On the south bank of the Qingge River, what was still a battlefield for half an hour turned into a temporary camp in the blink of an eye. The newly surrendered rebel army, Wu Sangui's frontier army, Ma Ke's Changping Army, the Dongchang Third Battalion, and Lu Daqi's Nanjing Pioneer were all within a few miles. Each took a corner to rest, only talking and not interacting with each other.
Under a big camphor tree by the river, Chang Yu stood with his hands behind his back and stared at the river in trance. The situation had changed a lot in just a few hours, and he had to figure it out.
Li Muxian, Lu Daqi, and Xu Hongji were drinking horse meat soup under a tree not far away. They saw the little eunuch there in a daze and knew that he was thinking and no one dared to disturb him.
"On this trip, I thought it would be difficult to reach the mountain of swords and sea of blood, but I didn't expect that in just a few days, Wuhu City had been captured, and Bai Wang's generals had been surrendered. If Wu Sangui had rushed faster, he would have captured Chizhou Mansion. , Now we have regained four to five hundred miles." Zhu Guobi was sweating profusely while drinking the hot soup.
"This is not what we are capable of. If it weren't for the little governor... the governor," Xu Hongji looked at Li Muxian and quickly changed his words: "If the little governor hadn't led the team, we would have been surrounded and beaten by the bandits in Dangtu. ".
"Hey, it's rare for a Duke to be so self-effacing," Zhao Zhilong said with a smile, and glanced at Li Muxian next to him: "Of course, it's because of this Taoist priest's clever calculation."
Li Muchian smiled: "Masters, please don't praise me, let alone be too optimistic. This is just the beginning, and it can only be said to be the training stage. Fortunately, Wang Tizhong surrendered, otherwise we would have passed this Qingge River every day. Entering a city is the price of thousands of lives." Seeing Xu Hongji and others' faces became solemn, he continued: "As I expected, starting from Chizhou, we have entered the real battlefield. Practice hard these days."
Everyone nodded, and just as Lu Daqi was about to say something, Chang Yu came over from the other side: "Taoist Master Fang, do you think Bai Wang is on his way here or has returned to Anqing?"
Li Muxian pondered for a while and said: "Wang Ti is not sure about things, even Pindao is not sure, but if Bai Wang hears that there are officers and soldiers from the West Bank sent to Anqing, there is a high probability that they will go back. Don't you mean that he seems to be sending troops to Nanjing?" Is it actually just to run Anqing?"
Chang Yu was silent after hearing this. He squatted down and used branches to draw on the ground. In order to surround him, everyone drew a few points on both sides of the river.
"This is Anqing, and diagonally across the bank is Chizhou. Bai Wang must defend Chizhou to protect the Qing Dynasty." Chang Yu murmured in a low voice, and Zhao Zhilong frowned: "How can you see that he has to divide his troops to defend Anqing on both sides of the river? If he wants to run Anqing, he can just gather heavy troops to defend Anqing."
Chang Yu glanced at him and said: "The reason is very simple. First, we are using troops from both sides of the Taiwan Strait at the same time. If he doesn't defend Chizhou, he will be surrounded by a flank. Second and most important, if he doesn't defend, his retreat will be cut off. De'an is on the Yangtze River. On the east coast, as long as he defends Chizhou, even if Anqing cannot defend it, he can still retreat to his hometown of De'an, so defending Chizhou is to defend his retreat!"
Everyone suddenly understood and nodded. Li Muxian had previously thought that Chang Yu didn't need to transfer all Wu Sangui's troops. After all, there were more than 30,000 surrendered troops here, which was enough to cope with the situation on the east coast. Now they knew Chang Yu's intention. Bai In order to hold on to his retreat and disperse the pressure from Anqing, Wang will definitely defend Chizhou. It will be a tough battle, but what are the officers and soldiers on the east coast? Tired and breathless, fighting a tough battle?
Therefore, a strong force of troops must be mobilized to take charge.
Wu Sangui and the third battalion of Makojiadong Factory can ensure that this side can advance, attack, retreat or defend!
As for Anqing, the terrain is very superior and easy to defend but difficult to attack. Although Gao Jie and his three men with more than 10,000 cavalry could not get any advantage there, Li Yan's army would be strong enough to attack the city when it arrived later.
Chang Yanling and Tang Guozuo hurriedly crossed the river to see them, unable to conceal their surprise. It was said that they were the most relaxed, especially Chang Yanling who had been delayed since coming out of Nanjing because of her personal relationship with Chang Yu. She had never been to the front line. Having seen blood and not even suffered any crime, Tang Guozuo at least led his troops out of the city for a circuit on a rainy day.
Seeing the two people arriving, Xu Hongji and others hurriedly stood up to greet them. This was impossible in normal times. Chang Yanling was not a social person and her status was not as noble as his. The reason why they were doing this now was because they had seen some clues.
The little eunuch respects Chang Yanling more than any of them, and he takes care of him overtly and covertly. They are neither blind nor stupid. Although they don't know the specific reason, they have to give face to the people the little eunuch respects.
"I heard that they surrendered. So, are we still going to fight?" Tang Guozuo roared as soon as he landed on the shore, and everyone laughed, so he was not following him.
While everyone was chatting and laughing, Chang Yanling pulled Chang Yu aside and boasted endlessly about how awesome Guangzong Yaozu was. The little eunuch blushed in a rare moment and had to change the subject and asked about the status of the soldiers, their morale and the logistics supply. kind.
Chang Yanling said that Shi Kefa's logistics support in Nanjing was no problem at all. The soldiers were just tired from the march and were otherwise fine. Moreover, they heard that in a short period of time, they first won a great victory in Dangtu, and then captured Wuhu City in a lightning surprise attack and then surrendered to the traitor general Wang Tizhong. Morale is very high now.
After hearing this, Chang Yu nodded and said to Chang Yanling: "The Qingge River is a very important strategic location that can be attacked, retreated or defended. There must be someone trustworthy here in Wuhu City..." He didn't finish his words. Chang Yanling interrupted: "You want me to guard Wuhu?"
Chang Yu nodded: "Thank you, uncle." Chang Yanling frowned: "Don't you know what I'm thinking? How can I hide behind my back when I go out to fight in the city? Don't you want others to laugh at me? I am from a general family, and the descendant of Chang Yuchun People..."
Seeing that he was a little excited, Chang Yu hurriedly advised: "Crossing the south of the Yangtze River is difficult and dangerous every step of the way. Although we are advancing, it is difficult to retreat. There is a natural barrier on the Qingge River in Wuhu that can be used as a transit base for grain and grass in the rear..."
"No, I don't want to stay behind," Chang Yanling said firmly. Looking at his expression, Chang Yu knew that no matter how hard it was to persuade him, it would be hard to suppress him with military orders, so he had no choice but to give up.
At Shenshi, when the various tribes were still resting, the more than a thousand cavalry originally stationed in Wuhu City crossed the river and attracted the envy of countless people. This cavalry, led by Jin Shenghuan, performed unsatisfactory in the first battle of Dangtu and was not even on the stage, but later in Wuhu They became famous after defending the city, but they attracted envious looks not because they defended the city, but because they heard they received a lot of silver bounty!
The Yangtze River bank in the west was also bustling. Lu Zhenfei organized ships to transport the war horses of Wu Sangui and others one after another, and sent people to ask Chang Yu: Where are he and Zhang Liang going?
Chang Yu originally wanted to let Lu Zhenfei come to guard Wuhu, but he thought that the logistics would be very heavy once Li Yan's army arrived there soon. Lu Zhenfei and Zhang Liang had performed well together recently, so he asked them to guard Wuhu in Luzhou. The government is responsible for logistical preparations. It's unbelievable that two dignified governors were sent to handle logistics, but so what? Wasn't the dignified Minister of War in the Ming Dynasty also engaged in logistics in Nanjing?
Besides, they are civil servants, and fighting requires professional skills. If Chang Yu has no generals, he can use them to support him, but now almost all the most capable generals in the Ming Dynasty are here, so They have to go to the kitchen to help.
Half an hour later, Wang Zamao was the first to break camp and go south. After the selection of the surrendered troops, there were 6,000 casualties, and the rest were all refugees. Chang Yu would not take these people in. He didn't need to use the refugees as cannon fodder and he didn't have any extra. Feed them with food and won't even give them severance pay.
The south of the Yangtze River does not have as many natural disasters as the north. In fact, the food supply of the entire Ming Dynasty depends on it. If there were no war disasters, the life of the people would actually be relatively smooth.
Although they are now displaced by the rebel army, they are still far better off than the people in the north, because the rebel army's policy has changed at this time and they hardly plunder ordinary people. Instead, many people are actively being kidnapped. As long as they go back The family is still there, and I can still survive by borrowing here and there to make ends meet.
Then Wu Sangui and Ma Ke's cavalry also began to pull out of camp. Chang Yu asked them to go to Tongling as quickly as possible, along with the Dongchang Third Battalion and a thousand Nanjing cavalry led by Jin Shenghuan.
The main army led by Chang Yanling also began to cross the Qingge River, and the journey was destined to be slow because it had to carry supplies such as grain, grass, and siege equipment.
Chang Yu and Li Muxian discussed for a long time and finally decided to let Tang Guozuo take charge of Wuhu City, and only left him 500 troops. In addition to defending the city, he also patrolled the surrounding Yangtze River Qingge River and took care of the wounded in the city. The task was not risky, but Extremely cumbersome.
Tang Guozuo happily agreed. After all, he heard that the city was going to be attacked and a bloody battle was to be fought at the front. There was no peace and comfort in the rear. He didn't want to suffer the pain of marching in the rain and sleeping in the wild at night. It was really too unbearable. .
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