The dusk is coming, and the bitter cold wind blows the Ru water.

Several warships slanted into the reed marsh, and pallets stretched down from the bow. More than a dozen guards first walked down the pallet to the shallow water knee-deep, and then led a war horse out of the pallet off the boat. Then dozens of people gathered on the river beach.

Zhou Jing, who had disembarked at the river entrance in advance, brought a few scouts to the woods next to the river bank and met, telling Xu Huai the bad news:

"The puppet Chu army not only entered the right bank of Yingshui by Zhong Changqing, but also a elite cavalry of about 5,000 people sneaked to the north bank of Huilong River last night. At the time of the silence, more than 18,000 Xuanwei generals and soldiers who fought in the camp and formed a formation, surrounded the flat land east of Jiaobei. The battle lasted less than an hour, and the Xuanwei army array collapsed. At present, a small number of defeated soldiers fled to Huaichuan. Other situations are still unclear..."

Xu Huai sat on a dead tree stranded on the river beach with a knife, staring at the vast water of Ru River, without saying a word for a long time.

"Fuck!" Wang Ju spat viciously, pulled out his knife, and cut off a lonely poplar tree on the river beach that was as thick as a bowl, venting his hatred.

Guo Junsheng squatted on the river beach.

Chen Zixiao walked to the river bank in a heavy mood, blocking his vision by the woods, and could not see the situation far away on the left bank of Rushui. At this time, the sunset had not completely sunk to the horizon, rendering a bloody cloud, as if the sky was bleeding.

More than 18,000 generals and soldiers of Xuanwei's army were surrounded and defeated, and a small number of soldiers and horses left behind in Jiaopi, Lucheng, Chaiji and other villages were destined to be unable to escape.

Xuanwei's army had 20,000 troops, but they were gone like this?

The losses were so terrible that it was not just 20,000 troops, but the defense line of the Huai Shang East Section, which was originally barely maintained. The main troops were easily lost, and this hole was pierced!

The Xuanwei army was defeated so easily and so tragically, it would inevitably hurt the morale of the Ruyin defenders.

For the Huai Palace, if we can still bring the Ruyin defenders back to the south bank of the Huai River, we will be grateful. We cannot expect them to send troops to help defend Huangchuan, Guangshan and Jiuli Pass.

How else should I guard the Huai River?

At this time, Chen Zixiao saw Xu Huai standing up on the river beach and saying something, calling Zhou Jing, Guo Junzong and others were shocked.

It was so far away that I couldn't hear Xu Huai and Zhou Jing clearly, Guo Jun was judging, Wang Ju and the others were saying, Chen Zixiao hurried back to the river beach, and heard Zhou Jing advise Xu Huai:

"The enemy cavalry will cover up and attack the Huaichuan City at any time, and there are only one or two thousand guards with morale collapsed left in Huaichuan City, and there is no way to defend!"

"Jingshuai is going to Huaichuan now?" Chen Zixiao asked in surprise.

Zhong Changqing's troops and the 5,000 Red Hu cavalry did not need to wait until they wiped out the remaining troops of Xuanwei's army near Jiaopi. There were no other powerful enemies between Rushui and Yingshui. They would inevitably attack Huaichuan as soon as possible, and would not allow nearly 100,000 soldiers and civilians in Huaichuan to cross the Huaihe River to escape.

The first wave of troops sent to Huaichuan to attack was mostly the elite Red Hu cavalry with the strongest mobility; and Zhong Changqing's troops would inevitably set sail to Huaichuan, and then they could use Huaichuan as a stronghold to raise funds for crossing the Huaichuan.

Huaichuan City is not small. They currently have only 300 elite troops available on the left bank of Rushui. Is it possible to defend Huai River and support until reinforcements arrive?

"Even if Huaichuan falls, the situation will not be irrescuely damaged. Perhaps there is no need to take such a risk," Chen Zixiao advised, "Ten thousand soldiers and civilians in Huaichuan and hoarding.

It is a pity to throw the supplies to the enemy soldiers, but the situation is like this, and there is no way to do it!"

Gwangzhou was assigned to Xuanwei Army to defend, and Liu Xian, as the commander of Jinghu North Road, personally led Fu Qian and others to Huaichuan to take charge. Not only were the materials piled up, but a considerable number of refugees who escaped from the north were not evacuated to the south bank of the Huai River in time.

The fall of Huaichuan River and so many supplies, the military and civilians fell into the enemy. This will make the Huaihang defense line even worse, but there is nothing we can do about it.

It is not difficult for them to imagine what kind of panic and panic will be caused by the news that the 20,000 defenders of Jiaopi Village were destroyed to Huaichengchuan. Even if the three hundred elite soldiers entered Huaichuan, they would never be able to stabilize the panic in Huaichuan before the enemy attacked.

No matter how high Xu Huai has a reputation, he is a human being, not a god after all.

If they lead 300 troops into Huaichuan, they will be able to prevent more than 1,000 defenders from Huaichuan from panic or panic. Can they fight to the death to defend the city with them?

Impossible.

At least tonight, only 300 elite troops can be used to defend the city. Only by defending until tomorrow Xu Xin'an leads reinforcements to arrive can the panic between the military and civilians of Huaichuan be calmed down.

The problem is that the enemy soldiers can mobilize overnight in the north of Huaichuan, up to 20,000 troops, including 5,000 elite Red Husbands. The enemy soldiers will definitely think about capturing Huaichuan City, an extremely important node before the reinforcements arrive. What can they do with 300 people?

I'm afraid that in the end, I will only be eaten and not even left with a residue?

"The Hehuai River and Huai River are broken, and I don't know how many people are exposed to the wild. I won't be able to even be able to hold back this care. However, the collapse of people's hearts will only make the situation more difficult. If you want to recover the situation a little, you will only die more people," Xu Huai said in a low voice. "The enemy soldiers could not think that we have 300 elite troops in Huaichuan, so we can survive tonight! We will set off to Huaichuan immediately. As for how to fight, we will discuss it on the way!"

"The bird is dead, fucks him!" Wang Ju spat and roared.

"We must guard Huaichuan. All three hundred men cannot enter the city!" Chen Zixiao said, "I asked the soldiers and civilians of Huaichuan to see that the general Jie only led 300 men into the city. It is impossible to calm the panic in their hearts. We cannot even stop the soldiers and civilians of Huaichuan from panic and fleeing out of the city. At that time, I am afraid that even the city gate will not be able to close, so we will ask the captive soldiers to rush in directly!"

Xu Huai was about to take the reins from Shi Hu's hand, and listened to what Chen Zixiao said, and pondered: "Zixiao, you are right. We must use a trick of doubting the soldiers. This trick of doubting the soldiers may not have much effect on the enemy's soldiers, but it may be useful to the soldiers and civilians in Huaichuan!"

"I went to Huaichuan with Zhou Jing, and it was falsely said that the general Jie had led 3,000 cavalrymen to Huaichuan to aid. The general Jie led his troops to lie outside the city. As long as he could severely damage the first wave of encroaching troops, it would be possible to stabilize the hearts of the people!" Chen Zixiao said.

"No, I'll go to Huaichuan in person, you go with me," said Xu Huai, "Uncle Qi and Master Crow stay outside the city, responsible for raiding the first wave of enemy cavalry that came over, and repel them without having to fight! It's not easy to get over this night!"

The enemy troops had no idea that they had 300 elite cavalry outside Huaichuan City. It was not difficult to use the protection behind the night to unexpectedly repel the first wave of attacks by the enemy.

The real hardship is behind.

They didn't have time to go to Jiaopi to join the war. They suspected that the soldiers' plans would not be scared to the Chihu people not to attack Huaichuan City. In the end, they still had to leave some elite troops outside the city and delay the opportunity of the enemy's troops to join the city and attack the city as much as possible. There were even fewer elite troops who actually entered Huaichuan City to participate in the defense.

Xu Huaijue

He must go to the city early in person, not only to use suspicious tactics to stabilize the hearts of the soldiers and civilians in the city, but also to do everything possible to organize the soldiers and civilians in the city to participate in the defense.

It’s not that Chen Zixiao and Zhou Jing do not have the ability to defend the city, but that they do not have this prestige for the time being, which can shock the last few generals and officials of Xuan Wei’s army in Huaichuan City, so that they can let go of their worries and suppress the panic in their hearts and act completely upon orders.

At the moment, Wang Ju and Guo Jun were sentenced to stay and gathered 300 people scattered in various river beaches. Xu Huai and Chen Zixiao only brought a few Niu Er and other people to Huaichuan City first...

…………

…………

The messenger Cheng Xiao asked Xu Huai to arrange the clutch to leave Chushan and go to Huaichuan. He was full of opinions and was even angry at the contempt and underestimation of the people of Tongbai Mountain for Jingbei and Xuanwei's generals.

He arrived in Huaichuan not much earlier than Xu Huai, but he landed directly at the pier south of Huaichuan.

If it weren't for the escort staff arranged by Xu Huai, Cheng Xiao would have wanted to rest in Huaichuan overnight and head north to Jiaopi tomorrow to see the commander Liu Xian and Fu Qian, the commander-in-chief, and others to send Xu Huai's secret letter with an absolutely polite tone.

Although Cheng Xiao no longer planned to stay in Huaichuan at night, he would meet with the Huaichuan guard. After telling the story of Chu Shan meeting Xu Huai, he changed his horses in the city and rushed to Jiaopi overnight.

Cheng Xiao entered the city from the south gate. Everything in the city was still normal and there was no movement. However, when he walked to Liu Xian's headquarters office in Huaichuan, he saw that the sky had not yet darkened, and the gate office was closed. The soldiers guarding the gate of the headquarters were panicked and drove away the unrelated people with a rough attitude.

At this time, Cheng Xiao suddenly realized something was wrong. After reporting, he walked into the yamen from the side door. Seeing Meng Jie and other left-behind generals and officials, Cheng Xiao suppressed his panic and asked Meng Jie: "What happened?"

When the five thousand enemy cavalry went from east to west along the south bank of Huilong River and raided the retreat of Xuanwei army, a scout rushed back to Huaichuan to report the news.

At that time, Meng Jie and other generals were still lucky, but it was soon confirmed in the afternoon that the army was defeated east of Jiaobei.

The city was still calm at this time. Meng Jie and others blocked the news, which had not caused panic yet, but this could not last too long.

As long as a defeated soldier fled to the city of Huaichuan, or the enemy cavalry directly attacked, all the things were no longer controlled by them.

Cheng Xiao sat on the chair and murmured in dismay: "Twenty thousand soldiers, it's over in less than an hour. Is there no news from the general commander and General Fu? How is this possible? How is this possible?"

Cheng Xiao murmured for a while, and then suddenly felt like he was whipped hard, he grabbed Meng Jie's hand and said, "We want to cross the river quickly, and the enemy soldiers will definitely attack at night! We can still take the defenders in the city away now. Marquis Jingsheng said that we will take three thousand cavalry to Jiaopi to assist the battle as soon as possible. We will go to the south bank to meet with Marquis Jingsheng, and maybe there is a chance to defend Huangchuan..."

Meng Jie smiled bitterly, and the commander-in-chief led a large army northward. Almost all the soldiers and civilians in the city knew that he led the defenders to abandon the city and cross the river. He was afraid that after a command, the whole city would immediately fall into panic.

Then there will be a mess and countless people will rush to the dock. Is it possible for him to lead the defenders to cross the river by boat?

In this situation, they led the defenders to retreat south and had a chance to be held accountable, and the responsibility for defeat could not be held accountable. But if they dared to abandon the defenders and left, in the end, only a dozen generals and officials would cross the river. Do they really think they could save their heads?
Chapter completed!