Chapter 337 A war of words in Beijing, a strategy to attack the heart
On the north bank of the Yangtze River, since the edict from Pingnan came, the army was in full swing. For more than thirty miles from Yangtze City to Guazhou Crossing, the walls of the Han army's camps stretched out, with banners covering the fields. The military power was so great that it reached the sky, and the sound of drums and horns was heard.
, causing the soldiers and civilians south of the Yangtze River to change their looks.
As for Li Gu, as soon as he received the imperial edict, he moved the headquarters of General Pingnan to Guazhou, directly facing the entrance of Jingkou, and pressed Runzhou on the south bank nearby, giving the illusion of a fierce and frontal breakthrough.
At the same time, the battle between the two armies has begun, starting with a water battle. Yangzhou Navy VS Runzhou Navy. The Han army has 250 large and small warships and 13,000 sailors.
The army was much larger in terms of warships and soldiers, with nearly 20,000 troops, and Lin Renzhao personally led the attack.
According to the superficial comparison of strength, coupled with the talent of Shanzhou, a southerner, and the command of a good general like Lin Renzhao, the southern army had a huge advantage. However, the result was often unexpected, and the southern army was completely defeated.
The two sides fought for a whole day on the Yangtze River. The surface of the river was filled with gunpowder smoke, and the boats and oars were wiped out in smoke. As the commander-in-chief, Li Gu also led some troops to watch the battle on the river bank and responded with bows and crossbows.
The defeat of the Southern Army was mainly due to two points.
First, although its military strength is large, it is composed of two forces. The nearly 10,000 naval forces from Jinling are not well-trained, their orders are even more irregular, and their will to fight is even weaker. In less than half a day, they withdrew from the battle without permission.
Fleeing to Jinling not only severely damaged the morale of the Confederate army, but also completely exposed Lin Renzhao to danger.
The Runzhou navy, which was reorganized and trained by Lin Renzhao, still has considerable combat power, but as the saying goes, it cannot support itself alone. This is not the case for the Han army. The soldiers used are basically replaced by Jianghuai soldiers, and many are even composed of soldiers from the early Tang army.
It was transformed from the Han army and was well-trained and well-equipped. It was commanded by Zhang Yanqing, a good general in water warfare, and driven like an arm. Therefore, although the number of troops was smaller, it was not inferior in other personnel factors, and its morale was high, so the Han army
There is a basis for fault tolerance.
The second one lies in the improvement of the Han army's water warfare technology, especially the innovation of water warfare weapons. For example, the building warships have completely abandoned the original melee combat devices such as poles and replaced them with long-range weapons such as rockets, artillery, and thunder cannons.
The method is mainly to attack the enemy's strike force, supplemented by boarding operations.
These weapons basically use gunpowder as their energy supply. This Pingnan battle was also a test of many weapons of the Han Dynasty. Although talent is the decisive factor in determining the direction of the war, no one can use more sophisticated weapons.
will refuse.
The South was not ignorant of the use of gunpowder. However, the South Army was completely unable to cope with this weapon that could both burn and have powerful explosive properties.
Of course, the Southern Army was not without counterattack force. They were also studying the use of kerosene bombs, and they showed this in this water battle, which also caused considerable losses to the Han Army.
In times of crisis, Lin Renzhao could be said to be strong and brave. He was unafraid in the face of danger, resolute in his determination, and commanded well, regardless of casualties. He led the Southern Army to engage in a close combat attack with the Han Army. However, Mantis was unable to save the defeat and retreated from the Jinling Navy.
From the beginning, his efforts were destined to be in vain, and it also added a bit of tragedy to the Runzhou Navy that was confronting the Han army.
In the end, Lin Renzhao was wounded. Under the protection of his own soldiers, he was defeated and returned to the Jingkou stronghold. Only less than forty warships and 3,000 people escaped. Most of the rest perished on the river or were killed.
Burned to death, drowned, less than a thousand people were rescued as prisoners.
If the Han army had not been exhausted from fighting for a long time and voluntarily gave up the pursuit, the losses of the Southern Army would have been even greater. Even so, a water battle gave the Pingnan War a good start and a good omen.
Even counting the several water battles during the Huainan War, the Beijing War of Swords can be said to be a real large-scale battle between the north and the south, a head-on battle. The results prove that today's Han Dynasty is not only strong at footsteps.
Riding and water warfare are also unparalleled in the world and are extremely sharp. They can also ride the wind and waves and gallop across the rivers and seas. The Yangzhou navy is only one of the many naval armies of the Han Dynasty. The main force is still in the Lai Mi navy, which is the navy.
According to post-war statistics, the casualties of the Han army were 2,169. The desperate resistance launched by the Southern Army under the command of Lin Renzhao still caused considerable losses to the Han army. However, compared with the gains,
, these losses are also acceptable.
In addition, both sides destroyed a total of nearly 300 warships, and among the Han army's seizures, only about 30 were in normal use. The fact that the ships were reduced to ashes is not just a description.
At the same time, the significance of the battle at Jingkou did not stop there. The first battle almost destroyed the main force of the Runzhou navy, which Lin Renzhao had trained for many years. The troops who had been training for so long were defeated in one battle. Such a blow can be imagined.
Since the Huainan War, Lin Renzhao has basically been the protector of the country in the south of the Yangtze River, and the Great Wall has existed. This trend was further fueled by the death of Liu Renzhen. He has always been the backbone general of the imperial court against the Southern Army.
, can be said to be the only pillar.
However, for such a character to be defeated in one battle, the impact on the morale of the Confederate army was inestimable. It was already weak, and it became even more uncontrollable. After the water battle was defeated, was the land battle still far away?
In fact, before the Battle of Jingkou, facing the Yangzhou Navy's initiative to attack, the Southern Army had some debates about whether to go to war. Most of the generals were opposed to attacking the enemy, hoping to rely on strong fortifications to resist the enemy.
Defend, fight conservatively, and resist the Han army.
However, the result was that Lin Renzhao overcame all opinions and decided to attack. As the last famous general in Jiangnan, he had a very clear understanding of his own dangerous situation. If he defended passively, there would be no way out. Only by taking the initiative could he earn something.
There is a faint possibility of hope. However, even if he takes the initiative, there are too few cards for Lin Renzhao to use.
Moreover, even if we don’t talk about the overall situation, as far as the battle situation at Jingkou is concerned, if the Runzhou navy retreats and defends, once it falls into the blockade of the Han army, the navy will be useless, and the Southern Army will fall into complete passivity. As for relying on the fortifications at Jingkou
, is even more wishful thinking. The Han army is not stupid, how could it blindly attack by force? Lin Renzhao would not have done this.
The Runzhou navy has been trained by him for a long time and is based on it. It is risky to attack, but once it can defeat the Yangzhou navy, the effect will be significant. It can not only give the Han army a head-on blow, lower its morale, and block it.
The process of crossing the river can also boost the morale of the Confederate army and enhance its confidence in resistance.
Lin Renzhao's idea was good, but the result was unsatisfactory. Not only did it fail to meet the lowest expectations, but it created a situation that Lin Renzhao least wanted to face. Although it was because of the Jinling Navy's escape from the battle, it was not forced by the general trend. Is it inevitable? Even if the Jinling navy fights to the end, can it really defeat the Yangzhou navy? Maybe it just makes the Han army lose more warships and soldiers and gain more credit...
After winning the battle at Jingkou, it can be said that the waterways in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River were basically controlled by the Han army. The complete victory in the water battle also met Li Gu's requirements. Afterwards, Li Gu dispatched fifty light boats. Thousands of water soldiers shot tens of thousands of Pingnan's edicts prepared in advance along the Yangtze River to the towns and camps in the south of the Yangtze River.
Liu Chengyou's Pingnan edict was written by Li Fang, a guest of the crown prince, and listed Li Yu's several crimes. The first one was contempt for the emperor and disobeying the edict. Others include harboring different ambitions, gathering troops to rebel, appointing treacherous ministers, and delaying the imperial edict. Regardless of whether they are guilty of beauty, neglecting government and disrupting the country, imposing excessive taxes, abusing the people, etc., Li Yu was listed with ten crimes anyway, and the better one was five fewer than Liu Yuan, which completely shaped Li Yu into a poet emperor. A dishonest and ignorant king who abuses the people and is a single husband...
Many times, the pen of a literati is really a knife that can kill people without blood. It is both a declaration of war and a letter of surrender. When the soldiers and civilians in Jinling learned about it, their hearts were filled with excitement.
Li Gu was very skilled in the use of mind-attacking strategies. To pacify Jiangnan was not about the heroic military exploits, but how to retain the vitality of the Jiangnan area and reduce the losses of the war to the people of Jiangnan. At this point, even without the emperor's reminder, Li Gu They are all done according to this goal.
Li Gu, Shi Shouxin, Zhao Yanjin, and Zhang Yongde, these four people can be regarded as the backbone senior generals of the Jianghuai line. After the battle at Jingkou, Li Gu held a military meeting and reaffirmed the combat policy, which was to move together on multiple fronts to suppress Jingkou, attack from two sides, attack from the east and attack from the west, attack steadily, target Jinling.
Li Gu sent troops to Guazhou, with Zhang Yongde as the other force. He gathered the elite Jianghuai troops, looked for fighters, and crossed the river from Dangtu. On the north bank of the Yangtze River, he mobilized the Imperial Army and the Jianghuai army, plus various state and local troops, totaling 70,000 land and water infantry. ride.
If you include the civilians recruited to serve the front and rear armies, the number exceeds 100,000. Therefore, including the soldiers and civilians from other groups, the army mobilized by Pingnan this time can be described as 300,000. It is not just a empty word. .
With such abundant troops, such strong strength, and a wise enough monarch, as well as a general with strong leadership, it is normal to push the Pingnan War into a peaceful one. The author cannot bear to go overboard and deliberately create twists and turns.
When the results of the war of words in Beijing reached Jinling, Li Yu, the leader of the Jiangnan Kingdom, was still in a romantic relationship. He paid attention to the autumn election and prepared to choose a few literary friends.