Chapter 86: Stalking

(6,000-word chapter, ask for a red ticket)

Lin was bound in Yuzhang, and the deadline for Huang Binghao to accept the conditions for surrender was mid-August.

Zhang Xiongshan led a vanguard of 3,000 soldiers and horses, and was intercepted by more than 600 elite cavalry from Huaidong in the west of Xinyu City. When the news reached Xia Yuan, Huang Binghao and the others only regarded it as the people sent by Yuzhang to Yuanzhou to promote the surrender, and did not feel anything else.

When he sent troops to Xinyu, Huang Binghao still wanted to keep the last bottom line and not tear his face with Huaidong, but he learned that more than 600 cavalry from Huaidong also marched to Xinyu and wanted to block Yuanzhou's soldiers and horses outside Xinyu City, but in fact, Huang Binghao had no other choice.

If it weren't for the shame of the world and saying that Yuanzhou's 30,000 soldiers and horses scared Huaidong's 600 soldiers, Huang Binghao would have hardened his head and asked Zhang Xiongshan to drive away or annihilate Huaidong's 600 cavalry and capture Xinyu City.

Although Xia Yuan's side was very optimistic about expelling or annihilating the more than 600 cavalry soldiers who had entered Xinyu from Huaidong, and Chen Zishou led the Chinese army without pause and accelerated the march towards Xinyu, Zhang Xiongshan, who was really facing the enemy, felt completely different.

The scouts reconnoitred the traces of the 600 cavalry in Huaidong, which was in the south of Yangle County, at the west foot of the Lion Ridge in the end of the mountain, and was more than 70 miles away from Xinyu City; At that time, Zhang Xiongshan led his troops in the south of Longlingnan, Mengshantang, about 30 miles away from Xinyu City, but only more than 50 miles away from the west foot of the Lion Ridge in Moshan Mountain-such a wide range of scouts is enough to show how cautious Huang Binghao, Chen Zishou and others were in sending troops to Xinyu.

Zhang Xiongshan's 3,000 soldiers, originally Huang Binghao's guard soldiers and horses, were brought out by Huang Binghao when he was the prefect of Jiangzhou, at the beginning with Chen Zishou as the general, and when Zhang Xiongshan arrived, he was already the third commander, and all the school officials were Huang Binghao's trusted henchmen.

This army has been weak and strong for many years, and it is Huang Binghao's most trusted elite soldiers and horses. Although the number of people is small, whether it is Poyang to suppress bandits or to stick to Jiangzhou, they have made meritorious achievements, and their money and military food are also better than other soldiers. After Huang Binghao took over the defense of Yuanzhou and the war against Tanzhou, in order to replenish the troops, a large number of Ding Zhuang were forcibly recruited from Yuanzhou, and the only guard battalion was the children of Huang Binghao's clan or fellow villagers.

If it weren't for the fact that it would be foolproof to enter and capture Xinyu, Huang Binghao would not be willing to ask Zhang Xiongshan to lead his guard camp as a vanguard.

All the cavalry in Yuanzhou's army added up to no more than 1,000 people, and almost all of them were concentrated in the guard camp.

Zhang Xiongshan was worried that the Huaidong army would advance to Xinyu and wait for reinforcements, so he gathered a thousand cavalry and personally led the team to Xinyu to seize the opportunity, and called the remaining 2,000 foot soldiers to come later.

When Zhang Xiongshan led the cavalry first, the sun was slanting to the west, and the sunset sun shrouded the mountains on both sides, as if covered with a layer of purple haze. The horse's hooves galloped, speeding in the valley, as if a storm hit the rocks, and when it was about to dark, it reached the west of the outer city of Chongqing.

In a hurry, Zhang Xiongshan's beard covered half of his face was a little gray, looking at the dilapidated city head of Xinyu, the city gate had long since gone, only the hollow city gate hole remained, like an open beast's mouth in the twilight.

Zhang Xiongshan led the cavalry to arrive, and three or five men in Tsing Yi short coats and bast shoes rushed out to meet them in the city gate hole.

"Tian Xiu, is there anything abnormal in Xinyu City?" Zhang Xiongshan reined in his horse and asked the man at the head.

After the Shangrao War, Huang Binghao feared that the Huaidong Army would advance westward along the Yuan River, abandon Xinyu, which was surrounded by relatively open terrain, and retreat to the area west of Xia Yuancheng, which was easy to defend and difficult to attack.

Although Huang Binghao did not send troops and horses to Xinyu, there were always a large number of eyelines deployed inside and outside Xinyu City to grasp the latest movements of Huaidong to Xinyu.

Tian Xiu is the head of the Yuan Zhou army in Xinyu, he had smallpox in his early years, his face was full of pitted pockmarks, wearing a short coat, and a waist knife pinned to his waist, he walked to Zhang Xiongshan's side, saluted him, and said: "I learned that General Xiongshan was coming, and there was a mess in the city, and there was nothing abnormal, but the horses of Xiaozhushan saw that two or three hundred Huaidong cavalry had approached the north of Xiatanggou, and they were wading across the river!" ”

Huang Binghao gave up Xinyu and did not defend it, and even before abandoning it, he demolished the gates of the four cities of Xinyu, but Xinyu has not been devastated by the war over the years, and there are many people in the city, and they have not escaped much.

After May, Lin Jian did not rush to send troops and horses west along the Yuan River in Yuzhang, but sent people into Yuanzhou to recruit surrender. On the one hand, Huang Binghao also made a positive response, and on the other hand, a considerable number of people believed that Huang Binghao would succumb to Huaidong's force and choose to surrender, so the people of Xinyu did not flee to other countries on a large scale to avoid the war.

At this time, the major shareholders of Yuanzhou's soldiers and horses advanced, which naturally caused the people of Xinyu to be in chaos.

Zhang Xiongshan knew that Huaidong would not be without eyeliner in Xinyu City, but as long as it was not a big harm, he didn't bother to pay attention to them. Zhang Xiongshan was concerned about the more than 600 cavalry soldiers from the north from Huaidong at this time.

Xiaozhu Mountain is located in the north of Xinyu City, and Xiatanggou is a stream that originates from Xiaozhu Mountain, which is more than ten miles away from Xinyu City.

"Go down to the pond!" Zhang Xiongshan was not in a hurry to enter the city, but grabbed the reins, drove his horse across an arc, stepped on the smoke and dust, and commanded more than 1,000 cavalry to rush to Xiaozhushan in the north along the northwest corner of the remnant city of Xinyu to meet the Huaidong soldiers and horses coming from the south.

For Zhang Xiongshan, it is not enough to enter Xinyu City first.

The terrain around Xinyu is open, and if they lead their troops into Xinyu City, they call more than 600 elite cavalry from Huaidong to go around to the west of Xinyu City, and to the hilly area between Mengshan Mountain and Qiqiang Ridge, which will delay the westward advance of the main force of the Chinese army under Chen Zishou.

Zhang Xiongshan still did not mean that Yuzhang knew their plan to enter Xinyu as early as the day before yesterday, and he also thought that the six or seven hundred cavalry that appeared in the north of Xinyu were a small group of soldiers and horses sent by Huaidong to Yuanzhou to promote surrender, and he thought that even if this force of soldiers and horses sent people back to Yuzhang to report the news, Huaidong's main cavalry force in Yuzhang would not be able to come to Xinyu until two days later at the earliest.

This means that the main force of the Chinese army led by Chen Zishou must enter Xinyu City within two days, deploy the defense line of Xinyu, and establish defensive bases in the north of Xinyu, Xiaozhushan, the east of Xinyu, and the lower reaches of Yuanshui, so as to seize the initiative in the war.

Zhang Xiongshan led the main cavalry force to the north to Xiaozhushan to meet the Huaidong cavalry, but left 200 soldiers and horses for Tian Ji and the deputy general Liu Shaoqi to take over Xinyu City, and the 2,000 foot soldiers left behind would enter Xinyu City after dark, while Chen Zishou's main force of the Chinese army would be delayed on the road for a day and would arrive at Xinyu City by tomorrow afternoon.

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Chen's knife reined in the horse, the reins hung tightly, the horse raised its hooves and neighed, and kicked the stream rocks in the shallow water heavily, splashing a large tent of water.

After traveling 300 miles in two days and one night, even a brave man like him was somewhat tired. He dismounted, with the reins still in his hand, and dipped his face in the cool water, and drank heavily, and then untied the belt of his trousers, and took out the swarthy bird, and stood by the brook to relieve it, and cried out for refreshment.

The three hundred horsemen scattered left and right along the north bank of the stream, and there was no need for Chen Daozi's orders, and those who explored the waterway and looked for high places to reconnoiter the enemy's situation also took action separately, and the others dismounted to rest and eat.

Seeing that there were a few heads on the stone cliff on the north ridge of Xiaozhu Mountain, there were still those who were interested in guarding the ridge and staring at this side at this time, it must be the scouts sent by Yuan Zhoujun. Chen Daozi pointed over with a horsewhip in his hand, and sent a dozen people to rush over to besiege and kill.

He led his troops first, and one of his responsibilities was to clear and isolate the scouts deployed by the Yuanzhou army around Xinyu along the way, and completely blind Huang Binghao and Chen Zishou in the periphery, so as to cover the whereabouts of the main force in Huaidong.

The scout rider in front came back from wading through the water, restrained his horse in front of Chen Daozi, and said: "More than 1,000 enemies have ridden to the city of Xinyu, but two or three hundred people are left, and about 800 other horsemen are rushing here......

Although there were only more than 300 horsemen here, when they heard that there were eight or nine hundred enemy horsemen coming to meet them, the people around them were excited, and several junior colonels came over with their horses, urging Chen Daozi to agree to them wading into the water to meet the enemy on the south bank of Xiatanggou.

Chen Daozi took a sip, scolded everyone, and said: "Fart, Yuan Zhoujun bet all the capital to gamble, if you call, you are stupid." Send someone to tell Zhao Bao that we will lead the enemy to the west, and he will go around if he can; If you can't go around, you will wear the tail of the enemy soldier and pack it with us! ”

There were more than 600 horsemen in the front, with Chen Daozi and Zhao Bao as generals, and they were divided into two teams at the southwest foot of the end of the mountain. A team called Chen Daozi led, changed into a new horse, galloped to Xiatanggou to meet the enemy, Zhao Bao led the remaining team, in addition to one person and one horse, but also to restrain twice as many horses, lagging behind, the speed of travel is slightly slow.

It is not possible to ask the main force of the Yuanzhou army to enter the city, nor can the main force of the Yuanzhou army be alert, abandon Xinyu and not take it, and go to Yuan to escape when the main force of the Huaidong army arrives - this matter is really difficult.

If the enemy vanguard Zhang Xiongshan was the first to rush to the outside of Xinyu City, the soldiers and horses had 3,000 cavalry, and they also had the strength to fight, if they set up a defensive formation along Xiatanggou in the north of Xinyu City and at the western foot of Xiaozhu Mountain, and cover the main force of the Chinese army led by Chen Zishou to enter Xinyu, Chen Daozi and Zhao Bao could only force their way across Xiatanggou.

However, it is obvious that Zhang Xiongshan has 3,000 elite soldiers in hand, of which the number of cavalry is not a small number, seeing that the Huaidong Army has only more than 600 soldiers and horses entering the territory of Xinyu, how can it be possible to honestly hold the northern flank of Xinyu City?

Zhang Xiongshan led the cavalry to take the initiative to fight, which was in line with Chen Daozi's intentions. Chen Daozi looked up, the twilight was four, and the pale moonlight had already floated in the eastern sky, and he waved his whip and said, "This night is a night battle." ”

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Chen Daozi led the team to go west along the Xiatanggou, and Zhang Xiongshan chased westward, across the Xiatanggou and sparse forests and hills, and was reluctant to give up.

At this time, even if he knew that Huaidong had another team of more than 300 horsemen taking the opportunity to go around from the eastern foot of Xiaozhu Mountain to the foot of Xinyu City, Zhang Xiongshan did not care.

The other 2,000 infantry he led were also approaching the city of Xinyu, and in addition, in the city of Xinyu, there were nearly 200 cavalry left, and Zhang Xiongshan did not have to worry about more than 2,000 cavalry that would not be able to stop the more than 300 Huaidong cavalry from bypassing.

Chen Daozi led his team to counterattack the Yuanzhou cavalry that was chasing after dark.

On the eve of the Mid-Autumn Festival, the shallow clouds cover the sky, the bright moon glows like water, the mountains and rivers and valleys in all directions, it seems to be bright but not bright, you can see the scene in the distance, but you can't see it really.

Seeing that he could not catch up with the enemy soldiers, Zhang Xiongshan saw that the night was dark, and he had led his troops back to Xinyu. Riding a horse at night between the streams, mountains and valleys, can only walk in small steps, if the horse gallops, it is easy to give the potholes and uneven terrain to kick the horse's hooves, in order to protect the hard-won war horse, there are many generals, even dismount to lead the horse.

More than 300 horses led by Chen Daozi came back at this moment between the hills and mountains at the other end of Xiatanggou and the eastern foot of Mengshan Riding Wall.

Listening to the sound of horses' hooves approaching, it was actually galloping from the sparse forest at night, and before Zhang Xiongshan could react, dozens of arrows "swished" and fired. An arrow entered his right eye from the pedestal that Zhang Xiongshan stepped on, piercing the skull, and another arrow hit Zhang Xiongshan's shoulder armor and fell with a bang. The mount was paralyzed to the ground, Zhang Xiongshan took off his spear, jumped to the side, changed horses and rode on, and ordered the soldiers and horses on the left and right to gather around to resist the night attack of the Huaidong army.

However, dozens of Huaidong horsemen had shot arrows, and after a little contact to see the array here, they immediately dispersed into the forest. Zhang Xiongshan led his troops to chase after him, and dozens of horses on each wing of the mountain forest came out to intercept him.

Zhang Xiongshan had to retreat to the stream, and by the moonlight he reorganized the array on the slightly flat beach by the stream.

The cavalry of Yuanzhou, traveling at night along the road, will not have any difficulty, but it is definitely not good at traveling at night between mountains, rivers, forests, valleys and fields where there are no ready-made roads.

Speaking of which, there is still a lack of training.

Jiangxi does not produce horses, and the horse breeds introduced from Guangnan and eastern Sichuan are all dwarf camels. Huang Binghao's side has been choosing some tall horses for hiking from camels and horses for riding for many years.

Horses are so precious, and the cavalry's night field training is especially injuring horses. As soon as he was careful to stumble on his hooves, a good and decent war horse was completely abolished and could no longer be ridden, and he couldn't even do it, how could Huang Binghao be willing to train so at such a cost, and he didn't have this resource.

Although Zhang Xiongshan said that he had a rough personality, he was not a stupid person, and when he saw the Huaidong cavalry attacking and retreating from the mountains and forests in such a fast and orderly manner by the faint moonlight, he knew that although the Yuanzhou cavalry he led was called elite, it was far from the same grade as the elite of the Huaidong cavalry.

Zhang Xiongshan ordered a part of the horses to give up riding and march on the outside of the cavalry with swords, shields, bows and crossbows to resist the attack of the Huaidong cavalry. As long as it is delayed until dawn, the gap between the soldiers of the two armies will be reduced, and they will be able to regain the initiative with more soldiers.

In addition, in Zhang Xiongshan's view, as long as he survived tonight, the main force of the Chinese army under Chen Zishou would be able to march to the city of Xinyu and defend the city, so he would not be afraid that Huaidong's main force of infantry and cavalry in Yuzhang would come two days later.

From the middle of the moon to the dawn of the sky, although the number of Huaidong cavalry was small, they occupied the main force of night warfare, entering and exiting from mountains and forests, from shallow streams, and from hills and ravines, and harassing the headquarters of Zhangxiong Mountain. The raids were carried out six times, each time in batches of thirty or fifty cavalry, but after dawn, this Huaidong cavalry suddenly withdrew.

At dawn, the sky is slightly bright, and the morning light is green and shrouded in the mountains. Seeing the withdrawal of the Huaidong cavalry, Zhang Xiongshan sent people to reconnoiter the terrain, only to find that they had fought and marched this night, and had reached the area of the terracotta hill at the eastern foot of Mengshan Mountain, and landed about 30 miles west of Xinyu City.

There is a stream in the south of Chitugang, Zhang Xiongshan does not know what the name of the stream is, looking at the map and crossing the stream, it is the avenue they walked to Xinyu yesterday. When he rode to the riverside, he saw more than a dozen corpses lying messily on the riverside, all of them were Yuanzhou military uniforms, and the blood was soaked into the stone crevices and condensed into black.

Looking at the scattered hooves of the horses around, it seems that a small number of soldiers and horses of the vanguard infantry have been lured to besiege and kill here at night.

Crossing the shallow stream, there were more than a dozen remnants of the army fleeing to this side, and when he saw an infantry colonel under his command, Zhang Xiongshan summoned him to ask about the situation of the Xinyu side and the Chinese army led by Chen Zishou.

Captain Cao Teng was ordered by the general to lead 2,000 foot soldiers to rush to Xinyu, but there were still more than ten miles away from the city, so more than 300 enemy cavalry rushed to the front. At that time, the night was already dark, and the gorge was narrow further forward, and the general did not know where he had gone, and saw that the enemy cavalry had hidden heavy armor in it, and the charge was very fierce, so Captain Cao told everyone to stop and defend the ground and line up, and asked us to lead a group of foot soldiers to attack and expel the enemy cavalry attacking from the flank. Our department cut the cavalry, and we couldn't meet Captain Cao at night, so we went west, not thinking of coming here to meet the general. ”

"-eating guy!" Zhang Xiongshan scolded, more than 2,000 steps to ride, only to Huaidong more than 300 horses dragged an inch of difficulty, only more than ten miles away from Xinyu City and could not enter, this face was thrown to the sky.

Zhang Xiongshan didn't care about anything else, while sending people to Chen Zishou, who was stopped thirty miles to the west, he led his troops to the main road to the south, rushed to meet with the two thousand foot soldiers, and entered Xinyu City first.

It was also a day and a night without closing his eyes, Zhang Xiongshan and more than a dozen generals and nearly a thousand cavalry were quite tired, and the horses were a little unbearable. In order to save horsepower, Zhang Xiongshan and his generals dismounted and walked, and before they walked on the road to Xinyucheng in the east, they heard shouts and kills from both sides, and a group of men and horses galloped out from the valley and woods to stop and kill.

Looking at the scale of the people and soldiers killed, it turned out that more than 600 Huaidong cavalry who entered Xinyu first would be gathered here!

Zhang Xiongshan couldn't help but panic a little in his heart, but he didn't expect that the Huaidong cavalry would disappear after withdrawing before dawn, and they would rush here to rendezvous and set up an ambush. Zhang Xiongshan stepped on the war horse, holding a gun in his hand, and the Huaidong cavalry stopped and killed, so he could only divide his troops to meet on both sides.

Although Zhang Xiongshan did not close his eyes for a day and a night, the Huaidong cavalry came from Yuzhang, and they would only work harder and more tired than them. But the more extreme the situation, the more it can reflect the combat power of the generals.

Nearly 1,000 Yuanzhou cavalry to stop the waist ambush, already caught off guard, a little panicked, hastily divided troops from both wings to attack, the array was not rectified, the chaos has not been smoothed, and even many people's bows and crossbows have not been opened, so the Huaidong cavalry will be the first arrow rain over.

Seeing that the formation was scattered and the strength of the troops no longer had too much advantage, Zhang Xiongshan knew that it was difficult to win, and regardless of the scattered two wings to the Huaidong army, he led his troops to gallop and flee to the avenue, so that the two armies could distance themselves and then reshape.

Zhang Xiongshan's tactics were not wrong at all, except for the cavalry under his department, the infantry of the first division was more than 20 miles to the east, and the main force of the Chinese army led by Chen Zishou was only 30 miles away from them.

Galloping up the avenue, to the east and west, there are a large number of foot soldiers who meet their own side, and naturally they can't call the Huaidong army in the shallow valley to completely defeat and annihilate the only few hundred horsemen left under them.

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Watching Zhang Xiongshan lead hundreds of horsemen to flee south, Chen Daozi held a horse chopping knife, so he could only slash and kill the chaotic enemies around him first, and after meeting with Zhao Bao, the hundreds of horsemen had fled to a distance, opening up a distance of nearly two miles.

"The leopard can lead the main force of the cavalry battalion to arrive in the middle of the afternoon, Chen Zishou didn't notice it at all, and after dawn, he pulled out the camp and marched eastward, and it was twenty miles away, we went to chase Zhang Xiongshan, it doesn't seem to be very good," Zhao Bao and Chen Daozi said, "It's better to let Zhang Xiongshan go, let's go to fight the two thousand foot soldiers outside Xinyu City first, and then we can call Zhang Xiongshan to meet Chen Zishou and rush to the rescue!" ”

"It's good!" Chen Daozi didn't talk much nonsense, and he and Zhao Baobing split into two roads and galloped east from between the hills and mountains.

There were 2,000 foot soldiers in Yuanzhou parked on the avenue twelve or thirteen miles west of Xinyu City, and Chen Daozi and Zhao Bao led the cavalry to entangle them. Of course, these two thousand Yuanzhou troops are Huang Binghao's guard battalion soldiers, and their combat strength is not weak, and the regiment is united, the defense is strict, and the armor and bows are also complete, shrinking like a turtle, so that the Huaidong cavalry is extremely sharp, and there is no chance to speak.

Chen Daozi and Zhao Bao were not in a hurry, but they tried their best to monitor the two thousand Yuanzhou troops, and at the same time monitor the movement of the main force of the Yuanzhou army led by Chen Zishou, and more importantly, block the information and communications in the north, so as to cover the march of the main force of the cavalry battalion led by Zhou Pu and prevent the enemy from detecting in advance.

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Zhang Xiongshan first met with Chen Zishou and scolded Chen Zishou bloody.

With an absolute superiority of troops, he was careless and careless, causing more than 600 Huaidong cavalry to lose nearly 500 of them, and also beat the rest of the cavalry into a scattered camp, and Zhang Xiongshan did not have the face to complain to Chen Zishou.

Knowing that this Huaidong cavalry rushed to the west of Xinyu City and entangled his 2,000 foot soldiers outside Xinyu City, seeing that the situation was actually intended to eat the 2,000 foot soldiers before the main force of their Chinese army rushed to it, Zhang Xiongshan was so angry: he had never given the enemy so contempt in his life.

This Huaidong cavalry with 600 people entangled outside Xinyu City did not retreat, and the strong fighting spirit made Chen Zishou secretly surprised, but he didn't think much about it.

In the view of Chen Zishou and Zhang Xiongshan, Huaidong wants to send the information back to Yuzhang City, and then send the main force of infantry cavalry from Yuzhang to fight in Xinyu, even if the cavalry goes first, at least it should be possible to reach Xinyu after dark tomorrow; And as long as they drive this Huaidong cavalry away, rush to the remnant city of Xinyu before it gets dark tomorrow, and they can be regarded as having the initiative.

"Who is the leader of the cavalry in Huaidong, or who will Huaidong send to Yuanzhou to preside over the surrender?" In order not to affect the advance of the army, Chen Zishou and Zhang Xiongshan let them go to the side of the road to discuss the military situation, "They actually used 600 cavalry to block our 30,000 troops from entering Xinyu before it gets dark tomorrow, which is really bold!" ”

The main force of the Chinese army is less than forty miles away from Xinyu City, so how can it enter Xinyu City today, but last night it was too bad, which made Zhang Xiongshan feel depressed.

Zhang Xiongshan immediately asked Chen Zishou to allow him to lead his troops to Xinyu first, meet with the 2,000 foot soldiers in the front, and clear the passage into Xinyu City.

Zhang Xiongshan still has 600 cavalry under his command, although it is panicked to kill, but there is still the strength of a battle, and from the terracotta gang to the east, the terrain is relatively open, and the infantry and cavalry are advancing chaotically, but they are not afraid that this Huaidong cavalry will have another chance to stop the waist and ambush.

Chen Zishou transferred 2,000 foot soldiers and more than 600 cavalry from Zhang Xiongshan to attack the Huaidong cavalry, and he urged the main force of the Chinese army to move eastward quickly.

At this time, Chen Zishou neglected the chaotic battle in the north of Xinyu City last night, and had already wiped out the scouts they deployed in the north of Xinyu. Without scouts in the north, it is impossible for Chen Zishou to know that a Huaidong cavalry force of more than 3,000 people, all of whom are two horses, has left the south bank of Jinshui, entered the eastern foothills of Moshan Mountain, and rushed all the way to Xinyu.