Chapter 508 Be Prepared
Although Wang Sizheng was not optimistic about the war in Heluo, it did not affect the ambitions of the people involved.
As Li Tai led his troops to evacuate the bridge, Yuwen Hu officially moved into the southern city of Heyang. The timely arrival of Yifeng's troops made him even more delighted, allowing him to replace the low-combat Yuxi Township soldiers with these elite troops, making the river defense more stable and reliable.
The troops brought by Yifeng were originally directly drawn from the Huazhou River Defense, so they were also experienced in river defense and were also quite proficient in surface warfare.
The only thing that was a bit difficult to arrange was Yifeng, the commander of the troops. As one of the first people to follow Heba Yue into Guanzhong to quell the rebellion and to support the Grand Chancellor Yuwen Tai, Yifeng was naturally experienced, hardworking, and courageous, and was known as a brave general. As the general arranged by the Grand Chancellor to reinforce the bridge, it also shows that Yuwen Tai valued Yifeng.
But the problem is that the higher Yifeng's qualifications and abilities, the more Yuwen Hu felt resistant. He finally squeezed Li Boshan out in order to seize the command of the front line, hoping to conquer the north city of Heyang and gain the merit of occupying the Heqiao under his own command.
But the arrival of Yifeng today has reduced his presence again, especially since Zhao Gui also planned to arrange Yifeng to guard the city of Zhongyu in Heqiao, which made Yuwen Hu, who had just stood on the front line, retreat directly to the second line, and he was even more dissatisfied.
But it must be said that when people have a firm goal and a strong desire, they will always become quick-thinking and be able to find solutions to problems in time.
Just as Yifeng took a short break in Luoyang and planned to go north to Heqiao and station in Hezhou, Yuwen Hu raised a more critical question in time, that is, if the enemy crossed the river from somewhere else and invaded from the south, how would they respond?
This question is not aimless. Just before they arrived, the bandits in the north city of Heyang crossed the river from the upper reaches to the south, occupied the Chanshui River basin and attacked, causing Li Yisun's thousands of troops to flee between Heluo and Heyang after being defeated. It took a lot of effort to reunite.
Previously, it was because Li Boshan took the offensive instead of the defensive and continued to advance the Zhongyu City in Heyang that the bandits who crossed the river to the south were forced to retreat in a hurry and dared not to divide their troops outside.
But now their troops are only guarding two cities, which is far from enough to put pressure on the enemy on the other side of the river. The enemy may not repeat the same trick and send troops to the south again if they still have spare strength.
In response to this situation, the best way is naturally to divide the troops to guard the Chanshui River, and once the enemy is found to have a sneak attack by crossing the river, they will attack them halfway across the river. With Zhao Gui in Luoyang and Yuwen Hu in the south city of Heyang, it is also a logical choice for Yifeng to lead his troops to defend.
Moreover, Yifeng's presence at the Chanshui River had another meaning, which was to cooperate with the military operations on the other side of the river. The Grand Secretariat attached great importance to the results of the battle at the Heqiao River. In addition to sending a large army to the east from Tongguan to reinforce, it also ordered Yang Yu, the governor of Jianzhou who was guarding the carriages in Hedong, to lead his army to advance eastward along Qiziling Mountain, hoping that this group of troops could break out of Taihang Mountain and sweep Henei, thereby cooperating with the southern army's offensive against the northern city of Heyang.
If Yang Yu could break out from the Chenguan Pass, then Yifeng could lead his army to cross the river, meet with him on the north bank of the Yellow River, and attack the northern city of Heyang from the flank along the river.
Yuwen Hu's battle plan was quite standard, and because it involved multiple battle forms such as river defense and river crossing, it was obviously more stable for Yifeng, an experienced general, to execute it.
Zhao Gui was also worried about letting Yuwen Hu, a rookie with no experience in leading an army, carry out this mission, so he ordered Yifeng to lead 2,000 infantry and cavalry to the Chanshui River for alert and preparation.
Shortly after Yifeng arrived, more than 13,000 Bafu Central Army soldiers led by Helan Xiang also passed through Hanguan City and entered the Heluo area. Among them, Helan Xiang personally led 3,000 elite cavalry as the vanguard of the army and arrived at the southern city of Heyang first.
"The grand music is coming, I have nothing to worry about!"
Yuwen Hu personally met Helan Xiang and his party outside the south city of Heyang. When he saw Helan Xiang riding his horse from afar, he couldn't help but stride forward. When Helan Xiang got off the horse, he patted him on the shoulder and sighed: "Recently, the army is trapped with few soldiers and it is difficult to defend. Because I was afraid that the enemy army would gather together to attack, I tried my best to bluff the enemy. Finally, I safely delayed until the reinforcements arrived!"
As he spoke, he pulled Helan Xiang onto the river bridge and introduced to him the strategy he had arranged to confuse the enemy in the past few days. He made a big fuss along the river bridge and at the city defense strongholds, and arranged all the boats he had collected along the river to make a scene of competing for crossing, etc.
"Only through experience can one gain wisdom. During the journey, I was very worried that you, my cousin, would covet the old river bridge and refuse to destroy it, thus leaving it as a passage for the enemy army to advance or retreat. Now that I have the advantage in river defense, it is better to seek stability than to advance. As long as we can hold on to the present and wait for the troops in the country to gather here, it will be a great achievement!" He Lanxiang said to Yuwen Hu with relief when he saw that the river bridge to the north had been destroyed and it was difficult to travel together. Although Yuwen Hu was older than him and was quite wise in his own affairs, he was only in the army. Perhaps because he had never experienced real danger, he acted rashly and often lost his sense of proportion, which made people feel uneasy. Yuwen Hu was originally in high spirits telling Helan Xiang about his painstaking efforts for river defense, but after hearing this, his expression froze, and after a moment he gave a dry laugh and said, "When two armies are fighting, the situation changes rapidly, and no one dares to boast that he can fully predict the enemy's moves. Whether the strategy is cleverly implemented depends only on the concentration of the commander.
Although destroying the river bridge today is also a stabilization measure, is it not destroying the future? When the bandit army saw that I was holding back, they naturally knew what I was doing, so they would inevitably despise me, and they would also have a desire to counterattack..."
Seeing Yu Wen's face making an analysis, He Lanxiang immediately understood that he was flattering the horse and praising the wrong person, so he stopped saying anything about it. He turned his eyes and pointed at Zhongli City and said: "This This is the first time I have set foot on the central city since it was built. The city is in the middle of a river, with rivers on both sides. The terrain is so dangerous. How did Li Boshan capture it? Did my cousin ask him in detail about his strategy for attacking the city? It is still feasible and will be very helpful for the subsequent capture of Beicheng!"
After hearing this, Yu Wenhu shook his head first, and then said: "Li Boshan was suspected of collaborating with the enemy at that time. Even if he confessed his plan, I did not dare to believe his words. But after taking over the city defense, he also carefully inquired about the city defense. The people knew that he was attacking at night, using carts of river sand to resist Guancheng's crossbows, and using several stone cannons to attack Guancheng. It was not a clever plan, it was just to take advantage of the enemy's surprise. "
"Stone cannon? The river bridge is unstable. How powerful a stone cannon can actually shake Guancheng?"
He Lanxiang was immediately surprised when he heard this. He was no stranger to stone cannons. He knew that if this kind of equipment wanted to exert great power, it must be driven by more manpower. However, the combat environment of Heqiao was very restrictive.
Yu Wenhu was a little uninterested in this. After hearing this, he waved his hands and said: "Although I don't know how subtle it is, I can't change it from its origin. It's useless to go into details. Knowing its bones can naturally imitate its shape. I have already based it on this. After preparing the weapon to attack Beicheng, it can not only destroy the bandit battle formation, but also destroy the city fortress! "
As he spoke, he led He Lanxiang to the dock on the south side of the river island, pointed at the boats inside and introduced to He Lanxiang the weapon he had invented for the rescue operation.
The front and rear of these boats are covered with iron, and there are many spears and spears arranged on the left and right. They look like a hedgehog with steel teeth and claws and a body full of spikes. And these are not the only killing moves. There is also a huge bed crossbow in each ship, which can be used to move and attack targets.
"But these ships seem too small and equipped with so many equipment. Can they still be controlled by armored soldiers?"
Looking at the packed ships, He Lanxiang quickly raised a fatal question.
"Yes, we northerners are not good at boating after all, and there are no big ships here. Therefore, two ships must be connected with iron ropes, one to carry equipment, and the other to carry soldiers, so that we can cooperate in combat."
After hearing this, Yu Wenhu also sighed in distress. The boat was too small, which restricted him from making more diverse changes in combat forms.
After the two returned to Heyang Nancheng after an inspection, another urgent military situation was reported. There were no traces of the enemy in the Xianshui River Basin where Yifeng left the town, but there were a large number of enemy traces in the direction of Hulao to the east, and Come quickly towards Yanshi and Heqiao.
"It is expected that the thieves will come from now on. If it was still difficult to solve before, but now that Sheng Le has arrived, we can divide our troops to resist them."
When Yu Wenhu heard about this, he was shocked at first, but then he said confidently: "Sheng Le quickly led his troops to Baiguwu and tried his best to prevent the enemy from crossing Luoshui. I will also support you here!"