In early June, the Hezhong Army was routed in Ruyang, and more than 100,000 soldiers and civilians fled and fled to the wilderness.

In his early years, when Chen Zhihu borrowed the border from Henan to the north to guard the border, he cleared bandits along the road, leaving a notoriety of murder in Henan; When Chen Zhihu was appointed as the envoy of Henan Province and pursued the Huaiyang army, almost hundreds of miles of Huaiyang were turned into remnants, and no one was captured, and his murderous reputation naturally rose to the height of "stopping children's night crying".

At present, Chen Zhihu has defeated the Hezhong army, and most of the hundreds of thousands of soldiers and civilians are trying to flee if they can, and they can no longer resign themselves to fate.

Chen Zhihu gathered the soldiers and horses from Xingyang and Daliang, a total of 8,000 soldiers and horses, distributed along the south of Lushan and the north of Ruhe, blocking the passage for the displaced people to flee south, capturing and scattering the people, but limited to the shortage of manpower, but also to guard against a possible counterattack from Nanyang, until Gao Yi led the main force of the Henan Army to cross the Yellow River and enter Hezhongfu, the situation here gradually stabilized.

Although Ruyang belongs to Ruzhou, it is not far from Luoyang in the river, and goes south along the east bank of Yishui, only more than 100 miles away.

After Chen Zhihu descended to Yan, the General Department of Henan Military and Political Affairs was once stationed in Ruzhou counties and cut Hezhong and Nanyang apart.

When the Yan court decided to attack Guanzhong first, Chen Zhihu was transferred to western Jin to attack the eastern flank of the Cao family, and the total number of troops stationed in Henan was sharply reduced to less than 20,000, which was no longer enough to control the vast Henan region in the face of military pressure from Huaixi and Huaidong.

In addition to the remnants of central and eastern Henan, including Xuchang and Yanling, which were all abandoned to make them a buffer zone between Henan and Lianghuai, Chen Zhihu also completely abandoned the counties of Ruzhou, leaving only a small number of garrisons in Ruzhou City and Songyang City in the north to monitor the hinterland of western Henan.

Ruzhou City is located in the south of Lushan, on the north bank of the Ruhe River, in the hinterland of western Henan, and Songyang is located at the foot of Songshan Mountain, north of Lushan, and Yanshi and Ruzhou on the south bank of the Yellow River are less than 100 miles away - when the main force of the Henan Army went north to participate in the war, Chen Zhihu left the two cities of Ruzhou and Songyang alone and did not abandon the defense, in addition to monitoring western Henan, it was also used as a springboard for attacking Nanyang.

Liang Chengyi retreated from Hezhong Mansion, did not send troops to attack the two cities of Ruzhou and Songyang, and was only worried that the retreat plan would make Chen Zhihu alert in advance, and only wanted to retreat south from Hezhong and retreat into Nanyang as quickly as possible before Chen Zhihu led the main force of the Henan Army to chase after him.

is deeply afraid of Chen Zhihu like this, and the Hezhong army is undefeated, which is simply unreasonable.

Ruyang City is located in the south of Dayu Mountain, the north bank of the upper reaches of the Beiru River, but Ruyang City has long been dilapidated, unbearable to settle in, Chen Zhihu in the north bank of the Beiru River ferry, driving prisoners, displaced people to build a fence.

Using the materials left behind by the Hezhong army, in just 20 days, a huge camp was formed on the north bank of the Beiru River, in the valley between Dayu Mountain and Lushan Mountain.

Since Luoyang City was only more than 100 miles away from Ruyang, after Gao Yi crossed the river, he only left a few soldiers and horses in Luoyang to take over the defense of Hezhong Mansion, that is, he led the main force of the Henan Army to Ruyang to join Chen Zhihu.

In addition, Ye Ji Luorong led Meng Anchan with 10,000 cavalry in the Chang'an dispatch department, took the Hangu Pass Road, and rushed to Ruyang, so that the soldiers and horses of the Northern Yan on the north bank of the Beiru River increased to more than 50,000 for a time, of which the number of cavalry exceeded 20,000.

On June 28, Yan Tingce appointed Chen Zhihu as the general of Henan Province, the king of Ruzhou County, and at the same time canonized Yuan Lishan as the general of Lunan of Jining County, and appointed Ye Luoji Wang as the governor of Shaanxi, Henan, and Jin counties, and transferred Fan Lan, a Hanchen of Liaodong, as the Xuanfu envoy of Henan, and moved his administrative office to Luoyang, and also knew Hezhong Mansion, and was also in charge of the military food and salary matters on the West Road.

Strategically, Yen Dinh used the whole of Henan, as well as the southern part of Shandong, as a strategic buffer zone with South Vietnam.

In addition to the recovery of production in Daliang, Yanshi, Xingyang and other places close to the south bank of the Yellow River, Daliang (Zhengzhou) to the south, the Qianli River and Huai Plain along the vortex, Bian, and Sizhushui have almost become remnants.

The Hehuai Plain, which was once called the land of fish and rice with swallow thistle, Jianghuai and Huhan, is now separated from the grass and the houses are collapsed, and people stand in the middle, as if they have come to the grassland outside the border.

Yan Hu did this, first, the South Vietnamese soldiers and horses, including the garrisons deployed in Huaixi and Huaidong on the north bank of the Huai River, were mainly foot soldiers, and could not be supported by the city fortress, and under the threat of Yan Hu's cavalry, the penetration distance into the hinterland of the river and Huai was seriously restricted; The large-scale desolution of the Second Hehuai Plain actually provided sufficient grassland for the Yanhu cavalry group to move southward on a large scale, providing sufficient grassland for the war horses.

Meng Ancian is a general from Yanxi Zhuhu, riding horses on the top of the mountain, to the south of the mountain to the north of the Ru River, there are grassy grasslands, take his strange tone of Guannei, and Gao Yi, Leng Zilin and other generals around him smiled: "The eldest prince strictly ordered the soldiers and horses to cross the border, and it is forbidden to gnaw the wheat field, and a certain is still puzzled, if you don't gnaw the wheat field, what will the war horses eat when you step down?" ”

Although the Hehuai Plain is said to be a large area of wasteland, due to the agricultural activities in previous years, a large number of wheat beans are left in the fields, which also germinate and multiply with some wild grasses, making the grasslands of Hehuai more fertile. Therefore, this new pasture is more suitable for raising horses than outside the Guan.

"Autumn horses are fattened, and it is also said that the barren grass seeds are full after the autumn, and the war horses are fattened," Fan Lan and Chen Zhihu discussed the matter of food and salary in front, and heard Meng Ancia and others talk about horse food in the back, and said with emotion, "Horse food is easy to obtain, and human food will have a headache, but fortunately, the prince can make a decisive attack and intercept the Hezhong ......army retreating south before the Beiru River."

Although Liang Chengyi was incompetent, when he ruled Hezhong Plain, the territory was generally calm, which led to the influx of a large number of displaced people, which further promoted the production of Hezhong Province.

Liang Chengyi raised 50,000 soldiers and horses in Hezhong Mansion at most, and there was grain and grass to support Nanyang, although the people of Hezhong Mansion drew taxes very much, but it can also be seen that Hezhong Mansion is rich above Heluo.

Chen Zhihu broke the army in the Ruyang River, intercepting more than 3,000 wagons of baggage, 400,000 stones of various materials, and nearly 20,000 heads of mules, horses and livestock. These supplies alone are enough for half a year's consumption of 100,000 soldiers and horses.

In addition, more than 80,000 soldiers and civilians in Hezhong were captured and surrendered, and enough soldiers and civilians were also provided for the subsequent southern expedition.

More importantly, control the Beiru River in advance and cut off the passage for the people of Hazhong Province to flee south, so as to ensure that agriculture in Hazhong Province will not be devastated, and can continue.

Fan Lan estimated that after Hezhong Prefecture accommodated the displaced people, there would be as many as one million people in Dingkou, and if production was restored, the grain production would be no less than that of the middle half of Jinzhong. Although the production of swallow thistle and Jin Zhongdi has recovered relatively well, if the army marches south, if the grain is transported south from the north bank of the Yellow River, the consumption will be very great, and a part of it can be solved from the nearest Hezhong Prefecture, which will greatly relieve the pressure on grain and wages in the rear.

Of course, Fan Lan came from Luoyang, in addition to discussing the matter of food and salary with Chen Zhihu, he also discussed with Chen Zhihu on behalf of the Emperor of the Mandate of Heaven and Prince Mu Ye Ji Luorong to discuss the next war arrangements for Nanyang and Xinyang.

Due to the limitation of grain and grass, the scale of the direct use of troops on the west wing of Nanyang from Chang'an cannot be too large, and the main direction of attack on the west road can only be to attack Wuyang and Fangcheng in Nanyang from the north.

The soldiers and horses in Guanzhong will not continue to gather in the area of Weishui and the south bank of the Yellow River to Ruyang, but the Cao family has not completely withdrawn from Guanzhong, and Ye Ji Luorong has not been able to get out of Guanzhong for the time being.

In fact, with Chen Zhihu's achievements and prestige, it is not impossible to lead the army to attack Nanyang from the north. It's just that Chen Zhihu is too ruthless in using troops, and he is used to not caring about the life or death of friendly troops, so Zhou Fan, Zhou Zhizhong, Sun Jichang and other new generals of the attached army are unwilling to be restrained by Chen Zhihu.

In addition, although the new annex army has eight divisions, the status of the eight divisions is also strong and weak, high and low.

The strongest three new annexed armies are all from the three towns of the border army of the original Yue Dynasty, Yuan Lishan represents the surrender of Jizhen, Chen Zhihu represents the surrender of Datong Town, and there is also a general, Zhou Fan, who planned the king of Heyang County this time, represents the surrender of Xuanzhen.

In addition, Sun Jichang, Mo Jiben, Zhou Zhizhong, Tu An and other generals, although their status is lower than that of Yuan Lishan, Chen Zhihu, and Zhou Fan, when they fought in the southern expedition, their subordinates were often assigned to Yuan Chen's moderation, but they also had a certain independent status.

In Nanyang's troop plan, in Guanzhong, the new annexed army of Chang'an, Sun Jichang, and Chang will cooperate with the Yanxi cavalry of Suhe Khan's department to go out of Guanxi to attack Nanyang.

On the Ruyang side, as the main direction of attack, in addition to the main force of the Western Route Cavalry, more than 60,000 people will gather to participate in the battle, and the Jinxi General Zhou Fan and Mo Jiben will also be transferred from Guanzhong to participate in the battle.

Mo Jiben didn't talk about him, Zhou Fan's status was not under Chen Zhihu, with the original Xuanzhen army as the backbone, the more than 40,000 Han troops under his jurisdiction could also fight bravely. Zhou Fan led his troops to sweep Guanzhong with Ye Ji Luorong, and his military exploits were outstanding, whether it was Zhou Fan's moderation of Chen Zhihu or Chen Zhihu's moderation of Zhou Fan, it was not suitable.

Of course, even if Wuyang and Fangcheng were carried out from the north of Nanyang and the gateway to Nanyang was the main direction of attack determined by the Western Route Army, it had to guard against the reaction of Huai to the west.

Obviously, Huaixi Dong Yuan would not sit back and watch Nanyang fall, and sit back and watch Huaixi's flanks completely exposed to the Northern Yan's troops.

Therefore, the war on Ruyang's side still has to be divided into two parts:

Part of it is responsible for attacking Nanyang from the north, which goes without saying.

The other part is a partial division, which advances to the southeast along the Beiru River and Yingshui, and advances to the north bank of the Huai River. It is not only necessary to monitor the Huaixi on the north bank of the Huai River and stationed in the Wuyang Tao Chun Division, but also to attack Xinyang on the south bank of the Huai River, so as to contain the Huaixi soldiers and horses from coming west to aid Nanyang, and in fact be responsible for protecting the flanks of the active Nanyang soldiers and horses from being attacked by the Huaixi soldiers and horses.

Although it is necessary to guard against Huaidong's troops and horses in Luzhou going to the northern foot of Huaishan Mountain to aid Xinyang and Nanyang, the main combat object is still Huaixi. In the new attached army, no one is more familiar with Dong Yuan than Chen Zhihu, and the Emperor of the Mandate of Heaven, Ye Jier, and the new King of Mu, Ye Ji Luorong, all hope that Chen Zhihu can take on the important task of containing Huaixi.

Fan Lan came over to communicate this meaning with Chen Zhihu, hoping that after Mo Jiben led his troops into Ruyang, Chen Zhihu would immediately lead his troops to march to the southeast along the southern foot of Lushan Mountain and the north bank of the North Ru River, and first occupy Suiping, Yicheng and other counties in the southeast of Ruzhou, directly threatening Xinyang's Zhengyang County on the north bank of the Huai River and threatening the flank of Taochun's department in Wuyang, and pinning down the Huaixi soldiers and horses there and unable to move.

Chen Zhihu stood on the single peak of the Lushan Mountain, looking at the vast land to the south, and thought: Dong Yuan may be between the Kip Mountains on the bank of the Huai River, looking over here.