Chaos of the Three Kingdoms Summons

Chapter 2576 The War to Destroy the Han Dynasty, the Decisive Battle Between Han and Jin

In Qingzhou, Han Shizhong led 50,000 naval troops, approaching the direction of Qingnan.

None of these 50,000 men came from his Yellow River naval force; they all came from Qi Jiguang's Yangtze River naval force.

While Qi Jiguang was campaigning in Youzhou, Han Shizhong temporarily gained command of this part of the navy.

As for Han Shizhong's Yellow River Navy and the rest of the Yangtze River Navy, at this time they were either blockading the Bohai Sea region or guarding the coastal area north of Qingzhou to guard against the Li Tang Navy.

Prior to this, the Qing-Han naval forces had always avoided engaging in battle with Qi Jiguang and Han Shizhong. This was because Han Shizhong or Qi Jiguang were unable to keep track of the movements of the enemy's main naval forces in time, which is why there had been no direct confrontation.

After all, waging a decisive battle against the navy is much more difficult than on land, and requires far more conditions.

If the enemy is deliberately avoiding battle, it will be difficult to truly catch them off guard. Even if you could catch them, by the time your naval forces have surrounded them, the enemy navy would have long since vanished.

On the open sea, there are no terrain restrictions; it is easily accessible in all directions, allowing direct departure from any point.

But now, in the Qing Dynasty, Liu Bei has completely rejected the idea of ​​escaping by naval force.

If the ruler desires to fight to the death, his subjects will all obey.

Therefore, the Qinghan Navy was officially stationed at the ferry crossings in the southern coastal area of ​​Qingzhou, to follow Liu Bei in the final battle.

With the emperor fighting to the death, Liu Rengui could not possibly abandon the emperor and run away.

Of course, there were also those who ran away on their own. Naval commander Li Jun, along with Tong Wei and Tong Meng, took advantage of a mission to disappear without a trace.

Even if Liu Rengui wanted to capture them and bring them back for military law, now was not the time. He even had to pretend that they had encountered a storm at sea, resulting in the loss of their ship and all their lives, so as not to shake the morale of the army.

With the same number of naval forces, the Yellow River Navy's quality was incomparable to that of the Yangtze River Navy! The gap in quality between the northern and southern navies has always been there, and the saying "southern boats, northern horses" is not just a saying.

This difference lies not only in the quality of personnel, but also in the quality of warships.

Therefore, in the upcoming battle against the Qinghan Navy, Han Shizhong chose Qi Jiguang's Yangtze River Navy instead of his directly subordinate Yellow River Navy.

On land, Lian Po's army advanced towards Le'an. After capturing Le'an, they marched all the way into Donglai, encircling Beihai and cutting off Liu Bei's route to Donglai to join forces with Liu Rengui.

After Xue Rengui's army left Mount Tai, it went directly into the Beihai Kingdom.

Two armies, intending to trap and kill Liu Bei's remaining forces in the Beihai region, planned to wage the final battle between the Han and Jin dynasties there.

After this battle, no force in the world could carry the banner of the Han Dynasty.

On the third day of the seventh month of the seventh year of the Yuanshi era, Lian Po captured all the counties of Le'an State. The prefect Liu Yanzong, the garrison commander Cheng Bushi, and the deputy commander Liu Hong were all killed by the Jin army.

On the fifteenth day of the ninth month of the seventh year of the Yuanshi era, Lian Po attacked Donglai again. The defending general Kuai Tong was killed in battle, and the prefect Gan Pan, after realizing that there was no hope of breaking out, fell off a cliff and died.

Lian Po's journey was indeed relatively easy. The remaining main force of Qinghan's troops had been concentrated on Liu Bei's side as much as possible, so that the two counties had virtually no power to resist.

More than half a month before Lian Po captured Donglai, on August 28th of the seventh year of Yuanshi, Liu Bei led the last elite troops of Qinghan in Beihai for a final battle against Xue Rengui.

Liu Bei did not choose to continue defending the city. He defended the city to hold out and wait for a chance to turn the tide.

But if there is no hope of turning the tide, then holding on is meaningless except for prolonging their lives.

If Liu Bei were willing to prolong his life, he could simply board a ship of the Qing-Han navy and leave. Even if he couldn't find a place like Yizhou, he could still find a deserted island and live in anonymity. He didn't want to prolong his life then, and naturally he wouldn't want to prolong it now.

Rather than lingering on and letting the city fall, it's better to launch one more glorious attack.

If it were merely a matter of prolonging life or even fleeing, that would be acceptable. But if there were still hopes of turning the tide, Liu Bei would definitely choose that path.

However, if he runs away, he will still end up in a dead end, with no hope of turning things around. In that case, he might just die in battle from the very beginning.

The current global situation is the latter.

The world is so vast, there is nowhere left for him to hide, nowhere for him to escape.

How long can Youzhou, the only remaining territory of the Han Dynasty, hold out?
Throughout his life, Liu Bei charged into battle countless times. Even if he wasn't like Xiang Yu, who led every single battle, he was definitely one of the monarchs who personally went to the battlefield the most times.

Especially in the very early days, when Liu Bei did not yet have a large power base, he personally took care of everything and lived a life of self-sufficiency.

Whether it's himself or the Han Dynasty, even if they can't avoid their demise, they should choose the ending they want.

Therefore, he left this ending for the final battle charge.

Furthermore, since the outcome was already decided, why should Liu Bei subject the people to the suffering of war again?

The losses in defending the city were not limited to soldiers; they also affected civilians. In fact, the civilians suffered the most.

A true siege defense is never just a matter for soldiers; every siege requires the mobilization of a large number of civilians to assist. Even if these civilians don't directly participate in the defense, they are needed to help transport supplies.

In most cases, the food and clothing of the people would be collected and distributed during wartime.

After the city fell, it wasn't just a matter for the soldiers; the civilians also suffered countless deaths and injuries.

In the course of street fighting, it's commonplace for innocent bystanders to be caught in the crossfire. Even worse, the killing of innocent civilians and the claiming of credit for their crimes is all too frequent.

Those cases that were exposed and subsequently dealt with were all cases of going too far, causing chaos involving thousands or even tens of thousands of people at once.

How could it be discovered that ordinary soldiers or lower-ranking officers only killed one or two civilians and earned a few extra kills as military merit? Even if it were discovered, most of them would turn a blind eye, except for a few commanders.

After all, generally speaking, it's not just one or two soldiers who do this, but a large number of soldiers; the law doesn't punish the masses.

As for making a small fortune out of the common people after the city falls, that's become an even more common occurrence.

Therefore, after the city fell, the civilian casualties were far greater than those of the soldiers.

If there had been even the slightest hope, Liu Bei would probably have chosen to hold on.

With the outcome already predetermined, Liu Bei was unwilling to continue tormenting the people.

In those chaotic times, Liu Bei's reputation for benevolence and righteousness was never challenged, even by his enemies, and this was not without reason. His bottom line was indeed higher than that of others.

As for why Liu Bei didn't abandon his soldiers and charge into battle alone, thus avoiding unnecessary casualties for them, Liu Bei was benevolent and had a higher moral standard than others, but that doesn't mean he was a saint!

It was under these circumstances that the rare war of annihilation of a state by the Great Jin Dynasty was ultimately fought in open field battles.