Chapter 3 Yueyang

After returning to Jiangling, Zhang Xuan counted the people and horses, and all the departments arrived.

Basically, Zhang Xuan's old army, Tang and Runing's army, Cao Zongyu's Nanyang army, Xu Du's Jinhua army, Wang Jincai's Ningbo army, Luo Dai's cavalry, plus Zhou Fuchen's water army, a total of more than 50,000 people, can be regarded as the elite of the Great Xia army.

Except for Wang Jincai's department, which was expanded by gathering people from Huguang and Guangzhou, the rest were Zhang Xuan's old departments. Most of them are veterans, and their combat effectiveness can still be guaranteed.

Plus the support that Wang Lung had already promised. Zhang Yingyuan's department said echo. This battle is known as an army of 100,000, and the moisture is not too much.

Zhang Xuan summoned the generals and his staff to discuss the matter.

"Yue Yang." "We have no choice. Only to capture Yueyang. Yueyang, the situation suddenly opened up, thousands of miles of Xiangjiang, let me come and go, if Yueyang does not go down, this situation will be stuck here, and one of our southern expeditions will be in vain. ”

The higher Zhang Xuan's status, the less he took the initiative to speak in the meeting. But after listening to Hu Tang's words, he couldn't help but nod.

Ordinary people are in advance of Yueyang, and all they think about is Yueyang Tower.

However, it's not bad, Yueyang is an obvious name for the city.

Yueyang was formerly known as Baling. It's just that Yueyanglou's reputation is getting bigger and bigger, and it was later renamed Yueyang.

Yueyang City is a key place in the world. It can be said that where Changde is located, it is the side gate of Hunan, and where Yueyang is located is the main gate of Hunan. In particular, the junction of the Yangtze River and Dongting, locking this place will block the waterway between the Yangtze River and Dongting.

The location is like the mouth of the lake is to Poyang Lake.

And it's not the same as Poyang Lake. Among them, in the ancient books of Guan Pass, what is said is very clear.

Hu Tang also said eloquently above the lobby: "Yueyang Mansion is a mountain with a river, and it is a meeting of Baiyue, Bashu, and Jingxiang, and the whole Chu is also important. At the beginning of the Three Kingdoms, Duke Cao went to Jingzhou and chased the ancestor to Baqiu with a boat division, but was defeated. The ancestor and Zhou Yu both chased after him from Baqiu. Later, Lu Su guarded here, thinking that the important town "Water Jing Note": Baling, Wu Zhi Baqiu Pavilion also. "The Story of the City Mound": Baling City, established by Lu Su. When Sun Hao, he stationed troops here to refuse to advance to the division. Du pre-said: Baqiu, the meeting of Chu and Hunan, the mountains and rivers on the surface, are really dangerous. The Jin room does not compete, the southeast is more so, Taokan Town Jingzhou, Jiangling is remote, and Baling is moved. and the upstream attack, the soldiers pointed to the east, and also took Baling as the throat. After the Song Dynasty and Qi Dynasty, Baling and the three states of Xiangjing, Hunan and Ying, talked about the winner, and did not fail to be the first to Baling. Liang Hou Jing's rebellion, the king of Xiangdong sent the king monk to discern and discuss, to Baling, heard that Yingzhou had fallen, because of the stay. The monk said: Since the thief wins, he will definitely go west, but he will guard the Baqiu, wait for work, and have no worries. It is also known as the general Zuo

: If the thief walks two straight to Jiangling, this is also the best policy. According to Xia Shou, the army is accumulated, and the middle strategy is also. Attack Baling with all your might, and make a decision. Baling City is small and solid, and the monks can be appointed. The scenery is not pulling out the city, there is nothing to plunder in the wilderness, and when the summer epidemic starts, the soldiers are exhausted, and it must be broken. Jing Xi attacked Baling, but was defeated. Sui will take Chen, Cui Zhongfang said that the water and land chong must be contested, and Baling is also one of them. The Tang people used Yue and Hubei to control the Jiangchu and called Chong Yao. In the five dynasties, Jingxiang was eventful and often competed for victory over Baling. Cover the south of Hunan, enough to regulate Jing and Hubei; Huainan is enough to encompass Hunan, so the dispute is urgent. At the end of the Song Dynasty, Mongolia occupied Yuezhou, while Hunan and Liangyue fell into the first place. Cover from the river to the east and west, from the lake to the north and south, Baling all live in its important meetings. Baling is not down, and you can't try to forge ahead. Lu Shizhi said: Baling and Wuchang, the trend of building auxiliary vehicles. "Yueyang Zhi" said: The Yangtze River is long, the five lakes and Dongting are the sects, the victory of the rivers and lakes, and Baling has both, so the situation is also the most serious. ”

"Now that the army is heading south, it is impossible not to defeat Yueyang. Yueyang is not down, and Hunan is difficult to draw. The soldiers of the Southern Ming Dynasty were tired and outnumbered, and the main was weak and the ministers were strong, although Gao Yigong and other generals were newly voted, and then the He Party in the DPRK and the Ma Party contradicted each other. Don't resist me wholeheartedly, so in the battle of Nanming, the only one to worry about is Yueyang. ”

"And Yueyang City is also very dangerous."

"When the Ming Dynasty opened the country, Ming Taizu and Chen Youliang fought Yueyang, and the Yueyang city wall collapsed. In the second year of Hongwu, the general Xu Da inspected Yueyang, destroyed the city, and ordered to rebuild, this project was very large, until the fourth year of Hongwu, it was not completed, but it was repeatedly strengthened after that. It took 25 years of Hongwu to determine the current specifications. The city wall is twelve miles, and the average height of the city is three feet and five feet. Coupled with the dish tower at the head of the city, it is about four zhang. There are six city gates, Yingyang, Changjiang, Yueyang, Shuixi, South Gate, North Gate, connected with the Moon City, the moat outside the city, two zhang deep, more than 20 zhang wide, connected with Dongting. It's just that in recent years, there have been many acts of occupying the waters of the moat, but now the moat is at least ten zhang wide. ”

These alone already gave Zhang Xuan a toothache.

Not to mention the width of ten zhang, it is also thirty meters wide, and the moat is two zhang deep, which is not easy to deal with. If nothing else, it is not an easy task to drain the water from the moat first, it can be said to be a huge project, not to mention that it is summer and there is a lot of rain.

In the event of massive rainfall, he is likely to fall short.

"Yueyang's guard is named Ma Luan, but he is the son of Ma Shiying, and he has never heard of any achievements, but because he is the son of Ma Shiying, Ma Shiying has mobilized a lot of elite soldiers and strong generals to Yueyang City, Yueyang City is an important town in the Southern Ming Dynasty, there are about 50,000 people, as for the specific number, it is not too clear." Hu said.

After all, Ma Luan is Ma Shiying's son, and if in peacetime, the son of Shoufu is out of the army, it is a big taboo, but now Nanming's situation is a way to show loyalty. Ma Shiying also knew that his influence was swallowed by He Tengjiao

Devouring, holding on to Yueyang to the death may not be one of the ways to maintain one's influence.

Zhang Xuan said: "Generals, how should Yueyang City be captured? ”

Zhou Fuchen said: "Guogong, the minister thinks that the water war should be the first, whether Yueyang City is broken or not, as long as the Dongting Waterway is opened, then the Xiangjiang River will go up and down, let me swim, besiege Yueyang City without attacking, and see how far he can hold out." ”

Zhang Xuan said: "General Zhou, can you be sure of dealing with the Nanming Water Division?" ”

Zhou Fuchen said: "The minister now has 200 warships and 1,000 cannons, while Nanming has no special warships at all, just to get some civilian ships to fill the number." The minister dared to make a military order, as long as the Nanming Water Division did not avoid the battle, the minister dared to guarantee that they would be sent to see the Dragon King of Dongting in a battle. ”

Compared with the army, the sailor still has some technical content, and it is not that the infantry army can become an army by stuffing a knife.

The construction of warships by the sailors required a special shipyard, and under the influence of Zhang Xuan, the proportion of cannons in the warships of the sailors increased on a large scale, of course, this is also due to the large-scale use of the iron mold casting cannon method. The number of artillery in the Xia Dynasty increased on a large scale, and it also had the confidence to equip a large number of artillery pieces for water warfare.

Of course, such large-scale ordnance production was also supported by the Nanjing regime.

Although the Nanjing regime is still a little irregular in Zhang Xuan's eyes. But with Luo Yujiao's efforts, coupled with the vitality of the nascent dynasty. It is very efficient for everyone to do everything, and this efficiency is the highest among the Ministry of Industry.

That's why we can produce such a large amount of materials in such a short period of time.

But Nanming couldn't do it.

Not to mention, the six ministries of Nanming have been rebuilt repeatedly, although there are some ministers under their leadership. But for a long time, the political affairs of the Ming Dynasty were completed by small officials, and what the ministers did was nothing more than decision-making. Whether it is Wuchang Sixth Department or Changsha Sixth Department, they lack this kind of accumulation.

Coupled with the turbulent tide between Ma Shiying and He Tengjiao.

In the Ming Dynasty, it became a habit to fight among ministers.

So between Ma Shiying and He Tengjiao, there is an idea of harmony, but the people below them may not have such an idea.

In addition, the Daming Sailor has long been out of shape, and there are not enough sailor talents, not even samples. Shen Tingyang, a water war talent like Huang Fei, died one by one, and there was no one in charge of the overall situation. How powerful can Nanming Shui Shi be.

Without a sound and strong executive government, it is impossible to form a strong naval division. Especially when firearms become more and more obvious in water warfare, it is more and more difficult to form a sailor.

That's why Zhou Fuchen has such a certainty.

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