Late Tang

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Chuzhou, governed by Shanyang.

Shanyang City is located where the Huai, Si and Jianghuai canals intersect. The Huaihe River flows through the north of Shanyang City. The mouth of the canal.Shanyang City is located in the triangle area where the Huaihe River and the canal intersect in the southeast of the cross waterway formed by the Huai, Si, and Jianghuai canals.

Since ancient times, Shanyang has been an important town in Huaidong, controlling the direction of Sishui in the north.

Huaisi Water Road has been an important north-south traffic since ancient times. When Wang Jun attacked Wu in the Western Jin Dynasty, Du Yu wrote to encourage him to go straight to Jiankang to destroy Wu. Traveling back to the capital is also a matter of the world.

During the reign of Cao Wei and Huang Chu, Cao Pi, the leader of the Wei Dynasty, personally led the water army to follow the waters of Cai, Ying, and Guo into the Huaihe River to Guangling, and the boat division went south from Huai'an.Both the Eastern Jin Dynasty and the Southern Dynasties used Huai'an as an important town, and Zu Yue, Liu Kai, Xun Xian and others would successively guard the land.

Huai'an in the Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties was Shanyang, Chuzhou in the Tang Dynasty.

When the Huai army marched north this time, Gao Pian personally confessed to Gao Yu that if Shanyang controlled the land, Huaidong would not be shielded if he lost it.

General Liang Zuan of the Huai Army also said, "Shanyang is a land that must be contested between the north and the south. If I win it, I can enter Shandong with all my heart. If the enemy wins it, Huainan cannot be consolidated overnight."

The reason why Gao Pian acted aggressively this time was that Li Jing suddenly seized the land of Sizhou, and his soldiers pointed directly at Shanyang in Chuzhou, which had seriously threatened Huainan.As long as the Qin army crosses the Huaihe River and captures the important town of Shanyang, then with sufficient naval ships of the Qin army, they can quickly take a large number of ships along the Jianghuai Canal and go straight down to Yangzhou, and Huainan will not be guaranteed.

An important town like Shanyang did not become Gao Yu's camp this time.

The reason is actually very simple. Gao Yu's initial battle plan was to attack the east and attack the west, spread many suspicious soldiers, and hide the real main force in Huaiyin. On the surface of Shanyang, Gao Yu's camp was stationed, but in fact it was just a logistics center.

It's just that what happened later broke Gao Yu's arrangements one after another, and when Gao Yu wanted to retreat into Shanyang City, it was too late.

At this time, the guard in Shanyang City is Gao Pian's elder brother Gao Ba. Although he is not considered a good general in the Huai army, he has been with Gao Pian during the decades when Gao Pian served in various towns. Hard work is also a relative of Gao Pian, so he is very trusted by Gao Pian.For this expedition, they were stationed in Shanyang, bluffing their banners, pretending to be the main force of Gaoyu, and actually presided over the logistics, food and grass affairs.

"To guard Shanyang is to guard the gate of Huaidong." Gao Ba recalled Gao Pian's instructions before he left.Standing at the head of Shanyang City, I realized the reason of the door that Gao Pian mentioned.Shanyang City is the administrative seat of Chuzhou and the gateway of Huaidong, so the city is very strong.The city is sixteen miles long, with Luocheng on the outside and Yacheng on the inside.Guarding the city not only blocks the south bank of the Huaihe River, but also guards the mouth of the canal and monitors the mouth of the Sishui River.

The north is a place of contention between the north and the south. If the north wins it, it can go straight down the canal to Yangzhou, enter the Dajiang River, and go down to Jinling and Zhejiang.

If the south is controlled, it can cross the Huaihe River, enter Sishui, Bianhe, and Yishui, pass through Henan and Shandong, and even go straight to the Yellow River and Hebei.

In the current situation, the Qin army has captured Sizhou. If they are allowed to capture Chuzhou, then the Qin army will send the battleship directly to the city of Yangzhou.

Although in his heart, Gao Ba was also a little worried about Qin Jun's momentum.But as a veteran of the Huai Army, Gao Pian's relatives and brothers, his heart still made him stand firmly on Gao Pian's side.Gao Ba hoped in his heart that Gao Yu and Gao Jie's two nephews could use the hundreds of thousands of troops in their hands to beat Li Jing and defeat the ambitious Qin army in the Huaihe River.

Just like the Battle of Feishui during the Jin Dynasty and the Battle of Chibi during the Three Kingdoms period, the southern army defeated the northern army.

As the night deepened, the rain became more urgent.

Hearing the sound of heavy rain and the roaring waves of the Huaihe River in the distance, Gao Ba's heart that had been carrying him slowly returned to calm.

On such a rainy night, across the wide Huaihe River, who could come to sneak attack?

Even if they wanted to come, across a canal, to the west was the hidden Huaiyin camp of Gao Yu's 5000 troops.Even his Shanyang City with only [-] people, but a huge fortress city of sixteen miles, cannot be attacked by the Qin army.

Such thoughts emerged in his mind, and tiredness flooded in like a tidal wave. After a busy day, he had to dispatch food and grass, requisition ships, and arrange inspections of warehouses, etc. Gao Ba was really tired.Barely holding on until midnight, he issued the last order of the night to the lieutenant general: "Add more people to guard the city." Then, he fell asleep with the reply of the guards.

The raindrops hit the roof densely, making a rustling and rhythmic sound, just like a lullaby of a dream, which made Gao Ba fall into a deep sleep.

After an unknown amount of time, he suddenly woke up from a severe headache, and before he could open his eyes, he heard the footsteps of soldiers rushing into the mansion.When Ya Bing's frightened and anxious eyes jumped into his eyes, his heart was as cold as the bottom of the sea, enemy attack!

Putting on his coat hastily, before he even had time to put on his armor, he raised his familiar two-handed sword and ran out of the general's mansion. As soon as he climbed to the top of the city, he immediately found that the rain had stopped in the rainy and foggy morning.

In the distance towards the west gate, a defeated army is rushing forward.

A gust of cold wind blew by, and Gao Ba shivered involuntarily.

What made him even more chilling was that he had recognized the flag that had fled over, which was the flag of the Huai army.

Behind these retreating Huai troops fleeing like a tidal wave, a red light cavalry swept in, slashing with spears and bayonets, submerging the fallen Huai troops one by one in the red tide.

He didn't know how the Huaiyin camp was discovered by the Qin army, let alone how the Qin army crossed the Huai River overnight, and would have [-] infantry, [-] cavalry, and [-] sailors, plus [-] soldiers. How the Huaiyin camp of the civilian husband was defeated and defeated.

But what he sees now is indeed the Huai army's defeat, and the defeat is like a mountain.

How all this happened is no longer important, the important thing is that the Qin army came and the Huai army was defeated.

Looking at the terrified defenders on the city, he shouted angrily: "Follow me out of the city to meet them!"

The Huaiyin camp was defeated, and there were only [-] defenders left in Sanyang.If Gao Ba didn't bring in the defeated soldiers outside the city, the defeated soldiers outside the city would definitely be swallowed up by the chasing red cavalry.The lips are dead and the teeth are cold. If the army outside is wiped out, Shanyang City will be unable to defend alone.

Only then did the defenders understand, and hurriedly took down the city, shouting loudly, and began to gather and line up behind the city gate.

It is very dangerous to open the city gate to meet the defeated soldiers at this time. If one is not good, the pursuers of the Qin army may take advantage of the situation and rush into the city.But Gao Ba has no second choice!

The west gate opened, and Gao Ba led [-] soldiers out of the city to meet him.

However, Gao Ba gave an order before leaving the city. After he led [-] infantry out of the city, the west gate of the city was immediately closed.At the same time, open the south door.

This approach is to prevent the defeated army from being frightened and rushing directly to the west gate when they see the west gate open. This will not only break through the infantry formation that goes out of the city to meet them, but also make the chasing soldiers go straight to the west gate.Close the west gate and open the south gate, so that the defeated soldiers can walk around the city wall to the south gate and enter the city. If the enemy troops want to go around the city and pursue them, they will enter the range of the defenders' bow and arrow attack.

Although this is just a small military order, it can play an absolute role in critical moments.

Although Gao Ba is not a famous general of the Huai Army, he has been fighting for many years and has a lot of experience.

Sure enough, as soon as the west gate was closed, the defeated soldiers who had rushed straight towards the square formation immediately turned their heads and rushed towards the south.

Not all the defeated soldiers ran to the south gate in a panic. Among the defeated soldiers of the Huai army, officers began to join Gao Ba's team and leaned beside their formation.

More and more Huai troops chose to stay and line up to fight.

One after another, the flags of the Huai army were set up again, and the infantry formation centered on Gaoba relied on the solid city wall, and more and more defeated soldiers gathered.

With the new force of Gaoba and the tall city wall behind them, the Huai army finally calmed down.

Yao Guili arrived, Yu Gongchu arrived, Chen Qi arrived, Feng Shou arrived, Zhang Huan, An Zairong, and Ren Conghai also arrived. In the end, Gao Yu, who lost his helmet and armor and lost his commander-in-chief flag, also escaped With a small life, under the guard of dozens of cavalry, he fled to the city with scars all over his body.

Followed by Wang Yanzhang's Feather Cavalry Army and Jin Jiasheng Jie Army Cavalry, in addition to the Light Cavalry of the Black Banner Army.

The cavalry of the Qin army rushed in like a tide, but with Gao Ba's support, they still failed to wipe out these defeated soldiers in the wild.

After a wave of tentative attacks, Wang Yanzhang sensibly ordered to stop the attack and retreated slowly.

It is very irrational for light cavalry without infantry cover to directly attack the infantry phalanx formed by the city.What's more, the Qin army is in the upper hand right now, so there is no need to work so hard.

Gao Ba covered Gao Yu and the others and led the defeated soldiers to retreat slowly into Shanyang City.

Wang Yanzhang divided the cavalry into several groups, besieged all the gates of Shanyang City, and then sent someone to report to Li Jing.

At this time, Li Jing had already reached the west bank of the canal and returned to the Huaiyin camp. He was leading an army to kill and pursue those Huai troops who did not cross the river last night, and searched for those fleeing peasants and Huai troops.The navy and the marines in turn are besieging the water village of the Huai army camp.

At this time, the Huai army in Huaiyin actually had a small centaur, with more than [-] people.But at this time, it had already become a mess of loose sand, and was broken by the Qin army one by one. If they didn't surrender, they could only die in battle.

By noon, most of the Huaiyin Huai army was wiped out, except for a few who escaped and were not captured.

On the Jianghuai Plain, groups of soldiers from the Qin army were everywhere, escorting a long line of prisoners from the Huai army.The Huai army's water village was even wrapped in dumplings, and all warships, large and small, fell into the hands of the Qin army.

This was a great victory, a victory that even surpassed many generals of the Qin army. (To be continued.)