Kai Fu Han

Chapter 609 Trench Warfare

"Or you block here, and I go around Lingting Town and go directly to Hangzhou?" Liu Xinjun saw that Sun Li was still not satisfied with his suggestion, so he proposed another one.

"If we divide our troops, they will do the same. If we divide our troops further, the gap in strength between the enemy and ourselves will become even more obvious." Sun Li retorted.

"This won't work, that won't work either! Then tell me, how to fight this battle?" Liu Xinjun asked.

"We can't fight in trenches with them, it will cost us too much." Sun Li replied: "During the drill in the north, I found that the longer the trench warfare lasts, the worse the environment in the trenches will be. As long as it rains, It’s just hell on earth.”

Rats, fleas, and lice seem to be everywhere, and it’s easy to get sick hiding in trenches.

"Looking at it today, it doesn't look like it's going to rain." Liu Xinjun looked up at the sky. It was a clear sky, a rare good weather.

"Look here." Sun Li asked his men to spread out the map of Huainan East Road and pointed to Xinkai Lake in the west of Gaoyou.

"The canal goes straight north from the east side of Xinkai Lake. Xinkai Lake has a tributary that passes through the canal and flows eastward into the sea."

This river is called Beichengzi River. It flows from Gaoyoujun to Taizhou and passes through Sandun Town (belonging to Gaoyoujun) and Lingting Town (belonging to Xinghua County, Taizhou).The trench array of Southern Zhao was built on the south side of Beichengzi River.

"River? What's the flow of the river?" Liu Xinjun asked.

A staff officer who knew Huainan East Road better was called over and joined the military discussion.

"The flow of the Beichengzi River is not large. It is only needed for rice planting and irrigation on both sides of the river. The river flow is controlled by a dam at Xinkai Lake in the upper reaches." said the consultant.

"In other words, this dam is very important." Liu Xinjun understood.

"Yes, I will lead the third brigade to hold back the Southern Zhao Army at Sandun Town. You will lead the second brigade westward to attack Gaoyou, seize the dam on the upper reaches of the Beichengzi River, widen the water outlet, and let the water in the Beichengzi River rise." Sun Li said.

"When the water volume exceeds the Beichengzi River embankment, it will naturally overflow the trench positions in Henan." Liu Xinjun responded.

"Yes."

Neither Sun Li nor Liu Xin believed that the soldiers of the Southern Zhao Army could fight against the Xinghan Allied Forces in the flooded trenches.

In this era, there should be no army with such a strong will to fight.

If it were true, it would not have been defeated by the Jin Kingdom before.

Eat food as a soldier!In this era, most of those who can serve as soldiers go there for free food, and working one's life is not just for the price of food.

After the battle plan was finalized, the two brigades split up into separate operations.

The third brigade began to attack Nan Zhao's trench formation outside Sandun Town. Due to lack of experience, Southern Zhao's trench formation was still in a very crude state. There were only simple trenches so that Southern Zhao soldiers could hide inside and avoid being hit by musket bullets. Direct shot to.

In later generations, battle trenches dug along the front of the position were divided into small and large.Small trench fortifications generally have only one or a few simple trenches as cover, mainly to reduce casualties caused by direct fire from the ground.

Large-scale trench fortifications are usually linear or mesh trenches dug by infantry groups according to terrain characteristics to consolidate the front line and are used for garrison defense and counter-charge. They are also generally equipped with lookout or reconnaissance and warning facilities, command posts, fire support and support points, Camouflage cover equipment, shelters, communication equipment, transportation and medical facilities form a system.

The famous Maginot Line is a large-scale trench fortification.

Small trench fortifications are simple, but very easy to use.At least for now, the field army cannot directly attack the Nan Zhao soldiers in the trenches with muskets, but the Nan Zhao soldiers can use bows and arrows to launch lob attacks at the Xinghan League soldiers.

"Use the Crouching Tiger Cannon to bombard slowly, don't rush and force the attack." Sun Li ordered his generals.

The soldiers of the field army cavalry battalion covered the station outside, cutting off the soldiers in the trench formation from the outside world. The news that their side was going to dig a new lake would definitely be hidden from the generals of Nan Zhao on the opposite position.

The musketeers were on defense in front of the artillery, and the artillery array's squatting cannons poured explosive shells into the trench array.It is unknown how many casualties it caused to the enemy, but it perfectly accomplished the purpose of containing the Southern Zhao Army.

"Now if there are a large number of incendiary bombs and they are launched with simple trebuchets, these trenches will become the burial ground of the generals of Nan Zhao." said an army staff officer.

"It's not necessary. You can run away when flooded, but using fire will harm the world." Sun Li replied.

The generals of the Xinghan League were a little too merciful in battle, and they were influenced by Liu Xinqi.Fortunately, our own weapon advantage was large enough to avoid the increase in casualties among our own people caused by mercy.

In the first year of Jihan Zhangwu (Kaiyuan 2918), Liu Bei led a large army to attack Wu in order to avenge the death of Jingzhou and Guan Yu.In order to avoid the attack, Wu general Lu Xun insisted on not fighting, and the two sides became confrontational.The Ji Han army's expedition was difficult to supply, and they could not win a quick victory. In addition, the weather was hot after the beginning of summer, so they gradually lost their vigor and morale.In order to relieve the suffering of the soldiers from the scorching heat, Liu Bei ordered Ji Han's army to camp in the mountains and forests to escape the heat.Lu Xun saw the opportunity and ordered each of his soldiers to bring a handful of thatch. When they arrived at Ji Han's camp, they set fire to it and attacked fiercely.The wooden fence of Jihan's military camp and the surrounding trees were flammable, and the fire quickly spread throughout the camps.Ji Han's army was in chaos, and more than forty battalions were defeated by Wu's army.The success of Lu Xun's Burning Battalion determined the outcome of the Han's defeat of Wu Sheng in the Battle of Yiling (Battle of Yiting).

In the storybook, Lu Xun burned the company's camp for [-] miles and achieved great results. However, in the context of this sentence, it is unknown how many Ji Han soldiers were burned to death or suffocated to death.

During the Three Kingdoms period, decades of war created many famous heroes in history. However, during these decades of troubled times, the population of the Han people dropped sharply from 5000 million to 800 million, which did not lay the foundation for the later Five Husties. Got the roots.

I say this just to show that Sun Li also wants to leave his name in history and win a "burning camp" style victory that determines the strategic direction, but he does not want to base this victory on the basis of "ten thousand bones withered".

If they win the Battle of Xinghua, the Southern Zhao court will be captured or continue to flee south.If you lose, it is impossible to lose.

On leap April [-]th, Liu Xinjun easily captured Gaoyou City. At noon that day, he directly dug out the dam between Xinkai Lake and the canal. The water from Xinkai Lake followed the Beichengzi River eastward and overflowed ten miles out of Gaoyou. The river embankment, farmland and villages on both sides of the Beichengzi River were all submerged.

Fortunately, the difference between the water level of Xinkai Lake and the water level of Beichengzi River is not very big. Liu Xinjun was measured when digging the embankment, so not much water came out slowly. However, no matter how easy it is to say it, it will inevitably cause unreasonable deaths and injuries.

War is like this, no one can avoid it.

Farmland and villages were flooded, and the terrain was flat, so people could still hide.The trenches no longer worked and became natural water storage ditches. All the Southern Zhao soldiers hidden in the entire trench array were forced out.

All the Nan Zhao troops in Sandun Town were exposed to the muzzle (muzzle) of the Xinghan League's artillery (guns).

(End of this chapter)