Chapter 594: The soldiers arrived in Xiangzhou

‘The water of the Yellow River comes from the sky, flows to the sea and never returns again.

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The Yellow River comes from the snow-capped mountains on the plateau and flows for nearly ten thousand miles. Countless tributaries flow in between, the river surface begins to widen, and the river water is vast. After rushing out of Sanmenxia, ​​there is no restraint. Finally, a vast river of light has formed in Luoyang, rushing thousands of miles into the sea.

It has entered November, and the Yellow River has begun to enter the dry season, and the river surface has become much calmer. The weather is getting colder, and many tributaries of the Yellow River have begun to freeze. Even thin floating ice appears near the bank of the Yellow River, which is a sign of the complete ice of the Yellow River.

That morning, Li Qing'an, accompanied by dozens of generals including Li Guangbi and local officials of Henan Province, came to the bank of the Yellow River in Heyin County to inspect the water conditions of the Yellow River.

Li Qingan arrived in Luoyang three days ago and rested in Luoyang for a night. The next day he set off for Heyin to inspect.

"Please look at it, General!"

Li Guangbi pointed to the thin ice that was dozens of miles long and about seven or eight feet wide and said, "That appeared the day before yesterday. The appearance of that floating ice means that the Yellow River is not far from frozen."

Li Qingan stared for a moment, then asked, "How thick is the ice layer? Can people leave on it?"

"I don't know this, I can give someone a try."

Li Guangbi ordered, and the two soldiers immediately took long sticks and carefully went down the river bank. They saw them approaching the floating ice and hit the ice with wooden sticks. After hitting them more than a dozen times, the ice surface began to break, and the river water seeped out from the ice crack. A soldier stepped on the ice surface with his right foot to leverage the force. The ice surface under his feet suddenly cracked. If the companions next to him had not seen the opportunity and grabbed him, he would have almost fallen into the Yellow River.

The two soldiers hurried back and reported: "General, the ice surface is only half an inch thick, and the shore is slightly thicker, one inch, but neither can leave."

Li Qing'an nodded. At this time, several personal soldiers brought an old boatman, "General, the local boatman you want has been found."

The old boatman immediately knelt down and kowtowed, "Xiaomin kowtowed to His Highness King Zhao."

Li Qingan smiled and asked his personal soldiers to help the old boatman up. He asked with a smile: "What's your name? How many years have you been sailing on the Yellow River?"

"The little people are called Luo Wulang. I started sailing on the Yellow River at the age of eighteen. I am fifty-eight years old this year, and I have been forty years."

"It's true that I'm experienced. I'll ask you. According to the current situation, there will be a few days left for the Yellow River to freeze. I mean you can pass by."

The old boatman calculated it and said, "In recent years, it was a bit abnormal. If it were four years ago, it should have been frozen at this time. But in recent years, it will take about seven or eight days to freeze. Judging from the current situation, it will take at least seven days to completely freeze. However, we have a saying here, "Don't go up the first time the Yellow River is frozen, and the Dragon King will be invited to the river." That is to say, you cannot leave when the frozen one is just frozen. If you want to leave, you must wait for the Yellow River to cover the brocade quilt and sleep on the river surface. This means that you have to wait for the first snow after the frozen one to leave on the ice."

Li Qing'an and Li Guangbi looked at each other and laughed together. They were struggling here for a long time, but it was better than two common sayings. In the second sentence, they pointed out all the information they wanted to know.

"Then we have to wait for the first snowfall!"

Li Qingan suddenly remembered something again and asked the old boatman: "Can you sail a boat now?"

The old boatman shook his head and smiled, "Can you see a boat on the river? You can't sail now, and you are not lucky. You freeze the boat on the river overnight. You can't move forward or retreat. You can only wait until the ice breaks in spring next year before picking up the boat. One winter, the hull has long been decayed. Even if the hull is not broken, when the ice breaks, the big ship will definitely be squeezed and crushed in the ice flood at that time. So at this time, there will definitely be no boat on the river surface. However, in Jeju and Qizhou, you can still take a few days to sail, but it will not last for two days."

"Thank you, the old boatman."

Li Qing'an ordered his personal soldiers and said, "Take him down and reward him with ten silver dollars."

The old shipworker thanked him deeply. At this time, Li Guangbi said: "General, the information received by Cai Xide's army in the middle of the night last night has arrived in Handan. It is estimated that the day after tomorrow, Cai Xide's army will surround Xiangzhou, and Cheng Qianli has never withdrawn! I feel that Guo Ziyi hopes that we will help Xiangzhou. After the Yellow River freezes, I don't know what the general means..."

Li Qingan did not answer him immediately. He stared at the other side of the Yellow River for a while before asking, "Do you want to go to help?"

Li Guangbi shook his head, "I think it is unnecessary. The 50,000 troops in Xiangzhou are stationed, with sufficient troops and sufficient food, while Cai Xide only has 100,000 troops. I think Cai Xide cannot conquer Xiangzhou. If we go to support it, it will make Henan empty. Once it is taken advantage of by An Lushan's army, our retreat will be cut off."

Li Qingan glanced at him and said, "General Li, I think you and Guo Ziyi have made the same mistake. You are both blinded by An Lushan's appearance and think that he only sent Cai Xide's 100,000 troops to attack Xiangzhou. If you really think so, then you are very wrong."

Li Guangbi was surprised, "Isn't it a hundred thousand troops?"

"Hmph!" Li Qing'an sneered: "An Lushan has a 500,000 army. He only sent 200,000 troops, one to attack Hedong and the other to attack Henan. What does this mean? Can the 200,000 army wipe out the world for him? You underestimate An Lushan too much. The 200,000 army is just a fool, just to numb you and Guo Ziyi and not let you see his real intention. Shi Siming's army marched into Hedong to freeze Guo Ziyi's army.

, which made him have no time to send troops to help Cheng Qianli, Xiangzhou, and only sent 100,000 troops south to confuse you, making you think that Cheng Qianli's 50,000 troops can defend Xiangzhou. When you cannot cross the river to provide assistance, he will definitely organize a large army to attack Xiangzhou. The total strength will not be less than 300,000 people and 300,000 troops. Do you think Cheng Qianli can still defend Xiangzhou? Xiangzhou is defeated, and An Lushan's main force breaks into the east of the river from the south. What should Guo Ziyi in the north do?"

Li Guangbi was stunned. Li Qing'an's analysis was reasonable and there was a possibility. Isn't it now? The Yellow River can no longer sail, and when it is completely frozen and can march, it will take ten days and a half months later. An Lushan fought this critical time difference.

"Then... how should we deal with it?" Li Guangbi was a little confused. He could not think of a corresponding solution.

Li Qingan also sighed slightly and said, "My general order Guo Ziyi won't listen, so I borrowed the order from the Political Affairs Hall, but he still refused to give up Xiangzhou. I know that there must be a reason for Guo Ziyi to stay in Xiangzhou, and I can't say it too clearly. After all, I'm just speculating, but now I feel that the development of the situation is getting closer to my speculation. I sent a pigeon letter to Cheng Qianli and Guo Ziyi on the road yesterday. If it's still time to retreat now, but they still insist on their own opinions and refuse to retreat, then I have no choice."

Li Qingan looked at the surging Yellow River, and for the first time he felt powerless.

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Xiangzhou, which is today's Anyang, is located in Ye County during the Han Dynasty. It is the largest city in southern Hebei and the gateway to Hebei. It is of great strategic value. The city is more than 60 miles in circumference and the city wall is six feet high. They are all made of huge stones. There can be three carriages in parallel on the top of the city, and a horse-head wall is built every other mile. After hundreds of years of continuous repair, the city has become solid.

In addition, the Anyang water flows around the city, forming a natural moat. The river surface is three meters wide and it is difficult to build a bridge with ordinary wooden boards. Four city gates and four moat bridges are pulled up high. With this extremely strong city, the defense of 50,000 troops, and food that can be eaten by 100,000 people for a year, the guardian Cheng Qianli is full of confidence in defending this city.

Cheng Qianli is Li Qing'an's old friend. To be precise, he should be his old rival. As early as when Li Qing'an was the captain of the Anxi Military Academy, he was the deputy envoy of the Anxi Jiedu. He first fought with Gao Xianzhi. After the fall of Meng Lingcha, he was transferred to Beiting, and then fought with Li Qing'an again. However, he failed and was transferred back to Chang'an to work. After several ups and downs, he finally followed Guo Ziyi and became Guo Ziyi's deputy general.

Only at this time did Cheng Qianli seem to have found his own home. Guo Ziyi trusted him very much. Not only did he let him stand alone, but he also strongly recommended his contribution to Li Qing'an. Li Qing'an gave Guo Ziyi face, making Cheng Qianli the governor of the prime minister Wei and deputy marshal of the Northern Army. This was the first time Cheng Qianli was promoted to the governor of the army, which undoubtedly made Cheng Qianli full of gratitude for Guo Ziyi.

After Cheng Qianli was in charge of Xiangzhou, he worked diligently to implement Guo Ziyi's immigration strategy and continuously transferred the people of Hebei to Hedong and Henan. However, in the past few days, Cheng Qianli's pressure suddenly increased, and the news of An Lushan's massacre spread throughout Hebei Road, causing panic in all prefectures and counties in Hebei Road.

Moreover, since the massacre of Anxi and Xindu counties, An Lushan's army has completely tore away the hypocritical appearance, burned, killed, robbed and humiliated women along the way. Moreover, the Hu soldiers were extremely cruel. They not only killed people, but also sent thousands of young women to tribes in the north and became irretrievable female slaves. This caused panic among the people of Hebei Province. Within a few days, more than one million people who escaped military disasters flocked to Xiangzhou in dozens of counties including Zhao, Yi, De, Bei, Xing, Ming, Wei, Bo, etc., in dozens of counties including Zhao, Yi, De, Bei, Xing, Ming, Wei, Bo, etc., flocked to Xiangzhou. If the last time the large immigrants in Hebei were mainly rural farmers, this time they fled were mostly civilians living in the city. They lacked animal power and mostly ran on their legs. They also had to avoid the An Lushan army who went south. They generally chose to go south in the wilderness. Within a few days, there were millions of refugees entering Xiangzhou.

This undoubtedly brought great pressure to Cheng Qianli. Refugees could not enter Xiangzhou City, so they could only send these refugees to Hedong. There were two ways from Xiangzhou to Hedong. One was Fukou Xing west of Fuyang County in the north, and the other was Baixing in the southwest. You had to enter Weizhou before you could enter Hedong. In order to escape nearby, the people of Zhao, Yi, Xing and Ming mainly fled from Fukou Xing to Hedong, while De, Bei, Wei and Bo passed Xiangzhou City and entered Weizhou. Together with the people of Weizhou, they fled from Baixing to Hedong and Duji Road.

For this reason, Cheng Qianli dispatched 10,000 troops and a large amount of food to help millions of refugees flee to the west. Despite this, news of refugees being caught by the thief army and killed him, which made Cheng Qianli feel heavy. He seemed to have a burden of tens of millions of pounds on his shoulders, unable to sleep day and night, and anxious.

Early in the morning of that day, Cheng Qianli had just fallen asleep for a moment, but was awakened by an emergency information.

"General Cheng and Cai Xide's 30,000 vanguards have arrived in Fuyang County and fought fiercely with the 5,000 troops we escorted the refugees. Our army was outnumbered and unfortunately defeated. The 50,000 refugees who had not yet fled to the west were killed or injured."

Cheng Qianli was almost conditioned reflex. He sat up with a 'ah!'. Cai Xide's vanguard had already entered Xiangzhou. He stared at the roof blankly and asked nervously for a while: "Where has Cai Xide's main force been?"

"Cai Xide's main force has arrived in Handan!"

Handan is only sixty miles away from Fuyang County, which means that Cai Xide's 100,000 troops will all enter Xiangzhou today. Cheng Qianli sighed and An Lushan's army is still here.

He turned over and got up, washed his face with ice water, and was shocked, and immediately excited, and said to the personal soldiers outside the house: "Go, go up the city!"

The sky was not yet completely bright, the sky was gloomy, without stars, and the moon, and the earth was still shrouded in gray mist, and it was impossible to see a hundred steps away. Despite this, all the defenders on the city wall could still feel an inexplicable fear, as if the fog that was permeating between heaven and earth was a breath of death, a miasma spitting out by the demons, surrounding them and suffocating them.

Cheng Qianli also felt this suffocating fear, and he immediately ordered: "Beat the drum!"

‘Dong! dong! dong!’ The huge drum sound was ringing at the head of Xiangzhou City. The drum sound shook the sky and the earth, as if it was confronting the fear that permeated the world. The drum sound of war has been a formation to fight against monsters since ancient times. With the turbulent drum sounds, the courage of the soldiers gradually recovered.

Cheng Qianli breathed a sigh of relief, and he felt a little proud. After all, not everyone could do this method of boosting morale in an instant. He turned over and walked along the city wall, and walked around the city every day. This almost became his devout religious ceremony. It seemed to be checking the defense of the city wall, but in fact it was a psychological suggestion method of Cheng Qianli. Only when he looked at the defensive wall defense could his nervous heart gradually calm and his confidence recover. Cai Xide's army was about to arrive, and he needed to relieve himself.

However, this method seems to have failed to work for Cheng Qianli today. After nearly half an hour, the pressure in his heart did not ease at all. All this comes from a pigeon letter sent by Li Qing'an last night. The letter said that An Lushan is most likely to have a large army heading south, and the number may be more than 200,000. He advised him to evacuate Xiangzhou as soon as possible and preserve his strength.

Although Li Qing'an was his old rival, Cheng Qianli did not sneer at all. With Li Qing'an's identity at this time, he would not easily send a message to him. Since he said this, there must be a basis for some reason.

But no matter what, he couldn't listen to Li Qing'an's orders. If he wanted to retreat, he would have to have Guo Ziyi's orders, but would Guo Ziyi ask him to withdraw his troops?

Cheng Qianli smiled bitterly at the corner of his mouth. It is impossible. Hundreds of thousands of people south of Xiangzhou were entering Weizhou to escape in Baixing. If he gave up Xiangzhou, the hundreds of thousands of people would be exposed directly to An Lushan's beast army. Cheng Qianli could not bear it.

In any case, he had to stick to Xiangzhou. He believed that after the Yellow River freezes, Li Qing'an's army would come to provide assistance, which was his only feasible path.

At this time, a sound of horse hooves came from afar. He looked back and saw that it was already dawn and the fog had dissipated halfway. He could see clearly what was happening five hundred steps away.

I saw a cavalry sailing towards this side along the city. Cheng Qianli felt an unknown feeling in his heart. He held his horse and waited for the cavalry to step forward.

The cavalry jumped off without waiting for the horse to stop, ran a few steps and half-kneeled and said, "Report to General Cheng, there is emergency information!"
Chapter completed!