Chongzhen's domineering

Chapter 225 Rebels' Melee for Control of the Central Plains (Part 2)

Pan Yunteng led his army to capture Nanyang, seizing countless supplies and provisions.

This battle also made him realize a problem.

He overestimated the rebels' fighting strength, while underestimating the fighting strength of his own men.

Zhang Xianzhong's men were utterly no match for his own!
Why is this?

Actually, you can understand it if you think about it carefully.

Zhang Xianzhong initially had only a few thousand men, but in just over two or three years, his forces swelled to hundreds of thousands. He recruited mostly young and strong refugees, and his weapons and equipment were not standardized, resulting in a chaotic situation.

That's not the key point. The key point is that Zhang Xianzhong was not a proper military man, nor had he really studied military strategy. He only had a superficial understanding of leading troops and fighting battles. Moreover, he spent most of his time running around and did not train his men at all.

It can be said that Zhang Xianzhong's men were just a rabble, at least for now.

His men were different.

Although the majority of his men were young and strong disaster victims, he still recruited and selected a group of garrison households in Hanzhong to serve as officers and soldiers at various levels. Moreover, their weapons and equipment were almost all made by order of the current emperor, and they were all uniform.

More importantly, before he even assembled his troops, he selected officers and generals at all levels and taught them some basic military tactics in the manner of a disciple.

In other words, his officers and soldiers all knew a bit about military strategy. Unlike Zhang Xianzhong, who gathered his troops and then ran around aimlessly, he immediately began to organize and train his troops after gathering them. Moreover, he stayed in Hanzhong Prefecture and trained them continuously without stopping for a moment.

His troops, trained for more than half a year, were actually quite strong.

It can be said that the ordinary border troops and garrisons temporarily conscripted by the major border towns had only this much fighting strength.

The reason he had previously underestimated the strength of his troops was because he was comparing them to the Beijing Garrison, which had muskets, cannons, chariots, cavalry, and even warships and ships. Moreover, most of the officers and soldiers leading the troops were military graduates who were all well-versed in military strategy.

If the border troops couldn't defeat the Beijing garrison, then his own men certainly couldn't either.

As for the various rebel groups, they wouldn't have the fighting strength they have until they've occupied their territories, stabilized their positions, and undergone proper training.

In other words, he should now calculate the combat strength of his troops based on the comparison between ordinary border troops and rebels.

His previous tactics underestimated the strength of his own men and overestimated the strength of the rebels, thus making them somewhat overly conservative.

Next, he can formulate tactics based on the true comparison of strengths and go all out!
The ratio of strength between the rebels and the border troops should be about five to one. In other words, even if there are 500,000 rebels, they might not be able to defeat 100,000 border troops.

He quickly made corresponding adjustments based on this comparison of strengths.

Originally, he left 200,000 troops to guard Hanzhong and led 700,000 troops out of Baihe.

He had not brought all 700,000 troops to Nanyang yet. Of them, 100,000 were stationed along the Yunxi, Shangnan, Xichuan, and Neixiang line, and another 100,000 were stationed along the Dengzhou and Xinye line.

He brought about 500,000 from Nanyang.

At this point, Zhang Xianzhong had already been driven to flee north in panic. The other rebels had at most tens of thousands of troops, and none had more than a hundred thousand. In other words, there was no real threat to Nanyang from the east, west, or south, and Hanzhong Prefecture was no threat at all.

Therefore, he directly transferred 100,000 troops from Hanzhong Prefecture to guard Yunxi, Shangnan, Xichuan, Neixiang, Dengzhou, Xinye and other places. The 200,000 troops originally guarding these cities gradually handed over the defense line and gathered in Nanyang Prefecture.

Immediately afterwards, he attacked from all sides, advancing in two directions, as if he had gone mad.

The so-called six-pronged attack was: Zhao Tianlin's 100,000 troops to attack Yuzhou; Li Tiandou's 100,000 troops to attack Nanzhao; Zhu Tianzhe's 100,000 troops to attack Wuyang; Wu Tianjie's 100,000 troops to attack Tangxian; Wang Tianzhen's 100,000 troops to attack Qinyang; and Han Tianlie's 100,000 troops to attack Tongbai.

The so-called two-pronged advance was as follows: Zhao Tianlin, Li Tiandou, and Zhu Tianzhe's three forces captured Yuzhou, Nanzhao, and Wuyang, then merged to attack Ye County, and then broke into Ruzhou to capture all the cities in Ruzhou; the other force was Wu Tianjie, Wang Tianzhen, and Han Tianlie, who captured Tang County, Qinyang, and Tongbai, then combined their forces to attack Xinyang Prefecture, broke into Runing Prefecture, and took all the cities in Runing Prefecture while Zhang Xianzhong was still retreating to Zhengzhou.

As for the other rebels along the way, we will first try to persuade them to surrender. Those who do not surrender will be attacked directly. If they are not convinced, we will fight them!

His actions were truly insane, throwing the entire Central Plains into chaos and triggering an early war of annexation among the rebels.

Zhu Jue was overjoyed upon receiving the news. This Pan Yunteng was truly remarkable; he wanted chaos in the Central Plains, the more chaotic the better, and he wanted the rebels to fight each other so they would have no time to attend to other matters.

Although Pan Yunteng's tactics were quite radical and risky, they suited his purposes perfectly. With the war of annexation among the rebels already underway, they certainly wouldn't have time to play any feints with him. He could take this opportunity to reclaim Liaodong.

The key to recovering Liaodong lay in those five hundred small Zhiyuan merchant ships, because the Liao River system ran through the entire area occupied by the Jurchens, and the Taizi River, a tributary of Liaodong, led directly to Liaoyang, while another tributary of the Liao River, the Hun River, led directly to Shenyang.

If they advance by land, not only will their progress be slow, but their advance route will also be easily controlled by the Jurchens.

If the Jurchens control their marching route, it will be quite troublesome. The Jurchens can use the cities and fortresses along the way to block them, or even use cavalry to harass their supply lines.

If they traveled by water, it would be a different story. The Jurchens didn't have any warships at all. Even if the Jurchens knew that they were transporting troops, supplies, and provisions from the main stream and tributaries of the Liao River, they could only watch helplessly.

If they fight like this, the Jurchens have no way to deal with it.

The Liao River's main channel can only accommodate large ships of over 1,000 liters, while most of its tributaries can only accommodate small boats of 800 liters or less.

Therefore, the small Zhiyuan merchant ship with a capacity of 800 liang was crucial to the battle to recover Liaodong.

He went to the shipyard every day.

Around 9 a.m. that day, he led Zheng Zhilong, Wang Chengen, and Fang Zhenghua to the shipyard in a small Zhiyuan merchant ship.

At this time, the five hundred newly built small Zhiyuan merchant ships had all been tested, the decks had been laid, and they were now assembling steam engines, boilers, and water turbines.

He had barely stepped into the shipyard when he couldn't help but raise his hand and ask, "Liangfu, when will this batch of small Zhiyuan merchant ships be completed?"

You're rushing me way too much.

Wang Zheng hurriedly stepped forward, cupped his hands, and bowed respectfully before cautiously saying, "Your Majesty, the steam engine, boiler, and water turbine will take at least four or five days to install, and the ship's cabin will take at least three or four days. I have ordered them to work day and night to complete the project in eight days. Do you think that's feasible?"

Well, almost.

The ice and snow in Liaodong haven't melted yet, and Sun Chuanting hasn't arrived. Completing the task in eight days won't delay the recapture of Liaodong.

As luck would have it, just as they were discussing this, Lü Zhi led his fleet and brought Sun Chuanting over.

Upon seeing this, Zhu Jue walked over to the scaffolding where people had landed with a joyful expression and waved, saying, "Bo Ya, you're finally back."

Sun Chuanting immediately leaped onto the scaffolding, cupped his hands and bowed, saying, "Your Majesty, please forgive me. I have been inspecting the defense line in the Haichengwei area these past few days and have not been in Liaohai City, which is why I am late in returning."

Zhu Jue patted his shoulder affectionately and said, "It's alright, it's alright, it's not too late at all. Boya, you must be tired from your journey. Would you like to go and rest for a bit?"

You summoned me back in such a hurry, there must be something important going on. How could I dare to rest?

Sun Chuanting shook his head repeatedly and said, "Your Majesty, I will just lie down on the boat and sleep. I am not tired at all and do not need to rest."

That's good.

Zhu Jue thought for a moment, then asked, "Can you predict when the ice and snow in Liaodong will melt?"

This is naturally predictable; the ice and snow in Liaodong have already begun to melt, it's just that the solid ice on the river surface has not yet thawed.

Sun Chuanting estimated, "Your Majesty, the Liaoxi Corridor is gradually thawing, and the Liaohe River line should be unsealed in another four or five days."

well.

Zhu Jue nodded slightly, then waved his hand and said, "Let's go, let's go to Yuxi Palace to talk. There's no map here, so it's really hard to say."

He could easily get a map of Liaodong with a wave of his hand, but the key was that there were too many people around and too much gossip, so he couldn't reveal his strategy for recovering Liaodong.

(End of this chapter)