Chapter 165: Looking North (2)

The Qing army marched southward, and the cavalry rode their horses first, going straight to Guangdezhou, where the cavalry was deployed, harassing the march of the Ming army, and even entering the border of Huzhou, which can be described as tireless. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info

Lead the opponent to drive straight in, stretch the opponent's supply line, harass or even cut off the grain route or destroy the grain stronghold with cavalry, so as to achieve a reversal of the balance of power between the enemy and the enemy, so as to defeat the opponent. This is a common method of warfare used by cavalry, and Zilharang will not miss this method of exploiting the advantages of cavalry.

Countless Qing cavalry spread out in Guangdezhou, the Ming army ignored them and rushed up to harass them, once the Ming army stopped and prepared to launch a counterattack, they did not hesitate to disperse, and waited until the Ming army set off again to continue harassment.

The main force of the Ming army left Huzhou Prefecture, and Guangdezhou and its subordinate Jianping County went down without a fight, but the continuous harassment of the Qing cavalry affected the marching speed to a certain extent. There are hundreds of miles between Huzhou and Nanjing, but for the sake of the terrain, Zilharang chose the decisive place between the two places. The Ming army strategically moved faster, but was disturbed by the Qing cavalry, so that when Chen Wenqin led the main force to Jianping County, the Yongjia Division, as the vanguard of the army, had already received the news that the main force of the Qing army was stationed in Lishui County.

As soon as the war broke out, the main forces of the two armies began to carry out pre-war repairs with these two county towns as the central point, so as to be able to achieve the best state in the decisive battle.

The main forces of the two sides were about to collide in the south of Yingtianfu in Nanjing, and the cavalry of both sides had even started a fight in this area. At this moment, several partial divisions and reinforcements on both sides had already exchanged fire.

Jiujiang Prefecture, the northernmost part of Jiangxi, at the mouth of the lake where Poyang Lake is connected to the Yangtze River, warships sail out one after another, and they will go down the river after entering the Yangtze River.

Jiujiang is the place where the Huguang Qing army must attack, the Danyang division of the Ming army in Nanchang to Jiujiang line defense at the same time, Chen Wen also built a large number of forts on the south bank of the Yangtze River, Poyang Lake water division is to leave most of the warships in this water.

Soon, the Qing naval division of Huguang poured out, and the ships of both sides came and went in this section of the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River. However, a few months ago, the Manchu Qing had lost a prince of Heshuo in Hangzhou, and Fan Wencheng's aid was imperative, but the Huguang Water Division did not withdraw its troops despite repeated battles, and still fought with the Ming army for control of this water.

On the dividing line of the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, the naval divisions of the Ming and Qing armies came and went, and they fought happily. At the same time, at the mouth of the Yangtze River in the lower reaches, the Ming Army's Zhejiang coastal patrol sailors also came with all their divisions and approached Chongming Island at the mouth of the Yangtze River.

Chongming, when Zheng Chenggong's army was forced to return south, was once again occupied by the Qing army. This is the gate of the Yangtze River, and although the waterway of the Yangtze River is enough for the Ming army to ignore its existence and march in, the Qing army still has high hopes for this island.

This is no way to do things, the size and number of ships of the Jiangnan Navy Division of the Qing Army are not much, just a few months ago by the Fujian Ming Army more than 3,000 sea ships crushing attack, Guazhou River defense was broken, the ships except for those left in Susong but suffered heavy losses, so that after Zheng Chenggong retreated, whether it was Lang Tingzuo in history or Ma Guozhu today, they could only piece together more than 100 ships to intercept Zhang Huangyan upstream.

Compared with the Poyang Lake Naval Division that intercepted in that section of the Jiangxi waterway and the Zhejiang Inland River Naval Division that took over the defense of the Zhejiang coast, the Zhejiang coastal cruising naval division is all Fujian Ming Army-style warships, and the large-scale sea ships are all double-decker warships, which are the strongest of the four naval divisions of the Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Ming armies today, and there is no one.

Of course, the Jiangsu-Zhejiang Ming Army has always been dominated by the army, and the naval division itself is not as specialized as the Fujian Ming Army, which needs to control the Taiwan Strait in order to survive, but the Zhejiang coastal patrol naval division also has nearly 1,000 large and small warships.

When the fleet approached Chongming, it soon discovered the figure of the Qing army's naval division, most of these Qing troops under the banner of Su Song's naval division were inland sand boats, and their number was far inferior to that of the Ming army.

According to intelligence, Liang Huafeng, the general soldier of Su Song, was severely reprimanded by Jierharang in the previous battle, and this time he was already guilty of meritorious service. Seeing that the Ming army was coming, these Qing troops raised anchor one after another and killed the Ming army's fleet.

"It's Wang Jing again."

The main ship raised its flag, and the warships of the Ming army lined up in several columns, rushing towards the Qing fleet like a dark cloud pressing down on the city.

The Ming army was favorable, the Qing army was smooth, and the two fleets, which had a large gap, began to contact south of Chongming Island, first with the bow guns bombarded, and then when the ships passed by, the gun emplacements on both sides also opened fire.

It was okay when there was no contact just now, after all, the number of bow guns was only related to the number of ships, but once the two sides passed sideways, the advantage of the Ming army's two-sided gun positions was immediately displayed.

The ships of the two fleets bombarded each other in a direct way, and the Ming army's double-decker running positions opened fire together, and the Qing army's sand ships were soon shattered. What's even more terrifying is that after the Qing ships got rid of contact with the Ming ships in the first row, they soon ushered in the second, third, and even fourth rows of ships. The entire Ming fleet was like a multi-filtered filter, leaving these scum under Liang Huafeng's command completely in this water.

The Ming fleet was obviously superior, but the Qing army still launched a suicidal attack under the personal leadership of Liang Huafeng. The battleship Roger Yang in the center of the second row of the Ming army is the only battleship in this fleet named by Chen Wen himself, and it is also the battleship with the largest displacement, the largest number of guns and the most powerful in the entire fleet.

The battleship moved slowly along the river, and the Qing ships passed by on both sides, the guns flashing with flames, but they were completely helpless by the thick armor of this behemoth.

On the third floor of the battleship, Hu Mingyuan, the commander of the left wing gunner, copied the command knife, stepped on the powder keg with one foot, and leaned forward to observe the position of the Qing warship.

He is a native of Jiangxi, from his ancestors is a merchant who does porcelain trading, and in his lifetime, he has intersected with the maritime merchants of Taixi, and the porcelain of Jiangxi does not need to be sold by the merchants in Jiangnan, and is directly traded. Profits multiplied, but when the Qing army moved south, massacres and looting led to an overall malaise in commerce. His family was engaged in porcelain trading, and he had a grudge with the servants of the internal affairs office of the Jingdezhen Imperial Ware Field, and since then he has been in exile, until Chen Wen recovered Jiangxi, he took the villagers who were fishing on Poyang Lake into the army.

"The muzzle of the gun is lowered fifteen degrees, fire!"

The muzzle of the gun was adjusted downward, and then the muzzle of one gun after another was pushed out of the window, and it was aimed at the sand ship in the distance, and it was shot after cannon.

The first shell caused a splash of more than ten meters behind the sand boat, and then one after another, as if chasing after the sand boat, got closer and closer to the sand boat. With the hit of one shell, the next few shells bombarded the sand boat, and one of the shells even discounted the main mast.

On the sand boat, the fire quickly ignited, and at first there were Qing troops who wanted to put it out, but later, more and more Qing troops could only choose to abandon the ship and jump into the river.

"Big ships and huge cannons, it's just powerful."

Hu Mingyuan looked at the sinking enemy ships in the distance in the distance, and soon noticed that another Qing warship was coming.

"Reload, adjust the muzzle, quick!"

………………

The results of the water battle at the mouth of the Yangtze River are self-evident, and the number and caliber of ships are even more numerous, and the number and caliber of artillery are even more so. What's more, the Qing army did not have the background of the naval division, when the naval divisions of Jiangnan and Zhejiang were hoisted up and fought by Ruan Jin's fleet, and the naval battle of Xiamen in later generations was crushed by Zheng Chenggong's fleet in the case of gathering the naval divisions of the whole country, and almost all the troops were annihilated.

Liang Huafeng received a death order to defend Chongming and intercept the Ming warships at the mouth of the Yangtze River to prevent the Yangtze River waterway from being controlled by the Ming army again. Su Song's sailors exhausted, but they still couldn't intercept it, but the Su Song area showed a bigger flaw.

Liang Huafeng came out with his whole division, and the former Susong Righteous Army, and now the Jiangnan Inland River Division, under the command of Qian Yingkui, maneuvered in a large number of lakes and rivers in the Susong area, attacking every Qing army stronghold along the coast of Suzhou Prefecture.

Since nearly half a year ago, with Ma Xin in Songjiang Mansion Yin Liang Huafeng, Qian Yingkui has been put into the banner of the Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Ming Army, Chen Wen reorganized the Su Song Righteous Army into the Jiangnan Inland River Division, appointed Qian Yingkui as the commander, and invited a count to the imperial court for him.

Because the discord between Chen Wen and Sun Kewang has intensified, this earl has not been issued until now, but this does not affect Qian Yingkui's self-effectiveness - a few years ago, he raised troops in Songjiang Mansion because of the impact of Chen Wen's defeat of the Qing army, not to mention that now anyone with a discerning eye can see that the Ming army in Jiangsu and Zhejiang is strong and has extraordinary prospects, and there will always be a day to follow Chen Wen.

For a few months, Chen Wen did not give Qian Yingkui more warships, but after a period of short training, the overall quality of this sailor has been improved to a certain extent. In addition, a large number of sophisticated weapons and armor equipment troops, the combat effectiveness is not what it used to be.

At this moment, Zhang Tianlu, the governor of Susong, was ordered to hold Suzhou Mansion in case the Ming army bypassed Taihu Lake and threatened the back road of the main force of the Qing army in Nanjing and Zhenjiang, because Liang Huafeng had been calculated by Qian Yingkui and Ma Xin before, and he did not dare to go out of the city to face the battle. Especially looking at the righteous army in the distance, he was even more convinced of the possibility that a certain Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Ming army was ambushed nearby.

Qian Yingkui's battle has been in full swing, and Chen Wen's main force has also been assembled in Jianping County, Guangde Prefecture.

Intelligence shows that Jilharang's army is assembled in the area of Lishui County, and as long as he simply looks at the terrain, Chen Wen can understand Jierharang's intentions.

Between Lishui County and Jianping County, the east and west are Gaochun County and Liyang County respectively. These four counties form a diamond-shaped four corners, of which Gaochun County is surrounded by lakes to the north and south, but the army cannot spread west; The area around Liyang County is where the water network is vertical and horizontal, and there are many mountains and forests in the west and south of Liyang County, and the Qing army can use a small force of cavalry to threaten the grain route of the Ming army through the mountains and forests, but the Ming army cannot use this mountain forest area at all. Because if you want to attack, you must first pass through Lishui between Gaochun County and Liyang County, and after Lishui, a small area to the north, the Qing cavalry can be hindered very little.

"Our army should cross the Lishui River as soon as possible and control the area east of Gucheng Lake."

"It is inevitable to cross Lishui, but the key now is whether there is still time to take down Gaochun County."

To the north of Gaochun County is Shijiu Lake, and to the south is Gucheng Lake, which controls Gaochun County, and there is no need to worry about the direction of Taipingfu. After ensuring the safety of the left flank, the army could push north along Shijiu Lake and reach the city of Lishui County. During this period, Donglushan was more favorable to the infantry of the Ming army, and the Qing army was squeezed into a narrow area, and no matter how many troops there were, it could not be deployed. However, retreating to Nanjing, but also entering the area of the water network, will only be more beneficial to the Ming army.

"Zilharang will not give us this chance, he has already thought about the decisive battle here, and there will definitely be no such problems again. If you guess correctly, calling Hualing and Dongshangou to the bank of Lishui will be the decisive battle between our army and the Tartars. ”

This bait in Jiangnan had to be swallowed by Jilharang, and it itself had already lost the upper hand strategically. There is no way to do this, Chen Wenneng can't bear not to attack Nanjing, and recover this influential city, he has already calculated everything.

Now Zilharang has finally forced Chen Wen out through a series of means, whether tactical or political, which is extremely rare. Otherwise, Chen Wen cut off the Yangtze River with a naval division and encroached on the areas occupied by the Qing army step by step, and Jierharang did not even have a chance to choose the battlefield, so he could only fall into a desperate situation little by little at the mercy of Chen Wen.

At the end of the military discussion, the soldiers made the final repairs. Early the next morning, that is, on the eighth day of October in the ninth year of Yongli, nearly 50,000 Ming troops, including four divisions including Jinhua, Yongjia, Siming, and Dalan, as well as the two mounted infantry battalions of Feixiong and Feathered Snake, marched north.

The sappers of the four divisions set up countless pontoon bridges on the Lishui, and the Ming army passed through in a mighty way, and soon set up a formation on the north bank with the division as a unit, extending to the two wings while advancing to the north. Almost at the same time, Jierharang personally led 20,000 Eighth Banner Army and 30,000 Green Battalions from the north to the south, as Chen Wen expected, fortified on the first line south of Hualing.

The cavalry of the two armies began to engage in intensive fighting in the area, and by the afternoon the two armies had come into contact and lined up in armor at a distance of two miles.

This decisive battle, which determines who belongs to Jiangnan, officially kicked off at the same time as the fierce battle between the divisions from all walks of life was in full swing.