Chaos of the Three Kingdoms Summons

Chapter 2559 Qi Jiguang's army crosses the Bohai Sea, first destroying the You army and then attacking the Han.

Among the three northern warlords, there was not only the Qinghan Navy, but also the Youzhou Navy.

When Qi Jiguang occupied the Yellow River, Qinghanshui abandoned the Yellow River and once joined forces with the Youzhou navy.

However, based on the available information, only the Qinghan Navy has appeared in Xuzhou, and the Youzhou Navy has not appeared.

Therefore, Qi Jiguang was considering taking advantage of the fact that the two naval forces were currently separated and concentrating his forces to eliminate one of them.

If you can strike the enemy with three or four times the number of troops, you certainly won't strike them with only twice the number of troops!
The Youzhou navy was most likely in the Bohai region at this time.

Moreover, Qi Jiguang actually wanted to take this opportunity to destroy the Youzhou navy and then land on the Youzhou mainland from Bohai.

At present, in addition to his naval headquarters, Qi Jiguang also has 80,000 infantry and cavalrymen who have fallen into his hands.

Even if not all of such a large army lands on Youzhou's mainland, but only a portion of it, the consequences would be no different from the recently concluded northern Qingzhou war.

Since Lian Po refused to interfere in their war against Qing and Han, Qi Jiguang also thought of leading his troops to intervene in the north.

There's nothing shameful about gaining military merit.

Of course, this is also because the Qing-Han navy can only cause limited damage to Xuzhou. It can only cause so much damage to Xuzhou for now, and it is already difficult for the other side to cause further damage to Xuzhou.

Given that the enemy has already damaged Xuzhou and is unable to cause further damage, Qi Jiguang has no need to rush to join others in trying to salvage the situation.

Yes, the Qing-Han naval forces could no longer cause much more damage to Xuzhou.

Ultimately, the Qinghan are not the Japanese pirates of the past, and they will not engage in widespread burning, killing, and looting in Xuzhou. At least for now, the Qinghan are only robbing some grain in Xuzhou, and have not directly turned their swords against the people.

Qinghan is not the Li Tang dynasty, and there is no need for it to plunder people like the Li Tang dynasty did.

Therefore, compared to the Japanese and the Tang dynasty who once tried to take over Xuzhou, the destruction caused by Qinghan was indeed several levels lower.

Moreover, the destruction caused by Qinghan was limited to the coastal areas of Xuzhou at most; they dared not truly penetrate deep into Xuzhou.

If the enemy penetrates even slightly deeper, then we need to consider whether we can retreat in time. If they go too far in, Guo Ziyi could easily block their retreat with a light cavalry charge from the north.

Therefore, Qi Jiguang devised a plan to land at sea in Youzhou.

In particular, the current separation of the Qinghan and Youzhou navies presents the best opportunity to control the Bohai Sea.

The overall strength of the Youzhou navy was actually inferior to that of the Qinghan navy.

After all, as a northern navy, the Qing-Han Navy was undoubtedly full of famous generals, and in this respect, it was no less capable than the previous Zhu-Wu Navy or the current Great Jin Yangtze River Navy.

However, the Tang navy was something Qi Jiguang needed to be wary of.

Although due to those historical reasons, the Li Tang navy could not openly stand with these northern powers; at most, they would tacitly give each other a way out, adopting a "seeing but not saying" approach.

It was precisely because of this that Qi Jiguang was able to successfully control the Yellow River.

Otherwise, even if the navies of these three powers were to unite, they would still be no match for the combined Yellow River and Yangtze River navies of the Great Jin Dynasty, but they would still be a formidable force. However, while they cannot openly unite, it is not impossible for them to launch a surprise attack during their battles.

Didn't the Li Tang dynasty do the same thing during the Central Plains War and the Southern War?

At that time, the Great Jin Dynasty was simultaneously waging wars in the Central Plains and the South, while the Yuan Mongols had opened up battlefields in Liangzhou and Xiliang, which is why they had no way to deal with the other side.

This time, we certainly can't let them have another chance to take advantage.

Therefore, we still need to be on guard during the process of establishing a presence in the Bohai Sea.

In addition, Qi Jiguang wanted to control Bohai at this time in order to completely cut off Liu Bei's escape route.

The Qing-Han navy had been holding back for some time, and Qi Jiguang was worried that Liu Bei would eventually use the navy to leave by water.

Even if Liu Bei could escape with the help of the navy, where could he go? The most likely destination would be Youzhou, where he could put up a final stand with Qin Zheng.

However, if he could control Bohai, he would eliminate the possibility for Liu Bei to use his navy to escape to Youzhou after his defeat in Qingzhou.

Even if Liu Bei were to be defeated in Qingzhou and manage to board the Qing-Han navy, without a place to land, he would be nothing more than a rootless duckweed on the sea.

Without a place to land again, they would have trouble even getting food at sea. They couldn't just rely on fishing to solve their food problem, could they? That's not just a matter of one or two mouths to feed.

Moreover, even after the Youzhou navy, which he had destroyed, took control of Bohai, it did not prevent him from dividing his forces to continue besieging and killing the Qinghan navy.

Therefore, Lian Po, who was originally in charge of Ji and You provinces, instead marched towards Qing province.

Qi Jiguang, who was originally supposed to be under the control of Xue Rengui, who was in charge of Liu Bei's forces, instead marched towards Youzhou.

However, this is probably not good news for either Liu Bei's forces or the forces in Youzhou.

Lian Po had nearly 200,000 troops under his command. Even though there were casualties during the battles, he still had at least 100,000 troops at his disposal.

Even if a portion of troops were to be left to defend the northern region of Qingzhou, it would still be possible to mobilize over 100,000 soldiers to cross the Yellow River and attack the southern part of Qingzhou.

As for Qi Jiguang, he had about 100,000 troops in his navy alone, plus the 80,000 infantry and cavalry that Xue Rengui had transferred to him. If he were to successfully land in Youzhou, he would not only be a dagger thrust into the north of Youzhou, but a missile aimed at Youzhou.

In fact, the outcome of the entire northern battlefield was already decided the moment Lian Po captured the Jizhou battlefield.

With the fall of the Jizhou battlefield, all the weaknesses of the three northern warlords were exposed.

However, neither Liu Bei nor Qin Zheng were the type to admit defeat.

Even if you've already put the knife to their necks, let alone before the knife is aimed at them, they won't give up so easily.

Getting them to submit is harder than killing them outright.

Therefore, even though the outcome was already decided, it did not stop the two from continuing to fight.

The battle wasn't over until both of them died.