On the occasion of rebirth Zhou Sui

Chapter 421
The soldiers of the Eastern Sui Dynasty had only received heavy rewards for the Battle of Hedong not long ago, and now their morale is high, and Cui Che didn't need to specially swear to encourage them.

This move is just to frighten Xiaoxiao, let them see the situation clearly, and don't make trouble after he leaves.

Before Cui Che entered Jinyang, the only one who could die for Yang Liang was Wang Wei.

All civil and military officials either did not say a word, or competed to flatter Cui Che.

However, as Cui Che evacuated the three provinces and six ministries, and transferred the real power to the Prime Minister's Mansion and the Chinese and Foreign Mansions, many frustrated people will inevitably be added.

Even though these people were usually dissatisfied, they were afraid of Cui Che and did not dare to make any small moves, but with Cui Che's departure, chaos would arise if they were not in order.

Today, apart from Emperor Yang Liang, there are also civil and military officials from the Manchu Dynasty who are forced to come to watch the ceremony.

Encouraged by Cui Che, countless soldiers erupted into deafening cheers, which made the faces of the court officials turn 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 14 soldiers to go south.

During the march, Cui Che ordered Zu Junyan, the secretary of the prime minister's office, to write a letter for him to Yu Zhongwen, who was guarding Luoyang, claiming that he would raise an army of 30 to hunt with him in Luoshui.

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

It's just that this letter is not in a hurry to send, Cui Che will not kindly remind Yu Zhongwen that he is going south.

The young general Cheng Yaojin was entrusted with an important task, and Cui Che ordered him to be the vanguard, leading [-] cavalry under his command, and rushed to seize the river bridge.

In order not to violate the farming season, Cui Che chose to send troops after spring plowing, but now it is midsummer, the ice and snow on the upper mountains have melted, and the water level of the Yellow River has risen sharply. It is obviously delusional to want people to cross the river.

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

If you want to cross the river, you have to spend time measuring the water level and erecting floating bridges, or you have to seize Beizhongcheng and occupy the Yellow River Bridge.

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

The other two cities were built in the first year of Yuanxiang in the Eastern Wei Dynasty (AD 538). They were built in the south of Beizhong City, Zhongtan City on the sandbar of the Yellow River, 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 important defensive areas in Luoyang. Once the three cities are lost, the Hedong army can calmly go south from the Yellow River Bridge.

Of course, once this so-called dangerous pass hits the dry season and the freezing period of the Yellow River, it will also be blinded.

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

Cheng Yaojin also understood that if it wasn't for Mai Tiezhang guarding Daidi, Wang Dangwan went to Liaodong, and Qin Qiong stayed in Puzhou, this vanguard general would not be in his turn.

The 17-year-old is particularly eager to seize this hard-won opportunity.

Along the way, Cheng Yaojin traveled night and night until he arrived in Hanoi County (now Qinyang, Henan Province), the governor of Huaizhou, less than [-] miles away from Beizhong City on the north bank of the Yellow River. Cheng Yaojin asked his followers to rest for a while, and was ready to wait for them to feed up. Physical strength, rushing to North Central City at night.

Yu Zhongwen also knew the importance of the three cities of Heyang, especially Beizhong City, which controls 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 feuds. Originally, the duke of Yan's title belonged to his father Yu Yi, but after Yu Yi's death, Yang Jian changed the title of Yu Shiqian, Yi's direct son, to another place to make room 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 now preparing his troops in Jinyang and was always ready to go south, but he never expected that the pioneer of the Eastern Sui Dynasty would come so quickly.

Cui Che dispatched troops to the south on April 25th, and it took Cheng Yaojin only four days for the [-]-mile journey along the way, and Xisui Xizuo had no time to report.

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

Of course, the price is not small. Almost all of the more than 1 horses used by Cheng Yaojin's [-] cavalry for transportation have run away.

On May 605, the first year of Yongchang (AD 28), in the middle of the night, Cheng Yaojin arrived outside Beizhong City, but he did not launch an attack immediately. Cheng Yaojin immediately ordered a thousand soldiers to act as pawns to attack the city at night.

But at this time, the defenders in Beizhong City were not prepared. It was not until the sound of killing came from the city wall that the defender Zhe woke up from his dream. Before he had time to put on his armor, he even ran towards the north city wall barefoot.

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

Yu Zhe hadn't received the news in advance, so he couldn't arrange a large number of soldiers to guard the city wall day and night.

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

The Eastern Sui army immediately killed the tower and took control of the north gate. When the north gate opened slowly, Cheng Yaojin saw the torch waved three times as a sign, and then led the remaining [-] cavalry to rush towards the north gate.

He held out his long spear and took the lead. Under the moonlight, all four thousand cavalry rushed 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 have not been tested in battle for many years. Without the city wall as a support, they faced the Yandijing cavalry who had followed Cui Che for many years in the southern and northern wars, and were eager to support the northern city wall. They did not have time to bring horses and chariots to stop the cavalry charge. One can imagine.

On the main road of Beizhong City, the defenders of the Western Sui Dynasty were smashed to pieces, and Yu Zhe, who was not wearing armor, was shot by a stray arrow from somewhere and died in the city.

Cheng Yaojin also immediately took control of the northern end of the bridge.

It's just that the shouts and flames in Beizhong City awakened 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 riots in Beizhong City. Let the soldiers recover some strength.

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

When he learned that his nephew died in battle, Yu Zhongwen was heartbroken, but he was not immersed in the grief. He immediately ordered more troops to guard Zhongtan City, guard the middle section of the river bridge, and dispatched Xin Mingjin to Zhongtan City. He was warned that if he lost the enemy, he could burn down the river bridge so that Cui Che's army could not cross the river calmly.

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

After the Eastern Sui army suffered huge casualties and finally took down Zhongtan City, only to find that the river bridge was burned out, it was undoubtedly a major blow to the morale of the soldiers of the Eastern Sui Dynasty.

(End of this chapter)