On the occasion of rebirth Zhou Sui

Chapter 421 Vanguard Attacks the City

The soldiers of the Eastern Sui Dynasty had received heavy rewards for the Battle of Hedong not long ago. Now that their morale was at a high level, there was actually no need for Cui Che to take a special oath to encourage them.

This move was just to scare Xiao Xiao and let them see the situation clearly and not to cause trouble after he left.

Before Cui Che took over Jinyang, the only one who could die for Yang Liang was Wang Kun.

All civil and military officials either said nothing or rushed to flatter Cui Che.

However, as Cui Che sidelined the three provinces and six ministries and transferred the real power to the Prime Minister's Office and the Chinese and Foreign Affairs Office, there will inevitably be many more frustrated people.

Even though these people are usually dissatisfied, they are afraid of Cui Che and dare not make any small moves. But as Cui Che leaves, chaos will arise if they are not kept together.

Today, in addition to the Emperor Yang Liang, there were also civil and military officials from all dynasties who were forced to come to watch the ceremony.

Seeing that countless soldiers, encouraged by Cui Che, burst into deafening cheers, the officials were so frightened that their faces turned pale.

Seeing that his goal had been achieved, Cui Che didn't waste any more time. He stepped down from the high platform and commanded 140,000 soldiers to march south.

During the march, Cui Che ordered Zu Junyan, a member of the army in the Prime Minister's Office, to write a letter for him and send a letter to Yu Zhongwen who was guarding Luoyang, claiming that he would raise an army of 300,000 to join him in hunting in Luoshui.

As the saying goes, war never tires of deceit, and intimidating opponents is also a part of war.

However, this letter was not in a hurry to be sent. Cui Che would not be kind enough to remind Yu Zhongwen that he was about to go south.

The young general Cheng Yaojin was entrusted with an important task. Cui Che ordered him to be the vanguard and lead five thousand cavalry under his command to seize the river bridge at high speed.

In order not to violate the farming season, Cui Che chose to send troops after spring plowing. However, it was midsummer, the ice and snow in the mountains upstream had melted, and the water level of the Yellow River had risen sharply. It was obviously a delusion to hope that men and horses could cross the river.

Only during this period can the Yellow River be regarded as a natural hazard.

If you want to cross the river, you either have to waste time measuring the water level and erecting a pontoon bridge, or you have to capture Beizhong City and occupy the Yellow River Bridge.

Beizhong City is one of the three cities in Heyang, located to the north of the Yellow River. It was built in the 20th year of Taihe (496 AD) of Emperor Xiaowen of the Northern Wei Dynasty and controls the northern end of the river bridge.

The remaining two cities were Zhongtan City, built in the first year of Yuanxiang of the Eastern Wei Dynasty (538 AD), south of Beizhong City, on the sandbank of the Yellow River, and equipped with Heyang Pass.

and Nancheng, which was built on the south bank of the Yellow River in the same year as Zhongtan City.

The Three Cities of Heyang are one of the few defensive key points in Luoyang. Once the three cities are lost, the Hedong army can calmly move southward through the Yellow River Bridge.

Of course, this so-called dangerous pass will also become blind once it encounters the dry season and the freezing period of the Yellow River.

This was Cheng Yaojin's first time serving as the vanguard of the army, and it was undoubtedly Cui Che's trust in him.

Cheng Yaojin also understood that if it weren't for Mai Tiezhang guarding Daidi, Wang Dangwan went to Liaodong, and Qin Qiong stayed in Puzhou, the pioneer general would never have been able to take his turn.

The seventeen-year-old youngster particularly wanted to seize this hard-won opportunity.

Along the way, Cheng Yaojin traveled under the stars at night until he arrived at Hanoi County, the seat of Huaizhou (now Qinyang, Henan Province), which was less than sixty miles away from Beizhong City on the north bank of the Yellow River.

With physical strength, he stormed Beizhong City at night.

Yu Zhongwen also knew the importance of the three cities in Heyang, especially Beizhong City, which controlled the northern end of the Yellow River Bridge.

He specially sent his nephew Yu Zhe to guard Beizhong City.

Yu Zhe and Cui Che still had some disputes. The title of Duke of Yan originally belonged to his father Yu Yi, but after Yu Yi's death, Yang Jian and Yu Yi's legitimate son Yu Shiqian changed the title to another place to make way for Cui Che.

Because of this relationship, the relationship between Cui Che and their Yu family is not harmonious.

Yu Zhe also knew that Cui Che was currently building troops in Jinyang and was always ready to go south, but he never expected that the Eastern Sui pioneers would arrive so quickly.

Cui Che sent troops southward on April 25th. Cheng Yaojin only spent four days on the 800-mile journey along the way, and Xizuo of the Western Sui Dynasty had no time to report the news.

After all, when conveying news in enemy-occupied areas, one does not dare to gallop unscrupulously.

Of course, the price was not small. Almost all of the more than 10,000 horses used by Cheng Yaojin's 5,000 cavalrymen to travel were useless.

On May 28th, the first year of Yongchang (AD 605), late at night, Cheng Yaojin arrived outside Beizhong City. However, he did not launch an attack immediately. Instead, he ordered his soldiers to lie in wait until the Huaizhou defenders would send off the chariots and ladders.

After arriving, Cheng Yaojin immediately ordered a thousand soldiers to serve as infantry and attack the city at night.

At this time, the defenders in Beizhong City were not on guard. It was not until the shouts of killing came from the city wall that the defender Yu Zhe woke up from his dream. He had no time to put on his armor and even ran towards the north wall barefoot.

But it was too late, the Eastern Sui army had already climbed up the city wall with the help of ladders.

Yu Zhe had not received the news in advance, so he could not arrange for a large number of soldiers to guard the city wall day and night. If he did, the defenders would already be exhausted by the time the enemy moved south.

Therefore, the one thousand siege soldiers faced not many defenders. Before Yu Zhe came to the rescue, more than a hundred defenders on the city wall had been defeated.

The Eastern Sui army immediately killed the city tower and took control of the north gate. When the north gate slowly opened, Cheng Yaojin saw the torch waved three times as a mark, and then led the remaining four thousand cavalry towards the north gate.

He held his head straight and took the lead. Under the moonlight, all four thousand cavalry poured into the city from the north gate and met thousands of reinforcements led by Yu Zhe on the main road.

The defenders of Beizhong City had not been tested in battle for many years. Without the city wall as a support, they faced the Yan goblin cavalry who had followed Cui Che in the south and north for many years. They were eager to support the northern city wall and did not have time to carry horses and chariots to block the cavalry charge. The result was disastrous.

Just imagine.

On the main road of Beizhong City, the Western Sui Dynasty defenders were beaten to pieces. Yu Zhe, who was not wearing armor, was hit by an arrow from nowhere and died in the city.

Cheng Yaojin also immediately controlled the northern end of the river bridge.

It was only the shouts of killing and the light of fire in Beizhong City that woke up the defenders of Zhongtan City and Nancheng. Cheng Yaojin thought for a moment and did not continue to attack Zhongtan City in Shazhou. Instead, he chose to quell the riot in Beizhong City and also

Let the soldiers regain some strength.

In the early morning of the 29th, news of the fall of Beizhong City had reached Luoyang. Yu Zhongwen was speechless and only asked about Yu Zhe's whereabouts.

When he learned that his nephew had died in battle, Yu Zhongwen was heartbroken, but he did not immerse himself in grief. He immediately ordered more troops to Zhongtan City to guard the middle section of the river bridge, and dispatched Xin Mingjin to Zhongtan City. At the same time,

He was warned that if he lost the enemy, he could burn the bridge across the river to prevent Cui Che's army from crossing the river calmly.

As for why the river bridge was not burned down immediately, Yu Zhongwen also wanted to use Heyang Pass to consume the Eastern Sui army.

After the Eastern Sui army finally captured Zhongtan City after suffering huge casualties, they found that the river bridge had been burned down, which was undoubtedly a major blow to the morale of the Eastern Sui soldiers.

(End of chapter)