It is not difficult to defeat Zhang Ling.
Since Zhuge Ke chose to retract the defense line, abandon Zhang Ling, and retreat to the north of Jiangxia, Zhang Ling's defenders did not have many people. It was not surprising that Zhang Xi captured it within five days.
The key point in the battle of Jiangxia is the naval duel, whichever navy can win in the end will be able to occupy Jiangxia.
Otherwise, even if Zhang Xi knew that there were less than 5,000 Soochow defenders in Xiakou across the river, he would still not easily choose to cross the river and attack Xiakou.
After all, the navy cannot win. Once they cross the river, they will be cut off by the Soochow navy. Even if they capture Xiakou, they will eventually have to withdraw due to lack of supplies.
Not only Zhang Xi knows this, but Zhu Ran from Lukou also knows this.
Therefore, in Zhu Ran's view, as long as he and Liu Lue guard Lukou and block the main force of the coalition forces of Jiangling Navy and Yizhou Navy, Xiakou will not encounter any danger.
On this point, Zhu Ran was still very sure.
Yes, Zhu Ran admitted that Yang Xi and the Jiangling Navy have grown very fast in recent years, and the Jiangling Navy's long-range attacks are also very sharp.
However, Yang Di is not as rich in actual combat command experience as Zhu Ran. The Jiangling navy also has very obvious advantages and disadvantages. The navy is sharp at long range, but its close combat ability is not very high.
Even after these two years of constant combat training, it is impossible to immediately improve to the level of the Soochow Navy.
Not to mention, this time the Jiangling Navy is surrounded by a half-finished burden - the Yizhou Navy.
It is said that Wang Jun played a great role in the battle of the Shu Han Dynasty to destroy the Wei Dynasty. However, he himself was from the north. He was good at bows and horses but weak at boats. He sent such a person to lead the Yizhou Shui Army that had only been established for less than two years. The army went out to fight. Zhu Ran felt that even if he stayed a little longer, he would be killed! ! !
Zhu Ran still had a good grasp of the Lukou battle situation.
As for the Xiangyang Navy, although Zhu Ran was a little worried that Zhang Cheng would not be as good as Zhong Limu in commanding on the battlefield, the difference in level between the two was not large, and the Soochow Navy was superior in strength. In theory, there should be no big problem.
In addition, from the perspective of the overall strategic situation, when Zhang Xi sent troops from Jiangling, he only mobilized 50,000 land troops, including 30,000 Jiangling County troops, 10,000 Yidu County troops and 10,000 Xiangyang troops. The soldiers from the counties. The soldiers from the four counties in Jingnan and Nanyang County were not mobilized.
On the Yanzhou side, not only soldiers from Yanzhou participated in the war, but the Heluo Sili area and even the southern part of Jizhou in Hebei used county soldiers to gather in Yanzhou.
It is clear at a glance which side is the main attack and which side is the secondary attack.
The strategic situation is very clear. The Battle of Jiangxia is to contain the main force of the Soochow Navy and the soldiers of Jiangxia County. It is a slave attack. The real threat is still in the direction of Huainan and Qingxu.
Not only Sun Quan, Lu Xun, Zhu Ran and others thought so, in fact, Xu Shu and Zhang Xi also thought so at the beginning.
But, some things are just weird.
In Huainan, although Wen Qin took advantage of Zhuge Jin's improper defense line setting and broke into Langya County, as Lu Xun responded in time, Sun Shao arrived with his troops and formed a coalition with Zhuge Jin, and still defended Langya County and Xiapi County. At the junction, the two sides formed a stalemate.
When Hu Zun faced Zhuge Dan several times, he never gained the upper hand. Guanqiu Jian and Xu Shu's troops attacked Huainan in two directions, but were blocked by Lu Xun. Zhang Yi left Yingchuan, but was also restrained by Zhu Ju in Ru. No advance to the south.
The Huainan direction, which was supposed to be the main offensive, gradually entered a stalemate stage after attacking for more than a month.
On the contrary, on Jiangxia's side, in just half a month since the war started, the defense line has become loose.
There are many reasons for this.
The first reason is that Zhu Ran still underestimated the progress rate of the Han Navy, especially the progress rate of the Yizhou Navy.
To be honest, in the past two years, although Yang Xi tried his best to improve the combat effectiveness of the Yizhou Navy, the Yizhou Navy was indeed established during the time period and had a weak foundation. Two years is not enough to improve the Yizhou Navy. Grow into an elite water warrior.
However, no matter what, it would not be to the point of dragging Jiangling's navy back.
In a one-to-one situation, the Yizhou Navy cannot defeat the Jiangling Navy, let alone the Soochow Navy. But the problem now is that the Yizhou Navy cannot beat the Soochow Navy on a one-to-one basis.
The Jiangling Navy and the Yizhou Navy combined have fifty thousand people, while the Soochow Navy in Lukou only has 30,000 men. The strength ratio is five to three. It is almost a two-on-one strength advantage, which is enough to smooth out the individual battles between the two sides. There is a power gap.
The second reason is that Zhu Ran made a big mistake in his understanding of Wang Jun.
It is true that Wang Jun is from the north, and it is true that he led the infantry or cavalry to win battles that made him famous. However, Wang Jun is a man from a wealthy family and has a strong learning ability.
You know, in history, even after Deng Ai destroyed Shu, Cao Wei or the Western Jin Dynasty did not have a decent navy. The navy that later destroyed Wu was all Wang Jun's little bit in Yizhou, which was created from scratch. established.
When he first arrived in Yizhou, Wang Jun had no experience in water warfare. He relied on his ability to learn and absorb to create an elite navy force.
It is true that Wang Jun is a bit of a jerk. Historically, it was ugly to compete with Wang Hun for credit. He was extravagant and indeed had a poor reputation in the world, but his ability is undoubted.
Zhu Ran actually mistakenly compared Wang Jun to Liu Lue, thinking that Wang Jun could not defeat Liu Lue in a water battle. This was somewhat blind.
Yes, Wang Jun has not been in contact with the navy for a long time, and he does not have much experience in personally commanding the navy. But, Wang Jun has followed Yang Di in the past few years and has spared no effort to learn. A bit of ability and experience.
What Wang Jun lacks now is just his actual combat experience.
And Wang Jun was very lucky. In the first naval battle in his life, he did not encounter the torture of famous generals like Zhu Ran, nor did he encounter the group of idiots in the late Soochow Dynasty. I will leave this person alone, and have the experience of naval warfare. Not bad, but he is rigid and not very good at making decisions on his own, which makes him the most suitable opponent for Wang Jun's training.
Therefore, Wang Jun and Liu Lue had the slight upper hand when they first fought, but a month later, they were fighting each other, and Liu Lue felt inexplicably unable to withstand it. The speed of change exceeded Zhu Ran's. imagination.
Liu Lue couldn't stand it anymore, so he naturally had no choice but to ask Zhu Ran for help.
After all, the Soochow Navy was at a disadvantage in terms of strength, and its error tolerance rate was naturally not as good as that of the Han Navy.
If we continue to divide our forces to fight like now, once Liulue is really defeated by Wang Jun and loses a large number of elite navy troops, then the next war will be even more difficult to fight.
Therefore, after thinking for several days, Zhu Ran decided to abandon the defense of the land entrance and retreat to Xiakou, taking advantage of the special hydrological conditions at the junction of the Han River and the Yangtze River to deal with the Han navy.
After all, Yang Xi has been stationed in Lukou with the Jiangling navy for almost two years. Both parties share the geographical advantages and have a thorough understanding of the hydrological conditions.
But Xiakou has always been the home base of the Soochow Navy. Zhu Ran not only occupies a geographical advantage, but the defense along the river in Xiakou is also much better than that in Lukou.
Of course, the more important thing is that the Soochow Navy retreated to Xiakou, which was regarded as a return to the base camp and shortened the logistics supply distance. However, the Jiangling Navy and Yizhou Navy were expeditions, which not only required setting up a new water stronghold, but also lengthening the supply line.
From the perspective of a long-term confrontation, Zhu Ran's decision was the most reasonable choice.
Yes, if there was no last bad factor, it would indeed be the most reasonable thing for Zhu Ran to do this. But the last bad factor completely ruined everything.
Just when Zhu Ran and Liu Lue joined forces, abandoned Lukou, and were preparing to return to Xiakou, Zhu Ran received an urgent military report from Zhang Cheng.
In the Battle of Hanjinkou, Zhang Cheng lost to Zhonglimu with equal strength. After the defeat, he was forced by Zhonglimu to return to Xiakou.
Of the 20,000 Dongwu Navy troops brought by Zhang Cheng, only 11,000 men followed Zhang Cheng back to Xiakou. It can be seen from the loss of troops alone that Zhang Cheng was defeated this time and returned in a major defeat.
This is the third factor - Zhu Ran overestimated Zhang Cheng's ability and underestimated Zhong Limu's.
It is true that Zhong Limu's status in the Jiangling Navy was not as good as Wen Dai's in the early stage. Later, under the light of Yang Di, he was indifferent and felt as if he had no sense of existence.
But in fact, Zhongli Mu's ability is not much worse than Yang Di.
Regardless, Yang Xi was also from a Jingzhou family after all. He was from Nanyang, and he was older than Zhongli Mu. The Jingzhou family would definitely be more willing to make Yang Xi famous.
As for Zhong Limu, he was from a poor family and was young. Who would come to help brag about his reputation?
As for Zhang Cheng, it is true that he is still good at it, but he is just a navy general on the same level as Liu Lue. Yang Di, who just debuted, could pin Liu Lue on Ba Qiu and beat him wildly. Now Zhong Limu can deal with Zhang Cheng. Cheng, isn’t that more than enough? !
In addition, Zhang Cheng also relied on his reputation to judge people. Although he also knew that Zhong Limu was somewhat capable, but because his reputation was not obvious, Zhang Cheng subconsciously thought that Zhong Limu was not as good as him, and he underestimated his enemy from the beginning.
If Zhong Limu didn't seize such a good opportunity, wouldn't he be very sorry to himself?
In this way, the Hanjinkou Victory was born.
(End of chapter)
