1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 3876

Zhao Mingyu seemed to have three paths to choose from, but he also understood that the essence of these three choices actually pointed to the same result: his side would be completely defeated in the subsequent battle with the Haihan Army.

While this view is pessimistic, judging from the Ming Dynasty's record of battles against the Haihan army over the years, the Ming army has virtually no chance of winning on the main battlefield. Even if they can hold off the Haihan army at the gates of Nanchang, if they cannot defeat them, the eventual fall of Nanchang is likely only a matter of time.

After all, even Nanjing, which had gathered more than 100,000 troops three years ago, could not be defended. The current conditions of Nanchang are far inferior to those of Nanjing back then. What resources does Nanchang have to repel the invading Haihan Army?

Zhao Mingyu had some ideas in mind to come up with this, but he also knew that if he stepped forward to call for the city to surrender, he would inevitably be criticized by the pro-war faction. After all, there were not many people in Nanchang who were still planning to fight Haihan to the death and seek promotion through military merit.

Of course, there were also some ambitious individuals secretly watching his every move. If Zhao Mingyu were to step forward and say "surrender," someone might take it as a merit for promotion and arrest him on charges of "treason" and report it to the court. In that case, he would be the one to take the blame for losing Jiangxi.

Thinking of this, Zhao Mingyu suddenly felt a little envious of Yue Shizong. This guy was in Hangzhou, and as long as he had a thought, he could immediately get the protection of the Han Dynasty. Even if the court was furious, they could do nothing to him.

Moreover, Yue Shizong contacted him rather late; they had only been corresponding for less than two months when the Haihan Army had already attacked. How could he possibly coordinate the interests of all parties in such a rush? Did Yue really think the Left Provincial Governor could command the entire Jiangxi province at his beck and call?

If it had been a year or two earlier, with ample buffer time, perhaps there would still be room for maneuver in this matter…

But thinking of this, Zhao Mingyu suddenly laughed self-deprecatingly. A year or two ago, when Haihan showed no signs of attacking Jiangxi, even if he had received such advice, he probably wouldn't have taken it seriously. He would have probably thought that Yue Shizong's treason was unforgivable.

For now, Zhao Mingyu seems to have no choice but to take it one step at a time and deal with the upcoming changes.

However, the Haihan army's southward advance was not as fast as he had anticipated. Although the battle to capture Nankang Prefecture was relatively smooth, taking over the entire Nankang Prefecture was not as quick as a siege.

Besides Xingzi County, where the prefectural capital is located, the two counties under the jurisdiction of Nankang Prefecture, Duchang and Jianchang, also need to be taken over. Duchang County is located on the east bank of Poyang Lake, separated from the prefectural capital by dozens of miles of waterway. The county seat of Jianchang County is even more than a hundred miles away from the prefectural capital, but fortunately, it is also connected by waterway and can be reached by boat.

Upon receiving the letter of surrender from the prefect of Nankang, Shi Chengwu ordered it to be immediately delivered to the two county towns, forcing the local officials to abandon resistance and surrender.

The process went smoothly without any major problems. The few armed forces that were originally stationed in the county town had been transferred to the prefectural city in advance, and now the Haihan army had wiped them out. They were no longer able to organize any decent resistance and had no choice but to surrender.

Upon receiving the personal letter from the prefect of Nankang, the local county government readily surrendered, opening the city gates without any fighting.

However, the territory of Nankang Prefecture was not much smaller than that of Jiujiang Prefecture. All the military and political affairs that needed to be handled during the takeover of Jiujiang Prefecture would have to be done again in Nankang Prefecture. Even if Shi Chengwu wanted to attack Nanchang, the capital of Jiangxi, as soon as possible, he still had to stabilize the situation in the newly occupied territory before he could continue to lead his troops south.

At the same time, Shi Chengwu was also waiting for a new batch of inland river warships to be deployed from the domestic area, because the next operation to attack Nanchang would also be launched by water, entering the Gan River from Poyang Lake, and then going upstream to reach the city of Nanchang.

The advantage of doing this is that it saves the army from the hardship of long-distance marches by land. In particular, the heavy equipment that the Haihan Army relies on for combat is much easier to transport by water than by land, and it also saves a lot of time.

However, many of the ships used in the early stages of the capture of Jiujiang were ocean-going vessels, which were not very suitable for the narrow waterways of the inland rivers. Therefore, after the new round of combat plans was approved by the Executive Committee, Shi Diwen organized another batch of inland river warships for Shi Chengwu in the rear, which were now heading to the front line from the lower reaches of the Yangtze River.

In order to ensure the smooth deployment of troops, Shi Chengwu had no choice but to stop at Nankang Prefecture and wait for the required ships to be in place before starting the next step of the operation.

However, during this period, some things did happen that made Shi Chengwu quite happy. Many local gentry and landlords in Nankang took the initiative to visit him and offered money and grain in the name of supporting the army.

Although he knew that these people were seeking refuge to avoid trouble from the Haihan Army, Shi Chengwu was still quite pleased. He personally met with them and assured them that under Haihan's rule, social order in Nankang Prefecture would not be disrupted and their personal safety and property would be guaranteed.

Of course, among these people who took the initiative to come to his door, there were also those who volunteered themselves, hoping to get an official position in the new dynasty by attaching themselves to Shi Chengwu.

However, Shi Chengwu was quite cautious about this. What he needed right now was not an ordinary collaborator, but someone who could truly play a role under his command. This person either needed to have significant influence in the local area and be able to lead by example, or someone who had exceptional abilities in other areas, such as being able to provide special assistance to the Haihan Army in its attack on Nanchang.

People who meet these criteria are naturally few and far between. After screening and selecting, Shi Chengwu couldn't find anyone he found acceptable.

Meanwhile, the two Haihan armies fighting in southern Jiangxi did not have the same success as Shi Chengwu.

Lu Sanshi, who attacked Jianchang Prefecture, encountered strong resistance in Shicheng and Guangchang counties. Moreover, because the surrounding area was mountainous, the Haihan Army's advantage in weaponry and equipment was difficult to fully utilize, and it was also very difficult to wipe out the Ming army that had fled into the mountains.

Meanwhile, Lu Ershi, who was attacking Nan'an Prefecture, encountered a similar situation. Nan'an Prefecture had an even higher proportion of mountains than Jianchang Prefecture, and its transportation conditions were also worse.

These areas lacked the convenient shipping conditions of northern Jiangxi, forcing them to advance by land. The logistics of the Haihan Army were severely hampered by the marching through the mountains and forests alone. Many heavy equipment items had to be pulled by men and horses up and down the slopes, and they might not even be able to cover twenty li (about 10 kilometers) in a day.

In addition, the Ming army's harassment in the field further delayed the march. If there was any disturbance along the way, the troops had to stop to deal with possible surprise attacks by the Ming army.