In fact, Pang Tong never thought about how he was so lucky to encounter a large-scale invasion by Soochow while patrolling the river.
This was really beyond Pang Tong's expectation.
But the problem is that if you suddenly encounter someone on a wide river, there will be no place to hide if you try to hide at this time.
This is not a small boat. If something goes wrong, you can find cover in the reeds and hide. This is an encounter between two fleets on the river. Once you see it, there is no place to hide.
And considering the size of the Soochow Army's endless fleet, the other party coming towards the police was definitely not bringing gifts for a friendly visit.
Therefore, in this case, Pang Tong thought for a moment and directly ordered to launch an attack on Soochow's vanguard fleet.
The general of the Soochow Pioneer Fleet is called Quan Duan. He is the younger brother of Quan Cong and is also a good general.
However, compared to Quan Cong's civil and military skills, Quan Duan is actually more of a traditional military general. His water and land warfare abilities are quite good, but in terms of commanding operations, he is still a little less adaptable than Quan Cong.
Suddenly encountering the opponent's large fleet, Pang Tong only thought about it for a moment before ordering an active attack without thinking about the consequences at all. It was something to consider after the battle was over.
But when Quan Duan suddenly discovered that the navy fleet had appeared unexpectedly, he hesitated for a while.
If he were a pure general, it would not be impossible for him to be reckless at this time, but Quan Duan believed that his ability was no worse than Quan Cong. He really thought about it, what did the appearance of this fleet mean? !
Did the Shu thieves take precautions? ! Where did this fleet come from? ! Why did it happen that he blocked the road on the day he launched his attack? ! Do you need to inform the coach behind you, General Zhu Ran, in time? !
He thought so much, but found that the other party launched the attack without any hesitation. It was not until Pang Tong's Yizhou Navy completely accelerated that the whole team reacted.
Then it was a little too late to deal with it.
Pang Tong's Yizhou navy naturally occupies favorable conditions upstream and goes downstream. This originally has a huge advantage in water battles and allows Pang Tong to launch an attack in advance. The Soochow navy wants to adjust its formation and position to seize a favorable position. That's too late.
In this way, the entire Soochow Army's vanguard navy was at a disadvantage in the first battle of this battle.
But fortunately, the vanguard navy brought by Quanduan has 5,000 people, which is superior in number and number of warships. In addition, Quanduan's vanguard army is not very far from Zhu Ran's coach's flagship. Zhu Ran is getting After the military report, they immediately brought troops to help.
As for Pang Tong, he did not want his three thousand navy to be surrounded by Soochow's superior navy, so he decisively ordered a retreat, which ended the first battle between the two sides.
The result of this battle was that the Soochow navy suffered a slight setback, but the Han army had to retreat to the public security.
For the Han army, this was not an unacceptable result, but for Soochow, Zhu Ran was quite unacceptable.
Previously, they used the excuse of practicing naval warfare and kept wandering back and forth on the Yangtze River. They thought they could relax the vigilance of the public security guards, but now it seems that it is completely useless.
The most hoped for sneak attack battle is impossible, it must be a force attack battle.
What makes Zhu Ran most uneasy is the appearance of Yizhou Army and Pang Tong. Does it mean that Yizhou soldiers and horses have already stationed in the Public Security Bureau and even Jiangling in advance? !
So, who is the real enemy that the 50,000 people he brought this time will face, and how many troops are there? !
This lack of intelligence is the most fatal for a battle. If you don't even understand the opponent's basic situation, how can you have a chance to win? !
For a moment, Zhu Ran thought about whether he should simply excuse himself as just training troops, hold the Han army accountable for their rude sneak attack, and then retreat directly. But unfortunately, this was impossible.
Let’s not talk about the fact that the emperor’s edict must be fulfilled, let’s just say that so much military supplies and war preparations have been spent, so many soldiers have been gathered to go on the expedition. If we just retreat like this, wouldn’t it be a trip to the river at public expense? !
War is not a child's play. This kind of reason really cannot convince the public. Zhu Ran will never have the opportunity to lead an army alone in the future.
Therefore, regardless of whether the Yizhou soldiers arrived at the Public Security Bureau or Jiangling in advance, the battle that should be fought will still be fought.
Moreover, without a fight, there is no way to know whether the enemy has been prepared or is a bluff. Only by fighting can we know.
Therefore, Zhu Ran quickly led the navy to keep up with all the forward troops, and immediately occupied the ferry, blocked the navy camp brought by Pang Tong, and prevented the Yizhou navy from leaving the camp to fight again.
At the same time, Zhu Ran did not forget to send alert scout troops to Jiangbei to prevent the Han army from Jiangling direction from coming to help and attack him from both front and rear.
Although protected by the navy and the Yangtze River's natural barrier, the Han army should not be caught off guard, but precautions still need to be taken.
After making these preparations, Zhu Ran led his troops ashore, set up camp ten miles outside the public security city, and began to transport the siege equipment he had brought.
Different from previous sieges, this time in order to pursue the speed of siege, Zhu Ran built the siege equipment directly at Lukou and could be transported by fleet to assemble it. There was no need to cut down trees locally to build it.
That is to say, it is convenient to take the Yangtze River for water transportation, and the police are right on the bank of the Yangtze River. Otherwise, if it is a little further away, this thing will not be possible. The siege equipment is too heavy and heavy, and it cannot go very long even if it is equipped with wheels.
Zhu Ran really learned too many lessons from Lu Meng this time. He had no hope of surrendering to the police without a fight and was prepared for a strong attack in advance.
Facing such an enemy, Pang Tong had to praise him. He is a true general.
Praise is praise, the enemy is still the enemy after all. He quickly found Li Qiu, who was stationed at the police station, to arrange the defense of the city.
The current situation is very unfavorable to the public security.
Even though Pang Tong arrived at the public security bureau in advance with 3,000 Yizhou navy, in fact, once these 3,000 navy came ashore, it would be impossible for them to continue to fight out of the harbor under the blockade of Soochow navy. People would not give you this opportunity.
Therefore, after Pang Tong led his troops ashore, he basically gave up the possibility of warship operations and led the navy directly to the Public Security City to act as a defensive army.
Fortunately, the difference between the navy and the army these days is not too big. It is just a question of the strength of land combat capabilities. In a city defense battle, this problem will be reduced to the point where the difference is not too big by the protection of the city wall.
But the problem is that when Pang Tong led his troops into the public security, he did not see the public security guard Zhang Ren at the first time. What he saw was Wuling Captain Li Qiu.
It's not surprising that Li Qiu appeared here. After all, before the Northern Expedition, in order to mobilize as many Jingzhou soldiers as possible to participate in the war, Pan Jun, Li Qiu and others were ordered to lead their troops north to increase the public security and Jiangling's defense strength.
But what about Zhang Ren, the official guard of the police? !
"General Righteousness has been bedridden since the beginning of the year, and now he fears that his days are numbered!"
This is the answer given by Li Qiu.
After asking more carefully, Pang Tong understood all the causes and consequences.
Since Liu Zhang died of illness in the police station three years ago, Zhang Ren's energy and energy have become worse and worse.
In addition, Zhang Ren is fifty-six years old this year. In this era, he can be regarded as a veteran. At this age, if he encounters the death of his spiritual sustenance, Zhang Ren's aging and death will basically inevitably come.
After Li Qiu arrived at the Public Security Bureau with his troops in April, Zhang Ren began to hand over military affairs to Li Qiu one after another. He had been recuperating at home all year round. His occasional appearance was just to calm the morale of the military and help Li Qiu control the public security military affairs. .
In the past month, Zhang Ren's physical condition has become worse and worse. According to Zhang Ren's eldest son, Zhang Lin, the old man may not survive this winter.
In this case, even Pang Tong would not bother the old general anymore.
This famous general in central Sichuan, whether it was to take care of Liu Zhang or to protect the Han Dynasty, he had guarded the public security for nearly ten years.
In the past ten years, it was not that Zhang Ren had no opportunities for promotion or the possibility of becoming a marquis, but all these opportunities and possibilities were rejected by Zhang Ren one by one.
It's hard to say whether he refused promotion and title because he cared about his old master, but even if it was, the court couldn't respect him because of his loyalty to his master.
No emperor wants his subordinate to be a disloyal person. Therefore, even if Zhang Renzhong's person is not the emperor or the court, the respect he deserves should still be given to him.
What's more, people have really guarded the public security city for you for ten years and refused the prying eyes of Soochow. This is already very worthy of the Han Dynasty and the imperial court.
Therefore, Pang Tong visited Zhang Ren on behalf of the imperial court, expressed his condolences, and promised Zhang Lin privately that even if Zhang Ren was unwilling to accept the imperial reward, the imperial court would always owe the Zhang family this title.
For this promise, Pang Tong was 80% true and 20% false. The promise should be given as a reward for Zhang Ren's meritorious service, but by saying this at this time, Pang Tong also meant to stabilize Zhang Lin.
After all, Zhang Ren has been guarding the public security for ten years. Everyone in the public security guards admires Zhang Ren's character. If Zhang Lin does something in Zhang Ren's name at this time, Pang Tong and Li Qiu, two outsiders, will definitely have no prestige. Fa compared with Zhang Ren.
Only by stabilizing the internal situation will it be possible to defend the external situation.
After all, in the Public Security City, including the 3,000 people brought by Pang Tong, there were only 8,000 defenders.
Pang Tong had already sent people to rush for reinforcements, but whether it was Zong Yu from Yidu County or Chen Dao from Badong County, it would take as little as ten days, as long as fifteen or even twenty days to arrive at the Public Security Bureau.
During this period of time, we must rely on the 8,000 defenders of the Public Security Bureau to hold off the attack of tens of thousands of Soochow troops.
Stabilizing military morale is very necessary.
(End of chapter)
