Chapter 108: The Battle of the Han River III

"But there is one thing that Your Highness needs to think about." Zhou Chang said: "The north gate is the main attack of the Qing army, there are many cracks on the city wall, the small is a big palm, the big is an arm wide, the solution is poured into it with mud, and it is still frozen by the power of heaven and earth, but the weather is getting warmer, and it will inevitably thaw within ten days, at that time, the city wall will not be able to hold on." ”

"Please also ask Your Highness to make a decision early."

When King Han heard this, he said with a wry smile: "What is the decision?" ”

Zhou Chang said: "According to the intention of the following officials, when a city wall is re-established behind the north gate, although it is in a hurry, this city wall will not be too strong, but the two city walls are enough to give the Qing army enough trouble." Helps to defend the city. ”

After listening to Zhou Chang's words, King Han was silent for a long time, which made Zhou Chang a little strange for a while, and said, "King, what's wrong with you?" ”

"Lord Zhou doesn't know." King Han smiled bitterly and said, "Seoul can't hold it anymore. ”

"Since the beginning of the war, more than half of the imperial army has been killed, and the rest have been made up by the strong men in the city, but now, there are not many strong men in Seoul."

"That's not all, it's a big deal to let the old and weak go to the city, and it can support it for a while. It's just that there is not enough food and grass. ”

Zhou Chang said: "Isn't there enough grain and grass? ”

After Zhou Chang came, the first thing he asked was the question of grain and grass, and King Han said it very clearly at that time, which was enough to support more than half a year.

King Han smiled bitterly and said, "How did you know that in the trapped city, food consumption is so great. In addition, some rats have stolen a lot of food, so that there is today's situation. ”

At that time, before the siege of the city, when King Han calculated the grain and grass, he only calculated the consumption of the army, and did not bring the people into it, but he never expected that after the siege of the Qing army, the livelihood of the people was cut off, and few families could have enough food to eat for several months.

If there is, then this one is not a common man.

So if you just started, you can still maintain, but after a long time, the city has caused a lot of chaos because of the rice and grain matter, and it has been suppressed.

Of course, these little messes are not enough for King Han to waste precious food.

But there are two things that make King Han have to change his strategy, the first thing is to requisition the people on a large scale, these strong men have to go to the city to fight the Qing army, he does not guarantee them and their family food, is he not afraid that they will defect? The second thing happened that a low-level North Korean official and his family were starved to death.

Whether it is to stabilize the morale of the government or the people, it is necessary to supply so many people.

As a result, there is not enough food.

Zhou Chang thought for a while and said: "Yichen's understanding of Hancheng, in Hancheng, in addition to the official warehouse, there is a place where there is more grain than the official warehouse. ”

King Han sighed lightly and said, "How can I not know, but this matter is absolutely impossible." ”

In Seoul, the place where the most grain is stored is still the official warehouse controlled by King Han, but in addition to this official warehouse, there are many private warehouses of big families.

Zhou Chang knew all about this matter, how could King Han not know.

And he knows that this is absolutely impossible.

After all, North Korea is not China, and the current situation in Korea is similar to that before the Tang Dynasty, the power of the family is particularly great, and even the emperor cannot go against the family in the world. This affects the foundation of the rule.

"Then what is the prince going to do?" Zhou Chang was a little anxious.

King Han pondered for a while and said, "You say, can we go out of the city to join the reinforcements and retreat to Ganghwa Island?" ”

When Zhou Chang heard this, he immediately shook his head and said: "Lord, this is absolutely impossible, the army of the Imperial Front Division is already unbearable, and now it is okay to defend the city, once it goes to war, it will be taken by the Qing court, and the consequences will be unimaginable, even if His Royal Highness wants to withdraw to Ganghwa Island, he can only wait for the army to enter Seoul, and then retreat with the army." ”

As for what will happen to the people in Seoul who wholeheartedly support King Han after King Han withdraws from Seoul, it is difficult to say.

Zhou Chang didn't care.

And at this moment, Ganghwa Island is also a fight.

And at this moment, the guard on Ganghwa Island is Ruan Jin.

Ganghwa Island is particularly close to the Korean Peninsula, with dozens of miles of waterways, and although the weather is getting warmer, many places have thawed and can no longer set foot on the ice. But it's still possible to step on three or four miles of ice.

From here, the Qing army rushed to Ganghwa Island.

It's just that Ruan Jin has already laid an ambush, and when the Qing army stepped on the ice, he detonated the gunpowder buried on the ice, and with a burst of explosion, the ice cracked, and more than 100 cavalry Qing troops were directly planted in the icy seawater.

However, this arrangement cannot completely block the Qing army from Ganghwa Island. After all, there is too little time for Ruan Jin, if there are a few more days of preparation, Ruan Jin is sure that all the ice will be blown up, and when the time comes, the Qing army will sigh with joy.

But icebreaking is also a big project, and it is by no means something that can be completed in a few days.

The Xia army's brigade was all in Zhou Fuchen's army, and most of Ruan Jin's hands were only landing sailors, and there were only a few thousand people in the full battle, so it was naturally impossible to completely blockade Ganghwa Island, so Ruan Jin decided to hold the port.

He found a bay, surrounded by mountains, which were not very high, but which could also be equipped with artillery and all kinds of guns to block the line of attack. Therefore, even if the Qing army found here, it would not be able to attack it for a while.

Both sides are similar

There was a stalemate in all the sub-battlefields.

It's just that this stalemate is the most unstable and can collapse at any time.

In Zhou Fuchen's army, a day passed,

The army encamped on the north bank of the Han River.

Among the largest tents in the army, Zhou Fuchen said: "We can't stay where we are all the time. If you hesitate, you will fall for the plan of the Eastern Captives. It was impossible for the imperial court to send reinforcements in a short period of time, so we had to enter Seoul. ”

"Now there are more than 100 miles away from Seoul, 30 miles a day, plus the war that can be had, five days. On the 5th, it was necessary to advance to the city of Seoul. ”

"I've only carried our baggage for fifteen days this time, and now it's been three days, so every day we drag on the road is a step of death. Rushing into battle is death, staying in place is also death, if you rush, there is still a glimmer of life, otherwise there is only one way to die. ”

Zhou Fuchen's eyes swept over everyone and said: "This must be done, if anyone can't do it, don't blame me for being ruthless under the sword." ”

This is something he has discussed with Yang Shenzu, and he must keep moving forward.

It is more than ten miles away from the Xia army camp. It was the Qing army camp.

In the big tent of the Chinese army, Azig was also giving a lecture, saying: "No matter what, we must make it difficult for the Xia army to move an inch, from now on, the whole army will be divided into six squads, each shift for two hours, day and night, I want them to sleep day and night, trapped in place and unable to move an inch." ”

"I'm going to see. How much baggage did they carry? ”

"In addition, if you descend from the city of Seoul, you must camp on the spot and establish a camp on the road between the Xia army and Seoul."

"The North Koreans can water the city, can't we?"

"I'll see if Xia Jun can break through my iron wall. There are obstacles in front, there are chasing soldiers in the back, and one place is trapped, which is the turtle in the urn. ”

In the camp of the summer army.

At this moment, Yang Shenzu was replaced.

Yang Shenzu began to arrange the task in detail and said: "From today onwards, there will be ten battalions of the two armies, each battalion is the forward, the assault is in the front, and there is a battalion in the rear, which is used to break the rear. The remaining eight battalions, respectively, were replaced, echelons forward. "Yang Shenzu drew the position of the phalanx on the rudimentary map, leaning on the Han River, and only three sides could face the enemy army.

After all the explanations, Yang Shenzu said: "I should follow Your Majesty, crisscross the Central Plains, and start a war, there has always been a blockade in front and a chasing soldier in the back, just like now, the Ming army was several times as many times as me as the Qing army, and there was no way to take us." ”

"Why are they chasing and intercepting us? Because they can't eat us? There's no way to take us, that's why you want to trap us? ”

"You are the elite selected by His Majesty from the whole army, and I want to tell the Donglu that they think too much."