Chapter 536 The former teacher is at a disadvantage

Chapter 536 The former teacher is at a disadvantage

Fancheng and Xiangyang are across the river, and the city itself is built tall and solid.

However, compared with Xiangyang City, which is surrounded by mountains and rivers and has an excellent location, Fancheng itself does not have much geographical advantages. From then on, there is a flat river to the north. If there are enemies in the north, they can easily reach outside the city. The Han Dynasty behind it is The protection that water can provide is also very limited, and occasionally the city will be flooded due to surges in the river.

The loss of the five Mianbei counties left the north of Xiangyang completely unobstructed, and Fancheng, located on the north bank of the Han River, bore the brunt. In order to make up for this, a series of fortifications were set up outside Fancheng. The Xiazuo garrison near the water was the largest and most important fortification among them.

The name of the garrison general at Xiazuo is Du You'an, who was born in the Du family in Jingzhao. His ancestors moved south during the Hu Dynasty and the Di Rebellion, and have since settled in Xiangyang. They are now one of the powerful local families in Xiangyang.

Many of the Du Youan brothers were brave and strong. They were ordered to guard Xia Zhe. They did not panic when facing the enemy's attacks. They repelled the enemy's offensives several times with steady command. However, they saw that the enemy's several attacks were fruitless. , had no choice but to retreat back, and couldn't help but sneered: "The bandits look ferocious, but they are just beasts running in the mountains. Once they encounter the hunter's snare, bow and arrow, they don't know how to fight and break through."

He also ordered the officers and men in the garrison to eat and rest quickly before launching a camp-killing raid on the enemy camp at night. When it comes to fighting in the plains, the southerners are no better than the northerners. After all, they don't have much cavalry to use in battle.

But the reason why the territorial boundary between the north and the south is basically stable at the Huaihan line is that the northerners are not adapted to the southerners' combat environment and combat methods.

Camping at night was one of the important tactics used by the Southerners to defeat the Northerners. Because camps usually needed to be set up near water, the Southerners used river networks, boating and swimming to launch night attacks on enemy camps, often achieving twice the result with half the effort. Effect.

After hearing Du You'an's instructions, one of the generals couldn't help but said: "Liu Sima sent the order to defend, but he didn't order to attack at the right time. If we act rashly, I'm afraid..."

Before the general could finish speaking, Du Youan waved his hand to interrupt impatiently, and snorted coldly: "Liu Fanggui is a mediocre person, how can he know how deep the army is? The incoming bandits appear to be fierce, but in fact their troops are scattered and weak. The number of soldiers was small, and the rest were all bluffers. Their willpower was scattered and they were frightened. They thought they were all pawns from the natives of Mianbei.

I am now trapped within the city garrison and dare not go out to fight, as I am in the enemy's arms. If the troops from behind come one after another, I will no longer be able to plan an attack and push the force to the thieves. It will be too late to regret it! Now, taking advantage of the fact that there are few soldiers and new troops, attacking and defeating them is the best way to defeat the enemy. "

When the general saw that Du Youan was eloquent and determined in his tone, and it was obvious that he had made up his mind, he did not dare to say anything more and could only retreat to prepare for the night camp.

As night falls, time passes by. Probably due to the fierce battle during the day, Zhu Meng didn't feel sleepy at night. There was always an inexplicable palpitation in his heart, so he simply went around the camp for inspection after dinner.

Since fighting during the day consumed a lot of physical energy, all matters of setting up camps and fences were left to the accompanying Jingzhou tribesmen. Now that we are at the forefront of the enemy's territory, these camp fences are also protecting our own safety. Therefore, the Jingzhou tribesmen also built them with great care, and the camp fences, ravines, etc. are in order.

But when Zhu Meng walked to the east side of the camp, he looked at the beach outside the simple fence and frowned: "Why not cut off this place with a gully? If there is an enemy approaching in the river, how can we stop it?"

"After a day of running and fighting, the men are really exhausted. After the war, they have to retreat to set up camp. It's a bit late..."

A Jingzhou governor-general in charge of the camp here explained with a smile. Seeing that Zhu Meng still looked serious, he flattered him again: "General, he fought bravely today and destroyed several bandit camps. The enemy soldiers couldn't even think of it." I was so frightened that I didn’t even dare to go out of the city to offend.”

"Whatever the enemy's plan is, I'm afraid it won't follow our expectations!"

After Zhu Meng heard this, he said in a deep voice, but it was already late at night, and it was not appropriate to do any more civil engineering work, so as not to affect the rest of the soldiers in the camp, so he then ordered: "Arrange the camp soldiers to keep watch here, and wait for anything unusual to happen." , call the police immediately!”

After hearing the words, the governor nodded in agreement. After he respectfully sent Zhu Meng off, he casually gave instructions to his subordinates and returned to his tent to rest.

When Zhu Meng was awakened from his sleep, there was already a fire outside the tent, and there were chaotic voices. Countless figures were running in panic in the camp to escape. At the same time, an unknown number of enemy soldiers holding short blades were roaming around the camp. Walking and killing these panicked people.

"Evacuate, evacuate the camp quickly, don't be reluctant to fight!"

Seeing that the situation in the camp was already in chaos, Zhu Meng knew that the situation was irreversible, so he summoned a group of soldiers who had also risen upon hearing the news and were waiting to organize a counterattack to leave this chaotic camp first.

Fortunately, the southerners in these camps were not very mobile, and Zhu Meng also placed his war horses behind the camp far away from the river bank. When he led his men to leave the chaotic camp with great effort, there were not many enemies. After catching up, many defeated soldiers also rushed out of the camp along their retreat route.

Zhu Meng led his troops to form an array outside the camp, preparing to collect the defeated troops. The troops brought from Kansai naturally obeyed the order and quickly returned to the organization. But the other Jingzhou tribesmen were not so obedient. After they rushed out of the camp fence, they fled in all directions, completely ignoring the shouts of Zhu Meng and others.

After staying outside the camp for another half-quarter of an hour, Zhu Meng found out that he had gathered five to six hundred soldiers. He saw that the enemy soldiers had begun to rush towards him in an organized manner. It was obvious that they were losing their helmets and disarming them, and it was difficult to stay any longer. In this battle, they could only lead their troops to retreat north.

Along the way, Zhu Meng gathered some defeated soldiers, and in the early morning he met the middle army that was about to break camp and set off. Seeing the miserable appearance of these seven or eight hundred defeated soldiers, the officers and soldiers in all the camps could not help but change their expressions.

In the big tent, before Li Tai had time to listen to Zhu Meng's story about the retreat, several Jingzhou officials who came with the army came outside the tent to ask for a meeting. After being blocked, someone shouted loudly to advise them to withdraw, saying that the former army had been defeated and defeated. After returning, it can be seen that the enemy has already made preparations to resist the enemy. If the army moves forward, there will be no good results, and it will only pay a greater price.

Li Tai was speechless for a moment when he heard the frustrated sounds of these guys losing their fighting spirit.

Although he also understood that losing the first battle would inevitably have a negative impact on the morale of the army, for someone who had experienced the turn-based fighting style between the two Wei Dynasties, this was not a catastrophe. Why is it that when it comes to the mouths of these people, it seems that if you are too late to withdraw, you will lose your life?

In order to prevent these people from yelling and shaking the morale of the army, Li Tai put a few people in. Before these people could speak, he directly drew his saber and said in a deep voice: "The defeat of the forward is indeed detrimental to the morale of the army. , but the outcome has not yet been determined, it is too early to give up!

There is nothing to be afraid of even if a thief is fierce and stubborn. Now I will try to show you how to control this stubborn thief. Each of you will lead your troops to stay here for one day only. If there is no news of defeating the enemy on the front line tomorrow at this time, you will leave on your own. If you dare to leave early, military law will not tolerate it! "

He also knew very well how harmful his pig teammates were on the battlefield. If he really forced these people to continue going with him, they would probably disperse before the war even started.

It’s not that the people in Jingzhou are really so unbearable, it’s just that firstly, he doesn’t have a stable integration of interests with these people, and secondly, he doesn’t have enough kindness and power to control them. Moreover, Jingzhou has been a border town for a long time, so these people have developed the habit of encountering each other. The survival instinct of preserving strength in danger, of course, was unwilling to follow Li Tai forward in the face of such headwinds.

These people were overjoyed at first when they heard that they were no longer required to move forward. However, when they heard that Li Tai still had no intention of withdrawing his troops and was still insisting on marching on his own, they couldn't help but start admonishing them with bitter expressions on their faces.

They did not believe that Li Tai could achieve a substantial breakthrough on the front line in one day. Once something unexpected happened to the new envoy, local officials like them would also be implicated. In particular, it is rare for an officer to be so generous. If you miss him, you may not encounter him again easily.

Li Taizi ignored the persuasion of these people and still ordered his troops to continue marching. The subordinate officers hesitated again and again, and in the end most of them chose to stay, but two people still chose to follow and continue the march.

The two people who chose to continue to follow the march were not too old, in their thirties. One was named Du Zhaohui, and his official position was the magistrate of Wan County, and the other was named Chen Yuchen, and his official position was the chief of the Chiyang garrison.

Jingzhou's military and political affairs were in chaos, and all those who held local official positions were basically employed by their respective departments, so political officials such as county magistrates also had to follow them to the front line.

Judging from the way these two people hesitated but still resolutely gave the order to start, it was obvious that they were betting on Li Tai. Li Tai secretly sighed that these two guys had taken a broad road, but during the trip, he still sternly told them to lead and restrain their respective troops, and they were not allowed to act without permission without military orders.

Although this is also a normal request, the two people looked at each other and felt that the situation was a bit strange. It should be noted that they had considered it for a long time before deciding to help them in times of need. Why did they feel like they were disliked?

Li Tai didn't bother to care about how these two people felt. At the moment, his mind was full of thinking about how to get back the situation.

After leaving behind the powerful troops from Jingzhou who accompanied the army, his troops' advance speed was greatly improved. Along the way, he met the defeated people who had gathered to go north, and he did not waste time in appeasing them and allowed them to go north separately. As for the subsequent actions of the Nanliang army, they did not appear.

It can be seen that this night attack on the camp was probably just a self-initiated action by the frontline generals, and there was no effective communication with the Xiangyang base camp in the rear to seize the opportunity to expand the results. As a large town in Han Dynasty, Xiangyang could not even produce a large-scale field force.

It is estimated that the situation of the commander-in-chief of Nanliang in Xiangyang may not be much better than himself, the newly appointed governor of Jingzhou. Compared with the local forces in Jingzhou, the local forces in Xiangyang are undoubtedly stronger, but they may not be completely able to be used by Xiao Laosan.

As we advanced all the way, Fancheng was already vaguely in sight. Originally, there were some Nanliang garrison wandering among the city garrison. After seeing the enemy leaving and returning, they all retreated back to the city.

There were no obstacles along the way, and Li Tai felt more confident. He led his troops past the ruined camp that had been captured by the enemy, looked at the stone-stacked river embankment, and then pointed at the Xiaxie garrison not far ahead and shouted to his troops. : "Set up the Heyang cannon and blast it for me!"