Li Xuan, who had no more troops to rescue Nanchang, had no choice but to order the Privy Council to speed up the preparations for the sixth supplementary brigade, and then strengthen the training and equipment of the two supplementary brigades in Jiangxi, looking forward to the two
Three months later, these two supplementary brigades were able to form actual combat effectiveness.
At the same time, the supply of troops from other directions will be suspended, and subsequent heavy equipment, especially heavy howitzers, will be sent to Ganzhou as a priority!
The third heavy artillery battalion that is being formed was originally intended to be assigned to the first mixed regiment to cooperate with next year's Nan'ao Island offensive. However, now, Li Xuan is preparing to use this third heavy artillery battalion that is being formed and has not yet become an army.
The artillery battalion was sent to Ganzhou, this time not to attack the city, but to strengthen the defense!
Li Xuan tried every means to strengthen the strength in Jiangxi. On the one hand, it was to rescue Nanchang when the time came. On the other hand, it was actually to prevent the defeat of the 6th Infantry Division. After the fall of Nanchang, he resisted the Ming army's continued southward movement!
Now, the war situation in Nanchang and even the entire Jiangxi is actually no longer decided by the Sixth Infantry Division or even Zhaoqing in the rear. Now, the main factor that determines the direction of the war in Jiangxi, and even whether Nanchang will be lost, is already the main factor in Huguang.
The development of the war situation on the border.
If the main forces of the First Army and the Second Army can quickly conquer Changsha and Hengyang, then after establishing the victory in Huguang, the main force of the Datang Army in Huguang will be able to advance eastward. By then, it will not only be as simple as advancing eastward, but also
It is possible to enter Jiangxi and even southern Zhili with a sweeping attitude.
But if the First Army and the Second Army are unable to open up the situation in Huguang and are entangled for several months, then the war situation in Nanchang and even the entire Jiangxi will be in danger.
Even if the Ming army could not conquer Nanchang, which was defended by the 6th Infantry Division, as long as the siege lasted for half a year, the food in Nanchang would have been exhausted, not to mention ammunition.
If the Ming army continues to attack, even if it can repel the Ming army's attack, the ammunition consumption of the Sixth Infantry Division will be very high. Although Nanchang can recruit craftsmen to make guns and ammunition, without raw materials, it will only be
It cannot be made.
Therefore, even if the Ming army cannot capture Nanchang, there is still a question of how long the 6th Infantry Division's ammunition can last, and the food will definitely be exhausted within half a year, and Nanchang will definitely be finished by then.
However, the persistence of the Sixth Infantry Division in Nanchang is also of great significance. As long as the Sixth Infantry Division is in Nanchang for one day, it will be almost impossible for the Ming army to let go and march south to Ji'an, Luling and even Ganzhou.
Because the number of the main force of the Ming army is also limited, the Ming army on both sides of Jiujiang and Fuzhou combined is at best 60,000 main force. As for the ordinary guard soldiers and temporary young men, whether it is the Ming army or the Tang army,
In fact, no one took them seriously, and they simply ignored them when calculating their troop strength.
The Sixth Infantry Division plus some auxiliary troops had about 14,000 troops. If the Ming army besieged Nanchang with 60,000 troops, the Sixth Infantry Division would naturally have no choice but to defend.
But if the Ming army dares to divide its troops and go south, it will be useless if the troops going south only have tens of thousands of people. They can't capture Luling, let alone Ganzhou. But if they divide their troops into twenty or thirty thousand, then the Ming army that besieged Nanchang will not be able to capture it.
The main force only has 30,000 to 40,000 people. If the Sixth Infantry Division comes out of the city and takes the initiative to fight, the Ming army's encirclement will probably be broken.
Therefore, the Sixth Infantry Division is certainly dangerous in Nanchang, but it also firmly restrains the main force of the 60,000 Ming Army from moving!
While Li Xuan was discussing countermeasures at the rear, at the same time, the Ming army had completely surrounded Nanchang!
The main force of 60,000, plus the 30,000 guardsmen and young men from Fuzhou and Nanzhili, a total of 90,000 people surrounded Nanchang!
And the one who led the army to besiege Nanchang this time was Du Danqing, the censor of Youqiandu and the commander-in-chief of Zuobiao Army!
After besieging Nanchang, Du Danqing not only observed the city's defense, but also began to have his troops build siege equipment, preparing to launch a general attack as soon as possible to capture Nanchang!
When Du Danqing led his army to Nanchang, he naturally followed Zhang Yue's orders!
After realizing that the puppet Tang bandits were going to Yuezhou, Zhang Yue thought hard but couldn't find a good solution. He simply came to besiege Wei to rescue Zhao and directly sent a large army to besiege Nanchang. He did not believe in the puppet Tang bandits.
Li Chunjing, who knew that Nanchang was besieged, would remain indifferent.
However, he really guessed wrong. Li Chunjing was indeed indifferent and continued to attack Yuezhou!
Before Du Danqing besieged Nanchang, Li Chunjing also led an army to attack Yuezhou City, and then prepared to launch an attack without hesitation!
At this time, the main force of the Second Army led by Li Chunjing consisted of the 5th Infantry Division, the 4th Mixed Regiment, and the 5th Mixed Regiment, as well as two heavy artillery battalions, and finally the cavalry units from the previous three main forces.
Integrated cavalry detachment.
This was also stimulated by the cavalry of the Ming Army. The cavalry of the Ming Army was generally used in a centralized manner. The number of the supervisory cavalry and the frontier cavalry far exceeded that of the Tang Army's cavalry.
Even in terms of the quality of the cavalry, the cavalry of the Ming Army was actually far superior to the cavalry of the Tang Army!
The advantage of the Tang Army's cavalry is the rigid wall-mounting and charging tactics brought about by long-term training!
However, this tactic was useless when the numbers were small. In the end, Li Chunjing simply gathered all the cavalry from the three main forces, one cavalry battalion and two cavalry teams, and formed a temporary cavalry detachment.
Has more than 600 cavalry!
Used to guard against enemy cavalry attacks!
After arriving at Yuezhou City, Li Chunjing quickly commanded the troops to launch an attack. He did not waste even a day. In order to gain time and avoid unnecessary casualties, Li Chunjing assumed the posture of a lion and a rabbit!
On the first day of the war, two heavy artillery battalions were deployed for a fierce bombardment. Other field artillery also fired intensively, and then a large-scale infantry unit launched a charge!
The main force consisted of nearly 30,000 people, including 24 heavy howitzers, and there were four assault battalions responsible for the first wave of siege!
There was no suspense in this battle. The 3,000 Ming army governors and about 15,000 garrison soldiers who defended the city were young and strong. They only lasted for three days before they were declared defeated.
However, on the eve of the city's fall, the remaining Dubiao New Army took advantage of the guard soldiers to hold off the Tang Army in front, boarded the boats prepared in advance, and broke out from Dongting Lake, although some of them were intercepted.
, but the Dubiao New Army that broke through still numbered nearly a thousand people.
In this battle, the Second Army suffered about 500 casualties, but the ammunition consumption was not small, destroying thousands of artillery shells. This was because Li Chunjing specifically asked the artillerymen to slow down the frequency of shelling in order to save artillery shells, and the general offensive
The previous shelling only lasted for half a day.
But there were so many artillery pieces that could not hold up the Second Army. In just half a day, thousands of artillery shells were fired, which made the chief steward of the Second Army wish he could use one shell as two.
Chang'an Zichen was heartbroken.
The Second Army is now away from home, and its supply lines have almost completely stopped. Food can be requisitioned on the spot, but ammunition cannot be replenished. Every time you use it, you will lose one!
However, although the Second Army spent a lot of ammunition, it finally captured Yuezhou, and also annihilated and captured many Ming troops.
In this battle, among the casualties of the Ming army, Dubiao's New Army was killed and about 800 were seriously injured. Nearly a thousand Dubiao's New Army broke out and escaped. In addition, more than 600 people were taken as prisoners, and some were unknown.
Whereabouts.
There were more soldiers and young men in the guard station. More than 3,000 people were killed or seriously injured. Moreover, no one could successfully break through. Except for a few who escaped, most of them were taken as prisoners.
The Second Army's handling of these prisoners of war was different from the past. In the past, these prisoners of war were generally handed over directly to the civilian officials of the Army Department in the rear, and then sent to different places after being selected by commanders.
But now, although the Second Army has civilian officials from the Ministry of War accompanying the army, there is no way to send the prisoners to the rear at this time, so they are dealt with directly on the spot.
After discussions between the officers of the Second Army and the civilian officials of the Army Ministry who accompanied the army, they decided to simplify the process. First, the officers at all levels. If they have nothing to say, those who are willing to surrender will be detained first, and those who are unwilling will be chopped with a knife. Anyway, it cannot be done.
Let the tiger return to the mountain!
Next came the more than 600 prisoners of Dubiao's new army. The quality of these Dubiao soldiers was pretty good.
They can become Zhang Yue's supervisors and earn more than the salary of the guards. Their physical fitness is naturally above the standard. In addition, they have also undergone certain training. Although their physical fitness, discipline and tactics are still not as good as the Tang Army, but overall
Their quality is much better than that of just-recruited recruits, and they have also fought in battles. I believe that if these people can be absorbed, they can be directly added to the army.
However, in order to prevent unstable factors, we can only adopt the principle of voluntariness. If you are willing to continue to serve as a soldier and are not afraid of surrendering to bandits, you can accept it. If you are not willing, you can continue to stay in the prisoner of war camp.
Among the prisoners of war serving as guards, only about a few hundred were selected who were in good physical condition or had special skills, such as sword and shield soldiers, cavalry, artillery and other special units. Those who were willing to join were temporarily added to the army.
It was just a temporary infantry battalion.
As for the rest, about two thousand people who were in good physical condition were left to serve as civilian husbands, and the remaining old, weak and disabled were directly dismissed!
Because taking these prisoners of war will affect the speed of the Second Army, and the Second Army does not have much food. Now it has begun to rely on "eating the enemy". Food is relatively scarce. In addition, the Second Army currently has
There were also nearly ten thousand people accompanying the army and civilians.
So it would be useless to just bring them with me, and it would be a waste of food. It is better to demobilize them directly. After all, after collecting the weapons, there is no organization of Ming army officers. Even if they are unwilling to go home, they are at best stragglers.
It's something like that and it can't affect the overall situation.
After taking Yuezhou, Li Chunjing left the Fourth Mixed Regiment, which was good at fighting tough battles, in Yuezhou to guard against the counterattack of the Ming army in the direction of Wuchang, while he continued southward with other troops!