Chapter 2319: Qi Jiguang's battle with Jiaozhou, Ruan Yue declared himself a minister to Qin
Chapter 2319: Qi Jiguang fought against Jiaozhou, Ruan Yue declared himself a minister to Qin
When Ye Qingmei learned that the Chu army had not only Li Xiucheng, Lin Fengxiang and other famous generals of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, but also Guo Ziyi, who quelled the Anshi Rebellion, and Chai Rong, the second emperor of the later Zhou Dynasty, he knew that the Annan coalition army was probably defeated this time.
Got it.
Although Ruan Fuying and Li Gongyun were both horse emperors with military backgrounds, in terms of leading armies in battles, compared with these famous generals in China, they were obviously not on the same level.
As Ye Qingmei expected, although the equipment of the 120,000 Annan Allied Forces was no worse than that of the Chu Army, they were still crushed by the Chu Army in terms of the individual combat power of the soldiers and the commanding ability of the generals.
Before Ye Qingmei returned to Annan, the war between Chu and Yue had already begun for two months. In addition to occupying three empty cities that were strategically abandoned by the Chu army, the Annan coalition forces failed to even manage a single city garrisoned by the Chu army.
Captured.
General Annan's command ability, army coordination ability, siege ability, and tactical application were all extremely poor. It is no wonder that the previous army of 100,000 people was defeated by the Chu State's 10,000-line army.
After all, the number of the Chu army in Jiaozhou was far inferior to that of the Annan coalition, so they adopted defensive counterattack tactics at the beginning, looking for opportunities to counterattack while defending.
Under the command of generals such as Li Xiucheng, Lin Fengxiang, and Chen Yucheng, the Chu army's counterattacks were basically accurate, each time causing considerable casualties to the Annan coalition forces, and eroding the strength and morale of the Annan coalition forces little by little until
Guo Ziyi and Chai Rong's three thousand elite troops arrived before launching a counterattack.
Although Guo Ziyi and Chai Rong only led an army of 3,000 troops, they were the most powerful elites in Chu State. They also had 1,500 cavalry. In terms of combat power alone, they were even stronger than the 20,000 Jiaozhou defenders.
Moreover, with the addition of Guo Ziyi's three thousand elite troops, both the morale and combat power of the Chu army have risen to a new level. How can Annan's army be able to resist it?
After Guo Ziyi arrived in Jiaozhou, he achieved three battles and three victories in just half a month, and only 60,000 Annan's army was defeated.
Only two months after the war started, the Annan coalition forces had suffered more than half their casualties, which made Ruan Fu Anh and Li Gong Yun regret that their intestines were almost green.
It's enough to just guard your own one-third of an acre of land. Why would you want to take the initiative to provoke an invincible opponent like Chu State?
But it's too late for them to regret it. Now they can't retreat even if they want to.
The armies of Guo Ziyi and Li Xiucheng fought hard and did not give the Annan coalition forces a chance to escape. They were even more deadly in the deployment and formation of troops. They vowed to annihilate the 120,000 Annan coalition forces in Jiaozhou.
.
The Annan coalition army was unable to advance or retreat, and was about to be wiped out. However, they received news of Ye Qingmei's return, so they all regarded Ye Qingmei as their last life-saving straw.
The Annan Allied Forces sent envoys one after another to ask for help from Ye Qingmei who arrived at Qingmei Port, and promised that as long as Da Qin could rescue them, they would be willing to surrender to Da Qin, respect Da Qin as their suzerain state, and pay tribute to Da Qin every year.
Ye Qingmei was extremely speechless after learning that the 120,000-strong Annan Allied Forces could not defeat Chu's 30,000-40,000 troops, but now they were asking her for help.
She only has 5,000 navy troops in her hands. How can she save them?
It can't be saved at all.
Ye Qingmei was actually very excited about the conditions for the Annan countries to become vassals, but she knew better that with her five thousand naval troops, it was impossible to rescue the trapped sixty thousand Annan who were unable to advance or retreat under the heavy siege of the Chu army.
military.
Just when Ye Qingmei was about to refuse, Qi Jiguang proposed a plan to encircle Wei and save Zhao.
Qi Jiguang asserted that once the Qin army appeared in the coastal waters of Jiaozhou, it would definitely cause a shock to the Chu army. At that time, he would lead the army to land and surprise the city of Panyu in Nanhai County, where Jiaozhou was governed.
Nowadays, most of the troops in Jiaozhou are gathered in the combined forces of Jiujiang and Jiuzhen. Nanhai County, where the government is located, is extremely empty, with no more than 6,000 defenders at most.
The 5,000 Qin troops, calculated intentionally or unintentionally, were enough to threaten the safety of the entire Nanhai County, and even captured the city of Panyu where it was governed.
Once Li Xiucheng and Guo Ziyi on the front line learned that the Qin army had appeared in Jiaozhou and that the troops were directed at the governor's office, they would most likely lead their troops back to support them.
The strength of the Chu army was originally smaller than that of the Annan coalition. After dividing some of its troops, loopholes would appear in the encirclement, and the besieged Annan coalition would naturally be able to escape.
Qi Jiguang's plan is not a bold one. After all, it requires the navy to land for operations, which is tantamount to giving up the navy's biggest advantage, and the risks it takes are naturally self-evident.
Qi Jiguang's proposal made Ye Qingmei extremely hesitant. She was wondering whether it was worth taking such a big risk for foreigners like Annan.
After much hesitation, Ye Qingmei decided to trust Qi Jiguang. After all, Qi Jiguang had accomplished many feats along the way, which fully proved his ability to complete this plan.
Ye Qingmei let Qi Jiguang do whatever he wanted, but there was one condition, that is, he must bring back the entire army.
Qi Jiguang nodded and accepted the order, and then led 5,000 naval troops to land on the coast of Nanhai County with great fanfare, and defeated Sihui and Zhongsu counties in one day.
The Qin army came so quickly and suddenly that the defenders in the two counties had no time to prepare. Qi Jiguang seized the city gate and easily broke through the city. The thousand defenders in the two counties also surrendered to the Qin army.
After Qi Jiguang conquered the two counties, he divided the army into two. He let the army enter the city during the day, quietly left the city at night, and entered the city during the day, and so on.
Qi Jiguang used this method to pretend that the Qin army was in large numbers, and he also wanted to attack steadily, vowing to conquer Nanjun, in order to confuse the Chu army in Jiaozhou.
After the news that Sihui and Zhongsu counties were conquered by the Qin army was sent back to the governor's office, Liu Xian, the governor of Jiaozhou, was completely stunned.
Liu Xian, courtesy name Shizong, was a native of Lingling County. He had extensive knowledge and strong memorization of Ming allusions. His nephew was Zhou Buyi, a destined prodigy in the late Han Dynasty.
During Liu Biao's period, Liu Xian served as a special commander in Jingzhou. After Liu Biao's death, he continued to assist Liu Xiu, and was later appointed as the governor of Jiaozhou by Liu Xiu.
Liu Xian was a pure scholar, so it was fine for him to govern the place, but fighting was not his specialty.
What's more, the Qin army that should have been in the north actually appeared in Jiaozhou in the south and launched a surprise attack on Nanhai County.
The amount of information contained in this was too large, and it was too weird. It was simply not something Liu Xian, a civil servant, could handle.
Not to mention Liu Xian, even Liu Xiu would be confused for a while when faced with such a complicated situation.
Liu Xian could not cope with such a situation, so he made a decision that most people would make, which was to let Li Xiucheng lead his army back to the South China Sea to aid, and at the same time mobilize the strong men in the city to prepare to defend the city.
When Li Xiucheng, Guo Ziyi and other generals received the news that the Qin army had appeared in Jiaozhou and had promised to conquer the two counties, their reaction was not much different from Liu Xian's. They were stunned for a long time before they woke up, and their first reaction was to
dream.
This news is so outrageous that people can't believe it is true.
But there was Liu Xian's autographed letter, and there was no room for Li Xiucheng and Guo Ziyi not to believe it.
When they realized that the Qin army really appeared in Jiaozhou and the number was quite large, Li Xiucheng and Guo Ziyi did not panic too much and decisively divided their forces to rescue Nanhai.
In their eyes, the weak Annan coalition forces were not a threat to Chu at all. Even if they were allowed to escape this time, they would just destroy them next time.
On the contrary, if the Jiaozhou Administrative Office was captured by the Qin army, the losses of the Chu army would be great.
So Li Xiucheng and Guo Ziyi divided their troops into two groups.
Guo Ziyi led 3,000 elite troops and 15,000 troops to rescue the Southern Navy.
Li Xiucheng led the remaining troops to continue besieging the Annan coalition.
Guo Ziyi's troops marched as fast as possible, fearing that support would be late and the Qin army would capture the headquarters, but unfortunately, he was still a step too late.
Guo Ziyi's army had just entered the boundaries of Nanhai County when they received news that Panyu City had been breached and the governor Liu Xian had been captured.
To be honest, after conquering Panyu City, Qi Jiguang himself found it incredible, but he managed to conquer it easily, and the biggest contributor was Liu Xian, the governor of Jiaozhou.
After Liu Xian learned that the Qin army was approaching Panyu City, he did not know the reality of the Qin army, but he was also afraid of the Qin army's combat power. He made many overreactions under the pressure of the soldiers.
For example: forcibly recruiting people to join the army to defend the city, including even Baiyue people.
Another example: forcibly confiscating the entire city's grain and grass to reserve grain for war.
Liu Xian's strategies were all correct. These actions could indeed increase the city's defense, but it was a pity that he used them in the wrong place.
If Liu Xian is used in the Central Plains, there will definitely be no problem, but if he is used in Jiaozhou, there will be a big problem.
The Chu State occupied Jiaozhou for a short period of time, only a few years, and the people's hearts were not completely attached to it.
It was natural for Liu Xian to recruit Han people to defend the city, but to force the Baiyue people to defend the city, and also to confiscate the Baiyue people's grain and grass, it was naturally impossible for the Baiyue people to agree.
After Qi Jiguang surrounded Panyu City, he wanted to lure the Chu army from the south to come back for reinforcements and immediately retreated. However, he never expected that the Chu army in the city would actually break into chaos.
With such a good opportunity, Qi Jiguang naturally couldn't give up. In the end, by coordinating his efforts inside and outside, he easily broke into Jiaozhou Prefecture and Panyu City.
Liu Xian saw the Qin army entering the city and knew that the situation was over, so he decisively chose to break out. Unfortunately, his luck was not very good. He chose the wrong gate to break through and ran into Qi Jiguang head-on. As a result, he was captured alive by Qi Jiguang's horse.
As the governor, Liu Xian was captured, and the Chu troops in the city did not dare to resist, and abandoned their weapons and surrendered. This allowed Qi Jiguang to easily occupy Panyu City and surrender three thousand Chu troops.
When Qi Jiguang landed, there were only 5,000 naval troops. However, after conquering three cities in succession, the number of troops increased instead of decreasing, and the number skyrocketed to 9,000.
Now that Qi Jiguang has an army of nine thousand and the city of Panyu, which is easy to defend and difficult to attack, he is sure to hold on for half a year even if all the Chu troops in Jiaozhou come back for reinforcements. However, he did not do so, but chose carefully.
Accept as soon as you see fit.
Although the Qin army surrendered 4,000 Chu troops, once the situation turns critical, these 4,000 Chu troops may rebel at any time, and the only thing they can really rely on is the 5,000 navy troops.
It would not be an exaggeration to say that relying on these five thousand navy troops to fight the entire Chu army in Jiaozhou on land was looking for death.
Therefore, after receiving the news that Guo Ziyi's army was about to enter Nanhai County, Qi Jiguang decisively chose to run away.
When Guo Ziyi returned to Panyu City, Qi Jiguang had already fled far away, and the treasury in the city was empty. All the money was taken away by the Qin army, and the grain and grass that could not be taken away were distributed to the people in the city.
Used to win people's hearts.
Guo Ziyi originally thought that the invading Qin army would have at least 10,000 or 20,000 people, but Qi Jiguang's move of distributing the food and grass that he could not take away to the people made him realize that the Qin army did not have that many people, otherwise they would not have distributed all the food and grass to the people.
Realizing this, Guo Ziyi was even more angry. The invading Qin army clearly could not threaten the Chu state, but they deceived them all. Even the Jiaozhou government office was occupied by the Qin army.
Guo Ziyi wanted to continue the pursuit, but he couldn't swallow this breath without pursuing him, but it was obviously a bit late to pursue him now. If he led the cavalry to pursue him, it would be too late. But with 1,500 cavalry, could he defeat the Qin army with unknown strength?
Guo Ziyi was not absolutely sure, but he decided to take a gamble, so he left his army in Panyu City and only led 1,500 cavalry to pursue it.
When Guo Ziyi pursued Sihui County and Zhongsu County, the situation in the two counties was the same as Panyu City. The money was taken away by the Qin army, while the grain and grass were distributed to the local people to win people's hearts.
This made Guo Ziyi more convinced that the number of Qin troops was not large, and further convinced him of his decision to pursue.
Guo Ziyi chased him all the way to the beach before finally catching up with Qi Jiguang.
At this time, Qi Jiguang was commanding the army to board the ship, and more than half of the army had not yet boarded the ship, so they were at their most vulnerable moment.
When Qi Jiguang saw that Guo Ziyi was actually chasing him, and the ones chasing him were all cavalry, his expression instantly turned extremely ugly.
However, Qi Jiguang soon calmed down and commanded 300 crossbowmen and 4,000 surrender troops to form an array on the coast with their backs to the sea, preparing to delay as much time as possible.
Guo Ziyi's cavalry was not weak in combat power. After withstanding the Qin army's crossbow array, it only took one charge to overwhelm the square array deployed by Qi Jiguang.
Facing the charge of 1,500 Chu cavalry, the 4,300 troops hardly had any chance to fight back and could only howl and mourn under the trampling of the cavalry.
Although Qi Jiguang failed to stop Guo Ziyi, he delayed it long enough for the rest of the navy to board the warship, leaving Guo Ziyi helpless and furious on the coast.
On the other side, after Li Xiucheng learned the news that Panyu City had been breached, he immediately realized the seriousness of the problem. So after weighing the pros and cons, he decided to allow the Annan coalition forces to withdraw from Jiaozhou, and then led his troops to support Guo Ziyi, who was short of troops.
But after the Annan coalition withdrew, Li Xiucheng received news from Guo Ziyi, saying that they had all been deceived by the Qin army. However, by this time the Annan coalition had already run away, and it was too late for Li Xiucheng to pursue them.
Of the 120,000 Annan coalition troops, only 50,000 fled back, and their morale was very low.
After experiencing two crushing defeats, the Annan countries had their backbones completely broken. Facing the Chu State, they only dared to defend their own territory and never dared to mention revenge.
As for Ruan Fuying and Li Gongyun, they did not break their promises to Da Qin. They wrote a memorial to Qin in front of Ye Qingmei, recognizing Da Qin as the suzerainty of Ruan Yue and other countries, promising to pay tribute every year, and sending their princes to Beijing to meet the Holy Spirit to accept it.