Late Yuan Dynasty: I am the true emperor

Chapter 189 A Gunshot

Lu Jin did not hide it from them and said immediately, "Our original plan to attack the reinforcements remains unchanged. Although the enemy has sent out 12 troops, if we gather your th Regiment and Miao Daheng's th Regiment, we may be able to win the battle. I want to eat up all the reinforcements at once, but now I don't know where they will cross the river!"

"This, the Marshal's appetite and courage are a bit too big. I think it would be good if we can defeat half of them. We should still focus on safety." Guo Zixing was shocked when he heard this.

Lu Jin glanced at him again and explained, "Commander Guo, if the two armies were to face off head-on, I think it would be possible to defeat the 15,000 enemy troops in one battle, but I would not set such an aggressive goal.

"But it's different now. We are in the dark, and the enemy is in the light. The enemy doesn't know our movements yet, so we have the advantage of being the first to attack. In addition, we can attack them halfway across the river by ambush. Why can't we be bolder?
"When you are sure, you must be bolder. The key point of this battle is to attack the enemy halfway across the river. If it is done properly, we may not be able to annihilate the enemy army, but we may be able to kill more than 10,000 of them and only have 2,000 or 3,000 of them escape."

"." Guo Zixing was speechless when he heard this. He didn't know where Lu Jin got such great determination from.

However, Zhang Desheng and Cao Liangchen were very enthusiastic and asked immediately, "How do you plan to attack them halfway across the river?"

Lu Jin then explained, "Attack when the enemy is halfway across the river. The key is to attack when the enemy is halfway across the river. With the river as the boundary, we will concentrate two regiments to meet the enemy. If we let half of the enemy army, 7,000 to 8,000 people, come over, we will definitely win. But we will be unable to deal with the remaining half on the other side of the river. When these people see that the front army was defeated, they will surely flee backwards and shrink to Huaining or Qianshan to defend the city. With such a large force, it will be more troublesome for us to attack the city later.

"But if we let 60% of the enemy's troops cross the river, for example, 10,000 of them cross the river and only 5,000 stay behind, it will be easier. Our two regiments can face the 10,000 enemy troops, and let Ye Sheng go around to the other side in advance. When the enemy's front line is defeated, the rear line will surely be in chaos. Then let Ye Sheng's cavalry battalion rush them to disperse them. In this way, even if we cannot completely wipe out this enemy force, at most only two or three thousand can escape."

Several people nodded when they heard this. Lu Jin's tactics were very clear. That is, you have to choose a good time to attack the enemy halfway across the river and let as many enemy troops as possible over. But not too many. If there are too many, this side of the river will not be able to handle them, and if there are too few, the remaining troops on the other side will escape. The key lies in the degree and the grasp of the opportunity.

Lu Jin asked again, "Now we don't know where the enemy will cross the river. You have been lying in ambush in Shahe for two days. Do you know where there is a ferry, a bridge, or a ford where the army can pass or swim across the river?"

After hearing this, several people looked at each other, and Cao Liangchen suddenly said.

"General, we met an old man who was rowing a boat on the Shahe River. His children were sold to the Tartars as slaves. We promised to help him rescue his family and rented his boat for one stone of grain. This old man has been rowing a boat on the Shahe River for many years and is quite familiar with the local hydrology. We can ask him directly."

Lu Jin was overjoyed when he heard this. He thought that fighting a war really depended on the power of the people, so he said, "Well done. Our Shengwu Army is the army that drives out the Tartars and defends the Han people. Go find this old man quickly. I want to ask him something."

"Yes."

After a while, a white-haired old man was led over by the soldiers. When he saw Lu Jin, he immediately knelt down and bowed, "Are you the Marshal Lu from Luzhou? Marshal, you are finally here. I have been looking forward to the army coming to take charge of my family!"

"Please stand up quickly, old man. It is the duty of our army to eliminate violence and protect the good and expel the Tartars. You can tell me any grievances you have. After we finish this battle and drive away all the Tartars in Anqing, I will definitely help you."

Lu Jin hurriedly stepped forward to help the old man up. He did not ask him directly about the situation in Shahe, but listened patiently to how his two children were oppressed by the Tartars and how they were sentenced to be slaves by the Tartars by the county magistrate of Tongcheng. He promised to find his children for him after conquering Tongcheng, and then he asked him.

"Old man, now that Tartar official from Anqing wants to send a large army to attack us, we are not afraid, but we don't know where we can cross the river upstream or downstream. If we know where the Tartar official army crosses the river, we will be sure of victory. Old man has been rowing boats on the Sha River for many years, do you know where tens of thousands of troops can cross the river?
"Where is the bridge, or the ford, or the ford where one can wade across the river?"

"The commander-in-chief has asked the right person." The old man stroked his beard and said immediately.

"To be honest, Marshal, the Sha River originates from deep in the Dabie Mountains and flows eastward into the river. The upper reaches are called the Sha River, and the lower reaches where they meet the river are called the Congyang River. There are only three bridges on the entire river.

"There is a wooden bridge over the Shahe River, which can accommodate three people walking side by side, and can also accommodate carriages and horses crossing the river. There are two stone bridges in the town of Zongyang at the mouth of the river, but those stone bridges are high and narrow, and can only accommodate two people walking at a time. If you are carrying a load, only one person can pass through, and carriages and horses cannot pass."

"I see." Lu Jin was overjoyed, and then he looked at Zhang Desheng and the others and asked, "Have you ever been to see the wooden bridge the old man mentioned?"

"The scouts have been there. The messengers who went to Anqing for help crossed the bridge there. Horses can run on the bridge." Zhang Desheng replied immediately.

Lu Jin nodded and continued to ask the old man, "Father, besides these three bridges, are there any other ferries or shallow fords where we can wade across the river?"

The old man shook his head. "That's gone. There are people like me who row boats across the river, but there is no fixed ferry. As for the shallows, there are none now."

The old man immediately introduced the hydrological conditions of the Sha River. It turned out that the narrowest part of the river was more than 70 meters, the widest part was about 150 meters, and the average depth was 26 or 27 meters. There were some wide and gentle shallows, and people could wade across the river in autumn and winter. But now it was spring, and the water flow in the mountains was very large. The water level had risen, and there was no shallows that could be swam across the river. Unless every member of the Yuan army could swim, they could not swim across the river.

Zhang Desheng and his men were delighted when they heard this. "Marshal, then we just need to block the wooden bridge. The stone bridge in Zongyang can't accommodate the army and carriages, so they can only take the wooden bridge."

Lu Jin frowned, "There is another possibility that cannot be ruled out. What if the enemy collects boats and builds a floating bridge? The widest part of this river is only a few dozen feet wide. We can build a floating bridge with a few dozen boats. Then it will be difficult for the enemy to find a place to cross the river."

"Then let's go all out and take all the boats away in advance!" Cao Liangchen said angrily.

"That's not impossible." Lu Jin thought for a moment and found that the possibility of this happening was still very high, so he asked someone to take the old man who was rowing the boat away first, and then took out the map and assigned tasks to several people.

“There are only two possible places where the enemy may gather, either in Huaining or in Qianshan. Even if they cross the river, they will definitely cross the river in the middle and lower reaches. If we want to defeat this reinforcement, we must concentrate the strength of the 12th and th Regiments. But now we are not sure about the direction of the enemy’s crossing, so I have such a plan.

“First, Liang Chen, you take that old man with you and collect boats on the river from upstream. Whenever you encounter a boat, help them tow it to the north bank and hide it. Temporarily control the boatmen. Remember, do not oppress the people, just like we did when we beat Zuo Junbi. Remember to compensate the people.

“Second, send out scouts to the south bank to watch the Yuan army’s every move and see where they cross the river. If they cross the river from Congyang, then we will not split our forces but focus all our efforts on stopping the enemy in Congyang. If they cross the river from the wooden bridge in the middle reaches, then we will attack them halfway across the bridge.

"Third, the place you are hiding in now is not suitable. We need to go to the middle reaches to join up with Mr. Miao. So, Ye Sheng, send someone to tell Mr. Miao to go to the upper reaches to join us. By the way, have him send some people to keep an eye on the enemy's movements in the direction of Congyang.

"Commander Guo, send your scouts eastward along the river to see if there are any woods, valleys, or larger towns near the river. In short, any place where soldiers can hide. It can't be too far from the wooden bridge. Once you find a place, all the troops of the Eighth Regiment will sneak over and ambush first. Once we know the specific movements of the enemy, we will proceed to the next step."

"it is good."

"Yes." Several people all agreed and agreed. Lu Jin then instructed, "Remember, this operation must be covert and quick. The enemy can mobilize troops in four days at the fastest and five or six days at the slowest. Now is the critical moment for us to race against time with the enemy. Whoever moves to the position first will have the initiative."

"Yes."

Seeing how serious Lu Jin was, the few people immediately made their assurances again, and then began to carry out the tasks assigned by Lu Jin overnight.

Cao Liangchen took the old man to collect boats along the river, Zhang Desheng sent scouts to the south bank to investigate the enemy's movements, Guo Tianjue led people to clear the way in front and find a suitable new place to hide the troops, and Guo Zixing led the team to prepare for the transfer.

Ye Sheng also sent cavalry to Qingshan camp to find Miao Daheng and convey Lu Jin's orders to them.

All the units were acting in an orderly manner. Lu Jin also personally took Yang Huan, Liu Chuanyi, Yu Tongyuan and others to the wooden bridge to survey the terrain.

Several people were observing from a distance on the north bank of the wooden bridge, using telescopes.

Yang Huan looked at it for a while before saying, "Does the Marshal want us to set up the artillery here and aim at that wooden bridge?"

Lu Jin nodded, "Yes, if the enemy crosses the river from here, then your artillery team will take on the task of blocking the wooden bridge. When a certain number of enemy troops have passed, you will fire to prevent the enemy from continuing to cross the river."

Yu Tongyuan, who was standing beside him, asked back, "General, you said before that it's best to wait until 60% of the enemy troops have crossed the river before attacking them halfway across the river. But if we hide and are not discovered by the enemy, then the enemy should be crossing the river in a column. A column of tens of thousands of people crossing the river will stretch out two or three miles, and our artillery team will probably be difficult to hide.

"Unless the enemy does not continue to march after crossing the river, but sets up camp near the river, or lines up to meet the enemy, the artillery team may not be discovered by the enemy."

Lu Jin immediately nodded and said, "You are right. I am planning to let the enemy troops cross the river and form a battle array, so that the artillery can exert its maximum power."

"Then what should we do? This may not be easy. If the army shows up earlier, the enemy may not dare to cross the river. How can we attack them halfway across the river then?" Qin Jinglin also frowned and analyzed.

Lu Jin immediately looked at them and smiled, "Yes, although you are not yet twenty years old, you have your own analytical ideas and have the potential to be officers. You need to work harder in the future and grow into a leading general as soon as possible."

Upon hearing this, Qin Jinglin scratched his head in embarrassment and grinned foolishly.

Lu Jin continued, "If we want to force the enemy to line up by the river without scaring them so much that they dare not cross the river, this is actually very simple. We only need to hide the main infantry formation and send dozens of cavalry to scout by the river. When the enemy finds that our outposts have reached the river, they will definitely not dare to continue marching and will definitely line up by the river.

“If the enemy is timid and dares not continue to cross the river, we can also let the cavalry pretend to be defeated and show weakness, so that the enemy will think that our army has no large forces nearby and lure the enemy to cross the river. If the enemy starts to march immediately after crossing the river, or even sends troops to pursue our cavalry, we can also send more cavalry and fight the enemy to the death. When the enemy sees that we are fearless, they will certainly become suspicious and dare not continue to march.”

"This is what the Marshal said, 'If you are capable, pretend to be incapable; if you are going to use an army, pretend not to use it; if it is near, pretend it is far away; if it is far away, pretend it is near.' The real and the fake, the true and the false, the Marshal is really good at using troops, and I have learned a trick from him." Yu Tongyuan immediately admired him.

Lu Jin shook his head speechlessly, "That's not what I said, that's what Sun Wu said during the Spring and Autumn Period."

"That's what I mean anyway." Yu Tongyuan muttered heartlessly.

Lu Jin shook his head. "Okay, let's get to work. Measure and see where to place the gun position. And make sure it's easy to hide so that the enemy can't find it easily."

Yang Huan took out a notebook and a bamboo pen, and was about to draw a picture when he asked, "General, if the cannons are loaded with ammunition and hidden in advance, do the mules and horses still need to be hidden here? If there are no mules and horses, it will be difficult to maneuver when the battle comes. Can the army keep the ten cannons?"

Lu Jin thought about it, gritted his teeth, and made up his mind, "It's hard to hide the mules and horses, so don't leave them here. If the situation is critical, the artillery can be abandoned directly, but the gunpowder cannot be left for the enemy. When abandoning the artillery, the cannon must be blown up, and the firing port must be nailed shut with iron nails!"

Yang Huan nodded. Although he was reluctant, he knew that the ironworks in the rear could be rebuilt, so he did not object to Lu Jin's request. He immediately began to survey the on-site map and look for suitable hidden artillery positions.

Seeing this, Lu Jin instructed again, "This is just a preset battlefield. Find a good artillery position, but don't act immediately. We still need to continue to scout the enemy's crossing point. If the enemy does not cross here, then we will abandon this position and use mobile field artillery positions instead."

"Yes, I understand." Yang Huan agreed again, then stood up and went to the wooden bridge to measure carefully.

In the next few days, all the units carried out their operations in an orderly manner. Guo Zixing found a village with a thousand households on the north bank of Shahe River, near a wooden bridge. There was also a forest next to it, which was enough to hide an army of 10,000. But the time could not be too long. If time was too long, even the dumbest person would be able to notice that something was wrong.

After Lu Jin nodded, the Eighth Regiment also moved over.

After receiving Lu Jin's message, Miao Daheng came to meet Lu Jin two nights later. With the Eighth and Twelfth Regiments together, they finally had the capital to fight against the reinforcements.

And it was not until this time that Lu Jin learned that Miao Daheng and his son had captured Tongcheng Darughachi Belieqiebuhua in advance and had taken control of this man's private residence in Tongyang Town as a surveillance base. He could not help but admire the subjective initiative of these subordinates.

None of these people are stupid.

Cao Liangchen was responsible for confiscating the boats on the river. After two days of operations, he confiscated hundreds of large and small boats. When they got closer to Tongyang Town, they did not dare to confiscate the boats so blatantly for fear of being discovered by the Yuan army.

When Cao Liangchen came back on the third day, he brought good news to Lu Jin. The 5,000 soldiers from Wangjiang arrived in Huaining by boat down the river, and they landed at Shankou Town south of Anqing City, not Tongyang Town.

After the 5,000 troops from Wangjiang joined forces with the 2,000 troops from Huaining, they did not cross the river directly at Tongyang, but went upstream of Shahe River. At the same time, the 8,000 troops from Qianshan were also marching northward. Judging from the direction of the two armies' march, they should be heading towards the wooden bridge.

Lu Jin was overjoyed, and immediately asked Yang Huan to set up artillery at the bridgehead, ready to fire a cannon when the enemy crossed the river!
(End of this chapter)