Chapter 1062: Your Majesty can take the Huarong Road or go straight down to Chibi
Chapter 1062: Your Majesty can take the Huarong Road or go straight down to Chibi
At the end of October, Shao Xun received news that Tao Kan had organized a large army and marched northward along the Mian River with great momentum, heading straight for Xiangyang.
At this time, he was meeting with Kuai Heng and Li Chong, who had just surrendered, at the old house of the Le family in Yuyang.
Both of them, one old and one middle-aged, heard the news.
"Your Majesty does not seem to be in a hurry to capture cities and territories?" Kuai Heng asked, observing his expression.
"If you keep the people you lose the land, and if you keep the land you lose the people. Do you understand this principle, Kuai Qing?" Shao Xun asked with a smile.
"If we can annihilate Tao Kan's tens of thousands of troops, the land north of the Yangtze River will be in danger. Your Majesty is wise." Kuai Heng said.
"Defeating the enemy in a field battle has always been a permanent strategy." Shao Xun said, "Crossing mountains and rivers, fighting for every city and pond, how long will it take?"
After saying this, Shao Xun paced slowly and said, "Among the counties in Jingzhou, which one do you think is the most important?"
"Jiangling should be the first choice." Kuai Heng followed closely and said, "When the Jin Dynasty inspected the population, Nanjun alone accounted for a quarter of the population of the sixteen counties in Jingzhou, which is only slightly less than the five counties of Nanyang in northern Jingzhou combined."
Shao Xun nodded. He really wanted to get Jiang Ling.
If the military focus of Jingzhou is Xiangyang and Xiakou, then the economic center is Jiangling.
Since the end of the Jin Dynasty, there has been general peace.
After the rebellions of Zhang Chang and Du Tao were quelled, the country has basically been in a state of peaceful development for more than ten years.
In addition to the local residents, a large number of refugees from Bashu and Yongqin were also resettled. The number of registered residents is definitely more than 55,000, perhaps over 80,000.
This is the official household registration, but the actual situation is unknown.
Such a large population is enough to support Jiangling to become a relatively large city.
Regardless of the rural population, Jiangling City may have an urban population of more than 50,000, which is definitely a big city in the south.
Compared with Nanjun, Xiangyang had only half the population, and after years of tug-of-war, it had lost and migrated a large number of people and had become dilapidated - the migrated population basically went to Wuchang and Jiangling.
Throughout the Jingxiang region, the population is not evenly distributed, but is concentrated in points with the regional central city as the core, with large sparsely populated or undeveloped areas in the middle.
Simply put, before the division of Jingzhou and Xiangzhou, the largest city in the entire Jingzhou area was Jiangling, the second largest city was Changsha, followed by Wancheng, Anlu, Lingling, Wuchang, Xiangyang and other places.
It is perfectly normal for Shao Xun to want to take Jiangling.
"If your majesty wants to take Jiangling, you must annihilate Tao Kan's army." Kuai Heng said, "If you can't do that, there is only one way, which is to go south from Dangyang, which is the same route that Liu Bei took to retreat south with his people."
Shao Xun hummed and asked, "Where is Huarong Road?"
After hearing this, Kuai Heng's expression changed and he said anxiously, "Your Majesty, you must not take Huarong Road. It is too dangerous. The area is flooded by rivers. If there is a flood, it will be damaged. If there is a change, we will not be able to withdraw in time, and there will be a danger of the whole army being wiped out."
After listening to this, Shao Xun gave up the idea.
In the terrain of Jianghan, there are indeed only a few fixed routes.
His most realistic goal now is Jiangling.
The city was also very prosperous and had a large population. Once captured, Tao Kan would really only be able to rely on the Yangtze River for defense.
As for Xiangyang, it was prepared for the regime that was determined to launch a northern expedition.
If they did not want to march north and could only stay in a corner, then Xiangyang, which was separated from Jiangling, Xiakou and Wuchang by a floodplain, would be an isolated and bleeding port.
"Hongdu, if we go south from Jiangxia, do you have any strategy?" Shao Xun looked at Li Chong and asked.
"Your Majesty, we can only go south along the Mian River, pass through the western border of Jingling, and go straight down--" Li Chong said.
"Where to go directly? You can speak frankly. I am not a narrow-minded person. You can speak freely." Shao Xun encouraged.
"Go straight down to Wulin and look at Chibi in the distance." Li Chong said with his head down.
Shao Xun opened his mouth and then closed it again.
In the Battle of Red Cliffs, Cao Cao led an army of 80,000 to 90,000 men, half of whom were killed in the first battle, with most of them lost during the retreat.
After all, he still has his own navy, so what does he have?
"Then let's take Jiangling." Shao Xun made up his mind.
In this place, there is no way to carry out any extraordinary plans. Cao Cao also sent a group of troops to Jiangling in the past, and Shao Xun wanted to do the same now. It’s not that great minds think alike, but there are really only a few routes for deploying troops, and they are almost all known cards.
******
"Release!" On the surface of the Mianshui River south of Yu County, dozens of brave men who were skilled in swimming jumped into the water and swam towards the shore after hearing the command.
A large number of arrows were shot from the bow of the Jin army ship in front.
Some of the swimming warriors were lucky and swam back to the shore trembling, while others were unlucky and never came back.
The boat was burning as it drifted downstream towards the enemy ships.
The Jin army navy was generally calm. After a commotion, someone took a fork and held it against the approaching fireboat, causing it to slowly burn.
Large splashes of water appeared on the surface of the river from time to time.
That was the Thunderbolt car on the shore throwing rocks into the water, but unfortunately, the range was too short and it didn't pose any threat at all, so it stopped quickly.
Huang Biao stood on the top of the city wall of Yu County, carefully watching the enemy troops coming to support him.
It looks like the majority of the troops are naval, but there should be quite a few land troops on board, but I don't know how many there are.
This time the enemy was larger in size and mainly used oared warships. If it weren't for the strong northwest winds in this season, they might have used sails as their power.
"Not during the day, let's release another batch at night." Huang Biao looked for a while and found the person in charge and said, "Release it in the second half of the night."
"As ordered."
Huang Biao waved his hand and told them to leave. The fireboat burned very quickly. After being held up by the Wu people with long forks, it slowly burned, disintegrated, and sank.
There were fire ships passing on both sides of the wide waterway.
The Wu people were also on high alert, and if they could push it away, they would do so. If they couldn't push it away, it meant it was too far away, so they just let it go and slowly burn and sink.
There is a chance of success with fire attack, but the conditions are rather harsh.
For example, the northwest wind suddenly turns into the southeast wind, and the party attacked by fire becomes careless. Or even if they discover it, they cannot move easily and are unable to stop it in time.
In order to stop the Jin army's navy, Huang Biao thought of countless ways.
For example, they sent light cavalry to attack the enemy's boatmen, which was successful that time. Then the Wu people changed their tactics and no longer mobilized those large ships that had no power and were extremely heavy. The advantage of this type of ship is its large carrying capacity and can carry a large amount of military supplies. The disadvantage is that it is heavy and slow, and boatmen are needed to pull the boats when there is headwind or against the current.
The Mian River flows southward into the Yangtze River, and going from south to north is necessarily upstream. It is winter again, with the wind blowing mainly from the northwest and less from the south, so there is really no way to avoid pulling the boat.
Now the Jin army was mainly composed of paddle boats, which had one less weakness, so Huang Biao thought of the tactic of fire attack again.
If you fail the first time, try again at night. If you fail again, try again after a few days. It’s always a good idea to give it a try. What if someone is careless?
Of course he knew that fire attack was not safe, so he learned Yang Bao's tactics and placed wooden stakes in the river to prevent enemy ships from heading north.
Of course there is a way to crack this, it just takes time.
If Huang Biao had been able to find the materials at the moment, he would have wanted to use an iron chain to cross the river.
There is a way to crack this trick, which is to send a ship forward, set up a furnace on the ship, and melt the iron chain.
In short, these tactics have been used by our predecessors for thousands of years. They are nothing new and do not play a decisive role.
The real deciding factor, in fact, lies in how both sides play to their respective strengths and "attack others rather than being attacked by others."
The combat effectiveness of an army is not constant, you can reduce it.
For example, not having enough food, feeling unwell, lacking physical strength, people being in panic, etc., can cause their combat effectiveness to drop from its peak state.
Even the most elite Silver Spear Army in the north, if infected by these negative factors, might be gathered together and annihilated by people whose combat power is far inferior to theirs.
For Huang Biao, he also needed to force the enemy to fight in a situation where they could not play to their strengths, and then use the advantages of his own soldiers' strong quality, rich combat experience, and large number of cavalry to annihilate the enemy in one fell swoop.
There are not many troops in the south with field combat capabilities, and the Jingzhou Legion is the strongest among them. If you cannot destroy them, they may take advantage of the terrain and find an opportunity to bite you.
And once they are annihilated, even if our troops are trapped in a place with poor supply and numerous rivers and lakes, their morale is low and they all want to return, it will be much safer when they retreat.
Huang Biao really grasped the essence of war.
"Crash!" While I was daydreaming, a wooden stake in the Mian River had been pulled up by the Wu ships.
"Who set this up?" Huang Biao was furious and asked immediately.
The officers and soldiers immediately went down from the city wall and went to inquire.
A moment later, a man was brought in.
The man knelt down with a plop and cried, "General, the river water is freezing cold in winter. Many people froze to death in the river. Even if they got ashore, they would still be seriously ill..."
"Why do you have so many excuses?" Huang Biao kicked him over and said, "Behead him!"
The man was about to scream when the handle of the knife hit him on the mouth, knocking out several of his teeth.
The bodyguards dragged the man away like a dead dog.
"Send someone to fight the bandits." Huang Biao issued another order.
******
In the east, the two sides were confronting each other in the area of Yu County, while on another front in the west, Jiang Ke's troops were advancing rapidly with light troops.
The 2,000 cavalrymen of the Yicong Army set out first, along with the 3,000 light cavalrymen assigned to them and more than a thousand palace soldiers of the Zuo Jinwu Guard who could ride horses. They carried seven days' food and water, and went south along the Zhang River, heading straight for Dangyang.
Along the way, they occasionally encountered fortresses and forts, but the two sides just confronted each other from a distance and did not fight each other.
Only a few times did the local tyrants take advantage of their familiarity with the geography to block the bridgehead of the road and fight with the cavalry heading south.
When you meet these people, the only option is to fight.
Juqu Chong, the deputy governor of the Yicong Army who was in charge of the command, dispatched soldiers from the Zuo Jinwu Guard to advance, and often defeated the enemy with a single charge.
Well, what if it doesn't work once? Then try a second time, a third time.
There is no enemy that cannot be defeated after three charges!
By the fifth day of November, they arrived not far north of Dangyang City.
The county magistrate simply abandoned the city and fled.
At the critical moment, the county lieutenant raised his arms and shouted, gathered people, and was determined to defend the city to the death.
However, before he could gather many men, the people in the city fled outside.
In fact, they were mainly wealthy families who fled back to the countryside under the protection of their servants and gathered together as clan members to protect themselves.
Juqu Chong led his cavalry to charge and disperse these people, then rushed straight into the city gate, beheaded the county lieutenant on his horse, and captured the city without bloodshed.
At this point, what Tao Kan had worried about happened.
The more than 10,000 defenders in Xiangyang were completely hostages!
It's not right for you to save him, and it's not right for you not to save him. The whole situation is very passive.
(End of this chapter)