After being summoned by Duduo for a military meeting, Wanyan Yechen, Zhang Cunren, Geng Zhongming, Sun Zhixian and others certainly did not dare to slack off and immediately rushed to the Chinese army commander's tent.

After Duduo simply raised the question, everyone felt heavy and knew it was time to make some decisions.

Adviser Zhang Cunren also saw Duduo's hesitation and took the opportunity to persuade: "Your Majesty, now that the situation has come to an end, the resentment of the same enemy caused by the hair-cutting order of our army seems to have been temporarily resolved by Zhu Shuren. Zhu Shuren is extremely determined to defend and consume.

At the beginning we fought with Zheng Chenggong. Due to the unfavorable terrain, we had to pay three or four times the casualties to kill one Ming soldier. The losses were all the elites of our Qing Dynasty!

In the past few days, Zheng Chenggong's firepower at the temple has become more fierce. I guess it must be the new muskets assigned to him by Zhu Shuren! If we continue the fight, we may not be able to kill five of us and even one Ming soldier!

At present, our army should try to fight a decisive battle with the Ming army in the field. We must not engage in a war of attrition with the Ming army on a battlefield where the Ming army can grasp the convenience of reinforcements and reinforcements at any time! Otherwise, sooner or later, the remaining 60,000 to 70,000 troops will be defeated.

want……"

He accidentally mentioned a number, "60,000 to 70,000 troops." It can be seen that compared with the Qing army that still had more than 80,000 combatable soldiers at the end of the Battle of Nanjing, in the past ten days, another 10,000 to 20,000 soldiers have been consumed.

Already.

Not all of these 20,000 people died in battle, but a considerable number were injured and lost combat effectiveness, or their physical functions declined during high-intensity combat and fell into serious illness.

Like an angry lion, Duduo angrily rebuked: "Of course I want to fight Zhu Shuren in a field battle, but he refuses to fight and only defends the city and gates everywhere. What can I do? Attacking Jinshan Temple is also trying to break through its blockade!"

Since we can't find a field battle, and we can't attack Jinshan Temple for a long time, we can only find a place where we can break through this blockade without fear that the local defenders will be sent reinforcements by the Zhushu people! Only in this way can our army break through or encircle it.

Click for help!”

In the process of angrily complaining, Duduo's thoughts gradually became clearer:

Under the current circumstances, the reason why it is unwise to visit Jinshan Temple is because this place is directly backed by the Yangtze River, and the dangerous mountain temple is too close to the river! There is no way to go around and block the pier.

Although the territory controlled by the Ming army was not large, as long as there was backup, it would be terrifying if Zhu Shuren used this place as a meat grinder, and it was a meat grinder that the Ming army occupied a favorable location.

If a place cannot be completely besieged without a blockade, it would be meaningless to engage in a battle of attrition.

If they can be surrounded and killed, then a war of attrition is still meaningful. Even if the Ming army wants reinforcements, they will have to be reinforced by land warfare. The Qing army can encircle and reinforce them and seize the opportunity for field battles!

The key reason why we can't surround the site to call for help now is that this "help" can come all the way by water, and even the last mile can be completed by water!

How could the Qing army, which boasted of being invincible in land warfare, seize the opportunity to send reinforcements?

Let alone the Qing Dynasty, during the war between the Song and Yuan Dynasties, Xiangyang was able to hold on for seven years. The key was that the two cities of Xiangyang and Fan were directly backed by the Hanshui pier. When the Song army had an absolute naval advantage, how many Song defenders were consumed by the Yuan army?

The Song army was able to use the Han River to continue bringing in reinforcements. In the end, it was the Yuan army's navy that overtook the Song army and controlled the Han River channel, and the Lu family general in Xiangyang collapsed.

Let’s use an analogy that modern people can understand: Zhu Shuren’s reinforcements were delivered directly to his door by water! He didn’t even have to walk the few hundred steps to “pick it up at the Cainiao Station”! The gangster wanted to take advantage of the owner to go downstairs to the community station.

There is no way to rob the path!

Therefore, Duduo used his blood to summarize a new key point when encircling a point for reinforcements: that place cannot be a place where reinforcements can be delivered to the door through waterways! At least the last kilometer must give you a chance to intercept and kill by land!

There is no need to consider those docks and mountain temples near the river! Where there are waterways, the Ming army is invincible!

After eliminating these options that made the Ming army invincible, Duduo was left with three options:

First, rush forward to fight with Zhu Shuren, go west to return to the area around Nanjing, and even bypass Nanjing and hit the Dasheng Pass, entering the Ma'anshan area of ​​Wuhu.

Secondly, they went south from Jintan County over the Tianmu Mountains, trying to enter the mountainous area of ​​western Zhejiang, and then over the Mogan Mountains to head towards Huzhou and Hangzhou.

Finally, they would go east and cross Jiangyin, plunder Wuxi and Suzhou, expand the Qing army's base in the south of the Yangtze River, and then loot more wealth, shave their heads, and recruit troops.

Anyway, the defeat of Jinshan Temple eliminated the option of "escape to the north" for Duduo. Of course, there are still three options left, east, west, and south. This is very reasonable and strict, and has exhausted all possibilities.

Duduo was not sure of a great victory over Guan Duoduo, because the place was backed upstream, and Zhu Shuren did not know how many reinforcements he could fill up in Huguang. Duduo felt that the remaining troops on hand were not enough.

In the battle against Tianmu Mountain, Zhu Shuren can also transport the Huguang reinforcements from behind, from the direction of Wuhu and Jiangxi, to behind the Tianmu Mountain pass. Therefore, it will eventually become a war of attrition. The Ming army defends the dangerous pass of Tianmu Mountain and has a steady stream of troops. Duduo goes to attack the stronghold. It is purely

court death.

The only option left was Jiangyin, which seemed the most reasonable. Because Jiangyin was in the far east, and the road leading to Jiangyin from the Ming army around Nanjing was divided by Duduo's occupied area.

Therefore, if Duduo attacks Jiangyin, Zhu Shuren will not be able to transport reinforcements from behind the besieged checkpoint. They can only go through Duduo's occupied area to bring reinforcements.

And as long as the Zhu Shu people want to break through Duduo's land occupation area, Duduo will inevitably seize the opportunity to encircle and reinforce the decisive land field battle!

In this way, the aggrieved state of siege warfare that Duduo has endured for more than half a month across the river will be completely reversed!

In his mind, the Qing Dynasty, which was invincible in land warfare, could finally fight an open battle with the cowardly Nanmanzi!

It's not easy. Over the past half month, Duduo sheds tears just thinking about it. He has been forced to tackle tough problems. It's so difficult.

After a brief discussion, Duduo made up his mind and finally consulted his subordinates to check and fill in the gaps:

"I want to move our troops to attack Jiangyin. If we can break through, we can at least destroy Wuxi, Suzhou, Huzhou, Hangzhou and other wealthy places of the pseudo-Ming Dynasty. We can get money, food and materials to facilitate the fight again, and we can also rely on the order to shave ten times more.

The Han people betrayed the false Ming Dynasty, what do you think?"

Zhang Cunren, Sun Zhixian and other counselors all thought that this idea was fine in principle, but Zhang Cunren thought more about the details and found two minor troubles:

"Your Majesty, attacking Jiangyin is indeed a better choice for us at the moment, but there are a few small issues that need to be paid attention to. First of all, although Jiangyin is not as directly backed by the river as Jinshanzhou in Zhenjiang, since its place name is Jiangyin, it can be seen that it is not far away from the river.

Far,

If Zhu Shuren can still send reinforcements to Jiangyin directly from the Yangtze River by water, then all our previous reflections and changes in strategies will be useless! If we want to attack Jiangyin, we must first plan well and how to prevent the Jiangyin defenders from coming from the Yangtze River.

The waterway has been reinforced, so the Ming army coming along the river has to fight with us in the field!"

Duduo is in control of the overall situation. He had not thought much about attacking Jiangyin before. Naturally, he had no idea about Mohu. He was not ashamed to ask: "Have you ever made a detailed plan? What should be paid attention to specifically? Bring me a map!"

Zhang Cunren had thought about this problem in advance. When the guard next to him brought the map, he immediately pointed to the map and analyzed it for Duduo:

"Please see, Your Majesty, our army has actually carried out harassing attacks in the Jiangyin area a few days ago. We want to see if we can quickly expand our army's occupied area without paying any price.

However, the Jiangyin side was tightly guarded, and the penetration and division by light troops and cavalry was ineffective, so it came to a halt. However, if we attack with the main force and heavy troops this time, we probably still have a chance.

The key reason why the Jiangyin area is difficult to penetrate is that the Ming army was divided into three groups there - the middle one is Jiangyin County, which guards the low-lying plain between the two mountains on the south bank of the Yangtze River.

To the north of Jiangyin County, all the way to the Yangtze River, is Huanggong Mountain. Yan Yingyuan, the prefect of Changzhou, divided his troops in advance to set up a stronghold at a dangerous location on Huanggong Mountain. Moreover, Huanggong Mountain extends to the edge of the Yangtze River and has deep water berths, so it is impossible to besiege the Huanggong Mountain Fortress.

Yes, like the Jinshan Temple here, the Ming army's waterway reinforcements were directly transported into the village from the river.

If we want to attack Jiangyin, we can insert part of the siege force into the narrow area between the south of Huanggong Mountain and the north of the north wall of Jiangyin City, divide the two Ming armies, and focus on attacking Jiangyin County alone instead of spending time with the Huanggongshan Ming army.

Tear them apart, just surround Huanggongshan without attacking.

If Jiangyin County is in danger and the Huanggongshan Ming army takes the initiative to go down the mountain to fight with us in the field in order to rescue the defenders in the city, this will play into our army's ambitions and take advantage of our Qing Dynasty's invincibility in field battles to encircle and annihilate the enemies who have come down from the mountain!"

Duduo listened very carefully, and with the help of Zhang Cunren's detailed analysis, he was able to imagine the local terrain using a flat map.

Later generations of readers may not understand the terrain of the Huanggong Mountain area in the north of Jiangyin City, but just one example can help people understand it:

Huanggongshan was a river defense fortress until the Anti-Japanese War. In 1937, the Japanese army basically won the Battle of Songhu at the end of October, but it was not until December that they finally invaded Nanjing and committed inhumane atrocities. The time gap in between,

In fact, the Japanese army was mainly attacking the Jiangyin Fortress on Huanggong Mountain.

It allowed the Japanese army in 1937 to attack the fortress for a long time, which shows the danger of the place.

As for the end of the Anti-Japanese War and when they were crossing the river, there were fierce battles at Jiangyin Fortress, but Chang Kaishen's troops were infiltrated by underground organizations and instigated rebellion in advance, and they were able to capture it in one fell swoop.

The reason why this place is the choke point of the Yangtze River is because the Jiangyin area is the narrowest point on the lower reaches of the Yangtze River. Looking at the Baidu map of later generations, you will know that where the Jiangyin Bridge was built, the Yangtze River was only about one kilometer wide!

During the Anti-Japanese War, the Japanese Navy actually tried to use the Yangtze River to invade Nanjing in August, but it was blocked by the Huanggongshan Fort in Jiangyin Fortress. It was not until the fall of Jiangyin Fortress in December that the Japanese Navy could pass through (our navy was also in Jiangyin Fortress at that time)

Many boats sank on the river and blocked the channel)

There must be geographical reasons why the Yangtze River is narrow here.

The main reason is that both sides of the river upstream and downstream are plain river beaches. Without landforms to restrict the Yangtze River, the water surface will be wide. To the north of Jiangyin City, Huanggong Mountain reaches the riverside, narrowing the Yangtze River.

Such a mountain that extends all the way into the river can certainly ensure that there is a deep-water dock directly adjacent to the river on the north slope of the mountain, which is absolutely impossible to be blocked by the army.

Although these things have not happened now, the geographical characteristics are consistent in ancient and modern times.

After hearing Zhang Cunren's analysis, Duduo also took a breath of cold air and immediately set the tone of "only blocking the traffic between Huanggongshan Camp and Jiangyin County, but never taking the initiative to attack Huanggongshan Camp".

After solving this note, the next note also became logical. Zhang Cunren continued to analyze: "Similar to Huanggong Mountain, there is another mountain in the south of Jiangyin County, which is Huishan Mountain, the boundary mountain between Jiangyin County and Wuxi County.

.

Although the terrain of Huishan is not as dangerous as Huanggong Mountain, there is a vast hinterland behind it that cannot be controlled by our army. If we attack Huishan by force, the Wuxi Ming Army can reinforce it, and the main force of the Ming Army around Nanjing upstream can also detour behind Tianmu Mountain.

If we cross Taihu Lake and receive continuous reinforcements from Wuxi and Huishan, it will be impossible for us to completely surround the area.

Yan Yingyuan, the pseudo-prefect of Changzhou, seemed to have obtained permission from Shi Kefa before to dig a section of the canal from Taihu Lake to the west of Wuxi County. Taking advantage of the water level of the local canal being slightly lower than that of Taihu Lake and the Yangtze River, he released water and flooded hundreds of thousands of acres of low-lying fields, causing the destruction of Huishan Mountains.

Apart from the high ground, there is no other way around but Zeguo. Therefore, our army can only give up the attack on the south road and can only focus on Jiangyin County."

Duduo didn't quite understand Zhang Cunren's words at first, mainly because he couldn't imagine some of the technical details - why the water level in this section of the Jiangnan Canal connecting Taihu Lake and the Yangtze River was both lower than the Yangtze River and higher than the Taihu Lake at the same time.

So low? So that the Ming army could directly release water to flood low-lying areas as long as they dug canal embankments?

Zhang Cunren had to explain a few more words: It turns out that when the Grand Canal was built in ancient times, they were very good at using the difference in water level to reduce the cost of sailing.

The canal between Taihu Lake in Wuxi and the Yangtze River actually has two independent river channels that are far apart. The canal boat sailing from south to north sails on an easterly river channel, while the canal boat sailing from north to south

The boat sailed to another river farther to the west.

Among these two rivers, the water level point selected for the river that sails from south to north on the east side is that the water level is high on the Taihu Lake side, and the water level is low at the point where it finally flows into the Yangtze River, and it flows further downstream into the Yangtze River. In this way, the canal water naturally

There will be a flow from south to north, from the Taihu Lake to the Yangtze River, and the speed of the water flow will be enough. The watercraft will not need to use poles and paddles, just swim along the current.

As for the river channel that travels from north to south, the point selected to flow into the Yangtze River is further upstream. The water level of the Yangtze River at that point is higher than the water level of Taihu Lake. The canal boats coming from the north follow the water flowing south, that is, from the Yangtze River.

The water flowing towards Taihu Lake can also be waded directly into Taihu Lake.

This dual-channel design of high in the south and low in the north and low in the south and high in the north ensures that each canal channel has a potential energy source with a higher water level than the middle river section. As long as the middle river bank is dug, water can be released immediately to flood the low-lying areas.
To be continued...