Han Shizu

Chapter 1020

When Panmei's army conquered Shaozhou and made a major breakthrough in the Pingyue War, the situation on the Jianghuai battlefield also entered a new stage, and the Han armies from all walks of life were advancing smoothly.

On Cao Bin's side, after winning the water battle at the mouth of the lake, after a short rest, they left a part of the army stationed on the spot to control the waterway. Advance along the Jiangnan River and approach Hongzhou.

After the Battle of Hukou, the strength of the southern army in Hongzhou was greatly damaged. Facing the attack of Cao Liu's [-] troops, they were even more lonely.If it weren't for the veteran Lu Jiang who still had a certain prestige and led people to arrange defenses, perhaps Wang Shi would be defeated as soon as he arrived.

Even so, when Cao Liu's troops arrived, people in Nanchang City were panicked and precarious.In fact, under the oppression of the enemy's overwhelming force, it would be too embarrassing for him to rely on a veteran over [-] years old to shoulder the burden of defending the city and protecting the people.It is already a legend that Lu Jiang can lead the army to defend the city at such an advanced age. How can one expect him to do more.

Still like the practice in Ezhou, Cao Bin and Liu Guangyi led the navy and army to sweep down the forts, strongholds, and camps outside Nanchang, and then surrounded Nanchang with troops to cut off all water and land transportation and internal and external connections.

Cao Bin had been notified of the situation in Nanchang City long ago. While preparing for the siege, Cao Bin personally wrote Liu a letter of persuasion and sent it to Lu Jiang.Since Li Jing's time, he has repeatedly thought of moving the capital to Hongzhou. Although it failed in the end, a lot of people were invested in the repair of the city and the reinforcement of various facilities. If the army and the people can work together and make good use of it, it will be difficult to forcibly break it without paying some price.

However, the difficulty lies in the unity of the army and the people. Everyone has a sense of crisis. The army and the people also have their simplest understanding of the situation. Even if there is insufficient information, they know that the situation is not good.Recalcitrance requires sacrifice, sacrifice of life, and even implicates family members, endangering the entire city.

Surrender, but it's not so easy to say, especially for a veteran like Lu Jiang.There is one thing to say, no matter how the country declines, the three generations of the Li family still treat these meritorious veterans very kindly.

Therefore, facing Cao Bin's persuasion to surrender, Lu Jiang turned a deaf ear, neither agreeing nor refusing.

Before the start of the offensive and defensive battle in Nanchang, the battle situation in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River also entered a new situation. Zhang Yongde led the army across the river, which represented the collapse of the defense line of the Yangtze River in the south of the Yangtze River, and that was just the beginning.

While the Han army launched the battle of crossing the river in Dangtu, there was also a bloody battle in Changzhou.After several hesitation, Lin Renzhao, unwilling to sit still, decided to take a risk and chose to fight for his life. He personally led five thousand elites, sneaked eastward to Changzhou, and cooperated with Zheng Yanhua, who was defending the city, to launch an assault on Guo Tingwei's army.

Regarding the news of Lin Renzhao's intention to attack eastward, Guo Tingwei had received intelligence before, and Li Gu also sent a message to remind him. Therefore, the Han-Vietnamese coalition forces were on guard.However, things are often like this. When you know the details, it is easy to be careless and negligent.

Because Lin Renzhao sent troops suddenly and quickly, and he used the most well-trained soldiers under his command. When he led the army to hide in Jinling and launched an attack, it really had a surprise effect.

In addition, the Han army Pingnan, its momentum is overwhelming, and all the battlefields are smooth sailing. The soldiers of the Han army will inevitably have arrogance and slack. This kind of mental state is hard to avoid completely.

Therefore, under Lin Renzhao's surprise attack, the Han army in Changzhou was really caught off guard.That is to say, Guo Tingwei was rigorous in managing the army, and the basic qualities of the soldiers of the Han army were there. When they were attacked, they spontaneously organized resistance, and Guo Tingwei personally stabilized the morale of the army and organized resistance.

However, the Wuyue army was not so lucky. As a servant army, fighting with the Han army, don't look down on them in terms of morale and fighting will. It's over.

And Lin Renzhao's main target for the surprise attack was also the Wuyue army. Therefore, the Wuyue army was the first to be defeated. It was not only the coalition army, but of course also affected the Han army.Zheng Yanhua, the defender of Changzhou, received the news in advance. After the battle broke out on the bank of the canal, he decisively led the attack and cooperated with Lin Renzhao to attack the Han-Vietnamese coalition forces.

Lin Renzhao's attack showed his courage and military strategy, and he also successfully defeated the Wuyue army. However, under the command of Guo Tingwei, the Han army resisted.The two sides fought fiercely on the banks of the canal for more than two hours, and in the end the Han army, which had superior hard power, won the victory.

In particular, when Guo Tingwei ordered a naval army to abandon the boat and land, they counterattacked behind the southern army and broke it in one fell swoop.The Battle of Changzhou was a real bloody battle since the imperial court pacified the South, and it was also the most powerful resistance launched by the Southern Army against the Han Army.

However, in terms of results, the expected results were not achieved. Lin Renzhao won first and then lost, and finally broke away from the battle with less than [-] remnants led by Zheng Yanhua.Not only that, but also lost Jinling City, and Changzhou fell as a result.

Lin and Zheng had to retreat to Runzhou. This was not due to Lin and Zheng's incompetence, but the situation was such that the gap between strength and weakness was difficult to make up, which led to their failure.Even so, Lin Renzhao's surprise attack still caused considerable losses to the Han-Vietnamese coalition forces. The Wuyue army was killed and injured more than [-]. Of course, this also provided Guo Tingwei with a more favorable opportunity to digest and control the Wuyue army.

And with the fall of Changzhou, it also means that the defense line of the Yangtze River is heading for a complete collapse. Even if there is no battle of Dangtu, its momentum will be difficult to recover.The news of Dangtu's defeat and the fall of Changzhou spread to Jinling one after another, causing Li Yu's monarchs and ministers to be completely confused. The former situation was fairly stable, but this sudden decline was completely unexpected to them.

But this time, it was the fastest reaction of the Jinling court. It immediately decided to abandon Runzhou and transfer all the remaining tens of thousands of troops there back to Jinling.It wasn't that they cared about the dangerous situation in Runzhou, and the strong men broke their wrists and resolutely shrunk, but Zhang Yongde's eastward march along the river made them feel that the safety of Jinling should be ensured first, which was also their last plan at the beginning.I just didn't expect this last step to come so quickly.

On the side of the Han army, after the Battle of Changzhou, Guo Tingwei was a little annoyed and made some adjustments, that is, he led the navy and army to march westward, pointing directly at Runzhou, trying to save some face.At the same time, the main force of the Jianghuai River on the north bank also took advantage of the situation to mobilize troops and made large-scale moves, preparing to cooperate with the actions of Guo Tingwei's army.

In this life-and-death situation, Jinling's withdrawal order came.Since ancient times, withdrawing troops has been a difficult job, especially when danger is rife and the morale of the army is turbulent. If you don't pay attention, the retreat will turn into a rout.

Even if Lin Renzhao moved fast enough and prepared well, he was not spared. After all, the Southern Army was not a well-trained elite division with a unified command. .

The Han army pursued for fifty miles along the road, and finally stopped after Zheng Yanhua took the initiative to lead the army. Zheng Yanhua was injured and captured, and the Runzhou defenders who managed to escape back to Jinling were only in their early [-]s, and they were basically stragglers.

At the same time, the Jianghuai army, which had been stationed in Guazhou-Yangtze City for nearly a month, also successfully crossed south and boarded Jingkou.As the coach of Pingnan, Li Gu finally set foot on the land of Jiangnan after four years in Yangzhou.

Before the defenders withdrew, some generals suggested that all supplies such as grain, grass, and cloth should be burned, but Lin Renzhao refused. As a result, all the troops stationed in Runzhou were left to the Han army.Although he didn't say why, such a move could also reveal some of Lin Renzhao's thoughts.

With Zhang Yongde in the west, Guo Tingwei and the main Jianghuai army in the east, the situation in Jinling is completely in danger.In addition to the army withdrawn from Runzhou, the Jinling court organized [-] defenders, [-] mobs with low morale and turbulent hearts.

In this situation, Li Yu did another stupid thing. Under the advice of several officials, he arrested Lin Renzhao and sent him to prison.Behind this incident, it was Zhong Mo who was exerting his strength.

It was already a perilous situation, and they abandoned the Great Wall. Even though Lin Renzhao's Great Wall could hardly withstand the advance of the Han army and save the storm.After Lin Renzhao was released from prison, he needed to select someone who could lead the army. However, no one could be found. Chen Qiao led the battle, but he had no ability to lead the army at all.

Therefore, when the Jinling court was selecting a commander to lead the troops to defend against the enemy, the Han army approached the city. Zhang Yongde led the army to force the Qinhuai River in the west, and Li Gu's army was stationed in Zhongshan in the east.

The war in the south of the Yangtze River has entered the final stage directly. It has not been a full month since the Han army sent troops under the imperial edict.

(End of this chapter)