Strike while the iron is hot, taking advantage of the great defeat of the main force on the north bank of the Qiao-Rui Army and the morale collapse of the Qiao-Rui Army, and taking advantage of the God-given opportunity that the Qiao-Rui Armed Forces Fleet cannot intercept, the Xuzhou Fleet coming from the lower reaches just crossed the Zhongli Pier and seized the upper reaches of the Huaihe River. The Xuzhou Army

Immediately, under Tao Ying's personal command, the river crossing operation began. The Huaiyin fleet, which could have carried tens of thousands of soldiers at a time, entered the battle lightly. It only loaded more than 5,000 Xuzhou elite soldiers and sailed away from the dock, rowing oars and heading towards the south bank.

Xie Yan, a rookie water general, personally led more than fifty canoes and warships to protect the ferry and resist Qiao Rui's desperate fireships.

At Shen Shizheng, the rush for the crossing began. More than a hundred boats, large and small, were dispatched one after another and rushed to an open shoal on the other side. The vanguard was of course the trapped camp that had already killed the Qiao and Rui troops. However, the ones rushing at the front were

Compared with the Huainan Army, Xu Chu was brave and invincible. The shoal suitable for landing was already covered with temporary fortifications and antlers of the Qiao Rui Army's emergency repairs. The red-eyed Qiao Rui ignored the low morale and fought hard.

Following Lao's orders, he dispatched 10,000 troops from the south bank of the Huaihe River. They relied on temporary fortifications to fortify themselves layer by layer. They risked their last capital on Zhongli's battlefield to prevent the Xuzhou army from crossing the river. They also dispatched all available fireships. The wind direction and current were both unfavorable.

Under such circumstances, they fought tooth and nail in an attempt to slow down Xuzhou's army in crossing the river.

When the boat Xu Chu was riding in was the first to reach the south bank against the overwhelming rain of arrows, the battle across the river started at the same time on the north bank and on the river. Xu Chu jumped off the beach with a long shield in hand, and took the lead in killing the defenders behind the fortifications alone.

Under the leadership of Gao Shun, the soldiers from the trapped camp also jumped into the shallow water on the beach one after another like dumplings, shouting and killing the defenders. Bows and arrows came and went in the sky like locusts, and from time to time, soldiers from the trapped camp who were unable to block were hit by arrows, but

Regardless of whether they were those who had been hit by arrows or those who were not hit by arrows, they were all charging forward with their shields and swords in hand.

On the river, one after another fireboats rushed towards the Xuzhou fleet under the control of the Qiao Rui Army's suicide squad. What greeted them was the intensive crossbows of Xuzhou's rookie sailors. A large number of expensive rockets were used at all costs.

Although the soldiers of the Qiao Rui Army on the ship also fought back with bows and arrows, the almost unprotected fireships were still set ablaze by rockets one after another. Before they got close to the Xuzhou fleet, fires soared into the sky with thick smoke billowing within a mile.

, the fire soared into the sky. Many of the dead soldiers on the fireboat were burned to death by the fire, and were stunned and choked by the thick smoke. The fireboat lost control and was rushed downstream by the current. The flames on the river soared into the sky, and the shouts of killing were also loud.

Move the ground.

The downstream position and the changeable wind direction in midsummer are unfavorable to the Qiaorui Army's fireboats, and it is destined to be impossible to cause fatal damage to the Xuzhou Army's ferry. However, if the Xuzhou Army wants to truly break through the Qiaorui Army's Huaihe River defense line, the most critical point is to

After establishing a foothold on the south bank, the main battlefield of the river-crossing battle was always on the landing shoal of the Xuzhou army. The dying Qiaorui army guarded the shoal tightly and was as brave as Xu Chu, Gao Shun and the soldiers of the trapped camp.

It was so strenuous that when Xu Chu, who was protected by a long shield, was the first to rush to the front of Qiao Rui's army, he was already hit by two arrows.

The antlers and horses of the Qiao Rui Army were gathered very densely, and the antlers and horses were protected by fences. The spearmen and soldiers hid behind the fences and just stabbed them randomly. Xu Chu's short swords could not cut them, and they were stabbed wildly by more than a dozen swords during several charges.

The gunman retreated, and finally Xu Chu got angry. He simply shrank and hid behind the long shield, roared and hit the antlers in front of him with the shield. The wooden antlers collided with the long shield covered with iron plates and broke, and several thorns were broken.

The incoming spear was also blocked by the shield. Xu Chu continued to push forward and roared, his muscles all over his body. The antlers flew up and hit the fence hard. The sharp wooden horns also stabbed several bridges behind the fence.

Rui army soldiers.

"Zhongkang, come back!"

Gao Shun finally led the trapped camp brigade to charge forward. While shouting at Xu Chu to retreat, he asked the soldiers to light the flying muskets they brought with them. Dozens of flying muskets sprayed out flames more than ten feet long and waved them to burn the fence.

The soldiers of the Qiao Rui Army behind them, who had seen this kind of fire-breathing weapon for the first time, screamed and retreated. The remaining soldiers in the trapped camp stepped forward one after another, using hemp ropes to tie the fences or antlers to resist the horses.

During the eight-legged pull, row after row of antlers and horses were uprooted. Xu Chu grabbed a hemp rope that tied the fence alone. He shouted and the veins on his forehead popped out, and he used his hands to lift the horse upside down.

The divine power of the two bulls uprooted a fence that was more than three feet long and flew into the sky.

"Kill -!" A way forward was finally opened. Of course, the soldiers in the trapped camp cheered loudly, and went crazy to kill the soldiers of the Qiao Rui Army behind the fence. They only had the courage to confront the soldiers in the trapped camp because of the protection of the fortifications.

The soldiers of Qiao Rui's army were all in a panic, and they were scrambling to escape for their lives. Qiao Rui and the supervising team sent by Wang Lun couldn't even stop them. The soldiers of the trapped camp marched forward, rushing to the back of the fence to chop melons and vegetables.

The soldiers of the Qiaorui Army and the Xuzhou soldiers who landed in the rear also took advantage of the situation and rushed forward. They destroyed the fortifications and killed the soldiers of the Qiaorui Army, quickly seizing a large beachhead.

At the same time, the first batch of Xuzhou Navy ships that had unloaded their soldiers had already moved down the river and vacated the landing site. The second batch of ships quickly docked. The Xuzhou soldiers on board jumped onto the shoal and raced against time to assemble into a team.

, the number of Xuzhou soldiers on the south bank quickly reached more than 3,000. Seeing this scene, the main Xuzhou troops on the other bank who were nervously watching the battle on the south bank burst into cheers. They had already been killed by the Xuzhou army on the north bank.

Qiao Rui's troops all had earth-colored faces. Even Wang Lun, the guard of Zhongli City, was frightened. He couldn't help running to Qiao Rui and asked tremblingly: "General, the Xuzhou bandit army has successfully landed. What should I do? What should I do?

?”

"What should we do? Cold salad!" Qiao Rui yelled angrily, and pointed at the ford position and yelled: "There are still two fences, we still have a chance! You can lead the troops up to supervise the battle in person. If there are any retreaters, immediately

Kill!" After roaring, Qiao Rui quickly asked his soldiers to pass the order, asking the archers to speed up the shooting of arrows. Even if their fingers are broken, they must shoot as many arrows as possible.

When Wang Lun led the war team to the front line with fear, the defeated soldiers guarding the first fence fortifications had been driven to the second line of defense. General Yuan Shu, who was in charge of the second line of defense, was afraid of repeating the same mistake and being overwhelmed by the defeated soldiers. Not only did

They did not open the movable fence to allow the defeated soldiers to retreat behind the second line of defense. They simply nailed the fence door shut and ordered the defenders on the second line of defense to stab and fire arrows, forcing the defeated soldiers to turn around and fight to the death.

In this way, it was a complete misfortune. Unfortunately, Yuan Shu's army at the front was defeated. In the front was his own team's dense arrows and spears, and in the rear was the trapped camp that was so fierce that they didn't even take prisoners.

, caught in the middle and unable to advance or retreat. No matter how much he cried and begged, it was in vain. He was killed by his own companions and the trapped camp until he was bleeding like a river. The corpses were also spread out in a thick layer in front of the second line of defense.

shocking.

In fact, for the army crossing the river, as long as the ferry can ensure a steady flow of troops to the other side, the most difficult thing to fight is actually the enemy's first line of defense. Xu Chu and the trapped camp teamed up to break through Yuan Shu's army's first line of defense.

, the Xuzhou army behind gained landing space, and fresh troops could come ashore in an endless stream. They could not only rescue the wounded and charge in rotation, but also use bows and arrows to suppress the enemy's archers and reduce the pressure on the front-line troops. Therefore, even if Yuan Shu's army increased

The strength of the bows and arrows was increased, but as the Xuzhou archers moved forward, they also drew their bows and fired arrows specifically at Yuan Shujun's archery team. The density of Yuan Shujun's bows and arrows became sparse again.

After receiving the cover of bows and arrows, Xu Chu and Gao Shun's breakthrough speed also accelerated a lot. They concentrated their forces and cleared out the defeated troops of Yuan Shu's army on a section of the defense line. The trapped camp quickly repeated their old tricks, first using flying muskets to suppress the defenders behind the fence, and their companions quickly

He went forward with a rope to catch the antlers to resist the horse, and then pulled hard to pull out these annoying antlers. Then he went to pull out the fence. Seeing this, Wang Lun, who was ordered to defend, became anxious, and quickly led the supervising team up personally, brandishing his sword.

He hacked at his own soldiers who were screaming and running away after being burned by flying muskets. He forced the soldiers to step forward to stop him. In desperation, he even stepped forward himself. He swung his knife to cut the rope that had been tied to the fence.

"Wha—!" At this moment, an arrow suddenly shot through the air and hit Wang Lun's left eye squarely. Poor General Wang Lun screamed and fell to the ground. He grabbed the arrow shaft and tried to pull out the arrow but did not dare.

He just screamed in despair. At the same time, in the trapped camp team, Cao Xing, who led the second batch of troops to land, put down his bow and arrow and muttered, "Weird? Why is it the left eye again? I fired three arrows today.

Why are they always shot in the left eye?"

Poor General Wang Lun was seriously wounded by an arrow and fell to the ground. The supervising team rushed forward to rescue him. The surrounding soldiers of Yuan Shu's army immediately ran away as if they had been granted amnesty. Xu Chu and dozens of soldiers who were trapped in the camp took the opportunity to rise up.

With divine power, another section of the fence was uprooted. The soldiers of the trapped camp cheered and shouted, and swarmed into the second line of defense. During the charge, they not only chopped up Yuan Shu's military supervisory team who had no time to retreat, but also killed the poor Wang.

The general was trampled alive into a pulp.

The second line of defense was broken through again. Even Qiao Rui knew that the situation was over. When he went to see the battlefield in the middle of the river with the last glimmer of hope, he saw that Xuzhou's rookie navy had taken advantage of the advantage upstream and had already forced them to the dock on the south bank.

Rockets and torches were used to set fires everywhere, igniting many fireboats driven by so many suicide squads that could not be found next to the pier. Flames shot into the sky next to the pier, and thick smoke billowed. The soldiers guarding the pier ran away to escape the fire, not to mention driving fireships.

The Xuzhou army was prevented from crossing the river, and even boarding the fire ship was difficult.

"There is no hope. We can only give priority to preserving the army." Qiao Rui sighed secretly in his heart. He turned around and ordered a few close generals, asking them to lead the remaining reserves to withdraw to Zhongli City first, and immediately set out to defend the city.

During the battle, he quickly sent a messenger back to Dangtu to report the news, asking the defenders in that area to immediately abandon their river bank positions and withdraw to Dangtu City to defend behind closed doors - the Zhongli River section had been broken through by the Xuzhou army, and the partial division stationed in Dangtu

Staying in the wild any longer is not only pointless, it is also a waste of time.

The battle across the river lasted from Shen Shizheng until it was dark. It was not until the Xuzhou army broke through the third line of defense that the dejected Qiao Rui quickly led the remaining defeated soldiers back to Zhongli City and defended the city.

Chariots and other siege weapons were transported across the river, so they did not launch a pursuit. They just quickly transported more fresh troops across the river to consolidate the positions on the south bank. At the same time, they seized the time to repair the pontoon bridge so that the grain, grass and baggage could cross the river smoothly.

It only took one day to kill the main force of Yuan Shu's army on the north bank and break through the Huaihe River defense line. The war went smoothly. Everyone in Xuzhou's army was naturally smiling. Tao Ying also complied with the demands of the people and ordered rewards for the three armies and additional benefits for soldiers and civilians.

After dinner, Xu Chu and the trapped camp team were heavily rewarded for their hard work today, causing the Xuzhou team to once again burst into loud cheers.

While the Xuzhou army was cheering, Deputy Director Tao, the commander-in-chief of the Xuzhou army, did not have much of a smile on his face. On the contrary, when he was looking at the brightly lit Zhongli City Wall on the other side of the river, Tao Ying actually had a smile on his handsome little face.

Worried. Lu Su next to him saw Tao Ying's expression through the light of the torch, and couldn't help but curiously asked: "Why is my lord so worried? Is it because he is worried about the upcoming siege?"

"I'm not worried about the siege. Our army has thunderbolt chariots. As long as there is enough time, it will be easy to defeat the small town of Zhongli." Tao Ying shook his head and said lightly: "What I am worried about is our opponent Qiao Rui."

"Yes, Qiao Rui is a respectable opponent." Lu Su nodded and said, "Although Qiao Rui was defeated by our army in today's battle, after the disastrous defeat on the north bank, Qiao Rui was able to quickly organize the defeated troops to resist our army from crossing the river.

, causing a lot of troubles and a lot of casualties to our army. This tenacity in fighting against repeated defeats is indeed rare."

"In addition to his tenacity, what I'm more worried about is his calmness even after defeat." Tao Ying said: "Zijing, did you pay attention? When our army broke through the enemy's camp on the north bank today, Qiao Rui's first action

What is it? He immediately organized the army to withdraw from the river, and also let the best-equipped team cross the river first. After our army broke through his two river bank defense lines, his first action was to immediately have the reserve team retreat back to the city, and then immediately

Start strengthening the city’s defenses. What does this mean?”

"What does it mean?" Lu Su asked.

"This shows that Qiao Rui is always calm and always fights around a tactical center." Tao responded: "His tactical center is to slow down our advance as much as possible and drag us into a long and hard battle.

The quagmire also gave Yuan Shu time to mobilize the troops on the western and southern fronts to reinforce the northern front. So he could lose. He could also lose again and again, but he would never spend all his capital at once, he would only suffer defeat while

, while leaving as much energy as possible to save capital for the next battle, he haunts us. He forces our army to defeat him again and again, and also induces our army to win one victory after another.

It’s a waste of valuable time.”

"My lord, your worries are justified." Lu Su agreed: "If we don't seize the time and quickly capture a few Huainan cities to gain a foothold and provide food, and when Yuan Shu and his men gather the main forces of the western and southern fronts to go north, then we will be defeated.

It has been dragged into the quagmire of a war of attrition. Although our army's combat power is stronger than that of the Huainan army, Yuan Shu's army is too aggressive. There are too many troops in the territory. There are too many ants to kill the elephant. If Yuan Shu's troops on the western and southern fronts join forces, plus

It will be difficult for us to defeat Yuan Shu's army on the northern front."

"Yes, the best way is to defeat Yuan Shu's reinforcements one by one before Yuan Shu gathers the troops from all over the country." Tao Ying said through gritted teeth: "So, we must seize the time and capture one or two Huainan troops first.

The city needs to establish a foothold and provide food, and then try to beat Yuan Shu's men in time and eat his reinforcements one by one!"

"My lord is smart, the number of cavalry in our army is greater than that of Yuan Shu, and the speed of the attack of the gentleman's army is the best in the world. The tactics of defeating each one are suitable for our army's specialties!" Lu Su applauded and flattered, and then Lu Su suggested: "My lord,

Su suggested that after our army crosses the Huaihe River, we should immediately encircle Zhongli City, concentrate the Thunderbolt Chariots to blast the Zhongli City Wall, seize Zhongli's foothold, and annihilate the remaining Qiao Rui troops!"

"No, we can't fight like this!" Tao Ying shook his head decisively and said with a grim smile: "Qiao Rui is too stubborn and too rational. If we attack Zhongli fiercely, he will definitely defend at all costs and even fight in the streets. Even if we have the Thunderbolt Chariot in hand

, it is difficult to capture Zhongli City without seven or eight days! Moreover, Zhongli City is too small, there must not be much food in the city, and the location is relatively remote, which is not suitable for our foothold and food supply! Therefore, Zhongli cannot capture it.

, and there was no forceful beating!”

"Then where are we going to attack?" Lu Su asked, then he quickly came to his senses and blurted out: "Could it be that the lord wants to attack Dangtu?"

"That's right, Dangtu!" Tao Ying nodded vigorously and said with a smile: "Our army's careful inspection revealed that Qiao Rui concentrated its main force on the Zhongli battlefield. Although 10,000 partial divisions were deployed on the Dangtu battlefield, there were not many elites.

, the combat effectiveness is far inferior to that of the Zhongli garrison, and the strength of the beast is certainly not as good as Qiaorui. Once our army captures Dangtu, it will not only be able to shorten the turning grain road by fifty or sixty miles, but also threaten Xiquyang and Yinling at the same time.
To be continued...