Updated: 2011-12-23

The sunset spreads on the river, sparkling, and more than a dozen warships are divided into two and chase each other down the river. Both sides were wrecked and shattered, and there were still remnants of fire that could not be extinguished, and black smoke rose and was blown away by the wind on the surface of the river. The battle flags on the mainmast were also burned to the ground, so that it was barely possible to recognize that the two fleets belonged to the naval armies of Jiangzhou and Chizhou respectively.

Most of the soldiers on the decks of the warships on both sides were wounded, and many of the soldiers who died in the battle fell into the river or their bodies were carried to the cabin. But as far as the naked eye can see, the situation of the Jiangzhou Navy is better, they have the upper hand and are sailing in pursuit. If it weren't for the complicated waterway from Huanglongling to the east, it would be very likely that the fleeing enemy would catch up and fight a beautiful battle of annihilation.

The Yangtze River comes out of Ezhou, turns a big bay in the southern ridge of the Huanglongling Mountains, the waterway almost forms a right angle of 90 degrees, the water situation of the Huanglongling to the east becomes complicated, the turbulent river flow, forms countless whirlpools, the sedimentation of sediment, makes the sandbars in the river channel to the east of the Huanglongling multitude, aggravates the complexity of the water situation.

Chasing to Hengsha Island, fearing that Chizhou would have ambushes behind the staggered sandbanks and sand islands, the warships of the Jiangzhou Navy lowered their sails and stopped, no longer pursuing. Seeing the remnants of the Chizhou Navy running east without stopping, and the sun fell a little more, the Jiangzhou Navy also slowly turned around the warship and collected the army and returned to the camp.

In the territory of Zongyang County, on the painting screen ridge near the river, Yue Lengqiu straddled the war horse, looking at the chase battle in the heart of the river......

Emperor Yongxing returned to Jiangning in the east, and not a single soldier was brought back, and the imperial camp army and the Praetorian Guards were received by Chizhou and Huaixi.

Chizhou received more than 20,000 imperial naval troops, including nearly 300 large and small warships.

Compared with the Chizhou Water Army, Hao Wenzhuang used Yang Xiong as the Governor of the Water Army in Jiangzhou, and reorganized the Dongting Hukou and the remnants of the original Eastern Zhejiang and Eastern Fujian Water Divisions into a new Jiangzhou Water Battalion, with a total of 30,000 soldiers.

Although the Chizhou Navy Army has undergone more than half a year of training, its morale is low, and its generals have not been able to get rid of the bad influence of the Jiangning War. In addition, Yue Lengqiu wanted to completely control the navy, and when the navy was reorganized, the adjustment of the generals of the navy was also very frequent. In terms of the morale and will to fight, the Chizhou naval army is weaker than Jiangzhou, and even the naval army is still at a disadvantage in terms of numbers.

The predecessor of the Jiangzhou Navy Army was the Dongting Lake Army, which was used by fishermen and lake pirates to go to sea, and most of the warships were transformed from large and small fishing boats in Dongting Lake, which was really not good. Although the remnants of the Zhedong Naval Division and the Mindong Naval Division had more experience in water warfare, a large number of warships could not be towed directly to the Ganjiang River and Poyang Lake by land from the Qianjiang or Minjiang rivers.

Although a large number of craftsmen moved west with the luxury family to Jiangzhou to settle down, and luxury Wenzhuang also gritted his teeth to set up a new shipyard in the small port south of Jiangzhou, but it will take time to manufacture new sturdy warships in batches.

Far water can't quench the thirst of the near, and the disadvantage of the Jiangzhou naval army on the warship is very obvious. Both sides have advantages and strengths, and from mid-August onwards, Jiangzhou and Chizhou competed on the Yangtze River, and the balance of victory and defeat did not deliberately favor one side or the other.

"Lord Yue, as far as the last general knows, if Chizhou can't gain control of the waters west of Zongyang before October, if you want to directly use troops against Jiangzhou after the autumn, I'm afraid it will be difficult to achieve!" Today's chase in the Yangtze River did not satisfy Hu Qiaozhong.

Yue Lengqiu frowned, nodded slightly, and acknowledged Hu Qiaozhong's judgment.

There is no boat yard in Chizhou, and the navy fights on the river, and if the warships are damaged, they have to be supplemented by Jiangning -- the conditions for the forest tie are quite relaxed, and the Chizhou navy fights with the enemy, and the warships are damaged and one is replenished, and more than a dozen military observers headed by Hu Qiaozhong, who commanded the army, are specially sent to enter Chizhou on behalf of the Privy Council to ensure that Chizhou does not use his hands and feet when counting the battle losses, and also actually supervises the combat training of the Chizhou army.

Even though he knew that Hu Qiao and others had come in and made it difficult for Chizhou to keep it secret from Huaidong militarily, Yue Lengqiu had to accept such an arrangement if he wanted to obtain Jiangning's weapons supply.

The area controlled by Chizhou was too small, and there were few Dingkou, and there were simply not enough resources to organize the manufacture of warships and armor on its own.

Even if Yue Lengqiu knew what conspiracy and tricks Lin Lian was hiding in his heart, if he wanted to get rid of Huaidong's restraints, he would inevitably have to fight westward. The south bank can temporarily abandon Pengze and other counties, but the north bank from Yicheng to the west, the Shannan area between Zongxian, Huangmei and Qichun must be occupied in its entirety, so that the 50,000 soldiers and horses in Chizhou can barely have a foothold.

In front of the people sent by Huaidong, Deng Yu and the others couldn't bear to talk about military affairs. Here, the Jiangzhou Navy collected troops and returned to the camp, and the battle on the Yangtze River today was suspended, and Hu Qiaozhong also personally rushed over to check the battle damage, Deng Yucai said to Yue Lengqiu: "It's not a way to fight like this!" We must use foot soldiers to control the Huanglongling in order to control the tributaries on the north bank, instead of fighting with the Jiangzhou naval army for control of the river with every foot and zhang......"

Yue Lengqiu knew that what Deng Yu said was true, from Huaishan to the south, the lakes were dense, and the streams and rivers were criss-crossed, as long as the land as far west as Huanglongling and Huangmei was controlled, and the navy was not able to win on the main channel of the Yangtze River, there was no need to flee to Chizhou, which was hundreds of miles away. At that time, it is only necessary to avoid the rivers and rivers on the north bank, and you can get rid of the current disadvantage of the navy being downstream.

Don't say that the luxury family will not easily give up Huanglongling, which stands between the river and Jiangzhou City, after the Chizhou soldiers and horses occupy Huangmei, they will immediately border Chen Hansan, who only entered Qichun half a month ago.

Yue Lengqiu frowned and said: "Chen Hansan has cavalry in his hands, and after the Chizhou soldiers and horses enter Huangmei, between the hills and low mountains, they will suffer too much, and if the flank threat is not removed, it will be difficult to forcibly attack the city and pull out the village......"

"Chen Hansan was greatly favored by his father back then, and today he sent an envoy to Qichun to meet him, even if he can't call Chen Hansan to vote, does he dare to be an enemy of his father?" Yue Duming said.

Yue Lengqiu originally recruited Chen Hansan as the envoy of Xuzhou, and Chen Hansan was finally expelled from Xuzhou, but he was also forced by Huaidong and had no direct relationship with Yue Lengqiu. But don't say that Jiang Ning is not allowed at this time, even if Jiang Ning is silent, Yue Lengqiu also knows that it is difficult for him and Chen Hansan to coexist peacefully.

Just didn't want to point too thoroughly in front of the generals, Yue Lengqiu shook his head and said, "Chen Hansan is capricious, even if there is an appointment in advance, how dare you believe him?" ”

Deng Yu looked at the Mengming Jiangzhou in the distance, thinking that the young marshal could not be alone after all.

Shannan and Eastern Hubei are close to each other, and there are almost no obstacles in the terrain, whether it is Chizhou or Chen Hansan, how can they tolerate the other party to gain a firm foothold on the side of their own heart?

It's just that at the moment, it is also difficult to defeat the three subordinates of Chen Han and the new O.

If Chizhou can capture Huanglongling, completely expel the soldiers and horses of the Hao family on the north bank of the river, and then join forces with Jinghu to attack from the east and west flanks, it will be easy to annihilate Chen Hansan, who has not yet gained a firm foothold.

But obviously, Chen Hansan jumped out of the Huai Mountain and entered Qichun with three or five thousand remnants to grab territory, obviously with the support of the luxury family. If the luxury family wants Chen Hansan to gain a firm foothold in the eastern Hubei region, they will definitely not give up Huanglongling easily.

Obviously, the luxury family never wants Chizhou to gain a foothold on the north bank of the river, and if Chen Hansan wants to get the support of the luxury family, it is impossible to secretly communicate with Chizhou.

Lin Jian included Yicheng in the defense area of Chizhou, probably because today's situation was thoroughly considered, otherwise how could a large area west of Yicheng be assigned to Chizhou for no reason?

Deng Yuzheng was thinking wildly, and several horses galloped from the west, which were sentinels sent out by Chizhou.

The sentry galloped to a nearby place, dismounted and knelt: "Chen Han's three divisions have already entered Huangmei with two thousand steps!" ”

"......" Yue Lengqiu gritted his teeth for a long time before he let out a long breath.

"Huangmei City was destroyed by the war early, and Chen Hansan rode two or three thousand steps to gain a foothold in a short period of time, so let the marshal Xu Dengyu lead the troops to seize the ......"

"The remnants of Huangmei and Huanglongling are each other's horns, and it is difficult to cover the flanks by storming, and there are worries about losing the beginning and the end," Yue Lengqiu frowned and said, "You lead your troops to Xiaocang Mountain first, and set up camp in Xiaocang Mountain, don't rush to engage ...... battle."

Deng Yu was ordered to step on the war horse and go down the mountain, point out the soldiers and horses, and go to Xiaocang Mountain, which is connected to Zongyang and Huangmei.

Chen Hansan entered the eastern Hubei region like a-stirring stick, forcing Yue Lengqiu and Hu Wenmu to increase troops on the eastern Hubei border at the same time.

Not only is it cold in Yue, but Jinghu, where the situation on the western front has been eased, will not tolerate Chen Hansan's foothold in the eastern Hubei region, so as not to threaten the security of Jinghu's eastern front.

On the one hand, Hu Wenmu increased the number of troops in the area east of Jiangxia, and on the other hand, he sent an envoy to sternly warn Luo Xiancheng Mo to support Chen Hansan behind his back. Luo Xiancheng is not a hyponym, Jinghu has no intention of following the state to go to war directly for the time being, and he can't directly catch Suizhou's handle in this matter.

At the beginning of September, Zhou Bin re-entered Suizhou.

Before Zhou Bin re-entered Suizhou, Wang Xiang advised Luo Xiancheng on Chen Hansan's borrowing of troops and grain to prevent the tiger from becoming a problem. During the dispute, Wang Xiang was insulted by Zhong Rong and angrily invited to go.

Zhou Bin entered the palace of the king in the name of visiting, and happened to meet Luo Xiancheng who sent Wei Zhang to comfort the king.

Wang Xiangyi sternly asked Wei Zhang to convey to Luo Xiancheng that he intended to go to Chaishan: "Loyalty is contrary to the ear, good medicine is bitter, and it is not acceptable to others." Lord Wei, don't persuade me today, you go back and please talk to Luo Shuai, Wang Xiang has been insulted by Zhong Rong several times, and it is difficult to stand in Suizhou, and he doesn't want Luo Shuai to be embarrassed, Wang Xiang begged to go now, and is willing to go to the depths of Huaishan to run a hiding place for Luo Shuai. If the situation in the coming day is exactly as Wang Xiang expected, Suizhou is in danger, Luo Shuai can also go to Huaishan to lie down and taste the courage, in order to rise again! ”

Luo Xiancheng repeatedly sent people over to persuade him, but the king had already made up his mind and was determined not to change.

Luo Xian was also tired of Wang Xiang staying in Suizhou to hinder his enjoyment, so he pushed the boat along the river and asked Wang Xiang to select more than 1,000 soldiers and horses to enter Chai Mountain to serve as the imperial envoy of Huaiyou.

Chai Mountain is the edge of the Suizhou control area, located in the hinterland of the Huai Mountains, the road is difficult to pass, only a few dangerous paths for the mountain people to enter the mountain are connected, and the cottage forces are also very tenacious and difficult to tame. Wang Xiang himself wants to go to this deserted place, what suspicions can Luo Xiancheng and the others have?

Wang Xiang also recommended Zhou Bin to Luo Xiancheng as the captain of Chaishan, and left Suizhou in mid-September to enter the Huaishan Mountains and take over the defense of Chaishan. Previously, Chai Shan City was only garrisoned by more than 600 soldiers and horses sent by Luo Xiancheng, and the control of the surrounding cottages was almost equal to zero.

In the name of Luo Xiancheng's management of Chaishan, after Wang Xiang and Zhou Bin took over the defense of Chaishan, they began to widen the mountain road between Lishan and Chaishan by recruiting the people, and at the same time strengthened the control of the cottages near Chaishan, surveyed the terrain, and built and widened the mountain roads between the belly of Huaishan and the cottages in the name of joint defense.