On 16 April, the main force of the eastern front of the Zhejiang-Fujian Army formally withdrew from the Jiahe, Jaekou, and Litang defense lines, and on 18 April, the troops and horses of the Jiahe Army abandoned the Jiahe defense and retreated north. In the early morning of the 19th, the Huaidong Army dug a stone dam in the upper reaches of Shanxi and discharged water to impact the downstream, so that both sides of Shanxi and the north bank of the Xinjiang River directly opposite the mouth of Shanxi River were destroyed by heavy floods and roads were destroyed.

After the main force of Shangrao's navy washed away the water in Shanxi, Hao Feixiong led his troops to arrive at the mouth of the Shanxi River on the night of the 19th, and was stationed outside Hengshan City that night. In the early morning of the next day, the Chen Yan Division passed through the Shanxi River Estuary with the boat division, rushed to Shangrao, and continued to defeat Deng Yu's department at Huating at dusk on the 20th, and moved to the southern foot of Lianchi Peak on the south bank on April 21 to block the westward escape of the extravagant flying bear.

It was sunny for five or six days in a row, but from noon on the 21st, the rain continued to fall.

The heavy rain slowed down the Huaidong army's pursuit, which was a good thing for the Zhejiang-Fujian army that retreated to Hengfeng on the north bank, meaning that they had more time to wait for Jiangzhou reinforcements to come.

As for the order of the extravagant bears to immediately abandon the westward march of Hengfeng and retreat north along the Huating River to the territory of Fuliang, it was also naturally delayed due to the rainy weather.

The order of the extravagant bear, so that Wang Hui, Tian Jingshan and other generals understood it more that the extravagant bear hoped to attract the Huaidong army to rush across the river and intercept it through their westward retreat, so as to resolve the resistance of the soldiers and horses on the south bank to flee westward.

Although the extravagant flying bear and the soldiers and horses retreating to Hengfeng were only separated from the Xinjiang River, the Xinjiang River blockaded the warships of the Huaidong Army, and when the situation collapsed, it was difficult for the extravagant flying bear to ask Wang Hui, Tian Jingshan and other generals to obey him.

For the Zhejiang-Fujian army on the south bank and led by the extravagant bear, even if the rainy weather cannot be regarded as a bad thing, it cannot be regarded as a good thing. They could not find a fortress from the south bank to hold on to the upper valley of the Xinjiang River, narrow in the south and wide in the north, not to mention on the south bank, except for the city of Hengshan, the slightly larger towns and ports were mainly concentrated on the north bank.

Extravagant Fei Xiong had no other choice but to take advantage of the rainy weather to attack and break through the blockade and interception of the Huaidong Army at Lianchi Peak; And it must break through from Lianchi Peak before the main force of the Huaidong Army catches up from behind.

The rainy weather delayed the speed of the main force of the Huaidong Army chasing from behind, but in the same way, it was much more difficult for them to penetrate the passage through Lianchi Peak.

Rainy weather greatly reduces the frequency of use of crossbows, after all, the bowstring that is wet with rain will lose its elasticity. Even though each crossbowman had multiple spare strings, it was much more difficult to use a crossbow as often as usual in heavy rain.

Only the counterweight rubble crossbow is not greatly affected by the rain, and fires scattered stone projectiles alone in the rain curtain.

Even in rainy weather, the Huaidong Army only had a limited number of stone-throwing crossbows that could be placed in the formation to play a role, but it still had a great advantage over the attacking Zhejiang-Fujian army in terms of combat weapons.

Fleeing from Hengshan to the west, Flying Bear ordered his men to discard almost everything they could discard, and the soldiers had no other weapons to use except for the armor they carried with them.

The bow and crossbow can not be used in the rain, and the Zhejiang and Fujian army can only hold swords, shields, guns and spears, and slide step by step with flesh and blood to impact the Huaidong army's defense line composed of shallow trenches, shield cars, rejection horses, fence walls, etc., as well as Huaidong soldiers.

The generals on both sides had no rain gear and were exposed to the rain. Fortunately, the weather is getting hotter, and there is not much inconvenience when you are naked and clothed in armor. Just at the southeast foot of Lianchi Peak, in front of the interception line of the Huaidong Army, it was like a slaughtering field, mercilessly smashing the almost desperate impact of the Zhejiang and Fujian army again and again.

Flesh and blood flew everywhere, and the blood and water mixed with the rain from the dirt, between the rocks, and on the grass, were like blood-colored streams, overflowing in all directions, looking high and low, and finally flowing into the Xinjiang River......

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It was the 21st of the Huaidong Water Battalion to carry the troops and horses out of Shanxi, and it was the 21st after Chen Yan led the troops to defeat Deng Yu's troops and transferred to the southern foot of Lianchi Peak to intercept the extravagant flying bear.

If the Huaidong Water Camp out of Shanxi represented the complete collapse of the defense line operated by the Zhejiang-Fujian Army in Shangrao, the news had just reached Fuliang before the evening of the 21st.

It has been raining heavily since the 20th in Fuliang, and the Changhe River has swelled sharply -- the secret letter from the Luxury Feixiong who wanted to give up the outer defense line and withdraw his troops to the hinterland of the Xinjiang River in order to delay the Huaidong Army's march into Jiangxi was delivered to Fuliang in the early hours of yesterday morning.

Just before today, Su Tingzhan also thought that even if he couldn't compete head-on with the Huaidong Army, he still had 50,000 soldiers and horses available along the Xinjiang River, and most of them were trustworthy Fujian soldiers, so how could he drag the situation until after the summer and autumn; In the end, he retreated to Ganzhou and Yuzhang, and maybe he could really smoothly drag the situation to the moment when Beiyan moved south and the Huaidong Army had to retreat north to aid Jianghuai.

Who would have thought that in just one day, the Huaidong Army would conjure up a water battalion out of thin air in the upper reaches of Shanxi?

First, the naval forces of the Zhejiang-Fujian army in the middle and upper reaches of the Xinjiang River were devastated, and the first was that the Huaidong Army had an elite water battalion available in the Xinjiang River out of thin air, and the Huaidong Army could also send more than 10,000 elite soldiers directly to any place along the Xinjiang River through waterways.

That's the decisive advantage.

At the same time, the main force of the Zhejiang-Fujian Army on the Eastern Front was completely dispersed because of the division withdrawal plan of the Luxury Flying Bear, thus becoming a delicacy for the Huaidong Army to break through and eat bite by bite.

Su Tingzhan couldn't guess how much resources Huaidong had invested to secretly build a fleet of this size in the upper reaches of Shanxi, but no matter how much it was invested, it was worth it for the Huaidong army at that time.

Secretly building such a fleet in the upper reaches of Shanxi would be more cost-effective than dragging out the war in the hinterland of Jiangxi for half a year or even longer.

Su Tingzhan's hands and feet were cold, and the chill went from the tail bone to the top of his head.

After fighting with the Huaidong Army for all these years, Su Tingzhan boasted that he knew the Huaidong Army well, but at this moment he realized that he had always underestimated the tactical creativity and attack power of the East China Sea Fox and the Huaidong Army.

Su Tingzhan was cold and timid.

"General Su, why didn't you give orders and send reinforcements?" Han Lihu glared at Su Tingzhan.

I had long known that these Zhedong Yankees and Ba Fujian were not the same way, the eldest prince was in danger in Shangrao, Su Tingzhan did not immediately send troops to rescue, but his eyes were turning there and kept thinking about other thoughts, Han Li thought with resentment.

If it weren't for Su Tingzhan's reputation as a murderer, Han Li would almost have walked over and grabbed him by the placket of his clothes and woke him up.

"Reinforcements?" Su Tingzhan smiled bitterly, looked at Han Li, and asked, "Where are the reinforcements?" ”

Han Lidong entered Qimen and fought a battle with the advance army of Gandong at Maanling, west of Qimen City and in the upper reaches of the Chang River. That tough battle was not won, but the 5,000 soldiers and horses who were called to accompany Su Tingzhan and Han Lidong to aid Fuliang would be lost, and only more than 3,000 were left to defend Fuliang.

In contrast, although Huaidong's Gandong advance army in Qimen suffered many casualties, its momentum was even worse, and it pushed the public opinion in Qimen, Duchang, Fuliang, Yongshan and other counties to surge, and they all joined the Gandong advance army with their families and clans, making the Gandong advance army stronger day by day after the battle of Maanling.

In fact, when Han Li could not blockade Qimen and was forced to retreat from the upper reaches of the Chang River, it meant that the situation in eastern Gan was out of control.

In addition to the limited three or five walled cities of Fuliang and Yongshan that are still controlled by the Zhejiang-Fujian army, the broader countryside is almost all under the control of the advance army of eastern Jiangxi.

In addition, through the Yaodao Qiao Trail between Yishan Mountain, the advance army of eastern Jiangxi took Qimen as the foundation, and continuously obtained supplies such as salt and iron and military armor from Yijiang River and other places at the eastern foot of Yishan Mountain, exchanged food with local people, and organized more soldiers with military armor. The resistance forces in western and southern Jiangxi also gathered in eastern Jiangxi.

Su Tingzhan didn't know whether the size of the Gandong advance army at this time was 10,000 people, 20,000 people, or more, he just wanted to hold Fuliang City, control the middle and lower reaches of the Chang River, and drag the situation to the moment when the Northern Yan soldiers and horses went south.

Su Tingzhan no longer had the luxury of hoping that he could clean up the situation in Jiangxi with the strength of the Zhejiang-Fujian army itself.

In this case, Su Tingzhan has less than 4,000 soldiers and horses in Fuliang City, and he sent reinforcements south to receive Shangrao, how bold does he have to be, and how determined is he to sacrifice for the luxury family?

"Whether to help Shangrao or not, how to help Shangrao, I dare not decide, I can only wait for the governor to decide!" Su Tingzhan said.

"You!" Han Li patted the table and glared, and said, "When the news reaches Jiangzhou, the daylilies will be cold—you!" You! , they all said that Su Tingzhan is a man, but I didn't expect you to be a bird. If you don't help, I'll go! ”

"A certain person was ordered to guard Fuliang, and General Han also has a military order," Su Tingzhan said word by word, "You have to lead your troops south, please show me the military order!" ”

"You, you ......" Han Li was so angry that he was about to come over and pull Su Tingzhan's armor, and the big slap was about to slap him in the face, Tian Weiye and the others were so frightened that they hurriedly hugged him.

At this time, a soldier came in and reported: "The enemy of Qimen divided into two roads in the afternoon, all the way along the Changhe River to Fuliang, about 5,000 soldiers and horses, all the way across Dongyuan Mountain to Yongshan, also about 5,000 soldiers and horses......"

Su Tingzhan expected this, and said to Tian Weiye and other generals: "Maybe the military order for the governor to wait for me to retreat to Jiangzhou will come later, you all start to make preparations, don't mess up the morale of the army, don't let those rabble in Qimen take advantage of it." ”

"Su Tingzhan, you are talking nonsense, the Metropolitan Governor will never abandon the eldest prince and not save it!" Han Li roared, angry, frustrated, and even desperate.

Su Tingzhan ignored Han Li with a cold face, and Han Li rushed out in a frenzy.

Tian Weiye and Huang Biaozi jumped out and chased them out, hugging Han Li from behind, letting Han Li kick and beat him, and not letting go.

At this time, Han Li led more than 1,000 remnants of his troops to the south, and it was more likely that they would be planted together, and the details of the collapse of the Shangrao defense line were not clear, and on the Xinjiang line, the Huaidong Army had already occupied an absolute superiority in strength on land. At this time, even if the main force of Jiangzhou's soldiers and horses is transferred south to fill in the decisive battle between Shangrao and the Huaidong Army, the victory or defeat may be five or five, but the direction of Jiangzhou can ignore the Chizhou Army in the east and the Jinghu Army in the west?

Even if you want to help, you must not draw out the soldiers and horses of Jiangzhou by land; The main force of the water army in Jiangzhou went south into the Xinjiang River to help against the water, which was the old strategy.

However, Su Tingzhan ordered them to prepare to withdraw from the floating beam, and it was difficult for Tian Weiye and Huang Biaozi to understand, in their opinion, at least now is not the time to give up the floating beam.