Zeng Ying was good at naval battles.
He always charged in front of the enemy in every battle, and was invincible. He had a beautiful beard and the enemies looked at him as a god. He was a dashing man with martial talent, and he liked to save people in times of emergency. People at that time praised him as "Mr. Zeng".
Historically.
After Zhang Xianzhong defeated Zeng Ying's attack, he captured Chongqing again and marched straight to Chengdu. The people of Shu suffered greatly from Zhang Xianzhong, and they all thought of Zeng Ying and said, "If Master Zeng were still alive, we would not have come to this."
Qin Liangyu stared at Zeng Ying and asked, "Zeng Ying, you were defeated by Zhang Xianzhong before and suffered heavy casualties. I gave you 200,000 taels of silver to recruit soldiers. How many soldiers have you recruited so far?"
Zeng Ying said with a guilty look on his face: "Report to the Governor, we have only recruited more than 10,000 people."
Qin Liangyu: ???
She asked again in disbelief: "How much did you say just now?"
"Report to the Governor, there are more than 10,000 people."
Good guy...
Qin Liangyu could no longer use the word "shocked" to describe her feelings at the moment.
She had also tried recruiting soldiers, but the results were mediocre. She didn't expect Zeng Ying to have such appeal that she could attract thousands of people.
"Where are the troops?" Qin Liangyu paused and continued to ask.
Zeng Ying cupped his hands and said, "I will divide the navy into two parts. One part of the newly recruited soldiers will be trained in the upper reaches of Changshou, and the remaining veterans and other recruits will be stationed at Wangjiang Pass in the lower reaches of Fuling. I think there may be an opportunity here."
In ancient times, in addition to adjusting the sails and rowing the oars, boats sailing upstream on the Yangtze River also required the use of trackers to pull the boats in places with fast-flowing waters, and the use of ropes and manpower to drag the boats upstream.
The river channel in the Wangjiang Pass area is in the shape of a convex U, with some widths and some narrows. The water flow is sometimes slow and sometimes fast, and in many places, trackers are needed to sail upstream.
It's a good place for an ambush.
Qin Liangyu was very familiar with the terrain of eastern Sichuan. Seeing Zeng Ying setting up defenses at Wangjiang Pass, she nodded in approval and said, "I'll leave the water route to you, and the rest of the land route to me."
"As for Changshou, Zhang Xianzhong will not be able to capture it in a short time. Long Wenguang's subordinates are all elite soldiers from central Sichuan, and I have deployed several troop groups of Xidong soldiers along the way to carry out harassment. If you want to attack Changshou, you will have to lose a lot of skin first."
Zeng Ying finally felt relieved after learning about Qin Liangyu's deployment.
What is the navy afraid of?
Afraid of having your back door cut off.
Especially the waterway from Wangjiang Pass to Fuling.
This is the confluence of the Yangtze River and the Wujiang River. The water is turbulent and it is difficult for warships to sail against the current.
If you want to go upstream, you need to use the river trackers to pull the boat.
If he fell into Zhang Xianzhong's hands by land, he would not be able to escape even if he wanted to, and could only bite the bullet and rush downstream.
It's almost like committing suicide!
They talked as they walked, and after returning to the Fuling Prefecture Yamen, they discussed for a while before each leading their troops back to their camp.
The next morning, several troops marched out in different directions.
......
Fengdu County.
During the Ming Dynasty, Fengdu County was first merged into Fuzhou and belonged to Chongqing Prefecture. Later, it was separated from Fuzhou and restored as a county, renamed Fengdu, and was under the jurisdiction of Zhongzhou of Chongqing Prefecture.
Because the Ming army was defeated in Zhongzhou and Fengdu County had no strategic location to defend, it was strategically abandoned.
In the lobby of the county government office, Li Dingguo was handling military affairs.
Soon, footsteps were heard outside the hall.
Then, a young man in his twenties walked in.
This person is Gao Wengui, a general under Li Dingguo. The Tianwei Camp under his command is the elite among Li Dingguo's elite troops.
"General Li, what do you want to call me for?"
Li Dingguo looked at this man who was about the same age as him and felt a little relieved.
He opened the map on the table in front of him, pointed at Fuling and said, "Qin Liangyu led tens of thousands of Ming troops to garrison in Fuling. I boasted to my adoptive father that I would capture Qin Liangyu. This matter needs to be discussed in detail."
Gao Wengui nodded.
Qin Liangyu had 60,000 soldiers under her command. Even if Changshou County took away some of the troops, the remaining soldiers would definitely not be less than 30,000.
How many troops do they have?
Li Dingguo had 30,000 soldiers under his command, plus the 50,000 soldiers temporarily transferred by Zhang Xianzhong, a total of 80,000.
On the surface, we have the advantage in military strength.
In fact, the two sides are evenly matched.
Because most of their soldiers were civilians who were forced to join the uprising, not to mention armor, even many of their weapons were homemade.
If the elite troops in front win the battle, they can charge forward; if they lose the battle, they will be the first to escape.
In contrast, Qin Liangyu's troops consisted of three groups of people.
The most powerful troops were the White Spear Soldiers. Since they were completely wiped out three years ago and the Ming court had no money or food, the number of White Spear Soldiers would not be large, at most only about one or two thousand.
Next were the Ming court’s war troops, numbering at least 20,000.
The rest are newly recruited soldiers, numbering about 10,000, with average combat effectiveness.
The troop strength ratio is close to three to one.
If the two sides were to fight in the field, these troops would be enough for them. But Fuling is a city, and this amount of troops is simply not enough to capture Fuling.
Thinking of this, Gao Wengui asked tentatively: "Should we ask the Great Western King (referring to Zhang Xianzhong) for more troops?"
Li Dingguo shook his head: "Although my adoptive father claims to have an army of 200,000, there are not many who can actually fight. My eldest brother (referring to Sun Kewang) took away 30,000 people when he attacked Changshou County."
"I took away 80,000 people from Fuling."
"If you don't count the baggage soldiers, there are only 40,000 to 50,000 soldiers left in my foster father's hands. If I ask for more soldiers, I'm afraid it will cause unnecessary trouble."
Zhang Xianzhong's supplies depended on looting, and whenever he looted, he had a special preference for mules and horses that could carry heavy loads. Because these mules and horses helped to carry food and grass, the proportion of baggage soldiers in Zhang Xianzhong's army was not high.
trouble?
Gao Wengui was stunned, and quickly realized the seriousness of the problem.
The fact that Zhang Xianzhong allocated 50,000 troops to Li Dingguo already represented enough trust in him.
If the troops were divided again, Li Dingguo would be qualified to be Zhang Xianzhong's adoptive father...
Li Dingguo continued, "My foster father will definitely not sit idly by during the attack on Fuling. He will join the battle at the right time. However, we still have to rely on ourselves for the initial breakthrough."
"I only have your elite force under my command, with less than 5,000 men, capable of both land and water battles. This time we are going to take a risky tactic in attacking Fuling."
"So what General Li means is..." Gao Wengui tried to ask.
"Surprise attack!"
"Surprise attack?"
"Yes!" Li Dingguo pointed to Fuling on the map again. "There is a natural pass downstream of Fuling, called Wangjiang Pass. Qin Liangyu will definitely send a large number of troops to guard it."
"Therefore, as long as we annihilate all the Ming troops at Wangjiang Pass, it will be equivalent to cutting off one of Qin Liangyu's arms, and our army's chances of victory will be greatly increased!"
Gao Wengui became more and more confused.
It is difficult to completely wipe out the enemy when fighting against the current.
The Ming army is not stupid. They will run away if they cannot win.
Warships are not war horses. If the weight difference is not big and the sail area is similar, the speed of both sides will be similar.
It is quite difficult to catch up with the other person.
Moreover, Fuling City is right behind the Ming navy, so the two sides can support each other.
Li Dingguo looked at the confused Gao Wengui and smiled, then pointed his finger suddenly at the bottom of the map.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
