On the Jiangxia River, the Chu Navy was unable to defeat the Ning Navy, not just because of its weak military strength.
During the naval battle last year, the Chu State captured more than a hundred Ning State warships and more than 8,000 navy prisoners.
Relying on this batch of warship prisoners, after spending a winter absorbing and digesting them, the Chu Navy had already recovered its strength to 50,000 troops.
With this strength, following last year's great victory, he was eager to fight against the Ning army. Even without Chu Wei's command, Chu's chances of victory were not small.
But on the front line, the Chu State still only retained 40,000 naval forces, allowing the Ning State Navy to show off its power. There was naturally a reason for this.
The reason is that Lu Yuan has secretly removed tens of thousands of naval divisions and a large number of ships and transferred them to Xichuan in advance for the purpose of transporting troops this time.
Because things were done secretly, and Hanzhong Xichuan was thousands of miles away, blocked by mountains and mountains, and extremely far from the frontline battlefield.
This resulted in Ning Guo's people being unaware of the Chu army's secret actions.
For the 50,000 forbidden troops transferred by Lu Yuan, as well as Huang Xuan, a clone of the second innate realm, there was no defense at all. They were a surprise force.
At this time, this strange force was transported by the navy. As long as it arrived at Changsha Prefecture through Dongting Lake, it could go directly to the front line and cooperate with Sun Siwen in Changsha City to catch Xiang Duan's 100,000 troops there by surprise.
As long as this enemy force can be defeated, Ning's army will lose 100,000 soldiers, and may even kill an innate master.
So next, Huang Xuan led his troops south and continued to raid the Ning army in Luyang and Hengyang.
Or send troops eastward, directly attack Yuzhang County, and cut off the retreat of Shenqiu's army on the Jiangxia front line.
They can break the current stalemate on the Dongting battlefield.
Shen Qiu wanted to regain his disadvantage by attacking the hinterland of Dongting.
Lu Yuan also wanted to attack Yuzhang County to cut off the Ning army's retreat and at the same time threaten the opponent's capital.
So after being reminded by those senior family members who wanted to prepare a way out for him, and learning about Shen Qiu's strategic plan, he followed suit and formulated a plan that was the same but with the opposite purpose.
It seems now.
With the changes in the situation of all parties, Ning Guo's plan has gone bankrupt, and the sneak attack has turned into a conspiracy.
On the Chu side, a sneak attack had been prepared and launched without making a sound.
The final result now depends on whether Shen Qiu can accomplish his goal and quickly defeat the 100,000 Ning army in Changsha and win.
However, with Huang Xuan's strength, the suddenness of the attack, and the internal support in the city, it was basically impossible to stop Ning's army without preparedness.
The destruction of Xiang Duan's army is basically a foregone conclusion.
Of course, Lu Yuan mobilized an army from thousands of miles away to complete this surprise attack, and the risks were not small.
The biggest risk is that after Huang Xuan is transferred, Hanzhong, Xichuan, Hehe and other three counties in the western part of the Chu Kingdom will no longer have Xiantian in charge.
In terms of top-level combat strength, it can be said that it has become a vacuum and extremely weak.
After transferring 50,000 forbidden troops at the same time, the Chu State's troops in the three western counties will only have 70,000 forbidden troops and local county soldiers.
The total number of these troops and horses is only about 150,000, which is useless to deal with the complex situation in the west.
If an enemy really sends a large army to suddenly attack Xisan County at this time, then the situation in the western part of Chu State will probably completely collapse.
Fortunately, the Zhou State in the north was too busy to take care of itself and was unable to go south. In the snowfield to the west, there are only dangerous mountain roads leading to the valley county, and since they are allies with the Chu State, it is impossible to send a large army to kill them.
The only threat left was Nanzhao Kingdom in the south.
It can be said that the Chu State's prestige at this time, as well as the containment of vassal states such as Jianchuan and Chili, as well as the deterrence of the recent attack on the Su State, Nanzhao and Dali in the southwest should not dare to make any changes.
At the same time, Huang Xuan led the army to leave, but he also acted in secret and made no noise.
Outsiders don't know that the western part of Chu State is empty, which is another layer of cover-up.
With these many conditions in place, there is no need to worry about the safety of the western side of Chu State for the time being.
But even so, with Lu Yuan's stability, he did not rely on the enemy not to invade.
When Huang Xuan's army was deployed to reinforce Dongting, Lu Yuan also arranged for two disciples, Han Shun and Zhang You, to rush to Xichuan and Hanzhong counties to guard the area.
These two disciples, like Chu Wei, had been trained by Lu Yuan and were in the process of attacking Xiantian.
However, they lacked the daily guidance of teacher Lu Yuan, and at the same time, their accumulation of knowledge was also a bit worse. The progress of breakthrough innateness was slower than that of Chu Wei.
But this one is slow, not much slower.
According to estimates, by early summer, within a month or two, the two of them would have almost achieved their innate breakthrough.
Therefore, we only need to delay the weakest month or two in the western region at this time, and wait for Han Shun and Zhang You to break through Xiantian. With two people guarding them, it will be enough to stabilize the overall situation in the western region.
Even if Nanzhao comes to attack, it will be enough to repel it.
Lu Yuan believed that with the layers of fog he had arranged and the current prestige of Chu State, he could win it in just one or two months.
Just get through this most difficult time.
In the end, even if the world sees through his plan, everything will be settled and there is nothing he can do about it.
Taking a little risk can give you the opportunity to quickly defeat Ning Guo.
In this wave, Chu State is making steady profits again.
…
The clouds and mist are misty, the sky is high and the water is wide.
The light of the morning sun shone, and a piece of golden light reflected the entire lake. In the vast expanse of gold, black dots came from a distance and slowly appeared on the huge lake.
In Changsha, floating clouds cross.
Huang Xuan stood at the bow of the ship, looking at the ferry in the distance. At this time, orders had been received at the ferry. Thousands of government soldiers gathered to clear the surroundings and control the entire ferry, which was enough to ensure that no information could be leaked from here.
"Changsha, finally arrived."
The fleet entered the ferry, and soon countless small boats arrived, and even more powerful workers carried various supplies and sent them to the ships coming from afar.
Fifty thousand forbidden troops and ten thousand naval forces consume countless supplies every day, which can be called astronomical figures.
In order to seek concealment, Lu Yuan sent a navy to pick up the surprise force led by Huang Xuan. It was impossible to mobilize too many ships to avoid being discovered by Ning Guo.
Therefore, the ships sent to Xichuan were actually limited, just enough to accommodate 50,000 forbidden troops.
There are some gaps left on the ship, and the supplies that can be stored are limited.
Therefore, every day the boat travels, it needs to find a ferry along the way for supplies to replenish the consumption of the army on the bed.
Fortunately, Lu Yuan had already anticipated this matter and had arranged for people to select suitable locations along the way and mobilize appropriate troops and horses to prepare for this matter.
Everywhere Huang Xuanqi's soldiers arrived, there were supply points. The local prefecture and county soldiers gathered to control the ferry and tightly blockade the place.
After the fleet is replenished, the blockade will not be released after departure, but will continue to be maintained for ten days to prevent any possibility of leaks.
Any ships encountered on the way were also seized by the army fleet. Every time they arrived at a supply point, the seized ships were detained at the supply intersection and guarded by the local prefecture and county soldiers to prevent them from escaping.
In this way, seven days have passed since the fleet came all the way from Yuzhong Prefecture in Xichuan, and the initial supply point is still blocked.
Even if someone releases the news at this time, by the time the ship reaches Ningguo, Huang Xuan, who has already arrived at Changsha Mansion, may have already started to raid Xiang Duan's army, and the battle will be over long ago.
Relying on these meticulous plans, the fleet led by Huang Xuan came all the way, and the news was top secret.
Not to mention Ning Ren, even in the Chu State, no one except the participants knew about this.
The officers in the army will be responsible for picking up the supplies, so Huang Xuan doesn't need to pay much attention to them.
On the ferry, a captain from the Imperial City Division also rushed to the ship he was on in a small boat.
"I've seen a real person."
After the captain got on the boat, he quickly saluted.
"Yes." Huang Xuan just nodded, and then asked: "How is the situation in Changsha Mansion now? I see that the Fuyundu place is peaceful and there is no trace of the Ning thieves. Are they still blocked by Changsha City?"
Changsha City is the capital of Changsha Prefecture. It is located in the prefecture and relies on Luoshan Mountain. There is also a Luoshui River outside the city, so it is barely close to mountains and rivers. The situation is good.
The city wall of Changsha is also extremely strong. It was once the capital of Changsha, which shows its majesty.
Taking advantage of the favorable mountains, rivers and geographical location, and the support of a strong city, Changsha can be said to be impregnable, not inferior to Jiangxia City in the slightest.
With this majestic city here, Sun Siwen could defend the city with great ease.
Even though he was only a scholar, he was not good at fighting. There were only 20,000 elite soldiers and horses in the city, which was far inferior to the 100,000 Ning people led by Xiang Duan outside the city.
But after half a year, Changsha City is still strong, and even the soldiers and horses in the city have not lost much, just over ten thousand people, most of whom are ordinary civilians recruited.
Relying on the 50,000 civilian households in Changsha City, Sun Siwen just kept giving orders and even replaced these lost civilians, so that the number of soldiers and horses in the city was still maintained at 100,000.
Such a loss can be described as minimal.
On the contrary, the Ning army outside the city besieged the city for half a year, but they could not even completely besiege Changsha City.
Relying on the Luoshui waterway, various supplies from outside the city were continuously sent into the city, so that the city was always rich in food and grass, fully equipped with weapons, and maintained its combat power at its peak.
On the other hand, Ning's army stormed the city several times, but lost troops and generals one after another. The original army of 100,000 was reduced to only 80,000 at this time, and the battle strength was lost by more than 20%, which can be said to be a serious injury.
Today, facing the Changsha City ahead, Xiang Duan has almost nothing to do and has long given up the idea of breaking through.
And because there was no order from Shen Qiu, he did not dare to lead his army to retreat. In the end, he had to stand in a stalemate under the city, pinned here, and constraining each other with the Chu army in Changsha City.
It was also because there were 100,000 soldiers and horses in Changsha City, and there was one innate. In addition, Ning's army no longer had an absolute advantage in soldiers and horses at this time, and it was located in the hinterland of Chu State.
Therefore, Xiang Duan did not even dare to send out partial troops and split his troops to attack the hinterland of Dongting behind Changsha City.
I'm afraid that if we go too deep, we will be specifically targeted and surrounded by the Chu army. Then, under the attack from both front and rear, we will definitely lose the defeated army and die without a place to bury them.
The battle that was full of success at the beginning ended up in this embarrassing state, and Xiang Duan finally showed his face.
Fortunately, he is not the only one showing his face now.
Yang Jing from Jiangbei, Shangguan Ming, Su Xuange and others from Lingnan, and even the emperor from Jiangxia all showed up in this decisive battle between Chu and Ning, and were even more famous than him.
Therefore, in contrast, he seemed even more mediocre. In Ningguo, he had a vague reputation for stability, and it was a strange thing to be called a veteran or famous general.
The captain of the Imperial City Division told Huang Xuan all the information about the Changsha battlefield.
"That's it. Xiang Duan was frustrated at the foot of Changsha City, and he was afraid of being attacked in the rear, so he couldn't advance or retreat. He could only occupy a few small cities in the rear as a retreat. Therefore, after Changsha, there is such a peaceful scene now."
After listening to the story, Huang Xuan had a general impression in his mind. He couldn't help but smile and turned around and said: "It's just that I already know that you should continue to keep an eye on the information outside Changsha City and block the news of the army's arrival in Fuyundu. Don't leak it.
Also, if there is any change in Ning's army, report it to me quickly without delay. "
The captain said quickly: "Yes."
Then, the man left in a hurry, returned to the shore, summoned a few colleagues and subordinates, and gave a few instructions. The more than a hundred imperial city officials and envoys gathered here immediately spread out in all directions and began to take action.
Huang Xuan, who was on board the ship, waited outside the ferry for a while. Seeing that all supplies had been replenished, he did not stay any longer and directly ordered the fleet to leave the ferry and continue moving forward.
Fuyundu is only a ferry within Changsha, located in the Dongting Lake area. Although it can be counted as reaching Changsha, it is only in the west of Changsha and is still more than 200 miles away from Changsha City.
If we disembark from here, then Huang Xuan will lead 50,000 soldiers and horses all the way. It will take at least two or three days while maintaining a certain combat power.
Moreover, tens of thousands of troops are marching on land with such huge momentum that the sky is covered with smoke and dust. It will be difficult to hide their traces, and they will definitely be noticed by the people of Ning.
Although Xiang Duan did not dare to send partial troops into the Dongting Mansion, he did have the courage to send hundreds or even thousands of scouts to explore areas hundreds or even hundreds of miles away from Changsha City.
Even if the Chu army in Changsha City would send out exploration cavalry to intercept and blockade them along the way, it would be impossible for them all to go south, and there would always be news leaked.
Huang Xuan came here to surprise Ning's army and attack Ning's army.
He was not someone who led reinforcements, fought openly and honestly against Ning's army.
If Xiang Duan knew that reinforcements from the Chu army had arrived, Kai Shuan would be vigilant, but he would lead his troops to retreat directly and retreat to Yuzhang County.
Even if they don't withdraw, they will stick to the camp, divide their troops and retreat to the several counties in Changsha Prefecture that they control, and stick to them.
If Huang Xuan wants to attack them one by one, it will be extremely difficult.
In the end, it can only become a situation of stalemate and consumption like the Jiangxia battlefield.
In this way, the meaning of Huang Xuan's coming with the unexpected troops was useless.
It can only be used as reinforcements to strengthen the defense in Dongting, and its effectiveness is greatly reduced.
Therefore, in order to avoid this situation, Huang Xuan's soldiers and horses were not allowed to go by land, but could only use waterways to hide.
Fortunately, within Changsha, there is a Luoshui River that rises from Dongting Lake, goes all the way east, passes through Changsha City, and flows into Yuzhang.
There is also a sensitive water that also starts from Dongting Lake, but it goes north first and enters Yueyang Prefecture where Baling is located.
Then the Minshui passed through several counties in the south of Yueyang Prefecture, turned around, and headed south again. Finally, it arrived in Fengling County, the easternmost part of Changsha, and met the Luoshui River. The two rivers merged into one river.
The Fuyun Ferry here is at the mouth of the upper reaches of Minshui River. A few miles further north, you can go down from the upper reaches of Minshui River. After 500 miles of waterway, you can reach Fengling County and enter Luoshui River.
According to the plan formulated by Lu Yuan.
After arriving at Fengling County, General Huang Xuan led his army to capture the county, and then left a force to block the Dongting Yuzhang water and land channel, thereby blocking Xiang Duan's retreat, and at the same time guarding against subsequent reinforcements transferred from Yuzhang County by the Ning Army.
Huang Xuan will continue up the Shuo River and cross Anjiang County along the way. Taking advantage of the speed of boats on the water, he will penetrate directly behind Changsha in half a day and attack the Ning army's back path.
If you go at such a fast speed, you can reach Fengling County in about one day.
With Huang Xuan here, it won't take half an hour to conquer this county.
From then on, the county went up the Luoshui River to reach the rear of Ningjun outside Changsha City. The waterway was only more than 140 miles away, and it only took half a day by boat.
At about noon the day after tomorrow, we will be able to reach the rear of Ning's army.
Relying on the convenience of water and the rapid advantage of transporting the army, the opponent may not notice it when the sea spin army arrives behind Ning Jun.
At that time, it would be easy to raid and destroy the stronghold, naturally and in one fell swoop.
As long as Huang Xuan's side goes well, Sun Siwen in Changsha City will see the chaos in the rear of Ning's army in the city and will command the army that has been prepared in the past few days to rush out.
With such a pincer attack from both front and back, Xiang Duan's remaining 80,000 troops could be defeated in just one battle.
Even if they fail to attack the opponent for a while, it won't be difficult to kill thirty to fifty thousand Ning troops.
However, Ning's army lost its troops and was cut off by Huang Xuan. When the food and grass were insufficient, even if there were some soldiers and horses left to defend the camp, they would not be able to last ten days and a half.
It was only a matter of time before it was finally destroyed in one fell swoop.
The morning sun rises, and the earth is covered with golden color.
Facing the vibrant sunshine, Huang Xuan's body seemed to be covered with a layer of golden armor. He had a part of Lu Yuan's thinking, with a smile on his face: "The Ning army will be destroyed in these two days."
After the fleet had entered the sensitive water, the flying boat galloped down, traveling thousands of miles a day.
The moment of breaking came quickly.
…
Just as Huang Xuan was leading his boat in Minshui, rushing to Fengling County, in Jiangxia City, which was only a few hundred miles away from him, Lu Yuan was also watching the Yangtze River from the top of the mountain, looking towards the south, with a look on his face. smile.
“After ten days of siege and fierce attack on the city, the Ning and Nanhai armies suffered too many casualties and could no longer hold on, so they abandoned the city and left.
The remnants of the Ning army and the remnants of the Nanhai Kingdom fled by boat at night. During this period, they were discovered by Qing Yunzi, who led his elite soldiers and the Xiantian in the army to rob and kill them.
Did he finally stop Xiaobei and all the others escape? "
Lu Yuan couldn't help but feel good as he thought about the news he had just received that Qingyunzi's clone, who was thousands of miles away in Lingnan, had been sent through his spiritual message.
When he activated Huang Xuan's extraordinary force, Ning Ren's wishes were not fulfilled. He sent reinforcements from Lingnan to support the Chu army in Dongting. Naturally, with their strength well preserved, they naturally did not sit idle under Nanhai City.
After receiving Lu Yuan's order that there was no need to divide the troops, the army would stay in the South China Sea and continue to attack the city.
After discussing with Qingyunzi, Lan Cai'er decided to adopt the previous strategy of attacking Yulin.
Taking advantage of the fact that they had three more innates than the Ning army, and one of them had a high-end combat power that was comparable to the second advanced innate master, they used their strong force to attack Nanhai City once again.
In this way, under the attack of the five innates and nearly 300,000 soldiers and horses attacking day and night, the coalition forces of Ning State and Nanhai State only supported it for ten days, but due to heavy losses, they could no longer support it.
Especially over there in the South China Sea.
Because the soldiers and horses are unable to fight, and there are a large number of civilians in the army, the fighting strength is really worrying.
Under the fierce attack of the Xiantian Grand Master and the elite Chu army, in just ten days, the Chu army attacked the city seven times, and almost lost a city wall three times.
In the end, with the help of Ning Jun, he reluctantly took it back.
However, in the ten-day war, another Xiantian Grandmaster massacred them, and among the 100,000 Southern Navy troops in the city, more than 30,000 were killed or injured.
The remaining soldiers, due to the heavy casualties, had low morale and even mutinied several times. Some people tried to open the city gate and surrender to the enemy, which ended the battle.
Although it was suppressed later, Ning's army also lost more than 10,000 troops in this war, with only more than 20,000 troops and horses left, and its morale was also very low.
Under this situation, no matter how stupid the top leaders of Nanhai and Ning are, they can see that Nanhai City is no longer defensible.
In the end, in order to preserve their strength and reduce losses, the two countries finally chose to escape at night and leave here by boat last night.
But some people want to leave, and naturally some people don't want to leave.
Some senior officials of the Nanhai Kingdom, who were from local wealthy families, secretly reported the news to the Chu army outside the city. In the end, internal and external cooperation resulted in a great night robbery and massacre.
Qingyunzi personally ordered 30,000 elite troops, and cooperated with the more than 10,000 regular troops in the South China Sea, as well as a part of the South China Sea Navy who did not want to stay away from their homeland, to pursue the soldiers and horses of the two countries who escaped.
After a chase, some of the remaining armies of the two countries escaped and some were intercepted.
Later, that night when Qingyunzi led his troops back, the unguarded Nanhai City finally fell. The Chu army successfully entered the city and took over the defense.
At this point, both Su and Nanhai were destroyed, Chu was completely based here, and Lingnan could be said to be unified.
The southern expedition was a complete victory and could almost be called a complete success.
