Chapter six hundred and ninetieth attacking the enemy will save
Zhang Yue did not want to stick to Nanchang. It was not that he was arrogant, but that he was forced to have no choice. Why?
Because if we only defend the city, there will be no problem in Nanchang. If the 80,000-strong army is deployed here, if the puppet Tang rebels want to bite them down, they will have to mobilize 70,000 to 80,000 troops at least.
But Nanchang was saved, and Fuzhou was definitely doomed. There were only less than 30,000 troops there, and only 2,000 were border troops. The rest were local recruits and guardsmen. They were young and strong, and they were the puppet Tang rebels.
Even Ji'an, which had a large concentration of troops, could be conquered in a short time, and Fuzhou was even more impossible to hold.
Once Fuzhou is captured, the puppet Tang rebels may bypass Nanchang and enter Panyang Lake directly, or enter the southern Zhili territory from the east of Panyang Lake.
Who can guarantee that the puppet Tang bandit army will foolishly come to Nanchang City to fight a tough battle? They have feet and can walk, and they will bypass Nanchang and directly enter South Zhili.
Once the puppet Tang bandits were allowed to enter southern Zhili, the scene would be almost unimaginable to him!
He didn't know whether the world would be shaken or not, but Emperor Zhengde and the big cabinet ministers must hate him to death, and it would be possible for him to lose his official position, confiscate his family, and exterminate his clan. Well, the premise is that he, Zhang Yue, is stupid enough not to resist!
If he resists, there is actually nothing the court can do against him now!
But as a last resort, he was still willing to let the puppet Tang thief army capture Fuzhou and then advance into southern Zhili, so he had to find out where the main force of the puppet Tang thief army was, and then directly lead the army to intercept them!
With four thousand cavalry, supervisors, and frontier troops, the total strength is more than eighty thousand. This field battle can barely be fought. Even if it cannot win a big victory, it can only be a tie. Then Zhang Yue thinks that it is enough.
But the premise is that he must know where the main force of the Puppet Tang thief army is, and he also needs to know how much the total strength of the Puppet Tang thief army is.
If the puppet army of the Tang Dynasty exceeds 50,000 people, then don't expect to take the initiative to attack. They can hold on for as long as they can. At the same time, prepare to hold on to Jiujiang and Anqing!
In order to find the location and accurate number of the main force of the puppet Tang thief army, Zhang Yue also spent a lot of money and directly used a large number of cavalry to investigate!
And these elite cavalry from the border army did live up to his trust. Three days later, the reconnaissance cavalry reported that a large number of puppet Tang rebels were found in the Xiaojiangkou area east of Fengcheng. It was initially judged that there were no less than
There were 20,000 soldiers and horses, and there was a fierce battle with the peripheral cavalry of the puppet Tang rebel army.
Not long after, the cavalry reported again that they had identified the headquarters of the puppet Tang rebel army in the direction of Xiaojiangkou. The exact number of troops was between 25,000, including a large number of artillery and baggage.
In several other directions, although some puppet Tang thief troops were also found, they were only a thousand or two to three thousand strong!
At this time, Zhang Yue was already sure that this pseudo-Tang bandit army was their main force!
Based on the current investigation reports, the total strength of the Puppet Tang thief army discovered is about 25,000 people. Of course, there may be some Puppet Tang thief army that have not yet been discovered, but the number should not be too large.
The total strength of the puppet Tang rebel army should be between 35,000 and 40,000 people. This figure is consistent with his estimate.
Zhang Yue judged the total strength of the puppet Tang thief army going north, not by how many people were found, but by estimating the total strength of the puppet Tang Dynasty. He did not know how many troops the puppet Tang thief army had going north to Jiangxi.
But he could guess that the total strength of the puppet Tang rebel army would not exceed 150,000, and the number of troops that could be used in the Jiangxi direction would only be about 50,000.
Because on other fronts, the puppet Tang rebel army also needs to leave a large number of troops to defend!
This is the same as the total force under his command is several hundred thousand, but he can only concentrate 80,000 troops in Nanchang and 30,000 troops in Fuzhou, because he still has to leave a large number of troops in Huguang and other places.
If all the troops are concentrated in Jiangxi, Huguang will be left behind, Fujian will be left behind, and Sichuan will be left behind!
What on earth is the main force of the puppet Tang rebel army stationed in the east of Fengcheng doing?
Are you going to continue east to Fuzhou? Or are you planning to turn to Nanchang?
The question that Zhang Yue guessed is also the question that Li Chunjing is currently thinking about!
Zhang Yue's judgment was not very wrong. Li Chunjing indeed led the main force of the Second Army to station troops east of Fengcheng!
His plan at the beginning was very simple. He would first cut off the land transportation between Fuzhou and Nanchang, and then choose the opportunity to eat up the reinforcements from these two cities, and then attack Nanchang!
At this point, Zhang Yue actually did not guess Li Chunjing’s strategy correctly!
The strategic goal of the Second Army led by Li Chunjing was not to go to South Zhili. In fact, the strategic goal was to capture Nanchang. Even if Nanchang was a tough nut, the Second Army had to take it down.
Because only by winning Nanchang can we open up the Ganjiang River to Panyang Lake, and then enter the water transport channel of the Yangtze River!
The direction of the Tang Army's march was due to the huge consumption of ammunition and other supplies. It was now difficult for a large-scale march to escape from the waterway. Zhang Yue did not know this. He saw the situation, but he
I never thought that the Tang Army relied so much on water transportation!
Because although Zhang Yue had already built a new army with guns and artillery, in fact the Ming army still couldn't imagine firing tens of thousands of artillery shells in one battle!
It is even more difficult to understand how difficult it is to get supplies from the Tang Army!
Because the Ming army has been conducting defensive operations in the past two years, although the supply line does exist, it can basically be ignored!
At present, much of the ordnance manufacturing of the Ming Army in the South is made locally. The Ming Army in Huguang mainly produces large-scale production in Wuchang Prefecture, and its supplies are quite smooth. It does not need to be transported from the distant Guangdong and Guangxi areas like the Army of the Tang Dynasty.
Therefore, you don’t have to go to Southern Zhili, but Nanchang must be captured!
But when Li Chunjing discovered that the Ming army in Nanchang had rapidly increased to 80,000 or 90,000 in a short period of time, and was even called an army of 100,000, with tens of thousands of governors and border troops inside, Li Chunjing asked Li Chunjing to fight
Back off!
Although he fights aggressively, it doesn't mean he is stupid!
If you take the Second Army to attack the current Nanchang, you will probably end up with a bloody head!
But Nanchang can’t do it without fighting!
So after thinking about it for two days, Li Chunjing decided to see if he could lure the snake out of the hole. He would first attack Fuzhou to see if he could attract some of the Ming army from Nanchang. Then he would encircle some points and send reinforcements to weaken the forces in Nanchang city.
garrison.
But he never thought that he had just led his army eastward to Fuzhou. After Zhang Yue in Nanchang City learned the news, he immediately frowned, and after struggling for a full hour, he gave the order to stop the entire army.
out!
Fuzhou cannot be lost. If Fuzhou is lost, even if he can hold Nanchang, South Zhili will still face the invasion of the puppet Tang bandits.
Since the Puppet Tang thief army went to Fuzhou, he would lead his army out of the city and prepare for a front and back attack with the Fuzhou defenders in an effort to annihilate the main force of the Puppet Tang thief army of more than 20,000 people under Fuzhou City. Even if the puppet army could not be annihilated,
The main force of the Tang thief army must be forced back than the main force of the Puppet Tang thief army, so as to protect the safety of Fuzhou.
At this time, a large number of reconnaissance cavalry from both sides were dispatched at the same time, and the movements of both sides could no longer be kept secret. The Ming army in Nanchang City had just left the city, and Li Chunjing learned the news.
"Pretend that all the 100,000 thieves have left the city?" After Li Chunjing heard the news, he couldn't help but frowned. This Zhang Yue was doing this again!
He knew that when Hao Bainian led the First Army to attack Changsha in July, Zhang Yue ordered all the Hengyang defenders to dispatch, and finally forced Hao Bainian to return without success to avoid being trapped in a tight siege.
Now, is he doing this again?
"What should we do now? Are we still going to Fuzhou?" Wang Shanxu also saw that the situation was not good, and he showed a worried look when he spoke.
Li Chunjing did not answer his words, but said: "Bring me the map!"
After getting the map, Li Chunjing personally marked the map with the markings of the armies of both sides.
At the same time, he was still asking the staff around him: "When the Nanchang Ming army left the city, how many groups did it divide into?"
The staff officer replied: "The enemy has no division of troops, only a few forward and rear troops, and both the forward and rear troops are cavalry troops, and the infantry of the large group march together!"
"These Ming troops are wise enough to know that dividing their troops is a taboo!" When Li Chunjing said this, he remembered when Hao Bainian fought in Huguang. At that time, the Ming troops attacked separately from various places, and were finally defeated by Hao Bainian.
They were defeated separately.
Now, Zhang Yue doesn't divide his troops, and 80,000 people just come together!
After Li Chunjing looked at the combat map for a long time, he then said: "Instruct the fourth mixed regiment to return to defend Fengcheng!"
"What about us?" Wang Shanxu continued to ask.
"Let's continue to Fuzhou!"
"Going to Fuzhou? Even if Fuzhou is captured, it will not have much positive impact on our army's strategy!"
Li Chunjing said: "Although taking Fuzhou will not have much effect on our army, as soon as we entered Fuzhou, Zhang Yue sent out all his troops. He has already told me that Fuzhou is very important to them. The Art of War says:
Attack them and you will be saved!"
"What if our army falls into a situation of being flanked from both front and rear? Zhang Yue has 80,000 troops. If they come from behind when we attack the city, I'm afraid..."
Li Chunjing said again: "Who said I am going to attack Fuzhou!"
At this time, Wang Shanxu also began to think deeply. He went to Fuzhou instead of attacking Fuzhou. Then he looked at the map on the table. After a long time, he seemed to have thought of something, and then murmured: "Could it be that he wants to return to the army halfway and then defeat Zhang Yue's army?"
department?"
But after thinking about it, Wang Shanxu shook his head: "Zhang Yue's troops have 100,000 troops, and they came in a group, and there are 4,000 cavalry to assist in the battle. Although our army has strong field combat capabilities, it can only fight against the enemy with 25,000 troops.
One hundred thousand, the outcome is still unpredictable, even if we win, the casualties will probably be huge!"
At this time, he cast his sights on Fengcheng, and then showed a look of sudden realization: "Could it be that your goal is Nanchang, sir?"