1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 3260
After the battle situation changed from a battle between two armies to a situation of escape and pursuit, the suspense of victory or defeat had actually been lost.What the Ming army can do at the moment is to leave the battlefield as soon as possible and preserve the vitality that has not been damaged.

But the Zhoushan and other Haihan warships quickly chased after them from the downstream, braving billowing white smoke.

Seeing the enemy troops coming at super fast speeds was really disappointing.Once some boats that are escaping slowly are caught up, they will inevitably be hit by a wave of artillery fire. Even if they jump into the river in time to escape, only twenty-three out of ten will survive.

Fortunately, there are many sandbars distributed in the center of the river in the Zhenjiang section of the river, cutting the river into strips. There are also many tributaries on both sides of the river, including the Beijing-Hangzhou Canal, which provided multiple escape directions for the Ming army sailors who were familiar with the environment.

There are quite a few shallow and narrow waterways among them, places where the Haihan warships with huge hulls and deep drafts dare not sail easily, and can only watch as the warships of the Ming army leave the battle through these waterways.

Although the Haihan army failed to wipe out all the Ming army sailors who fought in this battle, it did cause great losses to the opponent. In the end, less than half of the Ming army's warships successfully escaped from the battlefield.

The troop carriers and supply ships that were still in the lower reaches picked up a lot of Ming army sailors from the river after the battle, there were probably hundreds of them.

Those sailors who were able to survive until they were rescued were considered lucky. The number of people who drowned in the river was estimated to be several times that many. On the river more than ten miles downstream of the battlefield, there were corpses drifting everywhere.

The battle losses of the Haihan Army were also quickly calculated. Only one of the four reconnaissance speedboats in front of the attack escaped, and the other three were probably sunk by the Ming Army at the beginning of the battle upstream.

During the battle between the main forces of the two armies, two exploration-class warships of the Haihan Army sank. In addition, four more ships were severely damaged and lost their navigation capabilities. More than 200 people were killed or missing in battle.

For the Haihan Army, such losses were quite serious in surface operations in recent years, but they were far from severe enough to cause serious damage to the fleet participating in this battle.Neither the Zhoushan nor the four Majesty-class battleships, which are the core combat force of the fleet, suffered much damage.

Fortunately, the north bank is the boundary of Yangzhou. These prisoners of war and wounded can be sent to Yangzhou for temporary resettlement. The local government has received a notice a few days ago, and it should have already made corresponding preparations.

The severely damaged ships in the fleet will also be towed to the local area for repairs. Although most of them will not be able to restore their combat effectiveness in time, they are at least expected to be repaired to the extent that they can sail back to Zhoushan Port, where the shipyards have the corresponding overhaul capabilities.

But what came to an end was just the battle on the water. After defeating the navy of the Ming army, the troops led by Yan Chujie will also undertake the task of attacking Zhenjiang City.

Zhenjiang City was first built in the late Eastern Han Dynasty. Sun Quan chose Beigu Mountain on the riverside and organized the construction of a military fortress called Iron Weng City.

After more than a thousand years of renovation and expansion by successive dynasties, the area of ​​Zhenjiang City today has expanded by more than 20 times compared to when it was first built. The circumference of the city wall is twelve miles and the height is two feet and six feet.The Zhenjiang government office is located on the original site of Tieweng City thousands of years ago.

There are Chaoyang, Huju, Jinyin and Dingbo gates in the southeast and northwest respectively. Each gate has two or three Wengcheng checkpoints. In the southwest of the city, there is a canal dug in the Yuan Dynasty as a moat.The estuary of this canal is one of the ports where the navy of the Ming army was stationed.

Compared with Yangzhou City, which is more than 20 miles away from the bank of the Yangtze River, the north side of Zhenjiang City is less than one mile away from the riverside, and the role of guarding the Yangtze River waterway is undoubtedly more obvious.

Haihan wanted to control the Yangtze River waterway and then launch an offensive against Nanjing City from the river. Zhenjiang was one of the goals that must be captured.

On April [-], the Haihan Army began to land on the downstream river bank more than ten miles away from Zhenjiang City.

After a small group of scouts confirmed that there was no trace of Ming army activities near the river bank, dozens of troop carriers docked one after another.

These troop carriers carried a composite regiment from the Seventh Army Division, including infantry, cavalry, artillery and other arms.The task of attacking Zhenjiang City will be completed by them.

Based on synchronized intelligence from the southern front, Yan Chujie learned that Danyang and Jintan counties under Zhenjiang had transferred some garrison troops to Yixing to assist in the war.After the fall of Yixing County, these troops heading south were [-] miles away from Zhenjiang, and most likely they would not be able to make it back.

This means that there may be fewer defenders in Zhenjiang City than expected, which is good news for the attackers.

However, the defenders did not blindly retreat and defend. They deployed a blocking defense line at Xiangshan, seven miles east of Zhenjiang City.

Although Xiangshan is just a small hill, it was an important place for Jiangfang in the Song and Yuan dynasties. There is also Han Gongdun, the site of the garrison of Han Shizhong, a general of the Southern Song Dynasty, on the mountain.

After Haihan annexed the coastal areas of Jiangsu and Zhejiang, the Zhenjiang garrison once again renovated Xiangshan's fortifications, hoping to turn Xiangshan into a stronghold.If the enemy attacked Zhenjiang City from the east, the defenders in the city could echo the defenders of Xiangshan and attack the enemy attacking the city.

The only problem is that the area of ​​​​Xiangshan is too small, only about two miles in radius, and the highest point is less than [-] feet, so the number of troops that can be stationed is limited.With two thousand people stationed, it has basically reached its limit.

Yan Chujie picked up the telescope and observed the situation of Xiangshan Mountain in the distance.The Ming army did not deliberately hide their whereabouts. From the telescope, you can see the Ming army's flags fluttering in the wind on the top of the mountain, and there are faintly visible stone fortresses and protective walls in the mountains and forests.

Although the place wasn't very big, Yan Chujie knew that if he didn't clean it up, when he went back to attack the city, he would definitely be harassed by the Ming army here.

He raised his wrist to check the time, and it was about two hours before dark.

"Fight, take Xiangshan before dark!"

Following Yan Chujie's order, the artillery began to set up positions at the foot of the mountain.Each part prepared for the battle, and only waited for the artillery to open the way before launching an attack on the mountain.

Although the defenders on the mountain also have artillery, due to the terrain, the only ones that can be transported up are small-caliber Franco machine guns.Even if it is located at a high altitude with the terrain bonus, its range is still difficult to reach the artillery positions of the Haihan Army.

The tactics of the Haihan army were very simple. After the shelling, the infantry immediately stepped forward to feign an attack, allowing the defenders to expose the firepower point and the position of the troops. After the artillery determined the target position, they fired again, and then the infantry found out the enemy's situation.Repeatedly, the fortifications on the mountain were removed bit by bit.

Although it is relatively clumsy, in the face of the current combat environment, this is the best solution to strike a balance between combat efficiency and reduce casualties.

(End of this chapter)