boyutpedia Chapter 358: March into Hubei
Chapter 358: March into Hubei
He turned against them at the critical moment and attacked Long Yun and Hu Ruoyu from behind, otherwise Jiang Li would never have been able to take over Yunnan so easily.
Just when they were angrily cursing Yang Shen's eighteen generations of ancestors in their hearts, they suddenly heard a rumor that Jiang Li had decided to use the same method to deal with them.
When the warlords of several provinces heard the news, they knew that Jiang Li must have spread it intentionally, but they had to be on guard against such things.
So they immediately secretly withdrew part of their troops to defend themselves, so as to avoid repeating the mistakes of the Yunnan warlords.
But their withdrawal was soon known to their allies.
After all, in these troubled times, brothers are often used to shield others from harm, so it is normal to leave some spies in their military camps.
Although the spy thing is a small matter, the information they convey cannot be ignored. Didn't we agree to advance and retreat together? Why are you withdrawing your troops without telling us?
If I don't prepare in advance, and you launch a surprise attack on us, we will end up like Long Yun and Hu Ruoyu.
As a result, they increased the number of troops to be withdrawn on top of the original withdrawal.
Their increase immediately seemed to trigger a chain reaction, and all parties began to increase the number of troops withdrawn in order to leave more defensive forces.
As a result, these parties continued to withdraw their troops, forming a vicious cycle, until there were almost no soldiers left on the front line.
There was no other choice, so after some discussion, they decided to withdraw all their troops and go back to clean up their rear areas.
The reason was, of course, high-sounding. They said that the rapid growth of guerrillas in the country had already threatened their logistical supplies.
However, the reality is that they are all worried about their teammates and want to take this opportunity to end this cooperation.
As for the guerrillas in their territory, they have been chased quite badly during this period. After all, these warlords left behind tens of thousands of troops to constantly chase them.
Fortunately, these guerrillas were familiar with the terrain and had the help of ordinary people. Although they suffered a lot of casualties, they still caused a lot of damage to the enemy.
The most important thing is that these guerrillas have gained a lot of experience in counter-encirclement and suppression during this period, as well as practical experience that cannot be gained through training.
When they learned from intelligence personnel that the warlords of these provinces had returned with their main forces, they were very happy.
Because in this way, even if they have successfully completed the mission, all they need to do next is to return alive to be awarded an official position and receive a reward.
However, during this period, the guerrillas not only destroyed many roads and military camps, but also looted a lot of military supplies and killed and wounded a large number of soldiers.
How could those warlords let them go easily? After the army turned around, they launched another large-scale mopping-up operation.
However, since the guerrillas had been prepared and had gone directly into the mountains to fight guerrilla warfare, although they suffered some casualties, they were generally able to continue to hold out.
Another half month passed like this. The guerrillas were already quite exhausted, but they could still hold on. However, the soldiers under the warlords would not stand for it.
They were originally a group of second-rate troops with little training. This time they fought with the Anmin Army for more than a month.
After that, they chased the guerrillas in the mountains for another half a month. They had reached their limits both mentally and physically and were unwilling to continue chasing the guerrillas.
The warlords in several provinces were afraid that their soldiers would mutiny, so they had no choice but to withdraw their troops and allow the guerrillas to continue operating in their territories.
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As for Jiang Li, he came back with hundreds of thousands of troops and wanted to launch a surprise attack on the enemies in Hubei, but he took into account that they were not well-informed.
Perhaps they had not received the news of Yang Shen's rebellion, so they kindly sent people to tell these warlords the news, causing them to make some irrational decisions.
And the fact turned out to be just as he expected. After these guys learned that Yang Shen had rebelled, they became worried about their own bottoms, so they quietly withdrew their troops in batches.
Jiang Li saw that they were retreating, so he immediately mobilized his troops and prepared for a defensive counterattack.
His first target was the Hubei region, which had relatively flat and open terrain.
Speaking of Hubei, its terrain is high in the west and low in the east. The west is mainly mountainous, while the east is mainly plains and hills.
The Jianghan Plain is low in terrain and is located in the subtropical monsoon climate zone. It has abundant annual precipitation and a well-developed surface water system. It is a Jiangnan water town with a dense river network and well-developed inland waterway transportation.
The silt carried by the Yangtze River and the Han River was deposited here, forming fertile soil, giving the Jianghan Plain excellent agricultural production conditions and making it an important grain producing area in China.
Since ancient times, areas with developed agriculture have had dense populations, and the Jianghan Plain in Hubei is a standout among them.
It is precisely because of the existence of the Jianghan Plain that Jiang Li plans to attack Hubei first.
Firstly, Hubei has a large population and developed agriculture, and occupying this area can greatly stabilize one's logistics.
Secondly, Hubei’s military strength is the weakest compared to Sichuan, Jiangxi and Fujian, so it should be the easiest to defeat it.
The last and most important point is that Jiang Li wants to take advantage of the Jianghan Plain in Hubei and send a cavalry division to the battlefield to let them gain some practical experience and prepare for dealing with the Japanese pirates in the future.
After discussing the specific combat plan with officers at all levels under his command, Jiang Li ordered his troops to advance towards Hubei.
This time, he directly mobilized 500,000 troops, claiming to have one million, ready to take over the entire Hubei province within a month in one fell swoop.
Because he was determined to win, Jiang Li had no intention of avoiding the enemy's eyes and ears. Of course, it was impossible for him to conceal the march of 500,000 people.
Although Jiang Li spoke very confidently, he did not underestimate the enemy when it came to actual action.
They continued to act cautiously along the way, sending people to contact local guerrillas and carefully exploring every river and forest. After all, the difference in strength was huge.
Water and fire became the only two ways to turn the tide of the war. It happened that Hubei had abundant rainfall. If they could really flood the seven armies, it would be a lot of fun.
The situation was exactly as Jiang Li had expected. The warlords in Hubei had no intention of surrendering.
They united together and, with the support of local landlords and gentry, prepared to confront Jiang Li.
Before that, they were actually planning to build a dam on the road to block the river and give Jiang Li a surprise loss, but all the people they sent out were found by the guerrillas and then eliminated one by one.
However, even so, Hu Duozong, He Chengjun and Xia Douyan, the three biggest warlords in Hubei, still had no intention of giving up.