Vol 2 Chapter 2902: The Qin-Ming Qingnan War, the superiority of the navy

Vol 2 Chapter 2902: The Qin-Ming Qingnan War, the superiority of the navy

Chapter 2902: The Qin-Ming Qingnan War, the Superiority of the Navy

Chapter 2898: The Qin-Ming Qingnan War, the Superiority of the Navy

The fuse of the Sixth Central Plains War was actually the Qin army's three-pronged attack on the Ming Dynasty.

 It was this move of Da Qin that aroused the vigilance of Cao Wei and Zhao Song, and then triggered the alliance of the three kingdoms of Wei, Song and Ming to join forces to fight against Da Qin. This was the prelude to the Sixth Central Plains War.

At the beginning of this scene, the protagonists were Qin and Ming, and the center of the battlefield was also the Qingnan region in the eastern part of the Central Plains. However, with the establishment of the Three Kingdoms Alliance, not only the protagonists changed from Qin and Ming to Qin and Wei, but the center of the battlefield also moved to Yanzhou in the west.

So, to a certain extent, Cao Cao was tortured so miserably because he was fighting for Zhu Di.

If the Three Kingdoms had not formed an alliance and the Qin Dynasty had to divert its attention from Zhu Ming, Zhu Di might have ended up worse than Cao Cao.

Zhu Di naturally knew this very well. He knew that if any one country in the Three Kingdoms Alliance fell, the other two countries would not be able to survive alone.

 So, after the war in Qingnan reached a stalemate, Zhu Di did not hesitate to mobilize a large number of reinforcements from the rear, and even sent Niu Mohuang to support Cao Wei.

Among the three kingdoms of Wei, Song and Ming, Cao Wei was besieged by four lines of Qin troops and was under the greatest pressure, Zhu Ming was besieged by three lines and was under second pressure, and Song was besieged by only one line and was under the least pressure.

Facing the attacks of Su Dingfang, Zhuge Liang, Zhou Yu, and the Qin army on land and water, the pressure Zhu Ming faced was actually not much less than that of Cao Wei.

However, among the Three Kingdoms Alliance, the Ming Kingdom was already the strongest and had the largest number of troops, with a total of 400,000. Therefore, even though it was under great pressure, it still provided great support to Cao Wei.

In addition to supporting the army and generals, Zhu Ming even provided food and grass support to Cao Wei when Cao Wei expanded its army due to excessive war losses.

As far as allies are concerned, Zhu Ming is undoubtedly qualified for such a large amount of support, and Zhu Di, a teammate, has also done his best.

On the other hand, Zhao and Song Dynasty only faced Xue Rengui and the Qin army. However, despite their absolute military superiority, they failed to gain an advantage on the battlefield for nearly three months. It was really embarrassing.

Zhao Kuangyin was unable to defeat Xue Rengui mainly because the difference in the number of cavalry between the two sides was too large. The early defeat caused the Song army to lose the opportunity, so it was unable to defeat Xue Rengui and was even forced into danger.

Of course, as an ally, Zhao Kuangyin is also qualified. While he led his army to block Xue Rengui's offensive, he also sent reinforcements to both Wei and Ming.

The route led by Zhao She of the Song Dynasty to aid the Wei and Song armies was blocked by Han Xin as soon as it entered Yanzhou, and then blocked by Arthur. As a result, it did not play much role in the Yanzhou war. It only served as a response to Cao Wei's retreating army. The remnant army, but the 100,000 Song troops led by Zhang Xutuo and Yuan Chonghuan to aid the Ming Dynasty played a decisive role in the Qingxu battlefield.

The battle between Da Qin and Zhu Ming in the land of Qingxu was not as fierce as the Yanzhou battle between Qin and Wei, but it was still a large-scale battle.

As the most powerful country in the Three Kingdoms Alliance, Zhu Ming has a full army of 400,000 elite troops, and it is still on the defensive. Facing the attack of 330,000 Qin troops from Su Dingfang, Zhuge Liang, and Zhou Yu, it should theoretically have an advantage. Yes, but the fact is that he was passively beaten throughout the whole process.

 The main reason for this situation is Zhou Yu's 80,000 navy.

The main attack direction of the Qin army changed from east to west. Although Zhu Ming barely managed to regain a victory in terms of weather, even if he was on the defensive side, he still did not occupy the geographical advantage. The reason was that the Qingxu-Huaihai defense line was too long.

The long coastal defense line made it easy for the Da Qin navy to invade the hinterland of the Ming army, thereby destroying the Ming army's rear logistical supplies. This also forced Zhu Di to allocate more troops to defend Zhou Yu's navy.

Even though Zhou Yu has not fought many battles since the war started, his role is extremely huge. Even if he does nothing, he can intimidate and contain the Ming army of 220,000.

The Ming army had more troops to defend against Zhou Yu, so naturally it had fewer troops to fight against Su Lie and Zhuge Liang.

This is why Zhao Kuangyin had to send Yuan Chonghuan and Zhang Xutuo, each with 50,000 reinforcements, for a total of 100,000 reinforcements to support Zhu Ming.

The combined forces of the Song and Ming Dynasties amounted to 500,000, including 400,000 Zhu Ming troops, 100,000 Zhao and Song reinforcements, and the total strength of the Qin army was 330,000. The total number of troops fighting between the two sides also reached 880,000 troops.

 This number is not small, it is about to exceed one million.

The combined forces of the Song and Ming dynasties had 170,000 more troops than the Qin army. However, under the amphibious offensive of the three-pronged Qin army, even famous generals like Xu Shiji and Xu Da found it difficult to adapt in the early stages of the war.

Su Dingfang came from Qingbei, and Zhuge Liang came from Jizhou. These two forces were already overwhelming the Song and Ming coalition forces, and Zhou Yu's 80,000 navy troops floating outside the mainland were like a handle hanging over the heads of the coalition forces. The sharp sword can fall at any time, making the entire Qingxu and Zhuming coalition tremble with fear.

Even though Xu Da and Xu Shiji could block the Qin army on the frontal battlefield, Zhou Yu always broke through the weak points of the coalition's coastline and then sent his troops to attack the coalition's rear.

Zhou Yu did not really want to attack the Zhu Ming coalition with Su Dingfang and Zhuge Liang. After all, the combat effectiveness of the navy would be greatly reduced after landing, and the Zhu Ming coalition had heavy troops on the front line. If he was not careful, he would risk being defeated, but he was just posing like this. This gesture is enough to make the coalition forces on the front line tremble with fear and take action.

Faced with this disadvantageous situation, Zhu Di still could not find a good solution after discussing with Fan Zeng, Li Yan, Yao Guangxiao and other advisers. In the end, he could only deploy 100,000 garrison troops in Langya County and 80,000 garrison troops in the East China Sea. The defenders, while Zhu Di himself personally led an elite mobile army of 50,000, were always vigilant, and would immediately support Zhou Yu as soon as he discovered that he had led his troops ashore.

Although Zhu Di's response method is a bit stupid, there is no other way, and the biggest advantage of doing so is stability. Although the Qingxuhai defense line is long, it only covers the three counties of Langya, Donghai and Guangling.

 Among them, Guangling County is located in the Jianghuai River and is far away from the Qingnan battlefield. Even if the Qin army lands here, it will not be able to threaten the rear of the coalition forces.

Therefore, the only territories that the coalition forces really need to defend are Langya and Donghai counties, and the most important one is Langya County.

Langya County in the northernmost part of Xuzhou is connected to Qingzhou to the north and Taishan County to the west. Its geographical location is extremely important.

It is precisely because of this that Zhu Di placed a hundred thousand defenders in Langya County. First, to ensure the safety of the entire Langya County, thereby ensuring the safety of the frontal battlefield. Second, Langya is not far from the Qingnan battlefield, and a hundred thousand troops They can support the front line at any time and can play a role in helping each other.

If this is really the case, Langya County's 100,000-strong army can not only defend against Zhou Yu, but can also join Xu Daxu Shiji's army at any time to fight against the armies of Su Dingfang and Zhuge Liang. It can be said that it kills two birds with one stone.

 Zhu Di had a beautiful idea, but in actual practice he found that this was not the case at all.

Zhou Yu's naval force was so mobile that he could launch fifteen landing operations in a month and thirty days, and they were ready to go without any delay. But the coalition forces could not ignore this, and every time Zhou Yu came to kill, they had to come up with a response strategy.

Under Zhou Yu's exhaustion tactics, even if Langya had 100,000 defenders, they were still exhausted. They could only protect themselves, let alone support the Qingnan battlefield. Therefore, Xu Da and Xu Shiji could only rely on themselves. .

It has to be said that although all countries are vigorously developing naval forces, they still do not pay enough attention to it. Through the Battle of Qingxu, the superiority of naval forces in coastal areas was fully demonstrated by Zhou Yu.

Under the threat of Zhou Yu's 80,000 navy troops, no matter how well Xu Da and Xu Shiji fought, it was useless. There was even a risk of collapse of the Qingxu battlefield at any time.

After more than a month of fighting, Zhu Di, who had 500,000 coalition troops, was forced into danger by 330,000 Qin troops. This feeling of frustration was really indescribable. At the same time, he also realized that he would not be able to defeat the enemy for a day. If Zhou Yu's navy is eliminated, then the coalition forces will not be able to gain an advantage.

In order to completely solve Zhou Yu's big trouble, Zhu Di and his counselors discussed again and again and decided not to avoid the war. They prepared to unite the navies of Song and Wei and the navies of the three countries to jointly launch a decisive battle against the navy of Qin.

Among the three kingdoms of Wei, Song and Ming, the Song Kingdom had the strongest navy, followed by the Ming Kingdom, and the Wei Kingdom was the weakest. However, the three kingdoms combined were not as powerful as the Qin Dynasty.

It is also true that when facing the powerful Zhou Yu navy, the coalition navy has always adopted a war-avoidance strategy, while developing and accumulating strength. This gave Zhou Yu the opportunity to wreak havoc on the eastern coast.

But what Zhu Di never expected was that the navy's influence on land warfare would be so great. Zhou Yu's series of actions seriously affected the frontal battlefield. If he continued like this, he might not have enough strength, and the front line would be destroyed. I can't bear it anymore.

 So, even if he knew that he could not win the water war, Zhu Di still had to fight.

 Zhu Di's idea was also supported by Zhao Kuangyin and Cao Cao. They did not seek to defeat Zhou Yu, but only wanted to injure both sides so that he could no longer threaten the coalition's rear.

 So, in order to successfully fight this naval force, the Three Kingdoms summoned all the water forces, and even recruited half of Yingzhou's navy, which was considered to have used up all their energy.

 In the end, the Song State dispatched 40,000 naval troops, the Ming State dispatched 35,000, and the Wei State dispatched 10,000, barely scraping together 85,000 naval troops to fight against Zhou Yu's 80,000 Qin naval forces.

Although the coalition forces were five thousand more numerous than the Qin army, the water battle was not about numbers, but warships, equipment, training, and commanders.

Zhu Di obviously knew this. After carefully comparing the strengths of the two sides, he found that the Great Qin navy was superior to them in terms of attack, defense, and speed. If there was a decisive battle, the coalition side seemed to have no chance of winning, even if they fought hard. I'm afraid it would be too much for both sides to suffer losses.

At this time, Zhu Di was also in a dilemma, but the arrow was already on the string but could not be fired.

At the critical moment, the Ming army commander Fan Zeng came up with a vicious plan, which was to deliberately expose the flaw and let Zhu Di use his body as bait to lure Zhou Yu to the coast of the East China Sea for a decisive battle. By then, with the cooperation of the land and water armies, even if Zhou Yu could not be defeated , but it is still possible to fight with it and both sides will suffer losses.

It has to be said that Fan Zeng's strategy is quite poisonous. The coalition forces can't resist Ying Hao's temptation, even if they know they are fishing, they will still fall into the trap. The Qin Army naturally can't resist Zhu Di's temptation. After all, he is the coalition forces. One of the three kings.

Fan Zeng naturally did not want Zhu Di to take risks, but in such a bad and unsolvable situation, there was really no better bait than Zhu Di.

Zhu Di was not dissatisfied with this. After all, if he lost, the Ming Kingdom would not exist, and he would lose everything. So what if he took some risks for this, so he decisively agreed to Fan Zeng's plan of using himself as bait. .

In order to make Zhou Yu fall into the trap, Zhu Di also staged a play. He deliberately revealed that the father-in-law of Feng Guoyong, the guard of the coastal city of Ganyu, was imprisoned for corruption and reselling supplies, which aroused Feng Guoyong's dissatisfaction. Then he rebelled, and he himself would personally lead an army of five thousand to quickly put down the rebellion.

Ganyu County is located in the northeast corner of Donghai County, and further north is Xihai County in Langya County. Xihai County is the Great Salt Pond of the Ming Dynasty and one of the major tax counties of the Ming Dynasty.

 Once Ganyu County fails, Xihai County will be unstable, which will have a relatively significant impact on the economy of the Ming Dynasty and the supply of salt.

In addition, there is no suitable location for the Tibetan army in the offshore waters near Ganyu County, so using this place as the location for the decisive battle can dispel Zhou Yu's suspicions to the greatest extent.

 (End of this chapter)