Chapter 337 This Is Not the Battle of Feishui (8,000-character chapter)
Zhu Shuren led an army of 100,000 people and left Beijing on August 24. After a short march of six or seven days, they passed through the Yangtze River, Ruxushui, Chaohu, and Feishui, and successfully arrived in Hefei on the first day of September.
His arrival, of course, greatly boosted the morale of the Ming army in Luzhou Prefecture. Huang Degong, Huang Fei, Jin Shenghuan, Lin Chengcheng and other generals all displayed their banners and lined up their troops and went out of the city to Feishui Wharf to greet him.
"The general will welcome the prince!"
"The prince is like a god with his troops. With the prince in charge, the Huaibei Tatars will definitely be wiped out!"
"Hey, you should be called the Grand Governor in the army, and the etiquette cannot be abolished."
After being praised by the generals, Zhu Shuren raised his hand gently to stop everyone's boasting, and entered the city without restraint, while casually asking about the military situation:
"How is the situation on the front line? Where are the Tatars?"
Huang Degong has been in charge of the defense of the war zones around Hefei for many years, and of course he is responsible for reporting. He said with great detail: "The Tatars have been attacking for more than half a month, and they started trying to encircle Shouxian County ten days ago.
Our army followed the prince's pre-war instructions to strengthen the walls and clear the country, and did not seek to fight for every inch of territory. Therefore, all the frontline field soldiers and horses retreated into Shouxian County, allowing the Tatars to encircle them.
Outside the city, only the Bagongshan Dazhai, which faces Shouxian City across the Fei River, is left. There are heavy troops guarding the danger, forming a corner. The Fei River can also be cut off to prevent Tatar troop transport ships and grain transport ships.
Stealing from the Huaihe River into the Feishui River.
Since the truce between our army and the Tatars in the first year of Longwu, in the past two and a half years, we have steadily operated the city defense of Shouxian County and the construction of the Dazhai on Bagong Mountain. We have also built many forts on Bagong Mountain, and the firing angles of the gun emplacements are also the same.
It is precisely designed to completely cover the Feishui River surface.
There is also a large amount of grain stored in the camp on the mountain, and a water diversion channel has been built to protect a key point for drawing water from the Feishui River. If the Tatars want to attack the mountain, the difficulty will not be lower than that of storming the city of Shouxian County. It is absolutely impossible to cut off food and water."
Huang Degong's explanation was a bit unintuitive for Zhu Shuren. Fortunately, everyone was chatting on horseback. It didn't take long before they entered the city and arrived at Huang Degong's shogunate. Huang Degong immediately asked someone to get a map and pointed out the explanation.
The reason why Shouxian County has been a battleground between the North and the South since ancient times is because this place is the estuary where the Huaihe River branches into the Feishui River. The Feishui River then passes through Chaohu Lake and the Ruxu River, and can communicate with the Yangtze River.
In the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River and the Huaihe River, this is the only waterway that can connect the Yangtze and Huaihe Rivers. Further down, there is the Hangou Canal between Yangzhou and Huai'an, which is almost entering the sea.
The city of Shouxian County is located on the south bank of the three-way intersection of the Huaihe River and the Feishui River (both in Huainan and Feinan). The Huaihe River flows from the southwest to the northeast, and then bifurcates to the Feishui River in the southeast.
Therefore, in order to completely cut off the Feishui River, troops must also be stationed on the east bank of the Sanchakou, that is, the angle between Huainan and Feibei.
As for the east bank of the Sanchakou, because the terrain is high and rugged, it is impossible to build a city. There is only Bagong Mountain, so only a mountain fortress can be built. In other words, the reason why the Huaihe River flows here and bifurcates is because it is blocked by the Eighth Mountain.
Blocked by public mountains.
This Bagong Mountain is also very famous in history - yes, it is the Bagong Mountain where the idiom "On Bagong Mountain, all the vegetation and trees are soldiers" was left in the Battle of Feishui in the former Qin Dynasty and Eastern Jin Dynasty.
Of course, the current confrontation between the Ming and Qing armies on the Shouxian battlefield is obviously different from the Battle of Feishui more than a thousand years ago.
Because during the Battle of Feishui, the former Qin army had already conquered Shouxian County and captured the land on the west bank of the Feishui River mouth, forcing the Eastern Jin army to only the east bank to defend, which led to the Eastern Jin Dynasty stationing its main force on Bagong Mountain and
The gentle area on the south side of the mountain.
Therefore, during the final decisive battle, Xie Xuancai had to send someone to speak to the Qin army, asking Fu Jian not to be too timid, to retreat a bit, and to make way for an open space on the west bank of the Fei River for the Jin army to cross the river.
But now, both Shouxian County and Bagong Mountain are in the hands of the Ming army. The Qing army can only create a larger encirclement, including Shouxian County and Bagong Mountain, and try to slowly encroach.
However, there has been a truce between the Ming and Qing Dynasties for two and a half years. In the past two and a half years, Zhu Shuren devoted himself to farming and was constantly deducing the development direction of the war situation when the war resumed in the future. How could he not spend money to operate these most cutting-edge chokepoints?
?
Nanyang County, where Zhang Huangyan was guarding three years ago, had already made Azig miserable. Abatai Yuele and others simply did not participate in the front-line offensive and had not suffered such hardships, so they more or less underestimated the enemy.
But today, Shouxian and Bagongshan, which have been armed by Zhu Shuren for two and a half years, have mounted shell forts and bastions, and have undergone precise cross-fire coverage design to ensure that there are absolutely no blind spots, and Abatai will definitely be able to burst into tears.
tooth!
…
"Abatai is old and ignorant. He doesn't know how his younger brothers retreated in disgrace under the Ming Dynasty City. He won't attack Shouxian County and Bagong Mountain, right?"
After understanding the frontline battle situation that took place before his arrival, Zhu Shuren couldn't help but laugh easily.
He wished Abatai could attack hard and kill more people in the battle.
Impressed by Zhu Shuren's spirit, the shogunate was filled with a relaxed atmosphere. All the generals had relaxed expressions. Huang Degong held back his laughter and said:
"As expected by the prince, Abatai was indeed more aggressive than other Qing generals at the beginning. However, after knocking out a few teeth, he became less aggressive.
Beginning on August 20th, he tried to attack by force. First, he attacked Shouxian County. He fought for four or five days, but lost no soldiers and generals. He estimated that he lost two to three thousand people. Then he turned around and attacked the Bagong Mountain Dazhai.
Even though there seems to be no continuous city wall on Bagong Mountain, there are only some small sections of walls and forts blocking the mountain road. As a result, because of this, Abatai felt several times that he would see an opportunity if he tried harder, but he was seduced.
They became more and more desperate, and within five or six days, the number of soldiers and horses killed and wounded was several ten times more than the number of troops who had attacked Shouxian County by force.
However, I heard that most of the casualties in the siege were from the Han banners and the Tatars' newly built green camps. It was a pity that the real Tatars were not used to attack the city. We don't expect to gain more military merit by killing the northern Han people. I hope that after their morale is low, they will
In the future, it will be great if we can find our way back from our lost ways, know that the Tatars only use them as cannon fodder, and be willing to defect to our Ming Dynasty in the decisive battle."
Zhu Shuren was not surprised by this result. During the reign of Chongzhen, the Han people in the north did have a harder time than the south. It was normal for them to have no feelings for the Ming Dynasty, or even just disgust.
It is impossible to expect that now that the situation in the Ming Dynasty has improved and the reforms have been carried out, the Green Camp will directly abandon the darkness and join the Ming Dynasty. Especially during Dorgon's fishing in recent years, the Green Camp is the beneficiary class, which is equivalent to being promoted to an "assistant of the ruling class", and the treatment is
Not bad, but how could he have his heart set on the Ming Dynasty?
On the contrary, those who were simply oppressed by the ruling class, the poor people among the northern Han people who did not serve as soldiers, were the easier targets for the Ming Dynasty to win over. They understood that it was better to hang out with the Tatars than to hang out with the Ming Dynasty.
Green Camp has already carefully selected a group of people with the greatest potential for traitors. There is no other way. The only option is to beat the pain first, then punish those who lead the way, and beat them to death.
He said pragmatically: "It is not the turn of the Green Camp to win over the Green Camp for the time being. At least in the Lianghuai Campaign, this is impossible. If we want to reduce the number of Han people to die in the civil war, first imagine how to make this series of decisive battles
Play well and play beautifully.
When the northern Han people see that Qing Gou has no future, they will naturally reconsider. We are still in the stalemate stage, and it is too early to say this. Let us continue to introduce what the Qing army did after their failure in attacking Bagong Mountain."
Huang Degong: "The Tatars have been forcibly attacking Bagong Mountain for several days, and after losing troops and generals, they seem to be inclined to change it to a long-term siege. Especially in the past two days, Qing army scouts also got information and knew that Your Majesty's reinforcements were about to arrive in Hefei.
Abate then surrounded Shouxian County, and divided his main force to go south along the Feishui River by land to meet the prince, so as to prevent the Qing army surrounded by Shouxian County from being attacked from both sides.
Judging from this posture, it is still the old-fashioned way of encircling points to call for reinforcements, surrounding Shouxian County and Bagong Mountain, cutting off the defense army's food and grass, hoping that after a long time, our Hefei army will go to rescue, and then we can fight decisively with the Hefei reinforcements in the field."
Upon hearing this, Zhu Shuren showed a satisfied smile: "It seems that the Tatars still think that they are invincible in the field? How did Duduo die three years ago? Have they forgotten?"
Huang Degong tidied up his language and said euphemistically: "Your Majesty, please forgive me for being blunt. Although Abatai's idea is old-fashioned, if you think about it, the Tatars really have no more choices. They have no choice and can't go on spending any more time.
We must always find a way to fight decisively and try to severely damage our Ming Dynasty's main force.
And to be honest, there are still quite a few Tatar generals who are quite dissatisfied with the battle that destroyed Dodo three years ago. They feel that Dodo was besieged in the south of the Yangtze River because of his rash advance and his troops going deep alone.
Later, he went through three encirclement and attrition battles in Nanjing, Jinshan Temple, and Jiangyin, which resulted in the loss of more than half of his troops and horses, and the extreme depletion of supplies and armaments. The prince finally wiped them out in the field.
Therefore, those generals of the Qing army who had not participated in the Battle of Jiangnan three years ago generally believed that this was a special case. They believed that if the Qing army had not been consumed in advance and lost more than half, with all the remaining ammunition lost in wasted months, it would have been a strong force at the beginning.
If we had a decisive battle with the Ming Dynasty in the field, they would still have a high degree of confidence in winning."
Zhu Shuren was stunned for a moment, and then he was relieved. It turned out that the Tatars thought so:
"If they are willing to think so, then that's the best. Okay, let's see this time whether the Qing army can directly fight with me in the field of the Ming Dynasty without being cut off from supplies and with full combat strength.
win!
How many troops and horses are there on Abatai's route? How far away are the Qing troops from other routes to guard him, and how many troops and horses are there approximately?"
Zhu Shuren would not fight an unprepared battle. Even if he was prepared for a decisive battle, he had to find out the reality of the enemy first. He also obtained some intelligence while in Nanjing, but after all, it was not as accurate as the real-time updated data from the Hefei front line.
Huang Degong and others also quickly summarized the collected information and gave feedback:
The Qing army's southern expedition used a total force of no less than 300,000 to 400,000 troops! However, they were divided into four fronts.
In the far west, Hauge, who was fighting with Wu Sangui at Tongguan, had the weakest force. There were only 20,000 Manchu and Mongolian soldiers, with about one banner each, plus a Han army banner, and Shanxi Green Camp Jiang Yu as a strategic reserve. All Canadians
The number of people occupied together does not exceed 50,000.
The second weakest was the Qing army in Huai'an Prefecture in the east, which only had 40,000 to 50,000 troops.
Originally, the Qing army had four troops in the Huai'an battlefield before the war, namely Mandahai stationed in Suqian, Geng Zhongming stationed in Pizhou, Shangshan stationed in Xuzhou, and Kong Youde stationed in Haizhou (Lianyungang) (this army was mainly naval).
), these four groups totaled at least more than 80,000 people.
But at the beginning of the war, due to the adjustment of strategic priorities, the Qing army only defended the Huai'an road and transferred both Shang Shan and Geng Zhongming to the west. On the Huai'an battlefield, the army only retained Mandahai, and the navy only retained Kong Youde.
, so the troops there were reduced by nearly half, and all reinforcements were sent to Fengyang, Shouxian, and Hefei.
So before this wave of dispatches, Abatai's troops were not much more than Azig, but after adding 40,000 new troops out of thin air, Abatai became the absolute strongest among the four Qing armies.
of one.
Azig's troops in Nanyang were less than 100,000. Abatai originally had more than 100,000 troops in Fengyang. With the addition of more than 40,000 reinforcements, the total strength was actually equal to that of the Ming army in the Hefei theater, plus the troops brought by Zhu Shuren.
The reinforcements are almost the same.
Huang Degong couldn't figure out the specific numbers, but basically both the Ming and Qing armies had between 150,000 and 200,000 troops, and the difference would not be more than 10% or 20% - Zhu Shuren now has 180,000 troops, and the opposite side has
The enemy is at least 10% less than him, and at most more than 10% more than him.
Zhu Shuren stroked his beard and calculated: "It seems that the troops are evenly matched. Yes, it is a rare fair battle. What is the composition of the troops?"
Huang Degong: "Three of the eight Manchu banners, the two white banners directly under Dorgon and the Zhenglan banner of Abatai, plus the two Mongolian army banners, have a total of 40,000 to 50,000 cavalry. There are also 20,000 Han army banners and green battalion troops.
About one hundred thousand.
The two white flags were completely wiped out by our army three years ago, so they were rebuilt within the past two and a half years using reserve soldiers from the two white flags and officers transferred from the two yellow flags. Those Mongolian flags were also severely damaged at the beginning.
Later, they went back to the rear to replenish their troops, and their combat power is estimated to have declined compared to its heyday.
Dorgon has always liked to use his own direct troops to fight on the main battlefields where they can easily gain credit, and let other troops fight on the secondary battlefields to be responsible for containment. This is still the case this time.
Some prisoners were captured in the scout war a few days ago. They also said that many people within the Qing court opposed the resumption of the Southern Expedition this year. People were divided and some troops were not able to mobilize. Dorgon had to rely on his direct descendants.
The troops will win some battles first to prove that his decision is correct."
After listening to this information, Zhu Shuren was completely relieved: From this point of view, winning this battle would not only severely damage the Qing army, but might even tear apart the unity of rule within the Qing court, and completely challenge Dorgon's single-mindedness.
, this is a good thing.
In this case, he has more determination and ambition to fight a good battle, not only to win on the physical level, but also to win good looks, and to destroy the Tatars' psychological advantage on the psychological level, making them self-doubt, reflect, and even eventually
Internal strife!
After smoothing out his thoughts, Zhu Shuren sighed and made a final decision: "Originally I planned to use more tricks, adapt to circumstances, consume what I can, and then plan for a decisive battle.
But since the people within the Tatars are so divided, we must not only win, but also win so that the Tatars have no excuse at all! Because if it is still the same as three years ago, Dodo's death will make the Tatars feel like, 'This
"It's just bad luck and a special case under special circumstances," then Dorgon can still maintain his policy and let the Tatars still be willing to throw resources into this pit.
Only if the Tatars can see clearly that even if they fight a tough battle openly and openly, they will still be crushed by our great Ming Dynasty, then the Tatars will reflect on the fact that everything is Dorgon's decision to restart the war. It was a big mistake!
We must use military victory to induce political infighting among the Tatars! Completely destroy their sense of luck! For this, even if thousands more soldiers are killed... I am afraid we have no choice but to endure it.
All sacrifices are for the sake of a smaller overall situation in the future. Sometimes you have to use conspiracy and trickery, and sometimes you have to use a dignified teacher. The combination of oddity and rightness can destroy the enemy's psychology!"
Cao Bianjiao brought by Zhu Shuren, and even Huang Degong and Huang Fei from Hefei, all took this seriously.
These people are brave and strong warriors. Now that their weapons and equipment have been upgraded, the morale of the troops in training has also risen to a higher level. They are confident that they can defeat the Tatars in an upright battle!
it's time.
Seeing that the generals were united, Zhu Shuren ordered: "Reinforcements are coming from far away and will be stationed for three days to rest. After three days, they will slowly march north to set up camp, fight steadily, and write a letter of challenge to the Qing army surrounding Shouxian County, asking them to fight to a decisive battle!"
…
Three days passed by carelessly, and in the blink of an eye, it was the fifth day of September. In the siege camp of Shouxian County, which had been a little uneasy in recent days, Abatai, the commander of the Qing Army's Middle Route Army, finally received Zhu Shuren's letter of war.
Abatai is the seventh son of Nuerhachi and the elder brother of Huang Taiji. He is now very old.
He is fifty-eight years old this year, three years older than Huangtai Jihai. Historically, he was supposed to have died of illness in March of this year. Now he has lived a few more months due to the butterfly effect. It may be because he is more important to the court than at the same time in history.
Be happy and refreshed.
However, the natural limits of physiology cannot be violated. Even though Abatai is still alive, he is already suffering from old age and illness, and rarely gets out of bed. Military affairs are actually mainly worried about by his two sons Yue Le and Bolo.
In the past half month, Shang Shan and Geng Zhongming were transferred from the east to be at his disposal, but in fact Yue Le and Bolo were in charge of each one, and Abata rarely bothered with the details.
In addition to his two sons and other generals guarding one side, Abate's men are also full of young and talented generals. Three years ago, the two white flags were completely wiped out. Later, the reserves were recruited for reconstruction, leaving many former second-line officers and civilians transferred
Wu's middle-aged general got a chance to stand out.
For example, when Jierhalang planned the personnel work for the establishment of the Two White Banners, he mainly recruited people from the Xianghuang Banner directly under the emperor to mix in the sand. Therefore, the middle-level generals such as Niu Colu, Yin Erdeng, Niu Colu, and Bilong from the Xianghuang Banner,
They were all transferred here.
The original civil servants of the Two White Banners were transferred to the military, or the second-line generals were transferred to regular positions, including Ekeqin, Banbulshan, Suksaha and others from the Tabai clan. Anyway, these people had escaped the destruction of Dodo three years ago.
The two white flag elites survived the battle.
Historically, many of these people only became prime ministers and assistants more than ten or twenty years later, when Shunzhi was dead. Now they are only mid-level and high-level generals.
At this moment, Abatai received the Ming Army's letter of war, and of course he had to take it seriously, so he called together the main generals on the battlefield in Shouxian County to discuss whether to go to the appointment for a decisive battle.
Yue Le and Bo Luo ranked first in the left and right groups, followed by Shang Shan, Geng Zhongming, followed by Yin Erden, Ye Bilong, E Keqin, Ban Bulshan and Suk Saha in turn.
"Zhu Shuren came down with a letter of challenge and asked me to wait for a decisive battle in Shaopi three days later. How should we deal with the enemy?" Abatai took the scroll sent by Zhu Shuren and waved it at the generals.
The generals did not know the contents of the gauntlet in advance. After hearing the words, they were all shocked. It was like cold water splashing into a frying pan, and they were deceived.
Yue Le: "What? Nanmanzi actually dares to take the initiative to ask me for a decisive battle with the Qing Dynasty? Or a field battle? Has this scheming traitor Zhu Shuren lost his mind and gone crazy? Is it possible that there is a deceit?"
Bolo: "The Nanmanzi are planning to fight at Shaopi? The terrain is relatively narrow, and it is indeed not conducive to the deployment of the army, but why should our army listen to them? Can't we intercept them halfway?"
The two major generals were the first to express their opinions, and other generals also believed in this statement.
Everyone found it incredible. After pondering for a while, Suksaha, who was more junior, deduced in a deliberation tone:
"I wonder if the Nanmanzi will meet on the south bank or the north bank of Shaoshui? Could it be that they want to reenact the Battle of Feishui before the Qin Dynasty and the Eastern Jin Dynasty? Let our army retreat to a piece of land on the north bank of Shaoshui so that the Ming army can cross the river for a decisive battle?
That would be too whimsical and underestimating our Qing Dynasty! What a coward Fu Jian is. He claims to have millions of people under his command, but the hearts of the people are not unified and will collapse as soon as he retreats! Our Qing Dynasty is like the sun at the top of the sky, and everyone is united. Even if they retreat a little, they can still use it like an arm.
I mean, come back and fight back anytime and anywhere! When the time comes, we will kill the Ming army halfway across the border and leave no trace of armor behind!"
Suksaha also spoke to gain opportunities for performance. When he said these words, he pointed at the map and asked.
There is a total of about 120 to 30 miles between Hefei and Shouxian, and the entire journey is along the Feishui River. Not far from the west bank of the Feishui River, there was originally a large swamp wetland. As early as the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the Chu State
His Majesty Sun Shuao built the water conservancy project "Shaopei", and then the local swamps gradually turned into polders, and the low-lying areas were further dredged for water storage.
Shaopi is an inverted triangle shape that is wide in the north and narrow in the south. The northernmost end, closest to Feishui, is only five or six miles wide. There is also a small river there, called Shaoshui. The water from Shaopi flows out of the lake from there and flows into Feishui.
water.
The lake becomes narrower as you go south, and the distance between the lake and Feishui is about 25 miles to the southernmost point of Shaopi.
Zhu Shuren's army went north from Hefei to reinforce Shouxian County, while Abatai's army went south from Shouxian County to attack. Under natural conditions, they would of course meet in the narrow strip between Feishui and Shaipei.
Of course, if Abataken retreats, he can also retreat his troops further north of the north entrance of Shaopi, and put the Ming army into an open area to fight again, avoiding the narrow terrain with water on both sides.
In the same way, if the Ming army huddled tens of miles north of Hefei City and insisted not to go north, then the Qing army could be moved further south and fight in a spacious area further south of the south entrance of Shaipi.
The Qing army had the advantage of cavalry, and they must have realized that the more open and easier the battlefield was, the more advantageous it would be.
The Ming army was good at formation battles, and could force the enemy into a decisive battle in a space where there was no way around, and it could also take advantage of it.
The choice between these depends on the urgency of the generals on both sides to seek war.
Suk Saha also knew this, so he was inclined to let the Ming army cross Shaoshui, leave the narrowest north entrance of Shaopi, and put the Ming army in the open area north of Shaopi for a decisive battle if he agreed to a battle.
At that time, the Ming army will still have to bear the disadvantage of a last-ditch battle. If they are defeated by the Qing army after crossing Shaoshui River, it will be difficult to escape even if they want to. They will be driven directly into Shaoshui River and drowned.
Of course, the Ming army definitely has a naval advantage. It has warships that can push along the Feishui River and can more or less coordinate with the army. But the Qing army has no ships at all on that battlefield.
Because Shouxian County and Bagong Mountain are still in the hands of the Ming army, the forts east of Shouxian County and the forts on Bagong Mountain can completely block the Huaihe-Feishui River mouth, and it is impossible for Qing army ships to sail to the south through that point.
However, Suksaha's opinion was quickly refuted by Shangshan, who had suffered a lot three years ago:
"Don't underestimate the enemy! Even if Zhu Shuren is trying to recreate the Battle of Feishui, our army cannot easily let the barbarians cross the river just because the Qing Dynasty is united!
The Nanmanzi were very skillful in inducing our army to retreat and pretending to forcefully cross the river in pursuit! In the decisive battle of Jiangyin three years ago, the left-wing army under the command of Prince Yu fell into the Nanmanzi's trick!
At that time, the Nanmanzi also planned to resist our army's defenders on the east bank of the Hengtang River, forcefully cross the river, and threaten the prince's left wing. General Li felt at that time that even if he was suppressed by the Ming army's gunfire across the river, it would not matter. Sooner or later,
You can wait for the first vanguard of the Ming army to cross the river, then turn back and attack halfway across the river.
But what was the result? The Ming army was good at using cavalry artillery! It was very flexible and could be deployed forward. It could fire immediately wherever it was pulled! In the end, our army wanted to counterattack, but was defeated by the Ming army's cavalry artillery and a high-throwing and deflecting shell.
The artillery blocked it, causing the Ming army to unexpectedly gain a foothold!
If we continue to do this now, I'm afraid that the Ming army will do it again! Zhu Shuren is not betting that the morale of our army will be as low as that of the former Qin army. He is betting that the field artillery deployed by the Ming army's rapid advance can consolidate our army's borders.
The landing field formed after the retreat of the river troops!
Moreover, the Ming army still has the advantage of the navy on the battlefield of Feishui. We have no ships and the enemy has ships. If the enemy's warships equipped with cannons directly penetrate into Shaoshui to cover the Ming army's crossing, it will be difficult for us to stop it, and we will only lose the first advantage.
machine."
Shang Shan is not the smartest among the generals of the Qing army, but after all, he is also the senior general who has the most experience in the series of battles three years ago and came back alive. As the saying goes, you will gain wisdom after you eat.
He has lost so many battles and knows the enemy very well. He is now considered the "living fossil that has suffered the most" under Abate's command.
Abate couldn't ignore his opinion. Abata coughed a few times, gasped and clapped:
"Shang Shan, you don't have to follow your own ambitions after too many defeats and lose the prestige of our army. However, what you said is indeed reasonable. The Ming army is good at deploying artillery flexibly and unexpectedly. This method has never been used by our army so far.
Can master it.
Our army's artillery was mostly cumbersome, and other than the Folang machine, it could not deploy quickly at the front. The Ming army also had the advantage of the navy, so leaving an extra river across the battlefield was, after all, one more variable.
It is better for our army to go south in advance, cross the Shaoshui River first, and advance for dozens of miles to the south entrance of Shaopi, and set up a position in a relatively open area to meet the Ming army. Moreover, after our army crosses the Shaoshui River, we can separate out the auxiliary forces.
Soldiers filled the mouth of Shaoshui River,
It is not necessary to completely block the water flow and cause flooding, but at least the mouth of the Shaoshui River must be narrowed and shallowed so that gunboats cannot sail from Feishui into Shaoshui. In this way, the Ming army's artillery cannot appear behind our army, and our army can
Move forward and retreat freely."
Isn't the advantage of the Ming army that where there is a river, gunboats can pass through, and then the artillery on the river can help suppress it? If the waterway is temporarily filled, won't this advantage of the Ming army be abolished?
Abatai felt that his consideration was to maximize the advantages and eliminate the disadvantages, and chose the battlefield at a location that was most suitable for the northern cavalry troops.
The generals thought for a while and found that the two sons actually thought of some risks, but they were very confident and did not want to damage their father's face, so they did not say anything.
Among the other generals, only Ye Bilong, who was relatively the most stable and conservative, made a point: "Rao Junwang (Abatai's title is Junwang), if this is the case, wouldn't it bring our army into a desperate situation?
Our army is the first to cross the Shaoxui River. If it cannot rush into the open area south of the south entrance of Shaopi, but the Ming army rushes north and blocks the triangular area north of the south entrance of Shaopi, then there will be Feishui to the east and Feishui to the west.
There is Shaoxui in the north of Shaopi, and only in the south, in the direction of the Ming army's approach, is there an open and flat land route that can make a detour.
The Ming army blocked us in a land surrounded by water on three sides and tried to attack and annihilate us. How should we avoid it?"
As soon as Ye Bilong said this, no one among the generals around him accused him of being wrong in his logic. However, except for Suk Saha, Erke and others who had the same status as him and could not laugh out loud, or Shang Shan, who was just a bastard.
Those who have suffered several hardships are relatively low-key. Others who have a higher status than Ye Bilong are all laughing:
"The Nanmanzi want to block our army in a battlefield surrounded by water on three sides, so they can encircle and annihilate our army? There is a front of twenty or thirty miles wide between the south entrance of Shaopi and Feishui. Can't our Eight Banners cavalry break through the front?
?
The Nanbarbarians want to block us, so they rush northward at short notice. There is no way they can set up camps, trenches, and tunnels at the south entrance of Shaopi in time. Do you still want to prevent me from the Eight Banners' frontal breakthrough in the plains?"
"If you think the prince's plan is dangerous, then you can suggest a better way! Is this method more risky, or is it more risky to let the Nanmanzi cross Shaoshui? There is no perfect strategy in the world, and there are always choices when using troops. Do you think
If we take possession of everything, the people from Zhu Shu won’t dare to come and fight us!”
The generals’ final views were indeed rough words but not rough reasoning.
If Zhu Shuren could not get a suitable fighter opportunity, he would not be easily forced to fight by the Qing army.
Since going north from Hefei City, Zhu Shuren walked extremely carefully during the last 120 miles. Basically, he replicated Zeng Guofan's "strengthening the stronghold and fighting stupidly". Every thirty miles he advanced north, he walked very carefully.
We need to set up a camp, and then move the camp to the north to fight steadily.
If he were allowed to walk the entire distance of one hundred and twenty miles, he would be able to set up strongholds three times in total. As soon as he realized something was wrong, he would immediately retreat into the stronghold and defend it.
So he asked Abatai for a decisive battle, and Abatai had to show some sincerity and shed some blood, otherwise Zhu Shuren could completely avoid the battle by choosing a battlefield geography and fighting time that was purely beneficial to the Qing army.
After weighing the situation, the general of the Qing army finally decided to take the initiative to cross Shaoshui southward at an appropriate time, and then have a fair fight with the Ming army in the area between Shaopi and Feishui.