Eight hundred and fortieth chapters lay the Jiangbei overall situation
After the assault force of the Third Army of the Tang Dynasty paid a certain price to occupy the gap in the ruins of the city wall and covered the large-scale entry of the 5th Infantry Division, the Battle of Yangzhou City basically determined the outcome of both sides.
After the Fifth Infantry Division entered the city, it quickly swept through the city walls on both sides.
Half an hour later, the Fifth Infantry Division had taken control of a section of the city wall that was several hundred meters wide, and sent troops to begin advancing deeper into the city, using a roundabout and outflanking pattern to continue attacking the Ming troops in other directions along the city wall.
Two hours later, most of the walls of Yangzhou City had been captured by units of the Third Army, and the Ming army began a large-scale retreat.
However, Hao Bainian did not send troops to intercept.
Because siege warfare is originally about surrounding three enemies and one, you have to open a hole to allow the enemy to escape. Otherwise, if the more than 100,000 Ming troops in the city are unable to retreat, their resistance will definitely be stronger.
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What Hao Bainian has to do now is to quickly capture Yangzhou City. As for the Ming troops who escaped from the city, he will naturally not let them go easily.
Although there is no interception for the time being, it does not mean that we will not pursue it!
It is easy to determine the direction of the Ming army's escape, which is to the north, to Gaoyou, or even to Huai'an. It is not easy for them to escape the pursuit of the Third Army along the way.
Besides, what if they were allowed to escape to Gaoyou or even to Huai'an!
The urban defense systems of Gaoyou and Huai'an are not as strong as Yangzhou's.
The Ming army stayed in Yangzhou for so long, and after the fall of Jinling City, they reinforced the city defense of Yangzhou City and deployed so many heavy artillery.
Huai'an City does not have this condition, and Hao Bainian will not leave them enough time to prepare for city defense.
In addition, these days, whether it is defending or attacking the city, the role of artillery is irreplaceable. These Ming troops retreated, but they could not take away much of the artillery deployed in Yangzhou City.
These artillery pieces, even five-pound field artillery pieces, are huge. It is almost impossible to take away too many artillery pieces in a hurry.
Therefore, in the face of the retreat of the Ming army, Hao Bainian was not in a hurry. He did not even send cavalry troops to block the northern city gate. He sent an order to the third cavalry detachment to remain vigilant and beware of the Ming army escaping from the city and kill a carbine, such as
Talk about turning around and attacking the artillery positions deployed by the Third Army outside the city.
At the same time, a small cavalry unit was dispatched to track the Ming army outside the city and provide intelligence support for the third army's next move.
As for the main infantry force of the Third Army, they further increased their attack on the Ming army in the city, occupying the four walls and important buildings in the city as early as possible to prevent the Ming army from jumping over the wall in a hurry and setting fire to armories, grain warehouses and even
Burning down the entire city.
When Hengyang was burned to the ground, the Tang Army still had fresh memories of this. Naturally, they did not want this to happen again. You must know that Yangzhou City is now a city that belongs to the Tang Dynasty.
Every tile and every brick is a precious treasure of the Tang Dynasty.
Yangzhou belongs to the Tang Dynasty and to the Holy Emperor Li Xuan!
Hao Bainian wanted to dedicate the city of Yangzhou to the emperor, so naturally he could not let the Ming army burn it down.
The Army of the Tang Dynasty continued to advance towards key points in the city and continued to attack the northern city wall guarded by the Ming Army. The Ming Army also resisted fiercely in order to secure the final retreat channel.
However, the Ming army's active resistance was in vain!
Three hours after entering the city, the Tang Army announced that it had completely occupied all four city walls, blocking the remaining Ming troops in the city. At the same time, various units also controlled some important areas of the city.
In the afternoon, the Tang Army launched a new round of large-scale attack on the remaining Ming troops in the city. A large number of armored soldiers rushed into the streets in groups, completely strangling any Ming troops who interfered and resisted.
By this time, the resistance of the remaining Ming troops in the city had lost its organization, and there were only small-scale troops, hundreds or even dozens of people resisting.
At this time, the Ming army still in the city were basically abandoned, and many senior generals had already led their direct troops out of the city.
At five o'clock in the afternoon, the Third Army initially took control of the main roads in the city, as well as important buildings such as government offices and warehouses.
An hour later, Hao Bainian led the senior generals of the Third Army into the city and successfully fulfilled his wish to have dinner in Yangzhou City!
Of course, having dinner was just a joke. After Hao Bainian entered the city, it was naturally impossible to drink and eat. He still had a lot of things to do after he entered the city.
The most important thing is to hold a post-war meeting!
After the post-war meeting, Hao Bainian immediately wrote a handwritten letter of success and sent it to Jinling City.
Li Xuan received the victory report in the evening of the next day. The content of the victory report was very detailed. It not only briefly reported the beginning and end of the siege, but also listed the casualties and results of the battle, and even the next action.
Hao Bainian always reported the success in the newspaper.
In the Battle of Yangzhou, the Third Army of the Tang Dynasty Army and the Canal Fleet of the Datang Navy cooperated with each other. A total of more than 230 artillery pieces weighing more than five kilograms were used, and more than 50,000 rounds of solid bullets and grenades weighing more than five kilograms were used. This pioneered
The ammunition consumption record of the Tang Dynasty King’s Division in a single battle was recorded.
More than 3,000 troops were killed, more than 2,000 were injured, and a number of artillery, muskets and other types of ordnance were lost. However, the loss of materials was not a big problem, and the loss of 5,000 personnel was also within Li Xuan's estimate.
In conquering Yangzhou City, Li Xuan's psychological bottom line was to have 10,000 casualties, but now 5,000 casualties are completely acceptable.
After all, they want to attack Yangzhou, and Yangzhou is defended by one hundred thousand Ming troops. These one hundred thousand Ming troops are already the last main force of the Ming army in the Jiangbei region, and they are also new troops equipped with a large number of guns and cannons.
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During the siege, the Third Army was estimated to have killed more than 30,000 Ming soldiers, seriously injured more than 30,000 Ming soldiers, and injured countless others. They also captured about 50,000 people, of whom at least 20,000 were those who rebelled before the battle.
The Ming army that successfully escaped from the city was estimated to be only about 20,000 people!
In addition, about 300 shotguns of various types such as Wankou cannons and Folang machine guns were seized, as well as more than 40 five-pound field cannons, more than ten seven-pound field cannons, and six nine-pound field cannons.
About 30,000 matchlocks of various calibers were seized. Why do we say different calibers? Because the matchlocks used by the Ming army today have different calibers, centered on 14mm, with small ones ranging from 12mm to 13mm, and large ones ranging from 10mm to 10mm.
From five millimeters to sixteen millimeters, the calibers of muskets made by different craftsmen vary from place to place.
Of course, the Ming army is not stupid. They will also select and use muskets of roughly the same caliber in one unit to facilitate unified training and operations.
After the Tang Army seized these muskets, they also classified the muskets of different calibers, and then equipped different troops according to different calibers.
Then other things seized, various cold weapons are not worth mentioning, the Tang Dynasty itself has no shortage of swords, spears and so on. Bows and arrows are no longer widely equipped in the Tang Dynasty, and the traditional iron armor has been replaced by plate armor.
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The only thing of greater value is the large amount of military rations hoarded by the Ming army in Yangzhou City. This is a batch of food that is enough to feed an army of 100,000 for three months. Even if these three months are based on Ming army standards, they are placed with the Tang Army.
Come on, take it for a month at most.
But with such a batch of food, the Third Army will not have to worry about military rations for the next two months, which can greatly reduce the logistical pressure.
After taking Yangzhou, Li Xuan was in a very good mood. That night, he had the rare opportunity to accompany Empress Dowager Bai, Empress Dong and others to a family banquet. During the dinner, everyone around could see Li Xuan's joy.
Can Li Xuan be unhappy? Taking Yangzhou means that the door to the north has been opened. Even if 20,000 people escaped from Yangzhou city, even if there were tens of thousands of Ming troops in Gaoyou and Huai'an, it would still be
There is no way to stop the Tang Army from marching northward!
In the victory report, Hao Bainian had already explained the follow-up battle plan to him!
The subsequent operations were not too fancy, that is, they continued northward along the canal, captured Gaoyou, captured Baoying, captured Huai'an, and entered the Yellow River and Hongze Lake basins.
Then continue to go north, and at the same time go west along the Huaihe River to enter Fengyang Mansion, completely establishing the overall situation in Jiangbei.
As for this follow-up battle plan, Hao Bainian actually didn't need to take the initiative to propose it. He could guess it, because as long as you look at the direction of the canal, Yellow River, and Huaihe River on the map, it is basically not difficult to determine the direction of the Tang Army's attack.
The Tang army's large-scale strategic offensives were basically carried out along rivers. Even the Ming army knew about it now, otherwise they would not have tried to hold on in Yangzhou in the first place.
During the family dinner, Empress Dowager Bai was chattering like an ordinary old lady, but she only talked about household matters. In the past two years, Empress Dowager Bai had not been very involved in military and state affairs.
And Empress Dong didn't care about this.
Of course, in fact, even if they want to interfere in military affairs, it is impossible because Li Xuan does not allow it!
After dinner, Li Xuan did not go to the other concubines, but accompanied Empress Dong. Empress Dong was naturally sensible and called Zhuer over directly, and the three of them had a great time fussing around for half the night.
After the tossing was over, Li Xuan lay on the bedside, letting Pearl lie on him to clean up, and then turned his head to talk to Empress Dong. As he was talking, Li Xuan suddenly said: "Is your father-in-law doing well over there?
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Li Xuan's father-in-law is naturally Dong Yunyun's father. The reason why he suddenly mentioned him tonight is because Li Xuan heard that his father-in-law was dishonest and was trying to get back into office!