The thick smoke that both Heifu and Feng Wuze saw was a ship that was set on fire after being attacked on the Jiangling waterfront...
Jiangling City has many civilian wharves along the river, but only the largest wharf belongs to the government. It is located in the southeast of the city and is called "Zhu Palace". It was originally a waterside palace built by King Cheng of Chu, specifically for the king of Chu's boats.
It docked and later became a military port, where Jiangling Marine Corps anchored.
In the past, the navy's stern ships often cruised between Jiangling (today's Jingzhou City, Hubei Province) and Chunling County (today's Gong'an County, Hubei Province) to guard against the Jiangnan rebels. However, in recent days, there has been continuous heavy fog in the morning, and the cruise has been changed to
In the afternoon, the building boats stayed in the port, and the soldiers discussed the war outside the city nervously-the Jiangling garrison was transferred out to defend General Feng's flank, and they had to defend the city.
Just when the river fog was about to disappear, a fleet came upstream and suddenly launched an attack on Nagisa Palace!
They did not have tall warships, but they were more maneuverable. They did not compete with the stern ships on the water. Instead, they rushed directly to the river bank. The soldiers on the ship were full of soldiers with weapons in their hands. They rushed out and attacked the dock from the land...
There were not many people staying at the dock to guard the ship. Now they were attacked. After only resisting for a while, the dock was declared to have changed hands!
"Assist Captain Han to disembark!"
The first person to bring people up was Li Cang. There were many Jiangling people among his soldiers of the Southern Expedition. When they returned here, it was like returning home to fight. They were far more familiar with the streets and alleys of Lilu than the Qin soldiers from Guanzhong.
"When Jiangling City is captured, we can go and surround Feng Wuze with the princes!"
The matter must start from half a month ago: Although Heifu decided on the strategy of "making a sound in the east and attacking in the west", he wanted to take Huarong Road to surprise Jiangling, but after all, his main force was not there. It would be better if Feng Wuze was fooled, but if the plan was discovered, Lao Feng would be the first to do so.
One step back to defend Jiangling, but on the other hand, they have traveled thousands of miles to fall into a trap.
Heifu always takes one step at a time and sees three steps ahead, so to be on the safe side, he also formulated a supplementary plan.
Just two days before the army set off from Wulin, Heifu received the good news from Linxiang!
Han Xin and Xiao Tao were supported by Chen Ying's troops, and they combined nearly 30,000 troops. They used Xiao He's attack strategy and dug ditches to flood the city. Under this threat, the Linxiang people jumped into the water in order to save their homeland.
After rebelling, he opened a city gate to welcome the southern expeditionary army, and the city was broken. Thousands of Qin soldiers were captured in their sleep, and Li You was captured!
After being defeated in Linxiang in late February, General Li only held the position for half a month before he was captured alive by Han Xin, whom he called a "nobody".
Heifu was overjoyed when he heard the news, and did not want to let Han Xin and the others rest. He immediately ordered Lingqu Boat Master to go to the rescue. He also ordered Han Xin and Li Cang to lead 10,000 soldiers, collect more than 80 clippers from Changsha County, and sail from Linxiang.
Board the ship and take the waterway. We will meet in Jiangling on the first day of April!
From the mouth of Dongting Lake to Jiangling, even if you paddle against the current, the water route takes less time than the land route.
In this way, if everything goes well, it can be regarded as an ordinary meeting of forces. If things go wrong, they can be mutual horns and will not be destroyed alone.
Heif also named the operation:
"Crossing the river in white!"
…
"Don't we want to wear the clothes of Qin Shi Huangdi? Of course we are in white."
After receiving Heifu's order, Han Xin and Li Cang were not surprised, so they ordered the soldiers to wear plain flags and wrap white scarves as signs. Han Xin was even more obedient and wore plain white.
Heifu's military action of "Four Crosses of Yunmeng" was dazzling, but it all followed the saying in the Art of War: "Avoid the truth and use the fictitious". Even Han Xin couldn't find any serious faults.
"It's just too risky. It seems that everything is connected, but in fact, if you are not careful, you will lose everything..."
But Heifu had been invincible for more than a month and had created several miracles in succession. Han Xin could only swallow this thought.
Han Xin and Li Cang led the army, which had just won two major victories in Changsha, and the troops with high morale marched back along the river. They arrived at Xiaoling yesterday and captured the mouth of Youjiang River. They also sent people to get in touch with Heifu, who was stationed in Jinxiang, and took the
This morning there was heavy fog, so we crossed the river and raided Jiangling City.
Han Xin gained a reputation in the Battle of Xingleshui. Now no one questions his orders. As soon as he landed on the shore, he ordered:
"Abandon long swords and spears, use swords and other short-term soldiers more often, and seize the granary first!"
In the battle to seize the city, the battlefield was mostly in the streets and alleys, which was very complicated. The ordinary square formation was useless, but close combat was more advantageous. Jiangling was a big city with thousands of households, and there were many strategic targets, so there was no choice.
If so, it will definitely lead to chaos, and what comes first and what comes last must be arranged properly.
In Han Xin's view, an army will perish without food, and what the Southern Expeditionary Army lacks most now is food.
The south of the Yangtze River has been little developed. When the Southern Expeditionary Army fought fiercely in Lingnan, they had to rely on the Jiangling warehouse to transport Bashu, and the food from Jianghan was replenished in the past. Now that the source has been cut off, it is quite tight, especially the tens of thousands of Anlu who were rescued by Heifu.
The common people will start eating porridge if they don't bring food over.
There are millions of dan of grain stored in Jiangling Cang, enough to feed 100,000 people for a year. They must be captured completely and cannot be burned again!
Therefore, after Han Xin established a foothold at the dock, he led the main force towards Cangcheng, while the rest took over the arsenal, county government and other places.
Tens of thousands of people in the city had already heard that Marquis Wu Zhong and Marquis Wu Xin were conducting military operations outside the city. For a time, people were panicked and there were unpredictable rumors. After the attack, the chaos became even more chaotic.
A battle broke out in Lilu between the Southern Expeditionary Army and the county soldiers who came after hearing the news. The sound of weapons clashing continued in the west of the city. When people on the street saw several plumes of black smoke rising from the pier, they were all frightened, knowing that the city was about to turn into ashes.
The battlefield was over, and they all ran home. During this period, many people accidentally fell into the crossfire and died in vain.
Suddenly, dogs barked loudly in the city, chickens crowed and horses neighed, babies cried, women screamed, men shouted, and the whole city was in chaos...
Seeing that all living beings were about to be destroyed, Han Xin did not forget to ask the local soldiers to shout loudly in dialect while continuing to advance towards Cangcheng:
"Father and brother Kun of Jiangling, don't panic. The children of Jiangling who went to guard the south are back!"
"The Southern Expeditionary Army is coming, folks, don't be afraid!"
"Marquis Wu Zhong has an order. Anyone who kills a person inadvertently or takes something from the people will be dealt with according to military law. The people should stay at home and close their houses tightly!"
This made the people of Jiangling feel a lot more at ease. Marquis Wu Zhong once served as an official in Jiangling, and he was the son-in-law of Ye Teng, the former governor of the county. He led many of his children to the south. The people did not believe that he had a strong friendship with the same county.
The prince will be disadvantageous to Jiangling.
Therefore, in addition to most people staying behind closed doors to wait for the turmoil to end, many people in the city also burst out shouting and shouting. Some Jiangling people armed with weapons rushed out to assist the Southern Expeditionary Army in taking down the Changwu Marquis soldiers who were stubbornly resisting outside Jianglingcang.
defeated.
After Han Xin successfully captured the heavily guarded Jianglingcang, a man with a long beard and a yellow face was led to Han Xin.
This person was a little surprised at how young this "Captain Han" was, but he still bowed respectfully:
"Captain Han, my name is Man. I am a soldier in Jiangling County and an old colleague and friend of Marquis Wu Zhong. Some time ago, Prince Cheng of Changwu Marquis made excuses to remove me from my official position and wanted to imprison me. I see the situation.
No, I'm hiding in a friend's house. Today I heard that the Southern Expeditionary Army has returned, so I started a fight with the clan members and the local party to welcome the rebel army!"
Han Xin nodded, but did not get off his horse to greet him, nor did he return the salute. He only said casually: "Thank you so much, righteous man. I will go to the aid of the lord, and I hope that the righteous man will recruit ambitious people in the city to attack the county together with Li Sima."
At this time, the granary, the arsenal, the four gates, the water gate, and the more important locations in the city had all been captured by the Southern Expeditionary Army. Only Prince Cheng, the Marquis of Changwu, was left, and the Nan County Sheriff retreated to the county with more than a thousand people!
After Han Xin left, Man was a little unhappy: "This yellow-mouthed boy is not as old as my son, but he is so arrogant. I am obviously a soldier, but he talks about being a righteous man. He is so rude."
He was full of pettiness, and the more he thought about it, the angrier he became: "I met Marquis Wu Zhong, and when we were living and dying together in Linyang, he was still playing in the mud!"
…
Han Xin had no idea that he had offended someone unintentionally.
He didn't pay attention, and handed over the remnant enemies in the city to Li Cang and Man Tian. He took five thousand people to the east gate of Jiangling, climbed up the city tower, put up an awning with his hands, and squinted into the distance.
What did he see?
Jiangling is named because it is close to the river, with no mountains nearby, and everything is Lingfu. The terrain here is flat within a radius of dozens of miles. From Jiangling to the east, except for the fertile fields connected by the river, it is early summer.
There are more fragrant grasses all over the ground, flowers such as autumn orchid, zazae, hui and jiangli are in full bloom, and green grass, Shegan, Jieche and other herbs are thick...
But now, this flourishing flower scene has been completely destroyed.
It was nearly noon, the sky was cloudless, and the sun was getting brighter. The two armies joined the battle in the fields: the drums were beating loudly in the east, and the trumpets were blasting continuously in the west. Under the urging of the two generals Wu Zhong and Wu Xin, the captain
He led his troops forward and fought two times.
For a moment, the shouts of killing Feitian were like the battle between Gonggong and Zhurong in ancient legends, which could break the pillars of heaven and destroy the earth!
Under the ruthless advance of the two armies, the green seedlings in the field were trampled and fell by countless pairs of feet, turning into a flat, hard ground again.
The flowers on the ground were run over by the wheels and fell into mud. The lush wild grass was also stained with drops of blood under the brave battle of the soldiers, just like flowers blooming again.
The magnificent decisive battle is also the battlefield of heroes!
The cry of killing reached his ears, and Han Xin's blood suddenly surged:
"The ownership of Jingzhou and the direction to the south will be decided by this battle."