Chapter five hundred and fifty-seven Jingzhou, there is no room for loss!
As early as when the puppet Tang thief army went north to Guilin, he had already realized that once the puppet Tang thief army completely captured Guilin, it would pose a major threat to Jingzhou, and Jingzhou served as the logistics supply base for the westward march to Xingquan Prefecture.
, there is no room for error.
So even though the puppet Tang thief army was still in Guilin at that time, he had already sent tens of thousands of troops to go south to Guilin, and told the tens of thousands of Ming troops not to confront the puppet Tang thief army head-on, because he knew that if they met head-on, it would be very difficult for them to do so.
It is very likely that the tens of thousands of soldiers and horses are no match for the puppet Tang rebel army, so he asked the tens of thousands of Ming troops to attack the food routes of the puppet Tang rebel army, focusing on the weak points.
He did not seek to kill or injure many Puppet Tang rebels, nor did he expect to recapture Guilin. He only hoped that the tens of thousands of Ming troops could hold back the Puppet Tang rebels and hold them firmly in Guilin Mansion.
The main Ming army in Quan Mansion had enough time to seize Xingquan Mansion and encircle and annihilate the puppet Tang rebel army in Xingquan Mansion.
The early battle situation did develop as he expected. After tens of thousands of Ming troops were sent out, the puppet Tang rebel army in the Guilin area was too exhausted to cope with it and was unable to move northward.
However, now, these puppet Tang thief troops suddenly appeared in Jingzhou. The reason for this situation is nothing more than two possibilities. One is that the puppet Tang thief army in Guilin ignored the retreat and headed north directly.
And this possibility is unlikely, because in this case, their retreat may be cut off by our own army. When the food and grass are no longer available, these puppet Tang traitor armies, let alone marching to Jingzhou to relieve Xingquan Prefecture, may themselves
They will all be surrounded by their own army.
You must know that the Jingzhou area, as an important logistics base for the Huguang Ming Army, is naturally not deserted. On the contrary, it is heavily populated with troops. There are tens of thousands of troops in the city of Jingzhou.
Judging from the fact that the puppet Tang thief army had stalled in Guilin before, the commander of this puppet Tang thief army should not be such a stupid young man who would go north regardless.
The second possibility is that the puppet Tang rebel army in the Guilin area received reinforcements. After receiving the reinforcements, some of the puppet Tang rebel army left some people to maintain the food route and some went north.
This possibility is also the highest. The Puppet Tang thief army has a lot of troops. It has long been said that the Puppet Tang thief army has more than 100,000 soldiers. Even now, many Puppet Tang thief troops have gone to Guangdong, but the thieves who stayed in Guangxi
There will still be no shortage of troops.
Zhang Yue felt helpless when he thought of the puppet Tang bandit army increasing its troops in Guilin, and the possibility of continuing to increase its troops in the future.
It doesn’t matter that these puppet Tang thief armies can be fought, but there are still a lot of them. To annihilate the puppet Tang thief army, I am afraid that it cannot be done by relying on the four provinces alone, not to mention that in these four provinces, in fact, Guizhou
Most of Guangxi, all of Guangxi and half of Guangdong have fallen into the hands of the puppet Tang bandits. Even if Zhang Yue has three heads and six arms, he cannot recruit troops from these places.
Now the only thing he can rely on is Huguang.
Fortunately, Huguang is a big province. If you are ruthless, you can gather a lot of troops. But now it seems that relying on the troops of Huguang can maintain the current situation. But if you want to invade Guizhou, Guangxi and Guangdong, I am afraid that
It is unlikely, so we should ask for help from Southern Zhili, Jiangnan, Fujian and other provinces, so that they can send troops as soon as possible.
Encircling and suppressing the puppet Tang Dynasty could no longer be accomplished by one province or even four provinces. The imperial court had to mobilize all the troops from across the country, and it was best to send border troops southward, so that nothing could go wrong.
I just don’t know when the imperial court will be able to mobilize the border troops to go south!
Thinking of this, Zhang Yue sighed a little. Mobilizing more provinces and even border troops to participate in the encirclement and suppression of the puppet Tang rebel army was no longer something he could decide. He could only report it to the capital and let the big guys in the capital
Make a decision and do your own thing right now.
Since the puppet Tang thief army has come to Jingzhou, it is natural that they cannot allow the puppet Tang thief army to seize Jingzhou smoothly. In this case, our army of more than 50,000 people who have entered Xingquan Prefecture will fall into a counter-siege and be cut off from food and grass.
, let alone an army of 50,000, even an army of 500,000 will collapse.
Therefore, Zhang Yue quickly ordered the defenders of Jingzhou to stand firm on the spot, and issued a death order. Once Jingzhou was lost, the officials in the city, both civil and military, would be executed, and anyone who dared to surrender to the thieves would have their homes confiscated and their clans exterminated.
Because many civil and military officials in Guizhou, Guangxi and other provinces had defected to thieves before, especially the officials whose families were originally in these two provinces, there was no psychological pressure at all when they defected to thieves, which made Zhang Yue change his decision.
First of all, he transferred all officials from Guizhou, Guangxi, and Guangdong to other provinces to prevent them from defecting to traitors before the battle. Of course, this transfer was not directly transferred to official positions. He did not have the power. He used a flexible method.
, For example, other dispatches were assigned to go to South Zhili and Jiangnan areas, or to purchase military rations, request reinforcements, etc.
The team that went to Nanzhili to purchase military rations consisted of more than thirty people, all civil and military officials from three provinces!
The generals who commanded the troops on the front lines and the civil servants in several areas who frequently visited the front lines were all from other provinces, not even from Huguang. At the same time, they all came from big families and had a lot of relatives and friends behind them.
In Zhang Yue's view, such a person would have scruples and would not dare to surrender to the thieves at will when faced with heavy troops from the puppet Tang Dynasty.
Because surrendering to the thieves means that the whole family behind you will be confiscated and exterminated by the court.
They cannot surrender to the thieves, so they can only defend to the death, because if they cannot defend, they themselves will die.
In Zhang Yue's opinion, the puppet Tang rebel army could hold on to Xingquan Fucheng for several months with just four thousand remaining soldiers. He deployed tens of thousands of troops in Jingzhou, so how could they hold on for ten days and a half?
And with this time, he can continue to mobilize troops to return to Jingzhou to aid, and by then he may be able to encircle and attack the puppet Tang bandits who dare to enter Jingzhou.
Therefore, Zhang Yue ordered the Jingzhou garrison to defend, and at the same time, he sent fast horses to Xingquan Prefecture and asked the army stationed in Xingquan Prefecture to mobilize at least ten thousand people to return to Jingzhou to aid.
As for himself, he continued to sit in the hinterland of Huguang and continued to search for troops to prepare to reinforce Jingzhou.
There is no room for failure in Jingzhou!
When Zhang Yue was dispatching his troops, Chen Keqiao also led his troops to run wildly. After taking the city steps, the main force of the Fourth Army did not stop at all, but continued towards Suining.
The army rushed all the way and arrived in the city within a few days. However, after arriving, they found that there were not many Ming troops here, only a few hundred people at most.
Seven to eight thousand troops attacked the city and completely captured the city in half a day. However, during the siege, Chen Keqiao discovered that although the Ming army here was small in number and had poor combat effectiveness, they would still surrender.
However, all the soldiers and low-level officers surrendered voluntarily, but none of the middle- and high-level officers and civilian officials surrendered. A few fought to the end, many committed suicide, and some fled.
No one is willing to surrender and be a prisoner, let alone surrender to the Tang Dynasty and become a part of the Tang Dynasty!
At this time, he also thought that when he attacked Chengbu before, it seemed that the mid-level and senior officers and civilian prisoners of the Ming army were not captured. There seemed to be something wrong with this!
With suspicion, Chen Keqiao asked some of the low-level officers and officials in the city's garrison to be interrogated. Only then did he discover that many of the middle- and high-level officials in the city were temporarily transferred from other provinces.
Confiscating the family and exterminating the clan.
And there were more troops in the city before, but they were suddenly transferred away two days ago.
After hearing this, Chen Keqiao said: "Zhang Yue is really smart. He uses outsiders to lead the troops, and he is very cruel!"
At this time, the adjutant on the side said: "General, now that the Puppet Ming Dynasty has transferred the troops from the city, I am afraid that they have been transferred to Jingzhou. In this way, when we go to attack Jingzhou, we may encounter some trouble!"
But Chen Keqiao smiled slightly after hearing this, and then said: "Who said that I am going to attack Jingzhou? This Jingzhou is the rear area of the puppet Ming thief army. You don't need to think about it to know that there must be a heavy concentration of troops. We
Attacking Jingzhou is just a tough nut to crack, it will take a long time, and we don’t know if we can win it!"
"Aren't we going to attack Jingzhou? Aren't we going to outflank the puppet Ming thief army's retreat?" The major next to him didn't understand Chen Keqiao's thoughts. Previously, their fourth army rushed towards Jingzhou. No one saw it.
Everyone would guess that Chen Keqiao was going to fight in Jingzhou!
At this time, Chen Keqiao said: "Who said that to outflank the Ming army's rear route, we must attack Jingzhou? It is such a long road from Xingquan Fucheng to Jingzhou City. I can cut off the connection between the two places at any place I choose."
As long as the connection between the Ming armies in Xingquan Prefecture and Jingzhou is cut off, I don’t believe that the tens of thousands of puppet Ming rebels in Xingquan Prefecture can safely besiege Xingquan Prefecture!"
"Once the food and wages are cut off, the morale of the 50,000 puppet Ming rebels will be greatly disturbed, and they will definitely retreat by then!"
"If we just retreat, the 50,000 bandit troops in Xingquan Prefecture will retreat, which will put a lot of pressure on us!"
Chen Keqiao looked at his adjutant with a look that looked like an idiot: "Who told you that you must resist them? We won't leave if they retreat?"
After saying that, I sighed a little. My captain's adjutant said that he had attended the Royal Academy and worked as a staff officer in the Combat Department for a period of time, but his mind was a bit unclear. He probably still doesn't know that he is the first adjutant.
What exactly are the combat missions of the Fourth Army?
What is the main task of his Fourth Army heading north? Is it to conquer Jingzhou? To enter the hinterland of Huguang? Yes, but these are not the most important combat tasks of the Fourth Army at present.
The most important task of his Fourth Army now is to cooperate with the Second Army and rescue the Fourth Infantry Regiment. Under this strategic need, what his Fourth Army has to do is to contain more Ming troops and force them to
Withdrawing troops from Xingquan Prefecture would force the Ming Army to send some troops back to Jingzhou to assist the Second Army in rescuing Xingquan Prefecture.
To a certain extent, this is a very simple plan to encircle Wei and save Zhao!