On April day, the sea was extremely stormy, and 20,000 Jiangdu navy troops marched upstream along the Yangtze River without encountering any resistance along the way.
However, the Military Intelligence Agency has received news that Chen Youliang sent 100,000 Han troops to meet the enemy.
So as we get closer to Wuchang, the generals become more and more nervous and ready to fight.
"General, we will go to Qishui immediately. Maybe the enemy has hidden an ambush here. The general thought we should send someone to investigate!"
Lieutenant General Han Er said.
Qishui is one of the tributaries of the Yangtze River. It is located to the west of Qizhou, not far from Huangzhou. As long as you pass Huangzhou, you will reach Ezhou Road where Wuchang is located.
Zhu Yuanzhang sat on a cannon at the bow of the ship, holding a map in his hand, waving his hands and saying: "No need to investigate, keep going!"
Another general said in confusion: "General, I think what General Han said is reasonable. Our army is going deep alone, so we need to be more careful!"
Zhu Yuanzhang said calmly: "I said there is no need to investigate, do you want to violate the order?"
The military regulations of Jiangdu Army are strict, and although the generals are very dissatisfied, no general dares to violate them.
Han Er snorted loudly and headed towards the stern of the ship. Several lieutenants looked at each other and followed him away.
Yang Sanqiang's cabin is at the stern of the ship. He chose this cabin himself. Since he came to the army, he has been staying in the cabin and rarely goes out.
The second-class general Han was actually dissatisfied with him. After all, he had never been on the battlefield and was just a new recruit.
However, they were even more dissatisfied with Zhu Yuanzhang.
At this moment, seeing Zhu Yuanzhang act arbitrarily, he finally remembered that there was a general who was hiding, so he wanted to find him to make decisions.
After the generals knocked on the door and entered Yang Sangun's cabin, they found him sitting on the wooden bed, carefully maintaining the gun head.
Han Er sat down next to a wooden barrel next to him, forced a smile and said: "General Yang, our army is about to arrive at Qishui!"
Yang Sanqiang glanced at him and said: "Oh, that's pretty fast!"
Han Er had been following Wang Da for a long time, and among other things, he had learned to have a bad temper. He didn't bother to talk anymore and said harshly: "General Yang, do you know what the weakness of our fleet is?"
Yang Sanqiang was stunned: "I don't know."
Han Er said loudly: "Our fleet is fighting head-on, and no one is afraid of it. However, if it encounters double-teaming from both front and rear, it will be difficult to say!"
Yang Sanqiang humbly asked: "Why?"
Another general interjected: "The advantage of our naval force is the range of artillery. We can hit others, but others can't hit us, don't you think?"
"Yes!"
"If others are beaten, they will definitely want to close the distance with us. Therefore, our tactics are to retreat when the enemy advances, and when the enemy retreats, we advance, and always maintain an effective distance from them!"
Yang Sanqiang finally understood.
"So if we are attacked from both front and back, we won't be able to move forward and retreat freely?"
Han Er flattered him and said: "The general is wise, so when we march on the river, we need to pay attention to the enemy's ambushes behind us."
Yang Sanqiang said thoughtfully: "You just mentioned Qishui, so do you think the enemy has an ambush in Qishui?"
Han Erdao: "The general is not sure, but at least it is possible! So the general proposed to send scouts to check, but General Zhu disagreed!"
When Yang Sanqiang heard this, he also felt that what Han Er said was reasonable.
"General Zhu, can you explain the reason?"
Han Er snorted and said: "No, you still use military orders to suppress us!"
Yang Sanqiang pondered for a while and said: "General Zhu was a famous figure in the world before he surrendered. Even the king praised him many times. I think he had his own reasons for doing this!"
Han Er said anxiously: "General, it's good to be careful and nothing will happen to you. Let's go check it out. Can we still find out what's wrong?"
Another general followed: "Shuai Zhu is indeed famous, but he is only good at land warfare. I have never heard of how good he is in water warfare!"
Yang Sanqiang saw that what the two men said was reasonable, so he stood up and went to the bow of the ship to ask Zhu Yuanzhang.
The generals were about to follow, but Yang Sanqiang waved his hand.
"You all wait here."
He came to the bow of the ship alone and told Zhu Yuanzhang the worries of the generals.
After Zhu Yuanzhang finished listening, he looked at Yang Sanqiang and asked a strange question.
"Why doesn't General Yang let them come with him?"
Yang Sanqiang smiled and said: "I have already told you that the king sent me here just to deceive Chen Youliang. Those people want to use my power to attack you. If I let them succeed, they will only do harm.
What good will your general's majesty do to the army?"
Zhu Yuanzhang was startled for a moment and said to himself: "This man has a thorough understanding of things. No wonder he is trusted by the king."
He thought for a while and said: "If General Yang wants to know, I will tell you the truth. In fact..."
Yang Sanqiang suddenly waved his hand and said with a smile: "Okay, I feel relieved knowing that you know what you have in mind. Don't talk about it yet, I can think about it later."
Zhu Yuanzhang smiled and stopped talking.
Yang Sanqiang was silent for a long time, and then said: "General Zhu, can I ask, since you have other ideas, why don't you tell other generals?"
Zhu Yuanzhang hesitated for a moment, stood up and said: "This is actually a little trick I figured out. It's not convenient to say this here, so go to my cabin."
Yang Sanqiang agreed and followed Zhu Yuanzhang to his cabin.
After Zhu Yuanzhang asked him to sit down, Fang smiled and said: "I'm not afraid that General Yang will laugh. This is actually a small way for me to conquer the generals below!"
Yang Sanqiang said: "I would like to hear the details."
Zhu Yuanzhang sighed and said: "General Yang must also know that I am a subordinate, and I am easily rejected by the generals below. If we cannot conquer them as soon as possible, it will be difficult for this army to exert its combat power!"
Yang Sanqiang nodded: "That's not bad."
Zhu Yuanzhang continued: "To be recognized by the soldiers, in fact, as long as you eat and live with them, you will gain their support over time. But right now I don't have that much time, so I can only use some special methods!"
Yang Sanqiang's eyes flickered and he said, "Are you deliberately letting them question you?"
Zhu Yuanzhang said seriously: "Yes. I made a decision that they couldn't understand. They will definitely be dissatisfied. If I don't explain, they will be even more dissatisfied. But when they finally find out that I am right, their previous dissatisfaction will disappear."
Change occurs."
Yang Sanqiang slapped his knee with his palm and said: "How much you were dissatisfied before, you will be more admired later!"
Zhu Yuanzhang nodded: "That's right."
Yang Sanqiang stared at Zhu Yuanzhang for a while and said, "Why did General Zhu tell me this? Aren't you afraid that I would think you are a scheming person?"
There was something Yang Sanqiang didn't say, but he believed Zhu Yuanzhang could understand.
He is Zhang Yangquan's personal guard commander, isn't Zhu Yuanzhang afraid that he will tell Zhang Yangquan about this?
Zhu Yuanzhang was silent for a long time and said: "I am willing to tell General Yang for two reasons."
Yang Sanqiang smiled and said: "There are two more?"
Zhu Yuanzhang said: "First, General Yang was honest with me just now, so Zhu doesn't want to hide it from you."
Yang Sanqiang was startled for a moment and said: "What else?"
"General Yang is a meticulous person. Even if I don't say anything, after their attitude towards me changes later, General Yang will definitely be able to guess the reason. It's better to confess now!"
Yang Sanqiang shook his head and laughed: "I really don't know whether you should be frank or too thoughtful."
The conversation suddenly changed and he said: "But now I am more and more interested in your reasons. What is the reason why you did not explore Qishui, and how can you convince the generals afterwards?"
Zhu Yuanzhang smiled and said: "Do you need me to tell you now?"
Yang Sanqiang raised his hand: "No, let me think about it again." He took out a map of the Yangtze River waters from his sleeve and looked at it carefully.
Zhu Yuanzhang didn't bother him, he just sat face to face with him and looked at the map.
The maps of both of them are printed books made by Xu Baisheng, which not only indicate the terrain in detail, but also include Xu Baisheng's annotations.
For example, next to Qishui it says, 'When heading west along the Yangtze River, be careful of ambushes here.'
Yang Sanqiang's eyes moved up and he noticed that the Xishui River above the Qishui River was also marked with the words 'Beware of Ambushes'.
Above the Xishui River is the water area of Dazhi County. Xu Baisheng also marked it, saying, 'The water area here is narrow, making it easier to defend but not easy to attack.'
Yang Sanqiang was staring at the waters of Dazhi County when suddenly a messenger came in and said: "Two generals, the scouts are back and have found the location of the enemy's main force!"
Zhu Yuanzhang ordered his scouts to come in and ask about the enemy's location. After asking, he found that the main force of the enemy was indeed guarding Dazhi County.
Yang Sanqiang couldn't help but secretly sigh at the exquisiteness of Xu Baisheng's map.
At this moment, Zhu Yuanzhang ordered: "Send the order and order the entire army to arrive at the mouth of Xishui River, anchor and stop the ship, and send out scouts to investigate the situation of Xishui River!"
Yang Sanqiang was stunned again. Zhu Yuanzhang did not investigate in Qishui, but he investigated in Xishui. Could it be that he knew in advance that the enemy was ambushing in Xishui?