In the winter of the fifth year of Jingde, after a year and a half of painstaking preparations, Emperor Pei finally ordered the conquest of Jiangnan.

The total number of troops is divided into four routes: the east road is dominated by Lu He, Xie Feng and Liu Yao are the deputy generals, leading the three armies of Tianwu, Shenwu and Yulin, out of Guangling, seeking to cross and directly pointing to Jiankang; Lu Yan and Yao Yizhong in the middle of the road, led Tiance and Dingyuan to the second army, out of Xiangcheng and south to Xiangyang; Zhen Sui and Zhou Fu led the Tiger Ben army on the west road to take a boat out of Sanba; In addition, Tao Kan was the governor of Pingnan, commanding the Chaohu Water Division (Pingjiang Army) and the Shence Army.

The basic strategic plan was to first use the East Route Army to attract the Jin troops from Wuchang and Chaisang to aid them along the Yangtze River, and the Chaohu Water Division would go out of the Xukou to block its way; Taking advantage of this opportunity, the Middle Route Army sought to seize the northern region of Jingzhou, first go down to Xiangyang, and recapture Jiangling, once Jiangling fell, it could echo the Western Route Army, and after the two armies converged, they advanced by land and water, attacking the empty city of Wuchang.

As long as Wuchang can be taken, the main force of the Jin army will lose its base camp in the middle and will inevitably collapse; Even if the Eastern Route Army could not cross the river smoothly before, the resistance would be minimized, and the victory could be expected.

Therefore, there are two key points in this battle, one is whether the Chaohu Naval Division can successfully block the eastern aid of the Wuchang Naval Army, and the other is how long it will take for the Middle Route Army to seize the Jiangbei land in Jingzhou.

Including the Chaohu Water Division, that is, the Pingjiang Army, a total of eight regular armies were mobilized this time, all of which were fully manned, with a total strength of about 130,000. Of course, it is necessary to call in auxiliaries, garrisons, and temporary requisitions along the way, which should theoretically be counted, and nearly 200,000 people - 300,000 to the outside world.

This is similar to the number of dispatches when Jin destroyed Wu - if the water recorded in historical records is not too large. At that time, the Eastern Wu came to meet with about 230,000 soldiers and horses, but now the Jiankang regime is not so much - according to the pre-war survey, the total number of soldiers and forced labor in the southern army is less than 200,000, of which at most three-fifths can participate in the war along the river in time.

However, the number of ships in the south of the Yangtze River has an absolute advantage, there are more than ten ships in Wuchang, and there are no less than 1,000 warships of other sizes; Chaisang is half, Wuhu is the second building ship, more than 100 large and small warships; In addition, between Gangneung and Xiangyang, there are also hundreds of ships cruising from time to time.

In the Hua Dynasty, under the supervision of Tao Kan, the Chaohu Naval Division built seven new ships, and the first three, exactly ten, and the rest of the ships of all sizes were more than 500; Zhen followed Sanba, and in accordance with Wang Jun's example, he caused three ships and more than 200 other ships. The cardinal calculated the total combat effectiveness on the water, and the Chinese army was less than forty percent of the Jin people.

Therefore, Xu Liu still suggested that it should be for a period of three years, and then postpone the dispatch of troops for a period of time. It's just that the delay also has the disadvantage of delaying, a veteran Gan Zhuo set up a base along the Jianping coast, and crossed the river, although the progress of the project is very slow because of the lack of materials, but if he is given another year and a half, how should it be completed, then Zhen will go east, and the resistance will be great; Secondly, with the situation of Chaohu, it is impossible to stuff and maintain thousands of warships for a long time.

And the waterway is narrow after all, and once the enemy forces block the mouth of the waterway, it doesn't make sense for you to have more ships.

For this reason, Pei Gai specially sent Yang Qing to Chaohu to listen to Tao Kan's opinion, Tao Shixing Naiyun: "The minister is well prepared, and he can move troops this winter, and he can't delay it." Yang Qinggui reported to Pei Gai, and Pei Gai made up his mind.

After all, you have to compete with the southerners on the Yangtze River with a short and long boat, you don't listen to Tao Kan's opinion, can Xu Liu or Guo Mo, who have fought in the north all their lives, give more correct opinions?

Speaking of Tao Kan, as soon as he arrived at Chaohu, he used his prestige and grade, plus the imperial court gave the green light, almost collected all the materials of Yannan counties, reinstated the people, and built boats. However, after a few days of investigation, he immediately called a halt to the installation of cannons on the ship.

Tao Kan played Pei Gai and explained that the reason for this was that the range of small iron cannons such as tiger squatting was too close and had little effect in water warfare, while bronze cannons were not easy to prepare, and they consumed material and manpower, but the specific role could not be seen......

Previously, when Tao Kan was still in Shuzhong, Pei Gai ordered Yang Qing to summon Peng Xiaolai and teach him to try to install a cannon on the ship. In the past, the two bronze cannons cast for experiments, after driving away Shihu and relieving Pingyang, they were transported back to the workshop near Jiangyi, one of which has been destroyed, and there is no need to repair it, so it is directly returned to the furnace for smelting, and the remaining one, it took a lot of effort to finally arrive at Chaohu.

Peng Ziqin immediately carried the cannon onto a building ship, and according to Pei Gai's instructions, a wooden frame and wooden wheels were placed under it, and pulleys and ropes were used to connect the ship's strings, so as to make preparations to reduce the recoil and return to the position, and then planned to test fire. The problem, however, was that the cannon was heavy, but there was only one, and when placed in the bow of the ship, it sank stern, and when placed on one side, it almost capsized...... Finally, this problem was solved with the corresponding counterweight, and after three shots, the building ship almost fell apart......

Peng Ziqin himself was good at gunpowder preparation—so to speak, chemistry—but he was not good at metal smelting and numerical calculations, and he spent five days discussing and calculating with the shipbuilders and metallurgists brought from Jiangyi, and finally came up with a seemingly reliable plan.

That is, the bronze cannon was recast one size smaller, and the amount of gunpowder was reduced, and it was estimated that one shot could take 300 steps, and the kinetic energy was enough to penetrate the enemy ship; Then the building ship was remodeled, the load was reduced, and three guns were placed on each side.

Before this plan could be submitted to Luoyang, it happened that Tao Shixing arrived, and after investigation, it was rejected on the spot - this is not nonsense!

At a distance of only 300 paces, I built a crossbow, using a spear as an arrow, and I could still penetrate the enemy's side, maybe the accuracy was higher than that of a copper cannon, and how much weight did the crossbow have? And even if you only build one gunboat and place three copper cannons on the left and right, then you need six, how much copper will it cost? Even if copper were to be transported from Pengcheng nearby—not to mention that most of Pengcheng's copper was used to mint money, and production was decreasing—it would be nearly a thousand miles away.

If the cannon is built in Xuzhou, I am afraid that it will be more labor-intensive to transport; And if I want to transport copper to the vicinity of Chaohu Lake, I will have to build another large metallurgical workshop......

In Tao Kan's recital to Pei Gai, he politely said that the gunboat must not be built - after all, it is the idea of the Son of Heaven, how can it be directly rejected - but it is too expensive, and the effect may not be able to be demonstrated. If we are not in a hurry to cut down Jiangnan, it is not impossible for us to spend three or five years on slow experiments, and then add another three or five years to build gunboats; But it is estimated that troops will be sent in a year or two, and I have not had time to build a ship here, so how can I have so much manpower, material resources and time to build a gunboat that is only an idea?

Tao Shixing was in his sixties, and he was not very receptive to new things, and in his opinion, although the Son of Heaven had many wonderful ideas, it was inevitable that he would be overjoyed, and most of the new things he had conceived were of little practical value. Oh, production is not among them, the Son of Heaven ordered the development of some new agricultural tools and textile equipment, the improvement of papermaking technology and the popularization of paper (now the official official documents of the Chinese Dynasty, all ordered to use paper, decades earlier than the original history), all of which are of great benefit to the community and people's livelihood.

However, in the military, whether it is an armored cavalry or a tiger squat artillery, there is too much investment, and the output is limited, so it is impossible to use it on a large scale; As for the bronze cannon, it's purely a spectacle. Only gunpowder can help the power of rockets, which can be regarded as a relatively successful product.

Therefore, gunboats or something, even if they are not "tricks and tricks", can also help the war, and we may not be able to use it for the time being, so let's not do it, it is a waste of resources and time.

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The Chinese army attacked Jin in four directions, of which the west and west roads were the first to act. Zhen Sui and Zhou Fu led the boat division, out of Sanba and directly took Jianping, Gan Zhuo heard the news, hurriedly sent people to report to Wuchang, and asked Jiangling Wang Han and Xiangyang Sima Cheng to send troops to rescue.

Gan Zhuo built a fortress on the Wushan River, arranged archers, covered the river with arrows, and at the same time placed iron cables and iron cones in the middle of the river to block the enemy ships. It's just that this is not Gan Jisi's original, more than forty years ago, Jianping Taishou Wuyan of Eastern Wu did this, so the Chinese army detected this, and Chen Jian said to Zhen Sui again-

"Xi Wuyan also wanted to block Wang Jun with iron cables, and Wang Jun built a raft to open the way, and used good swimmers to control it, and first removed the iron cone; A large torch was placed in front of the boat, poured with sesame oil, and the molten iron cable was burned, and the ship was able to pass. ”

Zhen Sui said Okay, then send you to do it, be sure to succeed, and give all those stupid forks that block the way to the old man.

Chen Jian took the order and left, but Zhen Sui himself did not take a boat, but selected 300 soldiers from the headquarters, and recruited 300 soldiers from Bazhong to go to the mountains, cross the mountains and mountains, and take a small road to attack the Jiangbei fortress. As soon as the Chinese ships arrived, almost all the attention of the Jin army was on the water, and they were successfully attacked by Zhen Sui, and the Beishan fortress fell one after another. Immediately, Chen Jian fused the iron cable, and the Chinese ship, headed by Lianfang, went straight down the river, like a galloping horse, and the archers arranged by the Jin people in Nanshan did not have time to aim at all.

Although it was only necessary to cover the shots, the limited capacity of the mountain fortress and the limited number of troops and horses that Gandra could mobilize led to a lack of density of arrows, and the Chinese soldiers on the ship used large shields to protect themselves, so few people were damaged.

Immediately attacked by land and water, attacked Jianping County and Zhiwu County, Gan Zhuo left without support, and retired to Zigui and Xinling. It's just that the speed at which he rushed by land was not as fast as the speed of the Chinese boat going down the river, and as a result, he entered Zigui here, and Zhou Fu had already taken a joint boat to successfully pass through the Three Gorges and arrived at Yiling City......

Gan Zhuo was busy asking for reinforcements from Xiangyang and Jiangling, but unfortunately the reinforcements couldn't come - after Lu Yan and Yao Yizhong left Xiangcheng, they advanced to the southwest, first went straight to Nanyang County Zhiwancheng, and went down with a drum. Sima Cheng led his troops out of Xiangyang to rescue, but because the three counties of Weixing, Shangyong, and Xincheng had already fallen into the hands of the Chinese, and they were only a stone's throw away from Xiangyang, so the three counties were ordered to spread their banners and pretend to march eastward, so frightened that Sima Cheng hurriedly retreated.

Immediately, Wang Han came from Jiangling to help Sima Cheng defend the city, and ordered Sima Cheng to lead his troops to the north to rescue him again. Sima Cheng said: "Our army is only 5,000 troops, and I know that it is difficult to be a Huakou, and if Huakou intends to attack from Xincheng, it should have arrived a long time ago - since I don't see the western soldiers, I think it is just a feint to contain Xiangyang." I implore you to join forces with Lone and defend the new field in the north. ”

Wang Han can't say it, Xiangyang is more important than Xinye - you said that the soldiers of Xincheng are feints, what if you are wrong? Besides, Zhen Sui may also take a boat out of Sanba at any time, and I have to be ready to reinforce Jianping.

Sima Cheng had no choice but to lead his troops north alone, coinciding with the Chinese army outside Xinye City, and he didn't expect the Chinese division to march so fast - so he started a fierce battle.

Because before leaving the division, Pei Cai took care of Lu Yan and Yao Yizhong, saying that Sima Cheng and Wang Han, who you faced, fought with two knives, and the enemy army in Jingxiang was no more than 50,000, and the quality was very poor - if you can really fight, half of Tai was taken to Hanzhong by Zhou Visit-Victory is inevitable, if you don't win, then you really have to cut off your heads to correct military law. But the key to this battle depends on how soon you can take Xiangyang and Jiangling to return to the division with the Western Route Army.

And once Zhen Sui is blocked by Jianping, you have to go and relieve him after taking Jiangling. And Xiangzhou Ying Zhan is not incompetent, it is said that he has also recruited a lot of barbarians to join the army, if you are slow to act, let Ying Zhan lead the barbarians to the north, I am afraid Jiangling will not be very easy to fight.

Therefore, Lu Yan divided the army into two, with Yao Yizhong first, and the main force was combined, so that the counties along the way would not be attacked, but only the two counties of Nanyang and Yiyang - most of those county towns were hundreds or thousands of garrisons, and I didn't believe that they dared to go out of the city to cut off my grain route. And the emperor also said that if we lose this battle, we can directly raise our heads and return to us; If you play slowly, it is estimated that you will not be able to fall well; If the strategic plan can be successfully completed, it is a big deal to loot the food of the wild people for military use, just like those rogues back then, they have no choice but to do it, and I believe that the imperial court will not be responsible.

Maybe I really want to solve Zhen Manzi's tricks, this matter is too face-saving, and I must go all out!

Therefore, after Yao Yizhong took Wancheng, he did not have time to warm up, so he went straight to Yiyang County to govern Xinye, Sima Cheng did not expect that the Chinese army would come so quickly, and he had to fight with the enemy in the field. He was not a good general, but with his blood and bravery, he faced a considerable number of Chinese army forwards, fought fiercely for half a day, and did not retreat. But at dusk, the banner of Lu Yan's main force appeared on the horizon, and the Jin army finally couldn't carry it anymore, and it was instantly torn apart and then collapsed.

Sima Cheng shouted: "I am the vassal king of the country, and I am dying here today to repay the country's kindness - is there anyone who is willing to die with me?!" "I called three times in a row, but few people responded. He really had the heart of martyrdom, but he was desperately pulled by the palace guards and fled from the desert.

It's just late, the Chinese army has already arrived, and the general Xue Ning holds a spear in his hand, urging the horse to rush forward, and finally stabs Sima Cheng under the horse in the back.

Yao Yizhong saw that the rear army was coming, and he did not assist Xinye, taking advantage of the fact that the sky was not dark, and chased the dead for more than ten miles to the north, and then set up camp. Set off the next day, bypassing Deng County, pointing directly at Xiangyang, Xiangyang Taishou was dead, the soldiers had no heart to fight, and the subordinate officials took the initiative to open the city gate to welcome the Chinese army into the station.

So where did Wang Han go? It turned out that Sima Cheng had just left Xiangyang, and Wang Han got the news that Zhen Sui had broken Ganzhuo and Zhou Fujin had arrived in Yiling. From Yiling to Jiangling, the light boat is only half a day's journey, Wang Han was afraid that Jiangling would be lost, so he was forced to abandon Xiangyang and hurried back to save it......