In the face of bloody killings, some people would rather die than give in, while others are timid and cowardly, and just live an ignoble existence.
Seeing nearly ten times the number of enemies surrounding the city, the banners were spread out like black clouds covering the wilderness.
In the misty early morning, the roar of war horses, mixed with the sound of wind blowing from the north, filled his ears, making the guard Chen Duo shaken, and felt frustrated that he was difficult to defeat, but he thought that his family was all in Jingzhou
In the city, they also asked him to intend to die on the city wall, which was also an explanation to Hu Wenmu: if he surrendered, Hu Wenmu would not spare his family...
However, history did not give Chen Dun a chance to choose. When the Yan soldiers approached the city, Chen Dun's deputy general Zhang Fang bribed the Jingmen gentry who wanted to sacrifice the city to save their lives, and led the country soldiers to surprise the west gate, opening the city gate to lure Yan.
Soldiers enter the city.
On September 24, due to the rebellion of the local tyrants and the rural soldiers who assisted in defending the city, they opened the city gates to lure the enemy into the city. The Jingmen defenders were caught off guard, causing the Jingmen city to fall in the early morning mist. The five thousand defenders were only
A small number of people occupied the terrain in the city to resist, and most chose to surrender. Some wanted to break out of the city, and were surrounded and annihilated by the new annexed troops outside the city...
This was also the fourth day when the Huaidong Army stormed Huangpi.
Being able to capture Jingmen so easily made Ye Jiluorong, who entered the North Shiheyi camp in Jingmen yesterday, very satisfied. This also meant that the last obstacle to marching into Jingzhou was removed. But what Ye Jiluorong did not expect was that something happened
Just as Shewenzhuang had expected, the Huaidong Army actually chose Huangpi City as the main attack direction, and they had no reservations from the beginning...
"Sun Ji often has to eat hard work! There are 30,000 defenders in less than four days, and they can't even defend the top of the city!"
Before the surrender, Zhou Fan was a frontier general, but he was not accustomed to being a general in the mainland; after the surrender to Yan, Chen Zhihu and Yuan Lishan had the highest status. Zhou Fan could not compare with Yuan Lishan's base, nor could he compare with Chen Zhihu's military exploits, but he saw that
My status was actually reduced to that of Sun Jichang, and I felt somewhat dissatisfied, thinking that Sun Jichang had taken advantage of being demoted first.
In front of the rescue messenger sent by Sun Jichang, Zhou Fan had nothing good to say.
Ye Ji Luorong pretended not to hear Zhou Fan's complaints. He glanced at Shewenzhuang, smacked his lips and sighed: "The Huaidong Army fought so fast!"
Logically speaking, after the Huaidong Army captured Huangpi, it would also have to conquer Hanjin before it could open the blockade of the Han River, advance both by land and water, and attack Beiyan's flanks. However, the Huaidong Army's main attack direction was wrong from the beginning.
, and the Huaidong Army attacked Huangpi so quickly, how many people can be sure that the Huaidong Army did not go directly northward from the Huangpi gap after taking Huangpi?
"The Huaidong Army has no reason to fight so fiercely!" Hu Zongguo frowned, confused.
It is true that Lin Fu is good at using cunning strategies, but he is also a person who makes decisions before acting.
Before the Shangrao War, although the Huaidong Army finally broke through the Shangrao defense line for a short time, before that, the Huaidong Army made a lot of preparations. In order to storm the Shangrao defense line, the Huaidong Army made preparations for almost half a year.
Now the Huaidong Army did not make any preparations in front of Huangpi City. They attacked the city directly as soon as the troops and horses were pushed forward. Although with the strength of the Huaidong Army, as long as casualties were not taken into account, it was safe to storm Huangpi City. However, the battle of Huangpi
For the Huaidong Army, it was the prelude to the entire Jingxiang Battle.
In such a prologue battle, how many casualties is the Huaidong Army willing to bear?
Ten thousand people can still make twenty thousand people!
If the Huaidong Army's accumulated casualties under Huangpi City reached 20,000, compared to the Huaidong Army that could muster up to 100,000 infantry in the eastern Hubei region, that would be a 20% attrition rate!
If such a tough battle follows, the Huaidong Army will lose the ability to continue fighting, and the initiative in the entire Jingxiang Battle will be in the hands of Beiyan.
Is it necessary to fight so fiercely in the prologue battle?
Hu Zongguo was puzzled. Ye Jiluo Rong, Zhou Fan and other generals were also confused.
"When it comes to momentum, it's nothing more than 'one thing disappears and another rises'," said Guo Song, a Han from eastern Liaodong. Like Fan Lan, he was a Han official recruited by Ye Ji in Liaodong. He joined the army in the camp record office of the Southern Expedition and usually replaced Ye Ji Luo Rong.
Ye Jiluo Rongyi, who was in charge of the affairs of calligraphy and ink, said, "The prince ordered the massacre of Nanyang, which frightened the soldiers and civilians of South Vietnam and weakened their fighting spirit. Wherever our Yan army passed by, they all surrendered. It can be inferred that the defenders of Jingzhou
The soldiers are also weak in will. Lin Fu attacked Huangpi fiercely as soon as he came up. He should have taken the lead and regain some of his disadvantages to strengthen the fighting spirit of his allies!"
"It does make sense," Ye Jiluorong said, "other than that, there is no other explanation."
"From what I see," She Wenzhuang said, "the Huaidong Army's fierce attack on Huangpi is intended to lure our Shicheng soldiers and horses to go south!"
"Most of the guards at Hanjin and Tiemen Mountain are infantry, so it is difficult to win in a field battle with the Huaidong infantry," Zhou Fan said. "Without the iron cavalry from Shicheng, calling Hanjin and Tiemen Mountain to assist Huangpi does have too many disadvantages, but it is easy to win."
The treacherous plot of the Central Huaidong Army is nothing more than the soldiers of Shicheng, who were originally meant to aid Eastern Hubei."
At this time, the reserve troops deployed in Shicheng on the east bank of the Han River had reached 40,000. Except for 10% of the infantry under Su Tingzhan's command, the remaining 30,000 troops were elite cavalry recruited from Yanbei.
The deployment of so many troops and horses in Shicheng is to prevent reinforcements from being sent up when the eastern Hubei defense line cannot be sustained.
But no one expected that Shicheng's reserve troops and horses would be mobilized so soon for reinforcements.
Huangpi must be rescued. If not rescued, Sun Jichang would not be able to survive in Huangpi for a few days.
Once the Huangpi garrison calls on the Huaidong Army to kill and annihilate them, no matter whether the Huaidong Army directly goes deep in alone or turns around to attack Hanjin, it will cause great harm to the garrison of Hanjin, Tiemen Mountain and Fengshan.
The bad influence made Hu Wenmu in Jingzhou see the hope of winning the battle of Jingzhou and Xiang, and his determination became stronger. The change of situation will be as Guo Song said: one will disappear and the other will rise.
When Shewenzhuang met Zhou Fan, Guo Song and others, they all believed that the Huaidong Army's fierce offensive in Huangpi was intended to gain an early advantage and regain the disadvantage. Ye Ji Luorong also tended to agree with this view. He said: "Prince Mu attacked Jingzhou
, with the help of General Zhou, we will definitely be able to overcome it as we wish. I am not of much use in Jingzhou, or I can be an adviser to the generals in eastern Hubei..."
Ye Jiluo Rong was naturally happy that Shewenzhuang was willing to go to the east of Hubei. Over the years, although he had paid enough attention to the Huaidong Army, Sun Jichang, Meng Anchan, Zhong Rong, and Yang Xiong generals had not actually dealt with the Huaidong Army much.
The experience of the Eastern Army.
Although the She family has repeatedly been defeated by Huaidong, Ye Jiluo Rong believes that if there is anyone here who knows Huaidong best, there is no one else besides Shewenzhuang.
Ye Ji Luorong said: "The King of Fujian is willing to go to the east of Hubei to supervise the war. That is the best! If the King of Fujian can control the generals in the east of Hubei, then I can go to Jingzhou with confidence."
Zhou Fan felt unhappy. Ye Ji Luorong was giving Shewenzhuang the power to direct the battle in eastern Hubei, instead of just going to eastern Hubei to serve as a staff advisor to the generals!
"Thank you for Prince Mu's trust. Wenzhuang will not dare to betray Prince Mu's trust!" She Wenzhuang did not shirk the trust. There were too many things about the Huaidong Army's deployment in Huangzhou and the fierce offensive against Huangpi that made him uneasy.
Said, "After Wenzhuang goes to the east of Hubei, Prince Mu should ask the soldiers from Jingmen to quickly build a pontoon bridge between Shicheng and Pengwan Ridge to connect the two sides."
Although the navy has nearly a thousand ships, most of them are small and medium-sized ships with a capacity of one to two hundred stone. Including the warships that Yang Xiong led to join the She family, most of them were converted fishing boats on Dongting Lake.
After the capture of Jingmen, it was more efficient to transport grain and grass from Xiangyang to the Jingzhou front line by land route. Naturally, the troops were requisitioned, and the civilians used mules and horses to transport it by land.
From Xiangyang to Jingzhou, it is almost a straight line from north to south, a straight road of 300 miles. Since these areas have been under the control of Jinghu for a long time, the road conditions are good, including Nanzhang, Zhongyi, Jingmen, Changlin, Dangyang and other cities.
After the surrender, Ye Ji Luorong was able to recruit enough civilians from the west bank of the Han River.
On the east bank of the Han River, the land was ruined, the roads were ruined, and the roads were winding and remote. There were not even a hundred people left, and there were not enough civilians to requisition them. Naturally, materials could only be transported southward from Xiangfan by relying on the Han River.
Since grain and grass from Hanjin and Shicheng were given priority to be supplied to Tiemen Mountain before, Huangpi and other inland cities that were easy to be cut and surrounded by the Huaidong Army, Shicheng, Hanjin and other cities along the Han River included the people who fled north with the She family across the Yangtze River.
, nearly 120,000 to 30,000 soldiers and civilians, all needed materials must be transported from Xiangyang in time - it may not seem like much, but it takes up nearly half of the navy's transportation capacity.
In addition, we must be prepared to prevent the Huaidong Water Camp from directly approaching the Han River branch from downstream to clear obstacles in the channel. A part of the navy must also be retained in Hanjin.
There are not enough ferries. If Ye Jiluorong wants to transfer the soldiers and horses from Jingmen to the east bank or the soldiers and horses from Shicheng to the west bank at this time, it will be extremely inconvenient without a pontoon bridge. Without a pontoon bridge, Yanhu will be on the three sides of the southern line.
A hundred thousand troops will be separated in the east and west. If something happens, there are no pontoons, and there are not enough ferries, everything will have to be detoured from Xiangyang, which will take more than 400 miles to go.
It's cold.
Being able to build a pontoon bridge between Shicheng and Jingmen, and cooperate with the ferry, can ferry tens of thousands of troops and horses in one day, which will greatly enhance the ability to respond.
Zhou Fan was dissatisfied with Shewenzhuang's ability to go to eastern Hubei to supervise the war, but Shewenzhuang proposed to build a pontoon bridge in Shicheng. Although it would make supplies more scarce, it was a sound strategy, and he did not object without reason.
Ye Ji Luorong had limited resources. Although he had obtained 5,000 surrendered soldiers in Jingmen, these 5,000 surrendered soldiers still did not allow people to stay in Jingmen with confidence. They had to ask Zhou Fan to forcefully attack Jingzhou.
Putting these surrendered soldiers into the battle to storm Jingzhou will, on the one hand, consume some of them and reduce the damage to the elite newly attached troops; on the other hand, the surrendered soldiers will be stained with blood and will not be repeated.
Regarding the erection of the pontoon bridge, Ye Ji Luorong could only leave it to the wealthy villagers who surrendered. Although the time limit of fifteen days was stipulated, Ye Ji Luorong doubted whether they could erect a floating bridge within fifteen days.
.But it doesn’t matter. When the time comes, just chop off a few heads and replace it with a new group of people.