Although the overall strength of the Tang Dynasty today is still very weak, it is completely different from the past situation where there were only a few hundred people.
After recruiting thousands of troops, Li Xuan had more room for strategic choices. The most intuitive manifestation is that if hundreds of people were killed or injured in a battle in the past, the entire Tang Dynasty would have been abolished.
But this time in the Second Battle of Lanjiang, more than 200 soldiers of the New Army of the Tang Dynasty were killed on the spot or seriously injured, and there were more than 300 injured, with the total casualties exceeding 500.
However, this casualty number was not taken seriously by Li Xuan. Even when the post-war meeting was summarizing, no one showed much surprise after hearing this casualty number.
Because the current Datang New Army is already strong enough to withstand hundreds of casualties.
After the increase in scale, the new army of the Tang Dynasty no longer needs to take extreme risks every time when carrying out some strategic planning, and it will either succeed or fail miserably.
However, now, the cross-river battle plan proposed by Hao Bainian is still a very risky plan.
If it succeeds, everything will be easy. Not only will it be able to annihilate the thousands of remaining Ming troops on the east bank of the Lanjiang River, but it will also be able to capture Xingquan City with the greatest ease, without having to worry about facing a large number of Ming troops on Xingquan City.
However, if it fails, the outcome will be very disastrous. If one fails, the main force crossing the river from Ferry No. 3 may be completely wiped out.
And this had a very negative impact on the Tang Dynasty!
Hesitant, Li Xuan summoned Hao Bainian and other generals, especially the young generals from the Royal Academy, to listen to their opinions.
Even Fang Dongquan, Wang Shanxu and other generals who were bandit leaders, Li Xuan listened to all the opinions without missing a beat.
At the same time, Li Xuan also asked them to continue planning other combat plans.
No matter whether this risky plan is finalized or not, it is always necessary to compare other combat plans. Only by comparison can the advantages and disadvantages be determined.
After two days of intensive discussions, at a new round of imperial combat meeting!
Zeng Ziwen stood in front of the large map next to him, pointing at the map with a small wooden stick and saying: "The most critical point of our plan No. 1 is to establish a beachhead after crossing the river head-on, and then start to gradually advance.
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"According to our observations and feedback from our scouts, the Puppet Ming rebels have also built a large number of defenses on the east bank of the river, including low walls, arrow towers, horseback and other defenses. If we attack from the front, the firepower of our musketeers will be terrible.
It is difficult to destroy the enemy's defense in a short time.
To this end, we have formulated a plan to use grenadiers to rush in and destroy the enemy's low wall defenses through intensive grenade bombardment. As long as we break through their low walls, we will rush up and use intensive melee combat to completely defeat the enemy's defense line!"
At this time, Li Xuan spoke: "Where are our artillery? Is there no plan for the artillery team to cross the river?"
Hearing Li Xuan's question, Zeng Ziwen immediately said: "Report to your majesty, our artillery is too heavy, and the ship we prepared is not big. It is possible to cross the river, but getting on and off the ship, plus building artillery positions,
I am afraid that it will be difficult to put into actual combat in a short period of time, and our artillery is so powerful that if it is fired from the bow of a small boat, the small boat may not be able to withstand it!"
"It will take at least an hour to transport the artillery across the river and then put it into battle!"
Li Xuan frowned slightly when he heard this. If the artillery could not be put into battle until an hour later, let alone supporting the infantry, the cucumbers and vegetables would be cold by then.
It can be expected that once its own troops begin to land, the Ming army will definitely fight to the death on the beach to block it. The battle between the two sides will definitely be very fierce. Considering the morale and training quality of both sides, such a tragic battle is not possible.
It may last too long.
Maybe in a quarter of an hour, maybe in half an hour, the battle will be able to determine the outcome. Either the new Tang army will be repulsed, or the Ming army will be unable to withstand it and collapse.
The artillery team is destined to be unable to enter the battle in time.
At this time, Li Xuan wanted to have a light infantry support artillery!
Damn it, the workshop of the Ministry of Industry must immediately start designing and building a light artillery. Let’s not talk about the power. We will talk about it after we have it.
Otherwise, when encountering river crossing operations or emergency maneuver operations, the infantry will not be able to receive artillery support.
Li Xuan waved his hand, signaling Zeng Ziwen to continue!
Zeng Ziwen then continued: "After the main force on the front line broke through the enemy's beachhead, the follow-up troops immediately rushed through this gap and completely defeated the remaining enemy troops on the east bank of the Lanjiang River.
At the same time, in order to prevent the enemy's routed soldiers from escaping to Xingquan Fucheng, which would cause trouble in our subsequent attack on Xingquan Fucheng, the troops crossing the river must march lightly in hot pursuit to prevent them from having the opportunity to reorganize their forces.
We cannot let them escape back to Xingquan Fucheng.
Once our army arrives at Xingquan Fucheng, we will immediately launch a large-scale attack on Xingquan Fucheng, trying to capture Xingquan Fucheng in one go before the city can react, thus establishing the victory!"
Li Xuandao: "How many casualties are expected?"
Hearing Li Xuan's question, Zeng Ziwen couldn't help but lower his voice: "At the crossing stage, if everything goes well, the casualties are expected to be between 500 and 800 people. We expect that the casualties will mainly come from the shooting of the Ming army's archers."
, during the landing stage of our army, the soldiers were crowded on the beach, which was exactly within the best effective shooting range of the Ming army's archers. However, our army's musketeers and most of the spearmen did not have armor protection and had no defense against bows and arrows.
The ability is relatively poor!
If there is no Ming army to defend the city during the siege stage, the casualties are expected to be between 100 and 300 people!"
Hearing this, Li Xuan frowned: "What if the crossing of the river does not go smoothly? What if the remaining soldiers of the Ming army fled back to Xingquan Fucheng and resisted?"
Zeng Ziwen's voice became even softer at this time: "If the crossing stage does not go smoothly, the casualties are expected to further increase to about a thousand people. If the remnants of the Ming army escape back to Xingquan Mansion and mobilize the young men in the city to defend it, we will
The army is afraid that it will not be able to capture Xingquan Fucheng in a short period of time and must wait for the artillery troops to arrive. The troops will rest and replenish their strength before attacking by force. The specific casualties are difficult to determine, and it is expected that there will be at least 500 to 1,000 casualties."
After hearing these casualty prediction data given by Zeng Ziwen, not to mention Li Xuan frowned, even generals such as Fang Dongquan and Wang Shanxu also frowned.
Wang Shanxu even said directly: "The casualties will be too great. We will have to break our bones after this battle!"
Li Xuan also thought to himself: It is impossible to fight like this. The casualties are so heavy. Not to mention breaking the bones, I am afraid that we will not be able to win, because when the casualties reach a certain level, the army will collapse!"