After Haoge led the army to Jiangling, he faced two choices, one was to cross the river directly, take Huarong into Hunan, at this time Yueyang, Changsha and other places were still in the hands of the Qing army, Haoge's 300,000 troops as long as they arrived in these places, not to mention the relief of the crisis in Hunan, but at least let Haoge's army be able to rest, and wait for all kinds of reinforcements to cross the river, they could attack from Hunan and counterattack the Nanming army. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 ｉｎｆｏ

The other plan is to continue to advance eastward and go to Wuhan, because the latest intelligence shows that the 100,000 troops led by Huang Dequan, under the cover of the Nanming Water Division, are storming Wuhan, and once Wuhan is broken, then the entire Qing army south of the Yangtze River will be surrounded by the Nanming.

Just when Haoge hesitated, the herald sent by Daishan found Haoge and informed Haoge's army to continue eastward and assemble on the north bank of Chibi, ready to cross the river at any time.

Hubei Chibi, because of the Three Kingdoms period of the battle of Chibi and famous, today, here has also become a military stronghold, Chibi to the west of two hundred miles, is Yueyang, Hunan, to the north of Wuhan, only about three hundred miles.

The Third Army of the First Group Army led by Stilwell, as well as the two fleets of the Fujian and Yangtze River divisions, were stationed at Xianning and Chibi south of the Yangtze River at this time.

Dai Shan asked Haoge to go to Chibi, just to use the Da Qingshui Division to defeat the Nanming Naval Division, and then cross the river by boat, cooperate with the Yueyang defenders, and quickly eat the 50,000 water and land coalition troops of the Southern Ming Dynasty in Chibi.

In this way, the Qing army not only relieved the danger of Yueyang, but also formed a counter-encirclement of Huang Degong's troops who attacked Wuhan.

"Humph! If you want to enter Chibi, I'm afraid you will also have to be the same as Cao Cao back then! Stilwell, who was listening to the scout's report on the south bank of Chibi, snorted coldly.

With the intelligence of the Cao Gang, Jinyiwei, Dongchang, and civilian spies, the Manchu Qing Army's deployment was no secret at all in front of the Southern Ming army.

If the First Group Army is responsible for three areas: Guo Sheng attacked Chenzhou, and the defenders of Chenzhou were less than 20,000, and it was believed that it would not be long before they could be successfully taken.

Zhang Chao led the army in Changsha and the enemy is in a stalemate, Changsha originally had more than 50,000 defenders, and then Wu Sangui personally led 100,000 troops to rescue, 30,000 against 150,000, and the other side also has a strong city defense, Zhang Chao can not help the other party for a while, can only put on a defensive posture, waiting for Guo Sheng's reinforcements.

Fortunately, the Qing army is now like a frightened bird, Zhang Chao is suspicious, expanding the barracks stationing area, and at the same time, he also let a group of soldiers and civilians also change into military uniforms, so that Wu Sangui can't figure out Zhang Chao's reality at all, so that 150,000 people dare not go out of the city to meet the enemy.

But also, Wu Sangui is used to being a turtle with a shrunken head, and every time he encounters a master who is stronger than himself, he takes the initiative to shrink within the city wall to defend, waiting for the master to bring in to support him, which is the case in Liaodong and Shanhaiguan.

Changsha is in a stalemate, and Yueyang is also safe, because Huang Degong is storming Wuhan, and Stilwell must be nailed to Chibi to ensure the safety of Huang Degong's back road, otherwise when the two sides are stalemate, the defenders of Yueyang suddenly come out, which is a big trouble.

And out of the need for supplies, Zheng Chenggong discussed with Yan Yingyuan and chose the location of the sailor division in Chibi, and by mistake, the decisive battle between the Manchu Qing and the Southern Ming Dynasty was chosen here.............

"Don't take it lightly, according to the news from the Zhenjiang fortress, the Qing army's naval division has rushed through the Zhenjiang defense line, although our army continues to use shore defense artillery, mines, and blockades along the way, but there are still more than 1,800 large and small warships, going upstream, this battle....... I'm afraid it's not easy to fight! Yan Yingyuan, the general of the water division, reminded him.

"Humph! I, the Ming Water Master, am not even afraid of overseas fanyi, but will I be afraid of the landlubbers in the north? General Yan rest assured, even if all of your Yangtze River sailors are nested in Baoshan, our Fujian sailors can still destroy the Manchu Shui Division! Zheng Chenggong's lieutenant Shi Lang snorted coldly.

The large warships of the Yangtze River Naval Division have all recently gathered in the Baoshan Shipyard for renovation, so this time Yan Yingyuan brought basically small and medium-sized clippers, which already made the Fujian Naval Division who came to support dissatisfied with the joint operation, and as a result, the ships of the Yangtze River Naval Division fighting on the Yangtze River were not even one-third of the Fujian Naval Division that rushed to reinforce them.

Now that Yan Yingyuan said again, if he grows the enemy's ambition and destroys his prestige, Shi Lang, as the commander of the naval army this time, naturally has resentment in his heart.

"General Shi Lang is angry, and General Yan is just telling the truth, our army has only more than 1,000 warships, only half of the enemy's army, and it is indeed difficult to fight, but my Daming Naval Division has been in the army for more than 300 years, and its experience in water warfare is indeed not comparable to that of the Manshui Division, which has just been in the army for only two or three years." Stilwell mediated.

He and Yan Yingyuan, both belonging to Li Hongfei's camp, still said a good word for Yan Yingyuan, and at the same time, in order to avoid the escalation of the conflict, Shi Dewei also affirmed the combat effectiveness of Shi Lang's men.

However, after saying a lot, he didn't say what he should do, this kind of trick of making mud, even Li Hongfei was ashamed of himself.

"That Lord Shi thinks that how to fight this battle, you must know that Daishan's 200,000 troops will soon be stationed in Wuhan, and when 500,000 Qing soldiers cross the river, it will be difficult to keep the achievements made by our army before." Shi Lang didn't take Stilwell's set, but asked directly for a solution.

Aixin Jueluo Daishan, the second son of the Qing Dynasty Taizu Nurhachi, was given the name Guying Baturu for his bravery in battle, and was named Heshuo Belle in 1616 (the first year of the Mandate of Heaven), participated in national politics, and was the first of the four major Baylors, and was called the Great Baylor in order.

In the previous battle of the Qing army to the south, Azig's two white flags (positive white flag, inlaid with white flags) were recuperating due to heavy losses.

Dolgon is also the regent of the dynasty, so it is naturally impossible to easily lead the army to recruit in person, and in the military operation of nearly a million troops, in addition to having a high prestige, the leading commander cannot threaten Dolgon's dominance, so in terms of candidates, it is indeed a difficult problem.

In the end, after weighing the pros and cons, Dolgon had to order the sixty-five-year-old Dai Shan, as the commander of the coalition army, to lead 200,000 taels of red flags (Zheng Red Flag, inlaid with red flags), and control Haoge's two yellow flags (Zheng Huang Qi, inlaid with yellow flags), a total of 500,000 troops, gathered in Hubei.

Dai Shan is quite old, and even if he makes great contributions, it will not affect Dorgon's status.

At the same time, the Manchu Qing Dynasty invested a large number of troops in one go for this campaign, except for the 200,000 taels of blue flags (Zhenglan Banner, inlaid with blue flags) left in Gyeonggi, there were almost no troops left in the country.

"Don't look at the Qing army made a decisive posture, in fact, they are not ready, the labor expedition, the grain and grass carried is definitely not much, the previous intelligence also confirmed that the Qing army for this campaign, only three months of grain and grass, as long as our army can hold on to the south of the Yangtze River for three months, the Qing army will naturally retreat." Stilwell directly pointed out the key points of the Qing army.

Dispatch a huge army, the daily consumption of grain and grass, is an astronomical amount, Hauge's army in order to collect grain and grass, have done burning, killing and looting, Stilwell believes that as long as the other side consumes, the Qing army will not last long.

"How to persevere? The Manchus have always been cruel, and once they were allowed to cross the river, the people along the way would definitely suffer, and even if they took the entire south of the Yangtze River, it would be nothing more than a ruin. Yan Yingyuan said worriedly.

He was originally a warden of Jiangyin, in order to protect the people of Jiangyin, he held on to Jiangyin County until the last moment, and now as a general of the Ming National Defense Army, the entire people of the Ming Dynasty are the objects of his Yan Yingyuan's protection.

North of the Yangtze River, it is still the sphere of influence of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, Yan Yingyuan's strength is limited, and he can't take care of that side, but he doesn't want to see the people south of the Yangtze River still suffer the fate of being harmed by the Qing army.

"Hit! Resolutely block the enemy north of the Yangtze River, and not let a single soldier cross the river! Stilwell said word for word.

The battle has been fought so far, and it has reached the moment when every inch of land must be contested, and Stilwell will never allow the Qing army to cross the Yangtze River one step further.

"I, Shi Lang, will lead the entire Fujian Naval Division to fight to the end with the Manchu Water Division, and the Qing army wants to cross the river unless it steps on my corpse!" Shi Lang said seriously.

"Excellent! Shi Lang listens to orders! Stilwell began to order: "From now on, send sailors to patrol the line from Jiangling to Wuhan day and night, and as long as they find that the Qing army wants to cross the river, they will lead all the sailors to attack and drive them all down the Yangtze River to feed the fish!" ”

There is a huge disparity between the enemy and our forces, and the best way to defeat the Qing army's naval division is to take the initiative to attack while they are covering the army's crossing of the river.

At this time, there was no so-called troop transport ship, and they were all about how many soldiers could be loaded into it.

Moreover, in order to save space to transport troops, the bomb load of the warships of the Manchurian Qing Division will certainly be greatly reduced, and the warships will be crowded with the army, which will make the efficiency of the navy's manipulation of firearms become sluggish.

Taking advantage of the fact that the other side is transporting troops, attacking halfway is the best plan for the Ming army's naval division to deal with the enemy at present.

Anyway, the plan of Stilwell and others was to prevent the Qing army from crossing the river, as long as the other party did not cross the river, they would not take the initiative to provoke the Manchu Shimi Division, which had twice as many warships as their own.

"In addition, General Huang Degong was ordered that Wuhan's offensive plan would remain unchanged, that it would be enough to take the south of the Yangtze River, and that it would not be greedy to cross the river to meet the enemy." Stilwell said again.

Wuhan is located in the eastern part of the Jianghan Plain, and is divided into three counties by the Yangtze River and its largest tributary, the Hanshui, across the city, forming a pattern of Wuchang, Hankou and Hanyang counties across the river.

Hanyang and Hankou are located north of the Yangtze River, and Wuchang is located south of the Yangtze River.

The Tang Dynasty poet Li Bai once wrote here that "the jade flute is played in the Yellow Crane Tower, and the plum blossoms fall in May in Jiangcheng", and the famous Yellow Crane Tower in this verse is in the territory of Wuchang County, and Hanyang and Hankou are only separated by a river.

Capture, and hold Wuchang, you can prevent the Qing army from crossing the river from Wuhan, the upper reaches of the Yangtze River are turbulent, there are many mountains and mountains along the coast, not all places, are suitable for beach landing, the Southern Ming army, as long as you hold a few dangerous places, can effectively prevent the Qing army from going south............

Nanjing, the headquarters of the Ming National Defense Army (formerly the Governor's Office of the Fifth Army), an operational staff officer, pointed to a huge military map along the Yangtze River on the wall, and explained carefully to the generals present and the Ming Emperor Zhu Youzhen, who came to observe: "........... To sum up, our army has fought with the Manchus so far, and the situation has become clear, as long as the main force of the Manchu Qing is prevented from crossing the river, then our army will win, and all the south of the Yangtze River will be recovered. ”

"Stop the Manchus from crossing the river? It's easy to say, how to stop it? The Manchu Qing Dynasty had 600,000 troops (including the Manchu Qing Division) gathered in Hubei, and our army was on the Chibi and Wuchang lines, with only 200,000 (land and water alliances), as long as the Tartars were not stupid, they would definitely cross the river, and you should not forget, there were still 200,000 Qing troops in Hunan, once the north and south were attacked, how could we withstand it? A minister who came with Zhu Youzhen quickly analyzed.

It seems that this man is also a man who knows a lot about military affairs.

"A few days ago, the Manqing Water Division that bombarded Xuanwu Lake, you also saw it, nearly two thousand warships, that are real warships, not modified merchant ships, no matter how powerful the Daming Naval Division is, when the enemy is outnumbered, it may not be able to defeat the other party." Another said.

When the Qing army's sailors passed through Nanjing, Duoduo on the ship, out of revenge, actually ordered the artillery bombardment of the Xuanwu Lake area in Nanjing for two whole hours.

"That is, once the two armies of the Manchu and Qing Dynasty are united, with a total of 800,000 troops, how can we be defeated! Master Pony is big this time! An old minister sighed.

Not only the Manchu Division, but also the strength of the army is also very different.

"Humph! Thinking that he had won a few battles, he didn't know that the sky was high and the earth was thick, and the joint operation across several provinces was not the original battle for the defense of Nanjing, and the Manchu Qing Dynasty could cross the river from any region at any time, so how could it be defended with this little force! Some people even took the opportunity to give Li Hongfei eye medicine.

"Master Horse, why don't I send all of the Third Army over?" Zheng Chenggong said to Li Hongfei.

This expedition to the west was extraordinary, and Zheng Chenggong also came to Nanjing in order to take over Shi Lang's command at any time.

He also has 50,000 soldiers of the Third Army under his command, and if he can be sent to the front, it can also alleviate the dilemma of the current lack of troops.

"Dream back, there are still 80,000 Praetorian Guards in Nanjing, I can send a decree to Wang Guoxing, lead 60,000 troops to the west to support, and the Tartars want a decisive battle, then we will fight a decisive battle with him!" Zhu Youzhen was even more domineering, and when he opened his mouth, he dispatched the Praetorian Guards to support Li Hongfei.

Sure enough, after Zhu Youzhen spoke, the courtiers immediately did not dare to refute it.

"Emperor Xie and the country's surname are kind, and there are 200,000 troops enough to recover the area south of the Yangtze River." Li Hongfei first politely rejected the kindness of the two, and then said: "The only thing lacking now is the sailor, I can't imagine that the Manchu Qing Dynasty has developed such a huge fleet in the past two years!" ”

On the part of the army, the current logistical and transportation capacity can at most ensure the material supply of the two group armies; after all, the all-firearms army is more logistical than the cold-weapon troops, and if another 100,000 all-firearms troops are sent over, not only will it not play much role, but it will cause the logistics system to collapse.

Don't look at the Manchu Qing Dynasty now that there are many people, once the stalemate falls, the logistics alone can kill them, the Manchu Qing Dynasty blindly expanded the firearms unit, but did not improve its own logistics system, or it will not be long before it will reap the consequences, Li Hongfei will not do such a stupid thing.

However, since someone wanted to support him, he would not be polite, and directly asked Zhu Youzhen for a water master.

"Master Horse, it's not that I don't want to, it's just that in the whole of Fujian, there are only more than 200 small and medium-sized warships left, and the Dutch are now frequently provocative, and there is no sailor to send!" Zheng Chenggong cried poorly.

After all, after experiencing the Zheng Zhilong incident, the Fujian Navy Division has converged a lot, Zheng Chenggong is not stupid, he understands the real purpose of Zhu Youzhen's division of the Fujian Navy Division in two, so in the past two years, the Fujian shipyard has hardly launched any large warships, and what he is afraid of is the big wind.

In addition, Zheng Chenggong is not like his son Zheng Zhilong, who likes to keep his hands behind, so this time to form a joint fleet, Zheng Chenggong directly took out all his family funds, and now Li Hongfei wants a sailor, he really has no inventory to take.

"I know you have difficulties, warships don't, commanders who are good at water warfare, you should have a lot of them! I still have nearly 200 large warships in Baoshan that are being refitted in a hurry, so you can support a group of warship commanders for me. Li Hongfei said his true purpose.