In the face of bloody killing, some people would rather die than give in, while others are cowardly and cowardly.

Seeing that nearly ten times the enemy surrounded the city, the banner was unfurled, like a black cloud covering the field.

In the misty early morning, the roar of the war horses, mixed with the sound of the wind blowing from the north, filled his ears, telling the guard general Chen Di to shake his mind, and give birth to a sense of frustration that it is difficult to be an enemy, but thinking that his family is in Jingzhou City, and he intends to die in the city, it can be regarded as an explanation to Hu Wenmu: if he surrenders, Hu Wenmu will not spare his family......

However, history did not give Chen Di a chance to choose, when the Yan soldiers arrived close to the city, Chen Di's deputy general Zhang Fang bought off the Jingmen gentry who wanted to sacrifice the city to save their lives, and led the village soldiers to attack the west city gate, and opened the city gate to lead the Yan soldiers into the city.

On September 24, due to the rebellion of the local townsmen and the villagers who assisted in defending the city, the city gate was opened to lead the enemy into the city, and the Jingmen defenders were caught off guard, causing the Jingmen city to fall in the early morning mist. Only a few of the 5,000 defenders occupied the terrain in the city to resist, and most of them chose to surrender, and some wanted to break out of the city and besiege and annihilate the new annexed army outside the city......

This was also the fourth day of the Huaidong army's storming of Huangpi.

Being able to take Jingmen so easily made Ye Ji Luorong, who entered the camp of Jingmen Beishiheyi yesterday, very satisfied, which also meant that the last obstacle to entering Jingzhou was removed, but what Ye Ji Luorong did not expect was that things were just as expected by Haowenzhuang, and the Huaidong Army really chose Huangpi City as the main direction of attack, and there was no reservation as soon as it came up......

"Sun Ji often eats dry rice! 30,000 defenders, less than four days, can't even hold the city! ”

Before he surrendered, Zhou Fan, as a border general, was not used to being a general in a military town in the interior; After the Yan was surrendered, Chen Zhihu and Yuan Lishan had the highest status, Zhou Fan could not compare the foundation with Yuan Lishan, and could not compare with Chen Zhihu for his military exploits, but seeing that his status was equivalent to Sun Jichang, he was somewhat dissatisfied in his heart, thinking that Sun Jichang took advantage of the first drop.

In front of the rescue messenger sent by Sun Jichang, Zhou Fan had nothing good to say.

Ye Ji Luorong couldn't hear Zhou Fan's whining words, he glanced at Hao Wenzhuang, smacked his lips and sighed: "The Huaidong Army is fighting so fast!" ”

According to reason, the Huaidong Army will capture Huangpi and continue to conquer Hanjin, so that it can open the blockade of Hanshui, advance by land and water, and attack the flank of Northern Yan. However, in the direction of the Huaidong Army's main attack, the guess was wrong at the beginning, and the Huaidong Army's attack on Huangpi was so fast, how many people can be sure that the Huaidong Army did not go north alone from the Huangpi gap after taking Huangpi?

"There's no reason for the Huaidong Army to fight so fiercely!" Hu Zongguo frowned, puzzled.

It is true that Lin Jian is good at using tricks, but he is also a person who plans and then acts.

Before the Shangrao War, although the Huaidong Army finally broke through the Shangrao defense line for a short time, but before that, the Huaidong Army made a lot of preparations, and in order to storm the Shangrao defense line, the Huaidong Army made preparations for almost half a year.

Although with the strength of the Huaidong Army, as long as the casualties are not counted, it is certain that the Huangpi City will be stormed, but the first battle of Huangpi is the prelude to the entire Jingxiang Battle for the Huaidong Army.

In such a prologue battle, how many casualties is the Huaidong Army willing to bear?

10,000 or 20,000!

If the Huaidong Army's cumulative casualties under Huangpi City reach 20,000, compared to the Huaidong Army, which can gather up to 100,000 foot soldiers in the eastern Hubei region, it will be a attrition rate of 20%!

Then such a tough battle will make the Huaidong Army lose the ability to continue fighting, and the initiative of the entire Jingxiang Battle will be in the hands of Beiyan.

Is it necessary to fight so fiercely in the prologue battle?

Hu Zongguo was puzzled, and Ye Ji Luorong, Zhou Fan and other generals were all a little puzzled.

"Speaking of potential, it's nothing more than 'one elimination and the other rise'," Guo Song is a Han native of Liaodong, like Fan Lan, is a Han minister recruited by Ye Zier in Liaodong, joined the army for the Southern Expedition Camp Record Office, and is in charge of the book and ink for Ye Ji Luo Rong on weekdays, and is also Ye Ji Luo Rong's important adviser, he said, "The prince ordered the slaughter of Nanyang, so that the South Vietnamese army and people were terrified, and the fighting spirit was weak. As soon as Lin Jian came up, he attacked Huangpi, which should be to take the lead and regain some disadvantages, so as to strengthen the fighting spirit of his allies! ”

"It does make sense," said Yejirorong, "and there is no other explanation. ”

"As far as I can see," said Lu Wenzhuang, "the Huaidong army slammed into Huangpi, intending to lure my Shicheng soldiers and horses south!" ”

"The defenders of Hanjin and Tiemen Mountain are mostly foot soldiers, and it is difficult to win the field war with the Huaidong infantry soldiers," Zhou Fan said, "Shicheng Tieqi can't come out, and it is true that there are too many drawbacks to call Hanjin and Tiemen Mountain to aid Huangpi, but it is easy to fall into the treacherous plan of the Huaidong army, but the soldiers of Shicheng were originally to aid eastern Hubei." ”

At this time, the reserve soldiers and horses deployed in Shicheng on the east bank of the Han River had reached 40,000 people. Except for Su Tingzhan's infantry soldiers, the remaining 30,000 soldiers and horses were all elite cavalry recruited from Yanbei.

The deployment of so many soldiers and horses in Shicheng was to prevent reinforcements from being sent when the defense line in eastern Hubei could not be supported.

It's just that no one thought that the reserve soldiers and horses in Shicheng would be transferred to reinforcements so soon.

Huangpi must be rescued, if he doesn't rescue, Sun Jichang can't support Huangpi for a few days.

Once the defenders of Huangpi called the Huaidong Army to kill and annihilate them, no matter whether the Huaidong Army went directly to the army alone, or turned its head to attack Hanjin, it would have a very bad impact on the defenders of Hanjin, Tiemenshan, and Fengshan, and Hu Wenmu in Jingzhou would see the hope of winning the Battle of Jingxiang, and the stronger his will would be.

Seeing Zhou Fan, Guo Song and others, Hao Wenzhuang all believed that the fierce offensive of the Huaidong Army in Huangpi was intended to take the lead and regain the disadvantage, and Ye Ji Luorong also tended to agree with this view, he said: "Prince Mu attacked Jingzhou, with General Zhou as a helper, he will be able to overcome as he wishes, I am of little use in Jingzhou, or I can serve as a staff officer or two for the generals in eastern Hubei ......"

Luxury's willingness to go to Eastern Hubei is naturally happy that Ye Ji Luorong is naturally happy - over the years, although he has paid enough attention to the Huaidong Army, Sun Jichang, Meng Anchan, Zhong Rong, and Yang Xiong generals actually don't have much experience in dealing with the Huaidong Army.

Although the luxury family has been repeatedly defeated by Huaidong, Ye Ji Luorong believes that if there is anyone here who knows Huaidong best, there will be no one else except for Haowenzhuang.

Ye Ji Luorong said: "The king of Min is willing to go to eastern Hubei to supervise the war, that is the best!" With the king of Min to control the generals of eastern Hubei, then I can also rest assured that I can fight Jingzhou. ”

Zhou Fan was unhappy, Ye Ji Luorong was giving Luwenzhuang the power to command the war situation in Eastern Hubei, not just going to Eastern Hubei to be a staff officer for the generals!

"Prince Xie Mu trusts, Wenzhuang will not dare to live up to Prince Mu's trust!" Luxury Wenzhuang did not shirk, the deployment of the Huaidong Army in Huangzhou and the fierce offensive against Huangpi had too many places for him to rest assured, and said, "After Wenzhuang goes to Eastern Hubei, Prince Mu should ask the Jingmen soldiers to quickly build a pontoon bridge between Shicheng and Pengwanling to connect the two shores." ”

Although there are nearly 1,000 ships in the navy, most of them are small and medium-sized ships with a load of one or two hundred stones, including the warships that Yang Xiong led to join the luxury family, and most of them are remodeled from fishing boats on Dongting Lake.

After taking Jingmen, the grain and grass transported from Xiangyang to the Jingzhou front line were more efficient by land, and it was naturally requisitioned to requisition soldiers and people to use mules and horses to transport them by land.

From Xiangyang to Jingzhou, it is almost a straight line from north to south, it is a straight road of 300 miles, because these areas have been under the control of Jinghu for a long time, and the road conditions are also good, including Nanzhang, Zhongyi, Jingmen, Changlin, Dangyang and other cities have been lowered, Ye Ji Luo Rong can requisition enough people from the west bank of the Han River.

On the east bank of the Han River, the land is ruined, and the twists and turns are far away, there is not a single person in a hundred, and there are not enough people to requisition, so the materials can only rely on the Han River to transport from Xiangfan to the south.

Due to the fact that the grain and grass of Hanjin and Shicheng were given priority to replenish the inland cities of Tiemen Mountain and Huangpi, which were easy to cut and surround by the Huaidong Army, the Shicheng and Hanjin cities along the Hanshui, including the people who fled north with the luxury family, were almost 1230,000 soldiers and civilians, and the required materials had to be operated from Xiangyang in a timely manner - it didn't seem much, but it was enough to occupy nearly half of the transportation capacity of the naval army.

In addition, it is necessary to guard against the Huaidong water camp approaching the Hanshui mouth directly from the downstream to clear the obstacles in the channel, and it is inevitable to retain a part of the naval army in Hanjin.

There were not enough ferries, and if Yeji Luorong wanted to transfer the soldiers and horses from Jingmen to the east bank or the soldiers and horses from Shicheng to the west bank, it would be extremely inconvenient to have no pontoon bridge. Without a pontoon bridge, Yanhu's 300,000 troops on the southern front would be divided into two parts, east and west. If something happens, there is no pontoon bridge, and there are not enough ferries, everything has to be detoured from Xiangyang, and it will take more than 400 miles to walk, and the cucumbers and vegetables are cold.

Being able to erect a pontoon bridge between Shicheng and Jingmen, and then cooperate with the ferry, can cross tens of thousands of soldiers and horses a day, which can greatly enhance the ability to adapt.

Zhou Fan was dissatisfied with the fact that Haowenzhuang could go to eastern Hubei to supervise the war, but Haowenzhuang proposed to erect a pontoon bridge in Shicheng, although it would make the materials more scarce, but it was also a safe policy, and he did not oppose it for no reason.

Ye Ji Luorong has limited resources in his hands, although he has 5,000 soldiers in Jingmen, but these 5,000 soldiers cannot make people feel at ease to stay in Jingmen, and he wants to ask Zhou Fan to attack Jingzhou.

Put these soldiers into the battle to storm Jingzhou, first, to consume a part of it and reduce the damage of the elite of the new annexed army; The other is that if the pawn is stained with blood, it is unlikely to be repeated.

The matter of erecting the pontoon bridge can only be handed over to the villagers who surrendered - although the time limit of fifteen days is set, Yegirorong doubts that they can build a pontoon bridge in fifteen days. But it doesn't matter, just cut off a few heads when the time comes, and change a group of people to do it.