It has been twenty-two days since the news of the loss and gain of Huangtian Village reached Eastern Fujian.

In late October in eastern Fujian, you still can't feel the deep autumn feeling. The distant mountains on the north bank of the Minjiang River are green and endless.

The flames of war on Nantai Island have not been completely extinguished, and clusters of black smoke are rising, darkening the sky.

It has been two days since Nantai Island was captured. There are still three or five disabled soldiers on the island who refuse to surrender.

Use ropes to clear shipwrecks, hidden piles and other obstacles in the middle of the river...

Nantai Island is the gateway to the east of Jin'an City. The Minjiang River bypasses the south of Jin'an City. The river is divided into two branches, the north and south branches, into the sea for Nantai Island in the center of the river. The south branch is wide and shallow, with turbid water, and is called Wulong River; the north branch

The water is narrow, about 80 feet wide, and the rapids are deep. It is the Bailong River and the main channel of the Min River estuary.

Nantai Island is directly across the entrance to the Minjiang River. The She family is building a fort and garrisoning troops. It is the fan screen southeast of Jin'an City.

In the north and south branches of the river, burned, sunk warships or half of the hull were exposed out of the water, or only tall ship masts were sticking out alone. The blood-stained river surface had been washed away by the water from upstream and became clear again.

The bodies of generals from both sides were still entangled in the water and grass on the bank. There were countless soldiers and armors sunk at the bottom of the river. Nantai Island was even more in disgrace, and there were countless broken soldiers and broken halberds.

The war in Eastern Fujian started in late September. The battle on Nantai Island was the most intense. Three thousand enemies were wiped out. The She family was not willing to give up Jin'an Mansion and the ancestral land that had been rooted for more than two hundred years.

In order to defend Jin'an Mansion, the She family was able to select enough dead soldiers, which also allowed the Huaidong Army to push to Jin'an City, and the resistance suddenly increased.

In the Battle of Nantai Island, the Huaidong Army's First Water Battalion and Quanzhou Army also suffered nearly 3,000 casualties. In the previous capture of Xing'an, Xiapu, Luoyuan, Jiaocheng and other places, the combined casualties were less than this number.

This indicates that the next battle against Jin'an Mansion will be a tough battle with high casualties.

******************

Jin'an City is surrounded by mountains and rivers, located in the Minjiang River Estuary Basin.

The lower reaches of the Minjiang River are located in the Hekou Basin. To the north is Beifeng Mountain, to the east is Gushan Mountain, to the west is Qishan Mountain, and to the north and south are Gaogai Mountain and Wuhu Mountain. The Minjiang River passes through the basin.

Jin'an City was built to the north of the Min River. After October, the defenders also retreated to the north bank of the Min River. Therefore, Huaidong wanted to attack Jin'an City. After controlling Gaogai Mountain and Wuhu Mountain on the south bank of the Min River, it also had to move

The Minjiang River is under control.

After capturing Nantai Island, the remnants of the Zhejiang and Fujian naval forces on Nantai Island withdrew westward and did not enter Jin'an City through Shuimen. The warships of the No. 1 Water Battalion of Jinghai sailed from the northern branch of the Bailong River to the west and controlled the Min River south of Jin'an City.

waterway.

Lin Fu stood on the deck of the tail cabin of the "Lin Zhengjun" and looked at Jin'an City in the distance.

When the eight surnames entered Fujian, they built Jin'an City. Over the past two hundred years, many additions and repairs have been made. Today's Jin'an City is as towering as a mountain, and it is integrated with Shoushan Mountain and the North Peak to the northwest.

"The She family hid troops in a deep valley to ambush Huangtian Village. They lost Huangtian Village first and lured the Huinan Army to go south. They then ambushed the troops and recaptured Huangtian Village." Gao Zongting took a piece of paper and said, "It seems that the Huinan Army has already

I fell into the trap of the She family..."

"When will the news come?" Lin Fu asked.

"Huangtian Village fell on the 16th, and the news came via Mingzhou on the 18th..." Gao Zongting said.

"Six days have passed!" Lin Fu sighed softly and said, "Then it's completely impossible to intervene. That's fine, let's focus on beating ours..."

Up to now, after investing so many resources in Eastern Fujian, Jin'an Mansion must win it.

Taking Jin'an Prefecture will not only shake the morale of the Zhejiang and Fujian armies and blockade the Zhejiang and Fujian armies in the upper reaches of the Min River, but also ensure that Xiapu, Quanzhou, Luoyuan, Jiaocheng and other coastal prefectures and counties in eastern and southern Fujian only need a small amount of

The garrison can be firmly controlled by Huaidong.

If Jin'an Prefecture cannot be captured, if Huaidong wants to occupy Xiapu, Quanzhou and other places, it will need to invest twice as many troops as the enemy or even more. This situation is definitely not what Lin Fu and others in Huaidong want to see.

Maybe Huaidong was also dragged down because of it.

Huaidong has to face not only the She family but an enemy.

Lin Fu made this decision. Ye Junan, Song Fu, Zhao Qingshan, Zhou Tong, Song Yi, Song Bo and others around him had different expressions, but they all responded in unison: "I will obey your order..."

"Immediately, Song Yi led the Quanzhou Army to march west along the south bank of the Minjiang River, making sure to capture Zhuqi before attacking the city here. Zuo Shiying led the Zhejiang East Camp Army to march westward by boat, capture Jingxi on the north bank, and capture Jingxi.

The two places of Zhuqi can block the Zhejiang and Fujian armies and Jian'an troops from advancing eastward along the Min River. Zhou Tong will be responsible for approaching Jin'an City from the south. If you have nothing else to do, go down and prepare!" Lin Fu

Go ahead according to the plan you made before.

Jingxi and Zhuqi are the west mouth of the East Fujian estuary basin. There is flat land on both sides of the river for troops. After Zhuqi, there are mountains on both sides of the Minjiang River in the west. Except for the Minjiang waterway, large groups of soldiers and horses cannot enter Fujian by land.

River mouth basin.

Even if Jin'an City, Zhuqi, and Jingxi are successfully captured, they will still be key passes and key points to be defended in the future.

******************

Zhou Tong, Song Yi, and Zuo Shiguang immediately led their troops to march westward. Lin Fu did not land from Nantai Island with the army until the third day.

Walking west along the north shore of Nantai Island to the western end of Nantai Island, you can see Jin'an City and the western foot of Gushan Mountain across the river. The Bailong River waterway here is not even 70 feet wide.

After autumn, the climate in eastern Fujian is not yet cold, and the grass and trees show no signs of withering, but one obvious change is that the water level of the Min River becomes shallower.

According to reliable intelligence, the garrison troops retreating to Jin'an City and Qishan on the north bank of the Minjiang River and the Beifengshan fortresses are now less than 15,000, while the Huaidong Army's troops in eastern Fujian have exceeded 50,000.

Occupy an absolute advantage.

But the next step is to attack the first fortified city in eastern Fujian, and the advantage in military strength is not so obvious.

The outposts of the Huaidong Army landed from the north bank. Since Gushan in the east of Jin'an City is far away from Jin'an City, there is a large area of ​​farmland in the middle, covering hundreds of thousands of acres, which is easy for the Huai'an Army to penetrate. When the Huaidong Army landed from the north bank, Zhejiang and Fujian

The garrison at Gushan withdrew from the west into the city.

When Lin Fu landed from Nantai Island, the defenders could no longer be seen in the east of Jin'an City, and they all retreated into the city.

After the defenders were annihilated, the people of Eastern Fujian could not be seen on Nantai Island. They were all evacuated by the She family. Large areas of farmland were deserted there, waiting for the people to move in. Lin Fu rode his horse and walked among the people.

Surrounded by people, they walked west along the island shore.

The supply camp is building two trestles between the western end of Nantai Island and the western foot of Gushan Mountain. Camps will be built on the north and south of the trestle bridges to defend them. However, the main force of troops will continue to approach the Jin'an River and set up camp to besiege.

Zhou Pu was the commander-in-chief of the siege. He came over and said, "Qishan and Beifengshan were searched twice more. They were too high and too dangerous. The She family's generals also built fortresses on key passes. We can only forcefully attack Shanxi."

Anjo..."

Lin Fu looked at Song Fu to see if he had any clever ideas.

Jin'an City is almost adjacent to Qishan Mountain and Beifeng Mountain. The northwest is surrounded by mountains and hills, and thousands of peaks are dripping with green. If you want to surround the Jin'an defenders, you can only capture several important passes and dangerous strongholds in Qishan Mountain and Beifeng Mountain.

This cut off the possibility of the defenders escaping along the valley between Beifeng Mountain and Qishan Mountain.

Song Fu shook his head. She Wenzhuang wanted to hold the main force of Huaidong soldiers and horses in Eastern Fujian for a longer time. The last more than 10,000 defenders in Jin'an City should be loyal to the She family, so the younger ones evacuated first.

Eight Fujian warriors, but it is obvious that Shewenzhuang cannot allow these fifteen thousand elites to be wiped out in Jin'an City.

Unable to capture the Qishan and Beifengshan fortresses, the Huaidong Army wanted to cut off the Jin'an defenders' possibility of escaping to the northwest, so they had to send a small group of elites to sneak into the deep mountains and valleys to the northwest of Beifeng Mountain and Qishan to intercept them.

Obviously, Shewenzhuang should be prepared for this and will not allow Huaidong to take advantage too much.

Song Fu, who was most familiar with Eastern Fujian, had no clever strategy, so he could only fight the siege battle honestly. Lin Fu nodded to Zhou Tong and said: "Then let's fight honestly, we have prepared so many firepowers."

Oil tanks, sling crossbows, you can't waste your time..."

Jin'an City is the root of the war in Fujian. The defenders left behind in Jin'an City are mourning soldiers and dead soldiers. This battle is really going to be fought hard, and it can't be delayed in time.

*************

The city of Jin'an is ten miles away, and 30,000 troops and horses crossing the Huaidong River can't completely surround the two city walls even if they push into the city from the east and south.

Zhou Tong sent people to block the city gate where the defenders attacked, and sent elite soldiers and horses to guard it. He also used transport troops and forcibly recruited civilians to quickly dig trenches and build forts in the back, and set up camp. In just two days, the Jin army was defeated.

A series of fortifications were built to the east and south of An City, and preparations were made before the attack. The speed and efficiency were so fast that the defenders at the top of Jin'an City were frightened.

Eastern Fujian is rainy and has dense springs. Jin'an City is built of bricks and stones, so there is little possibility of a secret door. This also makes Huaidong unable to dig underground caves to attack it.

Taking a mound of earth and connecting it with the city to form a siege road is also a common method for siege, but it requires a lot of time and manpower. The sooner Jin'an City is captured, the more Huaidong can seize the initiative in the entire battle.

There's no time to waste here.

We can only use the usual methods to attack the city honestly.

Although the Jin'an city wall is tall and steep, it is an old-fashioned single city wall with only a protective shield on the outside.

When Huaidong was building a large city in the Xusi area, the She family already had enough financial resources to carry out large-scale reconstruction of the Xiongcheng City of Jin'an, which was more than ten miles away on Tuesday. This also made Huaidong slightly less resistant even if it used traditional storming tactics.

Some.

War is always cruel. Huaidong has 30,000 soldiers and 10,000 troops in Jin'an City. In addition, it also forcibly recruited more than 40,000 civilians from Xiapu, Quanzhou, Luoyuan and other places.

Eighty thousand men and horses piled under the city and built camps. In two days, they also took soil to fill trenches and filled in more than ten passages for the seven to eighty-foot-wide moat outside Jin'an City.

The soldiers and civilians used the cover of cave cars, curtains, and half-boats to approach the base of the city wall, wielding shovels and shovels, and worked hard to loosen the foundation of the city wall. If they could directly dig down a section of the city wall, it would be a blessing from God.

The defenders smashed rolling stones and logs from the top of the city. No matter how strong the cave-house carts, curtains, and half-ships were, it was difficult to withstand the repeated impact of large rocks and giant trees. Cave-house carts were constantly cracked, smashed, and covered up.

The civilians and soldiers below were shot with arrows and stones, smashed to death, or scalded or burned to death by the pouring kerosene, and the mourning could be heard everywhere.

On the other side, Zhou Tong deployed a large number of nest vehicles equipped with strong bows, powerful crossbows and scorpion crossbows, as well as a large number of counterweighted stone-throwing crossbows under the city, covering the southeast corner of the city wall and suppressing the defenders at the top of the city.

, the covering soldiers used ladders to approach the city.

The Zhejiang and Fujian armies also had a large number of catapult crossbows and other crossbow equipment in the city, and they bombarded them without showing any signs of weakness.

The watch tower has been set up twenty feet high, allowing a clear view of the city. Lin Fu climbed up to have a look. After coming down, he said to Song Fu and others: "In addition to the tens of thousands of defenders in the city, the She family

The people in the city have almost been evacuated. This is both good news and bad news. We immediately organize craftsmen to cut down more wood and make more catapult crossbows - the defenders' catapult crossbows are still old-fashioned. If we have an advantage, we must do everything possible to do so.

expand."
To be continued...