Kip Stone Gorge located in the west of Bagong Mountain, is the most dangerous place of the Huai Road of 800 miles, the dangerous rocks on both sides of the river are dangerous, the original open Huaishui waterway is suddenly tightened, the narrowest place is still less than 30 zhang, people stand on both sides of the strait and look at the air, and even the sound and appearance can be clearly peep.

As the most important defensive position in Huaizhong, Kip Stone City is located on this canyon. There are two Kip Stone Cities, which stand on the peaks on both sides of the Huai River. From this overlook to guard the Huai Road, and to set up a fence on the waterway as a barrier, sinking wood as a barrier, although ten thousand troops can not be opened, thousands of sails are blocked outside.

Yingkou can no longer be defended, and Kip Stone City and Feikou, which is located not far from the west, have become the most important Huaishang pass in the north of Shouchun City, and it is naturally the top priority of Shouchun's defense.

Although the land of Runan has been decided to give up, if it wants to completely withdraw the army and civilians, it will be impossible if the number of troops to receive it is small. The more troops dispatched, it caused Huainan to be empty. However, after some careful consideration and many discussions among the generals, Shen Zhezi still chose the latter, and the navy responded with a big blow.

As a result, the strength of Shouchun Town was suddenly stretched. In addition to Cao Na's headquarters, Shen Zhezi increased his troops, a total of 7,000 guards, although the number seems to be quite a lot, but it must be separated in several important places such as vortex, Matou, Luojian and so on, it is already the minimum required garrison, if the number of troops is less, the vortex mouth will become precarious.

More than 15,000 sailors were sent to Huainan, and more than 7,000 people were placed at the mouth of the vortex, so that there were less than 30,000 people left in Shouchun Town, and there were nearly 10,000 new troops reinforced by Liang County and whose combat effectiveness was to be tested. After deducting the number of defenders that had to be maintained in Shouchun City and the surrounding forts of Jindu, the military strength that Shen Zhezi had in his hands that could be used for flexible purposes was less than 10,000 people.

This part of the troops, Shen Zhezi was all devoted to the defense of Feikou and Kip Shicheng, and after the naval army left the town, he personally sat on the south bank of Huaishui between the two places to prevent Shi Hu's army from coming back. If Shi Hu really couldn't hold back and rushed to cross the Huaishui again, then this would be the most fierce battle that Huainan had faced since the start of the war.

The Huainan Army itself no longer has an advantage in strength, and the advantage of the water army that it had relied on to control Huai can no longer be relied on in a short period of time. The only way to win is that the naval army in the direction of Runan can successfully complete the task and return to Huaishui in time.

At present, in Shouchun, almost all the generals have been sent out, and almost all the remaining generals in the town are young generals. Among the group of dwarves, Shen Mu is the tallest one, who has been in the army for the longest time and has the most combat experience. The Shen family was originally a martial artist, but Shen Mu began to lead his family soldiers to fight since he was more than ten years old, and even when his father Shen Chong first followed Wang Dun to make trouble, Shen Mu had already joined the army.

Therefore, Shen Mu was also entrusted with the important task of replacing Shen Zhezi in Shouchun City. As for the other young generals, they were also entrusted with important tasks, Shen Yun led thousands of soldiers to defend Kip Stone City on the north bank of Huaishui, Yu Manzhi sat in the south city of Kip Shi across Huaishui, and Xie Yi was succeeded by Bagong Mountain, with a total of 5,000 troops in the two places. As for the other generals, under the command of Shen Zhezi, they mainly defended the exit Feikou on the south bank of Huaishui.

In addition to reinforcing the naval army of Runan, the Huainan army also has more than a dozen warships in the town, maintaining the scale of more than 3,000 naval troops. However, this part of the army is mainly responsible for patrolling and warning and transmitting information, and it is difficult to become a winner or loser in sniping a strong enemy and defeating the enemy.

Shi Hu's desire to win was indeed urgent, and at the same time as the Huainan Navy was dispatched, the Yingshang Nu Army had a tendency to assemble. Yingkou's victory led to a great victory for the Huainan army, and it was also favored by more people in southern Henan, so they knew a lot about the dynamics of the slave army.

The military strength of the slave army in Yingshang should not be underestimated, and more than 20,000 sailors did not participate in the battle of Yingkou, so their combat effectiveness is still well preserved. In addition, the 10,000 Shihu volunteer army led by the slave general Ma Qiu and others, after a period of recuperation, the combat effectiveness also recovered quickly, and recently it has been frequently active in southern Henan, breaking the walls of the township and the dock, wantonly plundering, and it seems that it has swept away the haze of defeat and escape from the previous war.

As for the main force of the hundreds of thousands of slave armies between Qian Pei, whether the morale of the army has stabilized at the moment and whether it can be of great use, don't say that the Huainan Army is not clear, even Shi Hu himself probably can't be sure. But even if you ignore this part of the slave army, the enemy alone is worth waiting for.

Although the Huainan Army occupies the advantage of the naval army, it does not mean that the slave army is completely incapable of fighting in this regard. In fact, on the surface, if the slave army is completely organized, the number of naval troops will exceed that of the Huainan army. It is a consensus that the south ships and the north horses. It is impossible to ignore this problem if the army wants to use troops in the south, so the number of boats and boats equipped by his army alone has reached more than 1,000, which is nearly twice the number of boats and boats owned by the Huainan army!

Of course, a considerable part of these ships were encroached upon by baggage capacity, but even so, there were still hundreds of ships capable of fighting. Of course, it does not mean that soldiers can be called sailors when they board the warship, just like although the Huainan Army captured a large number of war horses in the city father, the scale of the truly qualified cavalry still cannot grow in a short period of time. However, even if the combat effectiveness of the slave army in water warfare is ignored, the carrying capacity of these ships alone cannot be ignored. Once the slave army crosses the Huai on a large scale, the situation in Huainan will become extremely serious.

Previously, Shi Hu attacked Yingkou in order to open up the waterway and give full play to the transportation capacity of these boats. It can be said that as long as these boats are still there, the slave army will always be able to maintain the ability to fight through the Huai, and as soon as they get the opportunity, they will inevitably make some moves.

However, it is obvious that the defeat of Yingkou also brought a lot of psychological pressure to Shi Hu, and he waited until there were more boats and ships in Huainan and the defense of the town was empty, so he dared to make a move, and he no longer had the kind of frenzy that he wanted to sweep the southern Xinjiang when he came to the south.

The few days of the runan confrontation without fighting were also to delay in order to give the town enough time to prepare. Now that the initiative of the war is in the hands of the Huainan army, it can be said that as long as the Huainan army does not want to, it will be difficult for the slave army to get the opportunity to attack again. Of course, in this way, tens of thousands of soldiers and civilians in Runan will become the price of passive defense, which Shen Zhezi cannot bear.

When the Huainan military boat probed into Rukou, the Yingshang slave army began to move south, at sunset, the slave army boat and ship arrived at Yingkou, but it has not yet officially entered the Huaishui, still maintaining a posture of advancing and retreating.

The two battles, which began almost at the same time, were only offensive and defensive. When the Huainan naval army launched an attack on the slave army at Rushui, the slave army wandering in Yingkou also drove into the Huaishui main road soon after. It can be seen that the slave army cherishes this opportunity very much, pays close attention to the battle in the direction of Rushui, and is unwilling to waste a little time.

However, unlike the fierceness of the Huainan Navy advancing into Rushui, the slave army still had a little temptation, as if they were worried that the Huainan Army had some secret arrangements, and the initial formation only sent a few light boats, carrying hundreds of slave soldiers, and cruising on the river for half an hour, and then turned the direction to the direction of Feikou, and accelerated the speed of the boat.

Although it is night at the moment, both sides of the Huaishui River are in flames. In fact, in the past few days of testing, both sides have roughly figured out each other's intentions, and no matter what the moves, there is no longer the possibility of a surprise attack.

The Huainan Army's night attack in Rushui was indeed because of the urgency of time, on the one hand, it was necessary to seize the time to rescue the soldiers and civilians in the hanging place, and on the other hand, it was also to increase the difficulty of the defender's dispatch and response. And the slave army on the Yingshang side mainly took advantage of the fact that the Huainan Navy could not return in time to help in the vicious battle.

Therefore, this night was the battle time chosen by the Huainan Army, and naturally there was no problem of hasty response, and the defenders had already spent several days recuperating after the dispatch was completed, and they were waiting for the attack of the slave army tonight.

Shen Zhezi began to sit in the water camp near Feikou in the afternoon, and when the outpost on the upper reaches of the river reported that the slave army light boats were coming, when he even pointed out three warships, hundreds of Huainan soldiers planned to eat these slave army sentinels. Although the defense of the town was well prepared, and there was no intention of facing the enemy on the river to directly inflict heavy damage on the opponent, there was no need to wait for the slave army to attack.

It was Ying Zhan's son Ying Sheng, who led the army to attack the enemy, and after boarding the ship, he rode directly on the waves and rushed in the direction from which the slave army outpost came, but when they saw each other, the slave army's light boats had already turned north and were about to disappear into the night. Further on, there were more lights hanging on the slave army's boats, and Ying Dan did not dare to pursue further, so he could only return to the camp with a little regret to report the enemy's situation.

"What are the slaves going to do? If you visit the military situation, why do you have to return without even seeing our military camp defense? Is it to harass the enemy? ”

Knowing that the slave army was swirling around, the generals preparing for the water camp couldn't help but have some doubts, and they really couldn't guess the significance of this move.

Because of the importance attached to the slave army's attack, Shen Zhezi also thought for a moment, and then called the soldiers who found the slave army scouts to come forward, and after asking in detail, he realized that he had a smile: "Or the husband's physical strength is not sustainable, and it is difficult to move forward." ”

When the generals heard this, their eyes widened, and some of them couldn't believe that the slave army would make such a low-level mistake. But on second thought, it seems that it is also very possible.

It is difficult for the light boat to hang the sails, and it is all dependent on manpower to advance, and the current on the Huaishang is surging, which is extremely serious for physical exertion, if there are too many soldiers on the ship, too few men, and do not continue halfway, this situation is too likely. You must know that when the Huainan Army probed into Huaishang to spy on the enemy's situation, although the specific implementation was all small boats, there must be large ships on the back road as a follow-up base to supplement and replace the troops.

Thinking of this, the generals couldn't help but burst into laughter. They could even imagine the embarrassing situation of the slave soldiers who had no more strength to keep up but still had a long way to go, and had to return to the war, and suddenly became even more cheerful.

Not long after, the river once again found the traces of the slave soldiers, and sure enough, this time outside the light boat, there was a big boat with it, which also confirmed Shen Zhezi's guess from the side. Then the generals couldn't help laughing more happily, and then they all enthusiastically asked for battle.

"You don't have to make any more effort, let's prepare to meet the enemy on the shore."

Shen Zhezi didn't smile much, but still reminded everyone not to underestimate the enemy, even if the slave soldiers were not good at water warfare, but if they swarmed in, the defensive pressure that the Huainan army needed to face was still extremely great.

Not long after his words fell, the scouts on the river soon came to report again, the slave army came this time not only a big ship with several small boats, but more than a dozen warships, but the successor ships were not hung with lights, and they were ignored for a while when looking at them from a distance.

After hearing the news, the generals inevitably scolded the slave army for being treacherous, and actually wanted to lure the enemy on the river.

Soon, more than a dozen warships of the slave army appeared outside the water camp, and two fighting ships of the Huainan Army came forward to meet the enemy, but before they could get close, the slave ships went around.

Similar actions are meaningless at all, and the slave ships dare not get too close to the south bank, and if you look at it from a distance, the front line of the south bank is brightly lit, and a large number of flags are displayed, so you can't see the reality of the defense at all.

The first battle started was Kip Stone North City, the Huainan Army did not have too many outpost strongholds on the north bank, and the important position of Kip Stone City was obvious, and there was also an offensive channel on land, so it was quickly selected as the target for the first battle to be removed.

Probably learned the lessons of the previous Yingkou battle, this time the slave army did not press on most, but only invested more than 1,000 elite soldiers, under the leadership of the slave general Li Su, each with bows and knives and weapons scattered, climbed along the mountain beam, and soon arrived at the foot of the Kip Stone City standing on a high place, and then formed a team of more than a dozen people, and rushed to the wall of the Kip Stone City.

When there were tens of thousands of people in Yingkou, he immediately ordered the soldiers to throw the fire outside, and saw the attack of the slave army clearly by the flickering firelight, even if he was ashamed, he stood behind the arrow battlements of the city wall and roared to the outside of the city: "Ji Long Xiao'er is not underestimating your master's grandfather, before Yingkou gathered tens of thousands, how to stop the two or three disciples when he came to attack today!" Could it be that in the previous war, all the slaves were dead and scattered! ”

With Shen Yun's shouting, there were several sounds of arrows and chiseling from the arrow stack in front of him, and the slave soldiers followed the sound to shoot, and the accuracy was not bad.

"The king is a Chinese hero, how can you wait for the southern raccoon dog to be able to look forward to it! The southern thieves are nothing more than dangerous, if it is an ordinary field battle, they will be killed long ago! ”

In the night, there was a quick response to the scolding, and Shen Yun hurriedly signaled the soldiers to draw their bows and shoot, but only heard the sound of arrows falling to the ground, obviously not hitting the target. However, he was not ashamed, and only laughed and said: "What a slave and thief is afraid of is nothing more than the limbs of a beast. ”

As he spoke, the slave soldiers organized a large-scale attack, and hundreds of slave soldiers rushed straight to the city under the cover of night. Shen Yun couldn't help but laugh even more when he heard this: "The slave is just a beast, and there are no wings to give birth, if you can climb this city with your bare hands, I will praise you for your bravery!" ”

As he spoke, he grabbed a rock piled up at the head of the city and threw it down, and then a scream came from the shadows below, followed by the shouts and curses of the slaves.

Although the city is narrow, the walls are extremely high, and they are all neatly stacked with rocks, and even ordinary ladders are difficult to reach the head of the city. This group of slaves traveled lightly, naturally it was impossible to pose any threat to the city defense, and after being smashed by a burst of rocks and losing dozens of lives, they could only retreat while shouting and scolding. However, this also tested the defense of Kip Stone City, and soon more slaves gathered outside the city, ready to launch the next round of attacks.

At this time, the attack of the slave army on the river finally officially began, and a large number of boats poured into the Huaishui from Yingkou, and the lights on the single boat spread out on the river for more than ten miles! The sound of drums and trumpets and the shouts of the slaves overwhelmed the waves for a while, and they rushed straight to the opposite side. In many cases, subtle tactical skills are important, but when the number is so large that the so-called technical experience is useless.

The slave army had hundreds of boats and boats, almost covering this part of the Huaishui waterway. Originally, the Huainan army also arranged some boats on the river to prepare to disturb the enemy, but in the face of such a huge situation, there was only one way to retreat, although the wind is now from the southeast to the northwest, and the slave army has no wind power to borrow from the south, but only manpower is enough to succeed. The warships were overwhelming, rushing out of Yingkou with a crushing momentum and then down the river. Even if the soldiers don't make a move, the force of the ship's ramming alone can sweep away the opponent!

The Huaishui is open and deep, and the river should not be fortified. However, the Huainan army knew how to use water power, so they also set up some floating barriers on the river, and a large number of iron cones were inlaid on the giant trees like a giant mace, and the water was connected to stones to anchor. These buoyancy barriers are pulled by the force of the stone fall, and they themselves have buoyancy, and they will not completely drift with the current, half-submersible in the water, and when the fast-sailing warship hits, even if it will not be smashed immediately, it is mostly pierced through the bilge by the iron cone, and the river water is bubbling in.

The slave army also had a long idea for this robbery, although it was obstructed, but it was not alarmed, although some of the ships that were directly crashed were overboard, but between the ships there were many tenacious bamboo and hemp, huge nets made of animal skins were opened, and every time a soldier fell into the water, they had their own big nets to catch fish, and the salvaged soldiers were scattered to resettle the remaining boats, and the drowning losses were greatly reduced.

Because there was no interception on the river, the slave army boat brigade quickly sailed to the vicinity of Feikou, and nearly 100 of the warships still maintained their original sailing speed and rushed straight to the Kipshikou in front. As for the remaining warships, some of them anchored in the center of the river, and the other part of the dozens of warships turned in an arc and rushed directly towards Feikou on the south bank, wanting to take advantage of the situation and pour into the river.

Seeing that the slave army successfully completed the change of formation and turned on the Huaishui, it seems that they have indeed made a lot of hard work in this regard. Seeing that the slave ships in front of him were about to pour into Feikou, with Shen Zhezi's order, the more than 2,000 Huainan soldiers who had already been waiting in the water camp ignited the rockets wrapped in grease and hemp.

In water warfare, fire attack is undoubtedly a great weapon to defeat the enemy. In this regard, the Huainan Army naturally did not fall behind, and a large number of rockets flew out, and soon the warships in front were all shrouded in tongues of fire. However, the ship did not appear as expected with the soldiers screaming and collapsing, but still maintained its original speed and rushed straight into the water.

"Are these slaves really not afraid of death?"

Seeing this scene, all the generals who were watching the battle were all puzzled. They could also see that the draft of these slave ships in the front was not heavy, and it should also be to prevent the Huainan army attack, so they sent fewer soldiers to rush into battle. The problem is that even if there weren't too many soldiers on board, the men would have fled for their lives if they noticed that the ship was on fire, and would never have maintained its original speed.

However, their doubts were soon answered, and as a warship was completely burned and disintegrated, the hull collapsed, and the generals saw that the structure of the slave ship was slightly different, and there was a relatively tight seal between the deck and the side cabins, and the husband was imprisoned in the side cabins, and even if there was a fire on it, he could not escape at all, and could only hope to speed up the rowing voyage and rush out of the range of fire before the ship was completely burned.

It's not that he's not afraid of death, it's about reckless human life! Every time a ship burns down and breaks, many blackened corpses emerge from the ruptured hull and float on the surface of the river. Some of these husbands still hold the oars tightly with their hands to death, as if they think that as long as they work hard, they will have a chance to live, but they don't know that no matter how hard they try, they will end up dead!

As these dozens of ships poured into Feikou and the Huainan Army was busy coping, the slave army in Jiangxin's follow-up boats had more sampans and entered the water, carrying a large number of slave soldiers, and rushed directly to the water camps on both sides of Feikou.