I Build an Aircraft Carrier in the Ming Dynasty

On April 10, the Army of the North went into action.

Tang Guozhen's department took a boat, raided from the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, and arrived at Maocun Town in the north of Xuzhou by boat, where a line of defense was built to prevent the Qing army in Xuzhou from fleeing north.

At the same time, Liu Hansan led the Chinese army and attacked Xuzhou from the land.

Xu Yuxian led his headquarters to Xiaoxian County, west of Xuzhou, to prevent the Qing army from fleeing westward in Xuzhou, and to stop the Manchu Qing reinforcements from Huaibei and Suqian.

Their plan was to force the Qing troops from Huaibei, Suzhou, Shangqiu, Jining, Linyi and other places to come to the rescue by besieging Xuzhou, and then wait for the opportunity to annihilate the Qing troops who came to rescue.

In this way, the effective force of the Qing army was eliminated.

After that, the attack on Huaibei and other cities will be greatly reduced.

The tactics are not complicated, and even after their army occupied those important places, the Qing army could easily see their intentions.

However, even if they can see it, they must support it. Xuzhou, the main traffic road connecting Henan, Anhui, Jiangsu and Shandong, must not be lost.

Once Xuzhou is lost, the surrounding cities will not be safe, and the Huajun can take it down one after another in a steady and steady manner.

And as long as Xuzhou is not lost, the Hua army will not be able to send troops to attack those places deep behind the enemy.

The so-called strategic location is almost like this, and it has a particularly large impact on the surrounding area.

Since ancient times, Xuzhou has been a battleground for military strategists.

There are only five or six strategic locations in the Central Plains, and Xuzhou is one of them.

In just one day, Tang Guozhen's 21st Division went deep into the enemy's rear, arrived at Maocun Town, and occupied the place.

That is to say, the Huajun relies on advanced weapons, and the art masters dare to go deep alone.

In exchange for the troops of other forces, they would never dare to send a lone army into the enemy's rear like this.

That kind of behavior is not called cutting off the back road, but calling the sheep into the tiger's mouth.

But Hua Jun dared.

They were confident that in a defensive battle, a division could at least resist repeated attacks by 50,000 enemy troops.

It is with such confidence that they can make such seductive tactical actions recklessly.

They are eager for the enemy to take the initiative to attack, so that they can also enjoy the advantages of defense.

All along they have been sieging the city and suffering from the city wall.

Obviously sending a piece of meat to the enemy's mouth, tempting the enemy, but also persecuting the enemy.

Wanyan Yechen and Kong Youde, who were in charge of garrisoning Xuzhou, panicked when they learned that the 21st Division of the Hua Army had occupied Maocun Town and that the main force of the Hua Army had begun to move.

Although they knew for a long time that the Hua army would come north to attack Xuzhou sooner or later, but when this moment came, they still could not calm down.

This is a matter of life and death, a matter of life and death of the Qing Dynasty.

"Maocun Town, this is to block our retreat. They not only want to capture Xuzhou, but also want to destroy us all. Their hearts can be punished."

Wanyan Yechen looked at the map and said bitterly.

This tone sounded a bit like the powerless wailing and accusation of the weak.

It's a pity that no one came to do justice to him.

"My lord, we must immediately request support from the surrounding areas. With our current strength, I am afraid that we will not be able to stop Liu Hansan's army of 110,000."

Kong Youde persuaded.

They had 60,000 troops in Xuzhou, which should have been enough as a defensive side.

But Kong Youde knew that Huajun's weapons and equipment were upgraded very fast, and new weapons appeared every time.

The equipment gap is too large, and it is not so easy for 60,000 people to defend Xuzhou.

Even, based on the predictions of past battles, it is impossible to defend at all.

"Support, is support useful? Today's wars don't rely on too many people, you have to have more guns and more artillery."

Wanyan Ye Chen complained.

In the age of cold weapons, the number of troops is very important.

The side with the largest number of people usually wins.

Soldiers on the smaller side will inevitably be afraid when they learn that they have to deal with more than one or even two or more enemies at the same time.

In the era of hot weapons, the efficiency of killing the enemy is too fast, one shot at a time, and there are not so many soldiers to die.

The role of the number of people has been greatly reduced, and the importance of weapons has been infinitely highlighted.

"Uh, more people are useful after all."

There is no other better way for Kong Youde.

Wanyan Yechen sighed and finally listened to Kong Youde's suggestion. Because, like Kong Youde, there is no better way.

All he can do is persevere, persevere for a while, and wait for the army of the imperial court to go south.

Liu Hansan led an army of 110,000 troops to attack, which was tantamount to seeking a decisive battle.

Although the Qing army did not want a decisive battle now, it was not up to them unless they were willing to give up Xuzhou.

Wanyan Yechen sent a distress letter to the surrounding city defenders, and the other generals had a headache when they saw it.

Is it not to save or not to save? This is a big problem.

If you go to rescue, you may fall into the enemy's strategy and be forced to fight the enemy in the wild.

In that case, they will surely lose a lot.

If not, the whole army may be wiped out.

But if you don't save it, then you will definitely be punished by the court.

Moreover, if they don't save Xuzhou, when Xuzhou falls, they may not be able to hold their place.

To save or not to save, the response varies from place to place.

Huaibei, the defender of Suzhou chose to return to the rescue. Moreover, they are still the main general personally, bringing the main force to support.

They were forced to be helpless, because the place they were stationed was further south than Xuzhou, and Xuzhou was their retreat.

Once Xuzhou falls, they will be surrounded, and it will be a dead end.

In this case, it is better to transfer the troops to Xuzhou and join the defenders of Xuzhou.

In this way, even if they are defeated, they can flee directly to the north without worrying about being surrounded.

In Shangqiu, Jining's defender chose to wait and see.

Shangqiu is in the back of Xuzhou, far away. Jining, on the other hand, was a navy who was afraid of the Chinese army and did not dare to take the waterway.

If you go overland, the distance is too far.

They didn't want to jump into the fire pit since the war had not affected them yet.

As for what to do after the fall of Xuzhou, we will talk about it later.

There are many generals leading troops in the Qing Dynasty who are very pessimistic. They don't know how to face the attack of the Chinese army in the future. They are all taking one step at a time.

Linyi's defender is still gratifying, because he has a good personal relationship with Kong Youde, so he chose to send troops to support.

The three-way army rushed to the aid of Xuzhou, and together with the defenders of Xuzhou, the force had reached nearly 120,000, which was nearly 10,000 more than Liu Hansan's total force.

At the same time, the emergency military situation in Xuzhou was also sent to Beijing and the Forbidden City with an emergency report of 800 miles.