Chapter 1166 Liyang Interception

Since the separation of the land and water armies of Huainan Jiedushi, Wang Zhongsheng led 20,000 troops to Xuzhou, leaving only Huangfu Quan, the Huainan Defense Envoy and Navy Commander, with 15,000 troops in Yangzhou.

Li Xilie certainly wanted to annex the weak Yangzhou, and he had been eyeing it and waiting for an opportunity.

After the "Three Kings' Rebellion Incident" appeared, everyone in the world focused on Luoyang, and Li Xilie realized that his opportunity had come. He took the lead in capturing Chuzhou, and the 3,000 troops stationed in Chuzhou were completely destroyed.

Huangfu Quan was frightened and immediately sent people to ask for negotiations. It was called negotiations, but in fact it was a conditional surrender. Li Xilie certainly wanted to swallow up more than 10,000 garrisons and hundreds of warships in Yangzhou without any hesitation.

Because although he killed 3,000 enemies in the attack on Chuzhou, he also lost more than 1,000 people. Li Xilie was of course unhappy. Swallowing people's troops without fighting is the kingly way!

The two sides negotiated back and forth for several days. Just as they were about to reach a consensus, the 30,000 troops led by Duan Xueshi and Nan Jiyun arrived by boat. The Yangzhou soldiers, who were unwilling to surrender to Li Xilie, immediately opened the city to welcome the arrival of the Qi Wang army.

At this time, Li Xilie had reorganized his troops and horses to go south to take Yangzhou. Unexpectedly, Cheng Yaojin showed up halfway. The duck in his mouth flew away. Li Xilie was furious and immediately sent 30,000 troops to attack Yangzhou, but the warships were burned by the Guanlong Army on the canal, and more than 3,000 people were buried in the sea of ​​fire.

At this time, Li Xilie received the news that the Guanlong Army occupied Luoyang. He knew very well that once Li Ye gained a foothold in Luoyang, the next one would be to clean himself up.

Yangzhou could not be taken for the time being, and he was no longer interested. He began to consider his own retreat.

Li Xilie's eyes were set on the more vast and rich Jiangnan.

That morning, Duan Xueshi received an express letter from Xiangyang. Li Ye told him two things in the letter. One was that Luoyang had been taken. After Chen Huan came to replace him, he could return to Chang'an as soon as possible.

Another thing was that Huangfu Qun surrendered to Li Xilie and sold the Jiangbei navy in Liyang County to Li Xilie. Li Xilie's army was likely to cross the Yangtze River in Liyang County and move to Jiangnan. He ordered him to send the navy to block the Yangtze River immediately.

This news surprised Duan Xueshi. He immediately ordered people to find Yangzhou garrison Li Chengqing and Pei Rong to understand the situation, and sent people to ask Li Chengshi, the deputy commander of the navy stationed on the shore of Chang'an.

Not long after, Li Chengshi hurried over.

Li Chengqing was originally a general of Wei Zhi, the Jiangnan envoy, and had been stationed in Jingkou with 3,000 navy. At that time, after Li Chengshi, the deputy commander of the Yangzhou navy, surrendered to the Guanlong army, Yu Chaoen transferred Li Chengqing from Jingkou to Jiangdu to replace Li Chengshi as the commander of the navy.

Pei Rong was a general under Li Xiyan, the governor of Huainan. After the Huainan army split up, 5,000 infantrymen stayed behind to guard Yangzhou City, led by Pei Rong.

Li Chengshi frowned and asked in confusion: "When did Liyang County have naval forces stationed?"

Li Chengqing knew the situation better. He clasped his fists and said: "Reporting to Governor Li, the navy of Liyang County is actually the navy of Jiangning. Because of the dock repair in Jiangning County, the navy was temporarily moved to Liyang County on the north bank of the Yangtze River. There are military camps and naval docks there."

Li Chengshi suddenly realized, "Then the commander is Yuan Jingyao, right!"

Li Chengqing nodded, "That's him!"

Li Chengshi said to Duan Xueshi: "Reporting to the Privy Councilor, Yuan Jingyao was once my subordinate. He surrendered to Li Lin that year. After Li Lin went to Bashu, he did not take him with him, but let him stay.

He then presented the 3,000 troops and Xuanzhou to Huangfu Quan. Huangfu Quan spoke well for him, and Yuan Jingyao was not held accountable. He led the army stationed in Jiangning and was Huangfu Quan's trusted general. So as long as Huangfu Quan surrendered to Li Xilie, Yuan Jingyao would most likely surrender as well. "

"I see!"

Duan Xueshi asked again: "How many warships and naval forces are there in Liyang County?"

Li Chengshi was not sure, so Duan Xueshi turned his gaze to Li Chengqing. Li Chengqing bowed and said: "Three thousand naval forces and one hundred warships, all of which are thousand-stone warships!"

Duan Xueshi made a prompt decision and said to Li Chengshi: "Please ask Governor Li to lead 15,000 naval forces and 300 warships to Dangtu County, and use Dangtu County as a garrison to intercept the warships in Liyang County."

Since Li Chengshi surrendered to Li Ye, he has not had a chance to make merit. This is his first time to lead an army to fight independently, and Li Chengshi is also looking forward to it.

Two days later, three hundred large ships arrived on the river outside Liyang County. He did not directly order a challenge, but returned to Dangtu County on the opposite bank and sent two scout boats to investigate the situation on the dock of Liyang County.

Li Chengshi sent a scout team. The brigade commander was Wang Zhaoen, a native of Xiangyang. He had ten brothers under him. They were all experienced scouts, and each of them was an excellent waterman.

Wang Zhaoen asked the two small boats to approach, gathered the ten men and said: "The governor gave us two tasks, one is to check whether there are large troops gathered on the shore, and the other is to check the situation of the enemy warships on the dock, the number and size, etc. We will act separately. I will lead four brothers to investigate the situation on the shore, Liu Xuan!"

"I am here!" A fire chief clasped his fists.

Wang Zhaoen instructed him, "Take five brothers to investigate the situation inside the dock. Don't row in, you will be discovered. Dive in, and then we will each return to the camp to report."

"I understand!"

The two scout boats separated and rowed towards their respective targets.

Wang Zhaoen's boat landed 20 miles west of the dock. There would be no enemy troops here. He ordered two men to watch the boat, and he took two men ashore and ran towards Liyang County.

But before reaching Liyang County, Wang Zhaoen saw a huge military camp surrounded by fences and covering nearly a thousand acres of land ten miles away from the county seat.

He was immediately startled and ran to a higher place with two men. They climbed a big tree and looked at the camp hundreds of steps away.

The camp was full of tents, densely packed, and there was no end in sight. There were at least several thousand tents. Although it was midnight, there were still teams of soldiers patrolling. Wang Zhaoen quickly judged that there were at least 50,000 people.

He did not stay for long and immediately led his men back.

At five o'clock, Wang Zhaoen received reports from two teams of scouts. There were indeed hundreds of thousand-stone warships and a large number of civilian ships in the dock, but there were no water fences.

Then the main force of the enemy was found on the shore, at least 50,000 people. Li Chengshi understood that Li Xilie's army had arrived, but had not had time to cross the river.

He immediately had a plan for the battle. His army was definitely no match for Li Xilie's main army, but he could destroy all the enemy warships, and Li Xilie could only sigh at the river.

At dawn, 15,000 naval forces and 300 2,000-stone warships, with the cover of morning fog, quietly marched towards Liyang County on the north bank.

Coincidentally, only 50,000 Huaixi troops also gathered on the north bank and began to cross the river and head south.

The hundred warships were just guards, and there were hundreds of large and small civilian ships.

At this time, more than 200 civilian ships loaded with the first batch of 5,000 soldiers also set off. They also wanted to take advantage of the cover of morning fog to seize the Dangtu County wharf on the opposite bank.

Behind them and on both sides, followed by a hundred warships, they were not landing ships, but escort ships to protect the fleet crossing the river.

In the middle of the Yangtze River, the two fleets met unexpectedly.