Chapter 141 Drinking Horses from the Yellow River
All Fang Chengfeng's troops could do was to harass the area near the Yangtze River outlet to a limited extent, and they did not even dare to cross the Jiangyin line. Once they crossed Jiangyin, they would have to find a foothold. Otherwise, it is easy to be attacked by small boats at night.
In addition, the secret of the Northern Army's navy to dominate the world is that big ships can defeat small ships. In the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, large ships are likely to become a burden.
But even so, it is enough to give Nanjing a headache. Under such circumstances, any reform can only be put aside. At this time, the Nanjing economy, which was originally in collapse, had only a little improvement, and it was gone.
The outcome is determined before the battle begins on the front lines.
The struggle on the front line was just the last breath of the Nanjing court.
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Ye Chen, who had been suppressed for a long time, seemed to be erupting like a volcano at this moment. The army rushed directly to the Yellow River.
The navy was also the first to fight.
To control the Yellow River watercourse. Only in this way can the army quickly pass through the Yellow River.
Ye Shen had previously built countless large and small ships in Qinshui. There is no direct connection with the railway at the rear, so it would be difficult to follow the example of the northwest in establishing the Yellow River Navy. But building some boats is easy.
Moreover, the Yellow River Navy of the Southern Army was actually more of a water transport vessel. Although there are many in number, in fact, the ships are not large, and the terrain of the Yellow River is complex.
To the west of Mang Mountain, the Yellow River is among high mountains. Most of the mountains are on both sides, so the Yellow River flows relatively fast. The Yellow River here is not a river hanging above the ground. This is also the reason why Ye Chen launched the river-crossing operation in this section.
It's just that spring has just begun, and the floods in the Yellow River have just passed.
It is the dry season. Although this year is not a severe drought, many river beaches are exposed on both sides of the Yellow River, and even a sandbar is exposed in the middle. In this case, it is difficult for the ship to turn. We can only use boats.
Moreover, if the artillery is placed along the river bank and then placed on the sandbar, it is enough to block a section of the river. In this case, it is also easy to build a floating bridge.
Therefore, the Battle of the Yellow River was not a separate water battle. It's not just a land battle either. The battle between the two sides is very complicated. It also tested the military command capabilities of the generals on both sides.
Ye Chen seemed to be moving out in a big way and with great momentum. But in fact, the key point is hidden secretly. They just hope that two or three bridgeheads can be established on the south bank so that the army can cross the river directly. Heading straight to Luoyang.
Sheng Yong may not be able to completely guess Ye Chen's thoughts. But most of them can be guessed.
However, Sheng Yong also has his own overall tactics. That is one word boil.
Dragging.
Sheng Yong even once wanted to let Ye Chen go across the Yellow River to fight. After all, the purpose of the Yellow River natural barrier is not only a defensive line, but also has other uses, such as cutting off Ye Chen's logistics.
When the Yellow River floods, the turbid waves surge into the sky, like the power of heaven and earth. The Yellow River at that time, let alone the army crossing the river. It means that the upstream wants to send people to the downstream to deliver the message. They all had a narrow escape from death. Even lifeless.
This means that at this time, the Yellow River artificially divided the army into two sections.
If it was the cold weapon era, there would actually be no problem.
The army has crossed the river. A temporary outage in logistics is not a big deal.
But firearms time is different.
Sheng Yong also discovered that the firearms era relied too much on logistics. Once there is no logistical supplies and they can only fight with a knife, the Northern Army is not as good as the Southern Army in many aspects. Once the Northern Army was temporarily cut off from logistics by the Yellow River.
Sheng Yong launched a massive attack and within a few days, the camp was completely empty of gunpowder. Not really a problem.
At that time, it might be a good opportunity for him to annihilate the Northern Army.
It's a pity that Sheng Yong didn't dare to do this.
Not because there are any problems in the army, but because of the rear. The various problems that occurred in Nanjing will undoubtedly affect the morale of the frontline troops. Sheng Yong even blocked many things. But some things cannot be blocked.
For example, how much can you buy with the money in your hand?
Under such circumstances, it would be quite inappropriate to use such a dangerous strategy.
Sheng Yong could only use the safest way, which was to fight with his opponents on the front line of the Yellow River.
The focus of the competition lies in several sandbanks in the Yellow River and several places where it is easy to land. The overall situation is also beneficial to Sheng Yong. Sheng Yong's time was not in vain. Many difficult-to-break lines of defense were placed in these places.
Ye Chen could only fight to the death.
It is estimated that it will take time to break through the Yellow River defense line.
In addition, Sheng Yong is still waiting for other variables.
As for Shanxi, can they fight out from behind Huaiqing Mansion and rush directly to the Northern Army's logistics line? As long as the logistics line is cut off, the Northern Army's attack can only be defeated.
Sheng Yong also knew that Ye Chen must have someone behind him. His attack along the Yellow River was probably a trick to lure the snake out of its cave. The Shanxi Army was not good at all aspects. After the Battle of Sanggan River, his vitality was severely damaged.
If we fight with the Northern Army in the field, the situation will be unimaginable. However, it is possible to hold on to a few checkpoints and make it difficult for the Northern Army to overcome the natural dangers of Taihang.
To cut off the logistics line, we must rush out of the Taihang Mountains. Once we come out, it is hard to say whether we can go back. It is even very likely that the Northern Army will seize the opportunity and break through the Taihang Mountains. By then, Shanxi will no longer be owned by the imperial court.
But, always give it a try.
Another variable is the Shandong battlefield.
Fu Youde has been planning the battle in Texas. Even more so at this time. If there had not been changes in the rear, it is very likely that the North and the South would have fought another battle in northern Shandong. Now the real elite of the Southern Army are in the hands of Fu Youde.
It can be said that Fu Youde's movements can make the world look at him with suspicion.
And it’s not like Beijing didn’t make arrangements for Fu Youde. The arrangement is very simple, that is, to use inferior horses to contain Fu Youde based on Tian Ji's horse racing. And not one, but several.
The first is that the thorns are not spent.
Ha Ci did not spend tens of thousands of troops, huddled in several ports, eager to try. As long as Fu Youde's army went north, these armies would immediately come out and even attack Haizhou and directly kill Nanzhili.
And directly north of Fu Youde.
Several fortified cities, like an iron chain, completely blocked Fu Youde's attack direction. Not to mention, there are several bastions along the canal, blocking the path north along the canal.
In addition, there are a large number of troops camped in villages and towns.
Local people were even organized into militia groups.
Although at the beginning of the war, the local people in Shandong were just outsiders. There is no awareness to fight for Beijing. But after a round of tug-of-war. At least the Shandong prefectures and counties on the north bank of the Yellow River have woken up.
Their life under Nanjing's rule was really difficult.
After all, the burden of transporting large amounts of military rations fell on the common people, and the military discipline of the Southern Army was not as good as that of the Northern Army.
Now what makes the people in the north resist the Southern Army even more is the collapse of Nanjing's new banknotes.
This incident greatly increased the burden on the people. Many people's families were destroyed.
It stands to reason that most people do not have much money in their hands. But what’s the problem? There are hundreds of thousands of troops, and the soldiers have a lot of new money in their hands. When they buy things, they will definitely not buy them at the market price. Because if they buy it at the market price, it means they will suffer a loss.
They don't want to suffer this loss, so they can only let others suffer.
This is the case with many things. The price of one thing is passed on from the top to the bottom, all the way to the bottom.
This social law will remain the same even in later generations. If the top adds a few zeros to a certain check, the people below will not be able to afford a house. Today, although the new banknotes are not worthless, they are on the way to becoming worthless.
This is almost a forced expropriation of people's property.
Huang Zicheng's suggestion is that the imperial court forcibly nationalizes several industries, and it is also a compulsory expropriation of merchants' property. But what follows is the forced expropriation of people's property.
Currency devaluation is a feast for dividing social property. All the costs of this feast will be borne by the lowest class of people. It can be said that this was a general outbreak in which the costs of industrialization were passed on to the people under the rule of the Nanjing court.
People naturally vote with their feet. But the Yellow River cannot block the private traffic of the people.
