Qiming 1158

Chapter 683 The First Ming-Song War Has Begun

On March [-], the second year of Hongwu's reign in the Ming Dynasty, Zhou Linzhi, the messenger of the Song State's emergency consultation and the third-in-command of the Privy Council, arrived in Haizhou to meet with the general of the Ming army, Zhou Zhi.

At the meeting, Zhou Linzhi begged the Ming army not to go to war, and expressed his willingness to negotiate with the Ming Kingdom on the issue of the year currency. The negotiation that was not completed before can now be continued. As long as war can be avoided, everything else can be discussed.

Zhou Zhi laughed, and then offered 30 taels of silver and 30 bolts of silk cloth—they can be exchanged for other materials.

But the total price cannot be changed.

This request scared Zhou Linzhi almost to the ground.

"Why another 25? Isn't it [-]?"

"It's different before. If you agreed to negotiate before, 20 silver and silk cloth would be fine. This is Daming's bottom line, but you refused. Since you refused, then Daming can only speak with swords and guns. Now, the army is on the line, but you If you want us to strike a truce and don't give more, I'm afraid the Ming army will not agree!"

Zhou Zhi's voice was fierce, like the face of the strong bullying the weak.

"Having said that, this is also Da Song's mistake, but 30 is too much, can you reduce it a little? Even if it is to maintain the original status?"

Zhou Lin's pain and suffering.

Zhou Zhi was unmoved.

"Now to maintain the status quo? What did you do earlier? And the deployment of the Ming army has been completed. Now that the entire army is gathered in Haizhou, how much supplies and food does the army need to spend? Who will give the money?"

Zhou Linzhi continued to plead with Zhou Zhi not to go to war, but he could not provide any tangible benefits. Zhou Zhi lost his patience, and finally drove Zhou Linzhi out of the military camp, and officially issued a notice to declare war to the Southern Song Dynasty on behalf of the Ming Kingdom.

Zhou Linzhi was so frightened that he ran south with the team.

On the third day after Zhou Linzhi left, on March 23, the second year of Hongwu, Zhou Zhi formally ordered the entire Ming army to attack.

The first Ming-Song War began.

According to the strategic plan agreed upon by the Ming military, the Haizhou army began a full-scale operation. The Ming army, who had prepared a large number of ferry boats and pontoon materials in advance, began a large-scale operation to cross the Huai River on the same day.

In the south of Lianshui County, they used the navy as a cover, built ten pontoon bridges, and used hundreds of ferries as means of crossing the river, and the whole army crossed the river at an extremely high speed.

More than a dozen Song army ships that had been guarding the Ming army on the south bank of the Huaihe River were attacked by the Ming army navy commanded by Zhou Mancheng before the army crossed the river.

They ate the big rockets of the Ming army without reacting, and were bombed to death, and then they were surrounded by the superior navy of the Ming army.

Zhou Mancheng commanded more than 30 combat ships to bully the few, and killed the Song Army's Huaihe patrol water army, sank five Song Army warships, captured eleven, and made a good start.

After that, the Ming army began to cross the river on a large scale. The elite cavalry who crossed the river in the early stage quickly formed an army formation to attack, and were on guard for the possible attack of the Song army. They established a reliable beachhead for the subsequent river crossing teams, allowing them to cross the river safely.

It took an army of 5 people to cross the Huaihe River in two days and one night at a very fast speed, leaving behind enough pontoon bridges and escort water troops for the logistical forces to use.

During this period, except for a small-scale Song army sentry who came to spy on the situation, only one person who was chased and killed by the Ming army cavalry fled away, and no Song army came to attack.

Not even the navy came to attack.

Soon, Zhou Zhi integrated the troops and commanded the entire army to move south quickly, and the soldiers pointed directly at Shanyang County.

According to the tactical characteristics of the Song army guarding the river and not guarding the Huai, Zhou Zhi initially judged that there was no strong Song army defense in Huainan.

However, on the evening of March 21, according to the latest intelligence, Song General Liu Kai did not agree with Song Ting's strategy and repeatedly asked to be stationed in Huainan, so Song Ting allowed his tactical actions.

It is said that Liu Qi has already begun to lead his army across the river to Huainan, and he does not know what tactical arrangements will be made.

But in just one or two days, even if Liu Qi was able to lead his army across the river, it was too late to make tactical arrangements.

So Zhou Zhi decided to strike first, attack quickly, and catch Liu Qi by surprise.

Not long after the main force of the army assembled, Zhou Zhi learned that the vanguard cavalry had occupied Shanyang County——

It seems that the Song army did not intend to stick to Shanyang County, and the Ming army evacuated before the vanguard arrived, leaving an intact city and the people of the city.

According to the understanding after the event, the magistrate of Shanyang and the governor of Chuzhou did not have the courage to fight against the Ming army at all, Song Junjun did not deploy a large-scale resistance army in Chuzhou, and Liu Qi's troops had no shadow.

Therefore, knowing that the Ming army had begun to cross the river, the bureaucrats in Shanyang County rushed south to flee for their lives, never thinking about defending the city.

As soon as the officials left, the small number of armed forces in Shanyang County also fled, and even some wealthy households fled, for fear of being implicated in the war without a place to be buried.

The landowners and squires all ran away, and those who couldn't escape, they set up their own villages and defended themselves. In the entire county, there were only ordinary people in the city who couldn't escape, and dumplings were made by the vanguard of the Ming army.

Fortunately, they encountered the Ming army with strict military discipline. Zhou Zhi left a small army stationed in Shanyang, and then opened the treasury of Shanyang County to distribute food, and posted a safety notice stating that in addition to the troops maintaining law and order, the rest of the troops None of them enter the city.

Then he really did not enter the city, but quickly led the army to continue south.

Zhou Zhi went all the way south along the canal waterway. On March 26, the vanguard of the Ming army once again occupied the unguarded Baoying County.

The situation in Baoying County is basically the same as that in Shanyang County. All the officials and high-class people can run away, and the rest of the ordinary people who can't escape are "waiting to die".

Zhou Zhi repeated his old tricks to appease people. He did not stop and continued southward. Instead, he entered Gaoyou Army all the way and occupied Gaoyou County on March 28. He rested in Gaoyou County for two days. On the one hand, he waited for the logistics troops. On the one hand, the army and horses should be given more rest.

At the same time, Zhou Zhi sent a large number of sentries to spy on the Song army in the Yangzhou area.

A few days ago, Zhou Zhi learned that Liu Qi decided to lead his army to defend Huainan. Yangzhou was an important town in Huainan, and Liu Qi's army must be the first to garrison in Yangzhou, and then go north.

Although it is too late for them to do so now, the Ming army has already advanced to Gaoyou and has taken the initiative. The best choice for the Song army at this time is to stick to Yangzhou, protect the Nandu route, and prevent the Ming army from using the Guazhou ferry to go to Jiangnan. .

Soon, the sentry came to the news that they had found a Song army with a size of [-] people rushing to settle in Lujin Town, which seemed to be attacking northward.

Zhou Zhi was not surprised when he found out.

This period of time was enough for Liu Qi to know that the Ming army had begun to move and attacked the city like no one, and he would definitely react.

Zhou Zhi then inquired carefully, and learned that the army in Lujin Town was an army led by Liu Qi's general Wang Gang.

Yes, a decent army finally arrived. If all Song's civilian and military generals were the same as the runaway kings he encountered before, Zhou Zhi really doubted whether his army would be able to annex the Southern Song Dynasty.

Now it seems that there are still some loyal ministers and generals in the Southern Song Dynasty who dare to confront the Ming army head-on.

Of course, it was daring to confront Liu Qi head-on, but the original target Liu Qi sent Wang Gang to attack was not Lujin Town, but Baoying County.

As early as the first ten days of February, Liu Qi made a request to the court to change the tactics of guarding Jiang and not Huai, focusing on defending Huainan, and using Huainan as a cover for Jiangnan to prevent Jiangnan from directly facing the Ming army.

Although Jiangnan has the Yangtze River as a natural barrier, the Yangtze River is very long. A large river runs across the east and west. There are many places suitable for the northern army to cross the river. If the army is arranged from east to west, it is equivalent to a long snake formation. Breaking through will lead to the loss of the entire Yangtze River defense line.

This is very unfavorable for the Jiangnan regime, so it has been said since ancient times that guarding the river must guard the Huaihe River.

However, it was not until March [-] that Liu Qi received a reply from the imperial court, saying that he was allowed to act in this way and that he was allowed to send troops to defend Huainan.

But it was too late. No matter how fast Liu Qi acted, he could not catch up with the establishment of a reliable Huaihe line of defense before the Ming army was dispatched.

(End of this chapter)