Vol 2 Chapter 2323: Qi Jiguang fought against Jiaozhou, and Ruan Yue declared himself a minister to

Chapter 2323 Qi Jiguang fought against 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 famous Taiping generals such as Li Xiucheng and Lin Fengxiang, 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 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 coalition 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 commanding ability, army coordination ability, siege ability, and tactical application were all extremely poor. It is no wonder that the previous army of 100,000 was defeated by Chu's 10,000-line army.

After all, the Chu army in Jiaozhou was far inferior in number to 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 gradually eroding the strength and morale of the Annan coalition forces until Guo Ziyi and Chai Rong's three thousand elites 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 less than half a month, and only 60,000 Annan's army was defeated.

Only two months after the war began, the Annan coalition forces had suffered more than half their casualties, which made Ruan Fuying and Li Gongyun regret that their intestines were almost green.

It's enough to just guard one-third of an acre of land for a short time. Why do you want to take the initiative to provoke an invincible opponent like the 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. .

Annan Allied Forces were unable to advance or retreat, and were about to be annihilated. However, they received news of Ye Qingmei's return, so they all regarded Ye Qingmei as their last life-saving straw.

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 profess vassalage 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 still wanted to ask her for help.

 She only has 5,000 naval troops in her hands. How can she save them?

 It cannot be saved at all.

Ye Qingmei was actually very excited about the conditions for the Annan countries to become vassal, but she knew better that with her five thousand navy, it was impossible to rescue the trapped 60,000 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 offered a plan to encircle Wei and save Zhao.

Qi Jiguang asserted that once the Qin army appears in the offshore waters of Jiaozhou, it will definitely cause a shock to the Chu army. At that time, he will lead the army to land and surprise Panyu City in Nanhai County, the seat of Jiaozhou.

Nowadays, most of the troops in Jiaozhou are gathered in the joint and Jiuzhen coalition forces. Nanhai County, where the government is located, is extremely empty, with no more than 6,000 defenders at most.

Five thousand Qin troops, whether calculated or not, were enough to threaten the safety of the entire Nanhai County, and even captured the city of Panyu.

 Li Xiucheng and Guo Ziyi on the front line are very likely to lead their troops back to support once they learn that the Qin army has appeared in Jiaozhou and that the troops are directed at the governor's office.

The strength of the Chu army is already smaller than that of the Annan coalition. After dividing some of its troops, there will be loopholes in the encirclement, and the besieged Annan coalition will naturally be able to escape.

Qi Jiguang's plan is not audacious. After all, it requires the navy to land for operations, which is equivalent to giving up the greatest advantage of the navy, 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 would fight steadily, vowing to conquer Nanjun, in order to confuse the Chu army in Jiaozhou.

 The news that Sihui and Zhongsu counties had been conquered by the Qin army was sent back to the governor's office. Liu Xian, the governor of Jiaozhou, was 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 the Liu Biao 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 okay 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 appeared in Jiaozhou in the south and launched a surprise attack on Nanhai County.

 The amount of information in this is too large, and it is too weird. It is simply not something Liu Xian, a civil servant, can handle.

 Let alone Liu Xian, even Liu Xiu would definitely 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 it’s hard to believe it’s true.

 But Liu Xian's autographed letter is here, and there is 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 still 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 army is not a threat to Chu at all. Even if they escape this time, they can just destroy it next time.

On the contrary, if the Jiaozhou Governorate 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.

Just when Guo Ziyi's army entered the boundaries of Nanhai County, they received news that Panyu City had been breached and the governor Liu Xian had been captured.

To be honest, Qi Jiguang himself found it incredible after he defeated Panyu City, but he managed to defeat 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, because he did not know the strength of the Qin army, but was afraid of the Qin army's combat power, he made many overreactions.

 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.

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 is 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 is naturally impossible for the Baiyue people to agree.

After Qi Jiguang surrounded the city of Panyu, 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 break into chaos on its own.

With such a good opportunity, Qi Jiguang naturally could not give up. In the end, by combining internal and external forces, he easily captured Panyu City, Jiaozhou Prefecture.

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.

Liu Xian, the governor, 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 3,000 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 had nine thousand troops and the city of Panyu, which was easy to defend and difficult to attack, he was sure to hold on for half a year even if all the Chu troops in Jiaozhou returned for reinforcements. However, he did not do so, but chose carefully. Just accept it as soon as you see fit.

Although the Qin army surrendered four thousand Chu troops, once the situation turns critical, these four thousand Chu troops may rebel at any time, and the only ones they can really rely on are five thousand naval troops.

It is no exaggeration to say that relying on these five thousand navy troops to fight the entire Chu army in Jiaozhou on land is looking for death.

 So, 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 grain and grass that could not be taken away to the people made him realize that the Qin army did not have that many people at all, otherwise they would not have distributed all the grain and grass to the people.

Guo Ziyi, who realized this, 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 too late to pursue him now. If he led the cavalry to pursue him, it should 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 the 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 Qi Jiguang 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, which was at its 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 formation, it only took one charge to overwhelm the square formation 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 wailing and mourning 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, Li Xiucheng immediately realized the seriousness of the problem after learning the news that Panyu City had been breached. 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 had insufficient 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. But by this time, the Annan coalition had already run away, and it was too late for Li Xiucheng to pursue him.

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 promise 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. Canonization.

today's

　　

　　

 (End of this chapter)