There were already a shout of killing at the northeast exit of the swamp. Chen Meng led two thousand troops to block the exit here, fighting fiercely with the three thousand Jianghuai soldiers who rushed out first. Arrows were like rain, sword lights flashed, and thick smoke rolled. The two sides fought fiercely at the exit that was only dozens of feet wide. Soldiers kept falling into the swamp and being ruthlessly swallowed by the quagmire.

At this time, the seven thousand Jianghuai soldiers who exited the north bank rushed to the exit, and the war drums behind him were thunderous. This was the main force of the Sui army who was chasing from behind. Chen Baoxiang was anxious and ordered: "If you don't want to die here, just rush out!"

The soldiers of the Jianghuai Army rushed to the death and gradually broke out a bloody path. At this time, Zhou Meng suddenly found a black line in the distance, running towards this side quickly. He was overjoyed and immediately ordered: "The whole army evacuated and let them go!"

He then quickly evacuated west with two thousand Sui soldiers. Without the blockade of the Sui army, ten thousand Jianghuai soldiers blocked in the swamp rushed out like a tide of a broken dam, running towards the wilderness in the north, but less than hundreds of steps were running. The soldiers in front turned around and shouted and ran westward. A cavalry came from the west, with thousands of horses galloping, dust rolling, and the earth trembling. The leader general was the silver helmet and iron armor, holding a horse spear in his hand. It was Pei Xingyan, the chief cavalry general.

Pei Xingyan's 10,000 cavalrymen came to pick up the ship ashore as the vanguard, but happened to meet the soldiers of the Jianghuai Army breaking through. He shouted loudly, "Kill me!"

The cavalry rushed over like a storm, and after a moment they caught up with the enemy. They waved their swords, pricked the spear, and flesh and blood flew everywhere, and the heads rolled. The enemy was constantly being dragged under the iron hooves. Screams and wails, a bloody massacre was staged in the wilderness on the north shore of Chaohu Lake.

Three days later, Zhang Xuan led a large army to the newly built camp of the Sui army. The Sui army still chose the northeast entrance as the main entrance and exit site, laying wooden stakes on both sides of the soil and pulling ropes to form a passage about ten miles long to prevent soldiers from entering the swamp by mistake, and building a camp gate at the entrance of the passage.

Zhang Xuan looked at the Feishui in the distance, pointed at the Feishui with a horse whip and asked, "If the enemy uses Feishui to launch a water attack, will our camp be submerged?"

Lai Hu'er smiled and said, "Please rest assured, the general, we have considered this issue. The area is high in the east and west, with swamps everywhere, especially the water level of Chaohu Lake is much lower than that of Daying. If the water of the water is intercepted to flood us, the water will directly leak into Chaohu Lake and will not affect Daying."

Zhang Xuan nodded and urged his horse to enter the passage. Soon after, he arrived at the Daying station. He saw that the forest covering thousands of acres was only a little bit in the northwest corner. The rest of the forest was razed to the ground, and a huge cargo tent stood up. The tents were lined up in rows, neat and orderly. There were camp bars around the Daying, and the water camp was also close to the Daying. Hundreds of warships and cargo ships were moored on the shore, forming a coordinated and unified water-land linkage Dazhai.

At this time, Zhang Xuan found that there was no fence outside the water camp, and frowned. Lai Huer immediately understood the head coach's concern and quickly explained: "Reported to the Grand Marshal, Du Fuwei's warships have been wiped out. The only threat to us is the Jiangnanhui or Lin Shiqu naval army. However, the water from the Yangtze River to Chaohu Lake has been strictly sealed by us, and there are beacon towers at the mouth of the river. As long as there is any enemy situation, we will receive news here."

Zhang Xuan shook his head, "When I came over, I found that there were fishing boats on Chaohu Lake. If these fishing boats were used by Du Fuwei and attacked the fleet at night, a few small boats could burn the entire fleet. Moreover, there are not only bars and water connections between Chaohu Lake and the Yangtze River, but also many unknown small rivers. We don't know it, and it does not mean that the enemy does not know it. Old general, we can't be careless!"

Lai Hu'er felt ashamed and hurriedly said, "I understand, and immediately build a water camp fence and don't give the enemy any chance."

The north bank of Chaohu Lake is just a logistics site, mainly storing food and grass and various military supplies. The navy is responsible for escorting it. It is also a naval station. Large ships transport supplies and grass from Jiangdu to temporarily store them here, and then transported them to the Sui Army camp in Hefei City fifty miles away. Zhang Xuan visited the logistics site and then led his army north to the Sui Army camp.

There is no suspense in this war against Du Fuwei. Although Du Fuwei has a large number of troops, with a total of 120,000 people, most of them are soldiers recruited from the victims in the past year. They are backward in equipment, low training, and not strong in combat effectiveness. The real elite soldiers of the Jianghuai Army were only 20,000, which was the army that survived after Du Fuwei fled to Huainan County.

Due to the pressure from three sides of the Sui army, Du Fuwei was forced to continuously shrink his defense line. He knew very well that his army could not compete with the elite and powerful Sui army's main force, and he could only rely on his superior forces to defend Hefei City to wait for change.

At this time, Du Fuwei's army had all retreated into Hefei City. The city gate was closed and the suspension bridge was hanging high. The city was full of defensive soldiers. Hefei City was the second largest city in the Jianghuai area except Jiangdu. Since the Three Kingdoms period, it has been a military center in the Jianghuai area. During the Southern and Northern Dynasties, Fu Jian, the King of Former Qin, led an army of 800,000 south to invade the Eastern Jin Dynasty. The famous Battle of Feishui broke out in the Hefei area. The Eastern Jin defeated the enemy army ten times its own with 80,000 troops, creating a miracle in the history of war.

Since then, Hefei City has been repaired repeatedly, and eventually became a strong city that is easy to defend and difficult to attack, and also a bridgehead for the southern regime to resist the attack of the northern army.

There are three main reasons why Hefei is called the strongest city in Jianghuai. One is that the city wall is tall and wide, all made of granite, which is extremely strong, and even if it is attacked by a catapult, it cannot shake the city wall. The second is that the city is large and has a circumference of nearly forty miles. At least 80,000 soldiers are needed to defend the key points of each place. Similarly, the attacking party needs at least 200,000 troops to conquer Hefei City. If the troops are too small, the attacking city will be useless.

The third and most important reason is that Hefei's moat is the best in the world, with a width of hundreds of feet. There is even a lake like Xiaoyaojin covering an area of ​​thousands of acres. A stone bridge was built in front of the four city gates for people to enter and exit the city. At present, the three stone bridges have been demolished, leaving only a stone bridge outside the West City, which is the retreat left by Du Fuwei.

The moat is part of the Feishui and Chaohu water system. Ships coming from Chaohu can directly enter the moat. Since the Sui army can use warships to attack the city, this puts huge pressure on the defenders.

The Sui Army Camp is located outside the southern city. It is a half-moon-shaped wall-shaped camp, close to the Feishui River. The camp extends southward for more than ten miles, with nearly 8,000 tents, which can accommodate 100,000 troops.

Du Fuwei stood on the top of the city and looked at the Sui Army camp with complicated eyes. He didn't see this camp yesterday, just like mushrooms growing overnight. Although Du Fuwei knew that one day would appear, when this day really came, it still made him tremble.

At this time, Chen Baoxiang walked up and whispered: "Your Highness, if you want to defeat the Sui army, Bei Zhi thinks that we should start with their logistics camp. As long as the Sui army's logistics food and grass are not guaranteed, they will have to retreat."

Chen Baoxiang led more than a thousand remaining troops to retreat back to Hefei two days ago. He was the first general to fight with the Sui army this time. Although he was almost destroyed by the Sui cavalry, Du Fuwei still followed his advice relatively.

Du Fuwei sighed softly, "Zhang Xuan is a veteran who attacked other people's logistics sites. How could he make us succeed easily? Moreover, the Sui army has a strong fleet and can deliver logistics supplies continuously at any time. Even if we succeed in a short time, we cannot cut off their logistics supplies unless they destroy their fleet."

"Why don't Your Highness look for foreign aid? Bei Zhi means Lin Shiqu. Didn't Your Highness sell him a million kilogram of pig iron last year? Bei Zhi remembers that if Your Highness is in trouble, he will definitely help him."

Du Fuwei sneered, "Just say it, will he still cause trouble at this time?"

Fu Gongyou walked over and said with a smile: "Your Highness, General Chen is right. We should ask Lin Shiqu for help. Lin Shiqu also has a powerful naval army. They can completely block the surface of the Yangtze River and cut off the logistics transportation of the Sui army."

"Do you think it's feasible?" Du Fuwei asked.

"How is it not feasible?"

Fu Gongyou said solemnly: "Lin Shiqu has a deep hatred with the Sui army. His sworn brother Cao Shiqi died at the hands of the Sui army, but more importantly, his lips and teeth are cold. If we fall, how long can Lin Shiqu last? He will not misunderstand this principle. Your Highness should try it. In fact, not only Lin Shiqu, but Xiao Xian should also send people. Once the Sui army captures Lujiang County, it will directly border Xiao Xian's territory. Isn't he in a hurry? We should do our best to win foreign aid."

Fu Gongyou told Du Fuwei that he should try it whether it succeeds or not, even if it fails, it will have no effect.

Du Fuwei nodded, "Then give it a try!"
Chapter completed!