The setting sun lay on the river, sparkling, and dozens of warships were divided into two groups, chasing each other down the river. The ships on both sides had broken masts, and there were still residual fires that could not be extinguished. Black smoke rose and was blown by the wind.
The surface of the river was filled with fire. The battle flag on the mainmast was also burned to pieces, so it was barely possible to recognize that the two fleets belonged to the naval forces of Jiangzhou and Chizhou respectively.
Most of the soldiers on the decks of the warships on both sides were wounded, and many soldiers died in the battle. Some soldiers fell into the river, or their bodies were carried into the cabin. But as far as what can be seen with the naked eye, the situation of the Jiangzhou navy is better.
, had the upper hand, and was setting sail in pursuit. If the waterway from Huanglong Ridge to the east was not complicated, it was very possible to catch up with the fleeing enemy and fight a beautiful battle of annihilation.
The Yangtze River comes out of Ezhou and turns into a large bay at the southern ridge of Huanglong Ridge. The water channel almost forms a 90-degree right angle. The water conditions become complicated east of Huanglong Ridge. The rapid river flow forms countless whirlpools and sediments, making Huanglong Ridge
There are numerous sandbanks in the river channel to the east, exacerbating the complexity of the water regime.
After chasing to Hengsha Island, they were worried that Chizhou was hiding an ambush behind the criss-crossed sandbars. The warships of the Jiangzhou navy lowered their sails and stopped, and stopped pursuing. They watched the remaining ships of the Chizhou navy go towards them without stopping.
Fleeing eastward, the sun set a little lower, and the Jiangzhou navy slowly turned the warships around and returned to camp.
In the territory of Songyang County, on the Huaping Ridge near the river, Yue Lengqiu sat on his horse and looked at the pursuit in the center of the river. The Jiangzhou Navy retreated when it seemed good, and finally ordered the ambush hidden in the east waterway.
Hard to function…
Emperor Yongxing returned east to Jiangning, but could not bring back a single soldier. The imperial camp and imperial guards were taken over by Chizhou and Huaixi.
Chizhou received an imperial naval force of more than 20,000 people, including nearly 300 large and small warships.
Compared with the Chizhou navy, Shewenzhuang used Yang Xiong as the commander of the navy in Jiangzhou, and reorganized the Dongting Lake bandits and the remnants of the original eastern Zhejiang and Fujian naval forces into the new Jiangzhou naval camp, with a total of 30,000 soldiers.
Although the Chizhou navy has undergone more than half a year of training, its morale is low, and the generals have not been able to get rid of the bad effects of the Jiangning war. In addition, Yue Lengqiu wants to completely control the navy. When reorganizing the navy, it is difficult to
The navy generals also made adjustments very frequently. In terms of the morale and fighting will of the generals, the Chizhou navy was weaker than Jiangzhou, and was even at a disadvantage in terms of the number of the navy.
The predecessors of the Jiangzhou Navy were fishermen and the Dongting Lake Army who went out to sea with lake pirates. Most of their warships were modified fishing boats of different sizes in Dongting Lake, which is not really good. Although the remaining generals of the Eastern Zhejiang Navy and the Eastern Fujian Navy have
More experience in water warfare, but large numbers of warships cannot be towed directly from the Qianjiang or Minjiang rivers to the Ganjiang River and Poyang Lake by land.
Although a large number of craftsmen moved westward with the She family to settle in Jiangzhou, Shewenzhuang also gritted its teeth and set up a new shipyard in the small port south of Jiangzhou, but it would still take time to mass-produce new sturdy warships.
Distant water cannot quench the near thirst, and the disadvantage of Jiangzhou navy on the warship is very obvious. Both sides have advantages. From mid-August onwards, the battle between Jiangzhou and Chizhou on the Yangtze River has no deliberate balance of victory and defeat.
Which side to lean towards.
"Master Yue, as far as the general knows, if Chizhou cannot gain control of the waters west of Songyang before October, it will be difficult to directly use troops against Jiangzhou in the autumn!" Today's pursuit battle in the Yangtze River did not involve shouting.
Hu Qiaozhong’s satisfaction.
Yue Lengqiu frowned and nodded slightly, acknowledging Hu Qiaozhong's judgment.
There is no shipyard in Chizhou. When the navy fights on the river, if a warship is damaged, Jiang Ning must replenish it. Lin Fu's conditions are quite relaxed. When the Chizhou navy fights with the enemy, one warship is damaged and a replacement is needed. He is specially sent to command and join the army.
A dozen military observers headed by Hu Qiaozhong entered Chizhou on behalf of the Privy Council to ensure that Chizhou did not tamper with the statistics of battle losses and to actually monitor the combat training of the Chizhou army.
Even though he knew that the entry of Hu Qiaozhong and others would make it difficult for Chizhou to keep the military secret from Huaidong, Yue Lengqiu had to accept such an arrangement if he wanted to obtain Jiangning's war weapon supplies.
The area controlled by Chizhou is too small, with few people, and there are simply not enough resources to organize the production of warships and armor on its own.
Even if Yue Lengqiu knew what Lin Fu was hiding in his heart, he still had to bite the bullet and head west if he wanted to get rid of the control of Huaidong. The south bank could temporarily abandon Pengze and other counties, but the north bank would go from Yicheng to
To the west, the Shannan area between Cong County, Huangmei and Qichun would have to be occupied in order to barely be able to give Chizhou's 50,000 troops a foothold.
In front of the people sent by Huaidong, Deng Yu and others couldn't bear to talk much about military affairs. Here, the Jiangzhou navy withdrew its troops and returned to camp. Today's battle on the Yangtze River was suspended. Hu Qiaozhong also rushed over to inspect the battle in person.
Deng Yucai said to Yue Lengqiu: "Fighting like this is not an option! We must use infantry to control Huanglong Ridge to control the tributaries on the north bank, instead of fighting for the river channel with the Jiangzhou navy every foot and foot.
control..."
Yue Lengqiu knew that what Deng Yu said was true. From Huaishan Mountain to the south, there were dense lakes and crisscrossing rivers. As long as the land from Huanglongling in the west to the remaining city of Huangmei was controlled, the navy would be at a disadvantage in the main channel of the Yangtze River.
, there is no need to flee to Chizhou, which is hundreds of miles away. At that time, you only need to avoid the river branch on the north bank and the river port, and you can get rid of the current disadvantage of the navy being in the lower reaches.
Don't say that the She family will not easily give up Huanglongling, which stands across the river from Jiangzhou City. After Chizhou soldiers and horses occupy Huangmei, they will immediately border Chen Hansan, who entered Qichun half a month ago.
Yue Lengqiu frowned and said: "Chen Hansan has cavalry in his hands. After Chizhou's soldiers and horses entered Huangmei, they suffered too much among the hills and ridges. And if the threat from the flanks is not eliminated, it will be difficult to forcefully attack the city...
"
"Chen Hansan was greatly favored by his father, commander-in-chief, and today he sent an envoy to Qichun to meet him. Even if Chen Hansan cannot be called to surrender, how dare he be an enemy of his commander-in-chief?" Yue Duming said.
Yue Lengqiu originally recruited Chen Hansan as an envoy to Xuzhou, but Chen Hansan was eventually expelled from Xuzhou. He was also forced by Huaidong and had no direct relationship with Yue Lengqiu. But at this time, don't say that Jiangning didn't allow it, even if Jiangning didn't
Saying anything, Yue Lengqiu also knew that it was difficult for him and Chen Hansan to coexist peacefully.
Just not wanting to point too far in front of the generals, Yue Lengqiu shook his head and said, "Chen Hansan is capricious. Even if we have an appointment in advance, how can we dare to trust him?"
Deng Yu looked at Qiqijiangzhou in the distance, thinking that after all, the young commander could not stand alone.
Shannan and Hubei are closely adjacent to each other, and there are almost no obstacles on the terrain. How can neither Chizhou nor Chen Hansan tolerate the other party to gain a foothold in their heart?
It's just that it's very difficult to defeat Chen Hansan's troops at the moment.
If Chizhou could capture Huanglongling, completely drive out the She family's troops on the north bank of the Yangtze River, and then join forces with Jinghu to attack from the east and west wings, it would be easy to annihilate Chen Hansan, who was not yet firmly established.
But it is obvious that Chen Hansan jumped out of Huaishan and entered Qichun with three to five thousand remaining soldiers to seize the territory. It was obvious that he had the support of the She family. The She family wanted Chen Hansan to gain a firm foothold in eastern Hubei.
We will definitely not give up Huanglongling easily.
It is obvious that the She family never wants Chizhou to gain a foothold on the north bank of the Yangtze River. If Chen Hansan wants to gain the support of the She family, it is impossible for him to communicate with Chizhou secretly.
Lin Fu included Yicheng into Chizhou's defense zone, probably because he had thoroughly considered today's situation. Otherwise, how could he have assigned a large area to the west of Yicheng to Chizhou for no reason?
Deng Yu was thinking wildly when he saw several riders galloping from the west. They were sentry riders sent by Chizhou.
The sentry cavalry galloped nearby, dismounted and knelt down to report: "Chen Hansan's two thousand cavalry have entered Huangmei first!"
"..." Yue Lengqiu gritted his teeth for a long time before letting out a long breath.
"Huangmeicheng was destroyed by the war long ago. It was difficult for Chen and Han to gain a foothold with two or three thousand infantry and cavalry in a short period of time, so they asked Marshal Xu Dengyu to lead his troops to seize it..."
"Huangmei's ruined city and Huanglongling are the horns of each other. It is difficult to cover the flanks with a strong attack. There is a worry of losing sight of both ends," Yue Lengqiu frowned and said, "You lead your troops to Xiaocang Mountain first and set up camp there.
, don’t rush into battle…”
Deng Yu was ordered to mount his war horse and go down the mountain, order all his troops and horses, and then go to Xiaocang Mountain where Songyang and Huangmei are connected.
Chen Hansan entered the eastern Hubei region like a stir-up, forcing Yue Lengqiu and Hu Wenmu to send additional troops to the eastern Hubei border at the same time.
Not only Yue Lengqiu, but also Jinghu, whose situation on the western front has been eased, will not tolerate Chen Hansan establishing a foothold in eastern Hubei, lest it threaten Jinghu's eastern front security.
While Hu Wenmu increased the military strength in the area east of Jiangxia, he sent envoys to sternly warn Luo Xiancheng not to support Chen Hansan behind his back. Luo Xiancheng was a hypocrite, and Jinghu had no intention of following the state into a direct war for the time being, and it was impossible to capture Suizhou in this matter.
handle.
In early September, Zhou Bin entered Suizhou again.
Before Zhou Bin entered Suizhou again, Prime Minister Wang once again advised Luo Xiancheng on Chen Hansan's borrowing troops and food to prevent him from raising tigers. During the dispute, Prime Minister Wang was insulted by Zhong Rong and invited him to go angrily.
Zhou Bin entered the palace of the Prime Minister on the pretext of visiting, and happened to meet Luo Xiancheng who sent Wei Zhang to come over to comfort the Prime Minister.
Wang Xiangyi sternly asked Wei Zhang to tell Luo Xiancheng that he intended to go to Chaishan: "loyal advice is offensive to the ears, and good medicine is bitter to the taste, so it is not tolerated by others. Mr. Wei, please don't persuade me today. Please speak to Luo Shuai when you go back. Wang Xiang said three times
He was insulted by Zhong Rong several times, and it was difficult to maintain his position in Suizhou. He did not want Luo Shuai to be in trouble, so Wang Xiang asked to go now, willing to go to the depths of Huaishan Mountain to manage a hiding place for Luo Shuai. If the situation in Suizhou is as Wang Xiang expected, Suizhou
In times of danger, Marshal Luo can also go to the Huai Mountains to lie down on firewood and taste his courage, so that he can rise again!"
Luo Xiancheng repeatedly sent people to comfort him, but the king had already made up his mind to leave and would not change his mind.
Luo Xianchen was also tired of Prime Minister Wang staying in Suizhou and hindering his enjoyment, so he asked Prime Minister Wang to select more than a thousand soldiers and horses to go to Chaishan to serve as the guardian envoy of Huaiyou.
Chaishan is originally on the edge of the area controlled by Suizhou. It is located in the hinterland of Huaishan Mountain. Roads are difficult to access. There are only a few dangerous trails used by mountain people to enter the mountain. The village forces are also very tenacious and difficult to tame. Wang Xiang wants to go to this remote place.
In this land, what suspicion can Luo Xiancheng and others have?
Wang Xiang also recommended Zhou Bin to Luo Xiancheng as the captain of Chaishan. He left Suizhou in mid-September and entered the Huaishan Mountains to take over the defense of Chaishan. Previously, Chaishan City only had more than 600 soldiers and horses sent by Luo Xiancheng to garrison the surrounding villages.
Control is almost equal to zero.
In the name of running Chaishan for Luo Xiancheng, Wang Xiang and Zhou Bin took over the defense of Chaishan and recruited people to widen the mountain road between Lishan and Chaishan. At the same time, they also strengthened their control over the mountain villages near Chaishan, surveyed the terrain, and built a stronghold.
In the name of joint defense, we built and widened the mountain roads between the mountain villages in the hinterland of Huaishan Mountain.