(The second update, the 5,000-word chapter asks for a red ticket)

While Huaidong's soldiers, horses, and supplies were assembled in Huangzhou from all directions, Yanhu's movements in the north did not stop.

However, after taking Nanyang, it is definitely not easy to move more than 200,000 soldiers and horses from the northern line to the southern front.

This is not an activity in the area under their own control, there are post stations along the way for the soldiers to rest, supplies are also worried by the post men, roads, bridges, boats and crossings can also make local officials from the local grasp Ding Zhuang to do their own work, 200,000 horses only need to rush by themselves, ten days to travel thousands of miles, it is not a difficult task.

Yang Xiong buried piles in the Hanjin shipwreck to block the mouth of the Hanshui River, and blocked the invincible Huaidong water camp warships outside the Hanshui, making the Hanshui completely under the control of the luxury navy.

From the east bank of the Han River, it was a relatively safe hinterland, and 200,000 soldiers and horses could quickly move south, but Yanhu's main attack direction was Jingzhou on the west bank of the Han River, not the eastern Hubei region on the east bank.

Going south from the west bank of the Han River, it is to march in front of the enemy, the front marches first, to cut down trees and set up camps, to clear the road, to resist the counterattack of the defenders, to pave the road and build bridges, and then the grain and grass must go first, and after these preparations are complete, it is the time for the main force to go south.

Of course, 200,000 soldiers and horses may also quickly insert themselves into Shicheng in the upper reaches of the Han River, and then cross the Han River from Shicheng, or surround Jingmen, or bypass Jingmen and directly attack Jingzhou.

It's just that the enemy is marching forward, and it is not a difficult thing for Yan Hu, sending 10,000 elites as the vanguard, and Ye Ji Luorong is not worried that the Jingmen defenders will have the courage to come out to fight.

The crux of the matter is not whether the army marches on the west bank or the east coast, or whether it is stuck on the water of crossing the Han River.

From Xiangyang to Shicheng, they all belong to the upper reaches of the Han River. The shallow and broad silt is often six or seven miles or even more than ten miles, while the river bank is narrow and flat, and it is easy to erect pontoon bridges, mostly in the width of two to three miles.

The world is called Xiangfan, in fact, it is two cities, the big city on the south bank is Xiangyang, and the north city is Fancheng.

Xiangfan Iron Pile Ancient Ferry, because the iron pillar of the ferry boat dissolves in the mountain stone and gets its name, this place is the narrowest river section in the upper reaches of the Han River, and the river surface is more than 600 steps wide.

Luo Xiancheng made people build a pontoon bridge at the beginning of the day, connecting Xiangyang and Fancheng, that is, connecting the boats as a bridge to connect the ferries on both sides. After Luo Xiancheng decided to surrender Yan, he handed over Xiangyang and Fancheng to the soldiers and horses of the luxury family, and the luxury Wenzhuang made Su Tingzhan a general, and between Xiangyang and Fancheng, he pulled the iron cable to lay a pontoon bridge, so as to prepare for the main force of the soldiers and horses of the Northern Yan to cross the Han River and go south to fight Jingzhou.

Due to the deep passage of the Han River through Xiangfan, it is not easy to drive piles and fix the boat, and the fixation of the pontoon bridge almost completely depends on the iron cables fixed on the rocks on both banks.

The longer the pontoon, the greater the tension of the cable, and the thicker the cable, which makes the weight of the cable larger.

Not to mention anything else, it is to fix the boat bridge with an iron cable that is more than 600 steps long and weighs more than 10,000 catties on the Han River, which is difficult for ordinary people to imagine. What's more, the iron cable is used to fix the boat bridge, in addition to bearing the impact of the upstream water, but also at the same time with a volume of hundreds or even hundreds of people and horses standing on the pontoon bridge at the same time when crossing the bridge.

It is easier to build a 100-step pontoon bridge; Building a 200-step pontoon bridge cannot simply be equated with building two 100-step pontoon bridges, which is twice as difficult; What's more, the pontoon bridge between Xiangyang and Fancheng is 800 steps long!

After the Han River enters autumn, the upstream rain does not rest, which makes the water in the upper reaches of the flowing water fierce, and the impact on the pontoon bridge is great. The pontoon bridge erected by Luo Xiancheng in the early days, when a flood crossed the border in mid-August, the entire pontoon bridge was broken due to the iron cable being too thin, and only half of the boat bridge was retained, and it was not re-erected until the beginning of September.

Ye Ji Luorong sent Su Tingzhan and Meng Anchan to lead 30,000 cavalry south to Shicheng to respond to the defense line in eastern Hubei Province, and with the cooperation of the naval army, they crossed the Han River from Shicheng and gained a foothold on the west bank of the Han River, but the main crossing point for the army to the south could only be set up in Xiangfan.

This is the same as what Lin Jian and others predicted in Huangzhou, the difficulty of erecting pontoon bridges and the amount of materials consumed, all made it difficult for Ye Jiluo Rong to make up his mind to build two more pontoon bridges on the side of Shicheng.

To attack Jingzhou, Ye Ji Luorong naturally had to use Zhou Fan and Tian Chang, who were good at siege warfare, as the main force.

However, these two soldiers and horses, when attacking Nanyang, suffered more than 10,000 casualties, and after the slaughter of the city, they also needed to rest and replenish new soldiers. It was almost at the beginning of September that it opened from the periphery of Nanyang and entered Fancheng to start crossing the Han River.

The north city wall of Xiangyang is built on the stone cliff on the south bank of the Han River, Ye Ji Luorong battle armor is draped in scarlet robes, and the beard is full of beard, making the tall figure look extraordinarily heroic, standing on the north city tower of Xiangyang, looking at the surging Han River and the military horses that are urgently crossing the Han River, as if standing on the foundation of the iron juice poured on the head of the Xiangyang City, making people feel that it is difficult to shake him.

Although Luwenzhuang was crowned the king of Fujian, he deliberately kept a low profile in front of Ye Ji Luorong, wearing a brocade robe, as if he was a rich man, with a thin ancient face and early mane, but his eyes occasionally showed the sharpness that had been honed over the years.

Tian Chang's department is the vanguard, and he has already taken the first step south to fight Jingmen the day before yesterday, and Zhou Fan's department has only crossed the Han River in the past two days.

Therefore, Zhou Fan was still in Xiangyang City, standing at the head of the city, accompanying Ye Ji Luorong, Hao Wenzhuang, and the Hanchen Shen Haobo and other civil and military officials sent by Xiangyang Guard Azig and Yan Ting to serve as the prefect of Xiangyang.

Xiangyang is an important place in the north of Xiangyang, the rear of the grain and grass of the Jingzhou army in the south, connecting Nanyang, although Shen Haobo, who surrendered during the Qingzhou War, was appointed to govern the political affairs of Xiangyang, but the guards still have to use absolutely trustworthy people.

"Huangpi sent a letter to the cavalry, saying that the soldiers and horses transferred from Huaidong to Huangzhou had been transferred to Huangzhou by the 6th, and there were 50,000 soldiers in the infantry battalion alone, plus the naval army and cavalry, and the troops gathered around Huangzhou were almost nearly 90,000," Azig said, "Their movements are so fast, the East China Sea Fox seems to be watching the movement on our side, and decided whether to transfer its garrison in Luzhou to the west." ”

When Azig said this, he naturally blamed the river crossing for being too slow, the pontoon bridges erected too little, and the lack of ferries.

Hu Zongguo slandered in his heart: If you don't have a luxury family, just ask Luo Xiancheng to help you, and I'm afraid that 200,000 soldiers and horses may not be able to completely get through it in a month. The two pontoon bridges used twelve iron cables, and the iron alone consumed nearly 100,000 catties, which is still the foundation that Jiang Ning saved, and I have not seen you be able to add so much iron from the thistle to the south.

"It's all my fault that I can't build two more floating ferries, so that the army can cross the river and be blocked, please punish Prince Mu." Extravagant Zhuang Xiaoyi's plea.

Ye Ji Luorong glanced at Hao Wenzhuang and knew that he was deliberately low-key, but he also liked his attitude of being a man with small wings, and said: "It is already a great achievement to be able to build a boat bridge in advance, and the two cities of Nanzhang and Zhongyi have fallen, just wait for our army to cross the Han River, and then we can wave our horse and point directly at Jingmen......"

The pontoon bridge is 800 paces long, and if people cross the bridge in two columns next to each other, the pontoon bridge will have to carry nearly 2,000 people at the same time. If the carrying capacity of the pontoon bridge can reach this level, 200,000 horses will cross the Han River, and one day will be enough.

It's just that the weight of only 2,000 people adds up to more than 300,000 catties, and the weight of the bridge body becomes extremely bulky; When impacted by upstream water, whether it is longitudinal or horizontal, the pulling force on the iron cable will also become great, which is not something that the Xiangfan pontoon bridge can bear.

The two pontoon bridges that Su Tingzhan was ordered to erect could only pass four hundred people at a time, and if they crossed the cavalry, they could only pass fifty or sixty horsemen at the same time; This greatly delayed the speed of the people crossing the river.

Even so, the efficiency of two pontoon bridges to cross the river is still higher than that of two hundred ferries that are deployed at the same time to cross the river.

When the luxury family abandoned eastern Fujian, a large number of shipbuilders moved west with the army. However, after occupying Jiangxi, although there were craftsmen, they did not have enough time to dry the plates for shipbuilding, and they did not have the spare strength to organize people to go into the deep mountains and old forests to cut down giant trees, so they could only build some small and medium-sized warships in Jiangzhou. In the Jiangzhou Naval Army, if the load of more than 200 stones is a big ship. It's just that these boats have been used for a long time, and the plate shape is out of shape, and the leakage situation has become more and more serious.

The pontoon bridge walked, the ferry carried goods, Tian Chang and Zhou Fan's two foot soldiers added up to only 60,000 people, including hundreds of thousands of stones, grain and grass, and it took five days to cross the Han River.

Next, the 40,000 elite cavalry of Ye Jiluorong's headquarters, except for 10,000 of them who want to go to Shicheng from the east bank of the Han River and continue to strengthen the defense line in eastern Hubei, the other 30,000 cavalry will cross from Fancheng to the south - think about the 30,000 cavalry to go south on the pontoon bridge, the speed is so slow, I am afraid that it is comparable to four or five times the number of foot soldiers, how can it take six or seven days, and it will take six or seven days for Luwenzhuang to think about it.

In any case, the size and weight of the war horse are also four or five times the weight of ordinary adults, and no one is so comfortable when crossing the river.

Azig thought the river crossing was slow, and Zhou Fan wanted to delay it for two more days.

When attacking Nanyang, Tian Chang did not contribute much, and Zhou Fanwei fought for his merits, and the siege casualties were mainly concentrated on his side. Although Ye Ji Luorong called Tian Chang as the vanguard this time and first cut off the defenders of the Jinghu Army on the periphery of Jingzhou, Zhou Fan still hoped to get a longer rest time, so he would rather slowly cross from Fancheng to Xiangyang on the south bank of the Han River, even if it dragged on for ten days and eight days, there was nothing.

Zhou Fan said: "Although the assembly of the Huaidong Army in Huangzhou was very rapid, it was worried that our main force of troops and horses would suddenly press up from the east bank of the Han River and enter eastern Hubei, so it took Huangzhou City as the center in the early stage and built a fortification in the area along the north bank of the river to gain a foothold. The Huaidong Army's large-scale use of troops in Huangpi, Hanjin and other cities should give us another month or two after the completion of the slender fortresses along the river. ”

Of course, Haowenzhuang can know that the Huaidong army will not soon come to Huangpi and Hanjin City, in that case, Ye Ji Luorong will wake up with a smile in his dreams, as long as he leads the cavalry into Huangpi quickly, he may quickly counterattack the Huaidong army attacking Huangpi.

From Huangpi to the south and east, hills, plains, lakes and marshes are intertwined, leaving the Huaidong Army to advance and retreat in a very shallow depth, less than 100 miles. In such a shallow depth, a large force of cavalry cooperated with foot soldiers to attack, and it was not difficult to defeat or even encircle and annihilate the Huaidong Army.

If the Huaidong Army wanted to attack their eastern Hubei defense line, especially when it did not have an advantage in terms of troops, it had to choose a key place along the river and build a fortress that could be used for a temporary foothold, so that it could advance and retreat in a measured manner, so that it would not be defeated and would not have no chance to rest and recuperate and gather the remnants.

It's just that at this time, Zhou Fan said that there will be at least one or two months, but Luxury's village does not agree.

After dealing with the Huaidong Army for many years and suffering so many losses, the high efficiency of the Huaidong Army's march and logistics supply is not recorded in the history books. Like after the war in eastern Fujian, Lin Jian led the main force of the Huaidong Army from Jin'an back to eastern Zhejiang, and then entered Jiangning from eastern Zhejiang.

Although Lin Tie took the lead in entering Qichun from mid to late August, it was not until September 6 that the main force of the Huaidong Army in Jiangxi completely crossed the river, and the speed did not seem to be fast, and in the view of Luwenzhuang, there were two possibilities: one was that Lin Tie deliberately delayed to give them the illusion that the Huaidong Army was moving slowly, and the other was that Lin Tie mainly used the transportation capacity for the transportation of materials in the early stage, and the assembly of soldiers and horses was delayed a little.

Either way, it would mean that the Huaidong Army's attack on Huangpi would be sooner than Zhou Fan expected.

Luxury Wenzhuang was not afraid of offending Zhou Fan, and in front of Zhou Fan, he told Ye Ji Luorong his analysis.

Yan Ting obviously did not want to join the Han generals and be peaceful.

Although over the years, there has been no large-scale confrontation between the Northern Yan and the Huaidong Army, even during the war in Xuzhou, it is also a touch away, but large and small local wars, fought countless times, but also suffered more losses, less gains, the understanding of Huaidong, naturally profound. Especially after the battle in Xuzhou, Huaidong completely blocked their offensive direction on the Eastern Front in a corner of the country, and they couldn't help but ignore Huaidong.

Ye Ji Luorong was so eager to attack Jingzhou this time, and he was also deeply afraid that their newly built Dengzhou naval army would be difficult to compete with the Huaidong water battalion on the East China Sea, so he tried everything possible to contain the main force of Huaidong soldiers and horses on the western front.

Ye Ji Luorong tended to agree with Haowenzhuang's point of view, and their pace of attacking Jingzhou could not be delayed, but at the same time, he was puzzled: "Does the King of Min believe that the Huaidong Army will attack Huangpi?" ”

The two cities of Huangpi and Hanjin are only forty miles apart, and they can be said to be horns of each other. However, in terms of topography, Huangpi is located in a hilly area, a little far from the river bank, while Hanjin is at the intersection of lakes and marshes and plains, bordering the river with water.

The Huaidong Army encircled Hanjin and could advance by land and water, and the terrain on the periphery of Hanjin restricted the Northern Yan cavalry from fighting, which was more conducive to the main force of the Huaidong infantry battalion to exert its combat power.

Huangpi is located inland, although there are also Yudai River passing through its territory, but the Yudai River and other branch rivers, naturally can not be called Huaidong Shuiying's giant ship directly into the battle, and Huangpi is surrounded by hills and plains intersecting terrain, few lakes and marshes, which is very conducive to the Northern Yan cavalry to intervene in the battle.

In addition, when the Huaidong Army attacked Hanjin, only the right wing would be exposed, and it could be strongly supported by Hu Wenmu's soldiers and horses in Jiangxia; And when it hits Huangpi, the left and right wings will be exposed, and it is easy to defend the blows of the military horses on both sides of Hanjin and Tiemen Mountain.

Between Hanjin and Huangpi, Ye Ji Luorong has always been inclined to think that the Huaidong Army will fight Hanjin, but Luwenzhuang has concluded that the Huaidong Army will focus on Huangpi.

Judging the direction of the Huaidong Army's main attack is not a casual matter, which determines the distribution of troops and horses between the two cities of Hanjin and Huangpi.

Luxury Wenzhuang said: "Lin Lian will be the main camp in Huangzhou, from Huangzhou to Wuyun Mountain, to Huangpi, to Tiemen Mountain The march channel is very smooth. In addition to the Xingshui River separated from Huangzhou to Phoenix Mountain, there are many lakes and swamps in the middle, although the Huaidong Army invested a lot of manpower and material resources to pave the road and build bridges between Huangzhou and Phoenix Mountain, but the passage is still relatively narrow. If Lin Jian really chooses the main direction of attack in Hanjin, it is better to abandon Huangzhou City and build the main camp in Phoenix Mountain, so that the troops will be invested in Hanjin, and the route will be shorter, more direct, and the impact will be stronger......"

Haowenzhuang had refuted it before, which made Zhou Fan unconvinced, but Ye Ji Luorong agreed with his point of view, and at this time he couldn't help but want to take back a city, and said: "Even if Lin Lian is asked to capture Huangpi, in the situation that the two cities of Hanjin and Tiemen Mountain are not down, Lin Lian dares to lead the main force of the Huaidong Army Infantry Battalion to enter the flank of Weili at the southern foot of Dahong Mountain from the Huangpi gap on foot?" ”

Hao Wenzhuang shook his head, even if Huangpi fell, he didn't believe that Lin Jian would dare to lead sixty or seventy thousand foot soldiers to go deep alone without the cooperation of the water camp. In particular, the defenders of Hanjin and Tiemen Mountain can outflank the Huaidong Army that is lone and penetrate deeply, and cut off its rear road.

At that time, as long as the soldiers and horses of Beiyan on the front line of Shicheng will delay the main force of the Huaidong Army infantry battalion on the front line of Dahong Mountain, even if Ye Ji Luorong gives up Jingzhou and does not fight, he will be able to lead the main force to cross the Han River to the east bank to encircle and annihilate the main force of the Huaidong Army.

Lin Jian was able to mobilize up to 120,000 soldiers and horses in Huangzhou, one-third of whom were naval troops. At that time, even if the main force of Yanhu rushed over, it would be because there was no way to cut off its waterway, and it would not be able to form a momentum of encirclement and annihilation, and the plan to attack Jingzhou would be completely defeated!

"Although the Huaidong army is trapped in Huangpi, it is unlikely that the lone army will go deep, but according to Huangpi and peek into the stone city, what should Prince Mu do?" Hao Wenzhuang said: "Lin binds this son, the truth is unpredictable, and he especially knows that our army will stick to Hanjin, and it is more likely that it will do the opposite." And its military deployment is aimed at Huangpi, and of course it may also attack Tiemen Mountain. ”

"Lin Jian can also mobilize 120,000 soldiers and horses in Huangzhou, Hanjin, Huangpi, and Tiemen Mountain, he can only attack one place," Zhou Fan said, "The land road between Huangzhou and Phoenix Mountain is narrow, but there is a waterway to communicate, and Phoenix Mountain and the Huaidong Army's Miaoling Mountain camp on the south bank are also dependent on each other......

"I don't think there's anything to confuse about," said Haowenzhuang, "Hanjin is a fixed place, and as far as I can see, Huangpi needs to be strengthened a little more to prevent ......accidents."

"Sun Ji often has 20,000 cavalry to guard Huangpi, and then transfer troops and horses," Ye Ji Luorong frowned, Beiyan looks like a lot of soldiers and horses in Jingxiang City, but in addition to cooperating with the attack on Jingzhou, he also plans to mainly deploy on the second line of Jingmen and Shicheng, the number of elite soldiers of the newly attached Han army itself is limited, and if you want to focus on defending Hanjin, there is no way to divide the troops to Huangpi, after thinking for a while, he said, "Maybe ask Luo Xiancheng to transfer 10,000 soldiers and horses to Huangpi!" ”

Luxury Wenzhuang felt that Xiang Luo Xiancheng wanted soldiers, which could only be said to be better than nothing.

Luo Xiancheng's elite soldiers in his hands are limited: first, Luo Xiancheng personally grasped it in his hands, from between Tongbai Mountain and Huai Mountain, into Xinyang, to prevent any changes in Huaixi's soldiers and horses, and was also afraid that Lin Jian would transfer the defenders of Shanyang to Xinyang, and fight jointly with Huaixi, opening a gap in attacking Suizhou from the northern foot of Huaishan, so Ye Ji Luo Rong also instructed Luo Xiancheng to leave the elite soldiers and horses in the north of Suizhou to consolidate the defense line; In addition, the elite soldiers and horses in the Suizhou army are all controlled by the general Zhong Rong, guarding the gate of Tiemen Mountain.

You can't draw troops from the north of Suizhou, nor can you ask Zhong Rong to divide the troops, and then ask Luo Xiancheng to transfer 10,000 soldiers and horses from elsewhere to Sun Jichang to guard Huangpi, it can only be a weak brigade with weak and incomplete armor, and it can only be said that it is better than nothing.