(Two chapters in one)

The Huaidong Army crossed the Cao'e River in a big way, and the choice of Laotangpu for the first battle was a plan studied by Lin Lian, Fu Qinghe, Gao Zongting, Ye Junan and others in a few days.

Laotangpu is located on the big corner of the Cao'e River, so that the Huaidong water camp warships can land and attack from the east and north sides of the Laotangpu defense village.

The west bank of the Cao'e River near Laotangpu is the slope terrain that extends down from the Huiji Mountains, and the Laotangpu village is built on a gentle slope that is more than ten zhang high. Although the topography of the slope on the west bank gave the defenders a condescending advantage, the terrain on the river bank was solid, there was no silt, not to mention that the warships could be stationed near the shore, and it was easy for the advance troops to line up to defend the beach after landing, and the terrain was conducive to the deployment of troops.

Laotangpu is located between the two cities of Sanyin and Huiji, and the east is the mirror lake that accounts for almost one-third of the border of Huiji County.

After the fall of the Cao'e River, the Zhejiang-Fujian army directly filled the waterway where Jinghu Lake and the Cao'e River met; The water of Jinghu Lake flows into the Qianjiang River from the west of Xiaoshan County through the waterway of the Puyang River in the west.

As long as Laotangpu can be captured in one fell swoop, it can even mobilize a large number of troops to enter the west bank of the Cao'e River, and re-dig the waterway between Jinghu Lake and Cao'e River to make it connected. Jinghu Lake is deep and wide, the water surface is vast, and it goes deep into the three counties of Shanyin, Huiji and Xiaoshan.

At that time, unless the luxury family is willing to give up the three counties of Huiji, Shanyin, and Xiaoshan, and carry out a second river closure in the Qianjiang waterway in the upper reaches of the Puyang River estuary, they will be forced to transfer the remnants of the Eastern Zhejiang Water Division into Jinghu Lake to fight a decisive battle with the Huaidong Water Camp.

According to the plan drawn up by Lin Tie before the war, the elite of Han Caizhi's department crossed the river and landed first to establish a beachhead, but directly set up a trestle bridge on the Cao'e River, which is about three miles wide, and transferred Chen Kuili and Mao Tengyuan to take the trestle bridge into the west bank and attack Laotangpu Village, and forced the Huiji defenders in other areas to enter the relatively narrow Laotangpu with Jinghu Lake and Cao'e River sandwiched in the middle to conduct a battle.

Lin Jian also did not expect that the extravagant Feihu who was in Huiji would become more and more impatient at the end of the war in southern Zhejiang, and did not wait for the Huaidong army to leave the beachhead and enter the deep area of Laotangpu, so he drove the soldiers and horses over and forcibly drove the Huaidong army that landed on the shore down the Cao'e River.

The bloody battle of Laotangpu broke out in advance on the beachhead on the west bank of the Cao'e River.

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Rushing to land is the easiest for the enemy to take advantage of, and the half-crossing is attacked. Huaidong attaches great importance to the water battalion, attaches importance to the cooperation between the water battalion and the foot soldiers, and must use brave generals to lead the elite to seize the beach in every battle.

At that time, Tang Fuguan personally led two battalions of soldiers and 200 flying vehicles to rush across the west bank and repel the first counterattack of the defenders of Laotangpuzhai. On the one hand, more than 20 wounded soldiers were evacuated to the ship, and on the other hand, an arc-shaped car formation was laid on the beachhead with a depth of about 200 paces. The two ends of the car array are connected to the river, and the middle is bulging out, like a crescent moon.

In the middle, a black and blue banner was erected, thinking that it was a command flag, and the two battalions of soldiers carried two hundred crossbows to wait behind the car formation. Behind the beachhead, dozens of wooden boats are laid on the river, interlocking with iron chains, and are nervously laying pallets and erecting pontoon bridges. On both sides of the pontoon bridge, the warships of the 3rd Water Battalion of Jinghai were lined up as a strong backing for the beachhead.

Except for the first time when the defenders of Laotangpu Village took advantage of the unstable foothold on this side for the first time, there was an opportunity to counterattack, and when Tang Fuguan personally led his troops to complete the formation on the beachhead on the west bank, there would be no more opportunity to take advantage of.

Lin Jian and others studied before the war and believed that as long as a solid beachhead could be established on the west bank, the defenders of Huiji would inevitably lure Huaidong to the depth before launching a counteroffensive. When the two brigades of Huijian defenders came from Laotangpu Village, they swooped down on the beachhead like a hungry tiger, and Lin Lian and others, who were watching the battle in Lihai Defense Village on the east bank, were also taken aback.

"I'm afraid I'm impatient!" Gao Zongting took a breath and said.

Lihai is the Huaidong Army built in the northwest of Shangyu City, only six or seven miles away from the beachhead on the west bank, people with better eyesight, standing at the head of the city of Lihai Village, can see the battlefield on the west bank.

The strong attack on the beachhead of the Huaidong Army on the west bank was not expected before the war, and Gao Zongting guessed that the extravagant Feihu, who was presiding over the war in Huiji, lost patience, which was beneficial to the Huaidong Army. The more impatient the enemy general, the more loopholes will undoubtedly appear in the use of troops.

When Fu Qinghe, Gao Zongting, Ye Junan and others were about to discuss countermeasures, Lin Jian clenched his fists, hit the battlement wall, and said vigorously: "Since he wants to fight, then accompany him to fight!" Let people spread out the map along the Cao'e River at the head of the city, point to the map and say, "The Flying Tiger wants to defeat the beachhead on the west bank of my country, and there is no other plan except to use the corpse pile!" Quickly pass my military order, and Tang Fuguan will defend the west bank, and the beachhead on the west bank will be lost, and ask him to bring his head to see me! ”

"The beachhead is too narrow, at most you can only fill in one more battalion of armor soldiers, and any more will be harmful and beneficial," Fu Qinghe said, "Since I want to defend the beachhead on the west bank, it is useless for me to stay here, I will go to the west bank to supervise the battle and make sure that I do not take half a step back!" ”

Extravagant Feihu was already known for his martial bravery, he lost patience and became impatient at this time, and he did no harm to Huaidong, but his blow to the beachhead was bound to be crazy and bloody.

Whether or not you can hold the beachhead, in addition to the bravery of the generals, the most important thing is the will to grit your teeth and persist to the end and the morale of not giving in to the enemy.

Fu Qinghe was going to the west bank to supervise the battle, although Lin Jian was worried about his safety, he groaned a little, but he still nodded in agreement, still worried that Tang Fuguan would waver when guarding the beach, and ordered: "Before dark, the trestle bridge must be erected, and there must be two bridges to connect with the beachhead on the west bank, one in and one out, there must be no mistakes!" He said to Ye Junan again, "Siming Jun'an, please write a military order on my behalf: When Zhou Tong received the handwritten letter, he immediately transferred Chen Yan and Zhang Jiheng's troops to take advantage of the sea ship to enter the Qianjiang River to prepare for war!" When Ao Canghai received the handwritten letter, he led the third brigade from Shengzhou to the north along the east bank of the Cao'e River......"

"Do you want to make a big deal in one fell swoop?" Gao Zongting asked, urgently transfer the elite of the Fifth Brigade from Yongjia and Shengzhou to the north, even if the combat strength of the water battalion is not counted, the infantry assembled in Shangyu will be more than twice as large as the Huiji garrison.

"The beachhead on the west bank is narrow, and we can only add fuel to the small force increase; Yu Feihu is anxious to win, and he should also be able to see that as long as he can gather 10,000 soldiers and horses in Laotangpu, he will always be able to maintain his superiority in strength over the beachhead on the west bank - do you think he will give up the opportunity to fight with our army in the depths by relying on the city and the village, and the main force of the column defenders will go out of the city to Laotangpu to fight with us? Lin Jian asked.

"He's so impatient, and he has a chance to eat my beachmen, how can he not try?" Gao Zongting instantly figured out what Lin Bin's plan was!

"I didn't expect that the Huaidong Army's good chance to break the stalemate on the Eastern Front in one fell swoop came from the Luxury Flying Tiger," Lin Jian laughed and said, "As long as we can inflict heavy losses on the defenders of Huiji on the west bank of the Cao'e River, we will have the opportunity to form an encirclement of the city that has weakened the defenders of Shanyin and Huiji the most before Luxury Feixiong dispatches large-scale reinforcements from Fuyang and Linshui into Huiji......

Gao Zongting boasted of being strategic, but it was far less decisive than Lin Lian's decision.

Ye Junan wrote a good hand, listened to Lin Lian's dictation, prepared a military order, read one or two, showed it to Lin Lian, and after using the seal, he sent people to Yongjia and Shengzhou.

The Huiji garrison garrisoned the walled city, forming a defensive system that was a horn and a mutual aid, and Dongyang and Fuyang both had a large number of Zhejiang-Fujian troops, which were close to Huiji and supported quickly. Although the Huaidong Army gathered many more soldiers and horses in Shangyu than the Huiji garrison, it did not have the opportunity to enter the hinterland of Huiji and storm the walled city.

Lin Tie gave the Huaidong Army the first battle to enter the west bank of the Cao'e River, and chose the Laotangpu Village closest to the river bank, which was to avoid going deep into the hinterland of Huiji, and did not have the determination to Ke Laotangpu Village.

Only by luring the main force of the defenders out of the city can they have a chance to inflict heavy losses in the field. Only in the field battle to severely damage the Huiji defenders, before Fuyang or Dongyang reinforcements arrived, Shanyin or Huiji and other cities could appear defenses empty and easy for the Huaidong army to capture.

Lin Jian said to the accompanying guards: "Call Mao Tengyuan and Han Caizhi over......

Mao Tengyuan and Han Caizhi led their troops to prepare to cross the river in front of Lihai Village, and when they heard Lin Lian's call, they quickly climbed to the head of the village to see.

Lin Jian said to them: "You two will rest on the spot for the time being, and you will not cross the river tonight; But tomorrow you both have to put on your armor and be ready for a tough battle! ”

"Yes!" Han Caizhi and Mao Tengyuan didn't know that the battle plan had been completely changed, but they all answered in unison, so they went down to the city to prepare.

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The idea of the Flying Tiger was very simple, the beachhead established by the Huaidong Army on the west bank was less than 200 steps deep, and no matter how strong the beachhead was, it was far from being comparable to the impregnable city.

As long as the beachhead established by the Huaidong Army on the west bank is defeated, the Huaidong Army's rush to the crossing will be declared a failure.

From Huiji Mountain down, to the bank of the Qianjiang River, it is only more than 40 miles wide, and there are two cities and three villages guarding the key points; Although the defenders of the Zhejiang-Fujian army in Huiji were not as sufficient as the Huaidong army, it was enough for 24,000 people to hold the city and stop the Huaidong army east of the Cao'e River.

However, the defeat in the war in southern Zhejiang was not only a heavy stone on the heart of the extravagant flying tiger, but also a pessimistic and disappointed mood and low morale among the Zhejiang and Fujian troops.

If there is a stalemate and a see-saw between the generals and the defenders can only defend passively, in the long run, it is hard to imagine how the morale of the Flying Tigers can be maintained?

The heart of the extravagant tiger was full of anger to vent, and the general needed a bloody victory to boost morale, and finally prompted him to smash the beachhead established by the Huaidong army in front of Laotangpu Village regardless of casualties.

Su Tingzhan, Tian Chang, Yu Wenshan and others did not dissuade Luxury Feihu, and it is precisely because of this.

As long as the beachhead is shattered and unstable, the pontoon bridge erected by the Huaidong Army behind it is meaningless, and it is so simple that it can be destroyed by burning with a fire.

Su Tingzhan personally went into battle to supervise the battle, and Tian Chang and Yu Wenshan accompanied Hao Feihu to watch the battle at the head of the old Tangpu Walled City.

"There aren't enough troops!" Tian Chang said, "We have only gathered more than 3,000 soldiers and horses in Laotangpu. If we can't break its beachhead in one go, it will be easy for the Huaidong Army to send more soldiers over by warship......"

"The Huaidong Army is rushing to pave the pontoon bridge, depending on the situation, they are also bound to defend the beachhead," Yu Wenshan said, "Is it possible to induce them to put more troops on the beachhead for a battle?" ”

Eager to get a victory to boost morale and vent the frustration in his chest, Yu Wenshan reminded him to hold on to the battlement wall and stare at the beachhead at the foot of the slope.

The beachhead on the west bank was limited by the narrow terrain, so that although the Huaidong Army had gathered superior forces on the east bank, it could only be transported in batches by ferries and pontoon bridges - as long as the Huaidong Army did not give up the beachhead on the west bank, it would actually give them the opportunity to divide and attack.

Referring to this battle form, Hao Feihu thought that Song Fu had used an oil lamp for him as an analogy, just like adding oil to an oil lamp, one time is not enough, one more is not enough, and the result is not enough each time - Hao Feihu saw the possibility of a greater victory here at this time, and his eyes flashed with a strange brilliance.

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Lin Jian designed the flying contradiction car in Jinan, mainly in the hope that the infantry could rely on the vehicle formation to resist the impact of the cavalry in the field.

Later, he won several field battles in Yannan, which also proved that this kind of towing and convenient shield cart, with a strong bow and crossbow, had a good effect in limiting the impact of cavalry in field battles.

Zhejiang-Fujian land is narrow and steep, and every place is fought hard in the narrow square inch, even in the street battle, the use of flying contradictory cars is not as late and convenient as the big shield, so it does not glow in the open terrain is extremely conducive to resisting the impact of the brilliance.

And the beachhead shield car is interlocked in pairs to form a whole, and after the wheel, it is not possible for human beings to break through with a solid log. And once there is a need to send troops, as long as the solid wood of the arrival car is removed, and the iron hook located on the inside is removed, a passage for the attack can be quickly formed.

Standing at the head of Laotangpu Village, it looks like an extremely thin arc-shaped car formation, but it has become a murderous car wall that devours the flesh and blood of the Zhejiang and Fujian army. Blocked in front of the car formation, unable to advance, arrows and stones in the car formation hit like a violent storm, hundreds of soldiers were unable to advance and retreat, and suffered heavy casualties.

After several unfavorable charges, Su Tingzhan transferred the car from the Laotangpu defense village or used people to carry the giant wood up, wrapped himself in the charging formation, and forced the car formation, only to force the Huaidong Army soldiers to attack from both flanks of the car formation and engage in a fierce battle on the narrow beachhead. However, on the narrow beachhead, the crossbowmen of the Huaidong Army could fire bows and crossbows with the vehicle formation, and the armor soldiers who came out of the vehicle formation also fought according to the vehicle formation, and the stubborn interception and charging of heavy equipment and models approached the vehicle formation, relatively occupying a greater advantage, and the casualty ratio was seriously skewed at the beginning.

The pontoon bridge was paved before nightfall, but it only withdrew the sentinels with heavy casualties, supplemented some of the sentinels with complete combat strength, and accepted the command of Fu Qinghe and Tang Fuguan on the west bank. However, the narrow beachhead restricted the Huaidong Army from transferring more troops from the east bank, and the total strength of the beachhead on the west bank never exceeded the three battalions.

The Zhejiang-Fujian army was also limited to the terrain and could not invest more troops at one time, and the impact on the beachhead vehicle formation was not enough, and it was repulsed several strong attacks, suffering heavy casualties. After nightfall, the Zhejiang-Fujian army suspended the offensive and requisitioned the people to flatten the steep slope of the northeast flank of Laotangpu Village, so that they could invest twice as many troops in each attack the next day and storm the car formation......

When Hao Feihu transferred more than 10,000 troops from Huiji, Shanyin, and Zhuji overnight to gather in Laotangpu Village, he was full of plans to lure the Huaidong army to the beachhead on the west bank and eat them in batches.

At the same time, Xu Feihu was worried about the shortage of Huiji's troops, so on the one hand, he sent another 2,000 soldiers from Dongyang County to make up for Huiji, and on the other hand, he sent Tian Chang to Chun'an to meet the boss in person, stating the Huiji fighters, hoping to persuade the boss to agree to transfer troops from Fuyang and Linshui to reinforce Huiji, so as to ensure that the battle of Laotangpu could become a key battle to turn the situation on the Eastern Front.

At this time, Mao Tengyuan and Han Caizhi, who were transferred to the upper and lower reaches of the Cao'e River at night, forcibly crossed the Cao'e River from Daoxubu in the upper reaches of Laotangpu and Hutangtou in the lower reaches.

Since the main force of the Huiji army led by the Luxury Flying Tiger was exposed to the wilderness, the defenders of Hutangtou and Daoxubu could not just defend the village, but to prevent the main force led by the Luxury Flying Tiger and assembled in Laotangpu from being attacked by the main force of the Huaidong Army from both flanks, it was necessary to resolutely intercept the Huaidong Army that was trying to land on the shore.

When the main force of about 12,000 Huiji defenders was attracted by the car formation and pontoon bridge at the Laotangpu beachhead, the defenders at Hutangtou and Daoxubu on both flanks were seriously insufficient, and they were less than one battalion. Lin Jian used night cover to adjust the deployment of troops on the east bank, and Mao Tengyuan forcibly crossed the Cao'e River at Daoxubu and invested six battalions; Han Caizhi forcibly crossed the Cao'e River at Hutangtou, and the number of troops invested reached eight battalions. On the east bank, Lin Jian personally controlled the reserve strength of the twenty battalions of foot soldiers.

Hao Feihu could not completely defeat the Huaidong Army's beachhead vehicle formation at Laotangpu that night, and after a night's delay, the Huaidong Army was able to give full play to the advantages of controlling the river and outnumbering the Huiji defenders.

Mao Tengyuan and Chao Caizhi both went into battle, led Jianrui to seize the beachhead first, and fought with the defenders who came to intercept them, without shooting their feet with bows and arrows. When the two armies met, they directly met each other with swords and guns, risking arrows and flying stones, and fought to one place.

Swords and spears, arrows and crossbows, oil splashing, fire - every inch of beachhead is fought, it means that the two sides fill in several lives, and the blood penetrates into the pebbles and mud and sand of the river beach, and soon seeps into the river water, dyes red, and soon dilutes the turbid river water after summer.

Only then did he realize that his eagerness to win exposed the Achilles' heel of being attacked from both sides, so that Su Tingzhan did not stop breaking the beachhead car formation, and he asked Yu Wenshan and another cronie to lead an elite group to aid Hutangtou and Daoxubu.

Lin Lian, Gao Zongting, Ye Junan and others stood at the head of Lihai Village, watching the battle situation on the other side.

It is said that Huaidong completely controls the waterway and has the advantage of troops, so it has the absolute advantage of breaking through the river defense of the Huiji army at multiple points.

But in fact, on the west bank of the Cao'e River, the frontal width of the Huiji defenders to defend is only more than 30 miles, and the two cities and four villages formed by the Huiji defenders on the west bank of the Cao'e River are only eight miles apart.

The fastest time to help each other is less than a stick of incense, which restricts the Huaidong Army from giving full play to the advantages of military strength and control of waterways.

Lin Lian's heart was not easy for a moment, even if there were countless examples of occupying an absolute advantage and finally losing carelessly, Lin Lian did not have the confidence to win in his heart; In particular, the two battlefields of Daoxubu and Hutangtou were forcibly grabbed and easily attacked and intercepted, and the victory or defeat of the battle was extremely crucial to the subsequent development of the war situation.

It's just that these two battlefields are far away from Lihai, and standing at the head of Lihai City, you can only see a vague shadow, and you can't see the details clearly, so you can only send the officers of the Military Intelligence Department to both sides to observe the battlefield nearby.

The Huiji garrison sent two support armies from Laotangtou to the upstream and downstream Daoxubu and Hutangtou, and Lin Jian naturally saw clearly from the other bank. The two support armies ran along the riverside avenue, and it would not take half an hour to go to the two battlefields at the earliest. Mao Tengyuan and Han Caizhi led their troops to end the bloody battle on the beachhead in time, and brought their troops into the open terrain, so they had the worry of being defeated by the defenders' reinforcements......

The military commander who observed Daoxubu galloped back, looked up and returned under the city, and said: "Captain Mao has defeated the defenders of Daoxubu, reorganized the formation at the beachhead, and will meet the reinforcements......"

Lin Jian frowned, and ordered: "Order Mao Tengyuan to quickly lead his troops out of the beachhead, if you can't find an open place to rectify the terrain, it is easy to directly meet the enemy; The enemy is rushing to help, and the formation should be even more untidy! ”

The beachhead of Daoxubu is not a good terrain, narrow and silt, and the west side is the high slope of Huiji Mountain, only because the river is located above the narrow mouth of the Cao'e River, and the water is gentle, so the second beach grabbing site was given, and he didn't expect Mao Tengyuan to hesitate at this key head......

Mao Tengyuan hesitated, but the defender reinforcements who rushed to Daoxu Port did not hesitate at all, ignoring the salvo of bows and crossbows from the warships near the shore, and directly impacted the far part of Mao Teng, who was in a reorganized formation on the narrow beachhead. Because Mao Tengyuan's department was rushing to the beachhead, there was no flying contradictory vehicle to accompany the support position. When the position finally loosened after repeated onslaught on the defenders' reinforcements, regardless of casualties, the rout was only a matter of an eye.

Except for a few people rushing up the steep slope on the west side, more foot soldiers wrapped up the chaotic and collapsing array and driven down the river......

The six battalions of foot soldiers, more than 3,000 lives, due to the hesitation of the main general, failed to hold the position, and most of them drove down the Cao E River alive - Lin Lian's heart was so painful that the muscles on his face twitched.

The dozens of water battalion warships that transported the infantry to cross the river were still on the near side, quickly surrounding and rescuing the soldiers who had fallen into the water, but there were still countless people who were dragged directly into the whirlpool of the Cao'e River and sank because they were wearing heavy thick armor.

The establishment of a brigade of the camp army in eastern Zhejiang was completely disabled in a little more time with a stick of incense, and Lin Lian was heartbroken and wanted to take a knife to cut the wall - fortunately, Han Caizhi did not make any low-level mistakes at Hutangtou, and after the defenders who arrived at the beachhead to intercept were defeated, they directly spread out along Hutangtou Avenue and the wheat fields on both sides, and collided with the defenders' reinforcements and fought in one place.

In order to earn a little more time, the defenders' reinforcements rushed to the battlefield to receive reinforcements after intercepting the defenders on the beachhead without collapsing, and ran for nearly ten miles with a little more time than a stick of incense. The beachhead interception defenders collapsed first, and the defenders' reinforcements rushed to the head of the lake slowly, most of them weak and weak, and their hearts beat like war drums.

When Han Caizhi's troops rushed to the beachhead, most of them did not directly participate in the battle, they had better physical strength, and they had a great advantage in troops, and soon formed a crushing advantage at the head of the lake and pond, and the defenders and reinforcements were beaten back one after another.

After Lin Tie made Han Caizhi and Mao Tengyuan lead their troops to land from different locations, the ultimate goal was to form a flank attack on the main force of the Huiji garrison assembled in Laotangpu - after Han Caizhi led his troops to suppress the enemy army and fight in the direction of Laotangtou, Lin Tie made Fu Qinghe and Tang Fuguan immediately launch a counterattack on the Laotangpu beachhead, opening up a larger space in order to invest more troops, and at the same time ordered Zuo Guangying to lead his troops to open up another landing point to ensure that the absolute superiority of troops was invested in the Laotangpu battlefield for a battle.