Five hundred and sixtieth chapters no accidental war
Two hours later, around 11 o'clock at noon, the Fourth Army, which was running all the way, finally picked up the Jingzhou defenders from the southwest who had already set off and continued westward to join the Xingquan Prefecture reinforcements.
This means that a large-scale encounter is about to begin!
The Ming army was obviously a little surprised by the arrival of the puppet Tang rebels, because most of the reconnaissance cavalry they sent before were heading south and due west. They never thought that the puppet Tang rebels would come around their butts.
From behind, they came from the southeast, so that the reconnaissance cavalry on the outside could not detect it in time. Although the security troops on the inside provided a certain amount of warning time, it was already too late.
Chen Keqiao was riding on his horse, watching the Ming army in front of him hurriedly transform from a marching column into a combat formation, with a smile on his lips, and then issued an order: "Order, with the Fifth Infantry Regiment as the forerunner, the entire army attacks!
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Although this battle was not a sudden encounter, on the contrary, the Ming army was already prepared for it, which can be seen from the fact that they started heading west early in the morning.
Since the detailed movements of the Fourth Army were not known to the Ming army, many senior Ming army generals had already guessed that the puppet Tang rebel army was definitely going to attack one of the two Ming armies, and there were
The most likely possibility is to attack the Jingzhou defenders.
This is also the reason why these Ming troops got up so early and rushed on their way, because they wanted to join forces with the reinforcements of Xingquan Prefecture as soon as possible. In this way, they would not have to fear these pseudo-Tang rebels with a greater military advantage.
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It is a pity that even though they ran all the way, they still failed to meet up with the Xingquan Prefecture Yuan Army in advance and were caught by the Fourth Army.
When the peripheral reconnaissance cavalry discovered that the puppet Tang bandit army was galloping towards them in the southeast direction, these Jingzhou defenders hurriedly changed from marching state to combat state and began to form formations to meet the enemy. Otherwise, they would definitely be
They were going to be massacred by the puppet Tang bandits, and they still had no ability to resist at all.
This battle was already doomed when Chen Keqiao led his troops to catch up with them. The Ming army on the opposite side had no more than 10,000 people, but the Fourth Army had more than 7,000, of which more than 5,000 were the Third Infantry Brigade.
The main force of the Ming army was basically impossible to match the Tang army in this kind of field battle.
Although there have been many examples of battles in human history that can be called miracles, it is obvious that the reason why miracles are called miracles is because they occur rarely.
The Jingzhou garrison obviously did not have such good luck, so this battle was a battle without mission surprises for the soldiers!
At around 11 o'clock in the morning, the Ming army began to form a formation to fight, and the main force of the Fourth Army also began to launch a direct attack.
The main force, the Fifth Infantry Regiment, quickly entered the battlefield in columns, and then changed from column to horizontal formation only a few hundred meters away from the Ming army. It also listed the most classic line formation of the Tang Dynasty King's Division. The regiment's five
In this battalion, with three regular infantry battalions as the core and two reserve battalions as supplements, they immediately devoted themselves to the attack on the Ming army.
When the Fifth Infantry Regiment launched a large-scale all-out attack at about 11:30, the heavy artillery units of the Fourth Army were still in the rear and could not follow up. The only artillery units participating in the battle were shotgun units.
From this point of view, in this battle, the attack of the Tang Dynasty King's Division was obviously very hasty and did not even carry out conventional preparations for heavy artillery fire.
But from another point of view, this is reasonable and reasonable, because if you don't seize the time to launch a strong attack, the Ming army on the opposite side will retreat and wait for the artillery to come up. How long will it take?
In addition, the array of the Ming army is also incomplete. Many of their troops are still in a state of chaos. It is not easy for an army of tens of thousands to change from a marching state to an arrayed state. It requires a lot of effort.
The time is also not short.
While part of the Ming army had already formed its formation and was preparing to fight, some of the Ming army had just begun to form its formation and at the same time wanted to maneuver to the front line.
But how can it be so easy for tens of thousands of people to prepare for war? So from Chen Keqiao's perspective, the Ming army in front of him was in chaos.
This kind of opportunity is rare, and Chen Keqiao will not let it go easily, so even if all his troops are not able to reach the battlefield, he can't wait to let the vanguard of the Fifth Infantry Regiment launch the attack first.
With the sound of gunshots and shouts, the first batch of participating troops from both sides had already exchanged hands. At the same time, whether it was the Ming Army or the Tang Army, the follow-up troops were in a hurry and wanted to enter the battlefield as soon as possible.
But movement on the battlefield is not that simple, especially on the Ming army. When their infantry formed and maneuvered, they discovered that a pseudo-Tang cavalry had appeared on the flanks of the battlefield.
This cavalry unit of more than 200 people is the second cavalry battalion led by Lu Yuzhi. It is also the most powerful cavalry battalion in the Tang Dynasty King's Division. Its combat effectiveness is second only to the first cavalry battalion.
Although Datang has currently organized five cavalry battalions, namely the first to fourth cavalry battalions and the guards cavalry battalion, the third cavalry battalion and the fourth cavalry battalion are completely empty.
The number of the Guards Cavalry Battalion was smaller, less than 200 cavalry.
The First Cavalry Battalion is the most powerful, currently having a strength of more than 300 cavalry, followed by the Second Cavalry Battalion.
This cavalry battalion has worked very hard in the past few days. On the one hand, it is responsible for reconnaissance missions, and on the other hand, it has to act as the mobile force of the entire army.
On today's occasion, the Second Cavalry Battalion had already gathered its cavalry and no longer carried out reconnaissance missions. Instead, all the pigs were devoted to the decisive battle on the battlefield, and the peripheral reconnaissance missions were handed over to
Two reconnaissance teams under the 3rd Infantry Brigade.
Lu Yuzhi led the cavalry troops to walk slowly on the west flank. Although it seemed that there were not many cavalry, only two hundred, and everyone was still walking slowly with their horses, it is worth noting that they were far away from the Ming army.
The flanks are only three to four hundred meters, and this distance is the best charging distance for formal cavalry.
As long as there is a loophole in the Ming army on the opposite side, Lu Yuzhi can lead the cavalry to attack in an instant, and it is guaranteed that the whole process will not take more than one minute!
The cavalry flanking the battlefield was a broadsword hanging above the heads of the Ming army. No one knew when this broadsword would fall, so these Ming soldiers were forced not to act rashly.
They didn't even dare to turn around and run away!
The cavalry of the Puppet Tang rebel army is watching from the side. You can run and have a look!
Once the cover of the tight infantry formation is lost, the scattered fleeing infantry are all military achievements in the eyes of the cavalry. They only need to catch up behind them gently, not too fast, the horses can trot at a brisk pace.
Then the cavalrymen could slash the deserters in the back with their sabers.
They were even able to chase and kill them from the back of the rout to the front!
This is also the reason why the Ming army did not easily turn around and run away. The puppet Tang rebel army had cavalry. If they turned around and ran away, they would die miserably.
Of course, there is no way to avoid the pursuit of the cavalry, such as breaking out by spreading out!
Tens of thousands of people fled in all directions, let alone two hundred cavalry. Even two thousand cavalry might not be able to catch up with them all.
But this will bring about an equally serious problem, that is, the army will completely collapse.
For the Ming army at this time, there was no essential difference between a scattered breakout and the collapse of the entire army.
Now the hope of these Ming troops is to hold on and wait for the arrival of the reinforcements from Xingquan Prefecture. They know that the reinforcements from Xingquan Prefecture are twenty miles away. If they speed up their march, they can arrive in just a few hours.
As long as he can survive these few hours, not only can the army be saved and his own life is safe, but he may also be able to keep the pseudo-Tang bandit army in front of him.
After Hong Linquan, who had high hopes, received an emergency report from the fast horse in front, he knew that the situation was urgent and could not care about anything else. He immediately ordered the troops to speed up their march, trying to rescue the Jingzhou defenders as soon as possible.
The reinforcements from Xingquan Prefecture began to arrive at a faster pace, but could they save the Jingzhou defenders?
Chen Keqiao doesn’t think so!
Today's battle was not an encounter, but an interception battle carefully planned by him. He had already guessed that another Ming army was more than 20 miles away in the west, and he also knew that they would arrive in just a few hours.
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But he thought that these few hours were enough!
The main forces under his command have already entered the battlefield one after another. The 5th Infantry Regiment, which was the first to attack before, has opened the first gap and is continuing to advance towards the main force of the Ming army's Chinese army. The 6th Infantry Regiment also launched an attack on the left wing.
In a fierce attack, the first battalion of the Liuzhou Independent Regiment and a garrison regiment also launched a fierce attack on the right wing of the Ming army.
This kind of full-line offensive operation will actually not last too long. No matter whether you lose or win, it can take as little as a quarter of an hour or as long as an hour, which is enough to end the battle.
This is a battle in the wild, not a city defense battle. Apart from the battlefield maneuver time of both sides, the real fighting time is only a little. It is impossible for everyone to fight for several hours while wielding their swords.
At 11:30, the Fifth Infantry Regiment defeated the resistance of more than a thousand Ming Army phalanxes. It had already entered the hinterland of the Ming Army's front, which was the position of the central army, and continued to kill them.
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The left and right wings are also making steady progress!
And just ten minutes later, the Ming army's front collapsed. What's interesting is that the first to collapse was not the Chinese army's position where the situation was the worst, nor the left wing that was under greater pressure, but the one that was under the least pressure.
On the right, even Chen Keqiao himself did not expect this situation.