Yang Zhi has always been very practical and does not like empty talk. Chen Zhun knew that he was speechless, but he suddenly heard that Yang Zhi wanted to take Changsha directly, and he couldn't believe it for a while, such a reaction was normal.

The Xia army had strict military discipline, and Yang Zhi's strict military order to treat prisoners favorably and not to plunder won the hearts of the people. The emperor cooperated very effectively in terms of money and food support and post-war treatment. This two-pronged approach has paid off.

Southern Chu was already corrupt in government, corrupt officials, corruption was also rampant in the army, and the country's power was gradually declining, and it was difficult to return. In the previous life, Taizu had a famous saying that the eyes of the masses were bright. Wherever life is good, and where there is food, the hearts of the people will be longing. Yang Zhi issued an order last year to allow all units of the army to recruit troops on their own, and the Southern Chu soldiers and the children of the local people responded enthusiastically, and there were not a few people who switched to the Xia army. The more the Xia army fought, the Chu army not only fought less and less, but even the incidents of surrendering or fleeing from the formation occurred from time to time.

However, emaciated camels are larger than horses. Although there was not much left of Southern Chu's family base, not only did it gather 140,000 land and water troops in Baling to resist the offensive of the Xia army, Changsha was the capital of Southern Chu, and it also set up nearly 200,000 heavy troops to defend it.

It is not difficult for Chen Zhun to see that Yang Zhi intends to lead an army with Ye Chuang to form a north-south attack on Changsha. Whether it is from Xianning to the south, or from Hengzhou to the north, there is no strong city on the way, and the Southern Chu army is overstretched, so it can only focus on defending Changsha.

Yang Zhi and Ye Chuang marched separately to the periphery of Changsha, and it should not be a big problem. However, the total strength of the two divisions is only 40,000, and the vain attempt to capture Changsha is tantamount to a fool's dream. What's more, the two forces were not concentrated, but were stationed in the north and south, and if the Changsha defenders took the initiative to attack and break through. The two will face a huge risk of being surrounded by heavy troops and eaten in one bite.

After Chen Zhun originally expressed his worries, Yang Zhi smiled and said, "If it is not risky at all. How can it be considered crazy? ”

"The art of war is cloudy, and the heart is the best. Siege for the next day. Don't forget, in Baling, it is Wen Huanzhang and Zhang Bohu who are in charge, but not in Changsha! Our army is attacking from the north to the south, and the troops are approaching Changsha, and Emperor Chu and a group of courtiers are not panicked? Not to mention sending troops to meet the battle, maybe they will also order the Baling defenders to come back to help! ”

"What is my reputation in the Chu army, there is no need to say more. Zhang Bohu and I know each other's roots, Ye Chuang is also a famous general in Great Xia, but Zhang Bohu doesn't know much. Led by the two of us personally, by fame alone. It is enough to constitute a huge psychological deterrent to the monarchs and ministers of Southern Chu! How dare Zhang Bohu underestimate it? Even if he sees through my intentions, what can he do to me? ”

"Two armies are at war, and those who think they can fight ten at a time are the real madmen. You also said just now, Changsha is at my disposal on both sides of the north and south. Even if there are talents like Zhang Bohu among the defenders of Changsha, even if Emperor Chu orders to send troops to meet the battle, won't Ye Chuang and I run? The two of us dangled in front of them, so that you didn't dare to slack off for a moment, and you couldn't sleep at night. So what? Fools fight them! ”

Then Zhengse said: "You and I will divide our troops from Xianning, your department will advance to Linxiang through Chibi, and our department will go to Changsha along the line of Chongyang, Tongcheng and Pingjiang. I will lead the army to set out in three days, and you can fight according to the established plan. ”

"Our army is at a disadvantage. The main purpose of the battle should be to annihilate or defeat the enemy's living forces. When the people are gone, who will defend the city? Unless it is absolutely necessary, such a stupid thing as forcibly attacking the city. We can't do it. ”

"Changsha is only more than 300 miles away from Baling, and Changsha is threatened. Baling must have sneezed, and the army's heart was shaken. Wen Huanzhang and Zhang Bohu are not fooled. I will order the troops of Wei Feiyang to go out of Nanchang and attack Changsha. As long as Emperor Chu was scared out of the urine, Wen and Zhang knew that they were deceived, so they could only send troops back to help. You only have 50,000 horses, but you have to take care of both sides, so I said you are under a lot of pressure. ”

Chen Zhun said resolutely: "If the soldiers are gone, they can be recruited again, and if the firearms are gone, they can be replaced, once the fighters are delayed, our army will definitely pay a greater price!" Please rest assured, even if our army fights hard, it will not hesitate! ”

Chen Zhun's bold words made Yang Zhi couldn't help but feel excited, and patted his shoulders with moist eyes and said, "That's good, that's good!" ”

At present, Chen Zhun has 70,000 troops, including 30,000 men and horses from the headquarters of the Chinese army that was previously assigned to his command, and 20,000 troops are returned to Yang Zhi's personal command, and the process is not complicated. Yang Zhi didn't close his eyes for almost two nights, and after eating and drinking, he fell asleep.

I woke up the next morning feeling refreshed. On this day, Chen Zhun was instructed to do two things: First, the 50,000 new troops who had been surrendered in Jiangxia in recent months and recruited for training were urgently transferred to the south and temporarily handed over to Chen Zhun for command, so that they could be used as a backup for the attack on Baling and Changsha, and make up for the battle losses of Shen Chong and Chen Zhun in a timely manner.

Second, in the name of Yang Zhi himself, he sent the army to infiltrate Changsha, contact the Qin clan's branch in Changsha as soon as possible, and ordered him to act according to the agreement.

Whenever there is a war, it is not uncommon for both sides to send detailed spies to spy on the military situation, or send people to lurk in advance to respond internally. Yang Zhi has a close relationship with the Qin family and is well known to the world. Chen Zhun didn't think much about it, let alone ask more, and immediately followed the order.

Yang Zhi's strategic intention of attacking Baling with one hand and grasping Changsha with the other, regardless of whether it can be successfully realized, even if he completely ignores his own battle losses and mobilizes all kinds of troops to attack hard-to-hard, the process of destroying Chu will only be greatly accelerated. Zhang Bohu's life is destined to be a tragedy, and it is time to fulfill the promise made to him.

While making up his mind to fight to the end, he entrusted his wife and children to the enemy commander. Even Yang Zhi himself felt a little inexplicable, and in the eyes of outsiders, it must be even more incredible. This matter should not be publicized, Qin Ruju and Qin Changfeng received Yang Zhi's message, and they would understand it as soon as they heard it.

Yang Zhi carefully estimated the schedule, and Chen Zhun's department was dragged down by the baggage, and it would take at least ten days to take Chibi to Linxiang from Xianning. It took about 15 days to lead the army through Chongyang and Tongcheng and reach Pingjiang. And Xianning and Hengzhou are thousands of miles away, Ye Chuang received the commander's order to set off the whole army, and it will be ten days later at the earliest.

The distance from Pingjiang to Baling is similar to Changsha, all of which are around 300 miles. Yang Zhiruo stayed here to rest for a period of time, one can respond to each other with Chen Zhun's department, the second can form a deterrent to Changsha, and the third can be in line with Ye Chuang's army's marching itinerary, which can be described as killing three birds with one stone.

Yang Zhi and Chen Zhun went their own way, and just as Yang Zhi was unhurriedly marching towards Pingjiang, Ye Chuang, who was far away in Hengzhou, received the order. The army is also very lively.

When Ye Chuang succeeded Geng Chao as General Pingnan to guard Yuhang, he had an army of 60,000. Later, because Zhang Bohu captured Suizhou. After singing a sound, the east attacked the west, and Southern Chu sent troops to invade Wu Yue's hometown. Emperor Xia sent 30,000 troops from Huainan and Jinling to reinforce him. In addition, in order to take care of the miscellaneous affairs in the army, the local government soldiers who had been retrenched were requisitioned and rebuilt, and there were no less than 100,000 soldiers under Ye Chuang's command.

Such a large army, since the emperor's edict was assigned to Yang Zhidu, has hardly fought any major battles. After receiving the first commander's order, he divided 30,000 troops to Wei Feiyang. Since Wu Yue's hometown moved forward to capture Fuzhou, he only arched slightly, and he didn't move for almost a year. The next commander order received was to divide 20,000 troops to attack Nanchang. It's in Wei Feiyang's pocket again. Immediately afterwards, he was ordered by the commander to capture Jizhou and Hengzhou one after another, but they were all fought painlessly. For every gram and place, troops must be left to garrison. Although the battle losses were not large due to the few major battles, after the capture of Hengzhou, Ye Chuang's troops were actually only more than 40,000 people.

Ye Chuang summoned the generals and announced the latest handsome order received, and there was a loud uproar in the tent.

"Divide the troops, divide the troops! It's a division of troops again! A good army of 100,000. was stunned by the person surnamed Yang! ”

"Yang Zhi is jealous and jealous! I didn't have any good intentions at all! They were playing in front of us, but we were hunching around! I haven't fought a few serious battles, but the road is far! ”

"I can't help it! Shen Zhong is Yang Zhi's brother-in-law, and Wei Feiyang is Yang Zhi's confidant brother. Who let us be born by our stepmother? ”

"General, Yang Zhi is a mess! This time, we can't say anything about him! ”

"General, now you are not as good as those few cavalry generals. If you divide the troops a few more times, I'm afraid you will have to go to Yang Zhi's command to be a captain and a captain! ”

Ye Chuang is calm and capable. There are not many words, but words must be done. He has great prestige in the army. At this time, he was not shocked or angry, his face was as usual, and he sat up peacefully, without saying a word. The generals grumbled, and when they saw that Ye Chuang was always in this demeanor, they couldn't help but gradually quieted down.

"Have you made enough of it? All said and done? Ye Chuang said calmly: "Then it's my turn." I want to remind you that we are Yang Shuai's subordinates, not his enemies. ”

"The military order is like a mountain! If anyone dares to say that he does not obey the commander's order, he will be killed immediately! ”

On October 12, Zhang Desheng's sailors were trained from Jiangling. Under the coordinated cover of Shen Chong's subordinates, he engaged the Southern Chu Water Division on October 15. The two sides fought fiercely for four days and nights, and Zhang Desheng's sailors left Junshan and entered Dongting on October 20.

On the night of October 23, 10,000 of Zhang Desheng's naval division blocked the Southern Chu naval division at the mouth of Dongting Lake, and 10,000 people of Shen Chong's division set up a pontoon bridge in the direction of Chenglingji.

On that day and night, Long Yu, the vanguard general of Shen Chong's department, led 10,000 troops, made a detour to Yang Linji upstream, crossed the river in the afternoon of the next day, and blocked the two Xia troops at the mouth of Dongting Lake, and paid a heavy price for most of the casualties.

Wen Huanzhang got the report and sent 20,000 troops out of the city overnight, trying to take advantage of the situation to drive the Xia army down the river. When Chen Zhun heard the news, he also quickly sent 20,000 troops to rush to help, but was intercepted by the Chu army outside the city on the way. Tens of thousands of troops on both sides fought fiercely for two nights and one day, because the dragon rain was like a mad tiger and brave, 10,000 subordinates were almost killed, and the rest of the Xia army was able to rush across one after another. By the early morning of 26 October, all the Shen Chong Divisions had crossed the river.

When Yang Zhi received the battle report, he couldn't help but look up to the sky and laugh: Crossing the river heavily, the overall situation can be determined!

Also on October 24, Yang Zhi arrived in Pingjiang. The Pingjiang County Commander led a group of officials of all sizes and the 2,000 Chu troops defending the city to open the city gate and surrender without a fight.

Two days later, on October 26, the main force of Chen Zhun's unit arrived 20 miles outside Linxiang City and set up camp. The next day, the army formed a formation to attack the city, artillery, heavy crossbows, bows and arrows fired together, and it only took one hour to break the city of Linxiang.

On October 28, Ye Chuang led his troops to arrive outside the city of Tanzhou, and carefully obeyed the commander's orders all the way, preferring to make a detour rather than engage the two Chu troops stationed along the way.

Wen Huanzhang and Zhang Bohu haven't had a good night's sleep or a good meal for nearly a month.

Wen Huanzhang already had to be completely white, and at first glance, he was at least ten years older than two years ago. Zhang Bohu's eyes were blood-red, and his face was extremely pale and haggard.

Wen Huanzhang asked worriedly: "Strategist, how should our army fight next?" ”

―――――――――――――――――― dividing line――――――――――――――――

PS: How to write for the battle of Xia Chu, I am very entangled. I wanted to write more comprehensively and in detail, but after referring to no less than ten classics, I changed my mind. Classics are classics, and there are too many masterpieces that show the cruelty and grandeur of war in a panoramic way. Regardless of whether you have read fatigue or not, I will no longer be ugly. So I put this war in as comprehensive a political, economic, strategic, and tactical perspective as possible from a different perspective.

Thank you for your continued attention and support! Bow and thanks! (To be continued.) )