The cruel war of attrition lasted for seven or eight days. At first, the Ming army sent two to three hundred troops across the river for sneak attacks, but gradually they only sent about a hundred troops. By the evening of the eighth day,
At that time, the Ming army only sent a dozen people over, trying to get close to the position of the new army of the Tang Dynasty and causing trouble.
In this process, the Ming army suffered heavy casualties. More than 500 Ming soldiers were killed and injured by the new army of the Tang Dynasty alone, and hundreds more were captured.
The New Army of the Tang Dynasty also suffered heavy losses, with more than 200 casualties and casualties.
Although the Ming army suffered considerable losses, the new army of the Tang Dynasty actually suffered even more.
After all, the Ming army had a large number of troops. There were tens of thousands of them. A few hundred casualties was nothing at all. However, the more than 200 casualties of the Tang Dynasty's new army made Li Xuan and the others feel heartbroken.
The New Army of the Tang Dynasty had less than 4,000 men in total, and had more than 200 casualties, which meant that the casualty rate had reached 5%.
Fortunately, these casualties are cumulative, and new recruits are constantly being added. If so many people were killed or injured in one battle, it would probably affect morale.
Fortunately, the Ming army suffered more casualties, hundreds of people were killed and injured, and hundreds of people were taken prisoner. Even if the remaining Ming army could return to the other side safely, the accumulated losses of the Ming army should reach seven or eight hundred.
people.
However, this did not affect the strength of the main force of the Ming army, because through interrogation of the prisoners of war, it was found that the Ming army sent across the river for a sneak attack were mostly guardsmen, and some were young and strong.
In other words, these Ming troops were all cannon fodder, and the real main force, those recruited and trained by Song Zhiwen, were still doing well.
However, perhaps because there were too many casualties, the Ming army stopped sending large-scale troops to cross the river for sneak attacks after the eighth day. As for them sneaking a few people over to serve as spies, it would be difficult for the new Tang army to discover this kind of thing, so the Ming army
The army must continue to send people over, but the scale is too small and the concealment is too strong. It is difficult for the Tang Dynasty's new army to detect them for a while, so it is difficult to judge.
After all, the New Army of the Tang Dynasty could secretly send scouts across the river to investigate the situation and carry out sabotage. Naturally, the Ming Army could also send scouts to investigate the situation.
After all, both sides are separated by the same Lanjiang River, and both sides have also monitored the river. If you can't do it, the other side can't do it either. If you can do it, the other side will naturally be able to do it.
Generally speaking, in the eight days after the main force of the Ming army arrived at Lanjiang Ferry, the two sides made strategic preparations on the one hand, and engaged in small-scale battles on the other. Although it could not affect the overall situation, it could still test out some of the other party's intentions.
Virtual reality.
At least through these battles, Li Xuan knew that the main force of the Ming army was still on the east bank of the Lanjiang River.
If the generals of the Ming army were not too stupid, they would have noticed that today's new army of the Tang Dynasty is already more powerful in terms of combat effectiveness than before.
You have to know that in the small-scale battles these days, the first mixed battalion and the second mixed battalion often fight alone. In the first few days, the number of participating troops on both sides was not large, and even the Ming army wanted more.
Some.
And this kind of battle could not have happened on the beach, but after the Ming army successfully landed.
After all, the place where the Ming army secretly crossed the river was not fixed. The two mixed battalions of the New Army of the Tang Dynasty could only arrange manpower to monitor the crossings. Once it was discovered that the Ming army had secretly crossed the river, the main force of the mixed battalion would go to intercept it.
Some people may want to ask, what if the main force of the Ming army also crosses the river secretly?
Li Xuan said, if the Ming army did this, he would wake up laughing in his dreams?
Thousands of Ming troops wanted to cross the river secretly?
This is impossible, unless they can fly over directly, otherwise they will have to use a large number of boats, rafts, bamboo rafts and other tools to cross the river. Just preparing these tools to cross the river will keep the Ming army busy for several days.
.
If the main force of the Ming army had taken these rafts directly from the Lanjiang ferry and carried them ashore to cross the river elsewhere, the spies of the New Army of the Tang Dynasty would have been able to discover it and send back the news immediately, as they were not blind.
At that time, the main force of the New Army of the Tang Dynasty will also move with the Ming Army. They go downstream, and the New Army of the Tang Dynasty will follow them. When they go upstream, the New Army of the Tang Dynasty will also follow them.
In addition, there is another very important reason, that is, once the main force of the Ming army leaves, whether it is crossing the river elsewhere or running somewhere else, it must be equal to the Lanjiang Ferry side. The main force of the Ming army is no longer there. If at this time,
If Li Xuan led the new army of the Tang Dynasty across the river and then went straight to Xingquan Fucheng, those Ming troops would not be scared to death.
The Ming army was also afraid that the puppet Tang bandits would cross the river and attack Xingquan Fucheng, otherwise they would not have been confronting the puppet Tang bandits here for several months.
But they don’t know yet that Li Xuan doesn’t plan to do this for the time being!
Xingquan Fucheng must be attacked, but not now!
Now he has a more important goal, which is to destroy the Ten Thousand Ming Army in front of him first. Once he kills the Ten Thousand Ming Army, the entire Xingquan Mansion will be within his grasp and can be easily obtained.
To kill this ten thousand Ming army, the best way is to rely on Lanjiang and fight a defensive battle. Only in this way can we make the most of our geographical advantage and firearms advantage.
If you cross the river rashly and are attacked halfway by the Ming army on the other side or ambushed while walking, you will be in big trouble.
Li Xuan doesn't want to take this risk now.
So he waited, waiting for the day when the Ming army crossed the river!
Anyway, the Ming army has arrived now, and depending on the situation, the Ming army will not send any more reinforcements. The ten thousand troops already think highly of Li Xuan. If there are tens of thousands more Ming troops,
Li Xuan even doubted that he was lucky, which made the Ming army pay more attention to it by 300%.
Even though he had conquered Zhengtai County, the county seat had not yet been captured. Even if the Ming army paid attention to the rebellion of a small bandit leader, it should have paid limited attention to it. Just sending 10,000 people here had already given him a lot of face.
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Li Xuan waited patiently for the next move of the Ming army, and the Ming army on the other side did not let Li Xuan wait too long. On the tenth day after the main force of the Ming army arrived, numerous small boats and rafts appeared on the east bank of the Lanjiang Ferry.
Waiting for tools to cross the river.
The Ming army had prepared a lot of tools for crossing the river before, but judging from the number of those tools, they could only bring two to three thousand people across the river at the same time. However, on this day, the Ming army didn't know where they were.
Got so many boats.
There were so many small boats and rafts, enough to transport seven to eight thousand Ming troops across the river. And the tens of thousands of Ming troops could not all be combat troops. The total number of garrison soldiers and recruits was estimated to be only six to seven thousand.
This means that these ships are enough to transport the main force of the Ming army across the river!