Chapter seven hundred and seventy-ninth Jiangnan is in danger
In just one hour after Yu Dayou led his troops to withdraw, the guards troops in Fuzhou City surrendered directly to the city. They were not able to delay the puppet Tang rebel army for a certain period of time, even just three or two days, as he expected.
The time is also good!
Yu Dayou, who had just escaped not long ago, learned from the scouts that Fuzhou City had surrendered without a fight, but he was not furious because he had long expected that such a thing would happen and evacuated himself. The fall of Fuzhou City
It's just a matter of time, and this time can be at least two or three days, and no more than four or five days. It is absolutely impossible for the 10,000 guards in the city to block the attack of the puppet Tang rebels, and it is impossible to expect the guards to fight to the death.
Surrender is also impossible, so Yu Dayou is mentally prepared to surrender or even surrender to the bandits anyway.
But he still didn't expect that the defenders in the city would surrender to the thieves so quickly. According to his expectation, even if they wanted to surrender to the thieves, there would have to be a certain amount of negotiation time before and after. You can't just open the door immediately after deciding to surrender to the thieves.
Let's open the city gate to welcome the thieves entering the city.
At that time, he simply could not understand the mentality of the guards and generals. Since they had decided to surrender, they naturally moved faster and faster, and they were also very self-aware about negotiating terms, and negotiations were of no use.
What's more, the puppet Tang thief army has always given preferential treatment to the Ming army who surrendered anyway, and most of the Ming army generals knew about this. Even if they didn't talk about it from afar, Qin Zhifu, the commander-in-chief of Nan'ao Island, and the commander of the guards
Bing Linxun is the most typical example.
If someone surrenders, the treatment is not low!
That's why the Ming army generals in the city surrendered so simply. They just sent people out of the city to negotiate for a while, then opened the city gate, and then the guardsmen in the city left the city one after another to surrender their weapons and wait for processing.
The Third Army once again captured a city without any blood!
However, at this moment, even if Yu Dayou wanted to accuse the generals of the Ming Army in Fuzhou City for surrendering to the Ming Army and not buying him enough time to escape, he was in no mood or time anymore. The Sixth Infantry Division of the Puppet Tang Bandit Army behind him had always been
They are in hot pursuit. If they are not careful, the retreat will turn into a huge rout or even the entire army will be annihilated.
Fortunately, Yu Dayou retreated early and was well prepared. A large amount of baggage had begun to be shipped north a few days ago. Even the heavy artillery had prepared a large number of horses and livestock in advance and left in advance.
So the retreat was very smooth.
The only troublesome thing is that the hundreds of cavalrymen of the Pseudo-Tang Dynasty Army behind him occasionally harassed his troops. At this time, the more than 200 cavalrymen of the Puppet-Tang Dynasty Army also resisted desperately, and finally did not let this Puppet-Tang Dynasty Army attack.
Hundreds of cavalrymen held back the army as it fled north.
Seeing Yu Dayou leading his army all the way to the north, Cai Erhu was also a little depressed!
These Ming troops are getting better and better at escaping.
It was already known to evacuate the grain, grass and artillery in advance. The final evacuation was just the infantry escaping lightly. However, because our own troops were equipped with a large number of artillery and other baggage, they were unable to keep up with the pursuit.
If he just rashly dispatched some lightly-armed infantry to pursue them, they would easily kill him with a single shot. In the end, under the advice of his subordinate staff officer, he decided to play it safe and follow him all the way behind without taking any risks.
Anyway, Yu Dayou in front cannot keep running, they will always have to stop, and when the time comes, it will be the Sixth Infantry Division's opportunity.
Cai Erhu was not the only one who was depressed. Wang Chaohong was actually in a bad mood. His troops had never fought a real battle while leading his army into Fujian. It was naturally a good thing to be able to capture cities and territories without having to fight hard battles, but
On the contrary, not all of Yu Dayou's bandit-breaking army was left behind.
There were at least 8,000 rebels who retreated this time, accounting for almost half of the total strength of the rebels. Moreover, artillery, a large amount of baggage, and even food, gold, silver, and soft goods were packed away by them in advance.
In this city of Fuzhou, there is basically nothing left except people. Not even much food is left. The Tang Army has to share part of the military food. Otherwise, more than 10,000 Ming troops and tens of thousands of people in the city will surrender.
The people will starve to death.
Although they captured a city, they didn't get any loot at all, and there were tens of thousands more mouths that were short of food. After the military rations were distributed, they had to ask the navy to urgently transport a batch.
Otherwise, his third army would run out of food.
However, although he was depressed, it was still a good thing to capture Fuzhou without any blood, and it was also a great thing. This was greatly conducive to the development of the Jiangnan strategy in autumn and winter, so he also quickly expedited the news of regaining Fuzhou City for five hundred miles.
Sent to the Second Army in Jiangxi and Zhaoqing.
As for himself, he still did not stay in Fuzhou for long. After cooperating with the navy to persuade the Fujian Navy, which was hiding under the jurisdiction of Minjiang River, to surrender, he led the main force of the Third Army to continue northward. As for the defense of Fujian, he had already handed over the
Gave it to the Navy.
This time the navy also brought two marine battalions over, but they were not used along the way. Now they are used to garrison Fujian.
At the same time, the First Fleet of the Navy also began to anchor in the Minjiang River for rest!
After looking at the hydrological conditions of the Min River, the Navy found that the situation in Mawei Port was quite good and its geographical location was very important, so it used it as a temporary naval base.
However, the Navy already has plans to build this port into a real military port and use it as a base to control the Taiwan Strait and the East China Sea.
Of course, these are things for the future, and now this place is just a temporary anchorage for the navy.
The news of the capture of Fuzhou was quickly reported to Zhaoqing through Kuaishou. Li Xuan did not show too much surprise or surprise when he learned the news.
The total strength of the Third Army is more than 25,000, and it is also coordinated by the Navy's First Fleet. If it cannot defeat Fujian, then he has misjudged Wang Chaohong.
The war in Fujian is just a prelude to this year's autumn and winter offensive. It is only one part of the future Jiangnan strategy. It is certainly important, but it is not to the extent that Li Xuan can be easily moved.
However, as usual, it is still necessary to send angels to Fujian to provide encouragement and condolences.
Afterwards, he convened the army and navy for a strategic meeting in front of the imperial court, mainly to inquire and discuss the preparations for the Jiangnan strategy expected to be launched in the autumn and winter of this year.
The Navy reported that although time was urgent, the Yangtze River Fleet was already small in size. The Yangtze River Fleet might not be able to directly win a large-scale naval decisive battle, but it could still do so if it only covered the army's operations.
Of course, the premise is that the army does not cross the Yangtze River. Otherwise, the navy cannot guarantee the safety of the army crossing the river and the safety of subsequent supplies.
However, the Navy is currently trying to find a way for the First Fleet to directly enter the Yangtze River Basin to contain the Ming Navy in the Yangtze River. At least it must ensure that the large ships of the Ming Army's Jiangnan Navy cannot easily go to the middle reaches of the Yangtze River to interfere with the actions of the Yangtze Fleet.
The Army reported that the Second Army was fully prepared and all units were fully staffed and were currently undergoing final adaptability training.
At the same time, the First Army is also ready to take over the defense of Jiujiang and Nanchang, so that the Second Army can free up all its main forces to march eastward along the Yangtze River to Jinling.
However, Zeng Ziwen also pointed out that although the First Army and the Second Army have made preparations in terms of personnel and weapons, the ammunition reserves are still slightly insufficient. After a long period of offensive operations, the Third Army also needs
Be sure to come for some rest and replenishment.
So I would like to ask if you can postpone the start of this autumn and winter offensive!
The delay is not long, only half a month. We are planning to postpone the general offensive from September 15th to October 1st.
Li Xuan saw that Zeng Ziwen raised the matter so solemnly, and he also knew that the army's side was indeed facing a lot of difficulties. If they were forced to launch the operation according to the original schedule, although there might not be any problems in the early stage, they had fought several large-scale battles.
After that, I'm afraid the problem of ammunition shortage will be very serious.
Anyway, our side currently occupies a strategic advantage. Naturally, he was willing to postpone it for half a month in exchange for more reliable pre-war preparations, so he approved it.
Although the scheduled autumn and winter offensive was postponed to October 1, as time passed, almost everyone who cared about world affairs could feel that another war was about to break out, and it would still be in the prosperous Jiangnan.
Jiangnan is in danger!
Ship after ship loaded with various supplies sailed north along the Gan River, and were then transported to Nanchang, where they were then distributed to various troops for storage.
The two supplementary brigades directly moved their stations forward. In addition to protecting the supply lines and suppressing the rear, they were also always ready to replenish new troops for the main forces in the front.
In many recruit camps in Jiangxi and Huguang, recruits who have completed one month are hurriedly sent to various supplementary brigades for intensive training.
The main forces of the Second Army conduct various trainings every day.
At the forefront of the confrontation between the two sides, that is, around Chizhou Prefecture, the reconnaissance cavalry and small-scale troops from both sides moved even more frequently, and from time to time there would be small but brutal battles.
In this kind of small-scale battle, the Ming army's reconnaissance cavalry and small-scale reconnaissance troops with the elite border troops as the core had quite good combat effectiveness. Although they still lost more than they won, the fight was not too ugly.
However, this situation is extremely special. Only the elite border troops and a large number of reconnaissance cavalry can do it. It would not work if it were replaced by other Ming troops.
What's more critical is that these days, such small-scale battles have little impact on the battle situation. What can determine the outcome is the large-scale strategic decisive battle. Regardless of whether it is a frontal battle in the field or an urban offensive and defensive battle, it has a huge impact.
.
However, in such a large-scale battle, the Tang Army's advantage was too great. No matter whether it was the new army, the border army, or the guard soldiers, they could not defeat them all!