Chapter 1229: Unknown

Meng Yuan's rear army was attacked, and the Chinese army soon got the news and immediately sent some men and horses back to the rescue, and the army also stopped advancing. They knew very well that the rear army was escorting 20,000 stones of grain and grass, which was half a month's supply for them and Fu Li's garrison. If it is lost, it will not be replenished in Fuli, and it will not be able to continue fighting for a period of time.

Tutuha's first reaction was not that the southern army wanted to encircle and annihilate him, but that the southern army had detected the news of his own southward movement to Fuli, and in order to avoid being chased and killed on the way to the retreat, he returned the favor and ambushed his rear army here to destroy his baggage. Thinking of this section, he had to admire the trick of the little emperor of the Southern Dynasty to draw his salary, believing that after the grain and grass of the Southern Army were burned, in order to maintain the use of hundreds of thousands of troops, he would definitely loot all the grain in the prefectures and counties in Huaibei, and then destroy his own grain and grass, so that they could not be replenished on the spot.

In this way, the supply of grain and grass on their own side was not available, and it was difficult to carry out a long-distance and long-term pursuit, and then the army of the Southern Dynasties could return to Huainan safely. And he Tutuha also knows very well that the two armies that serve as the rearguard still have some combat effectiveness, but they are also negligent in training; Those Oulu troops were all reserve soldiers of the guards, and most of them were underage teenagers with no experience in battle. However, the ambushed southern army was able to sneak for hundreds of miles, detour behind its own back to set up an ambush, and did not find any clues by its own side, which must be able to be done by an elite army of a hundred battles.

Therefore, after the attack on the Hou army, Tutu Hawen did not dare to slack off, and immediately ordered the right guard of the Han army to quickly return to defense, expel the enemy army, and protect the grain and grass; At the same time, the central guard of the Han army was ordered to detour north to the enemy's left flank to intercept and kill the retreating enemy troops; ordered the former army Kipchak Wei to send elite cavalry to pursue the enemy from the right flank, and encircled and annihilated this southern army with the Han army's central guard; And he led the firearms guard to sit in the Chinese army, blocking the main road, forcing the enemy to break through from the north, and disrupting the formation.

Although Tutuha reacted quickly and took countermeasures as soon as he learned of the attack on the rear army, it was not an easy task for the marching brigade to change into battle formation after receiving the order. They have to regroup, assemble, and then choose a way to attack. At this time, tens of thousands of troops were concentrated in the river, and the river channel of twenty or thirty zhang wide was not narrow, but it was difficult to maneuver for a while, and chaos inevitably occurred.

'Boom, boom, boom...... Suddenly there was a series of loud explosions, and Tutuha felt the ground tremble under his feet, and even some soldiers fell to the ground because of the shaking. Before he could send someone to find out the cause, he heard the sound of water coming from far and near, with a whistling sound.

"The embankment has burst, run...... Tutuha was surprised to find that there was water pouring down in front of him, and some soldiers shouted and ran to the embankment on both sides, but more people were washed down by the water and went down with the current. Without waiting for him to figure out how the river that had long dried up, how could there be a big flood when it was not the rainy season, and the water had already risen to the horse's knee.

The sudden flood washed away the various units that were adjusting their formation, and the men and horses rushed to both sides of the river embankment in panic to take refuge. Tutuha wanted to maintain order, but when he fled for his life, who cared about it, he was also carried ashore by the rebel army, and the water also rose to the height of Qi people, and he could only watch countless people and horses struggle in the water, rise and fall, and go east along the water.

Fortunately, this flood came and went quickly, and after half an hour, the flood gradually diffused and slowed down as it flowed downstream, and after ten miles, it was like a stream, gradually seeping into the river that had already dried up, leaving only the corpses of men and horses and puddles on the ground. At this time, some sentinels also found out the situation, because this is in the yellow flood area, due to the impact of the water flow and the siltation of sediment, after the heavy water, the retained flood has formed many large and small ponds, and even lakes.

These lakes are usually stagnant, and during the rainy season, some of them burst to form seasonal rivers, some of which merge with each other to form larger ponds, and some of which are used by farmers to build canals to irrigate their fields. And on their march there is a dry ditch called Yujiagou, there is a small lake upstream, the Song army planted gunpowder, when they came here, a gap several zhang wide was blown up, and the lake instantly tilted down and rushed into the old road of the Bianhe River. If it weren't for the fact that there was no water replenishment in the rainy season at this time, and this Hubo was not big and the water storage was small, otherwise their army would have been sent to Fuli City.

Tutuha looked at the embarrassed troops who were tossed by a sudden flood, and the troops were angry and helpless, and the actions of the rescue rear army were naturally disrupted, so he could only send a force to meet the rear army first, and ordered the other departments to deploy on the spot, check the losses, and sort out the equipment, so as to prevent the Song army from taking advantage of the chaos to launch an attack. But to his slight relief, the enemy did not attack them, but focused on the rear army, and he understood from listening to the sound of a tight burst of artillery that the rear army was finished.

After a while, the troops reported losses, and the front army, which was at the forefront, was the farthest from the breach, and the water slowed down, and did not have so much impact, so the losses were the smallest, and the casualties were caused by the crowding and stampede caused by the confusion. The biggest losses were the safest of the Chinese army, and many horses were swept away and drowned under the impact of the huge current. In particular, most of the Chinese army were Han infantry troops, and they ran slowly and did not have time to react at all. What annoyed Tutuha even more was that most of the gunpowder carried by the firearms guards had been soaked in water and damp, and there was no way to use it, and without gunpowder, their firearms were not as good as a stick.

The losses were checked, and the front and middle armies suffered more than 3,000 casualties and hundreds of war horses, and they did not even see the shadow of the enemy. Later, the rear army that had been attacked also returned with answer, and when they saw their gray faces, their faces full of terror, and their armor crooked, Tutuha's face turned black. After the inspection, it was reported that the rear army and the Oulu army had lost more than half of their strength under the blows of the Song cavalry and artillery, and almost all of their baggage had been lost.

Tutuha called the commander of the Hou army to ask Batu'er about the passage, and he told him that the Song cavalry rushed out from everywhere without warning, and they did not have time to react, the queue was disrupted, and the enemy cavalry then pursued and killed, and in the blink of an eye, the army was crushed. And a large group of Song troops rushed into the town, and some of them were intercepted before they had time to withdraw, only for fear of more luck and less luck.

Afterwards, the enemy cavalry withdrew, and the enemy troops entered the town and bombarded the river with artillery. Because this section of the river is relatively steep, difficult to climb, and there is nowhere to hide, so many people crowded into the river and were heavily bombarded by enemy artillery, causing great casualties, and most of the baggage and materials escorted were also destroyed by artillery fire, and only a very small part was snatched out under the response.

Tutuha listened to Batuer's account and watched him talk about the scene when he was bombarded, and his sad and indignant face flashed with deep panic from time to time, thinking that the enemy's fierce artillery fire had caused him great fear. He knew that Batu Er was not a cowardly person, and he had also rushed out of the sea of corpses and blood, and it was not an extremely terrifying scene that would not scare him like this.

Tutuha understood that Batu'er could not be blamed for this matter, so he could only be comforted and let him go down to recuperate first. Then, in a fit of rage, he executed all the dozens of people from 100 households and below who were in charge of guarding and patrolling today, on the grounds that the sentry was unfavorable, causing heavy casualties and losses, so as to deter others and boost morale. He also ordered the armies to surround and kill this enemy army that dared to ambush them, but to his surprise, the Song army did not leave with a single blow, but built fortifications in Liuzi Town, ready to hold on.

The abnormal behavior of the southern army confused Tutuha, and it is said that going deep behind enemy lines to ambush is to pay attention to fighting quickly and retreating quickly, regardless of success or failure, and to leave with one blow, and not to fall into the enemy's encirclement. However, the Song army in front of him did the opposite, and after successfully destroying his own baggage, grain and grass, and causing heavy casualties, not only did not retreat, but put on a posture of holding on, which could not help but make him think more.

Unable to understand the purpose of the Song army's action, Tutuha ordered the whole army to camp on the spot and postpone the march to Fuli. While sending sentinels to find out the number and defense of the Song army, he sent messengers to Fuli to confirm the movement of the Song army besieging the city in person. The two places were only a hundred miles apart, and the messenger sent returned to Liuzi Town that night, and the news he brought back made him shudder.

The messenger brought back information that the Song army in front of Fu Li not only showed no sign of withdrawing in recent days, but was very active, and the enemy troops stationed in Jing'an Town continued to send troops to harass their own camp. Fu Li's main general Yu Wa lost his judgment, and the enemy seemed to intend to find fighters through constant temptation and take the city in a decisive battle, so while strengthening his defenses, he hoped that reinforcements would speed up the march to reinforce Fu Li.

What made Tutuha even more puzzling was that the Tiemai Chibu who had come to the aid of Xuzhou had not yet arrived, and Yuwa had also sent sentinels to investigate its origins, but the Song army had sent a large patrol in this direction, making it impossible for them to approach and obtain details. And he knew that the Xuzhou side received the order almost at the same time as himself, and made an appointment to meet the troops in Fuli and defeat the Song army in person. And the journey from Xuzhou to Fuli is far closer than his own, but he has not arrived for a long time, which makes him suspicious.

From the news from Fu Li's side, the loss of contact with the reinforcements from Xuzhou, and the thought of being ambushed halfway, Tutuha began to doubt whether the previous judgment of the Song army's intention to withdraw was correct, and worried that the news he had obtained before was wrong. However, He Weixian and Yuwa swore that they had attacked Lingbi and burned the Song army's baggage and grain and grass, and Tie Maichi of Xuzhou also repeatedly claimed that the enemy army in front of him had withdrawn from the siege and retreated, all of which indicated that the Song army was preparing to withdraw after losing its grain and grass.

But the situation in front of him made Tutuha's approach to the Song army unclear, so could it be that the Song army ambushed himself here, just to prevent him from reinforcing Fu Li? Even so, the enemy should be deployed on the road ahead, not in the position of cutting off his own back road at the moment......

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