In early March, the planned troop concentration on the southern front was completed.
The entire Chongcheng Army, the main force of the Changshan Army, Sun Wenyao, Su Pinxiao and other troops transferred from eastern Zhejiang, as well as the first cavalry brigade, nearly 100,000 soldiers, including army troops and civilians, the total number of troops reached 170,000, and successively
After completing the assembly in the area east of Quzhou, they advanced in three directions to attack the defense line built by the Zhejiang and Fujian troops outside Shangrao.
Among them, Guanxiling-Hengshan was the main attack direction, with Ao Canghai as the main general. Lin Fu also personally sat in Fenglinbu, the back camp of the Guanxiling camp, to supervise the battle. The Huaidong Army assembled Tang Fuguan's troops at Guanxiling.
Gou's troops, Zhang Jiheng's troops and other elite troops of the Huaidong Army, including the supply troops and civilians who accompanied the army on the expedition, gathered in Guanxiling a total of 90,000 people.
Faced with the pressure exerted by the Huaidong Army, She Feixiong was forced to mobilize another 10,000 elite soldiers from central Fujian to go north to strengthen Shangrao's defense. The number of soldiers gathered in Shangrao exceeded 50,000, plus coercion from local areas to assist in the defense.
The number of civilians was nearly 100,000.
The eastern defense line it built in Shangrao took Shangrao City as the inner line, Changshan and Hengshan cities as the outer pass centers, and built three pass defense lines of Shanxi, Qiankou, and Litang respectively.
The Huaidong Army's main attack direction was set on the Guanxiling-Hengshan line, and Shefei Xiong was also forced to build forts and fortresses in the Shanxi Valley in front of Hengshan City with heavy troops.
Excluding the reserve force in Shangrao City, which is 20 miles away, Lu Feixiong went to Hengshan, and the garrison soldiers filled in at Shanxi Fortress, there were 20,000 elite soldiers, twice as many as Litang, and the troops were stationed at Jiankou Pass.
Relying on the danger of the pass, it was able to block the fierce offensive of the Huaidong Army that was about to hit like a mountain torrent.
Both sides are battle-hardened veterans. On a narrow battlefield, nearly 300,000 people were infiltrated by both sides. The victory was more of a bloody and tough battle, with no tricks.
Coming down from the easier southern section of Guanxiling is the Shanxi River source valley. To the north until Shanxi merges into the Xinjiang River, it is a relatively flat valley plain, with the widest area up to twenty miles wide.
There are occasional hills ranging from two to forty feet high in the middle, which do not constitute an obstacle to the passage of the army. Hengshan City is located at the end of the valley, and the Shanxi River merges into the southeast branch of the Xinjiang River.
Bypassing Hengshan City and heading west along the south bank of the Xinjiang River for less than twenty miles, you will reach Shangrao City, the core of the Shangrao defense line of the Zhejiang and Fujian Army. Bypassing Shangrao City and heading west, you will find the open hinterland of Jiangxi; heading south, passing Shanguan, you will reach Shangrao City.
Being able to attack Shaowu, an important town in northern Fujian, directly surrounded the troops of the She family in the middle and upper reaches of the Min River and the clan forces that would not have time to withdraw to Jiangxi in the future, thus catching turtles in a urn.
Naturally, the Zhejiang and Fujian Army could not allow Hengshan and Shangrao City to be directly exposed to the superior strength of the Huaidong Army.
While the Huaidong Army has spent a lot of manpower to dig out the Guanxi Ridge Road in the past four months, the Zhejiang and Fujian Army built two forts in the middle reaches of the Shanxi River, at the narrowest part of the valley, and across the river to block Huaidong.
The army went down the river valley to directly attack Hengshan City.
Lin Fu, surrounded by the generals, rode his horse up the ridge, looked up into the distance, and had a panoramic view of the defense situation of the Zhejiang and Fujian troops in Hengshan. He pointed at the two forts built between the rivers and laughed with the generals.
: "She Fei Xiong is trying to trick me into not being able to transfer Shui Ying over!"
Usually, fortifications are built on high ground, but the Zhejiang and Fujian Army's naval warships can come from Poyang Lake and Xinjiang River, while the Huaidong Army crosses mountains and ridges from western Zhejiang to fight west, so it cannot rely on the elites who have been unfavorable in previous battles.
In Shuiying, Shefei Xiong built the two most important forts on the outskirts of Hengshan across the river. They wanted to use warships to connect the forts on the east and west banks of Shanxi into one.
The layout of Yongjia City was the same as that of Qin Zitan, but with the support of Hengshan City on the rear wing, the Huaidong Army could never separate the Jiahe Second Fortress and Hengshan City and surround it.
If the fortress is built at a high place, it will be easier for the Huaidong Army to divide and encircle it with superior forces.
"I think She Feixiong has nothing to do," Ao Canghai said. "They didn't expect that we would have time to open the Guanxi Ridge Road and use Hengshan as the main attack direction. Before that, they only occupied the east bank of Shanxi.
They built a civilian village and renovated it to strengthen their control over the hinterland of the river valley - once they can confirm that our army's main attack direction is here, they can only passively build the perimeter of Hengshan's defense line on that basis."
At this time, several people climbed up the slope from the west, and the leader was wearing a crimson official robe. Although he was wearing an official robe that could only be worn by officials of the fifth rank or above, the skirt of the robe was pulled up on his waist, official boots, and trouser legs.
It was all mud, as if they had just trudged through a muddy field. This person was none other than Ge Siyu, a member of the Ministry of Works who supervised the war and also headed the Privy Council Works Supervisor who went south with Lin Fu.
Ge Siyu climbed up the hillside, saluted Lin Fu and others, and said, "I've searched all along the coast, and there are three places suitable for building dams..."
Lin Fu turned around and took the map from his attendant, held it in his hand personally, and asked Ge Siyu to mark three locations suitable for dam construction on the map.
"..." Ge Siyu took the charcoal land from his ear, marked out the three locations, then stood on the ridge, pointed out the general locations of the three locations, and said, "The spring water has risen. If you want to quickly build a
Cheng Dazhu, there is a method available now..."
"I told you that Si Yu could be of great use if he came over," Lin Fu said with a smile, "Let's hear it!"
"First dig wooden piles in the river as support, then weave bamboo as a cage, fill it with gravel, and sink it into the river. You can quickly build a dam," Ge Siyu said. "The key is to spend some time on the wooden piles supporting the dam body.
, when the water is stored and the wooden piles are pulled out, the dam can collapse and the water will be released. I just don’t know if the material preparations here are sufficient?”
"Guanxiling already has a large reserve of bamboo, wood, linen, cloth and other materials. As soon as Mr. Ge gives orders, I will dispatch craftsmen to make bamboo cages! The location of the dam will also be decided by Mr. Ge." Ao Canghai said.
"I intend to build a dam at Taowu Pass. The terrain there is steep, the pass is narrow, and there are ridges and slopes on both sides to hold the water, so it is easy to store a large lake. Moreover, the trees there are lush, making it easy to hide and not be noticed by the enemy. However, in Taowu
A dam is built in a narrow pass to store a large lake. When the dam collapses and releases the lake, the front barrier of Guanxiling will also be within the impact range of the lake water!" Ge Siyu said.
"As long as we can break down the fortifications outside Hengshan, what's the use of leaving the front fortress?" Ao Canghai said, and asked Lin Fu for orders, "Since a water attack can work, Canghai please allow me to immediately drive troops to attack Hengshan.
Firstly, it covers the construction of the dam, and secondly, it suppresses the enemy forces within the fortress. Even if they find out that we are building a dam upstream, they will not be able to withdraw calmly!"
"Okay!" Lin Fu said.
******************
The Huaidong Army used a large amount of manpower and materials to dig out the Guanxi Ridge Road. After a large number of troops and supplies were able to pass through, it was able to build a front base close to the Shanxi Fortress on the periphery of the Zhejiang and Fujian Army. The confrontation between the two armies could only last four or five miles.
Far.
In the early stage, because a large number of soldiers and horses did not come up, the front fortress was built crudely in the hinterland of the most open river valley, on a low slope near the river. They cut down trees and erected fences for the camp and dug trenches for the fortress. The Li Bai Dao tribe of Tang Fuguan was stationed there.
.
Although there were only three thousand elite troops stationed at the front base, with Tang Fuguan leading his troops behind, they were not afraid of being besieged by the Zhejiang and Fujian troops.
As the war progressed, the front fortress became stronger and stronger, and its scale became larger and larger.
After Lin Fu came to Quzhou to supervise the battle, the front base had been built with a chain of strongholds, controlling the upper reaches of the Shanxi River Valley into a deep hinterland controlled by the Huaidong Army. Tang Fuguan's 12,000 elite troops were stationed in the front base.
From March 15, Zhang Gouye led his troops and Zhou Pu led the first brigade of the cavalry battalion from the main camp of Guanxiling to the front base and joined Tang Fuguan's troops, bringing the number of soldiers gathered in the front base to 30,000. Ao
Cang Hai also personally went to the front base to direct the war.
Both sides are veteran generals, and the outer defense line built by the Zhejiang and Fujian troops with the east and west fortresses of Shanxi Jiahe as the core is also impregnable, making it difficult to suddenly conquer and attack the city fortress, and it is difficult to use tricks.
On the 15th, Ao Canghai immediately sent his elite soldiers out of the front base to attack the fortress.
The infantry formed a formation, the chariots and shields were connected, and they were filled with ballistas, scorpion crossbows and other war weapons, forcing the enemy to be unable to go out and fight back. Behind the formation, the troops and civilians dug earth, dug trenches and built protective walls.
When attacking the city, they were most afraid of the city's defenders going out to fight back. However, She Feixiong personally led the defenders at Hengshan's defense line. Most of them were elites from Fujian. It was impossible to sit within the city and watch the Huaidong Army attack them.
By digging trenches and building walls outside to completely seal the enemy city inside, you can effectively limit the defenders' counterattack, and then be able to calmly attack the city fortress.
Standing on the city wall of Jiahe East Fortress, She Feixiong could clearly see that Huaidong's mobilization ability was beyond the reach of the Zhejiang and Fujian armies at this time.
About 6,000 Huaidong Army infantry formed three dense defensive formations outside the fortress wall, advancing to within 300 steps of the base of the fortress wall in case troops and horses were sent out of the fort to counterattack. Although the city head could barely be shot with a crossbow
However, there was a shield wall erected outside the Huaidong army, and it would be difficult for crossbows to penetrate the shield wall.
Between the infantry formations, there were several groups of cavalry waiting, making the connection between the infantry formations even closer, so that She Feixiong did not dare to send troops out of the fortress to fight back.
Unless all 10,000 elites from the fortress city are sent out to fight back, it will be difficult to shake the defensive formation established by the Huaidong Army outside the fortress city. But if all 10,000 elites are sent out, once they are entangled, Huaidong will be surrounded on all sides.
There are nearly 20,000 elite troops on the front base a few miles away who can quickly press forward.
With its military strength at a disadvantage, Shefei Xiong's counterattack options became extremely limited.
Although there are warships that can attack from between the two villages of Jiahe, enter the upper reaches of Shanxi River, and penetrate into the hinterland of the valley controlled by the Huaidong Army to conduct raids. However, it is not known how many iron cables Huaidong sunk in Shanxi, and the Huaidong Army's throws
Stone crossbows and crossbows are equipped with low wheels on a low frame. They can be easily moved on ordinary riverbanks and can attack warships coming upstream from the river bank.
The water in Shanxi River gradually rose in spring, but the middle reaches were only three to four hundred paces wide. When the warships went up the water, they could be hit by the Huaidong Army's catapults and crossbows, causing the warships to head towards the hinterland of the valley.
In-depth harassment is unlikely to have any effect.
Under this situation, She Feixiong could only watch helplessly as the Huaidong Army's supply troops and the civilian laborers recruited from the army, about 20,000 people dug the soil and dug trenches behind the infantry defense formation. Compared with the civilian laborers recruited by force,
The troops and civilians organized by the Huaidong Army dug trenches very quickly and efficiently. In almost one day, they dug a trench six or seven miles long and nearly two feet wide four hundred steps south of Jiahedong Village.
, a long trench of unknown depth.
During the day, a long trench was dug, and at night, when the moon was bright, the soldiers of the Huaidong Army retreated behind the long trench. The prefabricated fence wall was divided into sections and moved up from the baggage operation behind the front base, and the baggage soldiers were erected in the south of the long trench day and night.
Raise the fence wall.
The generals of the Zhejiang and Fujian armies could only watch helplessly as the Huaidong army pushed the confrontation position to less than 400 steps from the city head. The distance of 400 steps was already within the attack range of Huaidong's heavy stone crossbows.
Those veterans of the Zhejiang and Fujian armies who had experienced the Jin'an, Yongjia, Dongyang and other wars couldn't help but change their expressions when they recalled the intensive siege of Huaidong with heavy stone-throwing crossbow formations. They really didn't know that the city head was protected by double-layered wooden rafts.
Can the war tents and towers block the bombardment of Huaidong's heavy sling crossbows?
However, the generals of the Zhejiang and Fujian armies all knew that once the preparations of the Huaidong Army were completed, a bloody battle at the top of the city would follow. After the battle, no one knew how many people would be left alive...