Liang Chengchong looked at the mountains in the distance, and all directions were the deep mountains and old forests at the eastern foot of the Qinling Mountains, and the Wuguan River was hidden in it shining with sparkling waves, winding to the southeast, like a silver swimming dragon.

Previously, Liang Chengchong intended to hand over the defense of Fangcheng and Wuyang to the north of Nanyang to Chengyi, but the Hezhong Army defeated Chen Zhihu in Ruyang, and Liang Chengyi only led less than 10,000 remnants to retreat to Wuyang, which made Nanyang's troops suddenly overstretched.

For the Liang family, if they lose Nanyang, they will be completely reduced to rootless trees and sourceless water, but the mentality of the soldiers below is different.

The defeat of the Hezhong Army in Ruyang seriously affected the morale and will to resist of the Nanyang generals.

A few days ago, a small colonel wanted to drag twenty or thirty people into the mountains to be robbers, and when he found out before escaping, he pulled Liang Chengchong to the school field and beheaded him for public display. However, among the middle and high-level generals, there are still many people who advocate withdrawing from Nanyang and avoiding the edge of Yanhu's 200,000-strong army.

Withdraw, where to withdraw? Liang Chengchong felt bitter in his heart, could Dong Yuan let Xinyang out and let Nanyang soldiers and horses avoid entering?

Retreat without a fight, and Yan Hu has to go to Nanyang without much effort and open up the passage south into Jinghu, will Lin Tie bypass them?

There are still choices for Huaixi and Huaidong, but for the people of Nanyang, the battle of Nanyang must be fought, but it is a pity that the generals below are not strong-minded.

Twenty or thirty people led their horses up the mountain and stopped halfway up the mountainside, Yuan Guizheng lifted up his robe, climbed the steep mountain alone with difficulty, and looked at Liang Chengchong's line of sight, as if he was worried that the enemy soldiers from Guanzhong would bypass Wuguan and infiltrate the south of Nanyang from the Danjiang River.

"Yue Lengqiu should be about to arrive in Nanyang," Yuan Guizheng said, "If I don't go back to see him first?" ”

Yue Lengqiu came to Nanyang, Liang Chengchong couldn't get away from the western front, and Yuan Guizheng always wanted to meet him.

Liang Chengchong shook his head and said, "I'll go back to Nanyang too." "Liang Chengyi suffered such a big defeat in Ruyang, so that the guards of Fangcheng and Wuyang may not be willing to be restrained by him, and Liang Chengchong cannot stay in Wuguan and must return to Nanyang to sit in the town.

Yuan Guizheng motioned to the surrounding Hu Cong to go down the mountain first, and he and Liang Chengchong stayed behind alone, and said in a suppressed voice: "If Huaidong doesn't help, how should Cheng Chong deal with it?" ”

Liang Chengchong stopped his steps and glanced at Yuan Guizheng. In terms of seniority, Yuan Guizheng is his uncle, and in terms of intimacy, the Queen Mother and the Marquis of Yongchang still want to breathe a sigh of relief in Jiangning City, and the Liang family's military power cannot be completely lost.

Liang Chengchong licked his lips and said, "Please teach me uncle." ”

"The focus is on guarding Qinyang." Yuan Guizheng said.

Nanyang Basin, topography through Fangcheng Road north of the Henan Plain, through the Huai River (now Nanyang Baihe), and the Han River, when the north and south to rush.

The Huai River originates from the Jade Emperor Peak of Funiu Mountain, traverses the western part of the Nanyang Basin, passes through Xinye County to the south, and joins the Han River in Fancheng. The Nanyang River is the main river in the Nanyang Basin, and because of the Nanyang River, the Nanyang Basin is more connected with Xiangfan in terms of topography.

Nanyang City is located on the bank of the Huai River and is the center of gravity that controls the entire Nanyang Basin.

The county seat of Qinyang is located on the eastern edge of the Nanyang Basin, close to the western foot of Tongbai Mountain.

Compared with Nanyang City, the only advantage of Qinyang County in terms of topography is that it controls the Tongbai Valley Road, which is connected to Xinyang Mansion in Huaixi in the east. Focusing on defending Qinyang is actually to withdraw the last remaining troops of Nanyang into Tongbai Mountain and Huaixi as a last resort.

Although Nanyang is lost, the Liang clan will lose its last foothold, but it is better to withdraw into Huaixi than to destroy the whole army with Nanyang City.

"I'm coming to Nanyang, and the Queen Mother gave me an extra command," Yuan Guizheng continued in a suppressed voice, "Stay in the green mountains, don't be afraid of running out of firewood." ”

Liang Chengchong nodded and didn't say anything.

At this time, he transferred the dependents and baggage of Nanyang City to Qinyang, which was undoubtedly quite obvious to the military and civilians to release a signal that he wanted to abandon Nanyang and withdraw into Huaixi, which called how the defenders on the periphery still had the confidence and determination to hold on to Fangcheng, Wuyang, Wuguan, Danfeng, Xinye, Xichuan and other peripheral cities?

It is said that hesitation is a taboo for soldiers, but when the matter comes, it is really difficult for Liang Chengchong to hesitate.

At this time, there were several black smoke rising from the mountains in the west, and under the clear sky, straight columns of smoke went straight to the clouds.

This is a beacon message, and it should be that there are enemy soldiers approaching Danfeng County.

Liang Chengchong, Yuan Guizheng, and Hu Cong, who stayed in the middle of the mountain, all looked nervously to the west, but Danfeng City was seventy miles away from Wuguan, so it would not be until after dark that further news would come.

couldn't figure out the enemy's situation, Yuan Guizheng and Liang Chengchong didn't feel at ease to return to Nanyang.

Back in Wuguan City, when it was about to fall at night, Danfeng City quickly came to report, only to know that the enemy soldiers had 2,000 foot horses, had entered the territory of Danfeng, and were approaching the county seat.

The Danfeng garrison and the enemy cavalry were unfavorable in the battle outside the city, losing dozens of soldiers and horses, and retreated to Danfeng City at this time.

There were less than 3,000 defenders in Danfengcheng County, and their morale was low, and Liang Chengchong did not expect the defenders to be able to repel the elite infantry of Yanhu's advance in the field battle, but only ordered the guards in front to guard the city and not to go into battle recklessly.

At that moment, Liang Chengchong discussed with Yuan Guizheng, and Yuan Guizheng went back to Nanyang to see Yue Lengqiu first, and he stayed in Wuguan to watch for another day.

Although the Yanhu vanguard soldiers and horses did not carry siege equipment, Yanhu wanted to enter Nanyang from Wuguan, and the Chicheng Pass could not be avoided. After all, there are different field battles, and there are steep cities to defend on Nanyang's side, and they always have to take advantage of it.

Although Yanhu had to surrender a large number of troops to join him, and in the direction of Wuguan, he used Sun Jichang, a general who is good at attacking the city, as the main general, mainly driving the new army of foot soldiers to fight the Wuguan passage, but it was not easy to attack the city.

Since Yanhu's southern invasion, although hundreds of cities have been captured, there are not many cities that have really been captured by hard battles, but they have suffered losses under the cities of Yangxin and Datong.

In the early stage, Yan Ji invaded Yan Ji, captured Shandong in the middle period, and recently attacked Guanzhong, Yan Hu used foot soldiers to surround key cities, encircle but not fight, and then use the advantage of cavalry to carry out interspersed infiltration, wash the remnants of the land, weaken the military potential, and finally achieve the goal of taking without a fight.

Even if Yanhu attacked Jinhai in the first year of Yongxing, invested nearly ten times the number of troops and suffered several times the casualties, it took half a year, but after the main force of the Tianjin Navy retreated, it was only after the retreat of the main force of the Tianjin Navy that it succeeded in taking Jinhai City.

Liang Chengchong was in the border army back then, and he fought with Yanhu for many years, and there were cities to defend, but he was not afraid of sudden capture, but he was worried about how long this war would last and how long Nanyang could hold out.

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After passing through Wuguan, the Wuguan River flows south-east until it joins the Danjiang River. However, to the east of Wuguan, there is a narrow valley road, which can lead directly to the territory of Xixia County in the western part of Nanyang Province.

Liang Chengchong still wanted to guard Nanyang, at this time, the valley roads in Xixia County and Danfeng County were all materials transported from the west, and the oxen and horse-drawn carts almost crowded the valley roads that were not very wide.

There are two hundred miles from Xixia to Wuguan, and Nanyang also has to take over the defense of Wuguan after the Cao family withdraws, and it will only take more than ten days, and I don't expect the Cao family to leave much grain. Now Liang Chengchong has filled nearly 10,000 defenders in the fortresses of Danfeng, Wuguan, Baiyang Pass, etc., and if he wants to fight a long-term attack and defense of the city, a large number of materials needed need to be transported from the rear.

Although Yuan Guizheng was eager to meet Yue Lengqiu, the road was full of westbound wagons traveling at night, and he couldn't gallop wildly, and sometimes he had to stop his horse and ask the cart to go first.

Under the night moon, looking at the westbound wagons, dozens of full of stuffed in the canyon, Yuan Guizheng was worried that even if the defenders were determined, how long could Nanyang's supplies last.

Food remains the most fatal problem.

Luo Xiancheng has never had the opportunity to occupy the Nanyang Basin, he was afraid of Chen Zhihu in the early stage, and he did not dare to offend Jiangning in the later stage, but before Liang Chengchong entered the Nanyang Basin, Luo Xiancheng still succeeded in turning Nanyang into a remnant land and a ruined city.

Although 1230,000 displaced people moved into Nanyang with Liang Chengchong in the later period, although Yuan Guizheng also wantonly cultivated the fields when he was the prefect of Nanyang, Nanyang's military strength has always maintained more than 30,000 people, and it is difficult to maintain food self-sufficiency with only 1120,000 people.

Prior to this, in the early stage, Huaidong sold the grain that was lacking to Nanyang to maintain the Nanyang defense line; After the Jiangning Incident, Nanyang chose a position with Huaixi and Chizhou, and the grain that Nanyang lacked was more to take silver to buy in Huaixi.

Now the war preparedness in Huaixi is also tense, and nearly 60,000 cantonment soldiers have all been added to the battalion, which means that the income of Huaixi's military cantonment will drop sharply, and the grain will also be suddenly tight, and it will eventually depend on Jiangning under the control of Huaidong.

Although Lin Tie promised to transfer grain to Huaixi and Nanyang, less than half a month has passed since Lin Tie nodded and agreed, and the grain from the lower reaches of the Huai River to the west has a long cycle, and Yuan Guizheng is worried that after the war starts, the Yanhu cavalry will infiltrate Nanyang on a large scale, and even if the grain from Huaidong is transported to Xinyang, it will be difficult to replenish the fortresses on the periphery of Nanyang.

Focusing on retreating to Qinyang City at the western foot of Tongbai Mountain, in Yuan Guizheng's view, is the only feasible strategy for Nanyang soldiers and horses at present, which can be attacked and retreated, but Liang Chengchong still hesitated.

When this team of baggage trucks passed, Yuan Guizheng continued to drive his horse at night, and when he arrived in Shangnan, it was almost dawn.

At this time, there was a galloping horse coming, and Hu Cavalry rushed to make contact, only to know that there was an urgent military situation from the direction of Wuyang to report to Liang Chengchong.

Yuan Guizheng came to Nanyang this time to carry the army with his order, and he was an envoy sent by the imperial court, but his status in Nanyang was extremely high, and all military information could be read by himself without Liang Chengchong.

It's a pity that the emergency military situation from the direction of Wuyang can't be good news: Yan Hu's soldiers and horses in Guanzhong sent 2,000 cavalry as an advance yesterday to send troops from Shangzhou City to attack Danfeng County; The main force of Yanhu's soldiers and horses in Ruyang also sent 5,000 cavalry as the vanguard yesterday, crossing the Beiru River and the Shahe River, and marching towards Wuyang City.

The outpost battle in Nanyang has already begun, and it is not far from the Yanhu army.

Yuan Guizheng returned the letter to the post horseman, and ordered him to whip his horse to tell Liang Chengchong, and he reined in the horse and looked south in the clear morning light.

The Yanhu army is pressing, and Liang Chengchong is confident that he can resist Yanhu in the short term with the help of dangerous terrain and fortresses, but how can Luo Xiancheng and Haowenzhuang in the south be honest, and what kind of idea does the East China Sea fox in Yuzhang have in mind?