A thousand-year-old family that began with the Battle of Makino

Chapter 960: Two-way advance of the anti-Yang manifesto, the battle of Qingkou looks to the north

In the camp outside Tongcheng, Suzhou, there are continuous military camps stretching as far as the eye can see on both sides of the Tongcheng Canal.

In the central army tent, Bai Yi stood in front of the commander's desk with a serious face, his left hand on the sword and his right hand holding the governor's seal. He was wearing a gold-swallowing bright light armor, his silver-white hair was tied up with a green jade hairpin, and his neck-length beard was blown by the breeze outside the tent.

On the left side of the hall, the military commander Bai Banghan, also with silver hair and military uniform, was holding a piece of cloth and reading out the denunciation manifesto and appointment document on behalf of Bai Yi.

"On the first day of the eighth month of the fourth year of Qianning, the Grand Commandant, the Minister of the Central Secretariat, the Duke of Song, and the Military Governor of Xuanwu Army, Bai Yi, and others, informed the governors, provincial governors, county officials, soldiers, commanders, captains, subordinates, and commanders of the Huainan Army:"

"The former Huainan Military Governor Yang Xingmi treated heaven and earth with disrespect, went against the way and reason, and rebelled against his superiors, so the former Huainan Military Governor Gao Pian also killed his colleagues Bi Shiduo and others."

"They invaded Huainan, established their own territories, refused to respect the king's rule, cut off tribute routes, and were condemned by both humans and gods..."

"Therefore, if there are those who disobey orders, the military army will suppress them. Send orders to all directions to restore their titles and ranks, and then return to the army to galvanize the troops, sheath their bows and lay down their drums. Reiterate the orders to the people, let them stay in their places, so that they will not fail their duties."

Then Bai Yi made military deployment for this southern expedition.

Bai Yi, Bai Banghan and others were stationed in Suzhou to transport food and fodder for the army and supervise the various units in their battles.

The first route was led by Yuan Qing and Chen Daniu as the commanders of the Eastern Army. They brought Bai Xingjian, Kang Huaiying, Wang Youren, An Fuqing and other generals to march out of Si, Hai and Hao states and attack Yangzhou directly.

With a force of 100,000, they marched along the canal. The main battlefield was Qingkou, the junction of the Huai River and the canal.

The second route was led by Li Kerang, the commander of the Western Army. He led generals such as Meng Peiwu, Li Neng, and Fan Kaijiang, and left Yingzhou to attack Shouzhou.

The army had a strength of 50,000 and was a detachment. The main battlefield was Shouzhou's capital - Shouchun.

Faced with the massive attack of the Xuanwu Army, Yang Xingmi also seemed very nervous. On the one hand, he gathered troops and went to various passes and ferry crossings for defense, and on the other hand, he sent out letters for help, requesting other vassal states to send troops to rescue.

Yang Xingmi used Zhu Jin as a guest soldier and used his battle-hardened generals to gather a cavalry of 5,000 men, and put him under his command to fight at Qingkou.

Shouzhou on the western front was handed over to Shouzhou Tuanlianshi Zhu Yanshou, who was ordered to defend the city and not fight recklessly.

Because he had few soldiers, Yang Xingmi had to place 40,000 troops in Qingkou and 10,000 in Shouzhou.

This was all the troops he had.

Fortunately, there is no threat to the south, otherwise it would be dangerous.

September
One hundred thousand Xuanwu troops had arrived at Linhuai on the other side of Qingkou. Because Yuan Qing and Chen Daniu were both veteran generals, there was actually no distinction between the main general and the deputy general. Each of them led 50,000 men.

When they first left Suzhou, the two of them were fine because of Bai Yi's suppression, and they discussed everything.

But as soon as they arrived in Linhuai, they had disagreements.

Chen Daniu advocated a cautious approach and advancing step by step. As long as they crossed the Huai River, the Huainan army would no longer be a match.

However, Yuan Qing advocated a concerted effort, believing that his own troops were too numerous and the logistical pressure was too great. If they could not win a quick victory, once they were held back by the enemy, they would be unable to continue their attack.

Neither of them could do anything to the other in the Linhuai camp, so they stopped moving for several days.

After Bai Yi learned about it, he sent someone to inquire, and the two of them took a step back. Chen Daniu set up a formation on the north bank to provide support, while Yuan Qing was responsible for building a pontoon bridge and advancing to Qingkou.

Because the plum rain season had passed, in order to facilitate water collection, the two men chose to set up a large camp in a low-lying area and introduce the Huai River into the camp, which greatly facilitated the army's water collection.

Here, Yang Xing secretly learned that the Xuanwu Army had two commanders, and guessed that the two must have a dispute. Seeing that the enemy army had not taken any action for several days, he became more convinced of his opinion.

He then ordered Zhu Jin to block the upper reaches of the Huai River and prepare to use the Huai River to flood the Xuanwu army camp.

October
Yuan Qing launched several river crossing campaigns, but was stopped by the navy under Yang Xingmi.

In the past, the Xuanwu Army used its navy to suppress other vassal states. Today, it was finally their turn to experience the frustration of not having control over the river.

The Eastern Army was unable to gain a foothold in Huainan, while the Western Army attacked Shouzhou many times but was repelled by Zhu Yanshou every time and achieved nothing.

Shouzhou City relies on Xishi Mountain and Bagua Mountain. Zhu Yanshou also set up separate camps on these two mountains. In addition, the Huai River is dangerous and the city is easy to defend but difficult to attack.

Although Li Kerang had a large number of troops, he was unable to deploy them all and could only attack head-on. Not only did he fail to capture the other stronghold, but he also suffered heavy casualties.

As for the Xuanwu Army's superior cavalry, they were unable to achieve any success due to the dense water network in Huainan. Bai Yi transferred them to Guo Huilong's command and ordered them to fight against the Zhongwu Army.

That’s right. Last month, Zhu Quanzhong responded to Yang Xingmi’s letter for help and sent Pang Shigu and Ge Congzhou, each leading 20,000 troops to attack Bianzhou and Yingzhou.

However, they mainly harassed the enemy and did not really intend to attack the city.

Zhu Jin led his troops to build a dam in the upper reaches of the Huai River to store water, waiting for Yang Xingmi's order.

After a month of inaction, he began to worry as he saw his war horses were losing weight.

The next day, Zhu Jin wrote a letter to Yang Xingmi, asking his general Yu Li to continue to look after the dam.

Then he took his deputy general Hou Zun and all the cavalry, quietly crossed the Huai River, and under the flag of the Xuanwu Army, went deep into the north of the Huai River.

October 23
Zhu Jin sneaked up to the Qingkou camp of the Xuanwu Army and observed the battlefield in the distance through the dense forest.

At this time, Yuan Qing once again launched a river crossing campaign on the south bank. Warships came and went on the Huai River, and arrows formed a dense net covering everyone's head.

Looking at the soldiers who kept falling into the water, Yuan Qing had a calm expression, as if those who died were unimportant people.

This was not because he did not value the lives of his soldiers, but because his thoughts had drifted to the upper reaches of the Huai River.

"It's almost there, it's almost there, just hold on a little longer." Yuan Qing thought.

At this time, the huge Qingkou camp actually had only 80,000 people, and the other commander-in-chief, Chen Daniu, was not here, but far away in Haozhou.

That’s right, because they failed to capture the ferry many times, the two men discussed repairing the plank road in the open while secretly attacking Chencang.

This strategy has been proven to be effective in previous battles of the Xuanwu Army.

As early as a few days ago, Chen Daniu had secretly led 20,000 elite troops to Haozhou in the west, intending to sneak across Huainan and capture Zhongli.

Thinking of this, Yuan Qing looked at the Huainan navy showing off their might on the water, sneered, and gave the order to sound the horn.

But before the army could complete its retreat, countless cavalry suddenly rushed out from the north of the camp and attacked their own camp.

"Where did the cavalry come from?" Yuan Qing's eyes were red with anger, he simply couldn't believe it.

Suddenly he thought of the insignificant news a scout had brought yesterday: "A cavalry unit appeared near Huanshui River, and judging by the flags, they were heading to Yingzhou for support."

He thought that this cavalry was sent by the Suzhou envoy to Yingzhou to deal with the Zhongwu Army, but unexpectedly, it was the Huainan Army's army under its own flag.

Thinking of this, he suddenly felt a tightness in his chest, and then a mouthful of blood spurted out.

"Commander!"

On that day, Zhu Jin led 5,000 Huainan cavalrymen to attack Yuan Qing's central army camp from north to south, and the Xuanwu Army rushed into battle in panic.

A flood hit the camp and the camp was immediately thrown into chaos.

At this time, Yang Xingmi took the opportunity to cross the river and attack, and together with Zhu Jin, attacked from both sides, and the Xuanwu Army was defeated.

All the soldiers fled to the north, and the Huainan army took the opportunity to chase them for more than 20 miles, and stopped when they encountered the large army sent by Bai Yi.

In this battle, the Huainan Army beheaded 10,000 people, including Yuan Qing. The rest were scattered all over the place and it took a lot of time to gather them together.

On the other side, Chen Daniu, who was preparing to sneak into Haozhou, learned of the defeat at Qingkou and hurriedly withdrew his troops, blocking the Huainan army's way to the west.

November

Li Kerang was defeated by Zhu Yanshou again and retreated to Xiacai.

Upon hearing that the eastern army was defeated, he withdrew.

Originally, Zhu Jin wanted to take advantage of the victory to defeat Bai Yi's headquarters.

But Yang Xingmi knew that Bai Yi still had tens of thousands of troops, so he stopped and returned to the south bank.

Upon hearing that both routes were defeated, Bai Yi also retreated from Suzhou.

In this battle, Yang Xingmi captured many Xuanwu soldiers, which greatly increased his strength and enabled him to dominate the Jianghuai area.

Bai Yi suffered heavy losses in this battle, and with Zhu Quanzhong posing a threat, he was unable to move south to fight in the short term.

(End of this chapter)