Chapter Five Hundred and Twenty-One This is a victory, not a rout
There were quite a lot of Ming army ships on the river, including many battleships. Although he could tell at a glance that the naval guns of these Ming army navy were all small cannons, and they fired shotguns, with a range of no more than a hundred.
Mi, he cannot threaten himself for the time being, but if he continues to charge towards the river with his cavalry, it will be in danger.
If he rushed up and was hit hard by the Ming navy's naval guns, he would definitely suffer heavy casualties!
It didn't matter that there were heavy casualties, but more importantly, his cavalry couldn't rush onto the ship to kill the enemy!
He was not a pedantic person, so he immediately turned his horse's head and slightly adjusted its direction, leading the cavalry troops no longer to rush to the shore, but to keep a certain distance from the shore.
He did not want to rush across the river with his cavalry troops and then suffer heavy casualties under the Ming navy's naval gunfire.
In such a large-scale siege, the number of enemy soldiers killed and captured was at least tens of thousands. One or two thousand people who were escaped by the Ming army was nothing. He did not want to chase and kill one of the Ming army.
Two thousand people took the Tang Dynasty's precious cavalry troops to take risks.
You must know that there are only more than 600 professional cavalry in the entire Tang Dynasty!
Although there are quite a lot of cavalry in the Tang Dynasty King's Division, in addition to the First Cavalry Battalion, the Second Cavalry Battalion, and the Guards Cavalry Battalion, there is also the Third Cavalry Battalion under the Guizhou Second Army, and the Third Army fighting in the central and western parts of Guangxi.
The subordinate 4th Cavalry Battalion and each infantry regiment also have reconnaissance cavalry teams.
But the establishment is just an establishment, and most of these are just establishments on paper. In fact, even these three main cavalry battalions add up to just a little more than a full cavalry battalion, and the third cavalry battalion and the third cavalry battalion are just a little more powerful.
The four cavalry battalions are all empty, and the number of cavalry in each regiment's reconnaissance cavalry team is even less. Moreover, the quality of the horses and cavalry in the reconnaissance cavalry troops cannot be compared with that of the cavalry battalion. They are all just infantry who can ride horses. Basically, they are just infantry.
There is no ability to fight immediately.
Even the equestrian skills and horse-mounted combat capabilities of the messengers are better than the reconnaissance cavalry of the infantry regiments. Now, in fact, when the main force of the Tang Dynasty King's Division moves, the frontline reconnaissance tasks are often handled by the cavalry battalion.
Yes, the presence of the reconnaissance cavalry teams directly under each infantry regiment is very low.
This is a side witness to how valuable the professional cavalry of the Tang Dynasty's royal division is, much more valuable than the musketeers, and even more valuable than the artillery!
In order to avoid losses, Colonel Cao Mingda chose to turn around and instead of continuing along the river, he continued to intercept two hundred meters away from the river.
And this means that he almost watched almost a thousand Ming troops in front of him rush over, but he couldn't care about these Ming troops who had already run to the river. What he wanted to do was to stop the remaining Ming troops.
The Ming army below!
This cavalry unit of more than 600 cavalrymen, like a sharp knife, rushed directly through the array of the Ming army's defeated troops, dividing the Ming army into two. The Ming army in the south continued to run towards the river.
Go there, and then scramble to get on the boat. The Ming army behind them did not have such good luck. They faced repeated attacks by the light cavalry led by Cao Mingda. They only rushed twice. These intercepted Ming troops
Even though there were heavy casualties, no one dared to rush towards the river.
Some people knelt down and surrendered directly, while others fled randomly in other directions, and some even fled towards the city in reverse.
But the efforts of these people will be in vain, because needless to say, those who escape back to the city will definitely become the victims of the Tang Dynasty King's army or prisoners of war, and those who escape in other directions will also encounter the rear.
The infantrymen of the Tang Dynasty King's Division followed.
Behind the six hundred cavalry troops, more than two thousand people from the Fifth Infantry Regiment were coming. On the other side, the First Infantry Regiment also sent an infantry battalion to reinforce the southern front.
Because the Ming army had never broken through from the northern front, the First Infantry Regiment, which had always been idle, also tried to deploy a battalion to support the southern front, but the main force would still be stationed on the northern front.
You must know that there are still tens of thousands of Ming troops in the city at this time. What if they see that there are no puppet Tang rebels on the northern front and all of them run away from the northern front?
Even Hao Bainian will not be able to bear this responsibility by then!
And these troops are enough to block the gap on the southern front!
Cao Mingda's six hundred cavalry were like a copper wall and an iron wall, blocking the passage from the south city gate to the river.
A moment later, an infantry battalion of the 5th Infantry Regiment also arrived quickly through a forced march. The battalion commander of the 14th Infantry Battalion of the 5th Infantry Regiment was very straightforward. He rushed up with the 14th Infantry Battalion, and then
Blocked the South City Gate!
Then a tight phalanx was listed. This was an infantry phalanx used in field battles. The Tang Army relied on this to crush almost countless Ming armies.
At this time, not to mention that the Ming army that came out of the city gate was just a few defeated troops, even a well-organized regular army recruiting soldiers, even the most powerful Ming army soldiers in the Guangdong and Guangdong Ming armies, I am afraid they will not be able to break through the fifth infantry regiment.
Square formation of the 14th Infantry Battalion.
The 14th Infantry Battalion was like a thick city gate, directly blocking the south city gate, while the 600 cavalry troops behind were constantly wandering, chasing the Ming army that had escaped before, forcing these troops to retreat.
The Ming army surrendered!
At this time, the battle situation on the southern front had barely stabilized, and Colonel Cao Mingda also had the extra mood to look back at the Ming army ships on the river and the Ming army on board.
According to visual inspection, there are probably two to three thousand Ming troops who have boarded the ship. It would be a pity to let these people escape, but there is nothing he can do about it. His troops are only cavalry. The cavalry cannot board the ship.
Combat.
Not to mention his cavalry, even if the infantry came, they actually couldn't stop these Ming troops from escaping.
First of all, the Ming army has set sail. The infantry troops that came over can only use muskets and bows to fight for a while. As for the artillery, don't think too much. After those heavy artillery are pulled over, the Ming army's ships will not know where they are.
.
Cao Mingda led the cavalry to wander by the river, looking at the Ming army fleet that was gradually leaving the shore. Wang Yue and a group of surviving senior generals from the Ming army also looked at the 600 puppet Tang thief cavalry on the shore and the thief army behind them.
infantry.
At this time, Wang Yue turned his head and looked at Yu Dayou, who looked exhausted and still had blood stains on his body, and said: "General Yu, thank you for your hard work!"
Yu Dayou showed a wry smile at this time: "I have three thousand soldiers in my headquarters, but less than a thousand of them escaped. I am so ashamed of them!"
At this time, Wei Yan stepped forward and said: "General Yu, there is no need to be like this. It is not easy for your department to hold on to the end and successfully evacuate. Moreover, you can successfully evacuate with hundreds of friendly troops along the way. This is
A great achievement!"
It was not easy for Yu Dayou to successfully escape at the last moment, and although he fled in embarrassment with his troops, he did not say that he would retreat without a fight or retreat privately. He had received a clear message from Shangfeng
After giving the order to retreat, he led the troops to retreat.
Along the way, Yu Dayou gathered many defeated Ming troops from other troops, and then rushed out of the southern front with him. Although he was intercepted by the cavalry of the puppet Tang rebel army in the end, he lost half of his troops and left the city.
Of the three to four thousand people, only a thousand or so people arrived at the shore and boarded the ship, but everyone knew that he could not be blamed for this.
On the contrary, Yu Dayou is the only one among many Ming army generals who can achieve this level.
Unexpectedly, tens of thousands of Ming troops were defeated in the city, including many high-ranking generals, but no one could maintain the retreat order of the troops as well as Yu Dayou, and even gathered the friendly troops and retreated together.
At this time, Wang Yue said: "In the battle at Wuzhou, it was not our soldiers who lost their lives, but the traitors and soldiers who were so numerous. Even though we were defeated today, our officers and soldiers still killed a lot of traitors and inflicted heavy losses on the Tang traitors. Today, Wang Shi must quickly attack
March east to Zhaoqing to consolidate the city's defenses and wait for the reinforcements from friendly troops from Huguang and other provinces!"
"After the friendly troops from Huguang and other provinces arrive, our imperial army will definitely be able to counterattack Wuzhou, level Guangxi, and wipe out the puppet Tang Dynasty!"
After Wang Yue said these words to encourage morale, he said again: "Send the order, speed up the sailing, and move to Zhaoqing!"
When he said this, he officially announced that he had given up the tens of thousands of Ming troops still in Wuzhou City. There was no other way, even if he didn't want to give up, there was no other way!
Although there are many boats on the river, there is no problem in accommodating several thousand people if they are squeezed in. But the key point is that the cavalry of the Puppet Tang thief army on the river are watching eagerly, let alone the Puppet Tang thief army.
A large group of infantry had already arrived and completely blocked the south city gate. It was almost impossible for the Ming troops in the city to break out.
At this time, even if the Ming army in the city wanted to break out from other directions, Wang Yue would actually be unable to meet them.
At this point, their only choice is to set sail and sail eastward along the river!
As for how many more people would be able to escape successfully, Wang Yue had no hope.
Although Wuzhou is easy to defend and difficult to attack, on the other hand, if it is surrounded, don't expect to be able to escape.
Except for escaping from the river, all other directions are basically dead ends!
Wang Yue took the two to three thousand Ming troops who had escaped and set sail for Zhaoqing. On the way to Zhaoqing, he also began to think about how to make a profit.
It is absolutely impossible to write down the true situation of such a huge defeat in Wuzhou. If he really wrote it like this, Wang Yue's head would be chopped off in minutes, although even if he embellishes it, his end may not be very good.
, but at least it won’t be that miserable!
After thinking hard for a long time, he came up with the main content of the excerpt!
There are four key points:
First, in the Battle of Wuzhou, our army had no foreign aid and its own strength was insufficient.
Second, although our troops were insufficient, our army inflicted great damage on the rebels.
Third, our army suffered little losses in this battle.
Fourth, the withdrawal from Wuzhou was not a defeat, but a strategic and proactive retreat in order to continue to kill the rebel troops and wipe out the puppet Tang Dynasty.
Based on the above, our army entered victoriously, and definitely did not flee with a disastrous defeat!