1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 3905

"Lord Ding, the Haihan people have already breached Zhangjiang Gate! What should we do now?!"

Ding Baoguo glanced disdainfully at the flustered Zhao Mingyu and snorted, "What? Is Lord Zhao starting to get scared now?"

Zhao Mingyu did not offer any explanation, but sighed with a bitter face, "Whether I am afraid or not, I still have to find a way to repel the enemy!"

After the chaos at Zhangjiang Gate, neither army made any progress, and a stalemate was established again. It was at this time that Zhao Mingyu found Ding Baoguo amidst the chaos and asked him for advice.

Ding Baoguo was studying a map of Nanchang City and planning to make some adjustments to his deployment. However, the attacks from the other three directions outside the city had not stopped, which made him hesitant to deploy his troops.

Currently, thanks to the superior troop strength in the city, we can barely hold the Haihan Army back at Zhangjiang Gate for the time being. However, if another part of the city's defenses is breached, we will be overwhelmed and unable to defend ourselves.

However, since Zhao Mingyu had asked about this matter, Ding Baoguo decided to first share his thoughts with him so that Zhao Mingyu could fill in any gaps in his understanding.

Ding Baoguo's plan was roughly divided into two parts: first, to deploy troops to besiege Zhangjiangmen, ensuring that the Haihan Army would not continue to expand its occupied territory, and then to look for an opportunity to counterattack and retake Zhangjiangmen.

Based on the current battle situation, Ding Baoguo believes that at least three to five thousand troops should be deployed within a one-mile radius of Zhangjiang Gate to ensure that the Haihan Army will not easily breach the city.

The second part is to seize the time to build a second or even a third line of defense within the city and prepare for a war of attrition with the Haihan army within the city.

This part of the task will mainly rely on civilian laborers. The first step is to cut off all the streets and alleys near Zhangjiang Gate, as well as the passages on the nearby city walls, to prevent the Haihan army from quickly breaking into the city. This measure will be achieved by demolishing houses and walls along the streets and setting up defensive fortifications such as chevaux-de-frise.

Secondly, barricades and strongholds should be built in the city, and artillery positions to block the main streets should be set up in advance to prevent a repeat of the tragedy that occurred when artillery was set up near Zhangjiang Gate.

The terrain inside Nanchang City is undulating, with many slopes and high points. In addition, waterways are spread throughout the city, dividing the urban area into several parts. There are indeed many key nodes that can control the traffic in the city. As long as they are properly deployed, they can certainly suppress the Haihan Army's actions in the city to a certain extent.

Ding Baoguo showed Zhao Mingyu a map of Nanchang city with several locations already marked, and explained his plan in detail. He hoped that Zhao Mingyu could follow the map to direct the construction of fortifications within the city, so that he could sit in the west of the city and deal with the crisis at Zhangjiang Gate with peace of mind.

"Although the city's defenses have been breached, the Gan River blocks the way outside Zhangjiang Gate, making it difficult for Haihan to reinforce their troops. We can still use the complex environment within the city to maneuver against them. The key now is to maintain morale; otherwise, we will have the strength to fight but lack the will to win, and we will be unable to defeat Haihan's army!"

"We hope that Lord Zhao will make more appearances and movements within the city to boost morale and inspire the people, so that the military and civilians can work together to overcome this difficult time!"

Although Ding Baoguo and Zhao Mingyu had a long-standing feud, at this critical moment, he had no choice but to trust Zhao Mingyu and entrust him with the important task of stabilizing the city.

Zhao Mingyu did not refuse and readily agreed. At this point, the two no longer had any political differences; they only had one goal: to work together to defeat the enemy.

At the same time, Shi Chengwu was also planning his next move.

Currently, approximately one battalion of the Haihan Army has crossed the river and landed at Zhangjiang Gate. They have established a relatively stable position near the city gate, and troop transport ships are also delivering more troops and equipment there. It is unlikely that the Ming army can drive the Haihan Army back outside the city through a counterattack. However, this does not mean that Nanchang City can be captured in the blink of an eye. Judging from the resistance measures and strength of the Ming army inside the city, the fall of Zhangjiang Gate has not truly defeated the enemy. Their command system is still functioning normally, and morale remains at a high level.

Shi Chengwu believes this is because the enemy is already prepared to fight inside the city, which means that the subsequent clearing of the city will not be smooth and is very likely to lead to fierce street fighting.

Urban warfare means close-quarters combat, which is not a good thing for the Haihan Army. The narrower the space, the smaller the Haihan Army's advantage, and the higher the possibility of casualties.

Of course, this situation was not without a solution. Shi Chengwu quickly came up with a solution: to create a new breakthrough in the defense of Nanchang as soon as possible. This would prevent the defending troops from being able to defend both areas, and it would be easier to attack into the city.

The closest and best point of attack to Zhangjiang Gate is, of course, the northern direction of the city, which is under the command of Ha Jianyi.

However, the difficulties encountered when attacking Zhangjiangmen, such as the cross-river transport of personnel and ammunition, and the limited space for landing and assembly on the riverbank outside the city, will inevitably be repeated when Ha Jianyi's troops attack Deshengmen.

Furthermore, if a blasting operation were to be carried out on Deshengmen, the city's garrison would certainly be prepared for such a tactic, making it unlikely that they would be able to replicate it again.

But this seemed to be the most reasonable arrangement at the moment. Shi Chengwu hesitated for only a moment before ordering adjustments to the deployment.

Six warships remained on the river west of the city as cover, cooperating with troop transport ships to continue crossing the river to deliver reinforcements and stabilize the position at Zhangjiang Gate.

Other vessels turned downstream to the Deshengmen section of the river north of the city, coordinating with Ha Jianyi to intensify the offensive at Deshengmen, striving to open a second breakthrough at Deshengmen before sunset today.

Zhangjiangmen's immediate objective was not to storm the city, but rather to consolidate its position and gradually expand its control. The priority was to expand northward along the city wall to avoid the complex street layout within the city and coordinate with Ha Jianyi's offensive outside Deshengmen.

Shi Chengwu then relayed his decision to the allied forces in the other three directions via radio, and this news made the generals in the east and south directions even more anxious.

The battlefield chosen by Xu Kaiyuan and You Zhiyuan was originally considered a relatively easy direction to attack, but after two days of fighting, Shi Chengwu, who needed to cross the river and attack from two directions at the same time, took the lead and broke through the city first.

Shi Chengwu's troops are now preparing to attack the second target, but their own battlefield has yet to make a breakthrough, so they are naturally getting anxious.

Everyone's troops are the elite of their respective regions, so their strength shouldn't be too different. However, if their performance differs too much when attacking the same city, it would be embarrassing.

Xu Kaiyuan and You Zhiyuan then ordered their respective troops to begin crossing the moat and seizing the city gates.

Although the moats outside Yonghe Gate in the east of the city and Jinxian Gate in the south of the city are far less wide and deeper than the Gan River, they are close to the city wall and there is not enough space to gather troops and launch an offensive after crossing them, so they are actually quite difficult to attack.

Fortunately, after repeated artillery bombardments, these two city gates had long lost their original defensive functions. Although they had not completely collapsed, they were not far from being ruins.