Destroy Jin and conquer Song, and carry the Northern Expedition through to the end

Chapter 363: Urgent Division of Troops at Ruxukou

When the group rushed to the Dongcaishi Ferry, they found that Li Dao had already reached Jiangxinzhou and started commanding the navy. They had no choice but to cross the pontoon bridge to Jiangxinzhou.

After being led by the officers to the camp at the westernmost end of Jiangxin Island, Liu Huai and Yu Yunwen climbed up the earthen hill again, where they met the furious Li Dao.

"Meng Buddha, what do you do for a living? Yuxi Town was lost so quickly?!"

Kneeling on the ground was a large, bearded man, his hair and beard half burned by the flames. Hearing this, his face was filled with shame, but he forced himself to defend himself: "General, I have no choice. The Jin army is simply too numerous. There are at least 6,000 armored cavalry attacking, and we only have less than 1,000 people. We are simply unable to resist, so we can only retreat."

Deputy Commander Yang Qin was even more furious. He stepped forward and kicked Meng Buddha to the ground. "So, you gave up our army's only foothold in Jiangbei. Damn it, that's not some small ditch, that's the mouth of Yuxi River!"

Li Dao and others certainly had reason to be angry, because Yuxikou and Dongguan in the north were two sides of the same defense model. Even if Dongguan had been lost at this time, Yuxi Town, as the place where Yuxi water flows into the Yangtze River, was still very dangerous.

As for how dangerous it is, without mentioning the terrain that is surrounded by water on three sides and faces a river on one side, let me just say that the ancient name of Yuxi River was Rushu River, and the place where Yuxi River flows into the river was once called Rushukou.

During the Three Kingdoms period alone, the Battle of Ruxu was fought four times between Wei and Wu. Famous generals of the Three Kingdoms such as Zhang Liao, Cao Ren, Cao Xiu, Gan Ning, Lu Meng, Jiang Qin, Zhou Tai, and Zhu Huan all fought in this area.

During the First Battle of Ruxu, Cao Cao saw the well-organized Eastern Wu army and sighed, "If I had a son, I would have him like Sun Zhongmou. Liu Cong is nothing but a pig and a dog."

There have been so many major battles, which is enough to show the importance of Yuxikou.

In fact, for the Southern Dynasty, the bottom line of Huaixi's defense was almost the area of Hefei-Dongguan-Yuxikou, because the Northern Dynasty's navy generally had to take this line if they wanted to enter the Yangtze River.

Even though Wanyan Liang took the risk and let the Jin navy enter the Yangtze River from the mouth of the Yangtze River without facing the difficulties faced by the Northern Dynasty navy in the past, the baggage still came from Hefei via this route.

The strategic location of Yuxikou is so important that when the Dongting Lake navy went down the river to Jiangnan to participate in the war, they first captured the unguarded Yuxi Town and sent more than 800 people to garrison there.

But who would have thought that Meng Fotto did not have the courage to die there. Seeing the Jin army's desperate attack with armored cavalry and soldiers, he only put up a slight resistance and led his troops to retreat, handing over Yuxikou to others.

This is not just a matter of losing the bridgehead, but the Hefei-Dongguan defense line is also very difficult for the Southern Dynasty. If the Jin army gains a foothold, it may cost countless lives to recapture it.

Li Dao even felt like beheading Meng Buddha, but when he saw the other party's clear and stupid look, Li Dao sighed again.

Talking about the overall strategy of the world to a foreign commander is really too abstract.

Seeing his two commanders both livid, Meng Buddha finally realized he had made a huge mistake. He trembled and said, "General... General, if Yuxikou is truly so important, I am willing to lead my men to recapture it!"

Yang Qin was so furious that the veteran simply grasped the hilt of the sword.

What the hell is Meng Buddha talking about?

Are you Yue Fei or Han Shizhong? Are you trying to recapture the city from the hands of 6,000 elite Jin soldiers?
Yu Yunwen had been listening quietly for a moment. Seeing that Yang Qin seemed to be getting angry, he was about to try to smooth things over when Liu Huai stepped forward, pressed Yang Qin's sword handle with one hand, and asked in a deep voice, "How many troops have gone to Yuxikou? You must tell the truth."

Even across the river, smoke and dust could be seen billowing from the Jin army camp, suggesting a large force was being mobilized southward. This made Liu Huai somewhat skeptical of Meng Buddha's claim of six thousand cavalrymen. The Jin army had thirty thousand regular troops on the other side; how could they all be heading for Yuxikou?

Meng Buddha thought for a moment and nodded firmly, "It's more than 6,000 cavalry, no less. There's smoke rising in the distance, and the Jin thieves have reinforcements. If not, I wouldn't have thought Yuxikou was undefensible. Taiwei, everything I say is true. If you don't believe me, you can find others to confront me. If I lie, you can chop off my head."

Liu Huai narrowed his eyes. "So, before, there was a marching 10,000 troops moving south to clear the area around Yuxikou. Now it should be..."

Before he could finish his words, a small boat came riding the waves on the river. A naval scout on board quickly came to the watchtower and shouted, "General, the troops on the opposite bank heading south are mostly civilians, not elite soldiers."

Liu Huai nodded: "It should be the Qian army. After the regular army captured Yuxikou, the Qian army was stationed there."

Yang Qin circled around twice like a hungry wolf. After hearing what Liu Huai said, he finally became impatient: "What's the point of you saying this now? No matter whether they are regular troops or signed troops, if we don't fight hard, we won't be able to take it back if we don't fight hard!"

Liu Huai was not annoyed. He said thoughtfully, "How many Jin troops are there on the other side?"

Yang Qin glanced at Liu Huai and said, "Young man, I know what you're trying to do. Besiege Wei to save Zhao! I understand that, too! But the math is too simple. They have a total of 30,000 regular troops, 10,000 of which are heading south, and 20,000 are stationed there. How can our army defeat them? If we can't besiege Wei, we naturally can't save Zhao!"

Liu Huaifu asked again, "Then how many soldiers and horses do the Jin bandits need to have left before we can gain the upper hand?"

Yang Qin was somewhat puzzled: "With our current military strength, even if we fight with all our might, we can only defeat 10,000 Jin troops."

Liu Huai said in a rather aggressive tone, "Does the Jin army know this? Or, do the Jin generals dare to leave only 10,000 soldiers to defend their emperor?"

Yang Qin was about to answer, but suddenly he realized something, froze in silence, and then fell into deep thought.

Liu Huai turned to Li Dao and said, "Where is the Jin navy? General Li, have you found out?"

Li Dao had been silent since a while ago, seemingly deep in thought. Upon hearing this, he immediately became excited: "It's in Wujiang County... I'm going to organize the army now and prepare to go!"

Liu Huai nodded: "I'll go with you! No matter what, we should scout out the enemy's formation!"

Yu Yunwen had no idea what Liu Huai and the others were trying to say. Seeing that they were looking at him at the same time, as if asking for a fight, Yu Yunwen had no choice but to look at Liu Huai and wait for his explanation.

Liu Huai didn't keep anyone in suspense: "Yu Sheren, Wanyan Liang is on the other side. There's no way to split up these 20,000 Jin troops. This isn't a military reason, but a political one. If we split up our troops, our army will be able to threaten the Jin troops on the other side. Therefore..."

"That's why no one dared to issue this military order." After starting to play politics, Yu Yunwen quickly understood: "And since the Jin cavalry and infantry dare not split up, there is an opportunity to destroy the navy."

Liu Huai nodded: "That's right. Without the Jin army's protection on the shore, the Dongting Lake navy must be strong enough to raid the Jin thieves' navy base!"

Li Dao's mouth also pulled out a cruel smile: "Prime Minister Yu Chu, I dare to guarantee that as long as the Jin thieves' navy does not escape, I will drown all these damn things in the river!"

(End of this chapter)