Yang Di may not understand what ideological construction is, but he knows that if an army wants to become an army, it must have a fixed goal, so that it can become an elite force instead of a group of rabble who can only fight with the wind.
In this era, for military sergeants, the most intuitive goal is the coach.
When a commander can attack first, fight with everyone, retreat behind, and fight for everyone's way out, then the soldiers in this army will be happy to serve the commander.
On the battlefield, the soldiers were not afraid of fighting for their lives; what they were afraid of was that the commander would leave them alone.
Therefore, Yang Di really carried out this divorce with the determination to die.
Five thousand people, more than 40 warships, of which there is only one Mengchong warship, and the Soochow Army now has three Mengchong warships, and 145 large and small warships. This kind of military strength and warfare With the gap between the boats, it was really a dream for Yang Di to survive.
However, a miracle still happened.
When Yangqi was besieged by Zhu Ran's army, with less than twenty warships left including the Mengchong warships, Zhu Ran took the initiative to withdraw his troops.
Yang Di really didn't understand how he escaped, because it was really unbelievable.
The gap in military strength was too large. The Duanhou Navy led by Yang Jin was almost immediately trapped in a situation where it was surrounded by the Soochow Navy. In less than two quarters of an hour, the Duanhou Navy on both sides were defeated by the Soochow Army. Breakthrough, the Soochow Army can outflank Yang Di from both wings at any time, cut off Yang Di's retreat, and encircle Yang Di's navy.
And once the Soochow navy completes the two-wing encirclement, Yang Di will have no chance to escape. Even if Yang Di can stabilize the turbulent military morale, the best result is just a death struggle. In less than half an hour, he will inevitably be defeated. Completely defeated, and finally ended up defeated and life or death.
However, just when the Soochow Navy was about to complete the encirclement of Yangdi, the Soochow Navy suddenly began to retreat, withdrawing from the fighting waters and heading towards the Gong'an City.
Yang's life was hanging by a thread, but after finally escaping, he didn't have time to figure out why Zhu Ran did what he did, so he quickly retreated with the remaining ten or so warships to the water stronghold of the Jiangling Navy.
It wasn't until he completely retreated to the water stronghold that Yang Di had time to think about why Zhu Ran would let him live. You know, Zhu Ran would be able to completely resolve the battle in half an hour at most. What urgent military affairs could he do? Zhu Ran didn't even have half an hour to spare? !
Yang Di really couldn't figure it out, but again, there was no time for him to think about it seriously now.
Although the Jiangling navy has withdrawn from the water stronghold and is no longer in danger for the time being, the navy now has less than 8,000 troops and no more than fifty warships available, of which there is only one Mengchong warship. It was still a warship that was almost half disabled after a great battle.
This kind of naval force has lost the ability to take the initiative to fight, and should huddle in the water stronghold to defend. The Soochow Navy now has at least 150 warships, and the more than 10,000 navy soldiers are just passively beaten. .
After a defeat, the morale of the army will drop by at least half. If they are blocked in the water village and beaten, the morale of the army will be destroyed sooner or later.
Therefore, Yang Di came to Wen Dai to discuss the withdrawal of troops.
They could not withdraw before to cover the public security navy's crossing of the river, but now, the nine thousand soldiers who had withdrawn from the public security city to the north of the Yangtze River had quickly returned to Jiangling under the leadership of Zhong Limu.
The Jiangling navy has no worries anymore. In addition, its own battle losses have exceeded 60%, and one-third of the warships are left. It has no ability to fight again. If it does not retreat at this time, Zhu Ran will lead the navy to catch up. , but I really can’t leave.
Together, Yang Xi and Wen Dai decided to follow Zhang Xi's pre-war arrangement. When the Yangtze River defense line could not be defended, the navy would not engage in fighting, and the entire army would go upstream and take temporary refuge in Chenshou, Badong County.
Therefore, when Zhu Ran once again led the Soochow Navy and prepared to besiege the water stronghold of the Jiangling Navy, he found that the water stronghold was already empty.
Annoyed? !
Maybe a little.
Do you regret it? !
Not at all.
The reason why Zhu Ran suddenly withdrew his troops when he was besieging Yangdi was not because he wanted to give Yangdi a way out, but because Zhou Yu, who put out the fire at the ferry at the police station, sent a small boat to Zhu Ran to send an order to quickly defeat Jiangling. After the navy, they went to Gong'an Ferry to support the army in crossing the river.
Zhou Yu also specially asked the person who sent the order to emphasize to Zhu Ran that we must be fast and buy enough time not to fight on the water. Our goal is always Jiangling City.
After receiving such an order, Zhu Ran thought for a moment and decided to immediately withdraw his troops and go to the police.
Only 7,000 of the 20,000 Jiangling naval forces were left withdrew to the water stronghold. The number of warships dropped sharply from more than 140 to less than 50, and only one Mengchong warship remained. It can be said that, The Jiangling Navy no longer has the ability to compete with the Soochow Navy for control of the Yangtze River.
The encirclement and suppression of Yangdi was just the icing on the cake.
Since General Shang emphasized the need to hurry up, he should first go to support the army to cross the river. As for the remaining Jiangling navy, the most they can do is retreat to the water stronghold and linger. It will be the same if they turn back and deal with it.
In this way, Zhu Ran considered the overall situation and temporarily let go of Yangzi. He went to the Gong'an Ferry to assist the Soochow navy to cross the river, and then led the navy back to besiege Jiangling Water Village.
Although the pounce was in vain, neither Zhu Ran nor Zhou Yu actually paid much attention.
At this stage of the battle, Zhu Ran's navy has completed its most important combat mission. Now that Zhou Yu has enough troops on hand, there is no need for Zhu Ran's navy to go ashore to fight. Therefore, Zhu Ran's current task is to stay in the public security bureau. Nearby, ensure the smooth flow of logistics and food for the army.
The remnants of the Jiangling Navy who escaped and abandoned the water stronghold were no longer able to pose a substantial threat to the Soochow Navy, regardless of their overall combat capabilities or lack of logistical supplies.
If Zhu Ran has extra energy, he can search for this remnant army and finally destroy it. If he doesn't want to be so troublesome, he can just ensure that the water and food channels are smooth.
Zhou Yu is now leading 22,000 soldiers and heading towards Jiangling quickly.
The reason why there are 22,000 troops instead of more troops is because Zhou Yu needs to leave enough manpower in the public security for defense.
Li Qiu broke out from the public security ferry, but Cheng Zi was ultimately unable to catch up with the soldiers and bite Li Qiu. Therefore, in Zhou Yu's mind, there was still a Shu Han army of thousands of people on the south bank of the Yangtze River.
This army lacks food and grass supplies, so it will most likely not pose any substantial threat to itself, but if we take it lightly and let this army kill a carbine and seize back the public security or the public security ferry, it will be a trouble.
Therefore, Zhou Yu left Lu Dai to lead 3,000 men to garrison Gong'an City, and Cheng Zi to lead 2,000 men to garrison Gong'an Ferry. Only then could he continue to march north with confidence and attack Jiangling.
Of course, the most important thing is that Zhou Yu does not have to worry about insufficient offensive forces.
To the east of Jiangling, there were not only Zhuge Ke's vanguard force of 20,000 people, but also the follow-up reinforcements led by Lu Xun of 60,000 people. After gathering these attacking forces, Zhou Yu had an attacking army of more than 100,000 people, and did not care about the 5,000. Human shortage.
As for the Yingxian battlefield east of Jiangling, the Yingxian garrison general Zhou Tai had abandoned Yingxian at this time.
On the one hand, Zhang Xi ordered Zhou Tai to abandon the defense of Ying County, get rid of the pursuit of the Soochow Army, and lead as many troops as possible to retreat to Jiangling.
On the other hand, Zhou Tai was not a fool. He only had 10,000 men, so it was okay to block Zhuge Ke's 20,000 men. But if Lu Xun later brought 60,000 men to attack, he would definitely not be able to stop him.
If they delay for time, Zhoutai may be able to hold on for the first half of a month or even a month, but the problem is that a head-on fight with the Soochow Army in Ying County is not what the current situation requires.
Even if Zhou Tai resisted in Ying County, he would not be able to kill a large number of Soochow soldiers. After all, Ying County was not a strategic fortress, it was just an ordinary small county.
Therefore, after Zhang Xi gave the order, Zhou Tai did not want to fight, but immediately began to think about the withdrawal route.
The most direct route from Ying County to Jiangling is to exit from the west gate of Ying County and follow the official road straight to the east gate of Jiangling. This is the shortest and most convenient route.
But the problem is that the leading general of the Soochow Army will most likely not be a fool.
Even if Zhuge Ke had no brains, Lu Xun, who came from Huarong County in the south, is now a famous general in Soochow, and he is the kind of general with outstanding strategies.
Would such a person never think of Ying County's possible retreat? !
Zhou Tai suspected that Lu Xun might have sent forward troops to ambush the main road from Ying County to Jiangling.
Therefore, to be on the safe side, Zhou Tai thought that he should leave from the north gate of Ying County, walk all the way north, then make a circle and enter the city from the north gate of Jiangling.
Although doing this will waste a little marching time, it will be relatively safer.
Zhou Tai made a strategy to withdraw his troops, and Zhuge Ke was outside Ying County. Although Zhuge Ke was teased by Zhang Te once in history, it was just the result of his willfulness. In fact, Zhuge Ke at this time, I don’t have the capital to be self-willed yet.
Although he also thinks a little too highly of himself, there is nothing wrong with Zhuge Ke's mind.
He has 20,000 people. Although he is not sure of capturing Ying County, he still has the ability to besiege Ying County.
In the direction of the west gate of Ying County, just as Zhou Tai expected, Zhuge Ke specially arranged for five thousand soldiers to set up an ambush there. After all, that place was the closest distance for the Ying County defenders to withdraw, and they had to be guarded against.
As for the north gate of Ying County, Zhuge Ke did not take it lightly.
Of the four gates of Ying County, only the west gate and the north gate were suitable for withdrawing troops to break out of the encirclement. Zhuge Ke also had enough soldiers to dispatch, so he naturally wanted to plug all possible loopholes.
Therefore, in addition to the 1,000 soldiers who routinely besieged the north gate, Zhuge Ke also arranged an additional 3,000-man army to set up an ambush twenty miles outside the north gate of Ying County to prevent Zhou Tai from breaking out from the north gate.
When Zhou Taizhen led his troops out of the north gate, he broke through the interception of a thousand soldiers of the Soochow Army, and when heading north, he encountered an ambush of 3,000 Soochow soldiers that Zhuge Ke had ambushed in advance.
(End of chapter)
