Chapter 428 Hit the mark
Zhao Yulin nodded and gave Fan Gong a thumbs up and said: That’s right, this is exactly what we want.
Mr. Fan was delighted, and asked him with a smile, "Did we release enough smoke screens on this trip north? Has the battle in Xuzhou started?"
Zhao Yulin couldn't help laughing when he saw Mr. Fan's expectant expression like a child, and whispered to him that the battle had already begun, and Hubli probably saw it.
When he was in Suzhou, he discussed with his generals and decided to immediately launch the Battle of Xuzhou to remove the nail that Hubili had inserted there.
The old man was happy and anxious. He walked back and forth in the teahouse, shaking his hands and asked him if he was in a hurry. Otherwise, we should not go to Kaifeng, but return to Suzhou so that my brother can take charge of military affairs.
He said with a smile that since it was a play, he had to act well and believed that the brothers in the Ministry of War could do a good job. He had not been to Kaifeng yet, so let's go there and take a look.
The next day, Zhao Yulin and Hu Lan accompanied Fan Zhong and continued north to Kaifeng.
At this time, Lai Chuanfang had led his troops to attack quickly and occupied Dangshan; Zhou Ping's navy also engaged in battle with the Mongolian navy that went south into Luomahu.
The military operations planned by the two commanders of the army collided so coincidentally.
Mengge was gambling, intending to use the remaining Mongolian troops in Jiangbei to fight against the Shenwei Army. Taking Suqian could cut off the Shenwei Army's material transportation along the old Yellow River course and the canal, causing the Shenwei Army to be short of food and grass when heading north to Yingtian and Kaifeng, thereby realizing his chance to reverse the Mongolian army's defeat.
Unexpectedly, the Shenwei Army also saw the fat piece of meat left by Hubili in Xuzhou. The two sides thus opened the curtain of the Battle of Xuzhou on the Dangshan battlefield.
Gu Shan led the main force of his Third Column to cut a path through the mountains and wade through the rivers, and rushed all the way to the city of Dangshan and immediately launched an attack, which surprised Mengge extremely.
The Shenwei Army concentrated mortars and suddenly attacked the city, breaking into the city in just half a day. They also sent an advance team straight to Xuzhou and destroyed two bridges on the official road.
The area around Xuzhou is the old course of the Yellow River, in simple terms, it is the Yellow River floodplain.
In 1234, in order to prevent the Song army from recovering the three capitals, the hateful Mongolian army dug up the Cunjin Dike in Daming County, causing the Yellow River to overflow and submerge a large area of land in the south.
The Yellow River changed its course to flow southward and merged into the Huai River before flowing into the sea. Xuzhou was also located in a swamp with dense water networks. Although the water level was lower in winter, it was still difficult to move freely with horses weighing hundreds of pounds and carrying people and weapons. The only way to get through was to take the winding official road.
If the Mongolian cavalry wanted to maneuver quickly, they had to run along the official road.
Now, the Shenwei Army has controlled the official roads, which is enough to make them anxious.
Hubili looked at his eldest brother nervously, thinking that he had entrusted all the troops to his eldest brother, and as an elder brother he must not let his brothers down.
On the contrary, Brother Meng just wanted to trick him this time.
This gentleman saw that Hubili was powerful and had to be suppressed. Before he came to Xuzhou, Subutai had suggested to withdraw troops from Xuzhou immediately, but he refused to do so and came to discuss with Hubili about taking Suqian by force. Wasn't this an intentional attempt to consume Hubili's troops and reputation?
After Hubili dispatched infantry and cavalry to reinforce Dangshan, news of defeat came from Pizhou in the south. The combat power of Zhang Rou, the commander of the Mongolian navy, was not as strong as that of the Shenwei Army.
Zhou Ping, the naval commander of the Shenwei Army, personally took to the battlefield. After two consecutive battles between the two armies in Luoma Lake, Zhang Rou's navy was exhausted. He escaped to the shore, stole a war horse and fled to Pizhou, taking the initiative to change his military type and became a veritable cavalry army.
Hundreds of Mongolian warships were gone in a flash. Hubili and Mengge were stunned. They had never expected the speed of the Shenwei Army to be so fast. He immediately sent troops to reinforce Pizhou. He had to stop the attack of the Shenwei Army, otherwise there would be no way to retreat.
Mengge was a little confused and didn't believe it. He asked Hubli: Is this Zhao Yulin's work?
Didn’t he and Hu Lan go to Yingtian?
Hubili said angrily: It must be Zhao Yulin's trick. He is very good at acting and especially good at making a feint to the east and attacking in the west. This time it must be him and Hu Lan acting together and making a fool of us.
Hubili snorted viciously and said it was not easy. His Shenwei Army was as solid as a rock and they followed orders with great vigor and efficiency. Unlike our army, which had to rely on both kindness and force to mobilize,
Humph, he is cruel, but we are more cruel than him. Let’s do as eldest brother says. We will march our entire army to Pizhou and first take out Zhou Ping and his son Ma Yuan, and then see if Zhao Yulin will feel any pain.
Damn, this guy is so vicious. He is a relative, but he doesn't recognize his relatives in the blink of an eye. He even found out that Zhao Yulin's eldest son Xiaoluo was captured alive.
Mengge told him not to defend Xuzhou at all, but to use these remaining soldiers to wipe out part of the Shenwei Army, extract their loyalty and bring them back to the north with his personal soldiers.
Damn it, the two brothers actually came up with this clever idea, using the Shenwei Army as a touchstone to test whether their signed troops are loyal and brave.
In the central army tent on the Suzhou front, Miao Gui learned that Mengge was sending a large number of troops to Pizhou. He smiled and said that it was just as the third young master expected, Hubili had never thought of defending Xuzhou.
Yang Xingyun said it was his turn, and we didn’t want Xuzhou either. We would just chase him and beat him. If we caught one, we would beat him, and if we caught two, we would beat them both.
Miao Gui nodded and said, "Thank you, brother. Remember to let them go."
Yang Xingyun nodded and said it all depended on their luck, then led his troops to set off.
This is a race to buy time and compete in transportation capacity with the Mongolian army.
What Mengge and Hubili didn't know was that once the common people here were liberated, they followed the Shenwei Army. They were so happy that they were no longer slaves that they showed unprecedented enthusiasm for supporting the front.
The common people spontaneously pulled out their own boats to transport troops and military supplies, and voluntarily helped the Shenwei Army lead the way and carry supplies.
The Shenwei Army's rule of treating ordinary people as their parents and brothers and sisters made the people in the recovered areas feel like they had seen their relatives who had been lost for decades. Everyone worked together to rush for time, and the Mongolian army was sure to not escape.
The Mongolian army in Xuzhou was still retreating, but the Shenwei Army had already caught up with them and started beating them hard in Liujiazhuang, 20 miles outside the city. The generals were terrified and marveled that the Shenwei Army had arrived so quickly.
Kouhu Buhua, who was in charge of the rear guard, was not panicked at all. He was a ruthless character. In addition, he had lost two battles to the Shenwei Army recently, so he had given up and was ready to fight to the death with the Shenwei Army. He immediately slowed down his pace and engaged in a fight to the death with the Shenwei Army.
Brother Meng’s army can’t move anymore.
Hubili was furious and immediately ordered the rear guard to stay behind to block the way, while the front army continued on their way. However, the main force of the 3rd column of the Shenwei Army led by Gu Shan, with 20,000 men, wore out three pairs of straw sandals, and finally caught up with the rear guard of the Mongolian army.
Gu Shan was overjoyed and immediately ordered a desperate attack. After being beaten badly, the Mongolian army panicked and surrounded Liujiazhuang to set up defenses on the spot. They really could not run away.
Gu Shan's trip was also full of dangers. They were carrying only light weapons such as mortars, and they lost many brothers when they encountered the Mongolian cavalry charge. However, the brothers pursued the enemy with the belief that they would die, shrinking the front while fighting, and blocked the enemy.
As a result, the Mongolian army adjusted its deployment and retreated in a panicked resistance, which delayed another two precious hours. Yang Xingyun's troops came up from behind and soon cut the Mongolian army into two parts and surrounded them. The fast-running Mongolian army was less than thirty miles away from Liujiazhuang and stopped at Chenjiaweizi.
Mengge and Hubili were both breathing heavily in the Chen family enclosure.
The enclosures mentioned here are the places where the people living along the old Yellow River chose to live because they were worried about flooding. They then built thick earth walls around the places to keep out the water. Mengge and Hubili were now surrounded by a dozen enclosures of different sizes.
Although Da Meng was surprised by the marching speed of the Shenwei Army, he was not panicked.
Hubili became anxious, and he told Mengge that since the Shenwei Army dared to come up and surround them to fight, they were not afraid of casualties and were determined to fight to the death. This was no joke, and they had to run fast.
Brother Meng looked at his younger brother strangely. Do you think Hubili is so timid and afraid of death?
He began to doubt whether this younger brother was still a member of the Toure family.
Hubili felt very aggrieved when he saw Mengge looking at him with disdain. He thought that his big Mengge was too confident and must be looking down on him and thinking that he was afraid of death.
He had been dealing with the Shenwei Army for a long time and of course knew the dangers involved. He thought to himself, "Brother, what do you know?" Now is not the time to talk about whether one is afraid of death or not.
He looked at Mengge coldly and said: Tianming, once the Shenwei Army launches an attack, we will definitely not be able to withstand their artillery fire. Big brother, guard the north, and I, the younger brother, guard the south, and let's all go up and fight to the death with my brother-in-law's men.
Haha, what is this? It has turned into a fight between several brothers in the same family.
Meng Ge also became heroic. He waved his hand and said, "Let's fight him to see who is stronger."
The next day, the Shenwei Army did not launch a large-scale attack, but only cleared a few salients and further tightened the defense. They sporadically fired propaganda cannons to distribute surrender leaflets to the Mongolian army, and no sound of firearms explosions was heard from the besieged Liujiazhuang in the distance.
However, the Shenwei Army continued to dig trenches and set up chevaux de frise and other horse-blocking devices, and the excavation area became wider and wider.
Hubili waited until noon but there was no movement. Seeing the Shenwei Army doing this, he felt it was dangerous. He knew that the Shenwei Army must be waiting for reinforcements, so he quickly sent a message to Mengge, telling him that the Shenwei Army's firearms were super powerful and that they should break out together at night and that they could not delay any longer.
The Shenwei Army was indeed waiting for reinforcements. Without heavy weapons, Zhao Yulin would not allow them to charge relying solely on the soldiers' physical strength.
Lai Chuanfang surrounded Kouhuibuhua of Liujiazhuang, and Yang Xingyun surrounded Mengge and Hubili of Chenjiaweizi. They both used the unique skills taught by Zhao Yulin, earthwork, and urged their brothers to dig trenches desperately to lock down the enemy.
At dawn the next day, Mengge took action in the north. He brought less than twenty super-large catapults to throw thunder bombs and fire stone bombs one by one with each cannon, in order to blast a life passage in the north.
The Shenwei Army was not to be outdone. After the observers locked onto the Mongolian army's artillery position, they immediately started firing back with mortars. The two sides first engaged in an artillery battle.
Then, Koushengbuhua, who was trapped in Liujiazhuang, also started to break out after hearing the loud explosions in the east, and the two armies quickly became a mess.
