(Second update, a 5,000-word chapter asking for red votes)

While Huaidong soldiers, horses and supplies were gathering in Huangzhou from all directions, Yanhu's movements in the north did not stop.

However, after capturing Nanyang, it was definitely not easy to move more than 200,000 troops from the northern front to the southern front.

This is not an activity in an area controlled by one's own side. There are post stations along the way for the soldiers to rest, and the supplies are also taken care of by the post officials. The roads, bridges and boat crossings can also allow local officials to capture young people from the local area to do their jobs. The 200,000 men only need themselves.

Just hurry up and travel a thousand miles in ten days, it's not that difficult.

Yang Xiong sank a ship in Hanjin and buried piles to block the mouth of the Han River, and blocked the invincible Huaidong Shuiying warships from the Han River, making the Han River completely under the control of the She family navy.

From the east bank of the Han River, there is a relatively safe hinterland, and 200,000 soldiers and horses can quickly move south. However, Yanhu's main attack direction is Jingzhou on the west bank of the Han River, not the eastern Hubei area on the east bank.

Going south from the west bank of the Han River is to march in front of the enemy. The vanguard must go first. They need to cut down trees and set up camp, clear road obstacles, resist the counterattack of the defenders, pave roads and build bridges, and then move forward with food and fodder. When these preparations are completed,

After that, it was time for the main force to move south.

Of course, 200,000 soldiers and horses could also be quickly inserted into Shicheng in the upper reaches of the Han River, and then cross the Han River from Shicheng, or surround Jingmen, or bypass Jingmen and attack Jingzhou directly.

It's just that marching in front of the enemy is not a difficult task for Yan Hu. He sent 10,000 elites as the vanguard, and Ye Jilorong was not worried that the Jingmen defenders would have the courage to go out to fight in the field.

The key to the problem is not whether to march on the west bank or the east bank, or whether to get stuck on the water crossing Han Dynasty.

From Xiangyang to Shicheng, they all belong to the upper reaches of the Han River. The shallow and wide silts are often six to seven miles or even ten miles wide, while the river banks are narrow and flat and easy to erect pontoon bridges, which are usually two to three miles wide.

It is known as Xiangfan in the world, but it actually consists of two cities. The big city on the south bank is Xiangyang, and the northern city is Fancheng.

The Xiangfan Iron Pile Ancient Ferry got its name because the iron pillars that tied the ferry stood dissolved in the rocks. This place is the narrowest section of the Han River in the upper reaches of the Han River, and the river is more than 600 paces wide.

Luo Xiancheng had early people build a pontoon bridge to connect Xiangyang and Fancheng, which was a bridge with boats, connecting the ferries on both sides. Luo Xiancheng decided to surrender to the Yan Empress, and handed over Xiangyang and Fancheng to the soldiers and horses of the She family. She Wenzhuang asked Su Tingzhan to become the

General, he will pull iron cables to build a pontoon bridge between Xiangyang and Fancheng, so as to prepare for the main force of Beiyan soldiers and horses to cross the Han River and go south to attack Jingzhou.

Since the section of the Han River passing through Xiangfan is relatively deep, it is difficult to drive pilings to fix the boat. The fixation of the pontoon relies almost entirely on iron cables fixed to the rocks on both sides of the river.

The longer the pontoon bridge is, the greater the tension the iron cables will bear, which means the iron cables need to be made thicker, which makes the iron cables heavier.

Not to mention other things, it is just to stretch an iron cable more than 600 steps long and weighing more than 10,000 kilograms straight on the Han River to fix the boat bridge. The difficulty is unimaginable for ordinary people. What's more, the iron rope is used to fix the boat bridge.

In addition to having to withstand the impact of water coming from upstream, the bridge also has to have hundreds or even hundreds of people and horses standing on the pontoon at the same time when crossing the bridge.

Building a pontoon bridge with a length of 100 steps is simpler; building a pontoon bridge with a length of 200 steps is not simply equivalent to building two pontoons with a length of 100 steps, which is twice as difficult; not to mention the pontoon bridge between Xiangyang and Fancheng.

Eight hundred steps long!

After the fall of the Han River, the rain in the upper reaches of the Han River does not rest, making the water in the upper reaches of the stream fierce, which has a great impact on the pontoon bridge. The pontoon bridge originally erected by Luo Xiancheng's men was damaged by a flood in mid-August due to the thin iron cables.

Due to the thrust, the entire pontoon bridge collapsed, leaving only half of the pontoon bridge, which was not re-erected until the beginning of September.

Ye Jiluorong first sent Su Tingzhan and Meng Anchan with 30,000 infantry and cavalry south to Shicheng to coordinate the defense line in eastern Hubei. With the cooperation of the navy, they crossed the Han River from Shicheng and secured the victory on the west bank of the Han River.

to establish a foothold, but the main crossing point for the army going south can only be located in Xiangfan.

This was the same as what Lin Fu and others predicted in Huangzhou. The difficulty of erecting a pontoon bridge and the amount of materials consumed made it difficult for Ye Ji Luorong to make the decision to build two more pontoon bridges in Shicheng.

To attack Jingzhou, Ye Ji Luorong naturally had to use Zhou Fan and Tian Chang, who were good at siege warfare, as the main force.

However, these two troops suffered more than 10,000 casualties when they attacked Nanyang. After the massacre of the city, they also needed to rest and replenish new soldiers. It was almost at the beginning of September that they set off from the outskirts of Nanyang, entered Fancheng, and began to cross the Han River.

The North City Wall of Xiangyang is built on the stone cliff on the south bank of the Han River. Ye Jiluorong is wearing a scarlet war robe and a full beard, which makes the tall man look particularly heroic. Standing on the tower of the North City of Xiangyang, looking at the roaring Han Dynasty

The water and the army horses rushing to cross the Han River are like a foundation made of iron liquid standing at the head of Xiangyang City, which makes people feel unshakable.

Although Shewenzhuang was granted the title of King of Fujian, he deliberately kept a low profile in front of Ye Ji Luorong. He wore a brocade robe and looked like a wealthy man. He had an ancient face and a thin mane, and his hair was prematurely blooming. However, his eyes still occasionally leaked out the energy that had been honed over the years.

of sharpness.

Tian Chang's troops were the vanguard and had already gone south to attack Jingmen the day before yesterday. It took Zhou Fan's troops only two days to cross the Han River.

So Zhou Fan was still in Xiangyang City, standing at the top of the city, accompanied by Ye Ji Luorong, She Wenzhuang, Xiangyang guard Azige, Han minister Shen Haobo who was sent by Yan Ting to serve as the prefect of Xiangyang and other civil and military officials.

Xiangyang is an important place in the north of Xiangyang. It serves as the rear forage for the army marching south to Jingzhou and connects with Nanyang. Although Shen Haobo, who surrendered during the Qingzhou War, was appointed to manage the political affairs of Xiangyang, the guard still had to use someone he could absolutely trust.

"Huangpi sent a letter of cavalry saying that Huaidong had transferred troops and horses to Huangzhou. As of the 6th, there were fifty thousand soldiers in the infantry camp alone. Including the navy and cavalry, the number of troops gathered around Huangzhou was almost 100,000.

Ninety thousand people," Azig said. "They are moving so fast. The East China Sea Fox seems to be watching what's happening on our side and deciding whether to transfer its troops stationed in Luzhou to the west."

When Azig said this, he naturally blamed the slow crossing of the river, the erection of too few pontoons, and the lack of ferries.

Hu Zongguo murmured in his heart: If there were no She family and Luo Xiancheng to help you, 200,000 soldiers and horses might not be able to completely cross it in a month. The two pontoon bridges use twelve iron cables, and the iron material alone consumes nearly 100,000 yuan.

One hundred thousand catties, this is still the foundation Jiang Ning has saved. I have never seen you able to import so much iron material from Yanji to the south.

"It's all my fault that I couldn't build two more floating ferries and the army was blocked from crossing the river. Please punish Prince Mu." Shewenzhuang Xiaoyi apologized.

Ye Jiluorong glanced at Shewenzhuang and knew that he was deliberately keeping a low profile, but he also liked his Xiaoyi attitude and said: "It is a great achievement to be able to build the boat bridge in advance, and the two cities of Nanzhang and Zhongyi

All surrender, as soon as my army crosses the Han River, we can march our horses directly towards Jingmen..."

The pontoon bridge is eight hundred paces long. If people cross the bridge in two rows next to each other, the pontoon bridge will carry nearly 2,000 people at the same time. If the pontoon bridge's carrying capacity can reach this level, 200,000 horses will have to cross the Han River.

One day is enough.

It’s just that the weight of only two thousand people adds up to more than 300,000 kilograms. Even the weight of the bridge becomes extremely heavy; when it is impacted by water from upstream, whether it is vertical or horizontal, the impact on the iron cables is

The pulling force will also become so great that it cannot be endured by the Xiangfan Floating Bridge.

The two pontoon bridges that Su Tingzhan was ordered to erect could only pass four hundred people at a time. If they were to pass cavalry, they could only pass fifty or sixty at a time. This greatly delayed the speed of people and horses crossing the river.

Even so, the efficiency of the two pontoons for ferrying people and horses across the river was still higher than that of the two hundred ferries that could be mobilized to coordinate the crossing at the same time.

When the She family abandoned Eastern Fujian, they moved a large number of shipbuilding craftsmen westward with the army. However, after occupying Jiangxi, although there were craftsmen, they did not have enough time to dry the shipbuilding boards in the shade, nor did they have the energy to organize manpower to go into the deep mountains and old forests to cut down giant trees.

, so only some small and medium-sized warships can be built in Jiangzhou. In the Jiangzhou navy, ships with a load of more than 200 stone are considered large. However, these ships have been used for a long time, and their planks have become unstable and leaky.

It is also becoming increasingly serious.

People walked on the pontoon bridge and loaded on the ferry. The two infantry of Tian Chang and Zhou Fan added up to only 60,000 people, including more than 100,000 stones of food and grass. It took five days to cross the Han River.

Next, Ye Ji Luorong's 40,000 elite cavalry, except for 10,000 of them who will go from the east bank of the Han River to Shicheng to continue strengthening the defense line in eastern Hubei, the other 30,000 cavalry will have to cross south from Fancheng - think about three things

Thousands of cavalrymen want to go south via the pontoon bridge. The speed is so slow that it may be comparable to four or five times the number of infantry. It will take six or seven days anyway. Thinking about it, Shewenzhuang also has a headache.

In any case, the size and weight of the war horse are four to five times that of an ordinary adult, and no one was that comfortable when crossing the river.

Azige thought it was slow to cross the river, but Zhou Fan wanted to delay for two more days.

During the attack on Nanyang, Tian Chang did not contribute much. Zhou Fan was so successful in the battle that the casualties in the siege were mainly concentrated on his side. Although Ye Jiluorong asked Tian Chang to be the vanguard this time, he first went to cut off the Jinghu Army's troops on the outskirts of Jingzhou.

However, Zhou Fan still hoped to get a longer rest time, so he would rather slowly cross from Fancheng to Xiangyang on the south bank of the Han River. Even if it took ten or eight days, it would be nothing.

Zhou Fan said: "Although the Huaidong Army gathered very quickly in Huangzhou, it was worried that our main force would suddenly press up from the east bank of the Han River and enter eastern Hubei. Therefore, it initially centered on Huangzhou City and concentrated in the area along the north bank of the river.

Build fortifications to gain a foothold. The Huaidong Army's large-scale deployment of troops against Huangpi, Hanjin and other cities will give us another month or two after the fortifications along the river are completed."

Of course, Shewenzhuang knew that the Huaidong Army would not soon approach Huangpi and Hanjin City. In that case, Ye Ji Luorong would laugh out of his dreams. As long as he led his cavalry into Huangpi quickly, he could quickly attack the Huai army that was attacking Huangpi.

The Eastern Army counterattacked.

From Huangpi to the south and east, hills, plains, lakes and swamps intersect, leaving the Huaidong Army with a very shallow depth of less than a hundred miles to advance and retreat. In such a shallow depth, large groups of cavalry cooperated with the infantry to attack, hoping to defeat or even encircle and annihilate the army.

It is not difficult for the Huaidong Army.

If the Huaidong Army wants to attack their eastern Hubei defense line, especially when they do not have an advantage in terms of military strength, they must choose strategic locations along the river and build strongholds for temporary footholds, so that they can advance and retreat in a controlled manner and avoid defeat.

There was no chance to rest and gather the remaining troops in the formation.

But at this time, Zhou Fan said it would be at least one or two months, but Shewenzhuang disagreed.

After dealing with the Huaidong Army for many years, thanks to all these years, the Huaidong Army's advance and logistical supply efficiency were so high that it has not been recorded in history books. For example, after the war in Eastern Fujian, Lin Fu led the main force of the Huaidong Army from Jin'an

It took less than half a month to transfer back to eastern Zhejiang and then enter Jiangning from eastern Zhejiang. Once we started moving.

Although Lin Fu took the lead in entering Qichun in mid-to-late August, it was not until September 6 that the main force of his Huaidong Army's water infantry in Jiangxi completely crossed the river.

It seems that there are two possibilities: one is that Lin Fu deliberately delayed to give them the illusion that the Huaidong Army was moving slowly, and the other is that Lin Fu used his transportation capacity mainly for the transportation of materials in the early stage, and the gathering of soldiers and horses

It was delayed a little bit.

No matter which possibility is possible, it will mean that the time for the Huaidong Army to attack Huangpi will be earlier than Zhou Fan expected.

Shewenzhuang was not afraid of offending Zhou Fan, so he told Ye Jiluorong his analysis in front of Zhou Fan.

Yan Ting obviously did not want to surrender to the Han generals and remain harmonious.

Although there has been no large-scale confrontation between Beiyan and the Huaidong Army over the years, even during the Xuzhou War, they were always close to each other. However, local wars of various sizes have been fought countless times, and they have suffered more losses and gained less.

Huaidong's understanding is naturally profound. Especially after the Xuzhou War, Huaidong completely blocked their offensive direction on the eastern front with a corner of the country, which was why they did not pay attention to Huaidong.

Ye Jiluorong was so eager to attack Jingzhou this time because he was deeply afraid that their newly-built Dengzhou naval force would not be able to compete with the Huaidong naval camp for supremacy in the East China Sea, so he tried every means possible to contain the main force of Huaidong's troops on the western front.

Ye Jiluorong tended to agree with Shewenzhuang's point of view. They could not delay their attack on Jingzhou, but at the same time he was confused: "Does the King of Fujian believe that the Huaidong Army will mainly attack Huangpi?"

The two cities of Huangpi and Hanjin are only forty miles apart, and can be said to be at the horns of each other. However, in terms of terrain, Huangpi is located in a hilly area, slightly far from the river bank, while Hanjin is at the intersection of lakes and plains, close to the river and water.

When the Huaidong Army besieged Hanjin, they could advance both by land and water, and the terrain outside Hanjin restricted Beiyan cavalry operations, which was more conducive to the main force of the Huaidong Infantry Battalion exerting its combat power.

Huangpi is located inland. Although the Yudai River also passes through it, branch rivers such as the Yudai River naturally cannot allow the giant ships from Huaidong Water Camp to directly sail in to help in the battle. Huangpi is surrounded by terrain where hills and plains intersect, and lakes and swamps

There are few, which is very conducive for the Northern Yan cavalry to intervene in the battle.

In addition, when the Huaidong Army attacks Hanjin, only the right wing will be exposed, and it can get strong support from Hu Wenmu's troops in Jiangxia; while when it attacks Huangpi, both the left and right wings will be exposed, making it easy to defend Hanjin and be attacked by troops and horses on both sides of Tiemen Mountain.

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To be continued...