Chapter 30: Drinking Horses on the Yellow River
Although the cavalry has only been reduced by more than 2,000, the significance to the entire army is completely different. Especially in a split second, almost in the span of a breath. Tang Shengzong understood very well that at this moment, the morale of the Shandong Army was abruptly destroyed.
In this case, it is impossible to make a comeback.
Not to mention, Tang Shengzong felt that the other party had been planning for a long time. He had given him two victories before, and it was just for today.
Therefore, the current situation is not an end, but a beginning.
The other party has a backup plan.
The weather and location were all arranged by the enemy. As for people and people, the quality of the Shandong Army was much worse than that of the Beijing Army. Not to mention that Tang Shengzong was also given temporary orders. The general did not know the army, and the army did not know the general. Both sides Lack of mutual trust.
In this case, don’t think about anything else and applying oil to the soles of your feet is the best solution.
I have to admit that Tang Shengzong’s reputation is well-deserved.
The battlefield sense is top notch. Made the best decision.
Naturally, Ye Chen would not just come here. The cavalry was not far away. It was also because of this flat land that in order not to be discovered, the cavalry had to hide far away, so it took time to appear on the battlefield. If according to what Ye Chen thought, Tang Shengzong was killed or injured, not even a hair of Tang Shengzong was missing, and the Shandong Army fell into chaos. If you delay for a while, you will be swallowed up by the cavalry that appears on the battlefield.
Unfortunately, Tang Shengzong turned around and ran away when he saw that the situation was not good.
What could have been a big victory turned into a small victory.
Of course, small wins are also wins.
The Beijing cavalry bit the tail of the Shandong Army and fought all the way. They were defeated like a mountain. Ordinary people almost completely lost control of the army at this time, but Tang Shengzong was different. He used various methods along the way. Let Ye Chen win the battle all the way.
But a closer look revealed that it was Tang Shengzong who kept the weak troops and gave them to Ye Chen to eat.
Although it is said that the Shandong Army does not have a strong will to resist, and will surrender soon after falling into a desperate situation. But this also takes time. Even if the establishment surrenders, it will also take time to make arrangements and accept it.
Tang Shengzong took advantage of this period of time to bring back more than 10,000 of the best infantrymen of the Shandong Army. Returned to Jinan City.
Even though he was defeated all the way, Tang Shengzong's control over the remaining 10,000 troops did not decrease but increased.
For Tang Shengzong, this was nothing, it could even be said to be a basic operation.
Tang Shengzong was always distracted along the way, even while escaping. Absently. It wasn't that Tang Shengzong was very optimistic about the situation at hand, or that he didn't care about it. Ye Chen was still a little immature in the use of troops. One sentence. Too little fighting.
After all, the art of military command often requires experience. Of course, people like Huo Qubing are not normal people, and how many Huo Qubing are there in history?
Other than that, there are no shortcomings. Not to mention, the firearm warfare method was created jointly by He Xi and Ye Chen.
In this situation, Ye Chen is better than all the generals in the world. Even if Xu Da comes, he can't do anything to Ye Chen until he has figured out the axes on Ye Chen's firearm.
Naturally, Tang Shengzong would not look down on his opponent, but he didn't know that his opponent was Ye Chen, so he thought he was He Xi.
It was because the previous defeat had hit him too hard.
After returning to Jinan City, Tang Shengzong arranged the city defense. The first thing he did was to check the firearms in Jinan City.
Since He Xi supplied military supplies, the cost of various weapons has been reduced a lot, and the same is true for firearms. There is no shortage of firearms in Jinan City, such as cannons at the top of the city, ten thousand enemies, swarms of bees, fire gate guns, etc.
Tang Shengzong looked at them one by one, and when he recalled the continuous firepower, his heart still trembled. There was so much he didn't understand. Before he understood this, he was absolutely unwilling to fight with He Xi. General generals may not understand the significance of the new tactics.
But Tang Shengzong was different. He may not be able to think of a way to restrain himself, or even understand what the opponent's complete firearms tactics look like, but he can smell the essence.
It was a new era that was slowly unfolding in front of him.
Before you understand all this, it is best to use the most conservative approach to deal with it.
As the capital of Shandong, Jinan has a very important strategic location. Shandong is in the world. If you get it from the north, you can go to the south. If you get it from the south, you can go to the north. Jinan is the most important place for Shandong. If you get it from the east, you can reject the west. If you get it from the west, you can conquer it from the east.
If it wasn't so important, King Yan wouldn't have fought against Jinan during the crisis.
Once Tang Shengzong had the most conservative way to deal with the Northern Army, He Xi and Ye Chen would be helpless.
After all, the power of firearms in this era was limited. The city walls built in many big cities in the Ming Dynasty could be used as fortifications even during the Anti-Japanese War. The Japanese artillery was somewhat unable to gnaw them, let alone this era.
Unless they are bombarded for many years, or other methods are used, such as blasting. Otherwise, it will be difficult to capture Jinan for a while.
Tang Shengzong is not an ordinary person. Although he does not know all of He Xi's methods, he must understand one thing. No matter what the enemy wants to do, I must stop it. Therefore, if you want to do something under Tang Shengzong's nose, you need to consider it in the long term.
But He Xi just lacked time.
The Battle of Yu County caused all Shandong prefectures and counties north of the Daqing River to defect to the north. Even more captured, the Shandong Guard Army surrendered tens of thousands of troops. Not only Tang Shengzong's defeated army, but also several guards north of the Daqing River also surrendered.
The Daqing River became the Yellow River in later generations, and is now also a tributary of the Yellow River.
Today's Yellow River is not one river, but flows south in several branches. The north-south flow was divided. In the middle Ming Dynasty, in order to protect the canal, the north flow was completely blocked, leaving only the route of seizing the Huai River and going to the sea.
Of course, the Yellow River flows into the sea, and these tributaries are often in reserve. Under normal circumstances, there will not be much river water. With the Daqing River, the Jinan moat directly diverts water from the Daqing River, and the Qing River serves as a barrier and a solid city wall.
This gave He Xi a big problem.
As far as He Xi himself is concerned. He had not thought about occupying Shandong and was not prepared to extend the front too long. But now that half of Shandong is in my hands, I can't throw it away.
But no matter what, it takes time to rectify the local area, rectify the surrendered army, and even transport the grain taxes from these prefectures and counties in Shandong to Hejian Prefecture. It also takes time to deliver the materials needed for the siege to Jinan City.
It can't be defeated in a short while.
He Xi and Ye Chen stood side by side on the embankment of the Yellow River, looking at Jinan City on the other side. He Xi said: "With the Battle of Yuzhou, I feel relieved. Of course, His Highness will also feel relieved. However, in the current situation, are you prepared?" how to respond?"
Ye Chen said: "Sir, now we are north of the Yellow River. The southern army and I are almost bounded by the Yellow River. However, it should be noted that almost all prefectures and counties are based on the Dezhou model. It is our Promise them not to garrison the city, allowing them to sit back and watch success or failure, which is why we have the current situation. Once the southern army comes in large numbers, my subordinates are worried that the people here are completely unreliable. Therefore, from the perspective of the last general, the most important thing now is , rectify the place and take these places into your hands.”
He Xi sighed and said, "You make me worry about this. Ye Chen, you have to understand that war is just a solution to political problems, not an idea. The larger the scale of the war, the more politics must be defeated. In the imperial court, you are the best."
"Let me ask you, what is our strategic goal in going south?"
Ye Chen said: "Expand the strategic maneuver space and delay time." At this point, Ye Chen said with reluctance in his tone: "But, don't we need so many prefectures and counties in Shandong and Henan north of the Yellow River? "
He Xi said: "Of course not. However, once the strategic goals are set, don't change them overnight. This is the first thing. Secondly, what do we fight for with the south?"
Ye Chen said: "He is the lord of the world."
He Xi said: "We are the Ming Dynasty's orthodoxy. Letting the people of the world understand this is more important than our winning a few battles. I have already said that my bottom line is to fight the enemy in Hejian. When I get to Hejian Mansion, Even if it's a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood, we can't retreat even an inch. And this is not
the same. "
