Chapter 687

The bystanders sighed, still immersed in the bad news, and still couldn't believe the fact that Jiang Fang was breached so easily.

Luo Zhao was vacillating in worry, and the melancholy in his heart was hard to get rid of, a huge change! He knew that he might be facing a huge variable.

Even though the Song State still occupies an absolute advantage so far, even if Jiang Fang is defeated, it will be difficult to solve the plight of the Yan Army. It stands to reason that defeating the Yan Army is not a problem at all, but Meng Shanming's defeat of Jiang Fang in one fell swoop still left an indelible shadow in his heart .

The crux of the problem still lies in Meng Shanming, who can turn the impossible into possible to break through the Jiang defense in one fell swoop, who can guarantee that Meng Shanming will not be able to counterattack again?

"Yan Shanming, Qi Wuhen..." Luo Zhao looked up to the sky and sighed again while wandering.

He thought of his extremely rude behavior of giving Meng Shanming the white horse, and also thought of Meng Shanming's reply, saying that there must be a generous gift in return!

He was a little bit regretful, not because he regretted his rudeness, that was the method of motivating generals, he wanted to mobilize Meng Shanming to chase after him, but Meng Shanming was not fooled. What he regrets is that he shouldn't go deep with the army, and should confront Meng Shanming head-on, but who would have thought that Jiang Fang could be breached so quickly?

From his standpoint at the time, this was a war against the country of Yan. He had to fight for the best interests of the country of Song. It would be unwise to spend his troops on the confrontation with Meng Shanming. It could only be cheap For South Korea, he must retain enough strength to compete with South Korea for the territory of Yan Kingdom.

The situation has changed so much, he can't go to the front line in person, and he can't command Jiang Fang's troops to fight in time. Is he really worried that Wu Qunlie will be Meng Shanming's opponent?

Although Wu Qunlie has an absolute advantage, he is really not sure at all right now!

The more troublesome thing is in the court. After winning the battle, you can say whatever you want. Some people who can be blocked by saying "you don't understand war" have nothing to say. Once you lose the battle, those people in the court can give you money. Pick out countless mistakes, and what you faced before can also be said to be wrong for you...

His new strategic plan has just been issued, and a big battle on the Hukou defense line has started again. The army is fighting, and the sound of killing is loud!

Qingqu Liao Nanqing's 300,000 troops and Xu Laiping's 130,000 remnants jointly attacked and attacked at any cost. Zhang Hu's men who had just occupied the Hukou defense line were defeated.

The Hukou line of defense that the Yan people had just won was snatched back by the Song people.

On the way to defeat, Zhang Hu's subordinates were slightly dissatisfied and complained to him, "General, we didn't do our best, and it is wrong to lose the defense line at Hukou."

"What are you talking about, retreat as soon as you are told, how can there be so much nonsense?" Zhang Hu scolded, and then ordered, "The army stops advancing and takes a rest."

He just jumped off his horse here, Gong Lince also jumped off his horse and walked over, asking, "This place is not far from the enemy army, stop now, aren't you afraid of being pursued?"

"Pursuing?" Zhang Hu snorted disdainfully, "It was hard to take back the Hukou line of defense. Does the head of the palace think they dare to lose it? Don't dare to spread their forces to chase! The Hukou line of defense was dug by Meng Shuai Pit, Meng Shuai's pit is in and you want to climb out?"

Gong Lince was thoughtful, "Is this Meng Shuai's policy of only allowing defeat but not victory?"

Zhang Hu nodded: "This Song army has been nailed to the defense line of Hukou, and it is already a turtle in a urn!"

Gong Lince snorted, "When will I get it?"

Zhang Hu: "Don't worry, let them be proud first, how can Meng Shuai take advantage of it so easily?"

As for the details, Zhang Hu refused to say, only what he had done.

But seeing here, since he knew what he knew, Gong Lince didn't ask any more questions...

The defense line at Hukou was in a mess, surrounded by ruins, and the flames were still burning.

Liao Nanqing and Xu Laiping inspected the ruins and found that the Yan army had left them nothing, everything they couldn't take away had been burned or destroyed, and they didn't even leave a house where they could stay.

The army rushed to the attack in a hurry, packed lightly, and did not bring any luggage at all. In this rainy season, hundreds of thousands of horses are afraid that they will have to eat and sleep in the open.

What made the headache here even more was that the Yan army did not retreat far away, and came and harassed them from time to time.

The purpose of the enemy army is very simple, the bullying side dare not give up the line of defense to chase far away, and repeatedly harass, just to make this side unable to rest.

As soon as they chased here, the attackers ran away immediately, but the pursuers dared not run far, for fear of being surrounded by the main force of the Yan army.

...

"Good news! Good news!"

Inside the Governor's Mansion of Jiangfang, the first general rushed into the Zhenjiang Hall with the good news.

Wu Qunlie, whose eyes were reddened, suddenly stood up from behind the desk, showing a look of great anticipation.

In front of all the generals, the young general presented the victory report with both hands, "General Liao and General Xu joined forces and recaptured the Hukou defense line in one fell swoop!"

"Ah!" All the generals in the hall burst into an uproar of joy.

Wu Qunlie snatched the victory report and watched it. After reading it, he was overjoyed and said: "Good! Very good!" Fu raised the victory report in his hand and said to the crowd: "According to the second general's report, Yan's army only has about 200,000 horses, so it is difficult It blocked our army's offensive, so it was conquered in one fell swoop. It seems that during the battle of crossing the river, the losses of Zhang Hu's men and horses were very heavy, exceeding our estimates. Not only did they lose 200,000 yuan, but they probably lost more than 300,000 yuan. !"

As he spoke, he threw the good news to everyone.

The first general looked at it and said: "Under such conditions, crossing the river and making a strong attack, and only relying on some wooden rafts, heavy losses are inevitable."

Another general looked at it and said: "It can be seen that Xu Laiping did try his best at that time."

Someone frowned and said, "All the Jiang defense facilities have been destroyed by the Yan army. Once Xu Jingyue's troops rush to cross the river, and Zhang Hu's remnants are behind them, the attack from inside and outside may be unstoppable."

There was a silence in the hall, this is indeed a troublesome matter, Zhang Hu's remnant will definitely not give Liao and Xu the opportunity to collect materials to rebuild the river defense facilities, they must continue to harass, so as to cooperate with Xu Jingyue's troops to cross the river.

After Wu Qunlie was silent for a while, "At present, Liao and Xu can only be blocked at all costs. I will then deploy 400,000 troops to support."

Another reminded: "The army was in a hurry and did not bring enough food and grass. The sergeants only carried two days' rations with them. The supplies for the Hukou defense line must be in place as soon as possible."

One general said: "Supply will be in place soon, as soon as the canal-clearing troops set out, the food and grass will be dispatched."

Wu Qunlie reminded in a deep voice: "Tell Liao and Xu to keep an eye on Zhang Hu's men and horses to prevent them from robbing food. As soon as the food and grass arrive, let them immediately dispatch a team to meet them! Tell them, just stick to the number One day, my 400,000 reinforcements will be able to arrive."

...

On the other side of the Hukou line of defense, Xu Jingyue's troops rushed to the bank and immediately prepared the raft for crossing the river.

When Xu Jingyue was checking along the river, a message from Zhang Hu arrived, and it was written that the crossing of the river was suspended here, only the preparations were needed, and he would listen to the notification from the other side whenever he crossed the river.

After reading the news, the lieutenant-general frowned and said, "The defense line at Hukou, which was finally acquired, was lost, and it was time to cross the river before the Song army could gain a foothold, so why should we wait for the Song army to construct the defensive facilities before attacking? What the hell is Meng Shuai doing?"

Xu Jingyue looked at the other side, and said slowly: "Meng Shuai will not be aimless, there must be some arrangements, I will wait for orders."

...

In Jiangxia County, in a mountain field, the grain truck convoy was like a long dragon, escorted by 20,000 horses.

When approaching the mountain forest, several monks who were exploring the road in front flew over urgently, and reported urgently: "Quick retreat, there is an army ambushing in the forest!"

At the same time as he spoke, the sound of horns was blown in the forest in front of him.

Countless people and horses rushed out of the mountains and forests, rushing straight at them.

"Withdraw!" The food escort exclaimed.

The convoy turned around in a hurry, but with so much luggage, how could it escape?

The army confronted each other, Guo Xianfu rode out from the crowd on a horse, held a long gun, and said in front of the battle: "Meng Shuai expects reinforcements to rush, and the luggage must be behind, Guo has been waiting here for a long time! Put down your weapons and surrender, you will not die! "

What is it? Zhang Hu only had about 200,000 horses left, Guo Xianfu led the 100,000 horses to grab the granary but failed to snatch it, so he immediately came to Jiangxia County quietly at night, hiding on the only way for the grain and grass convoy . Zhang Hu's actions had already been done in front of him, and it was a mistake for Liao and Xu to keep a close eye on Zhang Huming's men and horses.

The other party refused to listen and refused to surrender. Instead, the grain escort officer ordered to destroy the grain. Seeing that the other side began to chop open the grain bag with a knife, he wanted to sprinkle all the grain on the muddy ground.

Guo Xianfu's eyes were tearing apart, food is the lifeblood of Yan's army now, otherwise why would he have to spend so much effort, and immediately shouted angrily: "Kill!"

There was a sudden sound of killing on the Jiangxia Plain, and the two sides collided together.

The 100,000 elite Yan troops faced off against the 20,000 grain transporters. The outcome was not difficult to predict. The latter suffered a disastrous defeat. After dropping a pile of corpses, thousands of grain transporters scattered and fled.

Almost all of the ten-day food prepared by Qingqu reinforcements by 300,000 troops fell into Guo Xianfu's hands.

At the same time, a golden wing quickly flew away and reported to Zhang Hu that the food had arrived!

...

In the governor's mansion of Jiangfang, there was a lot of discussion. Governor Luo Zhaoxin's strategic deployment has arrived, and he wants to let Jiangfang abandon Jiangfang and implement a new strategy.

"It would be a pity to just give up on Jiang Fang."

"My lord, the Commander-in-Chief doesn't know the battle situation here. I don't know that we have already recaptured the Hukou line of defense. If we know, we won't let me give up the line of defense again. Why don't you wait for the Commander-in-Chief to receive the battle report here?" reply to make a decision?"

"Yes, it is my bounden duty to keep the war outside the borders of the country. Once the main battlefield is brought into the country, it will be the people of Song Dynasty who will suffer."

Facing the voices of persuasion, Wu Qunlie, who was sitting behind the case, looked at the new order on the case, and was a little hesitant.

Just at this moment, there was a shout from outside, "Report!" A young general rushed in to report, "My lord, the food and grass that was escorted to the defense line of Hukou was robbed in Jiangxia County!"

Wu Qunlie suddenly stood up and said angrily, "Who did it?"

The young general said: "Guo Xianfu, the left commander of the central army under Zhang Hu's command, personally led 100,000 troops to set up an ambush in Jiangxia County to rob grain!"

"Zhang Hu still has 100,000 troops in ambush in Jiangxia County?" Wu Qunlie was taken aback. At this moment, he finally realized that the Hukou line of defense was breached not because of lack of troops, but because of the enemy's false defeat. They deliberately gave up the Hukou line of defense to them, so as to induce them to continue to send food to the front line.

A group of generals in the hall also stood up in shock, realizing the seriousness of the problem. They did not expect that the other party would make such a big circle, and would not hesitate to use the defense line at the mouth of the pot as bait, just to grab such a little food.

For them, this amount of food may not be much, and for the Yan army, it is indeed not much. The food for 300,000 horses for ten days is just one day's ration for 3 million people. But for Meng Shanming, the Yan army is really short of food. The food for 300,000 horses for ten days is operated. Usually drink dilute food and eat dry food before the war. With 3 million people, they can still last for a few days. of.