Chapter five hundred and sixty eight everything is over
But Chen Keqiao wanted to fight, but Hong Linquan didn't want to fight yet. When he learned from the scouts that the Jingzhou defenders were overtaken by the main force of the puppet Tang rebel army, and a battle broke out, he really wanted to rush over.
Together with the Jingzhou defenders, they defeated this puppet Tang bandit army.
But what he didn't expect was that the Jingzhou garrison could not support his arrival at all. Although it was delayed for more than an hour, in fact this was not the fighting time between the two sides, but the mobilization of each other.
If the formation time is calculated based on the actual battle time, the Jingzhou defenders actually collapsed before they could hold on for two quarters of an hour.
The Jingzhou garrison was defeated. If he went forward again, the risk would be too great, because the reconnaissance cavalry reported that the losses of the puppet Tang rebel army were very small, because the Jingzhou garrison collapsed too quickly, and there was no way
It failed to cause any casualties to the Puppet Tang Dynasty.
In addition, a very important point is that if you rush over in such a hurry, you will probably run into the puppet Tang bandit army that has already finished resting.
One side is our own army that has been running for more than 20 miles and has little physical strength left. The other side is the puppet Tang rebel army that has been resting for several hours.
Not to mention anything else, but the physical fitness of the soldiers on both sides is no longer on the same level.
So he decisively chose to slow down the march. Not long after, he simply ordered the troops to stop the march, because it was already about three o'clock in the afternoon.
According to a normal long-distance march, it is almost time to build a camp and set up camp.
That's right, usually when ancient armies were marching, they would stop marching very early and then set up camp, because they needed to leave enough time to build camps.
In the wilderness, there is no stable camp. If there is a small-scale enemy bandit attack, it may cause the camp to explode.
From ancient times to the present, I don’t know how many situations have occurred where the camp was attacked by enemy troops due to unstable camps, resulting in the bombing of the camp. Therefore, any qualified ancient general, when marching every day, the first thing to consider is to choose a suitable location.
Set up camp and build a stable camp.
The Ming army chose to build a camp and not come. Naturally, Chen Keqiao would not foolishly lead his troops to run over. It was already approaching evening. If he led his troops to run over, it would be already night, and there would be no way to fight.
Since the Ming army did not come, he naturally chose to retreat, and he was preparing to retreat all the way outside Jingzhou City!
He chose to go outside Jingzhou City not to attack Jingzhou City. Although most of the defenders in Jingzhou City have already attacked and were defeated by him, there will still be at least several thousand defenders left in the city.
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Attacking battles has always been troublesome. Chen Keqiao did not want to be attacked from behind by the Ming army coming from Xingquan Prefecture when attacking Jingzhou City.
The reason why he chose to go to Jingzhou was because no matter which direction the Ming army behind him walked, it would always go to Jingzhou City, otherwise it would starve to death.
Because he has cut off the food supply of the Ming army in Xingquan Prefecture for seven or eight days. He does not believe that the defenders in Xingquan Prefecture can eat food for several months. The food reserves in the army can eat half of it.
Month is the limit.
The Ming army was short of food, that was for sure. If they wanted to get food, they had to get it from Jingzhou City. So no matter what happens in the end, if these Ming soldiers want to get through the supply line to get food, they have to go to Jingzhou City.
What he wants to do is to wait for work outside Jingzhou City and intercept reinforcements from Xingquan Prefecture at the foot of Jingzhou City!
He didn't dare to go there in the past few days because there were still 10,000 defenders in Jingzhou City at that time. But after today's battle, there were only a few thousand defenders in the city at most. He was no longer afraid of being trapped in front and rear.
The state of being flanked.
Before Chen Keqiao ordered the troops to retreat, the Fourth Army had basically completed cleaning the battlefield. All kinds of weapons and ammunition left by the armies of both sides had been collected, and a large amount of food had also been seized.
This batch of grain was originally brought out by the Jingzhou garrison. In addition to serving as rations for their headquarters, it was also used to support the reinforcements coming from Xingquan Prefecture.
The reinforcements at Xingquan Mansion have cut off their supply lines. It's not just the Ming army still at Xingquan Mansion that is out of food. Hong Linquan also has very little rations left of the fifteen thousand.
The excess is only enough for three or four days, so the Jingzhou garrison needs to carry a large amount of military rations.
Now, all this food has fallen into the hands of the Fourth Army.
All Hong Lin could do was worry about the less and less food. Regardless of whether he wanted to or not, he had to go to Jingzhou. Otherwise, let alone opening up the supply line, his army would directly run out of food.
So early the next morning, Hong Linquan led his troops eastward to Jingzhou again. Early in the morning, he had already received a report from the reconnaissance cavalry, saying that the puppet Tang rebel army was also heading eastward towards Jingzhou.
"Damn it, these thieves are probably determined to stop us!" Hong Linquan felt more and more that the situation was not good.
He seemed to see a big net coming towards him. This big net meant lack of food!
But even though there was clearly a big net waiting for him, he still had to bite the bullet and rush forward. Although he might fail if he went to fight, if he didn't go to Jingzhou, the whole army would definitely collapse due to lack of food.
It's not that the main force in Xingquan Mansion will collapse due to lack of food, but his army will collapse first.
Because when we set out, we considered that the reinforcements would be able to get food supplies from Jingzhou after they returned to Jingzhou, so they didn’t bring much food. They only had basic army rations, which could generally meet the needs of seven or eight days, and save a lot of money.
The food that came down was left to Xingquan Mansion, because the defenders there needed to hold on longer and had greater demand for food.
Now the puppet Tang rebel army is blocking the gate of Jingzhou City. If they don't fight, they will collapse due to lack of food in a few days. In the past two days, he has ordered to start reducing the soldiers' rations to save food.
However, there is only so much food, and continuous marching consumes a lot of physical energy of the soldiers. This lack of food makes it impossible to march quickly.
So even though he clearly knows that it is dangerous to go to Jingzhou now, he still has to go!
Besides, going to Jingzhou does not necessarily mean that he will fail. At that time, he can still unite with the defenders in Jingzhou to carry out a flanking attack. Although the defenders on the Jingzhou side have lost a large part, they should still have several thousand people.
There will be.
By then the two will add up to 20,000 people. No matter how powerful the real thieves in the Puppet Tang thief army are, his 20,000 people will not be without the strength to fight. He does not require that he can defeat the thief army, as long as he can
If you rush into the city, you will have achieved your strategic goal.
As for how to open up the food channel in the future, that is a matter for the future. Anyway, he can't control so much now.
With this mentality, Hong Linquan was quite helpless and continued to advance with the army, and the speed was not slow!
By the next day, he had already led his troops to a place about five miles outside Jingzhou City!
When he led his army to arrive outside Jingzhou City, Chen Keqiao had already led his troops to prepare for battle!
Naturally, there is nothing to say next. One side wants to stop the Ming army from entering the city, and the other side wants to rush in, and no one dares to give in. In this case, a big battle is naturally inevitable.
This battle was quite brutal. Hong Linquan had already made sufficient preparations before attacking. Knowing that the puppet Tang thieves had sharp weapons, he prepared many things that could defend against bullets, such as thick wooden shields.
, shield car.
They even deliberately let some lightly-armed cannon fodder soldiers attract the Tang army's artillery fire, and then sent their elite troops to attack in an attempt to defeat the opponent in hand-to-hand combat.
But what he didn't know was that although the Tang Dynasty King's Division was famous throughout the provinces for their sharp firearms, guns and artillery were not actually their main means of killing. The real means of killing was hand-to-hand combat.
The bayonet is red, this is the trick that the Tang Dynasty used to defeat its opponents every time!
When Hong Linquan paid a heavy price and let the elite hand-to-hand soldiers rush to the front of the pseudo-Tang traitor army, the soldiers were already brandishing long knives and spears and were preparing to inflict heavy casualties on the pseudo-Tang traitor army on the opposite side.
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The musketeers of the Tang Dynasty and the artillerymen of the shotguns on the front also fired the last round of volleys. The lethality of this last round of volleys almost exceeded the sum of the previous rounds of volleys.
Then came the old grenadiers throwing grenades!
There are two directly affiliated grenadiers in the Fourth Army. The grenadiers are the most elite infantry in the Tang Dynasty King's Division. They are all strong and brave, and their courage is much better than ordinary musketeers. This kind of elite
Troops have never been used easily, even in the previous battle with the Jingzhou garrison.
But now, Chen Keqiao decisively ordered the two grenadiers to step forward to throw bombs and join the battle.
As the grenadiers threw the bombs, the Ming army on the opposite side fell in pieces again!
At this time, officers at all levels on the front line were holding their command knives high and shouting: "Charge the whole army!"
Launching a counterattack after salvoing and throwing bombs is also the old routine of the Tang Dynasty Wangshi in frontal decisive battles. Almost every large-scale outdoor battle, especially this kind of frontal decisive battle in which both sides are in formation, will happen almost every time.
Use it.
The reason why I use it every time is because it works so well!
This tactic is almost impossible for the Ming army to effectively defend!
The Ming soldiers who rushed forward in the front row were fired at by muskets and pushed back by grenades. The front line formation was almost full of holes. More importantly, morale was severely reduced. When they saw the Puppet Tang soldiers on the opposite side,
When the bandits rushed forward with spears in hand, most of them subconsciously felt fear.
After a counterattack, a complete Ming army array was no longer visible on the entire battlefield. Instead, there were broken Ming troops almost all over the mountains and plains, as well as the dead and wounded from both sides lying all over the wilderness!
Hong Linquan in the rear looked at his own defeated troops all over the mountains and plains and the puppet Tang rebel army rushing towards them like an overwhelming mountain!