Late Yuan Dynasty: I am the true emperor

Chapter 177: The Forces Crossing the River

After taking over Congyang Town, it would be only fifty miles away from Huaining County. We could reach the city in one day!

Liao Yongan planned to divide this battle into two phases. In the first phase, he would send the left and right routes to advance covertly and reach the Shahe-Congyang River line. Then he would lead the main force in the middle route to approach Tongcheng, making a siege posture, forcing the enemy in Tongcheng to seek help from the south, and first launch a siege to attack the reinforcements.

There are only two cities, Huaining and Qianshan, to the south of Tongcheng. Even if there are reinforcements, they will definitely come from these two cities and head north. If the enemy in Qianshan wants to go north to Tongcheng, they need to cross the Wanshui and Shahe rivers. Guo Zixing is hiding in the upper reaches of the north bank of the Shahe River. If the enemy in Qianshan really goes north, Guo Zixing can attack the enemy halfway across the Shahe River and annihilate the reinforcements.

If the enemy sends troops north from Huaining to rescue, Huaining is north of the Wanshui River and south of the Shahe River, so they will have to cross at least the Shahe River. Miao Daheng can also attack them halfway across the Shahe River in the lower reaches and annihilate the enemy heading north.

The central army is responsible for besieging the point, and the left and right armies are responsible for attacking the reinforcements. The first phase is expected to last ten days. If the enemy really wants to go north to rescue, they will definitely send troops within ten days. The left and right armies responsible for attacking the reinforcements have already finished fighting. If the enemy has not sent troops within ten days, it is likely that they have given up Tongcheng and have no intention of rescuing at all.

Ten days after the start of the battle, regardless of whether the enemy troops came north to reinforce or not, the Central Army would launch a general offensive, expecting to capture Tongcheng within two days, and then continue south without stopping to start the second phase of the battle.

After the Central Army moved south from Tongcheng, it first joined forces with Guo Zixing's troops on the right, assembled more than 10,000 troops from three regiments, and launched a strong attack on Qianshan County.

At the same time, Miao Daheng's troops on the left attacked Congyang Town, forced a crossing to the south of Congyang River, threatened Huaining County, and forced Huaining not to send troops to rescue Qianshan.

After Qianshan was captured, Guo Zixing's troops were left to garrison Qianshan, while Liao Yongan continued to lead the central army eastward to join forces with Miao Daheng's left army. They still used three regiments of more than 10,000 troops to first wipe out Shankou Town southwest of Huaining City.

If the Huaining defenders go out of the city to rescue Shankou Town, we will strive to use the strength of three regiments to fight a decisive battle with the Huaining defenders outside the city, and then besiege Huaining and conquer Anqing. If the enemy refuses to come out of the city, we will first wipe out Shankou Town and then attack Huaining.

There is also a Huaining in modern times, but it is not the same place as the Huaining in the Yuan Dynasty. The Huaining County in the Yuan Dynasty is the modern Anqing City.

The Wanshui River flows out from the Dabie Mountains and flows from west to east into the Yangtze River. It is an east-west river. At one-third of the lower reaches of the Wanshui River, it makes a big turn to the south and then flows to the northeast. The entire river channel forms a corner protruding to the south. Modern Huaining is located on the south bank of this southern corner of the Wanshui River, but at the end of the Yuan Dynasty it was still a rural wilderness with no towns.

The above are all the operational plans for both phases. It is expected that the entire campaign will be completed in no more than one month.

However, Liao Yongan was worried that the troops in the second phase might not be enough, so he wrote in the letter that if the battle plan was agreed to, he would request to dispatch an additional unit for support in the second phase, with as many as an infantry regiment and as few as a cavalry battalion, mainly to monitor or contain possible reinforcements from the south. After he finished fighting Anqing, he could return this unit.

Regarding the deployment after the battle, Liao Yongan suggested forming a new regiment and training it in Tongcheng, intending to use Miao Daheng to guard Congyang. It would be best to build a city or add a fortress in Congyang Town to guard the mouth of Congyang River and monitor the enemy in Guichi on the left side of the Yangtze River to prevent the enemy from crossing the river and advancing westward.

The terrain of Tongyang is very similar to that of Wuwei. Both are river estuaries. The only difference is that there is a huge Chaohu Lake upstream of the Rushu River in Wuwei, which is also connected to the Feishui River. It has important transportation significance. However, there is no lake upstream of Tongyang, only a Shahe River. Its transportation status is not as high as that of the Rushu River, but it is also an important place, mainly for guarding the Chizhou Road opposite.

After the battle, Miao Daheng built a new city in Tongyang to defend against the enemy in Jiangdong, Guo Zixing guarded Qianshan to guard against the enemy in Jiangxi, and Liao Yongan's three regiments were left to garrison in the main city of Anqing. Zhao Yong's 11th regiment continued to move south to Huaining County in later generations to build a new city or fortress, forming an outpost facing the south to monitor the enemy forces in Taihu Lake and Wangjiang.

This was not to deliberately cater to the map divisions of later generations, but the bulge formed by the southward turn of the Wan River was of great strategic value. If a city could be built here, the important passage of Anqing, "two mountains and one river", could be blocked with the least amount of troops. No matter who wanted to go out from Jiangxi to the east, they had to take this place first, otherwise they would not be able to transport troops forward safely.

Therefore, after the construction of the "New Huaining" city, Qianshan, Anqing, and Tongyang behind it can all breathe a sigh of relief, reducing the defensive pressure on the garrison and no longer needing to station so many soldiers.

Lu Jin and Feng Guoyong were looking at this "letter of request for war" while Feng Guoyong was looking for a map himself. He was looking at the battle plan while comparing it with the map.

In this battle plan, Lu Jin was very impressed by Liao Yongan's analysis of the entire southern situation, especially the reactions and responses of the Yuan court and Xu Song's troops.

He had told Liao Yongan before that as a general leading an army, he must have a strategic perspective and try to see the bigger picture. If he cannot do this, he cannot be a qualified general.

Liao Yongan obviously listened to these words and was also working hard to learn. In this battle plan, he had already begun to look at the problem from the overall perspective of the entire South.

The formulation of the entire combat plan was also well-organized, with two phases and three-pronged attacks. Although the combat targets were only three cities, everything that should be thought of was taken into account.

Although the overall tactics are "old-fashioned", either besieging a point and attacking reinforcements or storming the enemy, it works and there is nothing wrong with it.

Moreover, two plans were formulated. If the enemy was fooled, how to attack the reinforcements? If the enemy was not fooled, the time nodes for the attack were also set. This way, they would not wait foolishly in Tongcheng. Every time, they would join forces with other troops. Even if it was a forced attack, it would be no problem to capture a city.

Even during the decisive battle of Anqing, the enemy might send reinforcements from the south, and our own troops were insufficient, so we also took into consideration the request to borrow some reinforcements.

Even how to garrison after the war, whether to expand the army, and where to build the city were all clearly stated and clear-headed. They also made detailed considerations on which troops would defend against the enemy in which direction.

No matter from which perspective, Liao Yongan's battle plan is impeccable and perfect.

After seeing this, Lu Jin couldn't help but sigh, "Liao Yongan has become much more mature than before, and already has the demeanor of a great general. I can rest assured that I can let him take charge of things on his own in the future."

After saying that, he looked at Feng Guoyong again and found that this guy was still frowning and looking at the map. Lu Jin asked, "Sir, what do you think of this battle plan?" Feng Guoyong said immediately, "The Marshal is right. General Liao's battle plan is clear and organized, and he uses troops prudently. He has thought about everything before and after the war. There is nothing wrong with it. But I am a little worried about whether it is necessary to launch this southern offensive."

"Oh? What did you mean? To attack Anqing and cut off the Yangtze River, and to prevent Xu Song from competing with us for the land of Jiangzuo, we have made a plan to take one of the three lakes first to establish a base. Sir, you should not have forgotten it, right?" Lu Jin asked in surprise after hearing Feng Guoyong's concerns.

Anqing is an important strategic location with a river between two mountains. With Feng Guoyong's military talent, there is no reason why he couldn't see the opportunity. Why would he hesitate when attacking Anqing?

Feng Guoyong immediately said, "General, it is because I have firmly remembered the plan to send troops to Jiangdong that I dare not easily decide to go south."

He immediately took out a map and explained, "Now our army has already decided on a strategy. We will march into Jiangdong by next year at the latest, and the earliest may be in late autumn or early winter this year, which means we still have at least half a year.

“If the situation turns out to be as the commander-in-chief foresaw, and Xu Song’s troops marched too fast and failed to gain a firm foothold, and were counterattacked by the main force of the Yuan army in Jiangdong and chased all the way to Huguang, and all the main forces of the Yuan army in Jiangdong were transferred away, then it would be the best time for our army to march south of the Yangtze River.

"There are two best places for our army to cross the river. One is Caishiji in Dangtu, and the other is Yanziji in Jiankang. Going through Yanziji, we can directly reach the city of Jiankang and attack the vital point. However, we are outnumbered and the enemy is outnumbered. It may be difficult to gain a foothold and repeat the mistakes of Xu Song.

"If we go to Dangtu Caishiji, we can advance step by step, first take Dangtu as a bridgehead, recruit soldiers, expand the army and collect food, and slowly approach Jiankang. Marshal, have you ever thought about how many troops we need to prepare to cross the river if we cross the river at the end of this year, and how many troops should be left behind to guard Luzhou Road?"

"This..." To be honest, Lu Jin is still making equipment, striving to increase the armor rate of each unit, and then training a firearms unit as the main force for the offensive into Jiangnan, but he has not made a specific plan on how many troops to mobilize.

Lu Jin's plan was also to advance step by step starting from Dangtu. As long as Anqing was captured in the first battle, there was no need to mobilize too many troops. He could recruit soldiers and grain from Jiangnan to support the war, as there were more people and more grain in Jiangnan anyway.

In addition, he has the most powerful navy on the Yangtze River and controls the "right to manage the river" in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River. As long as the navy is still in his hands, he can be flexible and mobilize troops from the north of the river to the east bank to fight at any time. Therefore, he has not thought about this problem yet, so he cannot give an immediate answer.

Feng Guoyong said immediately upon seeing this.

"I have calculated before that our army currently has 14 infantry regiments, of which the first regiment has been expanded into a combined brigade. There are also two cavalry regiments and two naval regiments, a total of 18 regiments.

"As for Dangtu, which is across the river from us, there are currently about 4 enemy soldiers, and Jiankang behind us has a similar number. The entire Taiping Road, plus Jiqing Road, has a total of about troops.

“If the Marshal’s prediction is correct and Xu Song can really lead the main force of Jiangdong to the south, then at least half of the troops in Jiqing Road and Taiping Road will have to be left behind, which means that the enemy force we have to face is 40,000!

"If we count the 40,000 enemy troops, the enemy in front of Dangtu must be at least 20,000 to 30,000. The more sudden the crossing of the river campaign is launched, the less time the enemy has to prepare, and the fewer enemy troops we will face. If the enemy has 20,000 to 30,000 elite soldiers stationed in Dangtu, how many troops should we use to attack?
"I have roughly calculated that in order to defeat the enemy in Dangtu and leave enough troops to guard Luzhou Road, we must prepare at least seven regiments of main forces, in addition to the Marshal's Imperial Guard Combined Brigade, and at least one naval regiment of main forces, to be sure to conquer Dangtu and gain a firm foothold in Dangtu!"

Upon hearing this, Lu Jin immediately did some mental calculations. The main forces of the seven regiments, each regiment had 4500 people, and seven regiments had 31500 people. Add to that his own Imperial Guards Combined Brigade, which had nearly people, and the total army strength was . In addition, there was a naval regiment, and crossing the river certainly required boats, so more than troops had to be concentrated in this battle.

There were 14 infantry regiments, eight of which were transferred to cross the river, leaving six infantry regiments, two cavalry regiments, and a navy. The six infantry regiments had 6 people. Lu Jin must have led some cavalry to cross the river. Assuming that 27000 to 6000 cavalry were left behind, and a navy of people was left behind, then the remaining troops would add up to people, slightly less than the army that crossed the river.

With such a small number of troops, they have to defend the entire Luzhou Road, plus part of Anqing Road, part of Yangzhou Road, and part of Anfeng Road. To be honest, it is not safe enough to defend such a large territory with heavy enemy forces eyeing it covetously all around.

However, in addition to these main forces, there are also local internal guards in each county. Although these internal guards are half farmers and half soldiers and cannot follow the main force in external combat, they can still help defend the city locally.

This part of the inner guard army does not seem to be very large although it is scattered. Each county has a few hundred people at least and nearly a thousand at most. More than a dozen counties have a total of about 10,000 troops. Add to that the 40,000 main forces, and there are 50,000 in total. As long as there are no major battles on the outside, there will be no problem holding out for three months. As for three months later, Lu Jin can completely form a new force in Jiangdong and transfer it back to Luzhou for defense.

According to this number, Feng Guoyong's calculation should be relatively reasonable. He dispatched 40,000 troops to cross the river and left 40,000 to 50,000 miscellaneous soldiers to guard the home. This should be able to take care of both battlefields.

At this moment, Feng Guoyong spoke again.

"I also understand the benefits of capturing Anqing. If we cannot cut off the Yangtze River, Xu and Song may come out to the east and compete with us for the land east of the Yangtze River. As for the three lakes that the commander-in-chief mentioned, Xu and Song already occupy Dongting Lake and will soon be able to take all the money, food and population of this lake. We are too far away to stop them.

"If the war goes smoothly, we can occupy the entire Taihu Lake area, obtain all the money, food and manpower, and then we can compete with Xu and Song. The key to the fight between the two armies will be the lake in the middle, Poyang Lake in Jiangxi.

"If we want to fight for Jiangxi, we must first fight for Jiangzhou, the gateway to Jiangxi. If we want to fight for Jiangzhou, we must first fight for Anqing, the back of Jiangxi. This is a strategic location, so the sooner we take it, the better. I also know that this is the perfect time for our army to seize Anqing.

"But I am a little worried. If the main force of the 101st Division is fully deployed on the southern front, after Anqing is captured, the battle line will undoubtedly be stretched longer, and the troops we have will become increasingly stretched. Will we still be able to withdraw eight main regiments to cross the river by then?"

Hearing this, Lu Jin immediately laughed and said, "Hahahaha, sir, you have made careful considerations, and your considerations are quite good, but you have missed one point. I can still raise the troops to cross the river."

Feng Guoyong was stunned when he heard this, and asked in confusion, "What did I miss?"

(End of this chapter)