Just when Chen Ke led a group of soldiers who, in addition to conducting adaptive training before the battle, just ate and slept, and continued to eat after enough sleep, the Ming army generals who had just left Xingquan Prefecture and led the army into Jingzhou,
Hong Linquan, who was in charge of military affairs in Huguangdu and still held the title of general, looked irritable.
This march was originally relatively smooth, but someone on the way leaked the news, letting the middle and low-level officers and even ordinary soldiers below know that their supply lines had been cut off by the puppet Tang thief army, and the army
The fact that the food in memory has been less than seven days.
This situation inevitably caused a fluctuation in military morale, and many mid-level officers showed a bit of pessimism.
Some people even preferred not to believe correct information, plausibly saying that there were tens of thousands of pseudo-Tang rebels who cut off the supply lines between the two places, and there were at least 20,000 real rebels among them.
These idiots don't even think about it. If there are tens of thousands of pseudo-Tang rebels going north to Jingzhou, and there are 20,000 real thieves among them, they will still have to cut off the supply lines between the two places and fight directly to Xingquan Mansion or
Wouldn't it be better to storm Jingzhou City?
How many troops did the puppet Tang rebel army have in total?
Although some outsiders say the strength of the puppet Tang rebel army is tens of thousands, and some say hundreds of thousands, Hong Linquan, as a senior general of the Ming army, still knows a little bit.
After all, although the Puppet Tang thief army can conceal the detailed strength of its troops, many things are semi-public. As long as people are interested in asking and collecting information, even ordinary people can judge it from some official information of the Puppet Tang Dynasty.
Calculated from many sources, the total strength of the Puppet Tang thief army is a relatively vague figure, and it is difficult for all parties to judge, because the Puppet Tang thief army consists of three types: the Guards, the regular army, the garrison, and the capture camp.
Large categories, and the strength of the bandit-capturing camps is very difficult to determine. Let alone them coming, even Li Xuan himself can't figure out how many bandit-catching camps there are in the huge Tang Dynasty, because almost every banditry camp in the Tang Dynasty is
Counties under the control of the dynasty will have pirate camps, but the number is not uniform, some are less, some are more, and they change all the time.
However, it is difficult to judge the number of pirate camps. The number of garrison, regular army and guards in the Tang Dynasty is relatively easy to judge, because you can just look at the number.
A brigade of the Puppet Tang thief army has about 6,000 people. It is said that there are five regular military brigades and about seven or eight garrison brigades in the Puppet Tang thief army. Calculated in this way, it is about 80,000 people, and then add other miscellaneous things.
For an army of 100,000 people, it is more appropriate to give an estimate.
But in fact, many troops in the Tang Dynasty were not fully staffed, and there were many baggage, navy and other auxiliary troops. In addition, there was also the new military camp, an institution independent of the combat troops.
Not to mention anything else, there are almost more than 20,000 recruits being trained in the recruit camp.
Because the military configuration of the Royal Division of the Tang Dynasty is relatively complex and has many numbers, it has always been difficult for the outside world to judge how many troops the Royal Division of the Tang Dynasty has.
But there is one thing that many people are certain of, and that is that the normal number of the puppet Tang thief army, the so-called real thief, is only 30,000 people at most.
Because the puppet Tang rebel army only has the designation of five infantry brigades, and these five are all counted, there are only 30,000 people.
It is impossible for the main forces of these pseudo-Tang thief armies to be used on a certain front. They are found in Guizhou, Guangxi, Guangdong, and Huguang, because there are thousands of pseudo-Tang thief troops in Jingzhou.
Thieves, that's pretty good, there's no way there are tens of thousands.
For those who had shaken the morale of the army, whether because of ignorance or fear, or because of deliberate exaggeration, Hong Lin caught and killed every one of them. In the past few days, he had killed more than a dozen such people, including even
They all include one thousand households.
Only in this way can the morale of the military be initially stabilized, but even so, the soldiers still have fear in their hearts about the future.
He felt a lot of pressure to lead such a group of people to fight against the new force of the Puppet Tang Bandit Army!
But now he doesn't have much thought about this. No matter what, he needs to go to Jingzhou to kill this pseudo-Tang bandit army. Even if he can't kill them completely, he still has to drive them out of Jingzhou.
Prefecture, otherwise, the supply lines in these two places will not be restored. The more than 30,000 troops in Xingquan Mansion rely on food reserves, but they cannot sustain them for long.
Ten days is okay, half a month is okay, but over time, there will inevitably be uncontrollable changes.
After leading the army all the way eastward, he quickly learned the information about the puppet Tang rebel army from the scouts!
As the previous intelligence said, the pseudo-Tang bandit army that appeared in Jingzhou actually numbered 7,000 people, and most of them were wearing ugly military uniforms such as blue clothes and red trousers. According to the appearance of a group of Ming soldiers,
Judging from experience, all thieves wearing such ugly uniforms are real thieves. Although they look a bit ugly, their combat power cannot be underestimated.
Therefore, although he had 15,000 troops on hand, he was still more cautious and sent out all the people on horseback under his command to continue the investigation. On the one hand, he was to maintain surveillance on the puppet Tang thief army in front of him, and on the other hand, he was also cautious.
Scout the perimeter to see if there are any other puppet Tang rebels ambushing you.
He didn't want to be in front of the enemy when another bandit army suddenly appeared to attack his flank.
In addition, he also sent fast horses to Jingzhou City to report the news, so that they could prepare, and agreed to meet up about twenty miles northwest of Jingzhou City in five days.
He did not plan to attack the puppet Tang rebel army immediately. He still planned to fight slowly and rendezvous with the Jingzhou defenders before attacking this daring army. However, they are still staying outside Jingzhou City.
.
By then our side will be able to gather about 25,000 soldiers and horses, and it will be more certain to defeat a bandit army of 7,000 people. Even if we cannot win by then, we can still protect ourselves.
Hong Linquan was extremely cautious. He did not lead his army to march towards the Fourth Army, but began to detour to the north.
Naturally, Chen Keqiao learned of this situation quickly.
It’s not like the Ming Army only had reconnaissance cavalry, the Fourth Army also had reconnaissance cavalry, right?
Although the two sides were dozens of miles apart at this time, due to the presence of a large number of scouts, the movements of both sides were actually transparent to each other.
There is no way, the reconnaissance cavalry is very fast, and it doesn't even need to be many. Dozens of reconnaissance cavalry can roughly search the dozens of miles, not to mention, there are many reconnaissance cavalry on both sides.
When the reconnaissance cavalry from both sides conduct investigations, they will inevitably come into contact!
At this time, about ten miles away from the Fourth Army's station, a dozen cavalrymen from the Tang Dynasty King's Division were leading their horses slowly forward. Looking at the direction they were marching, they were not heading towards the Ming army, but around.
Make a large circle around your own troops.
That's right, they are not the reconnaissance cavalry sent by Chen Keqiao for reconnaissance, but the cavalry troops of the Second Cavalry Battalion of the Fourth Army. Their mission is not to conduct reconnaissance, but to shoulder the task of peripheral security and interception and infiltration.
The incoming Ming army reconnaissance cavalry.
In order to save the physical strength of the horses, they did not march on horseback. Instead, the cavalry led the horses. In order to reduce the burden on the horses, they even carried their own equipment on their backs, leaving only the equipment on the horses.
Just a small amount of equipment.
Among the cavalry units of the Tang Dynasty, where one man rides alone, in fact, unless it is combat time, it is difficult to see the cavalry marching on horseback even during combat patrols. However, any cavalry who dares to do this will be punished.
The cavalry officers whipped their horses directly!
Because as a cavalryman, the war horse is his second life. Whether he is escaping or killing the enemy, he relies heavily on horses. Therefore, there is a crucial one in the relevant regulations of the cavalry, that is, no matter when and where,
It is necessary to preserve the physical fitness of the war horse as much as possible.
Unless the officer explicitly orders a horse to be marched quickly, it is absolutely not allowed to ride a horse privately during the march.
The dozen or so cavalrymen leading the marching horses belonged to the First Cavalry Group under the Second Cavalry Battalion, and were sent by their superiors to perform peripheral security tasks.
As they walked, they looked around, trying to find traces of the enemy's cavalry.
At noon, a lieutenant cavalry officer leading the team ordered the troops to rest on the spot. In addition to the soldiers eating dry food and drinking water themselves, they also needed to feed the war horses with food.
During the execution of combat missions, in order to ensure the physical fitness of the war horse to the greatest extent, it is necessary to feed it.
While most of the cavalrymen began to eat by themselves and feed their horses, the other two cavalrymen went out to the edge of the grove to serve as a guard.
These two cavalrymen look a little strange because their ages are so different. The older one looks to be over forty years old. This age is worthy of the name in ancient times when the average life span was only twenty or thirty years old.
You are an elder. Many people at this age have a large number of children and grandchildren.
The other one looks to be only fifteen or sixteen years old, with a childish face, but both of them have one thing in common, that is, they are extremely strong.
Although it is said that there is a general lack of nutrition in this era, resulting in people's bodies being generally thin, the regular soldiers in the Imperial Army of the Tang Dynasty are an exception. With sufficient food to supplement their nutrition, and with appropriate physical training, their physical fitness is better than that of ordinary people.
Much better, and some veterans who have been in the army for a long time are even stronger and stronger.
The exposed little arms of these two people are so strong that you can see the lines of muscles. These muscles are enough to make a group of sub-healthy future generations envious.
At this time, the two men showed a look of alertness in unison. The young cavalry leaned directly on the ground, then put his ears close to the ground, then raised his head and said with a heavy look: "There is an enemy rider!"