Lord of the House

In the first ten days of June, the Hezhong Army collapsed in Ruyang, and hundreds of thousands of soldiers and civilians fled and ran into the wild.

In the early years, when Chen Zhihu borrowed from Henan to go north to defend the border, he cleared bandits along the road, leaving a notorious murderous reputation in Henan; when Chen Zhihu was appointed as the envoy of the Henan system, when he chased the Huaiyang army, he almost covered Huaiyang for hundreds of miles. It becomes a wasteland, and there is no prisoner left, and its fierce name naturally rises to the height of "Zhi'er Yeye".

At present, Chen Zhihu has completely defeated the Hezhong Army. Most of the hundreds of thousands of soldiers and civilians are thinking that they can escape if they can escape.

Chen Zhihu joined forces from Xingyang and Daliang, with a total of 8,000 soldiers and horses, distributed along the south of Jinshan and the north of Ruhe, blocked the passage for the refugees to flee south, captured the fleeing people, but due to the shortage of manpower, they had to guard against Nanyang. The possible counterattack didn't come until Gao Yi led the main force of the Henan army to cross the Yellow River and enter Hezhong Prefecture, and the situation here gradually stabilized.

Although Ruyang belongs to Ruzhou, it is not far from Luoyang in the middle of the river. It is only a hundred miles away from the east bank of the Yishui River to the south.

After Chen Zhihu surrendered to Yan, he was in charge of the military and political affairs of Henan, and once stationed in the counties of Ruzhou, cutting Hezhong and Nanyang apart.

When Yan Ting decided to break through the border first, and dispatched Chen Zhihu to lead his troops to attack the east wing of Cao's family in the west of Shanxi, the total number of troops stationed in Henan dropped sharply to less than 20,000. In the face of the military pressure of Huaixi and Huaidong, it was no longer enough to control. the vast Henan region.

Including Xuchang, Yanling and other remnants of central and eastern Henan were all abandoned, making them a buffer zone between Henan and the two Huaihe Rivers, Chen Zhihu also completely abandoned Ruzhou counties, only in Ruzhou City and Songyang City to the north. Leaving a small garrison to monitor the hinterland of western Henan.

Ruzhou City is located in the south of Jinshan and the north bank of Ru River, in the hinterland of western Henan, while Songyang is located at the foot of Songshan Mountain in Zhongyue, north of Jinshan, and is less than a hundred miles away from Yanshi and Ruzhou on the south bank of the Yellow River - the main force in Henan. When he went north to join the war, Chen Zhihu left Ruzhou and Songyang alone and did not abandon them. In addition to monitoring western Henan, they also served as a springboard for attacking Nanyang.

Liang Chengyi retreated from Hezhong Prefecture and did not send troops to attack Ruzhou and Songyang. He was only worried that Chen Zhihu would be alerted to the retreat plan in advance. , retreat into Nanyang.

Chen Zhihu was deeply afraid of this, and He Zhongjun was undefeated, and there was no reason for it.

Ruyang City is located to the south of Dayu Mountain and on the north bank of the upper reaches of Beiru River. However, Ruyang City has long been dilapidated and cannot be settled. Chen Zhihu drove prisoners and displaced people to build a village at the ferry on the north bank of Beiru River.

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

Since Luoyang City was only a hundred miles away from Ruyang, after Gaoyi crossed the river, he only left a few troops in Luoyang to take over the defense of Hezhongfu, that is, the main force of the Henan army came to Ruyang to join Chen Zhihu.

In addition, Ye Jiluorong dispatched Meng Anchan to lead 10,000 cavalry troops in Chang'an to take the Hangu Pass Road to Ruyang, which increased Beiyan's troops on the north bank of Beiru River to more than 50,000 in a short period of time. The cavalry numbered more than 20,000.

On June 28th, Yan Tingce appointed Chen Zhihu as the general of the Ruzhou county, and Yuan Lishan as the general of Lunan, the king of Jining county. Liaodong Hanchen Fan Lan was the envoy of Xuanfu in Henan, and he moved his government to Luoyang. He also knew the Hezhong Prefecture and was in charge of the military food and salaries of the West Road.

Strategically, Yan Ting used the entire Henan and southern 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, almost all of the Qianli River and Huai Plain along the banks of Wu, Bian and Si waters to the south of Daliang (Zhengzhou) have become remnants.

The Hehuai Plain, once known as the land of fish and rice along with Yanji, Jianghuai, and Huhan, is now deserted, houses collapsed, and people stand among them, as if they came to the grasslands outside the borders.

Yanhu did this. First, the South Vietnamese troops and horses, including the troops stationed in Huaixi and Huaidong on the north bank of the Huaihe River, were mainly infantry and could not be supported by the fortress. Under the threat of Yanhu's cavalry, they went to the river. The penetration distance of the Huaihe hinterland was severely limited; the large-scale release of wasteland in the second Hehuai Plain actually provided a large-scale southward movement of the Yanhu cavalry group and provided sufficient grassland for the war horses to serve.

Meng Anchan was a general from the various Hu Hus in Yanxi. He rode his horse on the top of the Jinshan Mountain, between the south of the Jinshan Mountain and the Beiru River, which were all pastures where the grass was Lili. He used his strange Guan Nei dialect to communicate with Gao Yi next to him. , Leng Zilin and other generals laughed and said: "The Great Prince strictly ordered troops and horses to cross the border and forbidden to gnaw on the wheat fields. A certain person is still confused. If you don't gnaw the wheat fields, what will the horses that step down eat?"

Although the Hehuai Plain is a large area of ​​wasteland, due to the farming activities in previous years, a large number of wheat beans were left in the fields, and some wild grasses grew and multiplied, making the grasslands of Hehuai more fertile. Therefore, this emerging pasture is more suitable for raising horses than outside Guanwai.

"The autumn horses are fat. It is said that after the autumn, the grass is full of seeds, and the war horses are fattened." Fan Lan and Chen Zhihu discussed the matter of food and salaries in the front, and heard Meng Anchan and others discussing horse food later, and said with emotion One sentence, "horse food is easy to get, but human food will be a headache. Fortunately, the prince can decisively attack and intercept the river army retreating south before the Beiru River..."

In the entire Hehuai Plain, Hezhongfu was probably the least affected by the war. Although Liang Chengyi was incompetent, when he ruled Hezhongfu, the territory was generally calm, which led to the influx of a large number of refugees, which further promoted the production of Hezhongfu.

At most, Liang Chengyi raised 50,000 soldiers and horses in Hezhong Mansion, and also provided food and grass to support Nanyang. Although the people of Hezhong Mansion were heavily taxed, he could also see the wealthy people above Heluo in Hezhong Mansion.

Chen Zhihu was in the middle of the Ruyang River Crushing, and intercepted more than 3,000 carriages, 400,000 stone of various materials, and nearly 20,000 mules, horses and animals. These materials alone are enough to consume 100,000 soldiers and horses for half a year.

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

More importantly, control the Beiru River in advance and cut off the passage for the people of Hezhong Prefecture to flee south, which will ensure that the farming in Hezhong Prefecture will not be devastated and can continue.

Fan Lan estimated that after Hezhong Prefecture accommodated displaced people, there would be as many as one million people in Dingkou, and if production were to recover well, the grain output would be no less than half of Jinzhong County. Although the production of Yanji and Jinzhong has recovered well, but if the army is marching south, if the grain is transported from the north bank of the Yellow River to the south, it will consume a lot of money. Part of it can be solved from the Hezhongfu nearby, which will greatly ease the pressure on the rear of the grain.

Of course, when Fan Lan came from Luoyang, in addition to discussing food and salaries with Chen Zhihu, he also discussed with Chen Zhihu the next war arrangements for Nanyang and Xinyang on behalf of Emperor Tianming and Prince Mu Ye Jiluorong.

Due to the limitation of food and grass, the scale of troops directly attacking the west wing of Nanyang from Chang'an could not be too large, and the main attack direction of the west route could 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 Ruyang area along the Weishui River and the south bank of the Yellow River, but the Cao family has not completely withdrawn from Guanzhong, and Ye Jiluorong has not been able to escape from Guanzhong for the time being. The preparation is naturally entrusted to Fan Lan and Chen Zhihu.

In fact, with Chen Zhihu's record and prestige, it is also possible to lead the army to attack Nanyang from the north. It's just that Chen Zhihu was too ruthless in his use of troops, and he was accustomed to not caring about the life and death of his allies. He called Zhou Fan, Zhou Zhizhong, Sun Jichang and other new-affiliated generals who were unwilling to be controlled by Chen Zhihu.

In addition, although the new affiliated army has eight divisions, the positions among the eight divisions are also strong and weak, high and low.

The strongest three-line newly-affiliated troops all came from the three towns of the former border army of the Yue Dynasty. Yuan Lishan represented Jizhen and Chen Zhihu represented Datong. Fan, on behalf of Xuanzhen surrendered the army.

In addition, Sun Jichang, Mo Jiben, Zhou Zhizhong, Tu An and other generals, although their status was lower than Yuan Lishan, Chen Zhihu, Zhou Fan, were often assigned to Yuan Chen Zhou's control during the southern expedition, but there were also certain independent status.

In Nanyang's military plan, the new affiliated army of Chang'an Sun Jichang's army was dispatched in Guanzhong to cooperate with the Yanxi cavalry under Su Hehan's army to attack Nanyang in the west of Guanxi.

On Ruyang's side, as the main attack direction, in addition to the main force of the cavalry on the west route, more than 60,000 people will gather to participate in the war, and other troops such as General Zhou Fan and Mo Jiben of the Western Jin Dynasty will also be transferred from Guanzhong to participate in the war.

Mo Jiben didn't talk about him, Zhou Fan's status was not under Chen Zhihu, and with Yuan Xuanzhen's army as the backbone, the more than 40,000 Han troops under his jurisdiction could also fight bravely. Zhou Fan and Ye Jiluo Rong swept Guanzhong with his troops and made great military exploits. Whether it was Zhou Fan controlling Chen Zhihu or Chen Zhihu controlling Zhou Fan, it was inappropriate.

Of course, even if Wuyang and Fangcheng were attacked from the north of Nanyang, and the gate of Nanyang was pryed open, it was the main attack direction determined by the West Route Army, but at the same time, it had to be prepared for the reaction of Huaixi.

Obviously, Huaixi Dong Yuan will not sit and watch Nanyang fall, and sit and watch Huaixi's flanks completely exposed to Beiyan's forces.

Therefore, the war on Ruyang's side should be divided into two parts:

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

The other part is a partial division, advancing southeast along the Beiru River and the Yingshui River, and advancing to the north bank of the Huaihe River. Not only must we monitor Huaixi's troops outside Tao Chun, who is stationed in Guoyang on the north bank of the Huai River, but also attack Xinyang on the south bank of the Huai River, so as to restrain Huaixi troops and horses from assisting Nanyang in the west, and actually be responsible for protecting Nanyang. The flanks of the soldiers and horses were not attacked by the Huaixi soldiers and horses.

Although it was necessary to guard against Huaidong's troops in Luzhou from going to the northern foot of Huaishan to aid Xinyang and Nanyang, the main target of the battle was Huaixi. In the newly attached army, no one is more familiar with Dong Yuan than Chen Zhihu. Ye Jier, the emperor of destiny, and Yeji Luorong, the new king of Muxin, both hope that Chen Zhihu can take on the important task of restraining Huaixi.

Fan Lan came here to communicate this meaning with Chen Zhihu. He hoped that after Mo Jiben led his troops into Ruyang, Chen Zhihu would immediately lead his troops to the southeast along the southern foot of the Jinshan Mountain and the north bank of the North Ru River, and advance to Suiping, which is in the southeast of Ruzhou. , Yicheng and other counties, directly threatened Xinyang's Zhengyang County on the north bank of the Huaihe River, and threatened the flank of Guoyang Taochun's headquarters, keeping Huaixi troops and horses there and unable to move.

Chen Zhihu stood on the single-headed peak of Jinshan, looking at the vast land to the south, thinking: Maybe Dong Yuan is between the Xiashan Mountains on the bank of the Huai River, look this way. My QT room is open! More vulgar official QT room number [9167] Click to enter