It is said that Xu Zongwen went north from Yanzhou around Mount Tai, attacked Dingtao all the way, passed Lihu, and took a building boat from Puyang to counterattack westward and besieged Luoyang. After Luoyang was captured, Xu Zongwen urgently went south and occupied Xiaohuang in the name of Fu Hui. A fire burned Xiaohuang's grain and grass, cut off Maodang's grain route, and then marched forward with a song and killed Maodang, defeating tens of thousands of Qin troops in Yongqiu. General Zhu Chen of Ningyuan in Yanzhou was also attacking the city day and night to seize territory. .
In early March, shortly after Shen Yu and Zheng Lue sent troops to Linqiu, Zhu Chen was ordered to attack Laiwu. After Laiwu was captured, Zhu Chen captured Yingxian and marched to Fenggao, because Fenggao's army moved westward to rescue Linqiu and Linqiu was captured in mid-March, and Taishan County was recovered by Zhu Chen!
Feng Gao's army learned that there were Jin troops in Linqiu and rushed to Linqiu overnight to support them. More than 10,000 horses passed through Fan County in Dongping. They were ambushed by the Jin army at Jiuting outside Fan County. Because they had been traveling for days without rest and without any equipment, they On guard, Feng Gao's army suffered more than half casualties.
It was the elite Xu troops led by Shen Yu and Zheng Lue who had been ambushing Feng Gao's army in Jiuting of Fan County for many days. Shen Yu and Zheng Lue severely damaged Feng Gao's army and then took advantage of the victory to pursue and kill them. Killed more than 3,000 people from Feng Gao's army, a great victory!
Zhu Xu was in Linzi to coordinate all parties, while Xu Yuanxi was in charge of Ju County and stabilized the counties in the eastern part of Qingzhou. After Zhu Chen learned that Zhu Chen had successfully captured Fenggao and captured the great victory of the entire army on Mount Tai, he immediately sent reinforcements and used Mount Tai as a springboard to advance into Yanzhou and began a large-scale march!
Zhu Chen was eager to achieve success. After receiving 10,000 reinforcements, he divided his troops to attack Sheqiu and Gangping. He wanted to capture Jibei and Dongping counties at the same time. The Beifu soldiers stationed in Wenyang, Lu County learned that Zhu Chen was attacking Dongping and sent 3,000 troops. People responded, and under the attack of the two armies, they fell just after a battle!
Zhu Chen's advance was so rapid that the prefects of Dongping and Jibei counties were shocked and ordered to concentrate the army in the counties to resist. Shen Yu and Zheng Lue suddenly no longer had any worries and could travel between Fan County and Linqiu with lightning speed. !
Wang Xiu, the Pingdong general of the Qin army stationed in Linqiu, learned that Fenggao's army was ambushed halfway and felt that this was unusual. He concluded that the Jin army who had walked around outside Linqiu was causing trouble, so he was very cautious. Be careful, just keep sending out scouts to inquire about the military situation.
After Shen Yu and Zheng Lue's victory, their morale increased greatly. After the victory of 6,000 troops in Fan County, they did not march to Linqiu. Instead, they went in the opposite direction to attack Shouzhang in the east of Fan County, and captured Shouzhang by the way. The small town in the south is Dongpinglu.
At this time, after Zhu Chen's victory, he also marched in the direction of Shen Yu and Zheng Lue. The two sides met at Wuyan. Nearly 20,000 troops attacked the city day and night. It took three days to capture Wuyan, and then marched to Fan County. The isolated city of Fan County was also captured.
From this, the Jin army's road to Linqiu will be extremely smooth.
Shen Yu proposed to join forces with Zhu Chen to attack Linqiu City, and Zhu Chen readily agreed. The two armies rushed to Linqiu without any hindrance and surrounded Linqiu City.
"It's finally here!"
Wang Xiu had long received the news that the Jin army was marching from the direction of Mount Tai, and the news of the fall of the Sheqiu and Gangping cities had just arrived. He did not expect the Jin army to arrive so quickly. It seems that the two cities of Wuyan and Shouzhang Also lost!
"The whole city is on alert, preparing to meet the Jin army."
"promise!"
Wang Xiu saw that the Jin army was in good condition and had won consecutive battles, so he planned to use the Linqiu city wall to block the Jin army. He would first defeat the Jin army's front, and then look for opportunities to think of strategies to defeat the enemy.
The Qin army could not hold out and retreated into the city. After discussion, Shen Yu and Zhu Chen decided to rush forward first to test the reality in Linqiu City and then act on their own.
After all, the cities near Linqiu have been attacked all over. Except for Zhang Chong, who is far away in Suiyang, who may return to support, no other Qin army is available to save Linqiu City.
Due to the accelerated march, the Jin army carried a serious shortage of siege equipment. They only had four ladders captured from Fan County and no other rams or artillery vehicles.
Therefore, after the Jin army made three rounds of drums, the result of attacking Linqiu City was not ideal, and it was quickly repelled by the well-prepared Qin army. Both Shen Yu and Zhu Chen understood that it was not the soldiers who did not fight to the death, but the situation. It was not conducive to siege the city, so the two ordered their troops to return to camp, but they did not withdraw from the siege of Linqiu City.
"Our army lacks siege equipment, and we may not be able to capture Linqiu City for a while." Shen Yu looked at the tall Linqiu City Wall and sighed.
Zhu Chen also felt that a strong attack was not an option. "Although our army is brave, our troops are limited. Linqiu City is the seat of Yanzhou, and Zhang Chong has been running it for many years. Its walls are extremely tall, and a large amount of food, grass, ordnance has been gathered, and there is no shortage in the city." Food and water are hard to come by, hard to come by!”
Zhu Chen was still thinking, if Xu Zongwen were here at this time, how would he attack Linqiu?
The news that Xu Zongwen had captured Luoyang had already spread throughout the Central Plains, but the outcome of the Battle of Yongqiu was not yet known to everyone. They all believed that Xu Zongwen was fighting a bitter battle with Mao Dang's Guanzhong Army at this time.
Linqiu is located in the north-central part of Yanzhou, guarding the north of the Zhaowang River, and organizes the road from Dongping to Juancheng and Dunqiu. Only by opening up Linqiu can we sweep Chengyang and Juyang, go south to attack Jiyin County, and encroach on the western region of Yanzhou. Finally completed the task of regaining Yanzhou!
The terrain of Linqiu is dangerous, easy to defend but difficult to attack, and with a well-equipped general like Wang Xiu guarding it, it is indeed not something that can be captured in a short while.
"In my opinion, can't we just dig tunnels and attack Linqiu City? We should cooperate internally and externally. Are we afraid that we won't be able to capture Linqiu City?" Zheng Lue looked anxious and suggested hurriedly.
The stupid method of digging a tunnel is not impossible to try!
Under the command of Shen Yu and Zhu Chen, the Jin army pretended to attack Linqiu City during the day, and worked frantically to dig a tunnel at night. For seven consecutive days, the tunnel was finally opened!
"The city will be destroyed tonight!" Shen Yu and Zhu Chen responded outside the city, and Zheng Lue personally led a thousand men to attack Linqiu from the tunnel.
In the tunnel, bursts of choking black smoke poured in.
"Ahem! What is that?"
"No! The Qin army discovered us!" Zheng Lue's reaction was not slow and he immediately ordered the withdrawal of troops.
In order to prevent the Jin army from digging tunnels for sneak attacks, Wang Xiu had previously ordered the Qin army to dig several deep ditches in the city and fill them with water.
Wherever the water level drops significantly, it means that the Jin army is digging tunnels in that direction. The Qin army added dry firewood and wormwood after the water in the ditch seeped into the ground. After burning it, they used fans to blow the thick smoke into the tunnel, trying to smoke them to death. The Jin army dug tunnels. This move was indeed effective and repelled Zheng Lue's attack.
After the strategy of digging tunnels failed, Shen Yu, Zhu Chen and Zheng Lue tried wheel warfare again, harassing the garrison of Linqiu City day and night, but the effect was pretty good.
However, seeing the Jin army climb up the Linqiu tower, they were suddenly attacked by Wang Xiu's ambushed elites. The Jin army's siege failed again!
Shen Yu and Zhu Chen ran into a wall at Linqiu and had to besiege the city and wait for Zhu Xu's reinforcements.
When the Central Route Army and the East Route Army of the Jin Army's Northern Expedition were in full swing, great changes occurred in Jiangling City in Jingzhou...
