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"Hurry up, cross the river!"
On the Baihe River in Xinye, Du Jianshi Jiang Yu stood on the bridgehead and kept shouting that half of the 100,000 people had already crossed the river, but the remaining tens of thousands were crowded at the east end of the bridge. The sound of children crying, panic shouting and cursing was everywhere, and pots and pans were in a mess.
Due to food shortage, the people could only be provided with two bowls of porridge every day. Many people were too hungry to walk. Although there was a large army watching, fights over food still occurred from time to time.
Within a few miles on both sides of the floating bridge, there were crowds of people everywhere. Qin soldiers held knives to maintain order at the bridge head, but people were still pushed into the river from time to time, and the scene was very chaotic.
Jiang Yu was extremely anxious. These 100,000 civilians were not an army. They all wanted to rush across the river and did not listen to your orders at all. If this continued, it would not only slow down the crossing speed, but also kill more people. Jiang Yu had to harden his heart and give an order: "Anyone who disobeys orders and pushes forward will be dragged out and beaten with 20 military sticks."
The soldiers shouted accordingly, and some timid people did not dare to squeeze anymore. But there were always some who did not take it seriously. The Qin army who were responsible for maintaining order received the order and rushed in without hesitation, pulled out the people who were squeezing and pressed them down to execute them. The military sticks hit them with a loud bang, which was terrifying to watch.
As a result, the crowd was frightened and order was restored, and the speed of crossing the river was faster.
But despite this, it was still not easy to get all the remaining tens of thousands of people across the river. These people did not know that the crisis was coming, but subconsciously wanted to escape as far as possible. Jiang Yu was very clear that Yique Pass had been lost, and Li Guo's army had suffered heavy losses and was retreating southward. Ma Yongzhen was leading his army to rearrange the defense line in Baichong Mountain north of Nanyang to block the enemy, and Gao Yigong was guarding Yuzhou (Fangcheng) in the east. This was the last line of defense of the Qin army. After Yuzhou, the area south of Nanyang, Xinye and Xiangyang was a flat plain. There was no way to stop the Qing cavalry.
After the great retreat from Luoyang, Li Guoyuan led an army of 10,000 to defend Yique Pass. When he retreated to Yuzhou, there were less than 3,000 people left. The casualties were very heavy. The soldiers who managed to escape back to Yuzhou were exhausted and had no ability to fight again.
Lekedehun's army arrived at Yucheng in pursuit of Li Guo. Yucheng was just a small county town, with a low wall and a small city wall. Lekedehun's army of 30,000 troops launched a fierce attack the day after arriving at Yucheng. The soldiers under the city were like countless ants, rushing up the city walls along the ladders.
Gao Yigong led 10,000 defenders to fight back fiercely. Stones and battering rams rolled down, smashing down the enemies who climbed up the ladders one after another. The rain of arrows shot from below the city covered the top of the city like a black cloud. Soldiers standing on the battlements were shot in the face by sharp arrowheads, piercing their bones, screaming one after another. Blood splashed on the top of the city.
"Quick, send someone to urge Jiang Yu, tell him to hurry up!" Gao Yigong ordered loudly. There were heavy casualties on the city. But he had to hold on. Xinye was still more than a hundred miles away from Xiangyang. He had to wait until Jiang Yu and the people were closer to Xiangyang before he could withdraw.
Li Guo, who was resting with an injury, was extremely frustrated. The reason for sending troops to Luoyang was nominally to support the Eastern Front. To attack the enemy, they must rescue the Qing army and attract them to Luoyang, so that the Eastern Front can smoothly capture Jiangnan.
But in fact, wasn't Qin Mu taking advantage of this opportunity to weaken him
Of the 60,000 troops that marched to Luoyang, only 30,000 are left now. In addition, Gao Yigong is determined to follow Qin Mu. Li Guo knows that he no longer has a chance and can only follow Qin Mu from now on.
Although Li Guo was unwilling to accept this, he had no choice. After calming down, his mind became much clearer. When he followed Li Zicheng to fight against the Ming Dynasty, he had fought with the Ming army many times in Nanyang and was very familiar with the terrain in this area.
After thinking it over again and again, he felt that there were some major problems with the retreat plan that Ma Yongzhen had formulated this time. From Yuzhou to Xiangyang, the road was flat and there was no place to defend except for a few rivers. These hundreds of miles of land were like a death zone for the Qin army.
According to Ma Yongzhen's plan of retreating southward step by step while blocking layer by layer, even if the army could successfully retreat to Xiangyang, more than half of them would be killed or wounded, and they might even be surrounded by the more mobile Qing army, resulting in the annihilation of the entire army.
He hurriedly found Gao Yigong and said, "Yigong, we can't withdraw like this. We must notify Governor Ma to change the withdrawal plan."
Gao Yigong had just come down from the top of the city wall, holding a ladle and drinking water. "What do you think of Buzhi?"
Li Guo said: "Please look, to the west is the Funiu Mountains, to the east is the Tongbai Mountains, and Yuzhou is located at the junction of the two mountains. If we retreat southward as planned, there will be no strategic locations to defend from here to Xiangyang, which is hundreds of miles away. The enemy has many cavalry, and we cannot outrun them on the plains. Therefore, we must not retreat southward."
Gao Yigong thought about it and felt that it made sense. He couldn't help but ask, "Where do you think we should retreat to? We don't have much food and grass."
"It is precisely because we do not have much food and grass that we cannot retreat southward. Otherwise, once we are held back by the Qing army, our army will be depleted without a fight. We can only retreat eastward."
"East?" Gao Yigong frowned. To the east is the Tongbai Mountains. After retreating into the mountains, they can offset the advantage of the Qing cavalry. However, the journey is long and it is difficult to get supplies. Many soldiers may also starve to death.
Li Guo knew what Gao Yigong was thinking, and he continued, "The only way is to bring as many horses as possible and let the soldiers take turns riding them. This will speed up the march, and after entering the Tongbai Mountains, the horses can be used as military rations. Only in this way can the enemy army retreat along the mountainous area to Xiangyang. Otherwise, the enemy army is likely to be wiped out."
The reason why Li Guo became Li Zicheng's first-line successor was not only because he was Li Zicheng's nephew, but more importantly, his military talents were recognized by the Dashun Army.
Before, he had been trying to preserve his strength at Hulao Pass and was passive in the fight, so he seemed a little incompetent. In fact, his military talent was definitely not bad, as can be seen from the retreat plan he came up with.
After hearing this, Gao Yigong also thought that this was much better than retreating directly to the south, so he sent a messenger to Wanchong Mountain in the west to report to Ma Yongzhen.
Ma Yongzhen was leading 6,000 troops to the mountain to block Aobai and Jiang Ge. After the messenger reported Li Guo's retreat plan, he immediately agreed. Li Guo's plan was actually to exchange horses for people. Although war horses are precious, how can they be compared with people
Ma Yongzhen sent someone to reply to Gao Yigong and Li Guo, and at the same time, he urgently mobilized war horses and called his deputy general Zhao Jian to him, saying, "Wanchong Mountain is now in your hands. These thousands of troops can no longer retreat southward, so I can no longer stay here and must rush back to Xiangyang to command the city defense battle. You can hold off the enemy for another two days, then lead your brothers to retreat eastward along the mountains, and after meeting up with Gao Yigong in Yuzhou, you can retreat to Tongbai Mountain in the east together."
Since Zhao Jian surrendered to Qin Mu in Jingmen, he has been highly valued.
Ma Yongzhen was not fleeing because he was afraid of the battle, but because the plan changed and he had to rush back to Xiangyang to preside over the war. Zhao Jian naturally agreed without hesitation.
Zhao Jian was a rare and brave general, and Ma Yongzhen was very confident in him. After handing over the Wanchongshan defense line to Zhao Jian, Ma Yongzhen led 500 cavalrymen and hurried to Xiangyang.
Now 100,000 people have crossed the west bank of the Baihe River, and are still more than 100 miles away from Xiangyang. It will take at least four days to reach Xiangyang safely.
However, the Qing army's offensive was too fierce, and Wanshanzhong and Yuzhou could not hold out for another four days, otherwise they would have no spare strength to break into Tongbai Mountain.
Therefore, Ma Yongzhen had to rush back to Xinye and use the Baihe River to hold off the Qing army for another day. In addition, it would take the Qing army one or two days to move south, which would be enough time for the people to retreat to Xiangyang.
Ma Yongzhen felt very regretful for not being able to defend Luoyang this time. If he could have defended Luoyang, he could have joined Sichuan in attacking Guanzhong. Now He Luohui in Guanzhong was still trapped in the civil unrest and unable to extricate himself. If he could have joined Sichuan in attacking him, it would be almost certain that He Luohui would not be able to defend Guanzhong at all. Once Guanzhong was captured, the Qing army would have no hope of capturing Luoyang.
Unfortunately, the loss of Luoyang this time was not due to the Qin army's combat effectiveness, but mainly because the supply of food, fodder and weapons could not keep up. Otherwise, it would not be so easy for the Qing army to recapture Luoyang if they had held the pass.
Ma Yongzhen was galloping on his horse while thinking about the next battle plan. When he thought about the pincer attack on Guanzhong, an idea suddenly occurred to him and he immediately ordered, "Quickly pass on my order. Let Ling Zhan lead 5,000 troops to Yunyang in the west. We must defend Yunyang at all costs."
“Yes!”
After receiving the order, the messenger galloped away. Ma Yongzhen took advantage of the break to submit a memorial to Qin Mu, asking him to order Li Dingguo's troops in Sichuan to attack Hanzhong from Jianmen. This was also the reason why he sent Ling Zhan to Yunyang.
In fact, there is also a road from Yunyang to Guanzhong. In this way, it can also form a pincer attack on Guanzhong with Sichuan. Even if it cannot seize Guanzhong, it can at least support the rebel army in Guanzhong. In addition, it can disperse the energy of the Qing army and prevent the Qing army from concentrating its forces to attack Xiangyang.
To command an army in battle, one must have a strategic vision and look ahead three steps ahead. From this point of view, Ma Yongzhen is already a talented general. (To be continued...)
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