At the turn of spring and summer, Nanhai Prefecture began to rain more. Even in Luo'an County, which has flat terrain and good road traffic conditions, the march of the army was greatly hindered.
Lin Ziran frowned and looked at the gloomy sky and the muddy road. This rain came at the wrong time.
Yesterday, the weather was fine. Although the sky was gloomy, it didn't rain. But today, at dawn, it started to rain lightly. Now in the afternoon, the rain has not decreased, but it has
It’s enlarged!
The sudden heavy rain caused great trouble to the troops' maneuvers.
Generally speaking, this rainy season is not suitable for launching large-scale battles. The muddy roads are enough to make the movement of artillery troops and baggage troops a nightmare.
But war is never fought whenever you want.
Before the arrival of the rainy season, civil strife in the entire Luoan County had already begun.
Li Kun's sudden collapse directly caused Lin Ziran to take direct action, regardless of whether he was fully prepared or not, he had to act.
He couldn't just watch Jian Minggang recruit Li Kun's original team, kill Zhao Song, and then turn around and hit him.
As time goes by, the rainy season has officially arrived.
Although with the current gun technology, it is possible to fight in the rainy season as long as you pay attention to avoiding moisture in the gunpowder and avoiding fighting in heavy rain, but there are still many inconveniences.
The biggest inconvenience is mobility.
The muddy roads caused by rain will directly affect the mobility of the artillery troops, and even more so the mobility of the baggage troops.
Whether it is Lin Ziran's Sixth Division or troops from other vassal towns, their heavy transportation on land relies heavily on horse-drawn carriages, and the muddy roads will directly make horse-drawn carriage transportation very difficult.
Seeing Lin Ziran frowning, Wu Guanlin on the side stepped forward and said: "Sir, the food and salary department has urgently recruited civilians and draft horses to support the movement of baggage and artillery. However, judging from the current situation, it may not be possible.
Ensure that the main force of our army arrives on the battlefield at the scheduled time!"
Lin Ziran said: "What about the enemy's movements? This heavy rain has a big impact on us, but it should not have a small impact on the enemy either!"
Wu Guanlin said: "The reconnaissance cavalry reported that the heavy rain also had an impact on the enemy. They postponed their departure time this morning, but they only postponed their departure time. They still set off in the morning. What will happen next?
We need to wait for the scout report!"
It also takes time for reconnaissance cavalry to deliver news to the rear. It takes a lot of time to detect news twenty or thirty kilometers away from the front line and then send it back.
Lin Ziran said: "Did they delay their departure simply because of the heavy rain or because they discovered our movements?"
Wu Guanlin said: "It's hard to say that the other side will not send reconnaissance cavalry to respond to our army's movements, and the surrounding terrain is flat. Our army's peripheral cavalry has intercepted more than ten batches of enemy reconnaissance cavalry since yesterday.
However, there is a high probability that the enemy's reconnaissance cavalry will break through the interception of our peripheral cavalry and detect the movements of our main force!"
As Wu Guanlin spoke, he showed a helpless look and said: "Both the enemy and ours have a lot of cavalry, and the surrounding terrain is flat and open. It is actually very difficult for us or the other party to hide our traces!"
"This battlefield is, to a certain extent, transparent to both sides!"
At this time, Xiao Xiangyu came up and said: "The transparency of the battlefield will not have much impact. Now we are taking the initiative to move westward. In this case, no matter whether the other party is willing or not, they must choose to fight us!
"
Xiao Xiangyu took two steps forward and reached Lin Ziran: "Sir, now we have voluntarily abandoned the strong fortress of Shiyan Town and moved westward, and the other party must have guessed that our goal is to defeat them one by one."
"However, the other party definitely wants us to leave the strong fortress of Shiyan Town, try to contain us on the western front, and wait for the arrival of the Southern First Division, and finally join forces to attack from both front and rear!"
Hearing Xiao Xiangyu's words, Lin Ziran nodded slightly. He had taken this into consideration when he chose to take the initiative to march westward.
Once you take the initiative to advance westward, even if the opponent is at a disadvantage in terms of military strength and other aspects, it is unlikely to avoid the battle. Instead, it will actively attack you and try to contain you.
Because the other party must be happy to see him leave Shiyan Town on his own initiative, and they will even throw out some bait for this purpose. For example, the current phenomenon of killing Shiyan Town from two directions is hard to say that they did not do it intentionally.
Sometimes they did this deliberately in order to attract Lin Ziran to take the initiative to march westward with the Sixth Division, and then use 30,000 troops to hold back the Sixth Division, waiting for the First Division to arrive and then attack from both front and rear.
If they really succeeded, the 30,000 troops of the Sixth Division would be finished.
but!
If they do this, it will give the Sixth Division an opportunity!
The 6th Division can take advantage of this opportunity to defeat them one by one, first move westward and defeat the 5th and 7th Divisions of the Sheriff's Mansion, and then turn around and defeat the 1st Division.
In this strategic concept, one thing is very important, that is, the fifth and seventh divisions of the governor's mansion will not and cannot avoid fighting.
If they were deliberately delaying time, Lin Ziran would directly lead the third division back to Shiyan Town without saying anything.
At that time, both sides will have to fight a hard-fought strategic decisive battle around Shiyan Town.
But neither party is willing to do this.
Because this is very likely to evolve into a long offensive and defensive battle. Once the war is prolonged, the variables will be too great for the chaotic Luoan County.
Zhao Song and Li Dingjun were watching eagerly from the side. Lin Ziran could imagine that once his main force was trapped in Shiyan Town, Zhao Song would probably backhand and attack Pingdan County, Nan'an, Lianguan and other places.
Similarly, if the 40,000 main troops of Jian Minggang are restrained in Shiyan Town for a long time, Li Dingjun in the south may not be able to sit still. Maybe Li Dingjun will dare to attack the county town and directly send his troops north to surprise the county town.
Woolen cloth.
Another more critical point is that both sides actually lack the ability to sustain a war for a long time.
Because Luo'an County is a major grain-producing area, they are not short of food, but they are short of everything except food.
In particular, ammunition is severely lacking.
The output of ammunition is limited. Even if both sides have their own arsenals, the output is also limited. However, once the battle starts, a huge amount of ammunition is consumed every day.
When Feng Haozhong led the Third Division to storm Chongguang City, Cheng Lingfeng almost exhausted the entire county's strength to support it. Countless ammunition, especially artillery shells, were continuously transported to the front line. If the output of his own arsenal was insufficient, he purchased it from outside sources.
However, now, whether it is Jian Minggang or Lin Ziran, despite the large number of troops in their hands, their ability to maintain war is actually very poor.
When the fighting first started, there might have been artillery shells flying all over the sky, but it is estimated that after a few days of fierce fighting, we will have to call it quits...
Because at that time, they basically used up all the ammunition they had in reserve.
They have run out of ammunition and it is difficult to replenish it, so there will probably be no way to fight except fighting with bayonets.