Chapter 426: The Magpie Bridge is Difficult to Build

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Duoduo asked Chebai to lead 10,000 horses to continue the siege of Chuzhou, and he himself led an army of 20,000 to the south to meet Liu Meng.

Chuzhou to the north bank of the Yangtze River, the distance is about 100 miles, the terrain is very flat, Duoduo 20,000 horses are all cavalry, such a terrain is very favorable to him.

Most of Liu Meng's 50,000 troops to the north were infantry, and under normal circumstances, fighting on the plains, 50,000 infantry versus 20,000 cavalry, the chances of victory were extremely slim. If the cavalry is frustrated, it can retreat and resort to harassment tactics to drag the infantry to death.

If the infantry is routed, there is no chance of escape.

What's more, Duoduo's 20,000 cavalry were selected from the 80,000 Qing army. According to the comparison of the combat strength of the Qing army and the Ming army in Liaodong, in a field battle on the plain, not to mention 20,000 cavalry against 50,000 infantry, even if 10,000 against 50,000, Duoduo has full confidence to win.

He led an army of 20,000 to the south, and it can be said that he already looks up to Liu Meng.

On the other hand, this was also because the Qing army had limited gains from plundering and the food and grass were in short supply, so Duoduo had to attack with all his strength, striving to defeat Liu Meng as quickly as possible, seize the supply of grain and grass, and turn the entire tide of the war.

20,000 cavalry, spread out nearly five miles wide, like a piece of black clouds galloping against the earth, the wind and snow have been intermittent for several days, and the snow on the ground has been two inches thick, which has a certain impact on the speed of the war horse, but as long as it does not freeze, the impact will not be great.

When Qianfeng Tong Tulai arrived at Wuyi Town in the south, he received a report from the scouts that Liu Meng's only 3,000 cavalry out of his 50,000 troops had rushed to the south bank of the Chu River and controlled the pontoon bridge over the Chu River.

The so-called Chu River is the Qingliu River in Chuzhou and the Xiang River in Quanjiao County in the west. The river after confluence ten miles south of Wuyi Town. The river is about 20 zhang wide, and the water depth is not topped.

After the confluence of the two rivers, it flows eastward to Liuhe County, and joins the Yangtze River near Liuhe.

It was only about thirty miles from the Yangtze River, so it was not surprising that the Qin cavalry could arrive first.

Seeing that the cavalry of the Qin army controlled the pontoon bridge instead of destroying it, Tong Tulai thought that Liu Meng probably did not know that the Qing army was moving south, and the control of the pontoon bridge was to facilitate the subsequent infantry to cross the river.

Tong Tulai immediately sent a large number of rangers to hunt down the Qin army's sentry and prevent Liu Meng from gaining access to the Qing army's movements.

At the same time, send someone to report back to Duoduo, and ask Duoduo to slow down. Wait for Liu Meng's army to cross the Chu River north before launching an attack.

Liu Meng's army of 50,000 soon arrived on the south bank of the Chu River. However, to the surprise of Duoduo and others, Liu Meng was not in a hurry to cross the river.

After the 50,000 troops went to the south bank of the Chu River to take a look, they separated 11,000 and set up a large camp every ten miles on the south bank.

They had no intention of crossing the river to reinforce Chuzhou. Opposite. Firewood was also piled on the only pontoon bridge. Drenched in fire oil, the meaning could not be more obvious, as long as the Qing army went to seize the pontoon bridge. So they set fire to the bridge.

What is this for? Didn't Liu Meng rush to rescue Qin Mu? Why don't you cross the river? Could it be because of the ambush found on the North Shore?

The Qing army hidden in Wuyi Town on the north bank of the Chu River liked it, and Ning Wan I first realized that something was wrong, he found Duoduo and said: "Lord Wang, the Qin army is acting differently, and the situation seems to be a little wrong. ”

Duoduo raised his eyebrows and asked, "What's wrong?" ”

"Lord Wang, the north of Chuzhou is the Qingliu Pass, this pass is dangerous, one husband is the pass, ten thousand people are not open, the east is the Lai'an River, the west is the Xiang River, although these two rivers are only ten zhang wide, but in this cold winter, as long as the Qin army sends troops to inspect and prevent our army from building bridges, it will be difficult for our army to cross the river.

Lord Wang, now it seems that our army has actually been trapped in the dozens of miles between the Lai'an River and the Xianghe River, and the defenders of Chuzhou in the past two or three days are also a little wrong, think about it when he was in Sizhou, Yan Yingyuan only had 10,000 horses to defend the city, and our army of 70,000 troops attacked fiercely for several days without taking any advantage;

Chuzhou's strength is comparable to Sizhou, as well as the elite brought by Qin Mu, but the defense is much weaker, now it seems that Qin Mu is likely to deliberately show weakness, attract us to Chuzhou City, and buy time for the Qin army to encircle our army"

Without waiting for Ning to finish speaking, Thurai, who had suffered from the white eyes during this time, immediately sneered and retorted: "Lord Ning, has it not been forgotten that there are still 10,000 troops of Xihan on the east bank of the Lai'an River?" With Xihan on the east bank, how could the Qin army trap our army with the Lai'an River? Lord Ning is so alarmist, is he deliberately disturbing the hearts of our army? ”

Turai was originally the minister of the Yellow Banner, and when Huang Taiji died, he had formed an alliance with eight people including Chebai, Xihan, and He Luohui in Sanguanmiao, and vowed to help Huang Taiji's son succeed to the throne, and Haoge was the eldest son of Huang Taiji, and he was the successor they strongly recommended.

However, later He Luohui, Xihan and others defected to Dolgon for the sake of power, and before entering the customs, He Luohui also stood up to expose Haoge, causing Haoge to almost lose his life, and finally although he saved his life, he lost his title.

And the eight people who swore an oath in the Sanguan Temple at the beginning, now only a few or three people from Chebai and Turai have not rebelled, and they are still not the three brothers of Dolgon.

Like Chebai, he was a very warlike general, but he was defeated and captured at Huangshiji a few months ago, and he was able to return after being defeated and exchanged with Han Gang, and this humiliating experience caused him to suffer countless eyes from Dolgon's faction.

This time to the south, although Duoduo brought him here, but he almost did not let him lead the army alone, the contempt was full of words, Ning Wan I am a loyal dog of Dolgon's faction, and if there is a chance to fight him, Turai will naturally not let it go easily.

Turai directly blamed Ning Wan for the great crime of disturbing the morale of the army, and he said it with reasonable evidence, even Duoduo felt that Ning Wan was a bit alarmist;

As Turai said, with the 10,000 troops of Xihan and Li Guohan on the east bank of the Lai'an River, the Qin army could not talk about encirclement at all, and it was even more foolish to prevent his tens of thousands of troops from leaving.

After Ning finished, I had to argue again, Duoduo glanced at him coldly, and ordered loudly: "Summons the order to worship, let him attack Chuzhou with all his might, this king wants to see if Liu Meng can save Xuzhou." ”

After passing on this order, Duoduo ordered Zu Dale again: "Zu Dale, you immediately find a small boat, tie it into a pontoon bridge, and wait until it gets dark, and then order the soldiers to carry the pontoon bridge tied up to the Chu River for our men and horses to cross the river." ”

"Yes, lord."

I have to say that Duoduo's method is very creative, after Zu Dale received the order, he sent troops to collect everywhere, and as a result, thousands of men and horses were dispatched, and it took half a day to find twenty or thirty dilapidated boats.

Break it, break it, don't pick the fat and thin ones, it's good to use them.

Zu Dale asked people to connect these boats with wood first, and then lay the door panel, fortunately, the Chuhe River is only ten or twenty zhang wide, and after connecting all these boats, it is enough to stretch to the opposite bank.

When everything was good, it was getting dark. After Zu Dale reported to Duoduo, he ordered hundreds of soldiers to carry it together, like a huge centipede, to carry the pontoon bridge to the Chu River.

The 2,000 men and horses that followed behind were ready to build a pontoon bridge, and immediately crossed the river to form a village, defend the bridgehead, and receive the passing of the successor army.

Everyone didn't dare to light the torches, but fortunately the ground was covered with snow, and the sight was very good, and the road could barely be seen, and the pontoon bridge was smoothly lifted to the river.

Very well, the other side is quiet, except for the howling cold wind, the black light blinds you to see nothing.

"Hurry up, the light in front, slowly put the head in the water in the front, and pay attention to the tightness of the rope." Zu Dale whispered and personally stood by the river to direct the pontoon bridge to enter the water.

One end of the pontoon bridge is gently lowered into the river, in order to avoid the pontoon bridge being pushed away by the current after entering the water, a rope is tied every few feet on the upstream side, which is pulled diagonally by the people on the shore, just like the cable-stayed wire rope on the upper part of some electric poles in later generations is used to fix the electric pole from falling to the side. In this way, the pontoon bridge that slowly extends into the river will not be pushed away by the current, ensuring that it can reach the other side of the river.

There are still a few people squatting on the front top of the pontoon bridge that entered the river first, and the bamboo manuscript is like a boat, which is also to ensure that the pontoon bridge extends into the water in the correct direction.

The people on the shore pushed the pontoon bridge into the water little by little, and the rope was slowly loosened by the cable, and the pontoon slowly extended to the south bank, like a long snake crossing the river.

Everything is going well, but I don't know why, the closer to success Zu Dale's mood is more nervous, he suddenly feels too quiet, this is a bit abnormal, according to Qin Jun's meaning, it is clear that he wants to guard the river, so he should always send some people to patrol the river, why can't he see a torch?

As if to confirm Zu Dale's guess, when the pontoon bridge was about to stretch to the opposite bank, a series of crisp "jingling" sounds suddenly came, which was the sound of bells.

What's going on, how can there be a bell?

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PS: It looks like I'm being squeezed out of the top 100 on the monthly pass list, and I ask my brothers for fire support, ask for a monthly pass, and hurry!.

(To be continued......)