On the occasion of rebirth Zhou Sui

Chapter 422 The army marches south

In order to maximize the consumption of Eastern Sui soldiers, Yu Zhongwen deployed heavy troops to guard Zhongtan City and invested a lot of manpower and material resources.

Arrows and fallen rocks piled up in the city, and guard Xin Mingjin also collected a large amount of excrement, waiting for the enemy to attack, boiling the excrement and pouring gold juice on them.

It's just that it's midsummer now, and the smell of feces permeates the whole city, which is also a torture for the defenders.

However, Cui Che was nowhere to be seen. Only Cheng Yaojin, after several tentative attacks, saw that the defense of Zhongtan City was impregnable, so he stood firm in Beizhong City and waited with peace of mind for the arrival of the follow-up army.

After all, Cui Che only asked him to attack Beizhong City and did not force Cheng Yaojin to seize Zhongtan and Nancheng.

Even if Cui Che doesn't come, Yu Zhongwen is not in a hurry. He has already received the news that Cui Che will march south on April 25th and march on foot. It is impossible for him to be as fast as Cheng Yaojin.

With a distance of 800 miles, Yu Zhongwen estimated that Cui Che would march 60-80 miles every day, which means that it would take ten days to arrive at the fastest and about thirteen days at the slowest.

How could he be like Cheng Yaojin, who did not hesitate to run away tens of thousands of horses, and took only four days, traveling two hundred miles a day, to capture Beizhong City?

Until the fourteenth day after Cui Che sent troops south, Yu Zhongwen still did not wait for the defenders who came to Zhongtan City to report the news of Cui Che's troops approaching the city. He finally felt that something was wrong. Perhaps Cheng Yaojin's attack on North Zhongcheng was just a deception.

, Cui Che’s main force is not to go south via the river bridge.

It was only at this time that Yu Zhongwen reacted, and it was already too late.

The governor of Zhengzhou (governed in Sishui County, today's Sishui Town, Xingyang, Henan Province) sent an envoy to report that the Eastern Sui army built a pontoon bridge on the north bank of Xingyang.

However, Yu Zhongwen deployed a large number of troops to guard the river bridge, leaving the surrounding counties and counties empty.

The governor of Zhengzhou asked Yu Zhongwen for reinforcements, but Si River was more than 200 miles away from Luoyang. After repeated visits, there was no way to stop Cui Che from going south.

It turns out that Cui Che ordered Cheng Yaojin to attack Beizhong City, but he was just creating the illusion that he was going south via Heqiao, and attracted Yu Zhongwen's attention to Zhongtan City and Nancheng.

Yu Zhongwen, including the ships on the south bank, has gathered them around the river bridge as guards.

In fact, Cui Che had already ordered Li Qing, the governor of Huaizhou, to secretly measure the depth of the river, prepare materials for the pontoon, and transport them to Wuzhi County.

When the army arrived in Wuzhi County, they could build a pontoon bridge to cross the Yellow River before Zhongwen could react.

As for capturing Beizhong City, there was another purpose. With Cheng Yaojin guarding it, it could also prevent Yu Zhongwen from getting dizzy and heading north via the river bridge to change homes with him.

Without the harassment of the Western Sui Dynasty, the pontoon bridge was completed in just one day. At this time, Yu Zhongwen had just received a report from the Zhengzhou Governor.

In Luoyang City, Yu Zhongwen put his hand on his forehead and sighed. To the north of Sishui City, the Eastern Sui pioneers crossed the Yellow River via a pontoon bridge and defeated the defenders on the south bank. More than 100,000 infantrymen and cavalry crossed the river and arrived at Sishui City.

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The name Sishui City may be unfamiliar. In the pre-Qin Dynasty, this place was also called Hulao Pass because King Mu of Zhou kept a tiger in it. Sishui City was the gate of Hulao Pass.

The role of Hulao Pass has always been to defend against enemies from the east, rather than to defend Luoyang. Therefore, launching an attack from the west is far less difficult than launching an offensive from the east.

Cui Che naturally chose to cross the river on the west side of Sishui City.

More than 130,000 infantry and cavalry approached Sishui City. The governor of Zhengzhou wanted to hold on, but there were only old and weak people in the city, and all the elite soldiers were transferred to the Heqiao defense line.

The soldiers of the Eastern Sui Dynasty launched a fierce offensive. Shen Guang, a young general who had recently defected to Cui Che, climbed to the top of the city first. He climbed to the top of a fifteen-foot-high ladder, climbed up the city wall, and fought hand-to-hand with the enemy, killing more than ten people in a row.

Even though he was outnumbered, the enemy knocked down the city wall. Even Cui Che, who was watching the battle from a distance, thought that Shen Guang would die if he fell from the city wall. Little did he know that he actually grabbed the rope on the ladder when he fell.

He grabbed the rope, climbed up again, and continued to fight the enemy.

The soldiers of the Eastern Sui Dynasty were inspired by his bravery and climbed up the city wall through ladders, defeated the defenders, and captured the west wall in one fell swoop.

Seeing that the city was about to be lost, the governor of Zhengzhou abandoned the city and left.

The governor ran away, and the defenders had no morale to fight anymore and surrendered one after another.

Cui Che was not in a hurry to enter the city. He summoned Shen Guang and said to Shen Guang in front of the generals:

"If you hadn't fought to the death, how could I have easily captured Sishui City?"

Shen Guang, who was fifteen years old at the time, was praised by Cui Che. His face turned red and he said excitedly:

"If I can finally serve the king, I won't care about life and death."

Cui Che was overjoyed when he heard this and admired Shen Guang even more.

Shen Guang came from a famous family in the south of the Yangtze River and was a descendant of the Shen family in Wuxing. This man was not only brave and good at fighting, but also accomplished in both civil and military affairs.

His father, Shen Jundao, was once a minister in the Ministry of Civil Affairs of the Southern Chen Dynasty. After moving to the north, he and Shen Guang's brother made a business of copying books for people.

Growing up in such a literati family, even if Shen Guang aspired to join the army, he would have been influenced by poetry and calligraphy when he was young.

History records that he was 'young and agile, good at playing horses, and was the best in the world. He has a brief summary of his writings and a few words.'

Now that Cui Che saw that this young man was handsome and about the same age as his daughter, he couldn't help but ask:

"Does Mr. Shen have a wife at home?"

Everyone present was astonished. Cui Che's two biological daughters were previously married to the son of Mai Tiezhang and the other to the son of Liu Fang. How could this Shen Guang He be able to make Cui Che want to marry a daughter?

Of course, Shen Guang could understand what Cui Che meant. He suppressed his excitement and said:

"Reporting to the king, the last general has not married yet."

Cui Che nodded and said with a smile:

"When you return to Jinyang, remember to ask your father to come to the palace. Having a daughter alone is a good match for a young hero like Shen Lang."

Shen Guang could no longer suppress the joy in his heart, and he kowtowed to Cui Che to thank him.

Cui Che then promoted Shen Guang from a partial general to a sub-general and transferred him to serve in the army in front of the tent.

This scene fell in the eyes of the generals, and everyone was excited.

As we all know, Cui Che now has two daughters who are of marriageable age.

Now Shen Guang is fighting bravely and has been appreciated by Cui Che, and he will be able to marry one of them in the future.

But Cui Che also has a daughter, and I don’t know whose family she will end up with.

After this incident, Cui Che's generals were greatly encouraged, especially Su Dingfang, a young general who was not yet married. They were eager to make an unparalleled contribution in the Central Plains War and marry the daughter of King Yan.

In fact, what Cui Che admires about Shen Guang is not just that he comes from a famous family and is brave enough to fight.

It's more because this person is grateful and grateful.

Historically, Yang Guang was killed in Jiangdu. Shen Guang and Mai Mengcai were grateful for Yang Guang's kindness and wanted to avenge Yang Guang. They fought to the death and eventually committed suicide.

It's just that in this time and space, Yang Guang has no kindness to the two of them, and now he has become Cui Che's son-in-law.

(End of chapter)