Zhao Yucheng nodded, approved Xu Tong's suggestion, and immediately held a military meeting with former enemies to inform him of his decision.
After that, he began to make arrangements for the livelihood of the old, weak, sick and disabled people who could be seen everywhere.
The Song army can be a non-human being, but the peasant army cannot.
The peasant army is an army based on the people, and justice is an attribute that cannot be stripped away.
Anyway, the overall situation was basically stable, so Zhao Yucheng collected the ships accompanying the army, arranged for the uploading of these old and weak people in batches, and sent them to the rear along the Han River, to Ezhou, and even back to the Jiangnan West Road Liberated Area and handed them over to Lu Cheng Ren settled properly.
For this reason, Zhao Yucheng mobilized 20,000 peasant troops from his first division to deal with the matter, and had to stay and provide support.
So the tasks of heading north to Xiangyang and Fancheng for reconnaissance and preliminary preparations for the war could only be left to Xu Tong and his second division. .
Xu Tongsui led the second division to continue heading north, and on the way north, he constantly encountered people who had been killed by the Song army and had no way to survive. They went south in groups to seek a way out. He could only arrange some manpower to escort these people to Yicheng, and handed over Let Zhao Yucheng make arrangements.
The more people he saw like this, Xu Tong felt that Wang Yan had sinister intentions. This situation was not only a waste of manpower for the peasant army, but more importantly, a large part of the food originally prepared for the army's long-term combat had to be used. Used to resettle refugees.
The peasant army is an army of farmers and the common people. Faced with such a situation, they have an unshirkable duty and cannot shirk it. Otherwise, the fundamental nature of the army will be shaken, which is unacceptable to everyone.
So facing this situation, Xu Tong was quite helpless, and he hated Wang Yan more and more, and hated these bastards who lacked great virtues and did nothing but hellish things.
Finally, the Second Division, led by Xu Tong, arrived at the new city. After some investigation, it was discovered that the Song Army had indeed achieved a relatively complete fortification and clearing of the country, and its defenses were very complete.
Not only did the Second City of Xiangfan achieve comprehensive militarization, but many military strongholds with strong defensive capabilities were also established around the Second City of Xiangfan.
These military strongholds are often larger in size and look quite solid, guarding all passages.
Either to protect waterways, or to live on high hills and highlands, using thick wooden boards or even stones as defenses. There are high towers and watchtowers inside, as well as a large number of defenders.
It can be said that the entire area around the Second City of Xiangfan is surrounded by military strongholds, defenses everywhere, and death everywhere.
Faced with this situation, Xu Tong swallowed his saliva and immediately realized that not to mention that he only had less than 20,000 troops now. Even if the entire four divisions of the Peasant Army were mobilized, facing this level of defense would still be fierce. Much good and little good.
At present, the peasant army is still better at defense and field combat, but lacks some experience in attacking difficulties.
Not to mention the absolute defense produced by a general like Wang Yan who is good at defense.
This level of defense means that there are no shortcuts at all. The military strongholds outside the city must be removed bit by bit, and all the military facilities around the Second City of Xiangfan must be captured and destroyed before they can approach the main defense body of the Second City of Xiangfan.
Compared with the peripheral military strongholds, the defense body of the Second City of Xiangfan is almost as different as a Tyrannosaurus rex and an old hen.
Because of the great military value of Xiangyang and Fancheng after the southern crossing, the Southern Song Dynasty court continued to build the Xiangfan city wall from the time Yue Fei guarded Xiangfan, constantly heightening and thickening it, constantly enhancing its defense power, and constantly storing grain.
Therefore, when Xu Tong saw the scale of the city defenses in Xiangyang and Fancheng, he wisely chose to use the new city as a garrison point. He made the decision not to initiate offensive operations before the Henan Corps went south, and instead fully assisted the local refugees to move to the south. The peasant army moved to the rear.
This matter is also very important.
Of course, as a military general, Xu Tong still wanted to achieve great feats. He wanted to try to capture the Second City of Xiangfan and how difficult it would be. He very much hoped to think of some good ways to quickly capture the Second City of Xiangfan and end the Southern Song Dynasty in Jinghu. The presence.
But he thought for a long time and racked his brain, but he couldn't think of a way to quickly attack the Second City of Xiangfan.
If you want to attack the second city, you must break through the military strongholds surrounding the second city. If you want to break through the military strongholds, you must attack one by one, capture them one by one, and use the flesh and blood of soldiers to attack and grind.
These military strongholds were set up on the water's edge or on hills. Some of the two military strongholds were relatively close to each other, and even their positions could support each other.
When attacking a military stronghold, one may face long-range fire strikes from three military strongholds at the same time, which is simply a hell-level difficulty for the attacker.
During this period, countless soldiers will lose their lives, and in the end they will have to face the even more terrifying Second City of Xiangfan.
I'm afraid this battle will take two or three years to end if it continues like this.
After much deliberation, Xu Tong felt an inexplicable sense of frustration. He finally realized how many lives a powerful and complete defense system required to break through.
After all, the Southern Song Dynasty was still powerful, but he had encountered too many cheaters before, which made him gradually think that the Southern Song Dynasty was easy to deal with. In fact, it was not the case. He just did not encounter the truly powerful and capable military force of the Southern Song Dynasty.
Standing on a small hill, overlooking the powerful and complete Xiangfan defense system, Xu Tong sighed and clenched his fists, feeling full of reluctance.
At the same time, Wang Yan was looking south from the top of Xiangyang City.
"If the bandits want to attack Xiangfan, they must first break through the outer military stronghold. If they want to break through the outer military stronghold, they must first clear out the old, weak, sick and disabled outside, and they must also face more difficult food transportation. These are all They have problems, but our army can wait for work."
Wang Yan is very satisfied with this perfect Xiangfan defense system. He feels that he can support it for at least three years through this defense system no matter what. But what can happen in three years?
He felt that he had given the Southern Song Dynasty court enough strategic space to send troops from other places to support Xiangfan. Under such circumstances, if the court still could not complete the tasks he expected, there was really no need to continue the battle.
But before that, he must fulfill his duties.
"From the current point of view, the bandits stayed in the new city and did not move forward. They were obviously held back by the refugees. Not only that, they may also have been frightened by our army's perfect defense and did not dare to act recklessly. The general's strategy will lead to victory. That’s it!”
The relatives around Wang Yan showered him with compliments.
Wang Yan shook his head and sighed after hearing this.
"They may also be waiting for a good time to have a decisive battle with me."
He moved his gaze to the north: "There are more powerful enemies waiting for us to deal with. The Ming army in Henan has not yet gone south. Once they... huh?"
Wang Yan suddenly frowned.
North of Xiangyang, wherever he looked, there was a line of black smoke rising into the sky.
"Is that wolf smoke?"
Wang Yan pointed to the north.
The general looked in the direction of Wang Yan's finger and was shocked.
Isn't that the smoke that represents the Ming army's march south?
Ming army...
Really dispatched?
Yes, the Ming army was dispatched.
On March 29, the fifth year of Hongwu's reign, the Henan Corps of the Ming Army officially went south to join the battle.
Corps Commander Zhang Yuejing issued a formal marching order, ordering the trapped troops gathered in Rangcheng to move south quickly. The army entered Baishui through the turbulent water, then went down the river from Baishui into the main stream of Han River, and followed the Han River straight to Xiangfan.
Zhang Yuejing himself will also follow the trapped army southward.
At the same time, he ordered the main force of the enemy-defeating army assembled in Biyang to go south to Zaoyang. General Chen Qiaoshan led the main force to capture Zaoyang, then follow Gunhe River into Xiangyang Prefecture, capture Cabinet Pass, and then arrive at Xiangfan. Rendezvous with the trapped troops.
