Chen Yixin did not expect that his surrender letter would make the Ming court give up resistance and let Chongzhen go out of the city in person to ask for surrender. This clause was also added intentionally by him in order to stimulate the opponent.
The most troublesome situation for Haihan was not that the Ming army stayed in the city and resisted stubbornly, but that the Ming court gave up resistance and abandoned the city and fled. Once the opponent escapes Shuntian Prefecture, with the current capabilities of the Haihan Army, it will be difficult to extend the supply line further inland.
Therefore, he actually hoped to have a decisive battle with the main force of the Ming army in the capital, and use the most direct and effective way to defeat the opponent's effective force.
Although Haihan has some informants in the capital, due to the heavy concentration of troops inside and outside the city, all access to and from the city has been interrupted. The spies are unable to send out information, and Chen Yixin is temporarily unable to learn about the situation in the city.
But no matter what the Ming court's immediate reaction was, the Haihan army had to prepare for the next battle according to the siege strategy.
After more than 300 years of management during the Yuan and Ming dynasties, the capital city is a truly fortified city. The city wall alone has four layers: the palace city, the imperial city, the inner city, and the outer city. Each layer is equipped with very complete city defense facilities. .
The height of the outer city wall is more than two feet, and the thickness ranges from three to five feet. It is made of rammed earth on the inside and covered with bricks and stones. The outer layer of bricks is more than three feet thick. With such a structure, it is almost impossible to destroy it from the front with artillery.
Coupled with the fact that more than 100,000 Ming troops were deployed inside and outside the city, one can imagine how difficult it would be to conquer such a city.
However, from the beginning of formulating the battle plan, Chen Yixin did not set the goal as a simple siege of the city, but to rely on siege and encirclement points to bring reinforcements.
Considering that his own forces were limited, Chen Yixin did not plan to encircle the capital, but instead used the east and south directions as the main directions of attack.
On May 25, Sun Zhen, commander of the Sixth Lu Division, Sun Bing, commander of the Fifth Lu Division, and a group of senior military officers arrived at Balizhuang on the east side of the capital at the same time to participate in a pre-war preparation meeting personally hosted by Chen Yixin.
There is a giant map of the capital measuring one foot square hanging on the wall. Looking down at the capital from this bird's-eye view, it looks a bit like a big embossed character.
The protruding part above is mainly the capital city built in the Yuan Dynasty, while the part below is the new city expanded during the Yongle period of the Ming Dynasty.
"The Sixth Division of Lu is responsible for attacking Dongzhimen and at the same time monitoring Deshengmen and Andingmen in the north of the city."
"The Fifth Lu Division is responsible for attacking Dongbianmen and Guangqumen on the east side of the new city, and at the same time monitoring Zuo'anmen, Yongdingmen and You'anmen in the south of the city."
"If the Ming army sends troops from the north or south of the city and attacks the flanks of our army in a roundabout way, you will each be responsible for intercepting it."
"I will personally command the Central Route Army and focus on attacking Chaoyang Gate."
"New City is the direction of feint attack, Dongzhimen and Chaoyangmen are the main direction of attack."
Chen Yixin stood in front of the map and described the battle plan to his officers at all levels.
Everyone in the meeting held a notebook in one hand and a pen in the other, writing down the battle plans one by one.
What Chen Yixin has described so far is only the general direction of the combat plan. As for each offensive direction, there are more detailed contents that need to be recorded and implemented by commanders.
As for the large-caliber artillery necessary for siege, it also takes several days to re-coordinate and distribute among several troops and concentrate them in the main attack direction.
According to the current combat method of the Ming Army, while the Haihan Army is preparing for the siege, they will probably not stop and will still launch raids and harassment with intensive frequency. Each army still needs to allocate part of its energy to deal with such non-stop small-scale battles.
The commanders are all aware that we have now entered a critical stage of this war and cannot afford to slack off at all. Even if the troops are exhausted, they can only grit their teeth and hold on. Only after the siege is over can the troops usher in a relatively complete rest period.
The situation on the southern battlefield is roughly the same as that of the capital. The defenses outside Nanjing have been broken through by the Haihan Army, and Zhongshan in the northeast of the city has been occupied.
The army transported several cannons up the mountain on mules and horses, and bombarded some official offices in the city from a high position.
Due to the limitations of the terrain, only small-caliber cannons could be transported up the mountain, and the damage they could cause was not great. It was more like a performance art to demoralize the opponent than a siege.
Although there were not many shellings from Zhongshan, and the shelling areas were relatively concentrated, they still quickly caused panic among the people in the city. After all, no one knew whether a shell would hit their head at the next moment.
The blockade implemented by the East China Sea Fleet on the river has also been further strengthened. The remaining Ming naval forces that originally stayed in the Jiangning area upstream, under the pursuit of the Haihan Fleet, can only continue to flee farther upstream, resulting in cross-strait The river's transportation channels were almost completely interrupted.
The west and north directions of Nanjing City are close to the Yangtze River, while the east and south directions have been controlled by the Haihan Army and are basically surrounded.
The strength of the Ming army guarding Nanjing City was far less than that of the northern battlefield. According to the estimates of the Haihan Army, it was only about half, that is, about 50,000 to 70,000.
This kind of force size is more than enough to defend a city, but the opponent is a powerful enemy like the Haihan Army. There are hundreds of thousands of defenders inside and outside Beijing, and they are still in a passive situation. I am afraid that the city of Nanjing must rely on these tens of thousands of Ming troops to defend it. Not an easy task.
Shi Diwen, who led the army, was also not in a hurry to launch an siege, but his ideas were different from Chen Yixin in the north.
After the Yangtze River near Nanjing was controlled by the East China Sea Fleet, it was difficult for the Ming army troops from other places to send reinforcements to Nanjing, so the strategy of encircling the points to mobilize reinforcements was not applicable in Nanjing.
The reason why Shi Diwen surrounded Nanjing instead of attacking it was because he wanted to capture Nanjing at the lowest cost instead of getting into a bitter siege.
"The tens of thousands of Ming troops surrounded by us in Nanjing actually have no way to escape. There are many ways to eliminate them, but I hope to achieve the goal with the lowest cost and the highest benefit."
In the meeting with Yan Chujie, Shi Diwen put forward his own point of view.
Yan Chujie said: "Are you planning to persuade me to surrender?"
"It would be best if we could persuade them to surrender." Shi Diwen nodded and said: "That's tens of thousands of strong laborers. I think there should be many places where they can play their role."
Yan Chujie smiled and said: "Tom Wang and Roger sent a telegram to the Executive Committee a few days ago, requesting that prisoners of war be immigrated to their jurisdiction after the war."
For distant overseas colonial areas, young and strong Han people with no cultural barriers are undoubtedly an excellent source of immigrants.
As for the status of prisoners of war, there is actually not much of a problem in overseas colonies. Practical experience over the past few years shows that as long as they are sent to local labor camps for a few years, these prisoners of war will often give up their past identities and turn to become Haihan citizens.