The water volume of the Hutuo River is actually not large. Even at the Zhongdu Bridge, if there are soldiers who are good at swimming, they can still wade across the river.
As for the upper reaches, there are more river sections with shallow water and easy passage.
Du Chongwei was busy setting up a stronghold and stabilizing the position. Yelu Deguang had already made a decisive decision and ordered his brother-in-law Xiao Han to personally lead the Tiede and Fengsheng armies with 6,000 fine cavalry, march westward along the Hutuo River, find a wide place to cross the river, and directly cut off the Jin army's retreat. .
At the end of November, Xiao Han led 6,000 elite cavalry and unexpectedly appeared outside Luancheng.
Luan City only had a small number of defenders. They didn't even know that the people coming were Khitans, so they were captured immediately.
This is actually the reason why Fu Yanqing is extremely opposed to Du Chongwei's westward march to Hengzhou, because it not only represents a change in the march route, but also a change in the supply line.
With the later Jin's national power and the later Jin court's control over local areas, the Jin army did not have the ability to change its army route at will, and subsequently its supply lines.
If we follow the agreed plan, after we cannot hold the north, we will retreat south to the Yellow River line and implement the strategy of letting the Khitan troops penetrate deep.
In this way, both the quantity and quality of supplies along the way are more secure.
But when Du Chongwei arrived in Hengzhou, the difficulty of supply suddenly increased.
For example, Luan City, such an important supply stronghold, does not have much defense.
Although Du Chongwei sent Xue Huairang to transport grain and grass, the transshipment route from Tokyo to Luancheng had not been established. It coincided with heavy rain, and the transport workers were miserable. They would rather be whipped than get up, and they were unable to drive them at all.
After finally transporting 30,000 shi of grain to Luancheng, Xiao Han led the Khitan troops and horses.
Xue Huairang lost Luan City. In addition to civilians, he only had hundreds of soldiers under his command. There were no soldiers in the surrounding counties and counties, so he could only retreat to the Yuan clan southwest of Luan City.
And he could only defend Yuanshi City, because Xiao Han had ten times more troops than him and could send hundreds of fine cavalry to plunder at any time.
Even the simple supply line that Xue Huairang finally established and the supply points along the way were destroyed. The Yuan family was almost in an isolated city. How could he dare to leave the city.
At the same time, Du Chongwei, who was on the east bank of the Hutuo River, immediately panicked when he heard that Luan City had been occupied.
Because Luancheng is not only the supply line of the Jin army, but also the only way for the Jin army to retreat south. Luancheng in the hands of the Khitans is like a chokehold for the Jin army.
In panic, Du Chongwei urgently ordered Hu Cile, who had been guarding the camp, to lead the Wuning Army cavalry and part of the Forbidden Army cavalry to go south, and join forces with Xue Huairang to attack Luan City and open up the road.
Yelu Deguang, on the west bank of the Hutuo River, set up a chariot and could clearly see the movements of the Hou Jin military camp.
Hu Cile had just left the camp with 3,000 cavalry. Yelu Deguang ordered Yelu Wuzhi and others who had done meritorious service to lead another 3,000 cavalry to follow Hu Ciler southward.
Although they both sent out three thousand cavalry, the meaning for both sides was completely different.
The Jin army's three thousand cavalry were drawn out while greatly reducing the army's mobility.
The Khitans have almost all cavalry, and it doesn't matter if they take out three thousand cavalry.
Moreover, the Khitan cavalry still had the extravagant configuration of one person and two horses. After they followed Hu Ci's three thousand cavalry south, they quickly got in touch with Xiao Han in Luancheng, because Xiao Han had been sending a large number of You Yi troops to guard outside.
When Hu Cile led his elite cavalry to break through Xiao Han's You Yi cavalry and arrived at the outskirts of Luan City, they encountered the 6,000 cavalry of Yelu Wuzhi and Xiao Han's troops who were waiting for them.
The so-called joint attack on Luancheng with Xue Huairang's troops is completely out of the question.
Because Xue Huairang could not even leave Yuanshi City, he had no idea that Hu Cile had led his army to the north of Luan City.
Hu Cile galloped around to encourage morale. Although he was already tired, he was not afraid. Instead, he pointed at the gap between Xiao Han's Department and Yeluwu Zhi Department in the distance and said.
"The troops were arranged hastily, and the two armies were not integrated into one. If we charge directly there, we will definitely defeat the Khitans."
As he spoke, Hu Zaile looked at the warrior Hu Tai beside him.
Before that, after Hu Ciler gave the order, his sons Hu Guang and Hu Tai were the two sharp knives in the battle.
At this moment, Hu Zaile did not dare to teach Hu Guang such an important task as a sharp weapon for the army, because Hu Guang was a little afraid since Hu Guang was almost killed by the Khitan Iron Falcon Army with a horse stick last time.
Although Hu Guang and he were at odds with each other in many aspects, Hu Guang was his only outstanding son. Despite the quarrels between father and son, the relationship still existed.
Hutai is a short and strong man, just like a black weight.
Since following Zhang Tianwang back east, he has fought dozens of battles, big and small, and must be the first in every battle.
After arriving at Kaifeng Mansion in Tokyo, although his fighting spirit has slowed down, he is still a rare warrior.
But such a strong general actually had timidity in his eyes at this moment. He looked at Hu Cile and said something insincere.
"Third Uncle, the captive cavalry is strong, and we don't know whether there will be support later. Why don't we lead the troops back and wait for them to be deployed."
Hu Cile glared at Hu Tai, and almost hit Hu Tai on the head with the riding crop in his hand.
"How dare you, Zhu Zi? On the battlefield, you were pushed back and forth. I think you were stunned by those Xuzhou ladies. You didn't lead the army to kill them. Look carefully, I betrayed those prostitutes of yours when I got back."
Since he took office as the military commander of the Wuning Army in Xuzhou, the old tree of Husilidu has bloomed new flowers and taken in two beautiful concubines. In the states and counties controlled by the Wuning Army, more rare treasures have been presented to him.
Moreover, salt and iron merchants presented luxury houses and actors and actresses, which immediately improved the quality of life.
It is logical that since he has been fighting for so many years and can enjoy it, his subordinates will follow suit!
However, in just one year, Hutai already had three concubines, 4,000 acres of fertile land, and controlled several salt and iron mines.
So much wealth. How is it possible to expect him to charge and fight without risking his life like before?
However, because the corruption had not lasted long, Hu Tai's bloody courage was thrown away, and Hu Ci Le's prestige, Hu Tai had no choice but to bite the bullet, roared wildly, and went down to gather the soldiers.
However, Hutai can learn from Hushile's lifestyle, and the soldiers below will naturally be less stupid.
Besides, there was another important reason why the seven hundred Liangzhou horses were so brave and unrivaled in the first place.
That is, everyone comes from the same place, the training and tactics are closely coordinated, and the trust is unparalleled.
But after arriving in Xuzhou, it was impossible for Hu Zaile not to absorb the old people from the Wuning Army in the past. It was the entry of these people that corrupted the original Liangzhou Knights, and at the same time, the tacit understanding and trust were also rapidly declining.
It seems that the number of cavalry has expanded from 700 to 2,000, but the actual combat effectiveness is far less than before.
Unfortunately, just as Shi Chonggui was unable to grasp the national conditions of the Jin Dynasty well, Hu Ci Le, who continued to play music and dance in Xuzhou, also failed to accurately capture the fact that Hu Tai and others' combat effectiveness dropped sharply.
At this time, the Liao Army's Xiao Han Department and Yelu Wuzhi Department arrived hand in hand. The two armies formed a crane-wing formation and clamped down on Hu Ci Le's Department.
Hu Zaile responded with his front out of position, seemingly trying to break through the Liao army that was spreading far away.
But in fact, Hu Zaile secretly hid four hundred people from Hu Tai in order to use his elite to attack the weak points of the Liao army under the cover of the army, which was the basis of the two white crane wings.
The Liao army seemed to be using the Crane Wing Formation to spread pepper noodles foolishly, but in fact they knew how powerful the tiger thorns were in strangling Liangzhou's horses.
The Khitans were preparing to wrap up Hu Jile's troops and use their mobility to repeatedly pull and peel the onions.
Therefore, when the two armies were still dozens of steps away, the Liao army fired thousands of arrows, using bows and arrows to disrupt the charge of Hu Ci's cavalry, and did not force a close combat with Hu Ci's cavalry.
The Crane Wing Formation instantly turned into a chaotic battle, which made Hu Ci Le extremely uncomfortable for a while.
At this time, he was like a majestic bull, but the Liao army was like a pack of hyenas. Although there was no enemy in front of him, there were dangers lurking all around. If you were not careful, you would be bitten off a piece of meat.
However, Hu Tai, who was secretly ambushed by Hu CiLe, was not completely useless, because the Khitan's style of play seemed to be disorganized, but they still relied on command.
Although almost a year had passed since his days of prosperity, Hu Ciler's sense of battlefield had not been lost. He pointed in the direction of Xiao Han and urgently ordered Hu Tai to lead the army to attack.
Xiao Han also didn't expect that Duanian would realize where his command was so quickly. He was quite afraid of Hu Ci Le's hundreds of horses. It should be said that everyone in the Liao Kingdom was afraid.
These Liangzhou horses are not as skilled as the Khitan cavalry in bowing and horsemanship, and they are even better in war horses and armor.
Nowadays, the general understanding in the Khitan is that in a decisive battle between 30,000 and less than 50,000 people, the fighting power of the Liangzhou cavalry and the Khitan cavalry is about equal.
If there are more than 50,000 people, the Khitan cavalry has a very high winning rate, but at the same time, if there are less than 30,000 people, especially if there are more than 10,000 elite cavalry duels, the Liangzhou cavalry will be even better.
However, what happened next shocked Xiao Han.
Hu Tai's three hundred light armored cavalry looked menacing, but three fierce attacks could not defeat the light armored cavalry he deployed in the front army.
The combat effectiveness of the Liangzhou horse has dropped too quickly.
With joy mixed with doubts, Xiao Han became more comfortable in commanding. The two sides were entangled for dozens of miles outside Luancheng and along the Wenshui River outside the city.
After an hour of bloody fighting, Hu Ci Le's troops suffered heavy casualties and were already faintly defeated again.
Amidst the shouts and neighing of the horses, cold sweat dripped down from the tiger's head. Hu Tai couldn't rush away from the Khitan cavalry in front of him.
Not to mention capturing and killing the local commander, even forcing the enemy commander to move his flag was impossible.
But at this moment, due to their mistakes in tactics and combat power. He became even more involved in the Liao army's onion-peeling operation, and the casualties increased.
Hu Zaile thought a lot for a while, and his hands and feet seemed a little cold.
He thought that he might die somewhere in battle, but he never thought that it would happen so quickly. He had not lived enough of his happy days in Wuning Army.
At this moment, bursts of cheers came from the left and right, and Tiger Thorn looked up fiercely, only to see Xiao Han's handsome flag beginning to sway from side to side like leaves in the wind.
Not far in front of Xiao Han, a group of about a hundred elite cavalry, like tigers entering a flock of sheep, beat Xiao Han's personal guards into running wolves.
Finally, Xiao Han under Shuai's banner could not withstand the pressure and began to retreat with various flags and drums.
For a moment, the Tiger Thorn troops roared with joy, and all the soldiers relied on the gap created to rush out to the north. They finally jumped out of the encirclement.
However, Hu Ci Le did not completely let go. He looked around, but he could not see his son Hu Guang.
A familiar shout from Er came, and Hu Cile looked to the northwest, only to see his son Hu Guang standing on the hillside, waving his hand as if to say goodbye to him.
"My sons, let's go back to Liangzhou! Only the King of Heaven can save the world!"
