Chapter 712: Emergency
Huaicheng. Read М
At this moment, the city was crowded with troops coming from the north.
Hiding on the street, looking at these dejected soldiers, the people of Huaicheng were talking about it.
"Brother Wang, Brother Han, Lord Zuo Teng, you can rest here. Pengcheng can at least stop the troops of King Yan for a while. Even if they pass Pengcheng, they have to find a way to cross the Huai River." Xie Duan said.
After a pause, he continued: "Although my Xie family's navy is not as good as the Liang family's, there are at least a hundred warships, and they will not let them cross the river easily."
Han Zheng and Wang Zian looked at each other and breathed a sigh of relief.
Along the way, they kept going and did not dare to rest for a day.
Because they knew that even if they wasted a day, they might be caught up the next day.
The long march made them very tired.
Now, they can finally rest.
Upon hearing this, Sato Masahisa said, "This is not enough. It is better to fill some boats with stones and sink these warships at the junction of the canal and the Huai River to prevent the warships of the King of Yan from going south from the canal and entering the Huai River."
Xie Duan's eyes lit up, and he said, "Lord Sato is wise. I will give the order now."
The army entered the city.
Xie Duan stationed the army of the powerful and wealthy families in the camp, and arranged a house for Han Zheng and others.
In the evening, he held a banquet in the most famous restaurant in Huaicheng, inviting Han Zheng, Wang Zian, Sato Masahisa and others, and called several wealthy families to accompany him.
Although the war in the north was going on, Huaicheng was still a scene of peace and prosperity.
The sound of piano and singing came from the nearby brothels from time to time.
In order to please Sato Masahisa, Xie Duan invited the courtesans of various families in the brothels in Huaicheng to add to the fun.
After three rounds of drinking, Xie Duan looked at Sato Masahisa who was drinking with the courtesan, and said slowly: "Sato sir, the troops of the King of Yan are pressing forward step by step, and our lives all depend on this alliance."
When he was in Lucheng, he was only worried about the casualties of the Xie family's troops in the war.
Entering Ningzhou, he was worried not only about the soldiers of the Xie family, but also the counties of Ningzhou.
As it is now, although they can delay the troops of the King of Yan from going south, they will eventually be driven to the south of Jiujiang.
If the troops of the King of Yan cross Jiujiang and continue to attack them, then their Xie family will lose all their territory like the Han family.
So, he can join the East Land Alliance mentioned by Sato Masahisa.
In this way, Jinling south of Jiujiang and several cities of the Xie family may be preserved.
Even in the future, they can defeat the King of Yan and take back the lost land.
"Liang Kai will definitely agree. If he doesn't agree, the next King of Yan will beat him!" Han Zheng's face flushed, and he put the wine glass heavily on the table.
Since leaving Yicheng, he has been in a very depressed mood.
Because all the territory of his Han family has been lost, just like a dog that has lost its home.
Although Xie Duan still calls him Brother Han.
But he knows that his Han family can no longer be on par with his Xie family in Xie Duan's eyes.
The only valuable thing is the 50,000 Han family soldiers and 50,000 private soldiers of the nobles under his command.
And the Wang family, during the march, Wang Zian deliberately tried to please Xie Duan several times.
He knows that the Wang and Han families are originally huddled together to fight against the King of Yan.
Now Wang Zian is friendly to the Xie family for self-protection, which is understandable.
But he just can't swallow this breath, and finally can only blame the King of Yan.
He is also obsessed with the East Earth Alliance mentioned by Sato Masahisa, and firmly believes that this can be accomplished.
"Brother Han is right. The Liang family fled without fighting and just wanted us to hold them back, but in the end, they couldn't run away either." Wang Zian personally poured a glass of wine for Xie Duan while speaking.
Xie Duan nodded, still looking at Sato Masahisa, "I also think that the Liang family will not sit and wait for death, but it is said that the Liang family has some conflicts with Japan and Britain. Will the Liang family let go of their past grudges?"
This question really stumped Sato Masahisa.
He only knew that the shogunate was building an alliance against the King of Yan, but he didn't know how to resolve the conflicts between the Liang family and Japan and Britain.
However, the Japanese soldier who sent him the letter once said that the shogunate would place spies on the Liang family merchant ships traveling to Japan and use them to pass on intelligence.
So he said: "If it's correct, the latest intelligence will be delivered in the next few days."
Xie Duan, Wang Zian, and Han Zheng were overjoyed and stood up to toast Sato Masahisa.
In this way, they waited in Huaicheng for three days.
They did not wait for the intelligence from Japan, but waited for the news that Pengcheng was conquered.
After taking Pengcheng, the King of Yan's troops continued to move south. In two days, they arrived at the north bank of the Huai River and cleared the sunken ships at the intersection of the canal and the Huai River.
And four Yanzhou warships also arrived one after another.
This surprised them and they immediately decided to continue to evacuate southward.
This time they planned to go to Yangcheng, then cross Jiujiang and go to Jinling.
…
The north bank of the Huai River.
When Xie Duan and others fled south, Chang Wei was commanding the captives who could swim to row boats to the middle of the river to salvage stones.
After taking Yizhou, he considered the problem of going south to the Huai River.
So, when he was in Yicheng, he sent cavalry to Jinhe and ordered four warships to go down the canal to cooperate with them in the battle.
However, due to the winding canal, the warships went slower than them and arrived only now.
Unexpectedly, the Huai River and the mouth of the canal were blocked.
"At this rate, it will take at least five or six days to clean up almost everything and the warships can pass through." Chang Wei said secretly.
Although there were many soldiers and horses in Pengcheng, they were no match for their muskets and artillery.
After three days of suffering, with more than 80,000 casualties, the private soldiers of the wealthy families and the powerful families in the city could no longer hold on.
On the third day, they entered the city, and the soldiers chose to surrender.
He wanted to make a concerted effort, but something went wrong.
Thinking of this, he couldn't help but frowned.
However, he had no other choice.
On the sixth day, the river was finally dredged.
Four warships entered the Huai River, and they also asked the royal army to collect enough civilian ships.
At noon on the sixth day, the royal army crossed the Huai River and arrived at Huaicheng after a day's march.
Here, Xie Duan left 50,000 soldiers and horses to guard.
After a night of fighting, the royal army easily conquered Huaicheng.
Upon learning that the powerful family army fled to Yangcheng, Chang Wei immediately ordered to march towards Yangcheng.
The distance between Huaicheng and Yangcheng is as much as 300 miles.
Because they advanced too fast, Zhongli's speed in establishing the rear could not keep up with them, and there was a problem with food and grass.
Chang Wei had to let the soldiers rely on the spare fried noodles, travel light and go to Yangcheng.
But when they arrived in Yangcheng, they suddenly found an amazing scene.
There were three trenches 30 meters apart in front of Yangcheng.
There were two layers of sandbags in front of the trenches. The soldiers of the powerful tribe were standing in the trenches with flintlock rifles, only their heads were exposed, and the muzzles were pointed at them.
There were even artillery in the trench area, and everything seemed to be in order.
On the wall of Yangcheng, Wang Xie and Xie An looked calm, and next to them stood a man with blond hair and blue eyes, a blue short coat on the upper body and black pants on the lower body.