After the autumnal equinox, it is late autumn and September, and the areas north of the Yangtze River have also entered the autumn grain harvest season.

No matter how strong the clouds of war are on the north bank of the Huaihe River, Huaixi still maintains the stability it deserves.

Going north from Donghu in early August, Li Xiu knew from what he saw and heard along the way that Han Qian had decisively mobilized tens of thousands of men and women to build reinforced dams and dig flood channels in Shou and Huozhou in response to Liang Shixiong's excavation of the Yuhe River dike in Xingyang at the beginning of August.

, although it seemed to be an overreaction at first, and the money and food invested in the Tangyi government was as high as millions, but by May it was proved that many of Han Qian's arrangements at the beginning of the year were necessary and timely.

Although Li Xiu didn't know the specific data, what he saw along the way and when they went to the Xiacai area was that there were many transport teams composed of civilians recruited from Shouchun and Huoqiu areas transporting supplies from north to south of the Huaihe River, including Lijia Xinzhai and nearby roads and bridges.

A considerable part of the repair materials were transported from the Shouchun and Huoqiu areas. Li Xiu knew that not only the grain fields in Shouchun, Huoqiu and other places were not affected much by the floods this summer and autumn, but also in these places, Tangyi

They incorporated refugees, even reclaimed large areas of grain fields, and built a number of stone and mud cellars, lime cellars, iron smelting yards and other workshops.

This may be Han Qian's confidence to fight the enemy on the north bank of the Huaihe River!

Chen Xiu was wearing scale armor, holding the sword on his waist, sitting astride Songfan's war horse, looking out at the increasingly bleak wilderness.

Behind him were more than a hundred generals led by Cao Ba and more than two hundred warriors from Xinzhai.

Although the military tasks assigned by the Xinzhai soldiers are to defend, build the Li family's new village, and serve as a support point for the east wing of Xia Caixincheng's defense line, let alone Li Xiu, Cao Ba is not willing to stay in a small camp.

.

At the end of August, a group of military horses and Songfan war horses arrived at Xia Cai. Cao Ba shamelessly snatched back more than 50 Songfan war horses and more than 200 military horses, allowing Li Xiuneng to organize a 300-man horse infantry army to enter the east.

Scouting and reconnaissance in the area near the mouth of the Wishui River.

At this time, groups of Xu Si army scouts also crossed the Guoshui River and entered the eastern area of ​​​​Xiacai. Small-scale battles between the two sides occurred every day.

Although the reconnaissance and counter-infiltration operations of the Tangyi Army were mainly undertaken by the scout cavalry of the main combat battalion, Li Xiu also took the initiative to lead his troops to participate in the small-scale counter-infiltration operations in the Cai Dongyi area.

In addition to allowing Xinzhai Xiangyong to take turns to dispatch and quickly adapt to the pressure of the battle, Li Xiu was more important to closely observe the enemy's penetration of the west bank of Wishui River, the intensity of penetration and the composition of the enemy's scouts and horses, and speculate on the progress of the battle.

Li Xiu was not among the senior generals of the Tangyi Army. As more and more soldiers and horses crossed the Huaihe River and marched north, the alert level of Beiying Camp and Xiacai Xincheng became higher and higher, and Xinzhai Xiangyong's activities

The area was becoming more and more restricted. From the end of August, Li Xiu was unable to learn the overall information about the Yingwo War, which made him feel uncomfortable all over.

Currently, the area east of Xia Cai is still under the control of the Tangyi Army. Every time enemy scouts cross the river, counter-infiltration operations are equivalent to hunting. However, every time they are dispatched to hunt enemy scouts, Li Xiu personally leads the team.

This made Cao Ba full of opinions.

"More than a dozen people swam across from the shallow waters of Chenjijin, all of them Mongols!"

Two Chazi, pretending to be hunters, quickly passed through the grass and ran to Li Xiu to report what they had just discovered while lurking by the Wishui River.

Li Xiu's expression perked up. On the battlefield downstream of Wushi River, the figure of the Mongol finally appeared for the first time. This meant that Tian Cheng and Lin Haizheng were progressing smoothly on the northern front, and the Shouzhou Army was weaker than expected.

Wusu Dashi, Xiao Yiqing mobilized the main force of the Mongolian cavalry to go south to launch a battle earlier than he expected. Of course, it may also be that Emperor Zhu Yu of Liang stepped up his offensive in Heluo, making it difficult for Liang Shixiong to support it.

"Have the other scout cavalry noticed this enemy cavalry crossing the river?" Cao Ba asked the two scouts as he was more concerned about whether he could kill the dozen Mongolian spies alone.

"There is an observation post from the Second Town's Third Brigade on the north side of our lurking point. I wonder if they didn't see this group of Mongolian spies..." Cha Zi said.

"Oh, they have a lookout. Don't expect to be able to eat alone this time. Let's hurry over and don't lose even a piece of meat!" Cao Ba ordered the generals behind him to get on their horses and prepare to follow him towards the embankment.

Ask other villagers' brave horse infantry to spread out to the two wings and be prepared to capture the dispersed troops.

Li Xiu did not stop Cao Ba from issuing the command and leading the elite troops to attack first, but he still looked towards the north with a worried expression.

After half a stick of incense, the enemy soldiers who had not fled fled to the west, but Cao Ba came back with his men and horses. The two generals on the left and right had a head hanging on the side of the saddle.

"Let's retreat quickly. A large group of enemy riders gathered behind the mud embankment on the east bank. They were a large group of black people, fearing there were thousands of people. The small group of enemy riders who crossed the river before were measuring the water depth and current. We rushed over and killed them.

Two people." Cao Ba shouted, non-stop urging the horse infantry here, who were not very smooth on horseback, to get on their horses and retreat to the west.

At this time, a melodious and melancholy horn sounded from the distance, notifying the scouts on the shore to retreat westward.

During the retreat, Li Xiu and the others encountered the 2nd Brigade of the 2nd Town, the 202nd Brigade of Tangyi Army, and a scout cavalry under Dou Rong, and they withdrew side by side towards Xiacaicheng.

Only then did Li Xiu learn from this scout cavalry that four thousand-man Mongol and Uighur cavalry teams appeared along the east bank of the lower reaches of the Wushi River at the same time, preparing to cross the river.

This not only means that the Mongol cavalry will enter the west bank of the lower reaches of the Whirlpool earlier than they expected, but from today onwards, the enemy will cross the river on a large scale - four thousand Mongol cavalry teams, just to cover the main enemy force

They are just the vanguard troops heading west.

The transmission speed of the main battle camp of the Tangyi Army was obviously faster than Li Xiu imagined. They and the scout cavalry team of the 202nd Brigade withdrew to the vicinity of Xinzhai. From a distance, they saw several groups in the direction of Xiacaicheng.

The horse infantry in units of war camps are moving north along the newly built post road in Xia Caibei.

"What is this for?" Cao Ba couldn't help but asked with some confusion.

The news that a large number of Mongol cavalry is about to cross the Whistle River should have reached Han Qian's tent. Even if they want to organize troops and horses, they should fight the enemy first. The troops and horses in Caicheng and the camp on the north bank should go to

It's better to move in the east and northeast direction, rather than heading north in a straight line.

"These are the troops sent to reinforce the rear flank of the Bian Army..." Li Xiu said with a frown.

"At this time, it is enough for the troops aiding Bian to shrink back dozens of miles to the south. What reinforcements are needed to strengthen the flanks and rear flanks?" Cao Ba asked in confusion.

"What if the aiding Bian army intends to continue north after capturing Dan County?" Li Xiu was not among the mid-level and senior generals. He could only speculate on Han Qian's true intention as the supreme commander-in-chief of the Tang Yi government based on the signs he observed.

"Completely attracting the enemy's main force and the focus of operations from the east bank of Guoshui to the southern front will create convenient conditions for the northern front to cover the southward retreat of Bianjing soldiers and civilians along the Chen-Bianyi Road. This is probably the true intention of Marquis Qianyang

Right. Therefore, we only need to gather enough troops on the Danxian and Wuting front lines to delay the enemy's main force and intercept it south of Danxian, preventing the main force from having the opportunity to penetrate the two wings of Chenji Post Road. There is still a chance to

Hundreds of thousands of soldiers and civilians in Bianjing are traveling to the south of Chenjiyi Road

They retreated to the west bank of the Ying River! Perhaps the Marquis of Qianyang and Emperor Liang had known for a long time that Bianjing could no longer be defended, but the tens of thousands of soldiers and civilians in Bianjing were crucial to the morale of Liang's generals who would continue to participate in the war.

, we must evacuate safely!”

"It's just that it's too risky." Although Cao Ba was demoted to Li Xiu's command and served as the leader of the formation team, although he preferred to charge into the formation with his warriors, his overall strategic vision was still higher than that of ordinary generals. With his

Brave and fearless, he still felt slightly disturbed at this time and smacked his lips and said, "Chen-Bian Post Road is too thin. The enemy does not need to use the main force. It only needs a few thousand cavalry commandos to penetrate it."

It caused enough damage to the Chen-Bianyi Road, which greatly delayed the southward retreat of Bianjing's troops and civilians. The Chen-Bianyi Road was nearly 200 miles long, and Han Yuanqi joined Kong Xirong's troops, with only 30,000 elite troops. It was impossible to move them

Chen-Bianyi Road was protected so that not even a crack was exposed - once the southward retreat of Bianjing's troops and civilians was slowed down, the enemy's main force on the southern front would make full efforts to attack the flanks of the aiding army from south to north.

How long will the county and Wuting be supported on the front line?"

"The Marquis of Qianyang is used to using his troops in an eccentric way. Perhaps the Marquis of Qianyang is confident that the main force of the reinforcement army in Bian County can be sustained for a long time in Danxian and Wuting areas." Although Li Xiu also felt that Han Qian was too strong this time.

It was in danger, but who was he qualified to say? And the future of the Li family was closely related to the fate of the Tangyi Army. At this time, he could only hope for a better result.

Although Cao Ba felt that the Tangyi Army's decision was too risky, he still couldn't help but exclaimed with emotion: "In order to evacuate Liang Jun and his family, it is really possible for the Marquis to put all the family assets of the Tangyi Army into it. It's just that Japan

|Damn it, Mr. Cao, I can’t go to Dan County, I’m so damn unhappy!”

Based on the current development of the situation, Cao Ba could also fully foresee that the next most intense battle would inevitably take place on the battlefields of Danxian, Wuting and other places where the aiding Bian Army intercepted the main force of the enemy forces on the southern front moving north.

They cannot be transferred to Danxian and Wuting areas to participate in the war.

"Your Excellency will definitely order Cai's soldiers and horses to go all out to support the Bian army, and the enemy will also do their best to cut off the communication between the supporting Bian army and Xia Cai. We will inevitably have a tough battle to fight. What is Master Cao calling for?" 20

The scout team of the second brigade said with a smile.

It had just been a month since Li Xiu led his people into Xia Cai. What impressed him most about the Tangyi Army was that the grassroots military commanders at the scout cavalry level had quite good tactics and strategic vision - Han Qian had devoted all his energy in his early years.

Efforts are made to run various schools to cultivate and reserve talents at the grassroots level in Tangyi.

Li Xiu had exchanged seals with this scout Li Shu before. He only knew that his name was Zhou Bao. Seeing that he would temporarily lead a team to cruise near Li's Xinzhai to scout the enemy's situation, he invited him to lead more than 20 scouts and cavalry into Xinzhai for a short rest.

, only to find out that he is a descendant of the Shanzhai clan who moved to Guangzhou from Junzhou years ago. In terms of seniority, he can be regarded as the nephew of Zhou Pang, the governor of Guangzhou and the military envoy.

"How is the situation in Guangzhou now?" Li Xiu asked Zhou Baodao.

The four counties of Guangzhou suffered the most severe population loss due to the war in these years. He followed Li Zhigao to withdraw his troops from Luoshan, Qisi and other places. The number of households in Guangzhou was less than 30,000, even though at the end of last year there were 10,000 Shanzhai dependents.

Five to six thousand people have moved to Gwangju, and the number of registered households should be only about 50,000, which is not even as high as a middle county in Jiangdong.

Of course, Li Xiu knew that in April and May, the Yu River flooded through the Ying River to capture the Huai River, and Han Qian built several refugee camps in Guangzhou to accommodate the victims who moved south from the west bank of the Ying River, but he had no more specific information.

Got it.

Zhou Bao also knew the identities of Li Xiu and Cao Ba, and respectfully told them some of the current situation in Guangzhou.

By the end of August, Guangzhou had accepted the disaster households from the west bank of Yingshui River. The number of Dingkou had expanded to 130,000, and the total cultivated land area had also increased to 900,000 acres, of which more than 700,000 acres were planted with grains. After the autumn grain harvest, they could

Achieving food self-sufficiency is much better than outside expectations.

Although Zhou Bao was only the leader of the scout cavalry, he was trained as a backbone military attache in the main battle camp. He knew even more comprehensive information than Li Xiu, and he didn't mind telling the truth about some of the things he knew at this time.

In the summer and autumn after April this year, although Chuzhou and Haozhou were severely flooded, the population of the two states was only a little over 120,000. The impact of the current floods on farmland and households was also minimal. The total flooded fields

It was only 1.12 million acres, but through the cultivation of new fields, it was not only made up, but the total cultivated land area was also increased by 70,800 acres.

The population and cultivated land of the prefectures and counties in central and southern Huaixi have generally remained stable, with a slight increase compared to last year. The main focus is still on the development of industry and mining.

Since the new cultivated land in Shou, Huo, and Guangzhou since spring and summer is mainly irrigated land, Huaixi's total autumn grain output this year has actually increased significantly, not to mention the production of various primary industrial products.

Therefore, even though Li Xiu was quite worried about the outcome of this war, Zhou Bao, the grassroots military attachés in the main battle camp, had a quite optimistic attitude towards the future.

"We discussed privately and felt that according to the current deployment, the enemy would probably move the Xu Si army and the Weizhou rebel cavalry to the east and north of Xia Cai, cutting off the connection between Xia Cai and the main force of the aiding Bian army. The main force of the Mongol cavalry going south would be

The main force of the Shouzhou Army will join forces to attack the aiding Bian Army in the north. It is still undecided who will win this battle?" Zhou Bao said quite optimistically.

Li Xiu smiled, but in his mind, Xu Si's army marching westward and Weizhou's cavalry marching south, currently totaling about 40,000 men, Tangyi gathered 20,000 elite combat troops and 10,000 rural auxiliary troops in Xiacai, and occupied the walled city.

Being able to advance and retreat flexibly can naturally be said to be invincible. However, once the battle begins, there are only one or two dilapidated cities on the west bank of Guoshui to rely on, and there are not many abundant supplies and grains to support the main force of the Bian army.

Delay the twice-strength Shouzhou Army and Mongolian cavalry for a month or more?

Entering September, the combat intentions of both sides surfaced, and the subsequent evolution of the battle situation basically did not escape the judgment of Li Xiu, Cao Ba, and Zhou Bao.
To be continued...