Five hundred and fiftieth chapters Longyan furious
As reinforcements, Fang Xitong's troops failed to rescue Xingquan Mansion and lost nearly a thousand people. When Li Xuan, who was far away in Zhaoqing, learned the news, Long Yan was furious. Zeng Ziwen even heard that His Majesty
Without caring about dignity at all, he directly yelled at Fang Xitong that he was a fool!
Zeng Ziwen was embarrassed and worried after hearing this!
This was the second worst defeat since the founding of the Tang Dynasty. The first worst was the battle of Lijiacun, and the second worst was Fang Xitong's battle to rescue Xingquan Fucheng, and it was also a defeat in the field.
, you must know that since last summer, the Tang Dynasty King's Division and the Ming Army have not lost a single defeat in many large-scale battles, especially in the field battles, and they have won every time, but Fang Xitong broke this
As a precedent, if this were to spread, it would have a huge impact on the morale of the military.
Even if they can't rescue the defenders in Xingquanfu City, they will still lose troops and generals. Even if Fang Xitong said that most of the losses were soldiers of the garrison, the main force of the Third Infantry Regiment, especially the three core infantry battalions, did not suffer much.
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But even so, Zeng Ziwen is a little worried that the situation in eastern Guizhou will continue to deteriorate to the point of being irreversible.
Li Xuan was angry and Zeng Ziwen was worried that they had reasons to be angry and worried, but Fang Xitong himself also looked depressed and helpless!
The Huguang Ming Army marched into Xingquan Prefecture as early as two months ago, but the main force that went south to Guangxi did not send a single soldier back to Xingquan Prefecture in Guizhou. Instead, it led a heavy army group to continue to besiege Wuzhou. After capturing Wuzhou,
They launched successive campaigns to capture Zhaoqing, and although they also dispatched the Fourth Army north to Guilin and then into Huguang, water from afar could not quench the thirst for nearness.
Fang Xitong could only give up the siege of Guiyang, leaving a garrison regiment behind, and led the main force of the 3rd Infantry Regiment and a garrison regiment back eastward day and night.
The mobilization of large armies, especially military mobilization based solely on foot, is extremely slow. Moreover, when Fang Xitong received the order to return eastward, Xingquan Prefecture had actually been besieged for half a month, and then military reports and orders were passed on.
It also took some time. When he returned, he couldn't get up quickly even if he drove faster.
After finally returning to Liping Mansion, he fought several battles with nearly 10,000 Ming army troops in Liping Mansion. Although he successfully defeated this Ming army branch, he also paid a heavy price.
There were not many casualties directly on the battlefield, only two or three hundred soldiers, but there were quite a few soldiers who fell behind due to injuries and lack of physical strength along the way.
By the time he pacified Liping Prefecture and marched eastward to Xingquan Prefecture, the number of troops under his command had been reduced from more than 5,000 to 4,000. Moreover, the soldiers were weak and exhausted, and all kinds of supplies, especially ammunition and other combat supplies, had been exhausted.
It's an extreme shortage.
But even so, he had to go!
When he planned to march eastward to Xingquanfu, the city had actually been besieged by a heavy Ming army group for nearly two months, and the situation was quite bad. According to the reports of a few envoys who broke out to report military conditions, Xingquanfu City
Most of the 4th Infantry Regiment and a garrison regiment of the 1st Infantry Brigade continued to fight for several months. They not only defended Xingquan Prefecture, but also continued to fight the Ming army in other places in Xingquan Prefecture such as Zhengtai County.
Although the series of battles caused great damage to the Ming army, as the reinforcements of the Ming army continued to arrive, these troops had to gradually abandon other places and finally retreated to Xingquan Fucheng.
In this series of battles, the Fourth Infantry Regiment and the Garrison Regiment suffered heavy losses. More than half of their heavy weapons were lost. A lot of light weapons, especially muskets, were also lost due to attrition. At present, the regular army of this unit has less than 2,000.
The garrison only had 2,000 captured pirates, leaving a total of 4,000 remaining soldiers to defend Xingquan City.
However, due to the lack of light and heavy weapons, the combat capability has been greatly weakened. In contrast, the Ming army in Xingquan Prefecture is getting stronger and stronger.
At the beginning, the Ming army marched eastward to Xingquan Prefecture with only 30,000 people. However, Zhang Yue, who fought in Huguang, was very good at suppressing the Huguang Ming army and sent reinforcements continuously. In the past few months,
Eastern Guizhou continues to increase troops. According to intelligence, there are tens of thousands of Ming troops in northeastern Guizhou. There are at least 40,000 to 50,000 people in Xingquan Prefecture. The Ming troops who originally entered Liping Prefecture actually numbered nearly 10,000, but they were already defeated by Fang.
Xitong was repulsed and the remnants of his troops retreated to Xingquan Mansion.
And these are still the current strength of the Ming Army. In fact, in this series of battles, the losses of the Ming Army were not small. The losses of the Ming Army in the northeast were smaller, but they were estimated to have killed and injured thousands of people. As for
The Ming army here in Xingquan Mansion has already had three Ming armies of 10,000 people defeated by the garrison. However, because the Ming army has too much advantage, these defeated Ming army remnants will soon be gathered up.
, Even so, there were almost six or seven Ming soldiers killed or injured in Xingquan Mansion.
Including the one or two thousand Ming troops killed and injured in Liping Prefecture, the total number of Ming casualties in these three places has actually exceeded 10,000 people.
However, even so, the Huguang Ming Army still stationed more than 50,000 troops in Xingquan Prefecture, and more than 10,000 troops in northeastern Guizhou, a total of more than 60,000 troops.
The Ming army gathered heavily in Xingquan Prefecture, but the Tang Dynasty defenders only had more than 4,000 defenders, and they were short of ammunition, especially the remnant soldiers who lacked heavy weapons.
Now the defenders in Xingquan City, even if they want to abandon Xingquan City and break out, they are actually unable to break out. They can only bite the bullet and continue to defend Xingquan City.
However, such a passive defense is also quite troublesome. Fang Xitong estimated that if Xingquan Mansion continues to be besieged, the Ming army will not need to invade, and the three to four thousand defenders and the two to thirty thousand people in the city will starve to death.
So even though he knew that his troops were exhausted after a long journey and continuous fierce battles with the Ming army, he still could not stop and continued to attack eastward, fighting all the way to the gate of Xingquanfu City.
Otherwise, the defenders and people in the city would be doomed.
However, when Fang Xitong marched east, although five thousand soldiers fought bravely, the personnel were exhausted. In addition, various combat materials were not replenished in time after several battles in Liping Mansion. After several attempts, they could not shake the tens of thousands of Ming troops.
Intercepted, and even almost got ambushed by a heavy Ming army. In the end, Fang Xitong made a decisive decision and sacrificed a garrison of more than 400 people to cover the retreat of the main force, and only then escaped the ambush circle of more than 20,000 Ming troops.
However, although this series of eastward operations had some results and tactical victories, from a strategic perspective, it was a failure because they failed to successfully rescue Xingquan Fucheng.
It was impossible to attack for a long time, coupled with the lack of personnel, the casualties were not small, and the ammunition was also seriously in short supply, so he could only suspend the futile attack and rest on the spot, while waiting for the new troops and ammunition in the rear to be replenished.
At the same time, they used 500-mile horses to ask for reinforcements from the Fourth Army in the direction of Guilin, hoping that the Fourth Army would move north to Huguang as soon as possible, cut off the Ming army's food routes, and contain the Ming army.
Provide convenience for the Fourth Regiment of the Second Army to rescue Xingquan Fucheng and the thousands of troops in the city!
This series of battles in eastern Guizhou occurred in late February and March, but when Li Xuan learned about the defeat of the Guizhou Second Army, it was already April.
At this time, the first imperial examination of the Tang Dynasty had just ended, Enke Enke had just come to an end, and those candidates for the new imperial examination were entering the officialdom of the Tang Dynasty with great hope.
The defeat in the Guizhou War was closely guarded. Only a few senior military generals and Li Xuan knew about it. Even Liu Bagou, the chief minister of the cabinet, did not know that the Second Army was at Xingquan Mansion.
They suffered a defeat, so much so that they requested the Fourth Army to move north for assistance as soon as possible.
Today, in the eyes of outsiders, the Tang Dynasty is in a good situation. Politically, it has frequently gained popularity among the people, but militarily, the Ming army has been unable to hold its head high.
At this time, if the outside world knew that thousands of troops were deeply surrounded by the Ming army, and the first rescue operation failed, I'm afraid it would create unnecessary waves.
Therefore, Li Xuan personally ordered the senior military generals and relevant people who knew about this matter to shut their mouths and stop talking nonsense. I will kill anyone who shakes the people's morale.
However, although he was angry and worried, Zhaoqing was too far away from Guizhou, and it was impossible for Li Xuan to command remotely from such a distance. He could only hope that the defenders of Xingquan Prefecture would continue to hold on, and the Fourth Army could move north as soon as possible and enter.
In Huguang, the Second Army was able to reach the gates of Xingquanfu as soon as possible and rescue the besieged soldiers and civilians.
So he just sent two imperial edicts to the generals on the front line. One was to Fang Xitong, commander of the Second Army. The content strictly ordered him to defeat the area in front of him as soon as possible and rescue the Xingquan Prefecture army.
The other one is for Major General Chen Keqiao, commander of the Fourth Army and commander of the 3rd Infantry Brigade, asking him to go north to Huguang as soon as possible, so as not to waste time with the remnants of the Ming army in Guilin, or to be sent by the Ming army.
The small-scale troops held back their pace and marched decisively and quickly into Huguang to reduce the pressure on the Second Army of Xingquan Prefecture.
After receiving the imperial edict, Fang Xitong naturally had nothing to say. All he could do was seize the time to rest and recover, allowing the troops to regain their combat effectiveness and then continue to attack in the direction of Xingquan Mansion, in order to break through the Ming army's interception and reach Xingquan as soon as possible.
Under the city.
But after Chen Keqiao received Li Xuan's imperial edict, he felt a little headache.
Recently Chen Keqiao has encountered no less trouble than Fang Xitong.
After conquering Guilin Fucheng, he originally planned to go all the way to Jingzhou, Huguang, but he had just conquered Guilin. Zhang Yue, who got the news, was not a fool. He immediately knew about the rebels in Guilin.
Threatened, tens of thousands of troops were quickly sent south to Guilin.
If the Ming army only sent tens of thousands of people to fight with him, it would actually be nothing. Chen Keqiao had a hundred confidence to kill these more than 10,000 Ming army and then continue to go north. However, these more than 10,000 Ming army were wise.
, divided into several groups and hid in Tibet, and when they found the opportunity, they attacked the logistics and transportation routes of the Fourth Army. However, they also attacked small counties with only a few bandits garrisoned, creating a smoky atmosphere in Guilin.
Chen Keqiao did not dare to go north boldly because his supply lines were threatened. He could only stay in the central and northern areas of Guilin to eliminate tens of thousands of Ming troops who were fighting in scattered directions.
As a result, the plan of allowing the Fourth Army to quickly move northward to reduce the pressure on Xingquan Prefecture by encircling Wei and rescuing Zhao failed.
Now Chen Keqiao frowned when he saw the unquestionable words in the imperial edict telling him to go north quickly, and many of the officers under his command also looked embarrassed. This battle was not going to be easy to fight!