On the occasion of rebirth Zhou Sui

Chapter 597
The Xiangyang river channel of the Han River was filled with fire, and the night was illuminated like day.

Cui Che still sat firmly on the Xiangyang Tower, admiring Zhang Xutuo's fight with the trapped beast.

Zhang Xutuo took advantage of the darkness and tried to forcefully break through the Yan army's blockade. They even sent large ships with people to escort the fire ships despite the bombardment of catapults, preventing the Yan army from intercepting the fire ships.

The soldiers operating trebuchets on both sides of the river worked tirelessly to bombard stones on the river. Although the hit rate was not high, there were always misses. The Xiangyang Navy guarding the fireships suffered heavy losses and had no choice but to retreat.

Then Yan Jun's boat sailed leisurely into the river and pulled the fire ship to the shore.

After sitting for a long time, Cui Che also felt soreness in his back. He stretched out and asked Qu Tutong to take charge. Once Zhang Xutuo made a comeback, he would continue to baptize him with the trebuchet.

Qu Tutong accepted the order with his hands raised.

Just when Cui Che returned to his residence and went to bed, Zhang Xutuo, who had failed to attack by force on the west side of the Xiangyang River, finally decided to cut off his arm.

In the darkness of night, Zhang Xutuo led the remaining naval forces to retreat and disappeared into the thick river fog.

The next day, when the river fog cleared, the scouts failed to see the Xiangyang Navy and hurriedly came to report.

The generals were stunned, and Qu Tutong hurriedly cleared the relationship. He explained to Cui Che:

"Your Majesty, I stayed awake all night and stayed at the tower to watch. I never saw any broken iron ropes.

"The final general dares to guarantee with his life that he will never let Zhang Xutuo slip away under my eyes."

Dou Jiande said doubtfully:

"If you go to Jiangling, there is only one way to go by water. Where can Zhang Xutuo go? Could it be that he went back to Xiyang?"

Cui Che shook his head and said:
"impossible."

If he returns to Xiyang at this time, he will undoubtedly sit back and wait for death. Cui Che believes that Zhang Xutuo will not do this.

Suddenly, young Xue Shou guessed:
"Your Majesty, I think Zhang Xutuo may no longer be in the Han River at this time."

When Cui Che heard this, he raised his eyebrows lightly and said:

"You mean he left the main Han River and went south via a small river?"

Xue Shou nodded and said:
"Exactly, retreating to Xiyang is undoubtedly self-destruction, and Xiangyang has iron cables blocking the river, making it difficult to break through.

"Wei Chen expected that Zhang Xutuo must have gone south along the river, abandoned the boat halfway and fled to Jiangling on foot."

After hearing this, everyone nodded in agreement. This guess was the most likely choice.

Cui Che immediately sent cavalry to search the west side of Xiangyang and the south tributaries of the Han River, and sure enough, a large number of scuttled warships were found in the middle reaches of the Nan River.

The Nanhe River is one of the southern tributaries of the Hanjiang River, flowing through Gucheng County (now Gucheng, Xiangyang, Hubei Province) and merging into the Han River.

Zhang Xutuo drove southwest through this river last night, abandoning the ship and walking on foot. Before leaving, he did not want to leave these warships to Cui Che, and ordered them to be scuttled.

If he wasn't worried about setting fire to attract attention, Cui Che wouldn't even be able to get the wood at the bottom of the river.

Seeing that Zhang Xutuo had indeed escaped via Nanhe, everyone sighed with regret.

Yu Juluo, Qu Tutong and other generals all asked to lead their cavalry to pursue them.

Among them, Qu Tutong was the most eager. He vowed:
"Your Majesty, please divide the ministers into three thousand cavalry and pawns. If I wish to issue a military order, I must take Zhang Xutuo's head. Otherwise, I will be engaged in military law."

After all, although Zhang Xutuo did not pass through the Xiangyang River section under his surveillance, he still slipped away under his nose.

Cui Che did not blame Qu Tutong because the river fog was too thick last night, but Qu Tutong still hoped to be able to redeem himself and wash away the humiliation.However, Cui Che waved his hand to reject everyone's request:
"Qing and others are enthusiastic, and I am overjoyed, but I am afraid that I will be ambushed if I rush to pursue them.

"Besides, what I care about is not Zhang Xutuo's life or death, but the serious damage to the Xiangyang Navy.

"Now that all the warships of the Xiangyang navy have been destroyed, even if they retreat to Jiangling, it will just be more people standing on the city wall and it will not matter to the overall situation."

Zhang Xutuo's broken wrist was indeed beyond Cui Che's expectation.

But the Xiangyang navy that lost its warship, as Cui Che said, could no longer play much of a role.

After all, the battle between the navy, in the final analysis, still depends on the warship.

Now that the Xiangyang navy doesn't even have warships, how can we still fight water wars?

Even if they escaped to Jiangling, the Jiangling Navy did not have any extra ships to hand over to them.

Of course, Cui Che objected to the pursuit. Another reason was that Zhang Xutuo had already been gone for a day. Whether he could catch up with him or not was a matter of debate.

He only has a single-horse cavalry in his hands and does not have the ability to pursue long-distance pursuits. However, the [-] elite cavalry capable of long-distance attacks are now in Xuzhou, frightening Huainan.

Of course, it doesn't mean that the generals and horses cannot be used intensively, but it is really not worth the risk of running away and being ambushed, just to chase a group of sailors who have no warships.

Seeing that Cui Che's words were not unreasonable, everyone no longer insisted on asking for pursuit.

Cui Che immediately ordered a pontoon bridge to be built on the Xiangyang River to transport grain and grass.

The [-] cavalrymen around Xiangyang took the time to rest and break camp and head south tomorrow.

All the generals took orders to retire.

That night, the Yan army erected five pontoon bridges on the north and south sides of the Xiangyang river section, and civilians organized from behind transported supplies to the south bank overnight.

At the same time, Cheng Yaojin, with the help of the governor of Xiyang, took the entire county of Xiyang and sent Cui Che the news of success.

Previously, including Gucheng County, the other counties in Xiangyang County also surrendered to Cui Che after Xiangyang City was captured, and he sent officials to take over.

After seizing Xiangyang and Xiyang successively, Cui Che took the two counties as Xiangzhou, and Cheng Yaojin, the governor of Luzhou, temporarily stayed in Xiangzhou.

Since all the supplies were stored in Xiangyang, Cui Che ordered Cheng Yaojin to quickly dispatch troops and lead [-] infantry to garrison Xiangyang.

It was only a distance of more than [-] miles, and the messenger could go back and forth in half a day on horseback, but Cheng Yaojin's march had to take several days.

Cui Che had no choice but to send Dou Jiande to lead [-] cavalry to temporarily guard Xiangyang, waiting for Cheng Yaojin to take over the city defense with him.

The remaining [-] cavalrymen under Cheng Yaojin were led by Xu Shiji, who followed Dou Jiande southward and then joined Cui Che.

The next day, after a night's rest, the Yan army officers and soldiers were full of energy after having breakfast, and they were all waiting for Cui Che's order outside the city.

On the water of the Han River, Li Xiaogong led [-] naval officers on a warship, and was also patiently waiting for Cui Che's order to send troops.

Of the 1 Nanyang navy, [-] stayed at Yuliangzhou to block the river leading to the Xiangyang section to prevent the Sui army from attacking the pontoon bridge transporting grain via waterways.

At dawn, following Cui Che's order, 11 sailors, [-] cavalry, and [-] infantry, a total of [-] troops, marched south along the Han River, advancing both by land and water, and rushed toward Changlin County (today's Changlin County). Jingmen, Hubei).

Changlin County belongs to Nanjun. It was also called Dangyang during the Han Dynasty. Zhang Fei once defeated millions of Cao Cao's troops here.

This place is surrounded by mountains and rivers, with Jingshan Mountain to the west and Han River to the east. It is the northern gateway of Gangneung.

(End of this chapter)