The Song Dynasty on the Sand Table

Chapter 441 The Possibility of Taking Dalian and Lushun

The Dafeng Naval School suddenly became lively.

Not only did Yang Tian, ​​a member of the Manichaeism sect, and some of his important subordinates arrive, but Xu Wen and some of his officers also came.

Both groups of people weren't particularly interested in which school they attended at first.

But when they started listening to Zheng Chenggong's lectures, they realized that their previous knowledge was really insufficient.

They learned from Zheng Chenggong what soft sails, ocean currents, and monsoons were, and that by following the monsoons and ocean currents, they could reach Europe in half a year, where there were many countries...

They also learned about Japan, Ryukyu, and the Arab world...

They also learned line formation tactics.

Li Bao would often come to the school and eagerly ask them if they had finished their studies and if they could go with him to fight in Dalian and Lushun.

Then he would get a good scolding from Zheng Chenggong!
Yang Tian and Xu Wen both thought that Li Bao's idea of ​​attacking Dalian and Lushun was nothing but wishful thinking.

On this day, Zheng Chenggong was giving a lesson, and everyone was listening attentively when suddenly Yue Wenxuan, accompanied by Li Bao, slipped into the classroom through the door. Yue Wenxuan waved his hand, and Zheng Chenggong stopped lecturing, standing in a corner of the room as a quiet listener.

Yue Wenxuan walked to the podium, letting Li Bao listen as well, before addressing Yang Tian, ​​Xu Wen, and their large group of naval officers: "I'm here today to give you a special lecture."

Everyone was greatly surprised. Could Young Master Yue really give us a naval lesson?
But Yue Wenxuan smiled and said, "I'm not giving a naval lecture; I don't know anything about naval warfare. What I'm going to talk about today is the strategic possibility of capturing Dalian and Lushun."

Everyone was shocked by these words.

Li Bao, however, wore a smug expression: "Hehehe!"

Yue Wenxuan: "General Yang, you go first. What do you think of the geographical location of Dalian and Lushun?"

Yang Tian initially didn't even know where Dalian and Lushun were, but recently he had often heard Li Bao talking about them, so he did some research and realized he wasn't completely ignorant. He stood up, clasped his hands in a fist and said, "Dalian and Lushun are located at the southernmost tip of the Liaodong Peninsula, entirely within the territory of the Jin Dynasty. They are separated from the Jiaodong region, which is under our control, by a strait, making their geographical location extremely important. If our army can capture Dalian and Lushun, we can block the strait and lock down the entire Bohai Sea... Neither the Jin army's warships nor the Jin Dynasty's merchant ships will be able to transport supplies to Yanjing via the Bohai Sea, and will be forced to take land routes."

Yue Wenxuan: "Well said! Now, let General Xu tell us, is it possible for our army to capture Dalian and Lushun?"

Without hesitation, Xu Wen said, "Taking Dalian and Lushun will be effortless for our army. The Jin navy has always been weak. If our army sets sail from Dengzhou, it will only take half a day to reach the coast of Dalian and Lushun. The Jin army doesn't seem to have many troops stationed in Dalian and Lushun. If our army wants to attack, we can take the cities in the blink of an eye. But..."

He trailed off, then sighed, “Taking a city is easy, but holding it is difficult. The Liaodong Peninsula is entirely in the hands of the Jin army. The Jin cavalry will attack very quickly. Our troops on the island are isolated and helpless. How can we resist? In the end, we can only abandon the city and return by boat.”

At this point, Chu Wen earnestly said, "Attack is easy, but defense is difficult, and ultimately it has no strategic significance."

After saying that, he turned to Li Baodao and said, "I'm sorry, I'm not targeting you, but the general's plan is indeed ill-considered."

Li Bao wasn't an unreasonable person; after listening, he also frowned.

As Xu Wen said, Dalian and Lushun are easy to attack but difficult to defend.

Just then, Yue Wenxuan smiled and said, "If we can hold it, wouldn't it be worth attacking?"

Upon hearing this question, almost all the officers present, regardless of rank, replied in unison, "Of course, closing off the Bohai Sea is strategically extremely advantageous." Yue Wenxuan said, "Alright, then let me give you a reason why we can hold it."

He suddenly unfolded a huge map, showing the southernmost part of the Liaodong Peninsula, specifically the small tip of the peninsula near Dalian and Lushun. Yue Wenxuan lightly traced the narrowest point of the peninsula with his pointer and said with a smile, "Does anyone know what kind of impressive building is located here?"

Everyone looked bewildered and shook their heads to indicate that they didn't know.

Yue Wenxuan laughed and said, "There is a section of the Great Wall here, but it is only twelve li long."

Upon hearing this, everyone exclaimed in surprise, "Huh? There's the Great Wall here?"

Most people only know that the Great Wall stretches from Jiayuguan in the west to Shanhaiguan in the east, but they don't know that in the Liaodong Peninsula, north of Dalian, at its narrowest point, there is a section of the "shortest Great Wall" called Zhendongguan Great Wall.

It turns out that this section of the Great Wall was not built by the Han people, but by the Liao people, which is why many Han people did not know this.

It was originally built by the Liao Dynasty to defend against the Jurchens.

After the Liao Dynasty fell, both the north and south sides of this section of the Great Wall fell into the hands of the Jurchens, and naturally no one mentioned it anymore.

Yue Wenxuan drew this section of the Great Wall on the map, which greatly impressed all the generals present.

Yue Wenxuan laughed and said, "Alright, with this Great Wall in place, do you all think that Dalian and Lushun can be defended?"

Li Bao was the first to speak: "Yes!"

Yang Tian also answered quickly: "Yes!"

Only Chu Wen, having spent a long time in the Southern Song Dynasty and been infected by its overall cowardly atmosphere, weakly replied, "Maybe... it's possible..."

Li Bao shouted, "This subordinate understands. We will use a large fleet to launch a surprise attack on Dalian and Lushun. While capturing these two cities, we will send an army to launch a surprise attack on the Zhendongguan Great Wall. After the surprise attack force takes the Great Wall, we will immediately deploy a large number of musketeers to guard the wall and block the Jin army's reinforcements."

Yang Tian also chimed in, "After the other units captured Dalian and Lushun, they left only a small number of troops to reorganize the cities. The main force immediately reinforced the Zhen Dongguan Great Wall, concentrating the main force on the Great Wall. This section of the Great Wall is only twelve li long. Our navy's current strength is enough to defend the twelve li of the Great Wall."

Xu Wen: "Logistics will rely on ships to continuously transport supplies from Dengzhou to provide logistical support to the troops stationed in Zhendongguan and Dalian and Lushun. In this way, the entire Bohai Sea will be locked down by our army, and the Jin army will definitely be in a huge predicament."

Several naval admirals were eager to get started.

Yue Wenxuan chuckled inwardly: Very good!
Yue Wenxuan had this strategic idea a long time ago, but he lacked the manpower to carry out this tactic.

After years of development, with the addition of Yang Tian and Xu Wen, a large number of Manichaean naval forces were replenished, and this tactic finally had the premise to be put into practical use.

Of course, war can't be started just like that; we need to wait for an opportunity to send troops...

Yue Wenxuan chuckled and said, "Gentlemen, intensify the training of the navy, the landing operations, and the rehearsals of defending the Great Wall. Make sure we are absolutely sure of success. Next, we will wait for an opportunity when the Jin Kingdom is careless, and then we will seize Dalian and Lushun and give the Jin Kingdom some trouble."

(End of this chapter)