sides fought back and forth on the battlefield, which was less than five miles wide. Ping An, who was known for his bravery, wanted to capture Zhu Di alive, but he was afraid of Zhu Gaoxu, so he tried to determine whether Zhu Gaoxu had appeared in the formation during the constant fighting.

After all, the news from the court half a month ago was that Zhu Gaoxu had led his troops to capture the former garrison of Guangning, which was only separated from the Yan army by Shanhaiguan.

If Shanhaiguan is breached in these days, Zhu Gaoxu is very likely to appear among the Yan army and even bring more cavalry.

"Why don't Ping Qianshi attack the formation?"

Ping An led his troops to defend the enemy with cavalry and shooting several times, which quickly aroused the dissatisfaction of Yang Song and Pan Zhong.

They didn't know what Ping An was afraid of. Hearing this, Ping An was embarrassed to say that he was afraid of Zhu Gaoxu, so he said with a straight face, "I'm testing Yan Ni to see if there are any ambush troops."

"Right now, it seems that Yan Ni has no ambush except for setting up ambushes at Yueyang Bridge. Now we can attack Yan Ni and capture the common people of Yan alive!"

After that, Ping An conveyed the order, and after the next cavalry shooting, the whole army prepared to fight with a long force.

His military orders were conveyed after a cavalry and shooting confrontation.

Within a quarter of an hour, in four cavalry and archery battles, the Yan army's cavalry failed to benefit from the Hanmengsongpan cavalry under Pingan, and their morale gradually declined.

Ping An seized this opportunity and changed into Ma Shan after the cavalry shooting, and the others also changed into long soldiers.

This scene was seen by Zhu Di, who had been flying kites for a long time. He immediately ordered the entire army to fire trumpets.

"Oh!"

"Bang bang bang-"

After he sounded the trumpet for the first time, the Yan Army cavalry and Zhang Yu and Zhang Xin's troops on both sides sounded the trumpet one after another. The trumpets sounded more densely and loudly than before, which made Tan Yuanming who was ambushing at Yueyang Bridge aware. .

"Zhang Kui, you lead a hundred men to guard Yueyang Bridge, and I will lead nine hundred infantry to help His Highness!"

"The last general takes orders!"

At Yueyang Bridge, Tan Yuan, who received the news, no longer hesitated and began to lead nine hundred infantrymen who were holding long spears and had warmed up their bodies to start heading north.

Due to the constant pressure from Zhang Yu, Zhu Di, and Zhang Xin's troops, the frontal battlefield was now less than two miles away from Tan Yuan and the others.

"kill!!"

After a face-to-face confrontation, the Southern Army cavalry replaced their long soldiers. Instead of shooting arrows and leaving as before, they rushed into the slightly relaxed Yan Army cavalry with their long soldiers.

The Confederate cavalry thrust their spears at each other, and the two sides collided. The Yan Army cavalry was caught off guard at first, but as time passed, they gradually adapted and began to face the Confederate attack.

The two teams rushed to the middle, and the cavalry from both sides interspersed with each other, as if they were dancing a dance of great speed and power on the battlefield.

The swords are flying, the spearheads are flashing, the horses are galloping, and the momentum is astonishing...

With their agility and determined fighting spirit, the Southern Army's cavalry repeatedly frustrated the Yan Army's charges.

Due to the excellent combat skills and superior equipment of the Confederate cavalry, they had successfully transformed the situation and tilted the balance of victory in their favor.

After the confrontation, they turned their horses' heads again and fought many times, while Ping An was also looking for Zhu Di's figure in the formation.

After two confrontations, he finally determined Zhu Di's location.

"Follow me closely, I will lead you to capture the common people of Yan alive!"

"Roar!!"

The war cry sounded, and the Confederate cavalry took the lead in launching a charge. But facing their charge, Zhu Di also clenched the sword in his hand and gritted his teeth.

"My sons in Peiping, follow me to death!!"

Under the protection of Qiu Fu, Zhu Neng, Huo Zhen, Ma He, Wang Yan and others, Zhu Di also led only half of Ping An's cavalry and launched a charge towards Ping An.

"kill!!"

　Second update [-]:[-]

　　

　

(End of this chapter)