If the Fourth Army wants to contain more Ming troops, it needs to cut off the logistics supply line of the 50,000 Ming troops in Xingquan Prefecture. That is a 50,000-strong army. Once food and pay are cut off, the scene will not be too wonderful.
It is certain that the morale of the army will be in turmoil, and there may be a big defeat, but anyone with some military common sense will proceed with caution.
If the Ming army in Xingquan Prefecture insists on not returning to aid Jingzhou, then Chen Keqiao does not mind cutting off the supply line of the Ming army in Xingquan Prefecture, starving them to death, and cooperating with the Second Army to completely annihilate this Ming army.
military.
To cut off the supply line of the Ming army, it is not necessary to attack the city of Jingzhou where there are heavy troops. He can just find a place to station and cut off the supply line between the two places. If the Ming army wants to go out of the city to fight, there will be fewer of them.
He just swallowed it in one gulp. If there was too much, he would run away!
The more important point is, what is the tactical advantage of the Tang Dynasty King Division? It is to fight in the field.
Although the King's Division of the Tang Dynasty fought several tough battles before and after, and successfully won them all, the casualties were relatively high, and the fighting was not very smooth.
Compared to offensive battles, the Tang Dynasty King's Division is better at field battles, especially head-on battles where both sides are taking stances in the wild!
The line tactics of the Tang Dynasty King's Division were created for this kind of decisive battle in the wild!
As long as the Ming army dares to go out of the city to fight, Chen Keqiao is sure to defeat the Ming army of more than 10,000 or even 20,000 or more. There is no need to go to Jingzhou to gnaw on this hard nut!
This time he went north, bringing with him most of the main forces of the Fourth Army, most of the Third Infantry Brigade, including five regular infantry battalions, three reserve battalions, and an artillery battalion with more than ten artillery pieces.
, a cavalry battalion with more than a hundred cavalry, and a baggage regiment of more than a thousand people.
Plus a garrison support group.
The total strength reached more than 7,000 people!
It is absolutely possible for such a large army to kill tens of thousands of Ming troops in field operations. If the Ming troops come even more, even if they are 20,000, Chen Keqiao will dare to fight a dozen!
And he believed that the Ming army also knew this. After all, although the enemy's combat effectiveness was inferior, they were not fools and would not foolishly send thousands of people to try to open up the supply line.
And the facts proved his suspicion!
When the defenders in Jingzhou City discovered that the puppet Tang rebels had captured Suining, they did not continue towards Jingzhou City. Instead, they circled to the west of Jingzhou City. They did not intend to surround Jingzhou City, so they stationed their troops there.
In a village about twenty miles away from Jingzhou City.
At first, after receiving the news, the Ming army in the city did not understand why this bandit army did not attack Jingzhou City, but they soon reacted.
Because on that day, the defenders in the city received reports that a baggage convoy heading to Xingquan Mansion was intercepted by the puppet Tang rebel army. This baggage force, which had more than 500 civilians and was protected by more than a hundred guardsmen, did not stop for a moment.
If it could hold up, it would completely collapse as soon as the puppet Tang bandit army came to attack.
After hearing the news, all the Ming army generals in the city looked sad.
The loss of the baggage troops was not much, just more than a hundred guardsmen. As for the losses of civilians, they were not worth mentioning. In fact, the loss of materials was never much, and it was nothing more than a portion of food and food.
It's just ordnance supplies. There are still plenty of these supplies in Jingzhou City.
But what makes them troubled is that the loss of this baggage unit definitely represents more than just a loss of materials and personnel. More importantly, it means that Jingzhou has no way to continue to supply the army on the front line of Xingquan Prefecture.
Food and wages are paid.
And this kind of thing is very fatal!
Although the frontline army has food reserves, it is not too much. It needs a steady supply of supplies from the rear. Otherwise, the 50,000-strong army will not be able to last long just relying on its own reserves.
More importantly, the lack of food and salary will greatly shake the morale of the military!
But they felt troubled, but there was nothing they could do about it, because they already knew that there were seven thousand fake Tang thieves outside the city, and most of them were real thieves.
The Puppet Tang Bandit Army has been on the rise for a long time. The Ming Dynasty also had a general understanding of the Puppet Tang Bandit Army's military system, and knew that not every bandit in the Puppet Tang Bandit Army was so capable of fighting.
The only ones that can be fought are the pseudo-Tang bandits known as infantry brigades, infantry regiments, etc. These are the real thieves in the Ming army's mouth.
As for those garrison brigades transformed from the Ming army's surrender, the Ming army called them fake thieves!
Because many of the Ming army's descending troops were still wearing the Ming army's military uniforms at the beginning, it was easy to tell the difference between the two at first. However, the garrison brigade continued to wear the Ming army's military uniforms. This was because at the beginning of the Tang Dynasty
They were so poor that they had no spare fabric to make military uniforms for them.
After taking over Guangxi, the Tang Dynasty, which had a little loose money, gradually provided new military uniforms to these garrison brigade troops. In order to distinguish them from the regular army, the uniforms of the garrison brigade were based on gray.
Therefore, you can easily tell them by looking at the colors of their military uniforms. You can also tell them from their weapons. In fact, this is also the best way to distinguish them. The regular army is equipped with muskets, but the garrison brigades are not equipped with muskets.
Therefore, to determine whether a pseudo-Tang thief army is a real thief and whether it is their main force, just look at whether they have muskets.
Judging from the reports of the reconnaissance cavalry, these pseudo-Tang thief armies have a large number of musketeers. If this is not the main force of the pseudo-Tang thief army, no one will believe it.
The combat effectiveness of the real thieves of the Pseudo-Tang Dynasty is basically a common understanding of the frontline Ming army generals. The long and large-scale defeats in Guizhou, Guangxi, Guangdong and other places were basically defeated at the hands of these real thieves.
So Wei Yan, the governor of Guangxi, said that Tang thieves were absolutely invincible.
And the Tang thief who said this was not talking about those Ming troops who surrendered, but those real thieves!
Facing these 7,000 pseudo-Tang rebels, most of whom were real thieves, no matter how arrogant the Ming army generals in the city were, they would not dare to leave the city easily to fight.
Because even if tens of thousands of soldiers from the whole city come out in full force, they probably won't be able to defeat the bandit army in person.
Therefore, all they can do is to suspend the transportation of supplies. Anyway, they cannot break through the blockade of the puppet Tang rebel army. There is no need to continue to waste precious troops and various supplies.
The next thing they have to do is to hold on to the city and wait for reinforcements from the hinterland of Huguang and the army from Xingquan Prefecture to return.
The puppet Tang rebel army entered Jingzhou and cut off the supply channels between Jingzhou and Xingquan Prefecture. This news was quickly learned by the Huguang Ming Army on the front line. After learning the news, several core generals sat together.
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In order to prevent the news from leaking and causing the morale of the army to waver, no one was waiting in the tent of the Chinese army, not even generals of the rank of commander of the guards were qualified to enter.
Those present are all real senior generals and officials. The leader is Tan Rong, the new commander of the Huguang capital. This person had previously served as the commander of the Guizhou capital and was familiar with the situation in Guizhou. He also led troops to suppress rebellions and led troops many times.
Very rich experience.
Before taking up the post of Huguang Capital Commander, he originally served in Nanzhili. However, he was invited and recommended by Zhang Yue and was appointed as the new Huguang Capital Commander.
The 50,000-strong army that entered Xingquan Mansion belonged to his commander!
But this time, in order to allow the frontline generals to fight better without worries, Zhang Yue did not send another governor to Tan Rong to suppress him, but let him lead the army to fight. Even Zhang Yue himself
He also did not point fingers, but tried his best to raise and train troops in the rear and collect various combat materials.
In this mode, Zhang Yue basically coordinates the overall situation in the rear and provides protection for the army on the front line. The army on the front line only needs to fight and win the battle.
And this is Zhang Yue. If it were Wang Yue, the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, he would not be able to trust all the troops to those warriors. If the tens of thousands of troops did not personally command the formation, he would not be able to rest assured in any case, even if he did not do it himself.
When going into battle, senior civil officials such as governors, envoys, and prefects will also be asked to supervise the battle.
It can be said that Zhang Yue and Wang Yue were at two extremes when it came to suppressing the puppet Tang rebels. One was firmly at the rear and coordinating, while the other personally led the troops on the front line.
As for which method is more effective and correct, it is difficult to say at present. After all, it is the public saying that the public is right and the mother-in-law is right. This kind of thing is difficult to make clear.
And don’t think that Wang Yue is unprofessional when he personally leads the troops. As the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, he has military power. It is his duty to lead troops to fight. Many senior civil servants who hold such positions are more or less knowledgeable.
For those who are soldiers, even if they have not actually led troops to fight, they have read several military books.
Not to mention anything else, but the Thirty-Six Strategies can definitely be memorized!
Tan Rong, who had gained full trust, did not live up to Zhang Yue's trust. After leading his army into Xingquan Prefecture, he quickly captured most of Xingquan Prefecture, and then besieged the remaining enemies in Xingquan Prefecture with the puppet Tang thief army.
, originally sent troops to attack Liping Mansion, but after the reinforcements of the puppet Tang rebel army arrived, the army that entered Liping Mansion had to retreat to Xingquan Mansion.
In this process, he can proudly say that he has killed and injured thousands of thieves, including at least a thousand real thieves. These results are real, and they are not like the Guilin victory that Wang Yue boasted about, but countless beheadings.
In fact, there were few results.
Even though there were some results in the Battle of Guilin, the specific results could not be confirmed because they were defeated. However, Tan Rong led his troops in battles and most of them were victorious, so the results can be confirmed.
Originally, he thought that in another ten days and a half, Xingquan Mansion would be able to be captured, and then he would continue to lead his army into Liping Mansion. This would not only severely inflict heavy losses on the rebel army, but also capture the territory heading south.
The passage from Liuzhou led to the hinterland of the Puppet Tang Dynasty.
However, before he could seize Xingquan Mansion, he learned that his retreat had been cut off by the puppet Tang rebel army. After learning the news, his first reaction was: Now he is in big trouble!