Qiming 1158

Chapter 689
The Ming army who surrounded Wang Gang wanted to capture Wang Gang alive and strive for higher military exploits.

But Wang Gang was so resolute that the Ming soldiers didn't have time to stop him and let him die like that.

Can only say very sorry.

In the ensuing war, more than half of Wang Gang's ten generals were killed, and only three finally chose to surrender.

On this day, the battle of Lujin Town ended with a great victory of the Ming army. The Ming army successfully entered Lujin Town and opened a safe road to the south.

In the battle, the Ming army annihilated [-] Song troops and devoured half of Liu Qi's army in one fell swoop. The road to Yangzhou was smooth and unobstructed. The Huainan defense system Liu Qi had tried to construct in a hurry had not been completed, and it had already collapsed. .

Now, Liu Qi had to meet the Ming army soldiers who killed the red-eyed soldiers in Yangzhou City.

After the war, Zhou Zhi immediately convened a military meeting and arranged post-war matters, such as escorting all Song army prisoners to Haizhou, etc., and then announced the main points of attacking Yangzhou.

"Yangzhou is an important town in Huainan, north of the Yangtze River. The city is tall and the moat is wide and deep. It is by no means comparable to Lujin Town, and there are at least [-] defenders in the city. The defender is Liu Qi, a famous general in the Southern Song Dynasty. Breaking blood may not succeed in conquering Yangzhou.

So what I mean is that the importance of this battle is to besiege rather than attack. Our army must stand firm in Jiangbei, surround Yangzhou City, cut off the connection between the inside and outside of Yangzhou City, cut off the assistance of Yangzhou City, and then wait for the navy. action. "

"Yeah, whether Yangzhou City can be won at the least price depends on the actions of the navy."

Zhou Zhixue opened his mouth and said: "If the navy can eat all the Southern Song navy on the river, then the connection between Yangzhou and Zhenjiang Prefecture can be broken. In this way, Liu Qi and the Yangzhou defenders are fighting alone and cutting off foreign aid. Well, in this way, the initiative rests with our army, not the Song army."

Zhou Zhi looked at Yangzhou City on the map and Zhenjiang Mansion on the south bank of the Yangtze River, and then looked up at Zhou Mancheng, the commander of the Inland Navy.

After annihilating the guard navy of the Huaihe River in the Southern Song Dynasty, Zhou Mancheng left a small number of warships to protect the pontoon bridge, and then carried a large amount of supplies, leading the main force of the inland river navy to accompany the main force of Zhou Zhi along the Hangou all the way south.

The Ming army's army won all the way, and continued to open up the road ahead, and the navy was able to advance smoothly, and there was no obstruction from the Song army's navy along the way.

Now that the Ming army has achieved great victories and opened the way to Yangzhou, the importance of the navy has become prominent.

"Lieutenant General Zhou, now, it's time to use your navy."

Zhou Zhi looked at Zhou Mancheng.

Zhou Mancheng nodded.

"Indeed, in this situation, it is time for my navy to be dispatched. Ma Bujun has made great contributions, and my navy will never fall behind."

The goal of Zhoumancheng and Zhouzhi was the Guazhou Ferry, an important ancient ferry crossing of the Yangtze River.

They planned to occupy Guazhoudu through the navy, eliminate the Jiangzhong navy division in the Southern Song Dynasty, cut off the connection between Yangzhou and Zhenjiang, and completely isolate Liu Qi and the defenders of Yangzhou.

Then Zhenjiang Mansion was naturally the possession of the Ming army.

Guazhou Ferry has been an important area connecting the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal and the Yangtze River from a long time ago. During the period of national political stability, the business here was prosperous, and a large number of merchant ships passed through here to communicate with the North and the South. Today, although the Guazhou Ferry is no longer the same Prosperous, but still an important ferry of the Yangtze River.

The land of Guazhou Ferry emerged from the water in about the Jin Dynasty, and became a Jiangxinzhou with a protruding center and surrounded by water on all sides.

Later, with the passage of time, around the middle of the Tang Dynasty, the north of Guazhou Island was connected to the land on the north bank of the Jiangbei, and it became an important ferry port and riverside business center in the Jiangbei area, and human settlements and small towns gradually appeared.

By the time of the Northern Song Dynasty, Guazhoudu had become a giant trade town on the riverside, and developed a large scale. Jiangnan and Jiangbei trade frequently, and most of them passed from here.

Only with the Jin-Song War and the diversion of the Yellow River, the commercial status of Guazhoudu gradually declined. Despite this, Guazhoudu is also an important Yangtze River ferry and business center.

Of course, this is no longer the case in Guazhoudu at this moment.

With the start of the Ming-Song War, those who can walk will flee, and those who cannot escape will hide. Even the most stubborn person will not dare to do business in the center of the war between the two armies, unless he is in a hurry to be reincarnated and reborn. Come.

At this moment, the navy controlled by Liu Qi was stationed at Guazhoudu. The responsibility was to protect the smooth route from Yangzhou to Zhenjiang Prefecture, and to ensure that Liu Qi could go to Yangzhou and return to Zhenjiang.

According to the previous investigation information, there are about a hundred warships and more than a thousand sailors here, which are far inferior to the Ming army sailors in number and strength.

If handled properly, the Ming army navy has a great chance of winning.

Even so, Zhou Mancheng did not relax.

He carefully led the navy to follow the footsteps of the infantry, followed the infantry across Lujin Town, and went all the way south to the north of Yangzhou City. At this moment, it was the ninth day of the fourth lunar month.

The pioneers of the Ming army had already arrived outside Yangzhou City on the morning of the eighth day of April, conducted some investigations, and then set up camps for the army to choose a suitable location. At the same time, they reported to Zhou Zhi the military defense of the Song army in Yangzhou City.

According to the intelligence, the Song army carried out a very straightforward clearing of the wilderness in Yangzhou City, the population near Yangzhou was all relocated, and the official roads were partially destroyed.

The moat of Yangzhou City has been widened, the city wall has been heightened and reinforced, a large number of defense equipment is equipped on the city head, the flags are flying on the city head, and it is full of Song troops defending the city. thing.

After Zhou Zhi led the army to observe the city defense of Yangzhou, he was also quite afraid of the city defense of Yangzhou.

However, Zhou Zhi did not know that the fighting situation of the Ming army wiping out [-] Song troops in a few days and the troops reaching Yangzhou had already made Yangzhou defenders feel terrified.

Even Liu Qi, who has been fighting hard for decades, can not help but be shocked and worried about it.

According to the report of the defeated soldiers who were lucky enough to get back, the command of the Song army has basically confirmed that the combat effectiveness displayed by the Ming army is very strong.

Their cavalry and infantry were well-trained, with bright armor and tough weapons. They fought like machines that did not know fatigue. Although the Song army fought bravely under the leadership of the generals, it still could not escape the end of destruction.

Liu Qi believed that the army he sent out to rescue Wang Gang was the elite army under his command, second only to the personal soldiers, and a field army that dared to fight.

This is so miserable.

So just before the vanguard of the Ming army arrived in Yangzhou City, some defenders in the city tried to escape from Yangzhou City.

This caused a further blow to Song Jun's morale.

Fortunately, Liu Qi quickly dispatched his son with his own soldiers to hunt down the deserters, and then executed them in public.

This kind of behavior was able to stop the further desertion of the Song army, but the morale of the Song army was always irreversible.

When the vanguard of the Ming army arrived outside the city of Yangzhou, causing the city to shake, Liu Qi threw a wave of money on the front line and gave generous rewards to the defenders in the city, which was able to stop the wavering of the army in the city.

But I didn't expect this to be the beginning.

After the Ming army vanguard arrived, they immediately sent the letter of persuasion to the city, along with three heads.

Liu Si's head, Wei You's head and Wang Gang's head.

In the letter of persuasion to surrender, it was written that the Ming army commander Zhou Zhi had the respect and yearning to fight against the senior Jin Liu Qi, but now that everyone has their own masters, swords are relatively inevitable, but he does not want a heroic pearl like Liu Qi to secretly vote for the corruption. Song Ting devoted his life. He said that His Majesty the Ming Emperor was eager for talents, and with Liu Qi's qualifications, if he was willing to surrender, he would definitely get proper arrangements.

This is his personal hope. Of course, if Liu Qi is obsessed and insists on going his own way, the three heads will be his fate.

The letter was both respectful and arrogant, and it was not easy for ordinary people to see what Zhou Zhi meant, whether he admired Liu Qi or belied Liu Qi.

But this is not important, because after reading the letter, Liu Qi looked at the three heads and became furious. He was already ill, and he was so angry that he vomited out a mouthful of blood, and suddenly passed out unconscious.

The city was even more chaotic. Liu Qi's deputy general, Wang Fang, urgently took over the responsibility of city defense and ordered the generals to rectify the army, otherwise - everyone would die here!
(End of this chapter)