On the north bank of the Yangtze River, since the edict from Pingnan came, the army was moving. For more than 30 miles from Yangtze City to Guazhou Crossing, the walls of the Han army's camp stretched out, with banners covering the fields. The military power was so great that it reached the sky, and the sound of drums and horns was heard. , which caused the soldiers and civilians in Jiangnan to change their looks.
As for Li Gu, as soon as he received the imperial edict, he moved the headquarters of General Pingnan to Guazhou, directly facing the entrance of Jingkou, and pressed Runzhou on the south bank nearby, giving the illusion of a fierce and frontal breakthrough.
At the same time, the battle between the two armies has begun, starting with a water battle. Yangzhou Navy VS Runzhou Navy. The Han army has 250 warships and 13,000 sailors. The army was much larger in terms of warships and soldiers, with nearly 20,000 troops, and Lin Renzhao personally led the attack.
According to the superficial comparison of strength, coupled with the talent of Shanzhou, a southerner, and the command of a good general like Lin Renzhao, the southern army has a huge advantage. However, the result was often unexpected, and the Confederate army was completely defeated.
The two sides fought for a whole day on the Yangtze River. The surface of the river was filled with gunpowder smoke, and the oars and oars were wiped out in smoke. As the commander-in-chief, Li Gu also led a part of the army to watch the battle on the river bank and responded with bows and crossbows.
The defeat of the Southern Army was mainly due to two points.
First, although its military strength is large, it is composed of two forces. The nearly 10,000 naval forces from Jinling are not well-trained, their orders are even more irregular, and their will to fight is even weaker. In less than half a day, they withdrew from the battle without permission. Fleeing to Jinling not only severely damaged the morale of the Confederate army, but also completely exposed Lin Renzhao to danger.
The Runzhou navy, which was reorganized and trained by Lin Renzhao, still has considerable combat power. However, as the saying goes, it cannot stand alone. This was not the case with the Han army. The soldiers they used were basically replaced by Jianghuai soldiers. Many of them were even transformed from the Tang army in the early years. They were also well-trained and well-equipped. They were commanded by Zhang Yanqing, a good general in water warfare, and driven like an arm. Therefore, although the number of troops is smaller, they are not inferior in other personnel factors, and their morale is high, so the Han army has a basis for error tolerance.
The second one lies in the improvement of the Han army's water warfare technology, especially the innovation of water warfare weapons. For example, the building warships have completely abandoned the original melee combat devices such as shooting poles, and have instead used long-range methods such as rockets, artillery, and thunder cannons as their main strike force against the enemy, supplemented by boarding operations.
These weapons basically use gunpowder as their energy supply. This Pingnan battle was also a test of many weapons of the Han Dynasty. Although talent is the decisive factor in determining the direction of the war, no one will refuse the use of more sophisticated weapons.
The South was not ignorant of the use of gunpowder. However, the South Army was completely unable to cope with this weapon that could both burn and have powerful explosive properties.
Of course, the Southern Army is not without counterattack force. They are also studying the use of kerosene bombs, and in this water battle, they showed that they also caused considerable losses to the Han Army.
In times of crisis, Lin Renzhao could be said to be strong and brave. He was unafraid in the face of danger, resolute in his determination, and commanded skillfully, regardless of casualties, and led the Southern Army to engage in close combat with the Han Army. However, Mantis couldn't save the defeat after all. From the timid retreat of the Jinling Navy, his efforts were doomed to be in vain, which also added a bit of tragedy to the Runzhou Navy that was confronting the Han army.
In the end, Lin Renzhao was wounded, and under the protection of his own soldiers, he was defeated and returned to the Jingkou stronghold. Only less than forty warships and three thousand people escaped. Most of the remaining people perished on the river, or were killed, burned, or drowned. Only less than a thousand people were rescued as prisoners.
If it weren't for the fact that the Han army was exhausted from fighting for a long time and voluntarily gave up the pursuit, the losses of the Southern army would have been even greater. Even so, a water battle gave the Pingnan War a good start and a good omen.
Even counting the several naval battles during the Huainan War, the Battle of Beijing can be said to have been a truly large-scale, head-on contest between the naval armies of the North and the South. It turns out that today's big men are not only good at riding on foot, they are also unparalleled and sharp in water battles. They can also ride the wind and waves and gallop across the rivers and seas. As for the Yangzhou navy, it was only one of the many naval armies of the Han Dynasty. The main force was still the Lai and Mi navy, which was the navy.
According to post-war statistics, the casualties of the Han army were 2,169. The desperate resistance launched by the Southern Army under the command of Lin Renzhao still caused considerable losses to the Han army. However, these losses are acceptable compared to the gains.
In addition, both sides destroyed nearly 300 warships in total. Among the Han army's captures, only about 30 were in normal use. It is not just a description that the gun and oar will be destroyed into ashes and smoke.
At the same time, the significance of the battle at Jingkou did not end there. The battle almost destroyed the main force of the Runzhou navy, which Lin Renzhao had trained for many years. The soldiers who had been training for so long were defeated in one battle. This kind of blow can be imagined.
Since the Huainan War, Lin Renzhao has basically served as the general protecting the country in Jiangnan, and the Great Wall has existed. This trend has been further fueled by Liu Rengan's death. He has always been the backbone general of the imperial court that fought against the Southern Army, and can be said to be the only pillar.
However, the defeat of such a character in one battle had an immeasurable impact on the morale of the Confederate army. It was already weak, and it became even more uncontrollable. The water war has been defeated, is the land war still far behind?
In fact, before the Battle of Beijing, the Southern Army had some debate about whether to go to war or not in the face of Yangzhou Navy's initiative. Most of the generals opposed attacking the enemy and hoped to rely on strong fortifications to resist the Han army and fight conservatively.
However, it turned out that Lin Renzhao defied all opinions and decided to attack. As the last famous general in Jiangnan, he knew very well about his own dangerous situation. If he defended passively, there would be no way out. Only by taking the initiative can there be any chance of earning a faint hope. However, even if he takes the initiative, there are too few cards for Lin Renzhao to use.
Moreover, even if we don't talk about the overall situation, as far as the battle situation at Jingkou is concerned, if the Runzhou navy retreats and defends, once it falls into the blockade of the Han army, the navy will be useless, and the Southern army will fall into complete passivity. As for wanting to rely on the fortifications at Jingkou, it was even more wishful thinking. The Han army was not stupid, so how could they blindly attack by force? Lin Renzhao would not have done this.
The Runzhou Navy has been trained by him for a long time and is based on it. It is risky to attack, but once it can defeat the Yangzhou Navy, the effect will be significant. It could not only give the Han army a head-on blow, dampen its morale and block its process of crossing the river, but also boost the morale of the Southern army and enhance its confidence in resistance.
Lin Renzhao's idea was good, but the result was unsatisfactory. Not only did it fail to meet the lowest expectations, but it created a situation that Lin Renzhao least wanted to face. Although it was because of the Jinling Navy's escape before the battle, was this not inevitable under the force of the general situation? Even if the Jinling Navy fought to the end, could they really defeat the Yangzhou Navy? Maybe it just allows the Han army to lose more warships and soldiers and gain more credit...
After winning the battle at Jingkou, it can be said that the waterways in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River were basically controlled by the Han army. The complete victory in the water battle also met Li Gu's requirements. Afterwards, Li Gu dispatched fifty light boats and thousands of sailors along the Yangtze River to shoot tens of thousands of Pingnan's edicts prepared in advance to the south of the Yangtze River. towns and camps.
Liu Chengyou's Pingnan edict was written by Li Fang, a guest of the prince, and listed Li Yu's several crimes. The first one was contempt for the emperor and disobeying the edict. Others include harboring ulterior motives, gathering troops to rebel, appointing treacherous ministers, and delaying the imperial edict. Regardless of whether they are guilty of beauty, neglecting government and disrupting the country, imposing excessive taxes, abusing the people, etc., Li Yu was listed with ten crimes anyway, and the better one was five fewer than Liu Yuan, which completely shaped Li Yu into a poet emperor. A dishonest and ignorant man who abuses the people...
Many times, the pen of a literati is really a knife that kills without showing blood. It was both a declaration of war and a letter of surrender. When the soldiers and civilians in Jinling learned about it, their hearts were filled with excitement.
Li Gu was very skilled in the use of mind-attacking strategies. To pacify Jiangnan was not about military exploits, but how to preserve the vitality of the Jiangnan region and reduce the losses of the war to the people of Jiangnan. At this point, even without the emperor's reminder, Li Gu They are all done according to this goal.
Li Gu, Shi Shouxin, Zhao Yanjin, and Zhang Yongde, these four people can be regarded as the backbone senior generals of the Jianghuai line. After the battle at Jingkou, Li Gu held a military meeting and reaffirmed the combat policy, which was to move together on multiple fronts to suppress the enemy. Jingkou, attack from two sides, attack from the east and attack from the west, attack steadily, target Jinling.
Li Gu sent troops to Guazhou, with Zhang Yongde as a separate army. He gathered the elite troops from the Jianghuai River and Huaihe River to look for opportunities to cross the river. On the north bank of the Yangtze River, the Imperial Army and the Jianghuai Army were mobilized, plus the local troops and horses from various states, totaling 70,000 land and water infantry.
If you include the civilian men recruited to serve the army before and after the army, the number exceeds 100,000. Therefore, including the soldiers and civilians of other groups, the army used by Pingnan this time is described as three hundred thousand, which is not just a false claim.
With such abundant troops, such strong strength, a wise enough monarch, and a general with strong leadership, the Pingnan War is only normal if it can be pushed past. The author cannot bear to go over the word count and deliberately create twists and turns.
When the results of the spat in Beijing reached Jinling, Li Yu, the leader of the Jiangnan Kingdom, was still in a romantic relationship. He paid attention to the autumn examination and prepared to choose a few literary friends.
