The Ming army surrounding Wang Gang wanted to capture Wang Gang alive and strive for higher military exploits.
But Wang Gang was so decisive that the Ming soldiers had no time to stop him, so they just let him die.
I can only say it is very regrettable.
In the ensuing war, more than half of Wang Gang's more than ten troops were killed, and only three chose to surrender in the end.
On this day, the battle of Lujin Town ended with a complete victory for the Ming army. The Ming army successfully occupied Lujin Town and opened a safe road to the south.
In this battle, the Ming army annihilated 20,000 Song troops, eating up half of Liu Qi's army in one fell swoop. The road south to Yangzhou was unimpeded. The Huainan defense system Liu Qi tried to construct in a hurry collapsed before it was completed. .
Now, Liu Qi had to meet the red-eyed Ming soldiers in Yangzhou City.
After the war, Zhou Zhi immediately held a military meeting and arranged some post-war matters, such as escorting all the prisoners of the Song Army to Haizhou, and then announced the key points of the attack on Yangzhou.
"Yangzhou is an important town in the north and south of the Yangtze River. The city is tall and the moat is wide and deep. It cannot be compared with Lujin Town. There are at least 10,000 defenders in the city. The defender is Liu Qi, a famous general of the Southern Song Dynasty. If we attack the city by force, our army will be killed. Po Xue Liu may not be able to successfully conquer Yangzhou.
So what I mean is that the importance of this battle lies in encircling rather than attacking. Our army must establish a foothold in Jiangbei, surround Yangzhou City, cut off the connection between the inside and outside of Yangzhou City, cut off Yangzhou City's assistance, and then wait for the navy's attack action. "
"Yes, whether Yangzhou City can be captured at the minimum cost depends on the navy's actions."
Zhou Zhixue said: "If the navy can eat all the Southern Song Dynasty navy on the river, it can cut off the connection between Yangzhou and Zhenjiang Prefecture. In this way, Liu Qi and the Yangzhou defenders will be fighting alone and without foreign aid." In this case, the initiative lies with our army, not the Song army."
Zhou Zhi looked at Yangzhou City and Zhenjiang Mansion on the south bank of the Yangtze River on the map, and then looked up at Zhou Mancheng, the commander of the river navy.
After annihilating the guard navy on the Huaihe River in the Southern Song Dynasty, Zhou Mancheng left a small number of warships to protect the pontoon, then carried a large amount of supplies and led the main force of the inland river navy to accompany Zhou Zhi's main force southward along the Hangou.
The Ming army's army won all the way and constantly opened up the road ahead, allowing the navy to advance smoothly without encountering any obstruction from the Song army's navy along the way.
Now that the Ming Army's land army has achieved a huge victory and opened the way to Yangzhou, the importance of the naval army has become highlighted.
"Vice General Zhou, now is the time to use your navy."
Zhou Zhi looked at Zhou Mancheng.
Zhou Mancheng nodded.
"Indeed, this situation requires our navy to dispatch. The Ma Bu Army has made great achievements, and our navy will never fall behind others."
The goal of Zhou Mancheng and Zhou Zhi is Guazhou Ferry, an important ancient ferry on the Yangtze River.
They planned to use the navy to occupy Guazhou Crossing, eliminate the Southern Song Dynasty Jiangzhong Navy, cut off the connection between Yangzhou and Zhenjiang, and completely isolate Liu Qi and the Yangzhou defenders.
Then Zhenjiang Mansion was naturally within the grasp of the Ming army.
Guazhoudu has been an important area connecting the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal and the Yangtze River since a long time ago. When the country's political situation was stable, commerce and trade prospered here, and a large number of merchant ships passed here to communicate north-south trade. Today, although Guazhoudu is no longer what it once was. Although prosperous, it is still an important crossing of the Yangtze River.
The place where Guazhou Crossing came out of the water around the Jin Dynasty became a river center island with a protruding center and surrounded by water on all sides.
As time went by, around the middle of the Tang Dynasty, the north of Guazhou Island was connected to the land on the north bank of the Yangtze River, and it became an important ferry and riverside business center in the Jiangbei region, and human settlements and small towns gradually appeared.
By the Northern Song Dynasty, Guazhoudu had become a giant riverside trade town and developed to a large scale. Trade between the south and north of the Yangtze River was frequent, and most of them passed through here.
However, with the wars between the Jin and Song Dynasties and the diversion of the Yellow River, Guazhoudu's commercial status gradually declined. Despite this, Guazhoudu is also an important Yangtze River ferry and commercial center.
Of course, this is no longer the case in Guazhoudu at this moment.
As the war between the Ming and Song Dynasties began, those who could escape would flee, and those who could not escape would hide. No matter how stubborn the person was, he would not dare to do business in the center of the war between the two armies, unless he was eager to be reincarnated and have a new life. Come.
At this moment, the navy controlled by Liu Qi was stationed at Guazhoudu. Its responsibility was to protect the smooth route from Yangzhou to Zhenjiang Prefecture and ensure that Liu Qi could go to Yangzhou and return to Zhenjiang.
According to the investigation information beforehand, there were about a hundred warships and more than a thousand naval personnel here, which were far inferior to the Ming navy in terms of number and strength.
If done correctly, the Ming Navy has a great chance of winning.
Despite this, Zhou Mancheng did not relax at all.
He carefully led the navy to follow the pace of the infantry. He followed the infantry beyond Lujin Town and went all the way south to the north of Yangzhou City. At this moment, it was the ninth day of April.
The vanguard of the Ming army arrived outside Yangzhou City on the morning of April 8th. They conducted some reconnaissance, then set up camp sites for the army, selected suitable locations, and reported to Zhou Zhi the military defense status of the Song Army in Yangzhou City.
According to intelligence, the Song army carried out a very simple clearing of Yangzhou City. The population near Yangzhou was relocated and part of the official roads were destroyed.
The moat of Yangzhou City has been widened, the city walls have been heightened and reinforced, and a large number of defensive equipment has been equipped on the city head. Flags are flying on the city head, and it is full of Song troops defending the city. It seems that the defense is quite sharp, and it is not easy to conquer. thing.
After Zhou Zhi led the army to observe the Yangzhou city defense, he was also quite wary of the Yangzhou city defense. He felt that a forced attack would definitely cause great damage, and he was quite troubled by this.
But Zhou Zhi didn't know that the fighting situation in which the Ming army annihilated 20,000 Song troops in a few days and reached Yangzhou had already frightened the Yangzhou defenders.
Even Liu Qi, who had a hard-core heart after decades of fighting, could not help but feel violently shocked and deeply worried about this.
According to the reports of the defeated soldiers who were lucky enough to recover, the Song army command has basically confirmed that the Ming army displayed very strong combat effectiveness.
Their cavalry and infantry were well-trained, with bright armor and tough weapons. They fought like machines that knew no fatigue. Although the Song army fought bravely under the leadership of the generals, they still could not escape the end of destruction.
Liu Qi believed that the army sent to rescue Wang Gang was an elite army under his command, second only to his own soldiers, and a field army that dared to fight. However, in the face of the Ming army's encirclement and suppression, the entire army was wiped out.
This is so tragic.
So just before the vanguard of the Ming army arrived at Yangzhou City, there were already defenders in the city trying to leave Yangzhou City and escape.
This caused a further blow to the morale of the Song army.
Fortunately, Liu Qi quickly dispatched his son and his own soldiers to hunt down the deserters, and then executed them in public, and even hung their heads on the city tower to warn the army.
This kind of behavior was able to stop the Song army from further deserting, but the morale of the Song army was always difficult to restore.
When the vanguard of the Ming army arrived outside Yangzhou City and caused a shock in the city, Liu Qi spread a wave of money before the battle and gave generous rewards to the defenders in the city. This was able to stop the wavering of the troops in the city.
But I didn't expect that this was just the beginning.
After the vanguard of the Ming army arrived, they immediately sent a letter of persuasion to surrender into the city, along with three heads.
Liu Si’s head, Wei You’s head and Wang Gang’s head.
In the letter of persuasion to surrender, it was written that the Ming army commander Zhou Zhi respected and yearned for the Jin elder Liu Qi. But now that everyone is their own master, it is inevitable to have swords and swords against each other, but he does not want a heroic pearl like Liu Qi to secretly fall for the corrupt. Song Ting worked hard, saying that His Majesty the Ming Emperor was thirsty for talents, and with Liu Qi's qualifications, if he was willing to surrender, he would definitely get proper arrangements.
This is his personal hope. Of course, if Liu Qi persists and insists on his own way, those three heads will be his fate.
A letter written with respect and arrogance at the same time. It is really difficult for ordinary people to understand what Zhou Zhi means, whether he admires Liu Qi or belittles Liu Qi.
But this was not important, because after reading the letter, Liu Qi looked at the three heads and became furious. He, who was already ill, was so angry that he vomited a mouthful of blood and fell into unconsciousness.
The city became even more chaotic. Liu Qi's deputy general Wang Fang urgently took over the important task of city defense and ordered the generals to reorganize the army, otherwise - everyone will die here!
