When Hao Bainian received the battle report from Li Chunjing and learned that the Second Army had captured Yuezhou and was preparing to move towards Changsha, Hao Bainian had already predicted the various reactions that the Ming army might make.
Among the many responses of the Ming army, nothing was enough. Defending Changsha and Hengyang respectively was naturally the most beneficial to the Tang army, because in this case, the Tang army could break through Changsha and Hengyang respectively, completely establishing the situation in Huguangda, and also be able to annihilate the Ming army in one fell swoop.
Most of the main force of the army is in the Huguang area.
That was the main force of the Ming army with a total of fifty to sixty thousand people. They were all supervising and training troops. They were not comparable to the guardsmen!
But Li Chunjing also knew very well that the Ming army was not stupid and could not do nothing and wait for the Tang army to come.
Hao Bainian guessed that the Ming army might take the initiative and concentrate on Changsha and Hengyang to surround and kill his First Army. This situation was also the most dangerous for his First Army.
There are also several possibilities, that is, the Ming army may abandon Hengyang or Changsha and concentrate its forces to defend one city. This possibility is the most troublesome for the Tang Dynasty king's division.
If all the main forces of the Ming army were hiding in Changsha City, facing Changsha with complete city defenses, numerous artillery, and 50,000 to 60,000 elite defenders, to be honest, even if the First Army and the Second Army worked together, I would think
It will not be that easy to take it down. At that time, it will either rely on a long siege or carry out a strong attack at the cost of a large number of casualties, and both of these are what Hao Bainian is unwilling to face!
This is why he sent forward troops to Changsha and Hengyang, in order to cut off the connection between the two cities. Whether the enemies of Hengyang go to Changsha or the enemies of Changsha go to Hengyang, they need to be delayed.
In addition, Hao Bainian actually considered the possibility that the Ming army would voluntarily abandon Changsha and Hengyang and then flee into Jiangxi, but he also knew that this possibility was very small.
Without fighting a single battle, he abandoned Changsha and Hengyang and fled to Jiangxi. Zhang Yue was probably going to go crazy and kill people!
And even if they want to escape into Jiangxi, it is not that easy. Unless they abandon most of their baggage such as artillery and escape lightly, they will not be able to easily escape the pursuit of the Tang Dynasty King!
And how could these Ming troops, who had lost their artillery and most of their baggage, still have combat effectiveness?
Now, the Ming army has indeed made the same choice as Hao Bainian predicted. The enemies of Hengyang chose to burn Hengyang and then tried to escape into Changsha to resist.
However, if these Ming troops want to escape into Changsha, they must first get rid of the entanglement of Wang Chaohong's troops!
Shenjia Ferry on one side of the Xiang River is located to the north of Hengyang and south of Changsha. It is neither slanted nor slanted. It is just in the middle of the two cities. Many passing ships will choose to anchor here for the night before continuing the formation of the next day.
Therefore, although this place is not a big city, or even a small town, as a local ferry, it is quite prosperous. There is also a market in the ferry, which specializes in business for nearby villagers and passing boat passengers.
But this is all old history. Since the puppet Tang bandits invaded Huguang two years ago, although Hengyang and Changsha are still in the hands of the Ming army, although the inland water transportation on the Xiangjiang River has not been interrupted, it has
A sudden fall.
Shenjia Ferry is no longer as prosperous as it used to be. The wooden pier is usually crowded, but in the past two years, one-third of it has been empty.
However, today's Shenjia Ferry seems to be as prosperous as in the past. There are a large number of ships moored at the wooden pier and the pier is also crowded with people.
But if you look carefully, you will find that the people on the dock are not just passing merchants, but all officers and soldiers!
The ships moored at the pier are also huge official ships!
At this time, in a small house inside the ferry, several officials in red robes were talking with frowns.
At this time, a third-grade military general said: "What are you afraid of? We have so many ships. Even if they sink a few, what's the point!"
But at this time, a fifth-grade civil servant on the side shook his head: "If we want to forcefully break through the barrier, under the attack of the pirate army's fire ships and artillery, I am afraid that only one out of ten can successfully pass the barrier!"
The civil servant continued: "The best way now is to stop the fleet, then go ashore to fight on land and destroy their forts. This band of thieves is just a forward, with less than five thousand troops, and we have enough
There are 30,000 soldiers and horses, and as long as we defeat this bandit vanguard, we can continue down the river to Changsha!"
At this time, another fourth-grade civil servant said: "But the enemy is high up and defending. It may not be easy to attack by force!"
Others also echoed: "Yeah, I didn't expect these bandits to come so quickly, and they also deployed artillery in the narrow and winding parts of the river, and collected many small boats to block the river!"
The third-level general who spoke first said: "What are we fighting for? If we can't take a boat, we can go ashore and walk directly to Changsha!"
"Walk ashore?" said the fifth-grade civil servant just now: "This is absolutely not possible. Although our army walked in a hurry, it still carried a large amount of baggage, including dozens of heavy cannons, and we lacked horses. How could we bring them with us?
Moving forward quickly with so many artillery and ammunition, and the enemy has nearly a thousand cavalry, it is almost impossible to bypass them and get to Changsha!"
"And the pseudo-Tang bandits in front of us are just the vanguard. Their main force is behind them. If we are held back by them for a few days, their main force will overtake us. By then, I'm afraid it will be even harder for us to escape.
Got it!"
"In my opinion, we still need to go all out and destroy their fort directly, and then let the fleet pass through. As long as we pass this level, our army can reach Changsha by boat!" The third-level general still insisted on storming the fort.
.
At this time, a middle-aged man sitting at the top wearing the robes of a fourth-grade civil servant was also frowning, and he was the former commander-in-chief of the New Army, Cheng Hong'an, the censor of Zuo Qiandu.
Among the people below him, some were civilian generals under his command who supervised the former army, some were generals training the army in Hengyang, and there were also ordinary local officials from Hengyang Prefecture.
Although in terms of rank, many people below him, especially military generals, are superior to him, and even among civilian officials, there are a few people whose rank is not lower than his. However, the high political status of officials in the Ming Dynasty is not just based on rank.
He, Cheng Hong'an, was the fourth-rank censor of Zuoqiandu. If he held a local civil official position, he would at least be the governor of a province.
Now he was in a bit of a dilemma. The 30,000-strong army from Hengyang went all the way north along the river. It went smoothly at the beginning and did not encounter any obstruction. However, he did not expect that after arriving at the Shen Family Ferry, he found the Puppet Tang Dynasty.
The interception of the bandits.
It wouldn't matter if they just encountered ordinary Puppet Tang rebels. Anyway, almost all of his more than 30,000 people left by boat. The Puppet Tang rebels on land couldn't catch up even if they wanted to!
However, the puppet Tang rebels actually set up a fort ten miles in front of Shenjia Ferry. Nearly thirty artillery pieces were aimed at the river. In addition, they also collected a large number of small boats and even rafts and bamboo rafts.
And the river here is winding and narrow. When he sent a small fleet to try to break through during the day, they were continuously bombarded and attacked by fire ships. As a result, not a single one of the seven or eight ships was able to break through. All of them were
Got burned!
Fortunately, the ships trying to break through were originally there to test the strength of the bandit army, and they did not carry many soldiers or baggage on them.
Not many people died when the ship sank, so he didn't feel too sad about the loss of those ships. But what made him frown was, if the fleet couldn't make it through, how would they return to Changsha?
Forced to break through? If he really wanted to do this, it is still unknown how many of his more than 100 large and small ships, 30,000 soldiers, numerous artillery and baggage can break through.
Abandon the ship and go ashore and run all the way back to Changsha?
This is even more unreliable than forcibly breaking through. The puppet Tang rebel army has 800 cavalry in hand.
Although there are not many 800 cavalry, as long as they hang behind, it is enough to make their 30,000-strong army unable to move forward with confidence. If the time is delayed for a few days, the main force will attack, and it is possible for the entire army to be annihilated by then.
.
After much deliberation, Cheng Hongan decided to storm the fort!
He didn't believe it. The enemy's army only had more than 5,000 people, and his own army of 30,000 people couldn't take it down!
Cheng Hongan is confident, but Wang Chaohong, who is ten miles away, is also full of confidence in himself!
As the commander-in-chief of the forward troops, he knew very well what his responsibilities were. He was not going to Changsha or Hengyang. He had only one task, which was to stop between Hengyang and Changsha.
So he ran all the way with his troops. In order to ensure speed, he actually didn't carry much baggage, and the artillery was only five kilograms, mainly seven kilograms, and not a single nine kilograms artillery.
At the same time, Hao Bainian also accompanied him in a baggage camp. With the help of a large number of livestock and carriages in the baggage camp, his vanguard force was able to advance eastward quickly, and then rushed all the way to Shen's Ferry.
At this time, he also learned from the scouts that the Ming army had abandoned Hengyang and was heading north along the Xiangjiang River.
He immediately pulled an artillery battalion under his command and a cavalry artillery battalion to the riverside, and directly chose a place where the river was curved and the river surface was relatively narrow to build a fort.
Then they directly dispatched troops and spent a day requisitioning all nearby ships. They also temporarily recruited a large number of civilians to build bamboo rafts, wooden rafts and other small boats to be used as fire ships.
After completing these preparations, the Ming Army's fleet also arrived. The result was as he expected. This afternoon, eight ships of the Ming Army's fleet were directly sunk and more Ming Army ships were blocked.
upstream.
Now that the Ming army cannot go down the river, they will definitely attack his position soon, and he is waiting for them to come.
When they arrive, he can use mines, grenades, guns, and field fortifications such as parapets built in recent days to teach the Ming army how to fight this field defensive battle!