1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 3889

Nanchang has a long history, dating back to the Han Dynasty. Since its construction, it has been an important town in Jiangxi Province throughout the dynasties. The city underwent large-scale renovation and expansion projects during the Tang, Song, and Ming dynasties.

The reconstruction projects during the Ming Dynasty differed from those of the past. While previous methods involved continuously expanding the city to meet the demands of urban development, the Ming builders made innovative adjustments based on Nanchang's geographical environment. Instead of further expanding the city's boundaries, they actually reduced the western city wall inwards, resulting in a significantly smaller urban area compared to the Song Dynasty.

The number of city gates was reduced from twelve to seven, and the original five gates were abolished. At the same time, the waterways around the city were dredged and excavated, and a complete moat was built outside Nanchang City, utilizing the abundant local water resources.

As for reinforcing and raising the city walls, and constructing arrow towers, watchtowers, and garrison points, these were all standard procedures.

All these renovation measures had one purpose: to make full use of the local natural environment and further strengthen the defense of Nanchang City.

Therefore, at this time, Nanchang was described as having "seven gates, nine islands, eighteen slopes, and three lakes and nine rivers connecting Jiangxi and Poyang".

The so-called seven gates have a simple explanation in folk terms. One is the Zhangjiang Gate, which is close to the river dock and is the place where officials, wealthy merchants and other upper-class people enter and exit the city.

It's worth mentioning that not far from Zhangjiang Gate is the world-famous Tengwang Pavilion. However, despite its fame, Tengwang Pavilion is not considered a historical site in Nanchang itself, because the building has been damaged by wars and fires many times throughout history, and then rebuilt repeatedly in successive dynasties. In the more than two hundred years of the Ming Dynasty alone, Tengwang Pavilion was rebuilt twice.

The Tengwang Pavilion that stands on the east bank of the Gan River today was actually rebuilt after being destroyed by a fire during the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty. It was rebuilt with funds raised by Wang Zaijin, the then Left Provincial Governor of Jiangxi. It is only about forty years old now, which is only slightly longer than the history of the Haihan Kingdom.

As for the remaining six city gates, the second one was the Guangrun Gate, which was the commercial hub of Nanchang and essentially a wholesale market for bulk commodities.

The third is the Grain and Vegetable Market, which, as the name suggests, is a trading place where local people buy grains, oils, vegetables, fruits, meats, and other food products.

The fourth gate, Jinxian Gate, is the only gate through which Nanchang connects to Lingnan and the Guangdong and Guangxi regions. People entering and leaving this city gate often carry a lot of luggage.

The fifth gate is Hue Gate, where horses and arrows can be shot. Outside the city gate is the training ground for soldiers of various prefectures and counties throughout history. The Nanchang garrison camp is also not far from here.

The sixth is Yonghe Gate, where people often cry. Because there are many graves on the mountains outside the city, most funeral processions leave the city from here, and you can often hear crying when entering or leaving the city gate in the morning.

The seventh gate, known as Deshengmen, is said to be the place where Zhao Desheng, a general under Zhu Yuanzhang, sacrificed his life while defending the city. To commemorate his heroic deeds, the gate was named after him.

The Nine Islands refer to the numerous sandbars of varying sizes along the Gan River in the suburbs of Nanchang, some of which are even larger than the city itself. The Eighteen Slopes refer to several elevated locations within the city, which could serve as armed strongholds during wartime.

The "Three Lakes" refers to the city's lakes being divided into three sections by bridges, forming North Lake, East Lake, and West Lake. The "Nine Rivers" refers to nine drainage channels connecting the city's interior and exterior, leading directly to the Gan River and Poyang Lake. This demonstrates that Nanchang's geographical environment, both inside and outside the city, was quite complex, with numerous waterways, making it difficult for large armies to deploy their formations and significantly limiting the attacking side. The fact that the pro-war faction within Nanchang insisted on holding the city, believing there was a chance to repel the Haihan Army's offensive, was not entirely without merit.

However, these circumstances in Nanchang were no secret to the Haihan Army, which had been resting outside the city for more than half a month. In Shi Chengwu's frontline command post, there was even a map of Nanchang's city defenses.

Of course, the deployment shown on the map is not recent. Nanchang City has long been under strict defense, and ordinary people cannot leave the city at all. This city defense map was drawn before the start of the war this year by three teams of spies from the East China Sea Military Intelligence Bureau who secretly infiltrated Nanchang to gather intelligence, and it took them more than a month to complete.

Based on previous intelligence, it can be estimated that there are still approximately 40,000 to 50,000 Ming troops inside and outside Nanchang. These include troops originally stationed in Nanchang Prefecture, as well as scattered soldiers who retreated to Nanchang after the fall of other prefectures in Jiangxi and regrouped there. However, it is currently difficult to estimate what proportion of these troops still possess relatively complete combat capabilities.

However, one thing is certain: the Nanchang garrison will not deploy its main forces outside the city to engage in a direct battle with the Haihan army.

Moreover, during the period when the Haihan Army set foot in Nanchang Prefecture, the defending forces carefully contracted their defense zone to avoid conflict with the Haihan Army. This shows that the defending forces were fully aware of the disparity in strength between the two sides and chose the most favorable combat environment for them.

Shi Chengwu said, "It took us so long to drive all these tens of thousands of Ming troops into Nanchang. This time we must tighten our grip and not give them another chance to escape. I hope we can work together to win this crucial battle!"

Ha Jianyi said, "The city is surrounded by the Gan River on the west and north sides, which looks like a moat, but it also cuts off the defenders' escape route to the northwest. We only need to deploy a small number of ships to block the river and completely eliminate their idea of ​​crossing it."

You Zhiyuan said, "There are many waterways outside Nanchang City, with rivers of all sizes crisscrossing the area. Although this is not conducive to our attack on the city, it will also make it difficult for the defending troops to escape Nanchang. Leave the south to me, and I will make sure to seal off both the land and water routes completely!"

Xu Kaiyuan said, "The terrain in the east of the city is flat and open. Please allow me to take advantage of this and let my troops be in charge of the siege operations in the east."

The group quickly agreed on a division of labor, with each person responsible for their respective main attack direction.

Due to geographical reasons, the troops that set out from Fujian and Guangdong were mainly ground forces, without any ships accompanying them.

Only Shi Chengwu's forces had advanced all the way from the north along the Yangtze River into the heart of Jiangxi. They had always been supported by a large logistics fleet for troop deployment and material transportation. Therefore, when they arrived at the city of Nanchang, the riverside area could only be handed over to Shi Chengwu, whose inland river fleet was responsible for blocking the river.

If the progress of attacking various prefectures had varied considerably due to different environments in different places, now that several troops have arrived on the same battlefield and are attacking the same city, the young generals are all eager to compete and see who is more capable.

The defenders of Nanchang probably never imagined that they would become the target of a contest of skills among the young generals of Haihan. The offensive they were about to face was bound to be far more intense than the attacks they had encountered in other prefectures.