Zhang Fu once remembered that it was described in a memorial written by the local official of Jiujiang Prefecture, with Lushan Mountain at his back and water in front of the Yangtze River. Now that he has seen it on the spot, the local official's statement is probably correct. It is surrounded by the steep mountains of Lushan Mountain in the south, and faces the river in the north.
Surrounded by rivers and lakes, the terrain is a bit complicated when looking at the big picture... But since Zhang Fu came ashore, he has not seen even a single enemy soldier on the periphery, and the people have also been hiding. Since there are no troops deployed around the periphery, no matter what the situation in the mountains and rivers is.
It was in vain. The rebels were huddled near the city, and only a small area of land near the city was worthy of attention.
The location of Jiujiang City seems to be like a "Ya" tilted to the left. To the southwest is Gantang Lake, to the east is Baishui Lake, to the north is close to the Yangtze River; further to the south is Lushan Mountain, but at this time the rebel forces are weak
The abnormal contraction and concentration prevented the power from radiating to the other side of Lushan Mountain, so Lushan Mountain had almost no tactical value. Generally speaking, the land area in the southeast of the city is vast, which is conducive to the army's maneuvering; however, Zhang Fu chose to move the first-arrived Middle Route Army from the north of Baishui Lake.
March through the narrow passage.
Because the Central Route Army marched both by land and water, most of its supplies were transported by ship. Although there was room for maneuver by marching from the corridor between Baishui Lake and the Yangtze River, it had the advantage of being able to obtain supplies directly from the Yangtze River. After all, all the rivers and lakes were under the control of the army.
under.
The army from the middle route of the official army has gradually arrived at the west bank of Poyang Lake, and the vanguard has built a camp on the east side of Baishui Lake. In addition to the lake to the east and the river to the north, the camp is surrounded by mountains and bamboo forests on the east and south sides. You can use local materials to build the camp. What?
There is no shortage of water sources and firewood, which is also a convenience for fighting in the interior.
Zhang Fu was listening to the intelligence report from Ye Bu Shu at the Chinese army camp. These elite Ye Bu Shu were scouts from the Xuan Army. They used to mainly conduct reconnaissance against the Tatar tribes outside the Great Wall. They were all skilled in archery, horse riding and archery.
, after being transferred to the mainland to fight, he was still very capable. In a few days, he had a rough idea of the situation inside and outside Jiujiang City.
"The rebels are building forts on three sides outside the city, near Panshi Gate (east gate), Huan Pu Gate (west), and Wenming Gate (south). The structures of the three fortifications are all the same: they chose the ones with high terrain.
An earthen wall was built on the hillside as a fort, and a deep ditch was dug under the wall, which was like a post city. On the outside of the earthen fort, the lake and city walls were used to shorten the defense line, and two or three more trenches were dug in a circle, and a waist wall was built at the back.
It seems that the fortifications are about one or two miles deep; it seems that it will be difficult for the army to reach the city walls without taking these forts first."
After hearing this, a military general laughed and said: "This is a barbaric effort to build a city outside the city and add iron hoops. They have surrounded the city with water and cannot be beaten to death. Are they planning to give birth to babies inside?"
The generals burst into laughter. In everyone's opinion, for an isolated city under siege, all the surrounding territory has been lost, so what's the use of being tightly guarded?
Just when it was said that the rebels wanted the turtle to give birth to a son inside, a young general suddenly came into the tent and reported: "Commander, a large band of traitors came out of the Panshi Gate and came eastward in a mighty manner. I'm afraid they want to attack us!"
"
"Did you read that correctly?" Zhang Fu looked in disbelief.
The young general looked a little innocent: "At least tens of thousands of troops, as well as a large number of heavy artillery vehicles, came swaggering on the road under the clear sky. The general should...should not be mistaken."
It is unbelievable that the rebels want to go out of the city to fight. At least they should go west. In this case, it can be understood that they want to abandon the city and escape; but when they come out to the east, what do they want to do? It seems that the only possibility is to attack the official army... No wonder
The general who reported the news also said so directly. Because the army currently approaching Jiujiang City is the middle army, and the forwards have been stationed by Baishui Lake. There is only such a military target, and the rebels are also heading here.
"Instruct Chen Lin to prepare to meet the enemy outside the camp." Zhang Fu ordered. Then he called his attendants to prepare their horses, and all the generals of the Chinese army went to watch the battle.
More than an hour later, Zhang Fu arrived at the front line on horseback. To the east of Baishui Lake, there was a flat plain, with villages and farmland visible. In the distance, he could see dense infantry in motion, with the endless sound of gongs and drums, and they spread out horizontally in an orderly manner.
, the formation was nothing unusual, just square formations one after another, just like the shape of crop fields on the earth. A group of cavalry came from behind, and their armor was shining very conspicuously. After the rebels spread out, they slowly
Marching forward, we saw a large group of people from a distance.
Zhang Fu had heard about the rebels in Huguang a few years ago, and since taking command this time, the troops he has led have fought against the rebels twice, but this is indeed the first time he has seen thousands of "real bandits" with his own eyes...
...There is already a verbal term among the government and the army, called true bandits and surrendered bandits. The so-called surrendered bandits refer to the remaining troops who defected to Huguang after the defeat of the King of Han. Such rebels have little fighting power. They collapsed at the first touch of the Poyang Lake water battle.
Hukou County surrendered in large numbers without a fight. This is the type of soldier. The other type is the "real bandits". Real bandits are very difficult to deal with. Not to mention the fact that they suffered enough defeats in the Huguang army in the past.
Not long ago, in the battle of Hukou County, several hundred people left a deep impression on the officers and soldiers.
Real gangsters are not afraid of death. Their characteristic is that they stick together and will never disperse when they get together. Their movements are rigid and neither collapse nor surrender. They have to kill them all to solve the problem. Call the officers and soldiers.
Very headache.
It is easy to distinguish between real bandits and surrendered bandits, because the clothes and armor they wear are very different. Most of the rebels surging in front are real bandits. The officers and soldiers on the official side have realized that today will be a difficult day.
.
Zhang Fu's expression also became serious. He had a premonition that this battle would be difficult to fight. But it didn't matter. The more than 10,000 people in Chen Lin's forward group were all gone. He still had an army of 100,000, which would not have a decisive impact on the overall situation.
The formation of the rebels was very neat, and they looked well-dressed. The colors were uniform and as bright as the honor guard. When Zhang Fu saw it with his own eyes, he couldn't think of them as "bandits". Intuitively, he believed more in Huguang's proposal.
The rebels of Emperor Wen were really the nobles of Taizu; looking at his own troops, Chen Lin's army was mainly composed of Xuan soldiers, who could be considered elites of the Ming Dynasty, but in appearance they really looked like bandits, and most of the soldiers wore dirty and shabby clothes.
Clothes and armor are not consistent, because many people's clothes are sewn at home, and the armor comes from different sources and has different shapes... The troops fighting at the border can't look as good as the ones in the capital.
Compared to humans and horses?
At this moment, the rumbling sound of artillery alarmed Zhang Fu, and thick smoke billowed in the distance. The rebels fired artillery two miles away. From time to time, small-scale commotions and screams appeared in the sea of officials and soldiers.
It seemed that they were shouting that they had been hit by artillery. But Chen Lin's army did not move. He still stood two miles away and watched, and did not fire back fire... It was useless to fire artillery. The heaviest artillery of the army could not hit that far.
Chen Lin had fought with Zhang Fu in Jiaozhi before. He was a veteran general and was indeed trustworthy. The army had suffered many hardships from the rebels in the past few years, and Zhang Fu had studied the rebel tactics in detail with the generals.
, even the matchlock guns used by the rebels have been imitated, and now they know the opponent better. The rebels' heavy artillery has a long range, but it is not powerful at long distances; the real threat is the flat fire at close range, and the shells are horizontal on the ground.
The missiles were terrifying when they jumped. Therefore, Chen Lin ignored the rebel bombardment at all, unless the rebels had inexhaustible supplies of ammunition and weapons, and continued the bombardment until the official army was defeated.
Obviously the rebels would not do that. They were already alone in Jiujiang City. They would use less things and they would definitely not squander and waste ammunition. As expected, after a round of shelling in the distance, there was no movement.
The artillery stopped. Then a large number of phalanxes began to move forward again, and the heavy artillery was also disassembled and loaded onto trucks.
At this moment, five groups of infantry troops of the official army were dispatched at the same time, advancing forward. Not long after, the cavalry soldiers behind them poured out from between the infantry camps, jogged for a while, and then rushed forward. Suddenly, the roar of horse hooves was heard far and near.
.But the rebel horsemen were still watching behind.
"Bang bang bang..." A large area of white smoke emerged from the mottled flat ground, horses neighed, and the voices of people rang out. The situation of people tumbling on their backs could be clearly observed in the distance. This time the rebels' muskets seemed to be firing very quickly
, the firearms soldiers crackled three times in succession before retreating. A forest of spears fell down in an orderly manner. Those spears were more than ten feet long. The front row squatted and the back row stretched out from the gap. The dense crowd seemed to have suddenly turned into hedgehogs.
The officers and cavalry did not dare to rush forward, so they opened fire with three-eyed muskets on their horses, but they could not shake the rebel formation. Moreover, from time to time, the soldiers with spears on the opposite side would squat down, and the musketeers would come out from behind and shoot them in unison.
The firearms (flintlocks) of the army and infantry have far more lethality at range than the three-eyed musket, and the officers, soldiers, and cavalry are not at all happy with each other.
The government cavalry retreated one after another, and at this time several groups of dark infantry were approaching. Drums were playing on the battlefield, along with the sound of flutes and pianos, and some generals on horseback shouted back and forth in the rebel camp. Countless and wide columns were spread across the battlefield.
The infantry marched forward in unison. The battlefield soon became horrific. Firearms exploded and arrows flew in the air. People fell down like crops, and corpses were strewn across the field.
At this moment, a loud rumbling sound shook the earth. The rebel artillery was set up and roared. The terrifying iron balls flew over people's heads and landed in the dense crowd of officers and soldiers. They were already suffering heavy casualties.
The five groups of officers and soldiers who were shaken immediately spread back like a colony of frightened ants.
I saw the flag on the opposite side waving, and with the dull sound of horse hoofs, groups of horse soldiers poured out from the flanks. However, they soon encountered the cavalry brigade that the officers and soldiers came to block. The battlefield exploded, and countless people
The swords danced brightly in the sun, like the sparkling waves on the lake.
Xuan Dabing's cavalry was better at fighting than the southern soldiers, but the infantry battle in the center collapsed. Soon the flanks were attacked by the infantry pursued by the rebels, and the official army retreated across the board.
The battlefield was in a mess. Zhang Fu looked at the rebel formations that were pushing forward in batches, and knew that this round of fighting could not go on. Before he ordered a retreat, he looked at the countless baggage that had just been brought up from the river, and the people who had not yet arrived behind him.
After the construction of the Yingzhai Archery Tower was completed, I felt as if I was taking a breath.