Chapter 878: Jiangxia Water Battle

Although the naval division of the Dingguo Army participated in the battle of Liaodong, it was not strictly tested in Liaodong, and this time it entered the Yangtze River Valley, and the pressure was not as good as it was at the beginning. Although most of Chai's energy is now contained in Luoyang, Zhengzhou, there are still many soldiers and horses south of Henan Mansion, and these soldiers and horses are mainly concentrated in Jiangling Mansion, Xiangyang and Jiangxia. Especially Jiangxia, this place sits on the Hanjiang River Plain, and the northwest of Hanyang across the river, because of the narrowness of the Yangtze River near Jiangxia, resulting in Jiangxia occupies an absolute geographical advantage, and it is also thought that this is the case, since ancient times, Jiangxia is a strategic place in Jingchu to hold the mouth of the Yangtze River, who can occupy Jiangxia, you can go west into the vast Jiangling Mansion, and then to the north to threaten the Jingchu town of Xiangyang City. During the Han Dynasty, Jiangxia was listed as a separate county, which shows the importance of Jiangxia, looking back on history, there were countless battles in Jiangxia City, but there were few victors. Now, the goal of the Dingguo Army's naval division is this Jiangxia City, which has been difficult to conquer since ancient times.

Whether or not Jiangxia can be conquered is related to whether the battle situation can be reversed, and the naval division of the Dingguo Army is not to simply break through the Jiangxia defense area, but to completely occupy Jiangxia. Jiangxia Water Village is tight, and there are Fancheng and Deng County as the backing, if you don't fight Jiangxia, and directly attack Jiangling Mansion, the most prosperous place in Jingchu, it will definitely be cut off by the Jiangxia defenders. There are also many tragic examples in history, at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Sun Jian was able to attack and fight, but when he attacked Jingzhou, he ended up defeated and killed, the reason is that Sun Jian was too confident, and he did not defeat the Jiangxia defenders, and crossed the Hanshui to besiege Xiangyang under the condition of capturing Jiang Xiacheng. Now the defense situation near Jiangxia is more stable than the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Jiangxia Water Village has more than 25,000 soldiers and horses, on the other side of the Yangtze River is more than 10,000 Hanyang Army, the two sides combined, soldiers and horses are close to 40,000. In addition, there are more than 20,000 defenders of Gangneung Mansion and Xiangyang combined, so if the Jiangxia defenders cannot be completely solved, as long as they go deep into Gangneung Mansion, they will be besieged.

The Jiangxia garrison was strong, and Li Bao's sailors alone would certainly not be able to accomplish such a difficult task, and when the sailor fleet reached the territory of Shuzhou, the army stopped near Shengjin Lake. Going up the Yangtze River, after Shuzhou is about to enter the territory of Jiujiang, Jiujiang is not the sphere of influence of the ****, once the water division appears in the waters of Jiujiang, I am afraid that the defenders in the Hanyang area will find the traces of the army's attack. Li Bao was very anxious, he didn't want to delay for a moment, because for every minute of delay, the difficulty of capturing Jiangxia would increase by one point. Walking to the bow of the boat, looking at the empty blue sky, the breath of winter is getting stronger and stronger, in the north it is cold like a knife, and in the south it is cold with a heavy moisture. Stroking his beard, which he hadn't shaved for a long time, Li Bao asked with a solemn look in his eyes, "Is there any news from Hanyang?" Where did Zheng Biao's soldiers and horses arrive? ”

"General Hui, at present, our people have dispersed to Jiujiang and Huangzhou, but there is still no news about General Zheng" Adjutant General Li Guishan immediately replied, "General, why don't we break through the waters of Jiujiang first, every time we stop in Shuzhou for a while, we may be prepared by the rebels." The forces in our hands are not superior, and once the rebels are ready to deal with it, it will be too difficult to raid Jiangxia again. ”

"No, we have to wait, there is no news from Hanyang, and we must not cross the waters of the Jiujiang River" Of course, Li Bao also wanted to arrive in Jiangxia as soon as possible, but for the sake of the general, he must keep a clear head, to a certain extent, even if he gave up the entire plan to make up the sky, he could not let the sailor be buried in this area. Under Li Bao's strict order, the various departments of the Navy Division could only reluctantly continue to hide in the waters of Shuzhou, waiting, waiting, waiting, waiting for nearly four hours, and the spies sent to Huangzhou finally rushed back, "General Li, General Zheng sent a signal, his men and horses have entered the territory of Hanyang, lurking in Yanshan and Jiangxia Mountain!" ”

Hearing this news, the big stone in Li Bao's heart was finally put down, and he couldn't help but be overjoyed, "Okay, this Zheng Biaozi finally didn't disappoint Li, and ordered all departments, with the keel boat as the vanguard, to cross the waters of Jiujiang at night, no matter what, we must arrive at the waters of Ezhou in the early morning of tomorrow." If the rebels near Jiujiang find us, ignore it and pass directly. ”

With Li Bao's order, the army of sailors who had been stationed for many hours finally restarted, and the Chai clan had no concept of sailors, so there was no decent defense in the important waters of Jiujiang. Maybe this is also to blame the **** sailor himself, since the establishment of the fight, he has done all auxiliary things, and he has never done a major thing to dominate the battlefield. Under the cover of night, coupled with the fact that the Chai defenders were defenseless, it was just Li Bao's 20,000 sailors and nearly 100 warships that successfully passed through the Jiujiang section. At the end of the next day, the army of the sailor passed through the mouth of the Huangzhou water area and directly entered the Ezhou waters. But at this time, it was a little late to find out, Li Bao opened the way with three giant ships, Geng Yi personally commanded, under the double blow of the crossbow and the thunderbolt fire and thunder, only more than 1,000 people Qingshan Jishui Village was pierced in the blink of an eye. Qingshan Rock is the last line of defense in front of Hanyang and Jiangxia, and after Qingshan Rock, you can face the Jiangxia defense area. Qingshanji fell, and the Jiangxia defenders immediately panicked. Now the person in charge of Jiangxia's defense is the Jingzhou native Kuai Qi, who was born in the Jingchu Hao clan Kuai, and has received a good education since childhood, especially in the study of water warfare. Looking at the panicked generals under his command, Kuai Qi was not surprised, over the years, the Chai clan and the Dingguo army had lost more and won less, and gradually gave birth to fear, and now the Dingguo army sailors suddenly threatened Jiangxia with a thunderous force, it would be strange if they didn't panic. Kuai Qi looks powerful, his figure is quite tall, his eyebrows are very thick, and he has a sense of trustworthiness from his face, "What, are you afraid?" In fact, there is no need, not long after the establishment of the Dingguo Army Naval Division, what they have done over the years is all stealing chickens and dogs, which is not worth mentioning at all. Moreover, they are only 20,000 people at most, and it is tantamount to whimsical that these people want to break through the water village that we have heavily defended. What's more, the Hanyang side will not sit idly by, as long as we drag the enemy army to the death, the Hanyang side can bypass Huangzhou and cut off the enemy's rear road, when the time comes, this enemy army is not at our disposal? So, everyone relax, haven't you been complaining that you can't go to the front line to get credit, now that the opportunity has come, Kuai can guarantee that whoever can persevere and win the final victory must be a great achievement, no less than attacking Yunzhong. ”

Kuai Qi is worthy of being a wealthy man, and his kung fu is very good, let him coax him this time, and those flustered generals slowly recovered, especially the military exploits that were no less than the capture of Yunzhong, it was too tempting, and immediately Wang Dingjun, a Hankou man, arched his hand and said, "General Kuai, you just say how to fight, the last generals will listen to you, this time, you must fight the ****." ”

"Good" Kuai Qi shouted, what he wanted was this effect, the soldiers under his command can be brainless, but they must not be without courage, and generals without courage and courage will not be able to control the soldiers and horses under their command. Kuai Qi urgently arranged a defense plan, and at the same time sent a message to the Hanyang army on the other side, intending to use Jiangxia to drag this lone army deep into the sailor. Obviously, the soldiers of the **** Navy Division will not back down, this is the first time that the Navy Division has fought independently, and this battle must be fought well. Over the years, the officers and soldiers of the water division have not been looked down upon, especially the cavalry of the ancient town, who have always said that the water division is a group of doll soldiers who pick up rags and cannot take on heavy responsibilities. We must shut up those who underestimate the water master, and the battle of Jiangxia is a good opportunity to justify one's name.

Jiangxia Water Village, from south to north is divided into three defense areas, both sides of the water village to the inward, in the Yangtze River water surface is the front of the main village, the main village of Dazhai is divided into three layers, it can be said that Jiangxia Water Village is very compact, the bamboo walls on both sides as a cover, living in a high place, the longbowmen can easily suppress the enemy on the water surface. After all, the sailors of the Dingguo Army have not experienced a big water battle, so they made a big mistake as soon as they came up, Li Guishan led the troops to advance directly to the west, and wanted to attack the gate of the front water station, and the advance was smooth at first, but when it was close to the main village ten zhang distance, the water village on both sides immediately reacted, only to see many longbowmen suddenly appear, for a time the arrows rained like flying, which was also mixed with many rockets, and the soldiers on the first dozen warships were unguarded flanks, and there were heavy casualties for a while. At this time, there was already a ship on fire, and Li Guishan had to order a retreat to prevent being surrounded and annihilated in Sanzhai.

After Li Guishan came back with a disgraced face, he couldn't help but blame himself, "General Li, it's the last general who is incompetent, I didn't expect the rebels' bows and arrows to be so fierce that the brothers couldn't lift their heads, if we didn't solve the water villages on both sides, we wouldn't be able to launch an attack on the front Dazhai at all." ”

In fact, Li Bao also found this problem, Jiangxia Water Village is built very cleverly and compactly, as long as someone goes to attack the front Water Village, it will fall into the middle area between the three villages, then the attacking side will be attacked before and after, in this case, it is generally difficult to make a breakthrough, even if it is hard-headed, it must be a heavy casualty. However, the water village on both sides is built on the shore, and the terrain is very high, and the attacking side cannot go ashore at all to directly launch a fierce attack on the water village on both sides. Geng Yi's mind was more flexible, he pondered for a while, and came up with a pretty good idea, "General Li, we can retreat the fleet back first, and look at it from the end of the general, the reason why Jiangxia Water Village is so powerful is because the three villages are integrated and cooperate with each other, and we only need to destroy one village first." General Li, please see, this water village in the north is built on the bank of the Yangtze River, and the surrounding area is mostly soft mud, and there are no mountains and rocks. We can mobilize all the thunderbolts and bombard the back side of the waterfront, because there is no masonry and because it is too close to the waterfront, if we blow up the nearby waterfront, the northern waterfront will fall apart. ”

Li Bao didn't know if the idea had any effect, but he had to try it first. The Dingguo Army's sailors slowly retreated, and at this time they could clearly hear a series of cheers from the rebels, who thought they had repelled the Dingguo Army. After Li Bao's soldiers and horses retreated along the Yangtze River for nearly a mile, they finally turned around and stormed the water village in the north, Geng Yi mobilized all the crossbows in the army to thunderbolt fire, countless thunderbolts and thunderbolts exploded on the north bank, only to hear the rumbling sound endlessly, and thick smoke came out of the water surface of the Yangtze River, directly covering the nearby water surface. At first, Kuai Qi was not sure why **** did this, but when he saw the north shore with the thunderbolt bombardment, the dirt fell in pieces, and his handsome face became hideous.

"Quick, quick, let Lan Haotian go to the east, smash it with stones and arrows, all the trebuchets will move to the south bank water village, and you must drive away the boat of Ding****, quickly, you must be fast!" Kuai Qi's anxious sweat brushed out, I really never dreamed that **** would use thunderbolts to bombard the cliffs on the north bank, instead of bombarding Dazhai, anyone who looks at it feels that this is a loser, but Kuai Qi knows very well that this trick is simply dead. The cliffs on the north shore are not like the south side, where most of them are dirt and have no solidity at all, and once the soil peels off too much, the water village built on the cliff will become a castle in the air, and it will collapse without being beaten.

Under a series of urging from Kuai Qi, most of the trebuchets in Jiangxia were sent to the water village on the south bank, and the defenders of Jiangxia set up trebuchets and frantically projected them into the water, but unfortunately, Geng Yi was the ancestor who used the trebuchet, and he had long expected this, taking advantage of the range advantage of his own crossbow, hiding in the corner of the north and bombarding wildly, while most of the stones projected by the defenders on the south bank fell into the water, and the boat did not hit, but killed a few unlucky Yangtze carp. Jiangxia soldiers are not careless, in order to stop the evil deeds of Ding****, they have done their best, and even because of frequent launches, they have collapsed a lot of trebuchets, but even so, they still can't save the water village on the north bank. As the earth continued to peel off, the support beneath the water village became more and more fragile, and finally, with a click, a huge cliff slowly slid down, followed by more and more cracks and peeling off. The most unfortunate is the people of the water village on the north bank, with the collapse of the cliff, the water village built on the cliff fell into the Yangtze River in pieces, because the change came too suddenly, many defenders did not have time to escape, and fell into the rolling Yangtze River with the falling water village.

The Jiangxia defenders are very good in the water, but the **** fleet has been preparing for a long time, and when they see someone falling into the water, they row the boat over and beat the water dogs. With the destruction of Beizhai in a mess, Jiangxia's three-in-one tactics that have been used for more than a thousand years have been completely destroyed, Kuai Qi's head is buzzing, he doesn't know if he can still hold Jiangxia? (To be continued.) )