Chapter 643: Soldiers approach the city of Hengyang
Among the many high-ranking officials in Guizhou at that time, no one was as lucky as Song Zhiwen. Ever since the puppet Tang bandit army swept across Guizhou, the high-ranking officials of the Ming Dynasty in Guizhou basically had no good end.
Governor Zhu Zhihai died, and the chief envoy committed suicide after being captured. Other red-robed officials with a vote of fourth rank or above were captured, some were forced or took the initiative to surrender to the thieves, many committed suicide after the city was destroyed, and many were killed by the thieves.
Many people were killed, and even more people ran away in fear of death and were later questioned by the court.
From last year to now, the imperial court has killed at least twenty red-robed officials in Guizhou and Guangxi, with Guizhou being the most numerous.
The original senior officials in Guizhou were almost wiped out. The only senior official who is still alive and can be re-employed is Song Zhiwen!
Song Zhiwen's good luck came from his own good ability, even though he was appreciated by Zhang Yue, it also came from the fact that he had a mentor who was a cabinet minister and a large number of classmates.
When Song Zhiwen was in jail, many people were running for him!
This is the energy of a civil servant who took the imperial examination and was born in the Imperial Academy. As long as he does not seek death, it is really not easy to die!
Song Zhiwen was making firearms and recruiting and training troops in the rear area of Wuchang, while Xu Xinchang, Tan Rong and others were leading their troops to fight on the front line!
Then the war situation in southern Huguang is getting worse day by day. How can this not make Xu Xinchang, the governor of Huguang, anxious and even angry!
He has no control over the war in western Huguang and northeastern Guizhou. That is the responsibility of Tan Rong, the remote commander-in-chief. But the war in southern Huguang, especially the core of Hengzhou Prefecture, is the responsibility of him, the governor of Huguang.
The 100,000 or 200,000 soldiers and horses under his command were unable to stop the 20,000 to 30,000 people in the military area of the puppet Tang thief!
Well, like Zhang Yue, Xu Xinchang doesn't know how many soldiers and horses he has under his command, but there must be one hundred thousand, maybe not two hundred thousand, but the data reported by his subordinates is like this.
It’s also hard to deny it directly.
But that's not important. What's important is that he has between 100,000 and 200,000 soldiers and horses under his command. Well, it's better not to ask how many people there are. He wouldn't know if he asked.
However, he didn't know how many soldiers and horses the puppet Tang rebel army had when they marched north to Huguang. But after he sent out his direct line of scouts to personally investigate and find out the news, he still couldn't find out exactly how many soldiers there were in the puppet Tang rebel army.
, but it was the numbers of the main forces of the puppet Tang rebel army that was discovered heading north to Huguang.
Then Xu Xinchang calculated based on the numbers of the puppet Tang bandit army that the puppet Tang bandit army fighting in Chenzhou and Hengzhou was only 20,000 people who could survive, and no more!
Although the current Puppet Tang thief army still does not understand what the Puppet Tang thief army's infantry division is, they do know that a battalion of the Puppet Tang thief army has about 500 people, and a regiment has about 3,000 people.
There are three legion-level numbers of the pseudo-Tang thieves that have been learned, and there are two more that are uncertain. Even if the uncertain ones are added, there are only five regiment-level numbers. Even if the pseudo-tang thieves are added, there are only five regiment-level numbers.
Auxiliary units such as artillery and cavalry.
The puppet Tang bandit army heading north to Huguang will definitely not exceed 20,000 people.
Moreover, they also discovered a very important piece of information, that is, among the pseudo-Tang thief army fighting in Huguang, there are no longer the fake thieves like before, but they are all real thieves.
Xu Xinchang didn't think about why there were no fake thieves in the Puppet Tang thief army, and only real thieves were left. But what worried and even made him angry was that in the face of a mere 20,000 people, he had 100,000 to 200,000 people under his command.
The armies between them were retreating steadily!
He didn't know it before, but after the news was compiled in various places in the past few days, he discovered that the losses were extremely heavy!
The Yizhang garrison was completely wiped out, and along with it, the 6,000-strong army reinforced by Linwu. Yizhang was finished, and the task of cutting off the supply line of the puppet Tang rebel army was naturally in vain.
Although the Ming army in the direction of Chenzhou is still guarding Chenzhou City, they also lost thousands of people when they went out to fight!
In addition, the 15,000 Ming troops who attacked from Guiyang Prefecture were attacked by the main force of the puppet Tang rebel army. Although they were not completely wiped out like the Yizhang defenders, they still lost their troops and fled back to Guiyang Prefecture City.
There were less than half of the Ming army. In other words, after an ambush battle, another 8,000 Ming troops were lost.
Calculated in this way, our own army from three routes not only failed to cut off the supply line of the puppet Tang rebel army and cut off their retreat, but actually lost nearly 20,000 troops.
These are real 20,000 soldiers and horses, not paper data!
The loss of 20,000 troops and horses, and the loss of Yizhang, completely disrupted his plan, and even more so the plan of the Governor!
He and Zhang Yue's plan was very simple and straightforward. They were to take advantage of the opportunity for the puppet Tang rebel army to move northward, and directly cut off the supply line of the puppet Tang rebel army with a total of about 50,000 troops from Yizhang, Chenzhou, Guiyang and other places.
Even a retreat.
Then he, Xu Xinchang, would lead the defenders in the direction of Hengyang City to take the initiative to go south, and first entangle the main force of tens of thousands of puppet Tang rebels who had penetrated deeply alone.
Of course, even at this time, the Ming army had an absolute advantage in strength, but neither Xu Xinchang nor Zhang Yue expected that the guardsmen in these places could surround and annihilate this puppet Tang bandit army.
Main force.
What they really rely on are the thousands of governors in Hengyang City, and then the governors and border troops coming from Changsha. These more than 20,000 governors and border troops are used to finally defeat the puppet Tang rebels.
The main force launches a fatal blow with a sharp blade!
Although it seems that the use of more than 100,000 troops was just to surround and annihilate the more than 10,000 troops of the puppet Tang rebels, it seems a bit fussy, but all Ming army generals who have fought against the puppet Tang rebels believe that such a plan is not a fuss.
, but it really requires so many troops to do it.
Although Wei Yan, the governor of Guangxi, had been escorted back to the capital by the royal guards because of the loss of Guangxi and the loss of troops and generals, and was about to be thrown into the sky prison to await trial, but the words he once said, "The Tang thieves are absolutely invincible" have become widely known.
It spread.
Many people publicly scolded Wei Yan for fearing the enemy like a tiger, saying this with bad intentions, but in their hearts, they quite agreed with Wei Yan's words.
Tang thieves, especially those real thieves, are really difficult to fight!
The Ming army fought against the Tang army many times, and almost every time the Tang thieves defeated the many with less. Thousands of fake Tang thieves dared to chase and beat tens of thousands of Ming army guards!
You might think it was luck this time or twice, but the number of times has happened so many times that many Ming army generals and even senior officials in the capital knew that this Tang thief was not easy to fight.
Otherwise, the senior officials in the capital of the Ming Dynasty would not have vigorously imitated matchlocks and artillery, and supported local officials such as Zhang Yue and Yu Dayou in preparing for large-scale recruitment of firearms.
But even though he had given up hope on the local garrison soldiers, Xu Xinchang still did not expect that tens of thousands of garrison soldiers would actually make several partial divisions of the Puppet Tang thief army beat up and flee.
As a result, the follow-up plan will not work at all, and the most important thing is that the Ming army reinforcements from Changsha are about to arrive in Hengyang. How should the follow-up war unfold?
Xu Xinchang was also a little clueless about this!
When Xu Xinchang was furious in Hengyang, calling his subordinates Gunyuan and the generals a bunch of trash, Chen Keqiao was inspecting the city's defenses in Leiyang City, dozens of miles south of Hengyang City.
His troops just captured this county today!
A few days ago, the main force of the 3rd Infantry Division led by Army Major General Chen Keqiao had entered Hengzhou Prefecture and had contacted the headquarters of the First Army. Then Hao Bainian, who was still leading his army north, immediately ordered the 3rd Infantry Division.
The division launched a tentative attack on Leiyang, the southern bridgehead of Hengyang City.
However, when they attacked Leiyang City, they found that there were not many Ming troops in the city. They did not know that in order to preserve their strength, most of the main forces of the Ming army had withdrawn from Hengyang City in advance, so the attack on Leiyang was not blocked.
Despite much resistance, after three days of fierce attack, the 3rd Infantry Division successfully captured Leiyang County.
At this time, the Third Infantry Division of the First Army was only dozens of miles away from Hengyang City, the most important strategic town in southern Hunan.
And other units of the First Army are also heading north quickly!
As for Chenzhou and Guiyang, they still stop them but don't fight!
The temporary Fourth Regiment continues to be stationed outside Chenzhou City, and in Guiyang City, Hao Bainian also left the Third Infantry Regiment. This infantry regiment and even the pure cold weapon spear regiment were originally other members of the First Army.
It was formed from the garrison brigade troops and has limited combat effectiveness.
However, the Ming army in Guiyang Prefecture was already frightened, and its remaining strength was only over 10,000. If they really wanted to kill them, they might not be the opponents of the Third Infantry Regiment.
The temporary strength of the Fourth Regiment and the Third Infantry Regiment combined, with a total strength of about 7,000, will continue to maintain vigilance and preparedness for the Ming army in these two places, and at the same time assume the responsibility of maintaining the long supply line.
heavy responsibility.
The other main forces of the First Army are quickly heading north!
They are going to Hengyang City to fight a decisive battle with Ming Dynasty!
Facing the attack of the main force of the puppet Tang rebel army, Xu Xinchang was also extremely cautious. He immediately transferred back the troops that had gone south. He even gave up Leiyang on his own initiative and hoarded all his 30,000 troops in Hengyang.
At the same time, they kept sending people to urge Changsha reinforcements to arrive quickly!
For a time, Hengyang City and nearby areas seemed to be covered by dark clouds, and a war was imminent. Many people and gentry began to flee in confusion, trying to escape from this war-torn place.
Hao Bainian led his army to continue heading north. When he led the First Army Headquarters to Leiyang, tens of thousands of reinforcements from the Ming Army from Changsha also successfully arrived in Hengyang!
Soon, Hao Bainian, who had taken a brief rest, led the main force of the First Army to continue heading north!
Three days later, Xu Xinchang sent an urgent letter to Zhang Yue. The content of the letter was very simple: Tang bandits are about to attack Hengyang City!