Hexi Wu is known as "the first town in Jingdong" and "the first post in Jinmen". Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 infoIn 608 AD, Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty dug the Grand Canal and opened the water transport channel from Beijing to Hangzhou. After the Yuan Dynasty fixed the capital of Beijing, the quartermaster and the military officials all looked up to the south of the Yangtze River, and the Hexi affairs became the throat of the waterway in and out of Kyoto, therefore, the imperial court of the past dynasties set up various yamen such as the banknote pass, the post station, the military equipment and so on were as many as thirteen, the highest official rank was the three products, which shows the prominent status, the six years of Longqing in the Ming Dynasty (1572), the brick city was built in Hexi. However, because of the tight budget at the end of the Ming Dynasty, Hexi Wu has always been able to build a strong city like Tongzhou and Jizhou, and its city defense can only be regarded as a small and medium-sized intensity at most, and it is not difficult to attack this kind of city for Houjin.

In fact, Hexiwu's best defense facility is the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal to its east. Houjin passed through Jizhou, and after capturing Sanhe, if he wanted to attack Hexiwu, he had to go south to capture the Xianghe River, and then cross the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal from east to west.

Qin Shuhuai led the men and horses to march forcibly for more than an hour, and then came to an arched bridge. There are many such arch bridges on the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal. Hexiwu, as the name suggests, is on the west side of the canal, Qin Shuhuai came from the east, and it was necessary to cross the bridge to reach Hexiwu.

However, under total martial law, the arch bridge has been taken over by the Ming army.

Several Ming soldiers came up to interrogate, and after Qin Shuhuai showed them the disks related to the tokens, they immediately let them go.

After crossing the bridge, I walked for less than a quarter of an hour and came to Hexiwu.

At this time, Hexi Wu was also under full martial law, not to mention that people entering the city had to be fully checked, and even the passenger ships and merchant ships on the edge of the city had to be inspected at any time.

At the city gate, Qin Shuhuai handed over the voucher to the captain of the city gate again before being allowed to enter. After entering the city, I learned that the defense of Hexi had been taken over by He Kegang.

Qin Shuhuai immediately rushed to the city defense yamen where He Kegang was.

Seeing He Kegang, he found that Wang Ning, the cavalry commander under Zhao Shujiao, was also there, and it seemed that he should have been temporarily recruited. With Wang Ning's introduction, Qin Shuhuai and He Kegang quickly became acquainted.

Qin Shuhuai roughly talked about the victory in Hengling, He Kegang and Wang Ning didn't know about it before, and they were surprised and happy after hearing it.

What was surprising was that they originally thought that Yuan Inspector was defeated, it must have been because Qin Shuhuai's ambush in Hengling had no effect, but they didn't expect him to annihilate nearly 10,000 enemies. The good news is that if what Qin Shuhuai said is true, then the main force of Jiannu is now only in the early 10,000s, which greatly reduces their pressure.

Although they still thought that Qin Shuhuai had exaggerated elements in their hearts, with the means and good character that Qin Shuhuai had shown before, they felt that the moisture here should not be too big.

Hexi originally had 4,000 defenders, He Kegang brought 4,000 elite cavalry from Yutian, and did not want to encounter 3,000 horsemen from the Houjin right wing forward battalion in the middle of the road, and the two armies immediately launched a fierce battle, 4,000 Guanning iron cavalry were defeated by 3,000 Houjin cavalry, and only after losing more than 2,500 cavalry did they break out of the encirclement and return to Hexiwu. However, in this battle, Yue Tuo's 3,000 horsemen also lost nearly 1,000, which was not a small loss for Houjin, who was short of troops.

In this way, Houjin's current main force is only 10,000.

He Kegang had already reported to Yuan Chonghuan about the encounter with the cavalry of the Houjin Brigade near Hexiwu. Hexi is an important town for grain, and Yuan Chonghuan will definitely not abandon it after receiving the news.

Yuan Chonghuan was in Tongzhou, and if he sent troops to reinforce him, he would definitely choose to requisition ships to take the waterway, so that he could be fast and avoid being ambushed by Houjin.

The most important thing now is the current defensive problem of Hexiwu. Yue Tuo's forward battalion appeared near Hexiwu, although it was not known what he was here for, but it meant that Huang Taiji's army was not far from here.

Qin Shuhuai, He Kegang, and Wang Ning looked at the map and discussed for half an hour, and the result was very unanimous, that is, if you want to hold Hexi, you must make a fuss on the canal. If Jiannu wants to attack the west of the river, he must cross the canal, and if he does not defend the canal, then once the Jiannu crosses the river, the strength of the wall of the west of the river will not be able to stop the siege of Jiannu.

There are two ways for Jiannu to cross the river, one is to requisition small boats and cross the river. The second is from the canal arch bridge that spans both banks. During the Ming Dynasty, many arch bridges had been built on the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal. There are three arch bridges within more than 30 miles of Hexi alone, but they have all been stationed in the Ming army.

Qin Shuhuai said, "General He, I don't think these three bridges can be defended, so it's better to destroy them." Otherwise, once Jiannu crosses the bridge, we won't be able to stop it. ”

He Kegang thought for a while and said, "That's right, we'd rather let Jiannu cross the river from the river than let them cross the bridge." ”

As he was talking, suddenly a spy from outside the door came to report.

"General Qiyu, there is a woman outside who asks to see her, saying that she is a friend of Lord Qin. ”

Qin Shuhuai was stunned for a moment, he didn't seem to have any female friends here, right? But he immediately said, "Invite her in." ”

It didn't take long for a glamorous woman in purple to walk in.

It was the Demon Sect Purple Elder Chu Yun.

Qin Shuhuai was sure that he hadn't seen this person, so he was curious about her claiming to be his friend, and couldn't help asking, "Dare to ask the girl?"

Chu Yun chuckled and said, "Gang Leader Qin, you are in your twenties as the head of this seat, and you don't call your aunt but you call your girl, but you also have a pleasing mouth." ”

Qin Shuhuai took a closer look and made sure that this woman looked no more than in her early twenties, and thought to himself, how could she be more than twenty years older than me? Could it be that she had practiced exercises like the "Yu Nu Heart Sutra" to keep her young?

So he said, "In the lower eye, don't blame the seniors." But the predecessor looks like a stunning girl, I'm afraid everyone in the world will think so when they see it. ”

"Hehe, Flim Flam. Chu Yun smiled again and said, "Don't talk too much." I was entrusted by Shen Xi to send you a message, the Jiannu army has already crossed the Xiang River, and I am afraid that it will be in a day or two to march to the west of the river. If Lord Qin wants to keep the grain, he needs to prepare in advance. ”

Qin Shuhuai and the others were immediately shocked, although they knew that the Jiannu army would arrive soon, they didn't expect it to be so soon. This time was a day or two short of what they expected!

It seems that what Huang Taiji wants is a surprise attack! If it weren't for Yue Tuo's 3,000 iron cavalry coincidentally meeting He Kegang's reinforcements, Qin Shuhuai might not have known about this until now!

Chu Yun said again, "Also, I will teach the five hundred people of Qingshui Banner to come over to help you when the time comes." Gang Leader Qin, I hope you can carry this hurdle. ”

Qin Shuhuai was overjoyed, if he wanted to defend the canal, it would be better if someone with the Qingshui Banner was there.

After Chu Yun finished speaking, he waved his sleeves and flew away.

Wang Ning immediately said, "It's too late." General He, the last general should take people to blow up the three bridges now, otherwise the consequences of Jiannu arriving will be unimaginable. ”

He Kegang immediately nodded and said, "Then there will be General Lao Wang!"

At this time, he heard Qin Shuhuai say, "Wait! General He, General Wang, since Jiannu has already intended to seize Hexi Affairs, I am afraid that we will blow up the bridge!"

He Kegang was stunned for a moment and asked, "What does Lord Qin mean?"

"When did General He order these three bridges to be controlled?"

"Naturally, Ben will go to Hexi and take over the city defense seal!"

Qin Shuhuai said, "Here's the problem! General He, don't you think it's strange that Yue Tuo's three thousand elite cavalry suddenly appeared near Hexiwu? Could it be that he could go to ambush you in a special ambush before the prophet?"

He Kegang thought about it for a while, and his face suddenly changed.

It only takes less than half a day to come out of Yutian and reach Hexiwu. Even if there is an internal response in the army, if you want to run to tell Jiannu first, and then Jiannu will bring someone to ambush him, it is absolutely impossible to complete it in half a day.

So Yue Tuo definitely didn't come to ambush himself. So what did he do here with so many cavalry?

A bad premonition rose in his heart, and He Kegang said, "Lord Qin means that Yue Tuo's cavalry has already crossed the bridge in advance?!"

Qin Shuhuai said, "I'm afraid it's not just Yue Tuo! Jiannu has no pressure to attack Xianghe at all, so they can send more cavalry to cross the river in advance and defend the bridge for the army!"