When the Jiangdong battle report arrived, Gong Linche and others in the Chinese military tent were overjoyed to hear the news. The impregnable Song Army's defense line was actually broken through in such a short period of time. This was something they could not imagine before.
Inevitably, Gong Lince and other monks praised Meng Shanming repeatedly, praising him as Commander Meng and so on.
This battle showed Meng Shanming's ability, which gave Gong Linche and others confidence in the subsequent war.
However, Meng Shanming couldn't be happy after seeing the battle report. Gong Lince and others didn't understand. Maybe the dead people were just a number in the eyes of these monks, but Meng Shanming understood it and knew that he had paid for it. How much did it cost to win it down
As soon as he looked at the battle report, he knew how fiercely the battle was fought by which team in which place. Regardless of Zhang Hu's side, nearly 200,000 people from the imperial court's side were missing in this storm alone. If the losses on Zhang Hu's side are added together, the cumulative losses are actually greater than those of the Song Army on the Hukou Defense Line.
And all of this was caused by his order. How many soldiers and soldiers in Dayan were destroyed by his order
This made him so happy. Faced with the praises, he felt undeserved. He slowly closed his eyes and said slowly in the excited atmosphere in the tent: "Send the good news to An Xianzhao and Su Qi." Tong, Shi Xinmao, ordered the three troops to be ready to cross the river at any time! At the same time, Xu Jingyue's troops were ordered to march towards me. Zhang Hu was also ordered to send people to send back the rafts crossing the river as soon as possible."
"Yes!" The herald took the order and left.
The news of the victory spread to the Xu, An, Su, and Shi tribes, and the generals of the four tribes were shocked.
It wasn't that the Fourth Department had no confidence in Meng Shanming, but they didn't expect Meng Shanming to break through Song Guojiang's defense line so quickly. This was called a miracle.
Based on the experience of the four generals, they certainly know how difficult it is to break through Luo Zhao's tightly arranged Jiang defense, and it can even be said to be impossible. They also certainly know what it means for Song's defense line to be breached, which means that Song State faces the entire Yan State. The loosening of Jiang's defense.
"It's only been three hours since we received the news of the feint attack, right?" Yue Yuan, the elder of Zijin Cave, asked.
"Yes, it took only three hours to break through the Hukou defense zone defended by 300,000 Song troops. Commander Meng is Commander Meng, and his sword is not old!" Xu Jingyue shook his head and sighed with emotion. He currently knows the situation of the battle. Not much, it’s really hard to imagine how to break through.
Yue Yuan asked again: "Now that we are allowed to cross the river from this side, do you want us to cross the river from that side?"
Xu Jingyue nodded slightly, "That should be the case. We are the closest to that side, and the Hukou Defense Area is controlled by Meng Shuai. There should be no other reason besides letting us cross the river from the Hukou Defense Area. It makes no sense to say this now. See you. Meng Shuai naturally knows."
After saying that, he turned around and shouted, "Send the order, the army must assemble and march south along the river!"
After giving the order, Gongzhou took a group of people from the imperial court and immediately broke out of camp, and the army marched along the river...
"What?"
In the Governor's Mansion of Jiangfang, Wu Qunlie, who had been awake all night, was shocked when he received the report of the loss of Hukou. He staggered back a few steps, a little shaky.
"Sir!" The generals in the hall exclaimed and quickly stepped forward to support him.
Wu Qunlie shook his head to steady his mind, waved his arms left and right, and pushed away the support angrily. His face was extremely ugly, and he said in pain with a look of hatred: "We lost the Hukou defense line in less than three hours. , I didn’t even hold on for half a day. I only need to hold on for half a day, and my Qingqu reinforcements will arrive! Xu Laiping, Xu Laiping, you have betrayed the trust of the Governor, and you deserve death! How do you want me to explain to the Governor! How do you ask the Governor to explain to the court?"
Uh-huh! He suddenly drew his sword out of its sheath and struck it with one strike, directly chopping off a corner of the table next to him, making his whole body tremble.
A general said: "Sir, the matter has come to this, there is no point in getting angry. Fortunately, Xu Laiping is not stupid, and has preserved the strength of almost 130,000 troops. Zhang Hu's troops also suffered heavy losses. Xu Laiping estimates that Zhang Hu's troops will lose no less than two One hundred thousand, the grain garrison was also burned down by Xu Laiping, so that it would not fall into the hands of the Yan thieves. The Yan thieves are short of food and grass, and they can no longer bear it. The situation can still be saved!"
Wu Qunlie stood firm with his sword in hand, exhaled a long breath, and said in a deep voice: "In other words, Zhang Hu only has about 300,000 troops left... Immediately let the remnants of Xu Laiping and Liao Nanqing's Qingqu troops join up and assemble the troops of both sides. , you must take back the Hukou Defense Zone for me at any cost!"
Not long after the order was issued here, another urgent report came from outside, "Report, there is movement in Xu Jingyue's department on the other side, and Xu Jingyue's men and horses are moving rapidly towards the Hukou Defense Area."
A group of generals immediately went to the map to check it. One general said: "This is obviously to allow Xu Jingyue's troops to cross the river from the Hukou defense area, increase the number of troops and expand the control of the Hukou defense area, and prepare for the follow-up army of the Yan State to cross the river. "
Wu Qunlie turned around and asked, "Is there any movement among An Xianzhao, Su Qitong and Shi Xinmao's troops on the other side?"
Next reply: "There is no news at the moment."
Boom! Wu Qunlie punched the wall. Meng Shanming's strategy was obvious. He did not mobilize all the troops gathered along the river to cross the river from the Hukou defense line. He wanted to clamp down on this side and hold back most of the troops on this side. The other side didn't dare to go all out to help, so the other side only dared to help by adding fuel to the fire.
The Jiang defense troops on his side dared to leave in a big way. As soon as they left, once the defense was empty, An Xianzhao, Su Qitong, and Shi Xinmao on the opposite side would immediately cross the river to attack, and what they would lose would not be a Hukou defense line.
This is the helpless situation that we have to face after the defense line is broken at one point.
"Send the order to Liao Nanqing again, and order Qingqu reinforcements to march at full speed. They must meet up with the remnants of Xu Laiping's troops as soon as possible and retake the Hukou defense line before Xu Jingyue's troops cross the river." Wu Qunlie punched the wall again.
…
It's daybreak and the rain has stopped, but the moist smell is very obvious in the air, as if you can squeeze out water by grabbing a handful of air.
Rafts of rafts were going back and forth on the river, and the rafts scattered along the river bank were being collected. Although many of them had gone with the river, we still collected as much as we could on the bank and transported them from the Hukou Defense Zone to the Yan Kingdom on the other side.
A large raft was crossed across the river under the control of a group of monks.
There was a wheelchair on the raft, and Meng Shanming, with bloodshot eyes, sat upright, occasionally coughing, because he had been working too hard recently and didn't get a good rest at all.
Luo Daan stood behind the wheelchair and held it, while Gong Lince and others stood on both sides.
There was also a white horse on the raft, Shenjun. It was the white horse that Luo Zhao gave to Meng Shanming. He also crossed the river, but he seemed a little uneasy. Creatures on land are more accustomed to being down-to-earth, and they seemed a little unaccustomed to being in the river. Floating on this turbid and rolling river.
When the raft docked, Zhang Hu led a group of generals on the shore to greet him. Meng Shanming and his wheelchair were carried ashore by two monks.
The entire Hukou defense line suitable for landing is like a large construction site. A large number of people are dismantling all the facilities on the defense line and destroying all the defensive facilities. Not even a house is left alive. As for those long-range attack equipment used for projectiles and the like Being dismantled and shipped away.
Meng Shanming, who was pushing in a wheelchair, checked all the way and asked: "How is the inventory going?"
Zhang Hu said: "Fortunately, our army broke through with thunderous force and caught the opponent by surprise. The opponent's retreat was too sudden and many supplies were not destroyed in time, which gave us an advantage. The food stored here is enough to feed hundreds of thousands of my horses for six or seven days." It looked like that. Over there at the granary... When Guo Xianfu and his men arrived, they found that Xu Laiping had burned them to a crisp and failed to succeed."
Meng Shanming frowned slightly. He felt a little sad that so much food, which was urgently needed here, was destroyed.
But he also knows that there is nothing that can be done about it. War is so ruthless. Don't expect the enemy to feel sorry for the food that cannot be taken away and leave it to you. It is normal for others to destroy what they can't get.
"Where's Sun Gaotian? Take me to have a look." Meng Shanming mentioned.
Zhang Hu immediately led the group to a tent. There was no house to live in, and the houses had been demolished.
When a group of people entered the tent, the extremely tired Sun Gaotian did not rest. He lay on the bed and stared at the roof of the tent without blinking.
"Shuai Meng, I see you're here." Zhang Hu walked to the bed and pushed Sun Gaotian.
When Sun Gaotian came back to his senses and saw Meng Shanming, he burst into tears and struggled to get up, "I will be incompetent..."
Meng Shanming stretched out his hand and pushed him back down, "You have done a good job and completed all the tasks well. You should be the first to take credit for this battle! The head of the palace of Zijin Cave is here. He asked you how you crossed the river. I’m very curious, so it’s up to you to tell him in detail and how you fought.”
When Sun Gaotian mentioned the sad thing, he lost control of his tears. He choked and told the story of the incident. By the time he finished speaking, he had already turned into a tearful person.
To make such a murderous man cry bitterly, I'm afraid it can only be seen on the battlefield.
When they learned that 50,000 troops crossed the Gunlong River and killed 20,000 troops in an instant, and another 4,000 troops blocked an army of 100,000 troops for half an hour, it was not a case of death. Gong Lince and others were also moved, only to realize that How miserable these people fought in this battle is only to know how critical these people played a key role in this battle.
"For their contribution to this battle, the head of the palace, Guo Xianfu and Sun Gaotian, I asked the court for the two of them to be granted the title of marquis. Isn't it an exaggeration to ask for the two marquises' false reputations?" Meng Shanming stared at Gong Lince and asked. Voice.
Gong Lince nodded, "You should be rewarded for your merits, as you should be."
Meng Shanming: "It's just that the old lady spoke softly and made suggestions to the court. I'm afraid the court will have doubts."
Gong Linche understood what he meant. When the other party opened his mouth, it was surprising that Shang Jianxiong agreed. He immediately promised: "I will handle this matter, and I will handle it immediately. I will have a reply within three days."
Meng Shanming: "Fifty thousand heroes died! I have one more request. I hope that after the war, the imperial court can erect a huge stone monument in Gunlong Gorge and engrave the names of the fifty thousand heroes on it. I want them to be immortal for the ages and serve as my great Yan men." A role model for the ages, make the descendants of our country proud and forge the soul of our army!"
Gong Linche: "If Dayan is lucky enough to be safe, I will take care of this matter and I will never break my promise!"
For him, he had nothing to lose in this kind of thing, so he made a guarantee in public, and naturally there was no room for regret.
ps: It’s an honor to meet you in Jianghu! Xie Xin, the leader of the new alliance, "the eldest son of an honest man", cheers!