In the ninth year of Chongguan, Donghu broke through the pass and invaded Yanji. Zhejiang soldiers rescued the king and surrendered to the enemy in Shandong, and then besieged Yangxin City, which Lin Fu defended. (_Bao & Book & Bar) In the battle of Yangxin, Zhejiang soldiers who surrendered to the enemy were defeated and abandoned their armor. About 6,000 Zhejiang soldiers were captured.

Lin Fu killed the generals and accepted the soldiers of Zhejiang soldiers. About 6,000 surrendered soldiers moved to Jinhai after the war, and Hu Jinxiong was among them. While guarding Jinhai, Hu Jinxiong joined the camp and made many military achievements. When he followed the army south, he had already accumulated merits and promoted to deputy sentry general.

The Huaidong Army has made various actions to establish destiny for the people over the years, and Hu Jinxiong, who was born in a low-level family, had a particularly profound experience. After the Battle of Yongjia, Hu Jinxiong had the opportunity to take up a military position in the local area, and he could be regarded as glorifying his ancestors from now on.

However, like many Zhejiang generals and soldiers, they believed that the world had not reached Jingping and the armor was not controlled. Hu Jinxiong firmly demanded to return to the Chongcheng Army, which had the most frequent wars, and fight with the army in the field. Now he has been promoted to the brigade commander after he has made a lot of achievements.

Chen Di and Su Pinxiao led the main force to continue advancing west along the Yangtze River. Before the main force of the Zhejiang and Fujian Army withdrew, they must first occupy Huating, the most important pass in the western border of Hengfeng County. Only in this way can the main force of the Zhejiang and Fujian Army be sealed in a narrow area south of Huaiyu Mountain and north of Xinjiang River.

Although three or five hundred remaining soldiers abandoned Shangrao City and fled westward, Hu Jinxiong did not divide his troops to pursue him. The most urgent task was to take over Shangrao's city defense. The main force of Zhejiang and Fujian Army who retreated west would likely come back fiercely afterwards.

Hu Jinxiong led his troops to the city and first met with Yang Biao, a spy sent by the Military Information Department and sneaked into Shangrao private camp with the people and followed the people to the public.

Hu Jinxiong led Yu Yangbiao and others to the city's public security committee. He sent three thousand soldiers to the city to defend. Chen Di also left more than a dozen bed crossbows and scorpion crossbows for him, and also brought them to the city to strengthen defense.

In the afternoon, about three hours after Chen Di led the main force to raid the main force and left Shangrao City, two more Jiyun-class warships arrived from the upstream, and flagged them on the high masts, demanding to be docked in Shangrao.

Hu Jinxiong was surprised. As a general of the brigade commander, he knew clearly that besides Chen Di and Su Pinxiao, there were only three Jiyun-class warships left in Guanxiling.

The Zhejiang and Fujian Army will no longer have complete naval combat power in Xinjiang, Shanxi and other water systems. If it weren't for escorting important people, the Guanxiling Camp would not have used two Jiyun-class warships to escort them. Then a messenger ordered the troops to come first, but Gao Zongting rushed over from the Guanxiling Camp.

Hu Jinxiong and Yang Biao went out of the city to greet him, but they saw Gao Zongting leading more than 300 soldiers to land. Even if the two warships were ordered to return, all the newly built warships in Guanxiling were almost taken away by Chen Di. Now the camp is short of warships upstream of Shanxi.

"Master Gao comes here in person. Should the camp adjust the combat plan they had planned before?" Hu Jinxiong asked in confusion.

"There is no question of adjustment," said Gao Zongting. "The camp initially formulated a combat plan, but it was not possible to accurately judge the size of the Zhejiang and Fujian Army's troops near Shangrao, so it did not force the raids to take down Shangrao City. However, after General Chen Di led you to set off, the scout who sneaked into the opposite bank of Shangrao for reconnaissance returned to Guanxiling after Riyu. Only then did the camp accurately know the distribution of the main force of the rebels' eastern front along the Xinjiang River. It is speculated that Shangrao should have empty troops!"

"Indeed, we only received a secret letter from Shangrao when we almost left Shanxi," said Hu Jinxiong. "Fortunately, Yang Ziwei and others were supporting the city, persuaded the civilians to riot, and scared the guards away, and asked me to take advantage of it and take down Shangrao City without any effort."

"..." Gao Zongting nodded. On the way to Shangrao, he encountered the letter ship sent by Chen Di. Knowing the details here, he nodded to Yang Biao again. He was extremely satisfied with Yang Biao's work in Shangrao, and said to Hu Jinxiong, "The camp speculated that Shangrao will play an important role in the next battle. He can defend and be the commander. I am afraid that General Chen Di is good at fighting fierce battles and has no intention of defending the battle. The lord asked me to chase me and take a look." He took out a letter of order from his sleeve and said, "This is the lord's order. Your troops will temporarily listen to my dispatch."

Hu Jinxiong read the warrant and said, "Please give me instructions!"

Gao Zongting was the Secretary of the Privy Council and was in charge of the Right Department of the Military Information Department. It can be said that the Privy Council's Privy Council has a status far above generals such as Hu Jinxiong. However, Lin Fu was in the Privy Council and implemented the division of civil and military affairs. Gao Zongting did not hold his post, so he had to lead the army and Lin Fu temporarily granted his order.

Gao Zongting didn't have time to take a sip of tea, so he went straight to the city with Hu Jinxiong, Yang Biao and others, and said while walking: "How long will General Chen We have been moving west? Is there any news coming back? What's the movement of the head of Wang Hui of Zhejiang and Fujian Army in Qingxi?"

"The Chen army has led its troops west for three hours. It has crossed Qingxi and continued to move westward. There is no ship to be sent back yet," Hu Jinxiong said. "The enemy of Qingxi has received the trust a moment ago. At that time, the camp was soon to be deported, and it will always shrink to Qingxi Village. By this time, there is no sign of large-scale troops..."

Qingxi is a Linjiang Town Bu 30 miles west of Shangrao City. Last night, Wang Hui led his troops to about 6,000 troops to camp there.

Wang Hui was originally a guardian of Kuaiji. When the troops in Liangzhe County were defeated, Wang Hui led his troops to sacrifice the city to surrender.

If someone else had learned that Huaidong troops were coming from the water, they might have been traveling back by land to seize Shangrao. However, Wang Hui did not have the courage to lead his troops back to guard Qingxi, which was a normal move...

Gao Zongting listened to Hu Jinxiong's report on the situation of passing Shangrao and said, "General Chen We led his troops to let Wang Hui's troops go to Qingxi. He did not waste any time traveling along the river. No matter how late he was, he could arrive at Hengfeng Huating at the same time as Deng Yu, a veteran Fujian general. This also means that the main forces of the rebels on the eastern front would intercept in the narrow and long area east of Huating and west of Shangrao..."

"Is it really going to be round this time?" Hu Jinxiong, Yang Biao and others looked happy. How could they not be excited if they could annihilate 30,000 troops from Zhejiang and Fujian Army at once?

"It's not that simple," Gao Zongting smiled. "First of all, we must guard Shangrao. We must organize the civil servants in the city immediately so that they can be transferred to the city to assist in defense at any time. In addition, we must select trustworthy people who are familiar with the place and immediately defeat the Zhejiang and Fujian army. The Huaidong army has already controlled the Xinjiang River, and the news that the main force is about to move west back to the local area. We ask them to inform the villages and villages on the northern foot of Wuyi Mountain and the western foot of Huaiyu Mountain on both sides of the Xinjiang River that they must be closed and guarded from now on. If they cannot build a village to protect themselves, they must abandon the village and destroy the grain and avoid the mountains. We do not ask that the villages and villages be able to kill the enemy, but they must not use the enemy for food and fodder, otherwise they will be punished after the war! There are excess weapons and food in the city, so they can be taken away to increase the defense of the villages and villages."

Shangrao is the center of gravity of the entire upper reaches of Xinjiang River, and it is also the center of gravity of Zhejiang and Fujian Army's operation of defense on the eastern front.

The supplies transferred from the hinterland of Jiangxi were all transported from Shangrao to Hengshan, Changshan and other peripheral defense bases. In addition to the strong city, Shangrao City also accumulated a large amount of food, fodder and military supplies. It was originally planned to be consumed by She Feixiong leading his troops to retreat into the city to defend.

Once Chen Di led the main force of the First Town Division of the Chongcheng Army to successfully land in Huating and sealed the entrance to the main force of the Zhejiang and Fujian Army's eastern front to escape west, in addition to breaking through with all his might, the Zhejiang and Fujian Army also had a great possibility, which was to regain Shangrao City and wait for assistance.

If we do not count the soldiers and horses on the south bank of She Feixiong, now in the valley on the north bank of Xinjiang, west of Shangrao and east of Hengfeng, there are almost more than 30,000 generals and soldiers of Zhejiang and Fujian Army, and there are 30,000 to 40,000 soldiers and civilians. If the main force of Zhejiang and Fujian Army is annihilated, even if the She Feixiong on the south bank flees south, the overall situation in Jiangxi can be settled.

If the main force of the Zhejiang and Fujian Army on the eastern front could neither rush through Huating to break west nor regain Shangrao City to defend and wait for assistance, there was another possibility that it would be to scatter between the ridges on the western foot of Huaiyu Mountain and break north to Fuliang.

The entire upper reaches of Xinjiang River is surrounded by the western foot of Huaiyu Mountain and the northern foot of Wuyi Mountain. The ridges on both wings range from three to four hundred feet to seven to eight hundred feet high.

The ridge is high and the forest is deep, and it is difficult to allow large soldiers to pass through, but there are also many forest paths and wild paths, which are easy to escape by small soldiers. The most steepest section of the western foot of Huaiyu Mountain between Shangrao and Fuliang is close to the north of Shangrao, and the mountains are east-west, about thirty or fifty miles deep. Although it is steep, as long as you can cross these thirty or fifty miles of deep mountains and forests and enter Fuliang, it will be much easier.

Nowadays, the villages scattered deep in the western slope of Huaiyu Mountain are precisely the key point for the Zhejiang and Fujian army to scatter northward. Gao Zongting rushed over, in addition to personally taking charge of the defense of Shangrao City, another thing was to build the net closer, so that even small fish and shrimps could not leak it.

Most of the civilians requisitioned by the Zhejiang and Fujian Army were local farmers.

Almost half of the villages between the northern and southern mountains were forced to conquer. In addition to the heavy labor service they suffered every day, their food was less than 30% of ordinary soldiers, and countless people died of hunger and illness. These made them hate the She family to the core. Even if they were strongly encouraged by the Zhejiang and Fujian Army and secretly encouraged by Yang Biao to participate in the riot, there were also many civilians who supported the Huaidong Army to attack Shangrao.

Yang Biao was ordered to summon all the civilians and men, and sent them money, grain and weapons, and asked them to take the military weapons and return to the depths of Huaiyu Mountain in groups, and asked them to go back to the village to organize more people to close the gates of the villages and guard them to completely block the northern and southern mountains and prevent the Zhejiang and Fujian army from scattered and fleeing. The civilians and men all responded positively.

Yang Biao sneaked into Shangrao for half a year. He was originally a local native of Shangrao and was most familiar with the local situation. When Gao Zongting came over, he ordered Yang Biao to temporarily take up the position of Shangrao County Magistrate and specialize in Shangrao public security, private business and other affairs.

After Yang Biao's organization, more than 5,000 civilians and horses were organized before dusk, more than 80 teams of troops returned to the mountains on the western foot of Huaiyu Mountain with a small amount of weapons. At this time, She Feixiong had just led his troops to pass by the south bank.

Under the setting sun, looking at the troops of She Feixiong, who was in the south bank, marching with a long snake on the rugged river road, Gao Zongting stood at the top of the city thinking, and immediately took a pen and wrote a letter to Hu Jinxiong, saying, "Send a quick boat to send this letter to Shangguanxiling camp!"

Deng Yu only learned about the Huaidong Army's attack on the waterway just after midday. At that time, he was leading his troops to stop in Hengfeng County, about thirty miles from the Huating west of Hengfeng.

The Huaidong Army dug lakes upstream of Shanxi and released water, and formed two large flood peaks in the Xinjiang River. From Hengfeng to the west, Huaiyu Mountain to the north, and Wuyi Mountain to the south, pressing towards the middle, making this section of Xinjiang River waterway particularly narrow.

When the flood peak passes, it is particularly surging in Hengfeng. There is a river embankment in the west of Hengfeng County that failed to withstand the impact and destroyed the flood. The official road along the river on the north bank was almost three or four miles away.

Deng Yu led his troops to go faster, but at this time he had to pause and force the civilians who had retreated to the west overnight to repair the post road. It was almost before noon that the post road that was destroyed by the flood in the west of Hengfeng City was repaired.

Deng Yu was shocked when he learned that the Huaidong Army was rushing through water.

The main force of the Huaidong Army's raids was She Feixiong's broken rear troops, Wang Hui's troops were not attacked, and Wang Hui, who was letting go of Qingxi, did not attack Changshan between Qingxi and Hengxi, and the troops of Litang did not attack, and continued to advance west along the river. The intention was self-evident. Deng Yu knew that the Huaidong Army had great ambitions, and wanted to occupy Huating first and lock the main force of the Zhejiang and Fujian Army's eastern front in the Xinjiang Valley east of Huating and encircle and annihilate them.

The terrain north of Xinjiang River and south of the western foot of Huaiyu Mountain is relatively wide and easy. The valley on the north bank ranges from about ten miles to twenty or thirty miles wide. In these open terrains, Deng Yu gathered the main force of the eastern line to obtain more than 30,000 troops, so that he would not be afraid of the Huaidong Army raiding more than 10,000 people standing in front of the road.

However, after passing Hengfeng City, Yumailing Mountain on the western foot of Huaiyu Mountain seemed to be crossing, heading south towards the river bank, which was named after Hengfeng County.

This change in terrain makes the terrain along the north and south rivers become rugged and steep after the Xinjiang River crosses Hengfeng, forming a significant bottleneck terrain.

Huating is located at the western end of the bottleneck of Hengfeng. It is the northern bank of Xinjiang River. The most steep place in the west of Hengfeng. However, after passing Huating, the terrain suddenly becomes easier. To the west of Huating, there is also Huating Creek flowing out from the western foot of Huaiyu Mountain and pouring into Xinjiang River. After passing Huating Creek, it is within Guixi County. Advancing north along the Huating Creek Valley Road, you can enter the territory of Leping County, Fuliang...

The Huating is not only a land pass, but also the mountains on both sides of the Huating are forced towards Xinjiang, while the banks of the Huating River Road are also extremely narrow.

The closest Yashan Mountains in the Huating section of Xinjiang River are only three hundred steps away, and Huating Gorge is actually a pass of the Xinjiang River Waterway.

Once the Huaitong Army is asked to make a foothold in Huating, the stone-throwing crossbow built on the cliff stone can block the entire Huating Gorge. In this way, the Huaitong Army can seal the entire Xinjiang waterway with a small number of elite naval forces.

Although the Zhejiang and Fujian naval forces in Shangrao were unexpectedly destroyed, and the Huaidong army unexpectedly built nearly 100 warships upstream of Shanxi, the Zhejiang and Fujian naval forces in Jiangzhou and Yuzhang had a total of more than 25,000 naval forces.

Although it took about ten days and half a month for the Jiangzhou naval army to come to support through Poyang Lake, the main force of the Zhejiang and Fujian Army on the eastern front was besieged in the upper reaches of Xinjiang River and avoided the city nearby. If the food and grass are in short supply, it would not be a problem to hold on for ten days and half a month to wait for assistance.

The most feared thing is that Jiangzhou navy comes to help, but cannot attack Huating Gorge from the downstream and enter the upper reaches of Xinjiang to respond, and then the breakthrough will become a long and hopeless situation.

Not only the Huaidong Army knew the importance of Huating, but many generals of the Zhejiang and Fujian Army also understood the importance of Huating in their hearts - the gains and losses of Huating, which was related to whether the entire Eastern Front could escape the fate of the disaster.

Deng Yu learned that the Huaidong Army was attacking from the waterway, and regardless of the 30,000 troops and horses retreated from Changshan, he drove quickly towards Huating...

Deng Yu had gone first for two days, but the Huaidong warship came down from Shanxi and went downstream very quickly.

Although it took two hours to attack Shangrao, Chen Di and Su Pinxiao still led their troops to arrive at the Huating River section before dusk. At this time, about 10,000 troops from Deng Yu, the troops of Zhejiang and Fujian Army were moving rapidly on the north bank, and the troops at the forefront had already run to the foot of the western foot of Huating Mountain.

"How to fight?" Su Pinxiao asked Chen Di.

Su Pinxiao and Chen Di were both the commander of the army, but Su Pinxiao was a general of the navy. This raid would inevitably lead to Chongcheng Army landing on the shore to fight, so Lin Fu, the main general of Chen Di.
Chapter completed!