August was the hottest time of the year in the south. Even in the early morning, a thin shirt was enough to keep out the cold. For the heavily armored soldiers, this kind of weather was very unbearable.
Often, after fighting for half a day, they would feel as if they had been fished out of the water.
As a result, the Great Xia army chose to attack the Jiangnan Province in the early morning. The sky had just begun to brighten when the Brave Tiger Army and the Xiangjiang Army, both of which were in the dew, covered the entire Jiangnan border with ten field legions as nodes.
The Brave Tiger Army attacked from the Minnan border while Zhang Xutuo led the Xiangjiang Army to attack from the Jiangchuan border.
The entire front stretched for thousands of miles.
The 600,000 soldiers formed a torrent of steel that was like a black line from the god of death. It spread from the southwest border of Jiangnan Province and rolled forward with the intention of engulfing the entire province.
Behind the army was a rations supply line that was even longer than the front line.
Early in the morning, the entire territory of Jiangchuan Province and Minnan Province, as well as every official road leading to the border, were occupied by large groups of grain carts. The traffic was endless, the creaking sounds of the carts converging into a symphony that stretched as far as the eye could see.
The imperial court had won two battles in a row and their morale was high. When the commoners saw the rations, they didn't panic because of the impending war. Instead, they excitedly discussed where the imperial court was going to expand their territory.
Because they were transporting rations within the borders, the people in charge of escorting the rations were temporary bailiffs. Whichever county they reached, the county would send bailiffs to escort them along the way. There wasn't even a need to mobilize an army.
Within the borders of Great Xia, no one had the guts to rob rations.
As for the bandits in the wilderness, they had already disappeared without a trace.
The rations set off from the county like streams converging into a large river. They were like densely packed blood vessels that converged towards the front line to deliver "blood" to the soldiers there.
Without the communication compass, such a large army and such a long front line couldn't be maintained. The armies were like blind people that could only fight for themselves.
The appearance of the communication compass changed the pattern of war.
The Great Zhou garrisoned Jiangnan Province was led by God General Xu Da and 400,000 Great Ming imperial soldiers. Xu Da's military experience was unquestionable. He took over the defensive line from the Great Zhou Conqueror's Army and didn't slack off.
Even if the war in the north stopped, looking at the situation, the war in the Huaxia area would also come to an end. When the Overlord's army returned to Jiangnan Province, even if the Ming army had completed their mission, Xu Da would not relax.
In Xu Da's words, "For every day we stand firm, we must fulfill our responsibilities."
As the frontline of the confrontation between Great Xia and Great Zhou, the fortifications at the border of Jiangnan Province could only be described as invulnerable. Over the past two years, under Wu Qi's personal arrangements, the entire border was set up with 15 border cities as nodes. Fortresses were built between the border cities, and sentries were built between the fortresses. Like this, layer by layer, they formed a line of defense.
In addition, there were beacons on the high mountains, watchtowers on the plains, water stockades on the rivers, and checkpoints on the official roads. Together, they formed an impenetrable defense network.
Not to mention the invasion of a large army, even if the enemy's scouts barged in, they would also lose a layer of skin.
When Xu Da first took over the defensive line, he was also full of praise for Wu Qi's generosity.
Precisely because of this, when he learned that the Great Xia army suddenly sent troops to invade Jiangnan Province, Xu Da was not very nervous. Although from the intelligence shared by Great Zhou, Great Xia was serious this time, Xu Da still did not think that Great Xia could break through the defense line guarded by 400,000 Ming soldiers with just 600,000 soldiers.
"Unless Great Xia continues to send more troops."
This possibility was not very high because the imperial guards, city guards, and Soaring Eagle Legion had all been teleported back to their encampments. If they wanted to reinforce the frontline, they should directly teleport to Longseeking City.
There was no reason to say that Great Xia was so rich that they did not care about the teleportation fee of millions of gold coins.
"In that case, what is the intention of the enemy?"
Due to the limited intelligence, Xu Da was momentarily puzzled. It was impossible to say that the Great Xia army had nothing better to do. They mobilized such a large army and wasted manpower and money just for a border exercise, right?
Any general with the slightest bit of political wisdom would not make such a judgment.
As a relatively pure commander, since he could not understand the twists and turns behind the scenes, Xu Da simply did not think about it and focused his energy on the upcoming war.
"Alright, let's use this opportunity to train the army."
The 500,000 Great Ming imperial guards had never been engaged in a real war. Although Xu Da was confident that the usual training was very strict and effective, he still had to test it on the battlefield.
In the early morning, battles of various sizes began to break out at various places at the border.
In order to attack Jiangnan Province, the Great Xia army had to first remove all the big and small sentry posts, border checkpoints, and observation towers. Otherwise, there would be no end of trouble.
Because the targets were small and scattered, it was not worthwhile to mobilize a large army. They could only mobilize small battalions as units and kill their way into the vast wilderness like casting a net.
On the first morning alone, the Great Xia army dispatched hundreds of "clean-up" troops.
The Ming army's response strategy was to defend if they could and retreat if they couldn't. They would neither fight to the end nor give up easily. To put it bluntly, they were using the border resources of Great Zhou to conduct a military exercise.
The bustling day quickly came to an end.
…
In the southern suburbs of Overlord City, where the Ming army's command center was located, there was a military tent.
As Overlord City was too sensitive, the Ming army did not enter the city. Instead, they relied on Overlord City to set up a large camp outside the city and set up a command center for the entire army.
God General Xu Da personally oversaw this place.
The large tent was brightly lit. After Xu Da finished reading the battle reports from various places, he was no longer as relaxed as he was at the beginning of the war. After a day of fighting, the results were beyond his expectations.
Logically speaking, many of the sentry posts at the border of Great Zhou were located in very secretive places. If the Great Xia army was not familiar with the terrain, it would take the Great Xia army more than half a day just to find the right target to attack.
However, this was not the case.
In just one day, the Great Xia army had uprooted more than 300 small strongholds and made a good start. Calculating the time, this was almost impossible. It was equivalent to the Great Xia army finding their respective targets effortlessly.
The Great Xia army's thorough understanding of Great Zhou's defense line was far beyond Xu Da's expectations.
"Rumor has it that Great Xia has three major intelligence agencies, and their spies are everywhere. However, this is a little too exaggerated. With Wu Qi's ability, it is impossible for him to not have any precautions against these military secrets."
Xu Da was very perplexed. For the first time, he felt that there might be some mischief behind this war that he did not understand. This made him, who was usually calm, feel a little uneasy.
"Great Xia's Brave Tiger Army is stationed at the border of Jiangnan Province. The scouts from both sides will definitely visit from time to time. It is not too surprising that the Great Xia army is familiar with the frontline sentry posts at the border of Jiangnan." Deputy Commander Chang Yuchun was rather open-minded.
This time, Zhu Yuanzhang led the troops to guard the southern border of Great Xia. Xu Da was the main general and Chang Yuchun was the deputy general. In addition, there were also generals Deng Yu, Feng Sheng, and others accompanying them. The lineup was rather luxurious.
Tang He, who was as famous as Xu Da, led the troops to guard Jianye City.
Among the generals, apart from God General Xu Da, Chang Yuchun was the most famous. He was one of the ten most valiant generals in history, along with Shi Wansui, Xue Rengui, and Ran Min.
Of the two generals, Xu and Chang, one was known for their strategy and prudence, while the other was known for his bravery and decisiveness. when the two worked together, they were invincible. Purely in terms of commanding an army to fight a war, this duo could be ranked at the top in the history of China.
Since Zhu Yuanzhang ascended the throne, he had killed the nine generations of Prime Minister Hu Weiyong on the charge of "conspiring against the government." Left Prime Minister Li Shanchang, Great General Lan Yu, and Duke of Cao Li Wenzhong were executed one after another.
Among them, Lan Yu was Chang Yuchun's brother-in-law, and Li Wenzhong was Zhu Yuanzhang's nephew.
Among the 34 meritorious officials who were conferred titles in the early Ming Dynasty, only a few of them died of illness. Even Zhu Yuanzhang's childhood friend and in-law, Duke of Wei Xu Da, was "sentenced to death."
Chang Yuchun's good death wasn't because of Zhu Yuanzhang's mercy. It was because before the Great Ming Dynasty had completely unified the world, he had unfortunately contracted a cold and died in the army at the age of 40.
Otherwise, with Chang Yuchun's outstanding military skills and courage, it was hard to say whether he could have survived.
Among the nine emperors who appeared in the wilderness, Zhu Yuanzhang was the most embarrassed. Even Emperor Kangxi, who killed Oboi, was more at ease than Zhu Yuanzhang. After all, Oboi had courted death himself.
Fortunately, Zhu Yuanzhang had learned the "Thick Black Study" well, which allowed him to maintain the overall situation of the Great Ming Dynasty.
Xu Da nodded his head silently. Although he felt that what Chang Yuchun said was reasonable, he still felt somewhat uneasy. But even if he felt uneasy, the war still had to continue.
"Pass down the order. From tomorrow onwards, each division must be more resolute in their defense and must not easily give up their sentry posts. If necessary, the border guards can also take the initiative to leave the city to fight and exert pressure on the enemy. "
"Yes, Sir!"
Xu Da wanted to transmit some pressure to the Great Xia army. Otherwise, if they continued fighting like this, the entire border defense line would be destroyed by the Great Xia army before the Overlord Army could even return to Jiangnan Province.
At that time, the Ming army could naturally withdraw, leaving the Overlord Army in a terrible mess.
Xu Da couldn't do such a thing.
"Perhaps the real purpose of the Great Xia army is to destroy the Jiangnan border defense line and create an opportunity for the decisive battle with the Overlord Army in the future?!" A ray of light flashed in Xu Da's mind, and he faintly had a guess.
Looking at the generals in the tent, Xu Da didn't say this guess out loud.
There was still a tough battle waiting for them.
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