Su Li stood beside the Han River, looking at the water level of the Han River that was constantly lowering.
He became increasingly anxious as winter arrived and the water level of the Han River continued to drop.
If the water level drops too low, large boats will not be able to sail.
Their Fifth Army was unable to quickly transport troops to Huguang City via the Han River.
We can only take the land route and slowly capture the prefectures in northern Huguang.
Su Li saw Chief of Staff Pang Jianan coming back by boat from outside.
"Jian'an, have you found enough manpower to sail the ship?"
Pang Jian'an nodded and said: "Ask the local government for help. The local government employs a large number of boatmen.
I have now arranged for these boatmen to board the transport ship.
Each large ship is assigned a squad of soldiers to manage it.
With enough manpower, our transport ships can barely operate."
When Su Li heard that this matter was resolved, the matter he had been worried about was resolved.
Most of the officers and soldiers of the Hanshui Navy were transferred by the navy.
I heard that the Navy is going to build a few more battleships, and the Navy has a serious shortage.
They desperately mobilized officers and soldiers from the Hanshui Navy and the Yangtze River Navy.
These two navy masters have now become empty shells.
There are only some new soldiers left, and some old and weak soldiers.
This resulted in the Hanshui Navy leaving many ships. The shortage of the Hanshui Navy was too serious and there were not enough manpower to sail the ships.
The gap between the army and the navy is very serious.
The troops here in Hanzhong all obey the orders of the central governor's office.
There is no local governor's office to directly manage and coordinate matters between the two services. Cooperation in non-war situations is very troublesome.
Su Li had no idea before that there was a serious shortage of naval officers in Hanshui River.
The Fifth Army only needs the manpower to sail its own transport ship.
When they were about to send troops, the Han River Navy brought many ships, but there were not enough manpower to sail them.
Su Li could only let the soldiers of the Fifth Army who were originally planning to drive transport ships take control of the river warships of the Hanshui Navy.
Those who drive transport ships can only temporarily recruit shipwrights.
Fortunately, with the cooperation of the local government, this difficult problem was quickly solved.
Pang Jian'an said expectantly: "Commander, I wonder when our army will be able to wait for the order to dispatch troops.
Fortunately, we are located in the south, so the Han River will not freeze and we have the advantage of water transportation.
I wonder how the fight is going in the north? It’s freezing in the north now, so fighting must be very difficult.”
Su Li said with emotion: "Just wait for now, sooner or later we will have a chance to perform.
According to the news reported in the military newspaper, the king's move this time was huge.
Troops are being mobilized frequently in various places, which must be a sign of the coming war.
The General Staff has also transferred our Fifth Army to the border with Xunyang Mansion in Huguang, and we will never put it here as a display."
Pang Jian'an nodded and said: "This time the imperial guards have already gone out, and the king should mobilize the strength of the nine armies to go out.
I saw the material reserve situation in the military newspaper. With the food and ammunition we currently have in reserve, we can support nine armies in fighting for three years, and there is no problem at all."
"Jian'an, our Fifth Army has been preparing for war a long time ago, and there is nothing to do now.
Let's talk about our battle plan after entering Huguang.
I have been carefully reading the battle reports from the Southeast Governor's Office these days.
I think their approach has merit and we should learn from advanced experience."
Pang Jian'an quickly asked: "Commander, do you have any new ideas?"
Su Li introduced the Fifth Army to Pang Jianan and the advanced experience that should be absorbed.
The Qin Army's usual tactics were to use the Qin Army's regular troops to eliminate all Ming Army's resistance forces.
The garrison was then responsible for maintaining order in the occupied city, waiting for the civil servants sent by the Qin Palace to take over the city and establish a new order.
This method of combat allows the main force to repeatedly divide and assemble forces in a certain area, which wastes a lot of time.
Su Li expressed his thoughts: "The Huguang area is connected to our occupied area. There are frequent exchanges of people between the two places, and there are several fixed trade routes.
Especially since the Ming army failed to encircle us in several ways, the knowledgeable people in Huguang could see that the defeat of the Ming Dynasty was only a matter of time.
The people of Huguang have their hearts set on us. As soon as the army arrives, the resistance of the guards and military households in various parts of Huguang will be particularly strong.
Coupled with the fact that the garrison is now completing weapon replacements one after another, the weapons in their hands are no longer the same.
In the absence of a garrison with heavy weapons, it is not suitable to attack important military towns. Attacking some small counties and attacking the Ming army's garrison is no problem at all.
I have studied the tactics of the Eighth Army. Lu Xiaoqiu's troops of the Eighth Army were able to capture Guangdong so quickly.
They just handed over the secondary county towns to the garrison army for attack, and the regular army only attacked the important cities along the road.
After destroying a large number of Ming army troops and some Ming army garrison posts, they also lost their ability to resist."
Pang Jian'an listened to Su Li's narration, especially what he heard about the practices of Lu Xiaoqiu's unit of the former Eighth Army.
He thought that the Fifth Army would move directly along the Han River and attack only the main cities on both sides of the Han River.
Other cities were put under the responsibility of the garrison.
The Han River is a major artery that provides continuous support to the garrison.
The current weapons of the garrison have no problem dealing with the garrison.
Tang Jian'an thought that when the Qin army first launched its troops, its strength was much weaker than the current garrison, which did not affect their defeat of the Ming army.
"Commander, I agree with your method, but I would like to add a few points.
We must leave an army that can support all parties at important nodes.
Prevent the garrison from encountering difficult enemies that they have no way to deal with.
The garrison has retired officers, and combat can be left to the garrison.
If the garrison is composed entirely of new recruits who have never been on the battlefield, we must send officers to guide the garrison in operations."
Su Li saw Chief of Staff Pang Jianan and agreed with his idea.
He immediately discussed specific actions with Pang Jian'an.
When the Fifth Army does this, it also needs to bear a great responsibility.
The war is going well and everything is fine.
Once the war encountered setbacks, the Fifth Army fell into the encirclement of the Ming army, causing the war to fail and causing too many casualties.
The defeat of the Fifth Army affected the Qin Army's current strategic plan.
If they adopt this method instead of a steady and steady approach, they will definitely be tried by the Military Justice Department.
But Su Li still decided to do this. This was the most suitable tactical arrangement based on the strength of the two armies.
Zhong Liqing, the commander of the Fifth Army, approached the headquarters of the Fifth Army with a smile on his face and a stack of official documents.
He saw Su Li and Pang Jianan doing war games on the sand table.
"You don't need to engage in war games anymore. You can try it yourself and test the results of our training during this period."
When Su Li heard Zhong Liqing's words, he asked in surprise: "Zhong Liqing, Zhu Shi, are you going to accept the supplies sent by the Governor's Office? Is there a military order for us to send troops?"
He was in a very nervous mood and had been looking forward to this military order all this time.
Zhong Liqing saw the expectant looks in their eyes and took out the military order from Hanzhong directly from his pocket.
The military order was written in cipher text, signed by King Su He of Qin, and stamped with the personal seal of King Su He of Qin.
On the back of the military order, there is also a seal stamped with the national jade seal.
Su Li first observed the handwriting and seal on the military order.
The unique calligraphy of King Su He of Qin cannot be copied by ordinary people, and a literate person cannot even pretend to write such ugly calligraphy.
The stone seal has subtle lines on it that are impossible to imitate.
When craftsmen carve seals, their tools will cause minor damage to the seals.
After carving the seal, he tapped it twice on the stone.
Due to the naturally formed cracks on the seal, even if the same craftsman uses the same technique, there is no way to carve the same seal.
Low-level civil and military officials and official seals are all made of steel.
The private seals of high-ranking civil and military officials need to be protected against counterfeiting, and special craftsmen have stone-engraved seals.
Su Li confirmed that the military order was accurate and came from the hand of King Su He of Qin.
Only then did he take out the code book and translate the contents of the military order.
"Great, our Fifth Army can finally send troops.
Summon officers above the level of the Fifth Corps, as well as several division commanders from the garrison, to attend the meeting at the military headquarters."
Su Li waited for a while, and everyone came to the military headquarters.
They looked at Su Li with expectant eyes. With such a big battle, they must have accurate information.
Su Li did not let them wait. He first took out the military order from King Qin Su He and circulated it to all the officers for viewing.
This top-secret military order is translated using a codebook.
Once the password is used once, it becomes invalid immediately.
When the military order is made public, the code book and the military order will be made public together.
Each password corresponds to the military order one-to-one.
I got the wrong code book, and the military orders I translated were all nonsense and wrong sentences.
The wording of military orders will be carefully considered. Military orders with incorrect wording are definitely fake military orders.
These codebooks were compiled by Tian Jiapeng, the dean of the Academy of Sciences, a great mathematician, and the Minister of Rites.
When one-fifth of the codebook in the hands of King Su He of Qin is left, the entire army will replace the codebook.
Fortunately, the King of Qin's code book is only in the hands of the military commanders, chiefs of staff, and Zhu Shi, so the cost of replacing it is not high.
The local governor's office also has its own code book, which is decentralized to the division level.
Each army also has its own code book, which is decentralized to the regiment level.
The codebooks of each army generally use fixed codebooks, which only combine keys and do not require a high level of confidentiality. They are no longer for one-time use.
Su Li saw that everyone had finished reading Qin King Su He's military order.
He issued the order: "Today is November 26, 4332.
Our army has completed preparations for war. After breakfast tomorrow morning, we will set off immediately according to the original plan.
Zhongli Qingzhu was responsible for the logistics work of the army.
The management government sent us boatmen to drive the transport ship and set off behind the army.
The main cities of the Ming army were built along the Han River.
Our Fifth Army is responsible for solving the main cities of the Ming Army.
The cities far away from the Han River should be handed over to the garrison to resolve any problems."
When Su Li said the last words, he turned to look at the many division commanders of the garrison.
The division commander of the garrison immediately agreed to Su Li's order.
Military merit is so important. Without military merit, it is very difficult for soldiers to be promoted.
The garrison is a second-line force, and its military merits are extremely rare.
They originally thought they could only eat soup in this battle, but now Su Li made them eat meat directly.
No one will object to this order.
Su Li issued the combat order, and the Fifth Army immediately began to act according to previous preparations.
The corps commanders and chiefs of staff of each brigade held military maps and once again discussed the combat objectives they were responsible for.
The congratulators of each regiment began to mobilize the soldiers for the last time before the war.
Early the next morning, everyone finished breakfast and began to board the ship to prepare for battle.
On Su Li's flagship, a green signal flare was launched into the sky.
The 40,000 troops of the Fifth Army, plus 15,000 garrison troops, totaling 55,000 troops, left the Han River in the east.
The inland river warships took the lead and sailed down the Han River to attack Yunyang Prefecture in Huguang.
…………………………
Xunyang Mansion in Huguang previously had more than 100,000 Ming troops stationed there.
Most of them were annexed by Zuo Liangyu and You Shiwei.
There are also some people with background who continue to stay in Xunyang Mansion.
However, the Ming army discovered that the thieves in yellow had no intention of attacking Xunyang Mansion.
When Zhang Xianzhong started a rebellion, most of the Ming troops in Xunyang were transferred away by Fang Kongzhen, the then governor of Huguang, to encircle and suppress Zhang Xianzhong.
Some of these Ming troops died, some fled, and most of them were annexed by Zuo Liangyu.
Now there are only 12,000 Ming troops left in Xunyang Mansion, commanded by Li Hongda, the commander-in-chief of Huguang Xingdu.
Li Hongda was leisurely fishing on the edge of the Han River.
Now that we have strong soldiers and Ming army generals, we can speak with confidence.
For a civil servant like him who cannot lead troops in battle, to guard Xunyang Mansion is to be loyal to the Ming Dynasty.
A burst of urgent footsteps scared away the fish that was about to take the bait.
Li Hongda looked angry and hurried over when he saw that it was his master.
"Why are you so anxious? All my fish have run away.
There’s nothing big going on here in Xunyang Mansion.”
The imperial court has not yet sent a governor to Huguang, and there is no governor-general in charge of Huguang.
There are now rumors that after Lu Xiangsheng defeats the rebels in Henan, he may become governor and command the troops in Henan and Huguang provinces to fight against the yellow-robed thieves.
The master is in such a hurry. It's difficult for Lu Xiangsheng to come from Henan, so he should go to Xiangyang first.
Or was it his family's fleet that went to Hanzhong to purchase goods? What happened to it?
Nothing can happen to the fleet, which will bring him thirty to forty thousand taels of silver every month.
The master took a few breaths and said nervously: "Sir, it's not good, the thieves in yellow are attacking our Xunyang Mansion in large numbers.
Our soldiers on the front line came back and found that the yellow-clad thieves in Baihe County were almost out in force.
The army of fifty or sixty thousand yellow-clad thieves, sir, must find a way to deal with it as soon as possible."
Li Hongda slapped the master on the face.
"What are you calling the thieves in yellow? Let's call them Qin Jun.
Follow me out of the city to meet the Qin army. What can our little Xunyang Mansion do to fight against the Qin army?"
Li Hongda led the Ming army in Xunyangfu City, laid down their weapons and waited on the bank of the Han River.
At the same time, he sent a clipper upstream to contact the Qin army.
The Qin army must not misunderstand that he is preparing to resist. If he is accidentally injured by the Qin army, it would be too tragic.
Su Li quickly headed south by boat, and his first stop was Xunyang Fucheng.
He is preparing to show the training results of the Fifth Army during this period in Xunyang Mansion.
When Su Li heard the news of the surrender of Xunyang Mansion reported by Chief of Staff Pang Jian'an, his excitement immediately subsided.
"Send the garrison to take over Xunyang Fucheng. Once it is confirmed that Xunyang Fucheng has surrendered, we will go directly down the river and not stop at Xunyang Fucheng.
Now is a race against time, and the Ming army must not be given a chance to react.
We want to follow the Han River and fight all the way to Hanyang Mansion."
