Jiangyin Port, Changzhou Prefecture, on the other side of Tongzhou, is the main base of the Yangtze River Fleet, and is also a port of call for a large number of shipping supply ships, and a transfer station for material supply.

Today, however, the place is busier than usual, even crowded.

On the shore, many ships are waiting to dock, and on the dock on the shore, ships are moored on the dock, and many soldiers are boarding the ships one after another, and at the same time, they are struggling to carry many artillery, ammunition and other supplies onto the ship.

On the Jiangyin Fort, the artillerymen were also on standby, and the guns were aimed upstream, while the armed merchant ships of the Yangtze River Fleet and even the cruisers and frigates in the First Fleet all ventured to appear here to prevent possible Ming naval divisions from coming to interfere with the crossing of the river.

Such a large-scale action naturally attracted the attention of the Ming army on the other side, and from time to time the ships of the Ming army tried to break over to explore the truth, but they were all blocked by the shore defense artillery and naval guns, but the Ming army was obviously unwilling.

According to the report of the surveillance cavalry upstream, the Ming army and naval divisions on the Yangzhou side have begun to assemble, but they don't know whether to prepare to attack Jiangyin Port, or to prevent the Tang Navy from going directly to Yangzhou.

But in order to prevent accidents, the officers and men of the Datang Navy and Army involuntarily accelerated the pace of boarding!

In a two-story brick and stone building in the port, Lieutenant General Hao Bonian, the new commander of the Third Army and the former commander of the First Army, stood by the window, looking at the countless ships and busy soldiers outside.

"How's it going?" Hao Bonian asked.

The adjutant on the side said: "Now an infantry regiment of the Fifth Infantry Division has all been shipped, an artillery battalion has also been loaded, and the remaining troops of the Fifth Infantry Division are nervously boarding the ship." ”

After hearing this, Hao Bonian frowned slightly and said: "The speed of boarding is too slow now, I order to go down and speed up the boarding, and today the Fifth Infantry Division will all set off to officially cross the river and launch a landing operation!" ”

The adjutant on the side said: "The current dock is basically occupied, and it is difficult to load materials, I'm afraid I can't speed up anymore!" ”

Hao Bonian said: "The wharf is not enough, so it is vacated to load supplies, as for the personnel to board the ship, it is not necessary to board the ship at the wharf, it is also possible to take a small boat directly from the shore." ”

At this time, Hao Bonian showed a trace of worry and said: "We have made such a big move in the past two days, the Ming army sailors on the opposite side must have noticed it a long time ago, and the reconnaissance cavalry reported that it was the Ming army sailors on the Yangzhou side who might come to attack Jiangyin Port, although the navy guarantees the safety of Jiangyin, but they can't all count on the navy, their big ships in this Yangtze River, except as a battery, can not play any role." ”

Hao Bonian was worried for a reason, although he said that the navy had repeatedly guaranteed the safety of the army's crossing of the river, Hao Bonian could see that the navy was not confident in saying this.

Although the navy has gathered a large number of ships here, always more than a dozen armed merchant ships, four patrol ships, six frigates, and two cruisers, it is not easy to fight in this area, and the ships have many guns.

Because the Ming army and sailors don't compete with you in artillery, they have prepared countless small boats upstream, and when the time comes, hundreds of fireboats will be put down along the river, and the cruiser will have to kneel no matter how awesome it is!

Otherwise, why didn't the navy dare to swagger in and out of the Yangtze River, not because they were afraid of being targeted by the fireships of the Ming army's sailors!

Therefore, Hao Bonian did not expect the navy to ensure the safety of the army's crossing of the river, so he needed to let the troops board the boat to cross the river as soon as possible.

When the time comes, the Ming army's Yangzhou Battery, which makes the navy helpless, can be taken down by his army in minutes.

The Ming army deployed heavy troops in the north of the river, and these thousands of people used to deliver food, and they had to send tens of thousands of people across the river at one time, so that they could quickly open up the situation and then receive more troops to cross the river.

Hao Bonian knew very well what Li Xuan's purpose was in transferring himself to the Third Army to serve as the commander, that is, to open up the situation in Yangzhou and lay the foundation for the development of the entire Northern Expedition plan.

Hao Bonian was originally the commander of the First Army, but Li Xuan transferred him to the Third Army as the commander, the original commander of the Third Army Wang Chaohong was transferred to the Second Army as the commander, and the former commander of the Second Army Li Chunjing was transferred to the commander of the First Army.

To put it simply, Li Xuan just reversed the three army commanders!

On the one hand, Li Xuan hoped that Hao Bonian would open up the situation in Yangzhou, and on the other hand, it was also to prevent these generals from serving as the chief officers in the same army for a long time, thus creating a situation where the tail could not be defeated.

Not only the three army commanders have been transferred, but in fact, many generals at the level of division commanders and regiment commanders have been transferred and promoted.

And there were no large-scale battles in the first half of this year, which also created a favorable opportunity for Li Xuan to rotate the middle and senior generals in the army.

At present, on the side of the army, there are basically no generals above the regimental commander level who have served in the same post for more than one year.

Although such a large-scale transfer will affect the combat effectiveness of the troops to a certain extent, after the run-in of the last half a year, it has basically made up for the losses in this aspect, and Li Xuan's control over the troops is also stronger.

Hao Bonian naturally also knew why Li Xuan would let him serve as the commander of the Third Army, his own ability was not the reason, but the defense was the reason, so Hao Bonian has been relatively low-key recently, and he has not had too deep contacts with his subordinates like when he was in the First Army.

In his opinion, those generals who co-opt their subordinates and try to form their own faction, if they can get a good death, he Hao Bonian will not believe it anyway, this world belongs to His Majesty, and this army is also His Majesty's, if you want to treat the army as your own, you are looking for death!

Hao Bonian still wants to be the founder of the country and win a duke, preferably the hereditary kind, so the battle must be fought, but loyalty must not be forgotten at any time, and low-key is a must.

Compared with Hao Bonian's low profile, Chen Keqiao, the commander of the Fifth Division, was not low-key at all, and his troops were the first batch of troops to cross the river, so he ran to the dock from the beginning to personally sit in the town and command the troops to board the ship.

There wasn't much time left for him, because there were tens of thousands of people waiting to board the ship!

The Third Army, which was prepared for the Yangzhou Campaign, was unprecedentedly strong, with three infantry divisions under its jurisdiction: the Fifth Infantry Division, the Sixth Infantry Division, and the Eighth Infantry Division, as well as the First Mixed Regiment, the Ninth Mixed Regiment, and three heavy artillery battalions.

All the troops were fully armed, and the total strength reached 55,000 men.

Originally, there was also a newly formed mixed regiment with poor combat effectiveness, that is, the 11th mixed regiment, but considering that even if it was to attack north, there could not be no troops left in the rear, so this 11th mixed regiment was not incorporated into the Third Army, but would stay behind and suppress Jiangnan.

Also remaining in Jiangnan are two new supplementary brigades, 5,000 Guards troops, and the Ninth Infantry Division, which has not yet been formed after the Eighth Infantry Division, which has not yet been formed.

Why is it said that the Guards only have 5,000 men, because this time the Guards will also send half of their troops to participate in the battle, about 5,000 men, and this army will be assigned to the side of the Second Army, which will charge into battle with all the army units.

Sending the Guards to fight was a practice by Li Xuan in order to strengthen the combat effectiveness of the Guards, and the previous Nanao Island Campaign, Fujian Campaign, and the Guards all participated, and a rotation system was adopted to ensure that each Guards infantry battalion could gain combat experience.

Otherwise, this guard army would sooner or later become a showmanship, after all, it is unlikely that Li Xuan will personally recruit now.

On the side of the Second Army, the commander is Wang Chaohong, and the troops currently under its jurisdiction are the Seventh Infantry Division, the Fourth Mixed Regiment, and the Fifth Mixed Regiment, in addition to the Third Infantry Division stationed in Jiujiang, which is also assigned to the Second Army, with two heavy artillery battalions.

The First Army, commanded by Li Chunjing, had the 1st Infantry Division, the 2nd Infantry Division, the 3rd Mixed Regiment, the 10th Mixed Regiment, and a heavy artillery battalion.

For example, there is the 4th Infantry Division in Yunnan, the 7th Mixed Regiment in western Hunan, the 8th Mixed Regiment in Guangxi, the 6th Mixed Regiment in Guizhou, the 2nd Mixed Regiment in Guangdong, the 12th Mixed Regiment in Fujian, and the 13th Mixed Regiment in Zhejiang.

The above-mentioned troops constitute the main force of the current Tang Dynasty, of course, many of them are newly formed troops, and they do not include supplementary brigades, and there are currently as many as eight supplementary brigades in the Tang Dynasty.

For example, in the first half of the year, when the troops were reorganized, the Eighth Infantry Division and the Eleventh Mixed Regiment were newly formed, almost several supplementary brigades in Jiangxi and Guangdong were emptied, leaving only an empty shelf.

Therefore, although there is an establishment, the personnel of the supplementary brigades are floating, and if the troops do not need to be expanded on a large scale, if the losses are not large, the number of troops can remain relatively stable, but once the troops are expanded, if the losses of the front-line troops are relatively large, these supplementary brigades can be evacuated in minutes.

After the Third Army has been strengthened, there are many troops, and it is unrealistic to cross the river all at once, and the Datang Navy simply can't find so many ships, which is not only to transport people across the river, but also to transport the equipment of these troops across the river together, those artillery and a lot of ammunition are not so easy to transport.

As for the envisioned pontoon bridge plan, it has long been thrown away by the navy and army, because their planned landing place is Tongzhou, and the Yangtze River in that place cannot be said to be a river, but a sea, and it is better to build a pontoon bridge here than to transport it directly by boat.

Thanks to the efforts of many officers and men, the personnel and equipment of the Fifth Infantry Division finally got on board, and then began to go down the river under the cover of naval warships, and then rushed straight to Tongzhou.

At the same time, the Ming army and sailors on the Yangzhou side were also assembled and ready to attack, at this time, needless to say, both sides already knew that the war had broken out, and the time for desperate efforts had come!