Lin Shuhan read it and sneered: "Liu Qing hired a good master. He obviously couldn't resist the enemy and was beaten to the door of his house, but he said it as if he was luring the enemy deeper... Although he avoided the important and took the easy, But he didn’t hide anything.”
Qiu Yizhi ignored Lin Shuhan, returned the letter to Cui Nan, and said: "Hangzhou City is prosperous and prosperous, second only to Nanjing in Jiangnan Road. If the defense of the city is not good, there is a mistake, which will have a great impact on morale. It seems that it is It has to be saved.”
Cui Nan read the letter again and simply replied: "Yes."
Qiu Yi's way: "It is necessary to save people. The difficult question is how to save them?"
Qiu Yizhi took a few more steps and continued: "Liu Qing said that the Lingnan Army came across the sea. No wonder we can't find out the news about the Lingnan King. But how many troops and horses can be transported by sea? In a hurry, but Only a few thousand people. It is estimated that the main force of the rebel army is still in Lingnan Road. The soldiers and horses attacking Hangzhou City now are just soldiers to lure the enemy. He just needs to mobilize the main force of the camp here to go north for rescue, so that he can take the opportunity to attack the city. Camp, open up the Lingnan Road and penetrate into the south of the Yangtze River. Please consider this."
Cui Nan's brows furrowed more and more as he listened. He waited until Qiu Yizhi finished what he said before asking, "What are your high opinions, Your Highness?"
Qiu Yizhi replied: "General Cui now has 100,000 soldiers and horses. Lingnan Road should have 200,000 soldiers and horses according to the number. The actual number may be doubled. Even if General Wei is still guarding Huguang Road, the King of Lingnan will have to fight. Divided into two groups, there are probably still 200,000 people who will actually attack our army. Although we are waiting for work and holding on to dangerous positions, our strength is still very tight."
Qiu Yizhi said this, swallowed the smear, paused and said: "If it is my plan, please ask General Cui to allocate 10,000 elite soldiers and two or three generals. I will lead my troops to Hangzhou City to rescue them. Strive to drive the Lingnan army back to the sea. General Cui can take charge of the main camp and guard against the main force of the Lingnan rebels."
Cui Nan pondered for a long time, shook his head and said: "That's inappropriate. Ten thousand versus eight thousand, the chance of winning is not good."
Of course Qiu Yizhi understands what Cui Nan said. Although the Forbidden Army is elite and he has two hundred warriors who have experienced hundreds of battles, the Lingnan Army is not an idle bunch. It is indeed quite risky to launch an attack when the strength advantage is not obvious. There is some risk.
However, Qiu Yizhi witnessed with his own eyes the talents and strategies of Lingnan King Zhenggui on Lingnan Road. He knew that his military tactics must be similar to his own. If he was not careful, he would fall into his tricks. Therefore, he would rather take some risks himself than cause the army to collapse. The camp was empty, and the road to the north was opened.
So Qiu Yizhi shook Cui Nan's hand vigorously and said: "Don't worry, General Cui. In addition to the more than 10,000 troops and horses we are waiting for, there are also Jiangnan Dao Jiedu Army to support us. The military advantage is quite large." ”
Qiu Yi Zhiman thought that the reasons he presented were enough to convince Cui Nan, a general who was not good at words, but he did not expect that Cui Nan rejected him very simply with just a few words: "No. The Jiedu Army will not work. We have ten thousand people, not enough."
After saying that, he couldn't help but shake his head.
So Qiu Yizhi had no choice but to ask: "If you follow General Cui's advice, how should you deal with it?"
Cui Nan said without thinking, "Order 50,000 people to go to Hangzhou."
Qiu Yizhi took a breath of air and said, "Fifty thousand people... this is half of General Zuo's troops. If the King of Lingnan comes to attack, how will the general respond?"
But I heard Cui Nan say one word at a time: "If Hangzhou is a feint attack, 50,000 people are against 10,000 people, and there is still time to attack quickly; if Hangzhou is the main attack, 50,000 people can support it for ten days, which is enough to mobilize additional reinforcements."
After hearing this, Qiu Yizhi couldn't help but admire Cui Nan even more.
It turned out that he did not think that the Lingnan Army in the direction of Hangzhou was a feint attack from the beginning. Instead, he had made two preparations: if the enemy army under Hangzhou City really only had more than 10,000 people, then he would use five times the enemy's strength to attack the enemy. We can quickly defeat the enemy army and return to the main camp to defend it; if the main force of the enemy army is gathered under the city of Hangzhou, then with a force of 50,000 troops, it will not be easily defeated by the enemy army. By then, as long as we hold on for a period of time, we can mobilize There were enough reinforcements to surround and annihilate the main force of the Lingnan Army.
Although this kind of combat method sounds like the best of both worlds, it requires extremely high maneuvering speed and attack capabilities of the troops. If you are not careful, you will fall into a situation where the enemy forces will defeat them one by one. However, Cui Nan is famous for his quick and decisive actions and sharp and violent attacks. Since he is confident in completing such a battle, others certainly have no right to question him.
Xia Qiu Yizhi thought about it again and again, and finally said: "That's okay. If General Cui can trust me, please allocate 50,000 elite troops to me. I will definitely defeat the enemy army that invades Hangzhou."
Unexpectedly, Cui Nan shook his head again and said: "No. I will lead the troops to Hangzhou, and His Highness Yi will stay here."
Of course Qiu Yizhi couldn't agree and said: "General Cui is the commander-in-chief of the camp. How can there be any reason for the commander-in-chief not to stay in the camp and instead go out? General Cui can rest assured. If there are only 10,000 enemy troops in Hangzhou, then our army will be defeated." With the absolute advantage, I will not be unable to attack Hangzhou for a long time. If the enemy's force is the main force, I am afraid that I will not fail easily, and I will ask General Cui to lead the entire army to save him."
Cui Nan was extremely determined after hearing this, shaking his head in opposition.
In this way, you and I exchanged sincerely for a long time. Lin Shuhan on the side finally couldn't help it and interrupted: "How about the two generals go together? As for this side, please ask General Cui to send a capable general to guard the camp. For a while Nothing will happen in a moment."
Cui Nan's eyes lit up after hearing this, and he thought to himself: My lieutenants are far from my opponents in terms of offense, but in terms of defense alone, they are not inferior to me at all. It is the same if I leave them here to preside over the affairs of the camp.
Thinking of this, Cui Nan finally nodded and said: "Mr. Lin is right, so let's do it."
So Cui Nan selected 50,000 elite soldiers from his own troops, led them personally, and cooperated with Qiu Yi's more than 200 local soldiers, all the way north to Hangzhou for rescue.
As for General Zuo's camp, Cui Nan still felt uneasy even though he chose his most capable lieutenant to preside over it, so he used General Zuo to block the defense and let the remaining 50,000 troops enter Wenzhou City to defend it. In this way, once the main force of Lingnan Road came to attack, Wenzhou alone The city wall can last for at least ten days and a half, and Cui Nan will be able to lead his army to return reinforcements by then.
Although Cui Nan and Qiu Yizhi were well prepared, their march was extremely unsmooth.
It turns out that the weather in Jiangnan Road in October is just about to enter autumn. There is a saying that there is "a burst of autumn rain and a burst of cold". This year's rainfall is extra heavy compared to previous years. While the army was still in Wenzhou, it was already enveloped in endless drizzle. among.
There are many dirt roads in the south of the Yangtze River. Once soaked by rain, they become extremely muddy. Stepping on such ground will of course greatly affect the marching speed. Therefore, the army walked for two and a half days before leaving the boundaries of Wenzhou Prefecture and arriving in Hangzhou.
But as soon as we entered Hangzhou, the rain suddenly increased sharply, from a smoky drizzle to a violent storm.
The army moved quickly in the rain. Before they had taken a few steps, many people slipped and fell on the muddy ground, breaking their hands and feet. Many soldiers and horses walked in the rain for a whole day and did not get a good rest at night. When the troops were collected early the next morning, they found that many soldiers had high fever and were sick. After counting, there were as many as four to five thousand people.
These people were unable to continue marching and fighting. Cui Nan and Qiu Yizhi could only arrange for them to go to the nearby city to rest, and they led the remaining troops and horses to continue on the road to Hangzhou.
The straight-line distance between Hangzhou and Wenzhou is only more than 300 miles. Logically speaking, it can be reached by a quick march of three to four days, but the Qiantang River happens to be sandwiched between Hangzhou and Wenzhou. The estuary of Qiantang River is in the middle of Hangzhou Bay. Therefore, if you want to rush from Wenzhou to Hangzhou, you must take a long detour, extending the distance to nearly 500 miles.
After walking non-stop for two more days, Cui Nan and Qiu Yizhi finally arrived around Hangzhou City.
The area near Hangzhou was originally deserted by strong walls and clear wilderness, but after a sudden military disaster on Lingnan Road, the place that was originally extremely prosperous became extremely desolate.
Qiu Yizhi was afraid that he would not arrive in time and would cause another military disaster here, so he hurriedly urged the army to advance.
However, the army was exhausted to the extreme. Except for Qiu Yizhi's newly recruited rural warriors, the rest of the imperial army under Cui Nan could no longer maintain the high speed they had when they first set off.
After finally arriving at the city walls of Hangzhou, Cui Nan and Qiu Yi saw that the walls of Hangzhou were mottled, with the east part blackened and the west part destroyed. It was obvious that they had gone through several rounds of fighting for attack and defense. However, the overall situation was still very stable, and no city would be destroyed. Signs of breach. From a distance, I saw a camp erected under the city. The flags of Lingnan Road used in the camp were relatively neat and orderly, but they looked a little sluggish, which was obviously caused by fatigue after the fierce battle.
Qiu Yizhi and Cui Nan finally breathed a sigh of relief after seeing such a scene, but they did not dare to show any signs of neglect in their hearts. They quickly sent capable Qingqi to investigate the situation.
When Qingqi came back to report, he said that the total number of Lingnan Road troops and horses was about 10,000, and that the troops were divided into four groups to block the four gates in the southeast, northwest and northwest of Hangzhou City. The number of troops in each group was less than 3,000.
After hearing this information, Qiu Yizhi fell into deep thought: He had a small number of troops and divided them for action. This was undoubtedly a taboo in the use of troops. Ordinarily, a man like the King of Lingnan who had experienced hundreds of battles and was cunning should not make such a mistake... Could it be that the troops besieging Hangzhou City were indeed a partial army from Lingnan Road, and the King of Lingnan himself was not among this army
Cui Nan was also confused. After thinking for a while, he asked, "How is the situation in the city?"
The spy replied: "The four gates are tightly guarded by the Lingnan Army and cannot be approached. The situation in Hangzhou city is unknown."
Cui Nan nodded solemnly and said, "I understand, let's go down."
He pondered for a moment and said to Qiu Yizhi: "The situation is unclear, so I want to go take a look."
Qiu Yizhi also hurriedly called Zhao Chengxiao, asking him to lead his two hundred elite men to protect himself and Cui Nan, and mount a horse on a hill two or three miles away from Hangzhou City to carefully observe the enemy's situation.
After a quick look, I realized that the Lingnan troops besieging the city of Hangzhou were not many in number, and their organization and command were not very strict. It seemed that they could be easily conquered in one go.
But the more experienced people are on the battlefield, the more they know the truth about danger in war. Under such circumstances, Cui Nan and Qiu Yi both smelled a dangerous smell, and they always felt that things were not as they saw with their own eyes. Simple.
However, the situation is now urgent. The Lingnan Dao army may be eyeing their Wenzhou camp with eager eyes, or they may have already mobilized their entire army to pounce on Jiangnan. However, he was delayed for three days on the march here, and there was no time for Cui Nan and Qiu Yizhi to discuss it in detail.
So Cui Nan gritted his teeth and said: "Never mind, let's hit him first and then talk!"