It has been twenty-two days since the news of the loss and gain of Huangtian Village reached Eastern Fujian.
In late October in eastern Fujian, you still can't feel the deep autumn feeling. The distant mountains on the north bank of the Minjiang River are green and endless.
The flames of war on Nantai Island have not been completely extinguished, and clusters of black smoke are rising, darkening the sky.
It has been two days since Nantai Island was captured. There are still three or five disabled soldiers on the island who refuse to surrender.
Use ropes to clear shipwrecks, hidden piles and other obstacles in the middle of the river...
Nantai Island is the gateway to the east of Jin'an City. The Minjiang River bypasses the south of Jin'an City. The river is divided into two branches, the north and south branches, into the sea for Nantai Island in the center of the river. The south branch is wide and shallow, with turbid water, and is called Wulong River; the north branch
The water is narrow, about 80 feet wide, and the rapids are deep. It is the Bailong River and the main channel of the Min River estuary.
Nantai Island is directly across the entrance to the Minjiang River. The She family is building a fort and garrisoning troops. It is the fan screen southeast of Jin'an City.
In the north and south branches of the river, burned, sunk warships or half of the hull were exposed out of the water, or only tall ship masts were sticking out alone. The blood-stained river surface had been washed away by the water from upstream and became clear again.
The bodies of generals from both sides were still entangled in the water and grass on the bank. There were countless soldiers and armors sunk at the bottom of the river. Nantai Island was even more in disgrace, and there were countless broken soldiers and broken halberds.
The war in Eastern Fujian started in late September. The battle on Nantai Island was the most intense. Three thousand enemies were wiped out. The She family was not willing to give up Jin'an Mansion and the ancestral land that had been rooted for more than two hundred years.
In order to defend Jin'an Mansion, the She family was able to select enough dead soldiers, which also allowed the Huaidong Army to push to Jin'an City, and the resistance suddenly increased.
In the Battle of Nantai Island, the Huaidong Army's First Water Battalion and Quanzhou Army also suffered nearly 3,000 casualties. In the previous capture of Xing'an, Xiapu, Luoyuan, Jiaocheng and other places, the combined casualties were less than this number.
This indicates that the next battle against Jin'an Mansion will be a tough battle with high casualties.
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Jin'an City is surrounded by mountains and rivers, located in the Minjiang River Estuary Basin.
The lower reaches of the Minjiang River are located in the Hekou Basin. To the north is Beifeng Mountain, to the east is Gushan Mountain, to the west is Qishan Mountain, and to the north and south are Gaogai Mountain and Wuhu Mountain. The Minjiang River passes through the basin.
Jin'an City was built to the north of the Min River. After October, the defenders also retreated to the north bank of the Min River. Therefore, Huaidong wanted to attack Jin'an City. After controlling Gaogai Mountain and Wuhu Mountain on the south bank of the Min River, it also had to move
The Minjiang River is under control.
After capturing Nantai Island, the remnants of the Zhejiang and Fujian naval forces on Nantai Island withdrew westward and did not enter Jin'an City through Shuimen. The warships of the No. 1 Water Battalion of Jinghai sailed from the northern branch of the Bailong River to the west and controlled the Min River south of Jin'an City.
waterway.
Lin Fu stood on the deck of the tail cabin of the "Lin Zhengjun" and looked at Jin'an City in the distance.
When the eight surnames entered Fujian, they built Jin'an City. Over the past two hundred years, many additions and repairs have been made. Today's Jin'an City is as towering as a mountain, and it is integrated with Shoushan Mountain and the North Peak to the northwest.
"The She family hid troops in a deep valley to ambush Huangtian Village. They lost Huangtian Village first and lured the Huinan Army to go south. They then ambushed the troops and recaptured Huangtian Village." Gao Zongting took a piece of paper and said, "It seems that the Huinan Army has already
I fell into the trap of the She family..."
"When will the news come?" Lin Fu asked.
"Huangtian Village fell on the 16th, and the news came via Mingzhou on the 18th..." Gao Zongting said.
"Six days have passed!" Lin Fu sighed softly and said, "Then it's completely impossible to intervene. That's fine, let's focus on beating ours..."
Up to now, after investing so many resources in Eastern Fujian, Jin'an Mansion must win it.
Taking Jin'an Prefecture will not only shake the morale of the Zhejiang and Fujian armies and blockade the Zhejiang and Fujian armies in the upper reaches of the Min River, but also ensure that Xiapu, Quanzhou, Luoyuan, Jiaocheng and other coastal prefectures and counties in eastern and southern Fujian only need a small amount of
The garrison can be firmly controlled by Huaidong.
If Jin'an Prefecture cannot be captured, if Huaidong wants to occupy Xiapu, Quanzhou and other places, it will need to invest twice as many troops as the enemy or even more. This situation is definitely not what Lin Fu and others in Huaidong want to see.
Maybe Huaidong was also dragged down because of it.
Huaidong has to face not only the She family but an enemy.
Lin Fu made this decision. Ye Junan, Song Fu, Zhao Qingshan, Zhou Tong, Song Yi, Song Bo and others around him had different expressions, but they all responded in unison: "I will obey your order..."
"Immediately, Song Yi led the Quanzhou Army to march west along the south bank of the Minjiang River, making sure to capture Zhuqi before attacking the city here. Zuo Shiying led the Zhejiang East Camp Army to march westward by boat, capture Jingxi on the north bank, and capture Jingxi.
The two places of Zhuqi can block the Zhejiang and Fujian armies and Jian'an troops from advancing eastward along the Min River. Zhou Tong will be responsible for approaching Jin'an City from the south. If you have nothing else to do, go down and prepare!" Lin Fu
Go ahead according to the plan you made before.
Jingxi and Zhuqi are the west mouth of the East Fujian estuary basin. There is flat land on both sides of the river for troops. After Zhuqi, there are mountains on both sides of the Minjiang River in the west. Except for the Minjiang waterway, large groups of soldiers and horses cannot enter Fujian by land.
River mouth basin.
Even if Jin'an City, Zhuqi, and Jingxi are successfully captured, they will still be key passes and key points to be defended in the future.
******************
Zhou Tong, Song Yi, and Zuo Shiguang immediately led their troops to march westward. Lin Fu did not land from Nantai Island with the army until the third day.
Walking west along the north shore of Nantai Island to the western end of Nantai Island, you can see Jin'an City and the western foot of Gushan Mountain across the river. The Bailong River waterway here is not even 70 feet wide.
After autumn, the climate in eastern Fujian is not yet cold, and the grass and trees show no signs of withering, but one obvious change is that the water level of the Min River becomes shallower.
According to reliable intelligence, the garrison troops retreating to Jin'an City and Qishan on the north bank of the Minjiang River and the Beifengshan fortresses are now less than 15,000, while the Huaidong Army's troops in eastern Fujian have exceeded 50,000.
Occupy an absolute advantage.
But the next step is to attack the first fortified city in eastern Fujian, and the advantage in military strength is not so obvious.
The outposts of the Huaidong Army landed from the north bank. Since Gushan in the east of Jin'an City is far away from Jin'an City, there is a large area of farmland in the middle, covering hundreds of thousands of acres, which is easy for the Huai'an Army to penetrate. When the Huaidong Army landed from the north bank, Zhejiang and Fujian
The garrison at Gushan withdrew from the west into the city.
When Lin Fu landed from Nantai Island, the defenders could no longer be seen in the east of Jin'an City, and they all retreated into the city.
After the defenders were annihilated, the people of Eastern Fujian could not be seen on Nantai Island. They were all evacuated by the She family. Large areas of farmland were deserted there, waiting for the people to move in. Lin Fu rode his horse and walked among the people.
Surrounded by people, they walked west along the island shore.
The supply camp is building two trestles between the western end of Nantai Island and the western foot of Gushan Mountain. Camps will be built on the north and south of the trestle bridges to defend them. However, the main force of troops will continue to approach the Jin'an River and set up camp to besiege.
Zhou Pu was the commander-in-chief of the siege. He came over and said, "Qishan and Beifengshan were searched twice more. They were too high and too dangerous. The She family's generals also built fortresses on key passes. We can only forcefully attack Shanxi."
Anjo..."
Lin Fu looked at Song Fu to see if he had any clever ideas.
Jin'an City is almost adjacent to Qishan Mountain and Beifeng Mountain. The northwest is surrounded by mountains and hills, and thousands of peaks are dripping with green. If you want to surround the Jin'an defenders, you can only capture several important passes and dangerous strongholds in Qishan Mountain and Beifeng Mountain.
This cut off the possibility of the defenders escaping along the valley between Beifeng Mountain and Qishan Mountain.
Song Fu shook his head. She Wenzhuang wanted to hold the main force of Huaidong soldiers and horses in Eastern Fujian for a longer time. The last more than 10,000 defenders in Jin'an City should be loyal to the She family, so the younger ones evacuated first.
Eight Fujian warriors, but it is obvious that Shewenzhuang cannot allow these fifteen thousand elites to be wiped out in Jin'an City.
Unable to capture the Qishan and Beifengshan fortresses, the Huaidong Army wanted to cut off the Jin'an defenders' possibility of escaping to the northwest, so they had to send a small group of elites to sneak into the deep mountains and valleys to the northwest of Beifeng Mountain and Qishan to intercept them.
Obviously, Shewenzhuang should be prepared for this and will not allow Huaidong to take advantage too much.
Song Fu, who was most familiar with Eastern Fujian, had no clever strategy, so he could only fight the siege battle honestly. Lin Fu nodded to Zhou Tong and said: "Then let's fight honestly, we have prepared so many firepowers."
Oil tanks, sling crossbows, you can't waste your time..."
Jin'an City is the root of the war in Fujian. The defenders left behind in Jin'an City are mourning soldiers and dead soldiers. This battle is really going to be fought hard, and it can't be delayed in time.
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The city of Jin'an is ten miles away, and 30,000 troops and horses crossing the Huaidong River can't completely surround the two city walls even if they push into the city from the east and south.
Zhou Tong sent people to block the city gate where the defenders attacked, and sent elite soldiers and horses to guard it. He also used transport troops and forcibly recruited civilians to quickly dig trenches and build forts in the back, and set up camp. In just two days, the Jin army was defeated.
A series of fortifications were built to the east and south of An City, and preparations were made before the attack. The speed and efficiency were so fast that the defenders at the top of Jin'an City were frightened.
Eastern Fujian is rainy and has dense springs. Jin'an City is built of bricks and stones, so there is little possibility of a secret door. This also makes Huaidong unable to dig underground caves to attack it.
Taking a mound of earth and connecting it with the city to form a siege road is also a common method for siege, but it requires a lot of time and manpower. The sooner Jin'an City is captured, the more Huaidong can seize the initiative in the entire battle.
There's no time to waste here.
We can only use the usual methods to attack the city honestly.
Although the Jin'an city wall is tall and steep, it is an old-fashioned single city wall with only a protective shield on the outside.
When Huaidong was building a large city in the Xusi area, the She family already had enough financial resources to carry out large-scale reconstruction of the Xiongcheng City of Jin'an, which was more than ten miles away on Tuesday. This also made Huaidong slightly less resistant even if it used traditional storming tactics.
Some.
War is always cruel. Huaidong has 30,000 soldiers and 10,000 troops in Jin'an City. In addition, it also forcibly recruited more than 40,000 civilians from Xiapu, Quanzhou, Luoyuan and other places.
Eighty thousand men and horses piled under the city and built camps. In two days, they also took soil to fill trenches and filled in more than ten passages for the seven to eighty-foot-wide moat outside Jin'an City.
The soldiers and civilians used the cover of cave cars, curtains, and half-boats to approach the base of the city wall, wielding shovels and shovels, and worked hard to loosen the foundation of the city wall. If they could directly dig down a section of the city wall, it would be a blessing from God.
The defenders smashed rolling stones and logs from the top of the city. No matter how strong the cave-house carts, curtains, and half-ships were, it was difficult to withstand the repeated impact of large rocks and giant trees. Cave-house carts were constantly cracked, smashed, and covered up.
The civilians and soldiers below were shot with arrows and stones, smashed to death, or scalded or burned to death by the pouring kerosene, and the mourning could be heard everywhere.
On the other side, Zhou Tong deployed a large number of nest vehicles equipped with strong bows, powerful crossbows and scorpion crossbows, as well as a large number of counterweighted stone-throwing crossbows under the city, covering the southeast corner of the city wall and suppressing the defenders at the top of the city.
, the covering soldiers used ladders to approach the city.
The Zhejiang and Fujian armies also had a large number of catapult crossbows and other crossbow equipment in the city, and they bombarded them without showing any signs of weakness.
The watch tower has been set up twenty feet high, allowing a clear view of the city. Lin Fu climbed up to have a look. After coming down, he said to Song Fu and others: "In addition to the tens of thousands of defenders in the city, the She family
The people in the city have almost been evacuated. This is both good news and bad news. We immediately organize craftsmen to cut down more wood and make more catapult crossbows - the defenders' catapult crossbows are still old-fashioned. If we have an advantage, we must do everything possible to do so.
expand."
In addition to the scorpion crossbow, the trebuchet crossbow used by Huaidong is a counterweight type. A large iron ball is tied to the end of the crossbow tip. The impact of the falling iron ball is used to launch the stone projectiles. A dozen people can operate a heavy-duty crossbow.
Trebuchet crossbow. The old trebuchet crossbow purely uses human or animal power to pull and exert force. A heavy trebuchet crossbow often requires dozens or even hundreds of people to operate.
Defending and attacking a city is not entirely a matter for the generals. A city can only be called a truly heroic city if its citizens organize the people.
If Huaidong builds a hundred heavy-weight trebuchet crossbows, it will only require one or two thousand people to operate them. Since the She family has evacuated all the soldiers and civilians from the city first, even if they build a hundred heavy-weight trebuchet crossbows, even if they do not consider the counterweight type,
The trebuchet crossbow has advantages in terms of accuracy and ease of operation, but Jin'an City does not have enough manpower to operate it.
The few civilians left by the She family in the city had to help use stone and wood arrows to reach the top of the city, and even directly assist the defenders in fighting.
The She family does not have many people left in Jin'an City, which can also be seen from the She family's shortage of population resources.
In the end, Jin'an City was not defended, and the defenders abandoned their baggage and were able to withdraw from the northwest. The people were in a mess and could not withdraw with the army. The She family was obviously reluctant to leave too many Dingkou to Huaidong.
Before the Eastern Fujian War, the population of the eight prefectures of Eastern Fujian was about three million, and the population directly under the control of Jin'an Prefecture was once as high as 800,000.
Even if the entire population of East Fujian were controlled by the She family, the adult population would be less than one million. After these years of brutal wars, the number of adults directly lost in East Fujian due to the war was not far behind, even if it was not 200,000.
At this point, in addition to grain fields, Dingkou has become a resource that the She family is in short supply.
Even if Huaidong does not invade the eastern Fujian coast in the later period, the She family will face the dilemma of having their grain fields abandoned and unable to fully cultivate due to the shortage of labor.
The She family abandoned eastern and southern Fujian, moved their generals and people, and moved their materials inland, but a considerable number of people were still attached to their homeland and refused to move westward.
Quanzhou and the 300,000 Dingkou under Quanzhou Prefecture naturally belong to the entire Huaidong, including the counties in southern Fujian and the three counties in Northeastern Fujian. The new Dingkou in Huaidong is about one million.
After the She family lost Jin'an Prefecture, those who actually moved inland to the upper reaches of Eastern Fujian, including the aborigines of Jian'an Prefecture, probably did not exceed one million. What made the She family even more headache was that the grain fields in the upper reaches of Eastern Fujian were only
It can barely maintain a population of one million, but the maintenance of its hundreds of thousands of troops depends on its war plunder from Jiangxi and other places.
Not to mention other things, the grain fields in the Mindong River Mouth Basin around Jin'an City, Qishan, Gushan, Beifeng Mountain, and Wuhu Mountain alone amount to two million acres. It can be seen that the She family originally considered giving up Jin'an Mansion.
What pain.
Huaidong had prepared a large number of ordnance accessories before the war. Once he decided to make a large-scale stone-throwing crossbow, he would bring in the craftsmen and cut down the wood and materials, and he could build six or seventy crossbows a day under the city.
Even if the supply of stone bullets is low, there is no need to worry. We can build kilns to take soil and sinter it, and then make mud bricks for throwing. The shape is more rounded than stone bullets.
After several days of fighting like this, most of the crenellations at the top of Jin'an City were broken, and two large gaps were destroyed in the south city. Although the defenders were asked to fill the gaps with wooden palisades in time, the defenders were also called upon to do so in the past few days.
The casualties were heavy.
Next, Huaidong soldiers and horses intensified the siege of the city, using strong armor, sharp swords, and thick shields of kerosene to forcefully compete with the defenders at the top of the city inch by inch.
It was not until November 5th that the Zhejiang and Fujian armies finally showed weakness, and six thousand defenders withdrew directly from the Yunqiao at the head of the North City Wall to the western foot of Beifeng Mountain. Only then did the Huaidong Army manage to capture Jin'an City. The North City Gate, which is directly connected to Beifeng Mountain,
It was blocked and it was impossible to leave the city for a while to chase down the fugitives.
Counting the nearly 1,000 wounded soldiers who abandoned their weapons and surrendered in the city, the Huaidong battle wiped out 7,000 enemies and nearly 5,000 casualties. Counting the casualties of the supply soldiers and civilians, they even far exceeded the defenders. This battle can be regarded as
Extremely tragic.
But as long as Jin'an City was successfully captured, Lin Fu could bear the double casualties.
***************
On the night of the fifth day, before the remaining enemies in the city were cleared, Lin Fu couldn't wait to enter Jin'an City. He wanted to arrange everything here urgently and immediately led the main force of Huaidong troops back north.
New bad news kept coming from Mingzhou. Shewenzhuang gathered 30,000 elites in Tongziwu on the 23rd and attacked Yuyan day and night. The general of the Huinan Army died in the battle, and Yushi Village was killed on the 28th.
As soon as it fell, Shewenzhuang marched northward without stopping. Deng Yu had to stop attacking Huangtian Village and personally supervised Feihuang'an, fighting hard with the Zhejiang and Fujian troops in the narrow terrain of Feihuang'an.
Huangtian Village was gained and lost again. Although the news was revealed to Huaidong, this slap hit the Imperial Army in the face hard and also hit Emperor Yongxing hard in the face.
Jiangning refused to believe Chaozhong, and the 30,000 imperial troops could not defend Yuling Pass. He only urged Huaidong's troops in eastern Zhejiang to attack Dongyang, and the Hanghu army to attack Tonglu, in the hope that Huaidong and Hanghu armies could have a common road.
They penetrated the eastern front line in western Zhejiang and relieved the siege of the Huinan Army, but refused to withdraw the main force of the Hanghu Army to defend Ning State.
In addition to gathering 30,000 elites in the Daqingxi Valley north of Tongziwu, the She family also had 20,000 elites in Dongyang, Lanxi, and Quzhou to block Huaidong's troops from advancing westward in eastern Zhejiang. There were also more than 10,000 elites in Tonglu and Chun'an.
Intercept the Hanghu Army.
At the same time, in central Jiangxi, starting from mid-October, She Feixiong had the intention to abandon the outer cities of Yuzhang and concentrate his forces.
Although the outer cities of Yuzhang may be lost to Yue Lengqiu's Jiangzhou in a short period of time, as long as Yuzhang is defended, Jiangxi's fundamental situation cannot be changed. She Feixiong can gather the elites, in addition to firmly defending Yuzhang.
In addition, troops should be sent along Xinjiangxi to support the war in western Zhejiang.
Obviously, the She family is becoming more and more confident in making a big gap from Huizhou and marching directly to Jiangning City.
Yue Lengqiu also realized the danger in Jiangzhou and decisively gave up the invasion of Yuzhang and withdrew his troops back to Jiangzhou. However, he could not take any further action in Jiangzhou.
Although no further news has come yet, the Huinan Army may be completely destroyed or surrender at any time. Even if the news of the fall of Yuling Pass has come across the sea, Lin Fu will not be surprised.