Facts have proved that using seven-pound heavy cannons to bombard Laibin's city wall, which is only a county-sized city, is very effective. In the entire Tang Dynasty, there were only three seven-pound heavy cannons that continuously bombarded Laibin's city wall, plus the help of five-pound field cannons. , it didn’t take long for a section of the guest’s city wall to collapse!
What follows is a charge without much technical content or new ideas. According to past habits, the heavy armored infantry still takes the lead in charging to establish a forward position for the troops in the rear.
Then there was a large influx of ordinary infantry!
In many previous siege operations, the Tang Army had successively set up temporary commandos as the main siege force, and the results were very remarkable.
Although the Laibin Battle was small in scale this time, the Tang Army still deployed some elite infantry to charge into the battle.
Moreover, during this process, Li Xuan found that the standing soldiers contributed by the chieftains generally had strong personal martial arts skills, and most importantly, they were not afraid of death and would fight to the death without retreating. This made him deeply touched. .
I am even more looking forward to the 4th Infantry Brigade with the core of the army as its core!
However, it did not take a day or two for the Fourth Infantry Brigade to become an army. The soldiers that can be used in the Tang Dynasty King's Division are still the Liuzhou Independent Regiment cobbled together by the chieftains!
After watching their battle, Li Xuan had already deliberately mobilized these elite soldiers from the Liuzhou Independent Regiment, and then transferred some elites from other troops to create a force with heavy armored infantry as the core to attack difficult situations. The troops charged into battle.
Anyway, the equipment required by the heavy armored infantry was only swords and armor. Although the Tang Dynasty King's division lacked some armor, it was still easier to get than muskets and artillery. After all, as long as the Ming army was defeated, one could always obtain a large number of cold weapons as trophies.
Moreover, in his opinion, it would be a pity that such elite soldiers, who are excellent in martial arts and full of combat courage, should be used directly as cannon fodder.
Moreover, due to their characteristics, it is not suitable for them to strictly implement the phalanx mode of combat. The most suitable mode for them is the commando mode. Maybe they can create a Datang version of the heavy armored infantry battalion!
As the commandos rushed to the city of Laibin and began to receive the follow-up troops entering the city, the Ming Dynasty used it as a defensive barrier in western Guangxi and gathered tens of thousands of troops. Laibin was able to hold on for even half a day, which was a declaration. Was breached.
It’s time to completely win over the guests and sweep across the central and western parts of Guangxi!
Li Xuan, who had been watching the siege battle outside the city for a long time, had no intention of continuing to watch when he learned that the troops had completely controlled the city walls and began to clear out the remaining enemies in the city.
He went directly down the hill and then returned to his boat. It was an official ship captured from the Ming Army. It had poor defense and speed, but it was spacious and comfortable enough to be used as Li Xuan's ship. After all, it was a labor of love. Expeditions are too tiring, so it is a good thing to have such a comfortable boat ride.
In the afternoon of that day, a group of senior generals gathered on Li Xuan's boat to start a routine post-war meeting. As usual, this kind of post-war meeting discussed the advantages and disadvantages.
In addition, there were reports on the losses and seizures of the enemy and ourselves. In this Battle of Laibin, although both sides participated in the battle, there were a lot of troops. The Ming Army had more than 10,000 people and the Tang Army had more than 20,000 people.
However, the casualties on both sides in this battle were very small. The Ming army suffered more than 500 casualties, while the Tang army suffered even fewer casualties, less than 100, and most of them were martyrs and garrison troops.
Although the casualties on both sides were not large, there were a lot of seizures!
Because before attacking the city, the Tang Dynasty King's Division had already surrounded the entire Laibin. After attacking Laibin, except for a few casualties, most of the Ming troops in the city chose to surrender out of inaction and hopelessness.
Therefore, a lot of prisoners were captured this time, much more than those captured during the Battle of Liuzhou City. A total of more than 8,000 prisoners were captured!
It is a pity that the quality of these prisoners is not very good, because many of them are young men recruited temporarily, and some are guardsmen.
However, although their quality is a little worse, they cannot let it go. Li Xuan personally made arrangements for these prisoners of war. The elite and those with skills and expertise among these people, such as artillery, cavalry, etc., will naturally be added to the regular army.
The remaining ones were replenished to the garrison.
The Third Garrison Brigade added several hundred people, then the Fourth Garrison Brigade and the Fifth Garrison Brigade. With these prisoners and the captured cold weapons and equipment, these two garrison brigades were finally fully staffed for the first time.
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Of course, as for combat effectiveness, I can only guess at it, but no matter how bad it is, it can still be used as cannon fodder to consume the enemy's bows, arrows and cannonballs!
Among the other seizures, there was more food. After all, in the eyes of the Ming army, this guest was a barrier to defend the central and western parts of Guangxi. It would have to be defended for at least three to five months, and if more, it would have to be defended for a year and a half.
Therefore, a large amount of food and other supplies were stored among the guests.
Therefore, after capturing the guests, they seized a relatively large amount of food. However, apart from the food, there was nothing else, especially war horses. Out of tens of thousands of Ming troops, they actually only captured twenty or thirty batches of horses that could be ridden!
This number is incredibly small!
There is no way, Guangxi is short of horses, and the Ming army itself has no horses. Naturally, the Datang Army cannot capture any horses. Nowadays, most of the horses in the New Army of the Tang Dynasty were brought from Guizhou, and
Guizhou is still continuously searching for horses. Although the southwest horses are short, they can still be used.
The Ming army and civilians in Guangxi also had a small number of horses, and basically all they could find were requisitioned.
But even so, the cavalry troops of the King's Division of the Tang Dynasty were still seriously short of manpower. Not to mention the serious lack of manpower of the reconnaissance cavalry teams under each infantry regiment, even the first cavalry battalion and the second cavalry battalion were seriously short of manpower.
If it is based on the establishment, a cavalry battalion should have four cavalry teams. Each team also imitates the infantry symbol and has a hundred cavalry. In this way, a battalion should have more than 500 cavalry. But in fact, the largest number of cavalry is
The First Cavalry Battalion has 300 cavalry, but the Second Cavalry Battalion currently has less than 200 cavalry.
The only fully-staffed cavalry unit is Li Xuan's Guards Battalion Cavalry Team. It is not only full but also overstretched, with one hundred and fifty cavalry!
But in the future, this Guards Battalion will be changed into the First Battalion of the Guards, and its subordinate cavalry will also become an independent Guards Cavalry Battalion. So looking at it this way, in fact, the Guards' cavalry is also seriously short of manpower.
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As for the reconnaissance cavalry teams in various regular army infantry regiments, they only have twenty or thirty cavalrymen, and there are only more than fifty cavalrymen. For example, the First Infantry Regiment, the most elite infantry regiment in the Tang Dynasty King's Division, has its subordinate reconnaissance teams.
The cavalry team only has about fifty riders, half of whom are missing.
In addition, after the establishment of each infantry brigade, the missing reconnaissance cavalry teams of each infantry regiment were actually concentrated under the direct jurisdiction of the infantry brigade. Like the battalion artillery teams of each infantry regiment, they were actually under the direct jurisdiction of the brigade during combat.
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As for the garrison, it doesn't even have cavalry. At most, it's just a few messengers on horseback!
The Tang Dynasty's royal division system actually had a very large demand for horses. Among other things, the number of horses used by officers alone was not a small number, and the horses used by artillery and cavalry were even larger.
Fortunately, they started in Guizhou, and Guizhou still has Southwest Horses. If they started in Guangdong, Guangxi, Huguang or Jiangnan, they would probably have to use donkeys and mules instead, because these places are not the birthplace of horses.
Nowadays, in the southwest, although the southwest horses are not very good, and there are not many of them at one and a half times, there are at least some.
After defeating Laibin, Li Xuan had no intention of leading the army to continue marching westward. Today, there are basically no large-scale Ming troops to the west of Laibin. The rest are just some small fish, leaving the fourth infantry who have not yet formed an army to
The brigade and the fully staffed 5th Garrison Brigade continued to advance westward, and were basically able to meet the needs of the battle.
And these two troops are the troops under the jurisdiction of the Third Army!
The day after conquering Laibin, Li Xuan summoned Major General Li Chunjing, commander of the Third Army and commander of the Fourth Infantry Brigade, to discuss the future march into the central and western regions of Guangxi, and told Li Chunjing to do nothing but
In addition to capturing other state capitals in western Guangxi, appropriate troops should be sent south to capture Lianzhou Prefecture in Guangdong.
At the same time, it is necessary to intimidate and even march into Yunnan. However, the march into Yunnan is a matter for the future. For the time being, it can be ignored. It is not even important whether to quickly capture other areas in western Guangxi. As long as Li Chunjing can maintain western Guangxi.
The situation ensures that when the army advances eastward, the rear route will not be disturbed or attacked, then the strategic mission is basically completed.
In addition, Li Xuan also said that once the army's eastward march goes smoothly, the subsequent defense of Guangxi will be borne by the Third Army, and the First Army will naturally march eastward to Guangdong.
Li Chunjing naturally followed Li Xuan's advice with great respect, saying that he would definitely guard the rear area for the army, so that His Majesty could march eastward with confidence!
On the third day after the capture of Laibin, after the initial rest, the main force of the Tang Dynasty King's Division led by Li Xuan himself was divided into two. Li Xuan led the main force to march eastward, preparing to return to Xiangzhou to rendezvous with the remaining troops, and then continue eastward to Wuxuan.
Li Chunjing, on the other hand, led more than 2,000 men of the 4th Infantry Brigade of the Third Army and more than 6,000 men of the 5th Garrison Brigade to continue marching westward.
Subsequently, these troops of the Third Army will cooperate with the temporary second regiment that has entered Qingyuan Prefecture to capture Qingyuan Prefecture, Sien Prefecture, and Nanning Prefecture.
After completing the above-mentioned first phase strategic tasks, we will continue to attack Ketian Prefecture, Sicheng Prefecture, Zhenan Prefecture, Taiping Prefecture and other places to the west. At the same time, we will also go south to Qinzhou, Yongan Prefecture and other places in Lianzhou Prefecture, Guangdong.
Fight all the way to Beibu Gulf.
The reason why Li Xuan specifically ordered Li Chunjing to send troops south to seize Lianzhou Prefecture is because this prefecture is on the coast of western Guangdong and has many natural ports. For example, Hepu was a port that was developed very early and was used in the Han Dynasty.
It is already enabled.
In addition, another very important point is that Guangxi is bordered by the northern part of Vietnam, and what is there in northern Vietnam? There is the Guangning Coalfield!
Why is Guangning Coalfield specifically mentioned? Not only because it has large reserves and most of them can be mined in the open, but also because most of its coal is anthracite!
The Guangning Coalfield has the largest reserves in East Asia, is the easiest to mine, and is also the highest quality anthracite!