The Yellow River is the mother river of the Chinese nation. This mother is very willful and often changes its outlet to the sea. In history, it has changed its course six times, and changed its course hundreds of times. Among them, the Huaihe River was diverted into the sea in 700 years.
The Yellow River diverts the Huai River into the sea, and the silt accumulates, making the river bed of the sea channel higher and higher, higher than the Huai River bed. As a result, the Yellow River can pour into the Huai River, but the Huai River cannot flow into the Yellow River and go to the sea. The outlet to the sea is missing, and disasters occur frequently. p>
Later, Pan Jixun, a water conservancy expert in the Ming Dynasty, adopted the method of "diversion of Huaihe water into the Yellow River to attack sand" to control the Yellow River. He built embankments on both sides of the Yellow River and Gaojia Weir (i.e. Hongze Lake Embankment), so that the Huaihe River could enter the Yellow River from Hongze Lake.
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Under normal circumstances, because the river beds of each river are at different heights, one river cannot flow through another. But the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal does it. It spans five major rivers: the Haihe River, the Yellow River, the Huaihe River, the Yangtze River and the Qiantang River.
It relies on building dams and repairing ship locks. Using ship locks can solve the height difference problem.
There are four ship locks built near Qingjiangpu where Fengjicang is located, namely Qingjiang, Fuxing, Tongji, and Huiji. The Qingjiang lock is located at the intersection of the Huai River and the canal. When the Yellow River rises, different locks are opened and closed.
The gate allows ships to always sail at the same height, ensuring safety.
When the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal approaches the Yellow River, it turns a small bend to the west and enters the Yellow River through Hongze Lake. The water conditions along the way are complicated, with large and small dams and numerous locks. If you want to sail directly from the Yellow River to Hongze Lake, then
It is almost impossible to sail into the canal and burn Fengjicang.
Sun Gui did not intend to do this. His plan was to sail the navy to the north of Qingjiangpu, land, and then use a small boat to cross the canal and burn Fengjicang.
In addition to Fengjicang outside Qingjiangpu City, there are two Changpingcang and three reserve grain depots in Qingjiangpu City, which he has no intention of letting go.
In order to implement this bold plan, he took away a total of 40,000 navy troops, leaving only 10,000 people in the Lincha Division to garrison Zhenjiang and monitor the Qingyang Prefecture Navy.
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The Yellow River has a high sediment content and rapid currents, making it unsuitable for navigation. Especially the middle reaches, the section from Mengjin to Sanmenxia, is the most difficult to navigate. Although it is still possible to sail a boat, the river is narrow, there are many whirlpools, and sinking accidents of tank boats occur frequently.<
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In the downstream section of Huai'an Prefecture, sedimentation and frequent river channel changes are not conducive to navigation. However, it is not unnavigable. It is the flood season at this time, and boats can travel on the waterway.
In order to allow the navy to sail smoothly, Sun Gui left all the giant ships in Zhenjiang and only brought medium and small warships into the Yellow River. The ships had small sails and were fast, so they could fly on the sea. In addition to sails, they were also equipped with oars.
You can row a boat when there is no wind.
In a blink of an eye, we arrived at Yunti Pass at the mouth of the Yellow River.
It went very smoothly. There was only one hand with a total of 300 soldiers in Guan Guan, and the battle was resolved in less than half an hour.
There are not many soldiers and horses in Yangzhai Township, Andong City, and Chiyan Temple, and there are not even a few warships.
The reason why it is so smooth is that the Yellow River is not conducive to navigation. The Qing army did not build a large-scale Yellow River navy. The only few warships were designed to protect water transportation. In addition, in order to prevent the Ming army from crossing the Yangtze River, most of these warships were sent to
to the Yangtze River.
Caobiao, under the command of the Governor of Water Transport Yang Fangxing, did have a water camp, but he fell into the Ming army's plan to divert the tiger away from the mountain and was sent to reinforce Taoyuan County.
In addition to the warships of the water camp, there were quite a few grain ships. The situation was tense. Yang Fangxing used these ships to form a "water camp" with about 3,000 people. Unfortunately, they were all grain ships and had no cannons.
Several gates and soldiers were also temporarily recruited from Caoding, and many of them were unable to hold swords and guns steadily.
"Boom boom boom!"
Violent explosions occurred one after another. For the Ming army, it was more like target practice than a water battle.
Generals Wang Sheng, Cai Lu, Huang Ying, Yang Zheng, and Dai Jie led their warships to attack bravely. Soon, the lowering flag was hoisted at Caowan Port controlled by the Qing army.
"Commander, let's get to Caowan. We have no worries and can land now," Deputy Commander Zheng Bin said to Sun Gui.
"Well, let's land, let the soldiers unload the cannons on the ship, put them on the gun carts, and push them ashore."
In order to ensure the success of the surprise attack, Sun Gui brought a large number of artillery carts to facilitate the transportation of artillery.
Leaving 7,000 soldiers to guard the warships, Sun Gui led 33,000 soldiers to land and came to the canal.
"This is the Grand Canal? How majestic it is," Sun Gui couldn't help but sigh. Then he suddenly remembered and said to himself, "I wonder how much food is in this Fengji warehouse?"
Zheng Bin said: "Commander, this water transportation adopts the 'branch transportation' method. The grain collected from various places is first sent to the granary from the local area, and then delivered to the capital from various places. Fengji Granary is known as the granary of the world. In previous years, there were three million
Stone. But in recent years, my Ming Dynasty has captured Jiangnan, so there shouldn’t be that many, but nearly a million stones, I guess there are still some."
Sun Gui laughed loudly, "No matter how much food it has, I will burn it with a fire?"
"Hahaha!"
All the generals laughed loudly.
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The Grand Canal was dug manually, so the river channel is not wide. The narrowest point is only a few feet (more than ten meters), and the water is gentle.
The Ming army carried thousands of small boats, connected them with iron chains, and covered them with wooden planks to form pontoon bridges. They built more than ten wide pontoon bridges in one go, and pushed artillery carts, ladder trucks and other siege equipment to quickly cross the river. p>
Fengjicang is very large and has a wall outside. There were originally three thousand defenders. Shi Tingzhu ordered the third son, Heshuo's son-in-law Shi Huashan, to lead 5,080 Han troops stationed here. There were also 5,08 Han troops inside Qingjiangpu City and
Two Thousand Green Camps.
"Wang Sheng, Cai Lu, and you two led ten thousand troops to attack the warehouse."
"The last general takes orders."
"Huang Ying led three thousand troops to guard the floating bridge."
"The last general takes orders."
"The rest of the generals are following my commander in ambush in the south of Fengjicang. I am sure that if a fight breaks out here at Fengjicang, the Qing army in Qingjiangpu City will definitely come to reinforce them and they can be wiped out in one fell swoop." Sun Gui was very confident and followed.
Emperor Guangwu fought so many battles that he unknowingly acquired the demeanor of a famous general.
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"Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom," a violent explosion sounded from Fengji warehouse.
"No, I fell into the Ming army's plan to divert the tiger away from the mountain!"
Shi Tingzhu was a veteran general. As soon as he heard the sound of cannons, he knew that he had been tricked. He was very upset that he should not have sent Wang Guoguang. Zhang Zhong led the 10,000 green battalion to Taoyuan to collect money from Qianyi. Now Qingjiangpu is empty.
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However, there is no use regretting.
"Come here, arm me with armor and reinforce Fengjicang." He took five thousand soldiers and horses out of the city to reinforce him.
"Kill, kill, kill!" Shi Tingzhu had just walked halfway when he shouted loudly, Sun Gui, Zheng Bin, Yang Zheng, and Dai Jie led 20,000 ambush troops to rush out.
"No, the Ming army is encircling the point for reinforcements!"
Shi Tingzhu is tired of fighting. When he fought against Jinzhou, he followed Huang Taiji and used this method to eliminate batches of Ming troops. Unexpectedly, he was reinforced by Ming troops today.
After all, he is a veteran and can make quick decisions, "Zhang Chaolin and Zhang Jing, you lead our headquarters to the rear, and the rest will follow my commander and kill him."
"Kill", Shi Tingzhu became fierce and rushed back with all his strength. The fourth son, Shi Lin, led his troops to follow.
Fortunately, he made a quick decision and managed to save three thousand of the five thousand troops, and fled back to Qingjiang Pucheng in embarrassment.
Meile, Zhangjing, and Zhang Chaolin at the rear were fighting from left to right, but the siege became deeper and deeper.
"Da da da", a horse flew over and slashed across with a broadsword. Zhang Chaolin's head flew into the sky, but it was the general Dai Jie.
Sun Gui ordered Zheng Bin and Yang Zheng to lead five thousand troops to monitor Qingjiangpu, and then led a large army to attack Fengjicang.
"Surround the three towers and give the Tatars a way out. I only want their food for this battle, so we will fight to a quick conclusion!"
In Fengji Cang, Heshuo's consort Hua Shanzheng organized his men to resist desperately, but unexpectedly the Ming army made a gap. At this time, the Qing army lost their fighting spirit and fled through the gap one after another.
"Come on, hurry up. If you're late, it'll be too late." His subordinates advised Shi Huashan to run for his life.
"No, if I leave, the army's rations will be gone." Shi Huashan refused to escape.
As more and more Ming troops poured in, his subordinates were helpless and forced Shi Huashan to escape.
A huge fire broke out in Fengjicang.
On the Qingjiangpu city wall, Shi Tingzhu burst into tears, "Your Majesty, I am incompetent and failed to protect the army's food supply!"
While crying, Shi Huashan fled back.
Shi Tingzhu was furious, "Zoo, if you lose Fengji Cang, you still have the nerve to come back alive! Drag it down and kill it!"
"Well, now is the time to employ people, so please bear with me and make meritorious service," the generals advised.
"Hmph, for the sake of the generals, I'll give you a chance. Defend the city well. If we lose Qingjiangpu again, we will definitely kill you without mercy."
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Shi Tingzhu was a veteran general, and Sun Gui attacked Qitian City but failed to capture it.
When Wang Guoguang and Zhang Zhong heard that Qingjiangpu was in danger, they hurried back, and Qing troops from various places also arrived one after another.
Sun Gui thought about it and let it go. Without saying a word, he led the navy to cross the pontoon bridge, boarded the ship and returned.
The 800,000 shi of grain in Fengji Granary were burned cleanly, leaving only 100,000 shi in Qingjiangpu City. The dark cloud of food shortage hung over the Qing army.