Clouds of mist flowed along the river beach to both banks, quickly spreading, covering the river beaches, grass hills, wild forests, wheat fields, houses, and villages on both sides of the Xu River......

The fierce battle that broke out at dawn, as the sky became brighter and the fog became heavier, seriously affecting the vision of both sides of the battle, not only could they not see each other's arrays clearly, but the communication between their own units also became a big problem. The fierce battle was fierce until the early morning, when the fog was at its worst, both sides were forced to retreat and no longer impact each other's positions, and the soldiers and horses on the left flank of the Zhejiang-Fujian army took the opportunity to wade through the water in the fog and cross the Xu River to the south.

Zhou Pu asked his men to carry him off his horse, sat down on the stones by the riverbank, and told the military doctor to hinge off two arrows from his legs, sprinkle hemostatic powder and wrap them tightly in bandages.

Zhao Bao put the knife behind his waist, walked over and said: "General Zhou Tong got the news one step earlier, the main force moved south in time, if the remnants of the thief army fled to Ningguo, they should be able to intercept it; But I'm afraid I can't pursue the soldiers and horses that retreated westward! ”

Zhou Pu and Chen Wei ordered their subordinates not to cross the Xu River to pursue: on the one hand, it was a battle in the early morning, suffering heavy casualties, and pursuing in the fog was easy for the enemy to take advantage of, increasing unnecessary casualties; On the other hand, the main force of the Chongcheng Army and the Zhang Jiheng Department of the Changshan Army were all surrounded, from Gucheng to the south to Xuanzhou and to Ningguo, there were more than 100 miles in depth, and they could calmly besiege this enemy army.

Since the enemy left nearly half of the troops to think that the dead soldiers were cut off and did not solve this part of the enemy army, it was impossible to bypass Gucheng Lake and continue to pursue westward. If you are greedy, you will lose, especially when the enemy army is trapped and the beast is still fighting, you must be more careful.

It is a matter of the rhythm of the use of troops, the enemy urges me to slow down, and the enemy slows down and I urge.

The soldiers and horses on the left wing of the Zhejiang-Fujian army were clearly left behind, and they had the determination to fight against the water.

At present, even if it is barely able to stabilize its position, the cavalry battalion and the 1st Brigade of the Chongcheng Army have paid disproportionate casualties. Zhou Pu's calf was pierced by two sharp arrows, and Zhao Bao's cheek was cut with a blood groove on the spear blade, all of which were minor injuries, and Geng Wenfan, a promising member of the Chongcheng Army, was killed in battle; On the side of the cavalry camp, Wei Xu also knocked down the enemy general with a mace in the chaos, and his chest collapsed into a piece, even if he could survive, he would not be able to fight on horseback in this life.

The cavalry battalion has 2,000 people, Fang Jiawa fought a battle, annihilated nearly 2,000 enemies alone, and the attrition was less than 200 people, and there was chaos in the early morning, almost one-third of the generals could not return to the battlefield in a short time, and the combat capability of the cavalry battalion also dropped significantly, so how could Zhou Pu feel comfortable?

The enemy army on the west bank of Gucheng Lake is already a lost dog and a trapped beast in a cage. If it was to annihilate these seven or eight thousand enemy troops, the Huaidong Army would have to pay seven or eight thousand casualties, and it would be strange that Zhou Tong, Zhou Pu, Chen Yan and other generals did not give Lin Jian a bloody scolding.

In addition to the remnants of the left wing of the Zhejiang-Fujian army that fled south, there were six or seven hundred enemy troops left in the town of Fengqiaozhu, after Zhou Tong and Chen Yan converged, they handed over the battle on the south bank of the Xu River to Zhou Tong to take over, some of them collected the wounded, and pressed on the one hand to Fengqiaozhu, and besieged the last six or seven hundred enemy troops in Fengqiaozhu, urging surrender......

The fog lasted until noon, and nearly 10,000 troops and horses had crossed the Qingshan River from Gucheng to the west of the enemy's left flank, and the fire that burned the city was in the hazy sky, and it could be seen from a distance on the hill at the west head of Fengqiao Zhu.

When it was nearly dusk, Zhou Pu learned that the remnants of the left wing of the Zhejiang-Fujian army that had fled south were at the dam in the southeast corner of Gucheng Lake, and the main force of the Chongcheng army led by Zhou Tong was intercepted.

After nearly two hours of fierce fighting, the breakthrough failed, and about 4,000 remnants of the left flank of the Zhejiang-Fujian army retreated north to a stockade called Meizixi on the east bank of Gucheng Lake.

At this time, Zhou Pu and others already knew that the general in charge of the Zhejiang and Fujian Army was Zheng Mingjing, the chief general of the left wing of the Zhejiang and Fujian Army.

Zheng Mingjing led the remnants of the trapped beasts to fight, and the counterattack was fierce, although the main force of the Chongcheng army was heading towards the siege of Meizixi, it was expected to complete the siege until noon tomorrow. Zhou Tong asked Zhou Pu to lead a few sentry cavalry over, worried that the remnants of the Zhejiang-Fujian army would break through at night.

Zhou Pu handed over the siege of Fengqiao Zhu to Chen Yan, and regardless of the injury in his leg, he rashly rode across the Xu River to the south, blocking the gap for the remnants of Meizixi to break through to the south from the periphery.

As soon as Zhou Pu arrived at Meizixi, he received a military order from Liyang. Lin Jian handed over the battle on the southern front to Zhou Tong with full responsibility, and asked him to recover Xuanzhou, Ningguo and other cities after completely destroying the remnants of the enemy army in Meizixi; Zhou Pu was asked to lead the cavalry battalion and Zhang Jiheng's troops to quickly move north from Gucheng along the east bank of the Qingshan River to intercept the enemy troops on the right flank who might flee west from Jiangning.

The left flank of the Zhejiang-Fujian army was on the east bank of Gucheng Lake, which showed that the main intention of the Zhejiang-Fujian army at present was to preserve its strength and withdraw to Jiangxi, and that the Zhejiang-Fujian army would no longer have any redundant troops deployed between Xuanzhou, Gucheng, and Nanling counties at the southwest foot of Maoshan Mountain. Although the Tang Fuguan Department of the Chongcheng Army went north in advance, the main force of the Chongcheng Army left to Zhou Tong still had nearly 14,000 complete soldiers, which was enough to deal with the remnants of the Zhejiang-Fujian Army stranded on the east bank of Gucheng Lake, and recover the lost territories such as Ningguo, Xuanzhou, and Gucheng.

The left wing of the Zhejiang-Fujian army had no time to pursue, and there were no more soldiers and horses to pursue, but the Zhejiang-Fujian army still had nearly 30,000 soldiers and horses in the outer city of Jiangning, and Lin Jian needed to concentrate more troops to recapture Jiangning, and also did everything possible to intercept the Zhejiang-Fujian army in Jiangning to flee westward.

The Yangtze River runs west from Jiangning, not due west, but diagonally to the southwest; Zhou Pu and Zhang Jiheng went north along the Qingshan River, taking the mouth of the Yijiang River (now Wuhu) as their destination, and headed northwest. That is to say, even if Xu Feihu decisively gave up Jiangning and fled west at this time, he would intercept Zhou Pu and Zhang Jiheng's troops before crossing the Yiyang River, and Lin Jian asked Zhou Pu and Zhang Jiheng to recover Lishui and Yijiang City at the western foot of Maoshan Mountain first......

The more important significance of ordering Zhou Pu and Zhang Jiheng to lead their troops to the western foot of Maoshan Mountain to recover the southwest city of Jiangning is that Lin Lian also judged how Yue Lengqiu would intercept the Zhejiang-Fujian army that fled west from Chizhou in Chizhou, but one thing is certain, whether the Jiangzhou army can be prevented from entering Jiangning, or whether the Jiangzhou army is not allowed to enter Jiangning, it is better to ask the Huaidong army to recover the cities west and southwest of Jiangning first.

Can't catch Zheng Mingjing with his own hands, Zhou Pu hated and hated, but he couldn't disobey Lin Lian's military order, before leaving, he told Zhou Tongqian and Wan: "Zheng Mingjing, you must not let him escape, otherwise these two arrows in my legs will be in vain......"

"If you can enter Yijiang City first, intercept the Extravagant Flying Tiger, and ......take revenge," Zhou Tong said with a smile.

***************

Lin Zonghai led the Dongyang Prefecture army, joined forces with the soldiers of Ge Cunxin's water battalion, and used Prison Island as a springboard to board Hekou Town as early as the 28th. For three days in a row, he marched south along the Jinchuan River, fought fierce battles with the Zhejiang-Fujian army, and fought for the periphery of Jiangning City, the strategic point between Moling Lake and Jinling Mountain.

After Tang Fuguan led his troops to arrive, the Huaidong army gathered more than 30,000 troops in the periphery of Jiangning, and before nightfall on the first day of December, annihilated the remnants of the Zhejiang-Fujian army defending Shengtianbao, and captured Jinling Mountain, the heaviest key point in the southeast corner of Jiangning City, and the Huaidong warships were able to enter Moling Lake at the foot of Jinling Mountain, and completely control the situation in the east of Jiangning City.

Because Moling County is located in the east of Jiangning City and on the route of Huaidong Shuiying from the east, it has become the only city on the south bank of the Yangtze River and the periphery of Jiangning that has been preserved.

On the first day of December, after nightfall, there was also fog in Jiangning, and the campfire was in the white seeping mist, like a red dim firefly.

It is difficult for soldiers and horses to march and move in the foggy night, and the Huaidong tribes can only stop moving and guard the camp at night, waiting for more Huaidong soldiers and horses to come.

The extravagant flying tiger is like a trapped beast in Donghua Gate, and the speed of the Huaidong Army's movement is jaw-dropping.

Don't say ten days, on the 27th, Luxury Feihu fully mastered the outer city of Jiangning and began to attack the imperial city, counting today, it is only four days in the past. Four days can't even knock down a corner of the imperial city.

The left flank soldiers and horses responsible for intercepting and blocking the main force of the Huaidong Army had to leave nearly half of the troops and horses behind before they could safely retreat westward from the other half of the elite, and the passage from Liyang to the north and the eastern foot of Maoshan Mountain was completely opened, and the first part of the Huaidong Army infantry battalion reinforcements had arrived, and the second part would quickly enter the periphery of Jiangning in a day or two.

From the 28th, the Huaidong Army distributed a large number of printed leaflets to the outer city through catapults in the imperial city and outside the Donghua Gate, and hyped up the westward flight of the main force of the Zhejiang and Fujian army.

From that moment on, it was difficult for the soldiers and horses left behind in the outer city of Jiangning to be restrained by military discipline, and the incidents of deserting soldiers and looting out of the camp without permission happened all the time, and it was naturally difficult to gather all the strength to attack the imperial city.

The situation has developed to this point, if it weren't for the fact that Yu Feihu had a cronies to supervise the sword and axe of the supervising team, if there were still outer cities to defend, it would not be impossible for the right-wing soldiers and horses who remained as abandoned pawns to collapse first-although the use of slaughter and plundering to forcibly integrate the soldiers into various departments can temporarily maintain a high morale and fighting spirit, but this method cannot last long after all, and there is a risk of collapse if the morale is slightly frustrated.

"Second son, if you don't leave, you won't be able to leave!" Yu Wenshan lowered his voice and advised Luxury Feihu.

In the past few days, especially when Zheng Mingjing sent a letter to report that the left wing might not be able to support it for long, they secretly transferred the six or seven thousand soldiers and horses loyal to the luxury family to Xicheng through frequent troop transfers, so that it was convenient to abandon them and retreat to the west at a critical moment.

In order to prevent the Huaidong Army from pursuing when retreating westward, the Extravagant Fei will plunder Jiangning before retreating westward. In this way, the soldiers and horses of the Huaidong Army, which entered the periphery of Jiangning first, could be forced to enter Jiangning City to clean up the mess, so as to win a crucial time for them to retreat west without being entangled.

Zheng Mingjing's left flank gave up Liyang on the 29th and retreated westward, and if they want to leave, they must leave tonight, otherwise even if Zheng Mingjing's left flank escapes into Jiuzi Mountain in time, the way for their right flank to retreat west will be intercepted by the Huaidong Army's soldiers and horses advancing directly west from Liyang.

Even if they leave tonight, the time is already very fast, and if the Huaidong Army directly sends troops from Liyang East to move northwest along the Qingshan River, Luxury Feihu is not sure that he will be able to cross the Yiyang River first.

"Let's go!" Extravagant Feihu's face twitched in pain, but he had to face the cruel reality, the Zhejiang-Fujian army had completely lost the conditions for fighting the main force of the Huaidong Army outside Jiangning, and did not withdraw in time, which only added to the great achievements of the Huaidong Army.

On the 27th, Yuzhang's soldiers and horses successfully captured Hukou, captured all Huang Binghao's relatives, and went to Jiangzhou City to coerce each other. Huang Binghao, the former Jiangzhou envoy who was not aware of the development of the situation in Jiangning and the deputy marshal of the Jiangzhou Army in front of the Imperial Palace, was a full family member and was forced to surrender to Jiangzhou. Jiangzhou has fallen, Yue Lengqiu is likely not to have the courage to fight hard, but even if the remnants of the Zhejiang-Fujian army can successfully pass through Chizhou, enter Jiangzhou, and join Yuzhang's soldiers and horses, the situation is far from favorable to the luxury family, and it is only a little relieved of the vicious situation before the war in eastern Fujian......

The luxury family only breathed a sigh of relief, but Huaidong took advantage of this battle to control all the places in the south of the Yangtze River, including Jiangning.

The main enemy of the luxury family is not the remnants of Yue, but Huaidong.

In the past, Huaidong was still confined to a corner of Huaidong, and it was difficult to exert his strength due to various restrictions of the Yue Court, but in the future, Huaidong was able to control the remnants of Yue in the palm of his hand, Chen Xiyan, Yue Lengqiu, Dong Yuan, Hu Wenmu, Zuo Chengmu, Cheng Yuqian and others could no longer contain Huaidong. From this point of view, the situation that the luxury family will face next will only be more dangerous, and there will be no improvement at all......