Chapter nine hundred and sixty seventh encirclement and annihilation
In the end, Li Xuan did not choose to let the Second Army attack Huangzhou's defense line immediately. In that case, the attack would definitely be defeated, but the casualties would be huge!
Li Xuan also did not ask the Fifth Army to reinforce the Second Army and then attack the Huangzhou defense line head-on. That would be meaningless because it would also cause huge casualties.
Now that the Tang Dynasty King Shi Cha Ju has many strategic advantages, there is no need for Li Xuan to fight with the 50,000-strong Supervisor Zuojun just for the sake of a Huangzhou defense line!
He did not even adopt another combat plan proposed by the Operations Office of the Privy Council of the Tang Dynasty, which was to let the Second Army bypass the Huangzhou Defense Line, and then let the Fifth Army step forward to fill the vacancies in the Huangzhou Defense Line and contain the Huangzhou Defense Line.
Fifty thousand Ming troops.
He adopted another backup plan proposed by the Operations Department, which was to use the Fifth Army of the Strategic Reserve to bypass the Huangzhou Defense Line, seize the northern area of Huanggang County, and implement a leap attack to strategically encircle the Ming Army within the Huangzhou Defense Line!
Since Supervisor Biao Zuojun planned to defend Huangzhou, Li Xuan also planned to take advantage of the situation to surround and annihilate them!
You must know that the main goal of the second phase of the Southwest Campaign of the Tang Dynasty is not to capture a certain place or how many places, but to retain the main force of more than 100,000 supervisors in the Huguang area.
And this is also the reason why the Second Infantry Division of the First Army rushed to Jingzhou!
Because once Jingzhou is successfully captured and the Du Biao Ming army is prevented from resisting Jingzhou, it will be equivalent to locking up 100,000 Du Biao Ming troops in the Hubei area north of the Yangtze River.
But now that the Ming army on the front line in Huangzhou has chosen to defend Huangzhou, Li Xuan has a second choice!
That is to annihilate the main force of this supervising force first!
That was the 50,000 Dubiao Ming Army, which was almost half of the main force of the Ming Army in Hubei. As long as they were annihilated, the Tang Dynasty King would have a huge strategic advantage in the future!
Because at that time, they will have a military advantage for the first time!
It is not a local strength advantage, but a comprehensive strength advantage on the entire Hubei battlefield!
At that time, no matter how Zhang Yue resists, in the face of absolute strength, any resistance is destined to be in vain!
That's why Li Xuan let the Fifth Army risk landing in Tuanfeng!
Once the plan is successful, they will completely surround the Du Biao Zuo Army, which is the absolute main force of more than 50,000 Du Biao. If Zhang Yue is willing to give up this army, sit back and watch the Zuo Army be surrounded and then annihilated, he will not send troops from Hanyang.
Come to the rescue, then Li Xuan will admit it, and then he will have a head-to-head confrontation with the remaining main force of Du Biao. Even if he uses artillery shells to hit him and consumes the lives of the soldiers, he will take Hubei before the rainy season next spring and summer.
, and then marched into Sichuan.
The backup plan put forward by the Operations Department was almost the same as the first infantry division of the First Army's blitz on Huangzhou. It took advantage of the strategic advantages of the Yangtze River Fleet and chose to conduct landing operations behind the Ming army.
It was just that the First Infantry Division failed and was finally forced to retreat. But now, can the Fifth Army succeed?
Li Xuan doesn’t know!
But having said that, it doesn’t matter even if it doesn’t succeed. The worst case scenario is to retreat and then implement the alternative plan. Directly strengthen the Fifth Army to the Second Army, and let the Fifth Army and the Second Army jointly attack the supervisory Biao Zuo on the Huangzhou front line.
He didn't believe it. The two armies combined had nearly 90,000 people. They couldn't capture Huangzhou in a short time!
Regardless of this, we must create pressure on the Ming army and break the current stalemate.
To ensure that all units of the First Army, especially the Second Infantry Division, can successfully launch the Jingzhou Campaign and finally capture it successfully!
This will completely block the possibility of Dubiao's main force retreating to Sichuan!
If the transportation capacity was not tight and the distance was not too far, Li Xuan planned to send the Fifth Army directly to Jingzhou. Unfortunately, it was too far and the navy could not guarantee the supply of too many troops. One infantry division was basically the limit.
But no matter what, Li Xuan wants to keep Zhang Yue's main supervisor!
After Li Xuan made his decision, Army Lieutenant General Chen Keqiao quickly led the soldiers of the Fifth Army to set off!
In fact, although Chen Keqiao's people are still in Jiujiang, his Fifth Army actually serves as the strategic reserve of the entire army. Although some troops are in Jiujiang, they are only part of the troops. In fact, not all of the Fifth Army is in Jiujiang.
The small force has already penetrated deep into the front line.
The 11th Infantry Division of the Fifth Army is currently deployed in Wuchang County, south of Huangzhou City and on the south bank of the Yangtze River (the ancient Wuchang County was renamed Shouchang County after the second year of the Republic of China, not Wuchang County, which was renamed from Jiangxia County).
The other main force of the Fifth Army, the 12th Infantry Division, is further back and deployed in Qizhou.
After Chen Keqiao took most of the troops directly under the Fifth Army to sail westward on ships, his troops also started to launch one after another!
Under the cover of the Navy's Yangtze River Fleet, they will directly launch a landing in the Tuanfeng area behind the Huangzhou defense line.
This battle, like the previous battles, relied heavily on the power of the navy!
Whether it is a cross-river attack or supply transportation, it is impossible to do without the help of the navy.
This time, although the protagonist is the Army of the Tang Dynasty, the naval combat cannot be ignored!
In order to ensure the smooth progress of the Southwest Campaign, completely control the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, cover the army's various landing operations, and maintain the supply lines of the Yangtze River waterway, the navy also spent a lot of money.
A few months ago, river warships were mobilized from across the country, and all of them were strengthened to the Yangtze River Fleet!
At present, the main fleet of the Yangtze River Fleet is all gathered in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River. The Navy reported that for this battle, they have deployed a total of thirty-eight Class A inland river warships, eighty-seven Class B inland river warships, and one hundred and forty Class C inland river warships.
There are more than 250 river warships purely for combat purposes!
In addition, the Naval Logistics Department has also deployed about a hundred inland water transport vessels of various types.
And these are still active warships of the Navy. In fact, it is not the Navy's transport ships that undertake the transportation task, but the transport fleet of the Privy Council Logistics Department!
This time, in addition to the more than 100 inland river vessels it owns, the Logistics Department has also recruited almost all the inland river transport vessels in the Yangtze River. The total number of these civilian vessels exceeds 1,500!
Although most of these transport ships are small ships with only a few tons or more than ten tons, there will be no more than 1% of transport ships exceeding fifty tons!
But these small ships still play a huge role!
They traveled to and from the Yangtze River waterway, transporting troops and various materials and supplies for the Tang Dynasty King's Division!
Without the large number of transport ships from the Logistics Department and the full assistance of the Navy, the Southwest Campaign would not have been able to unfold so smoothly.
It was also officially relying on the Yangtze River waterway that the Tang Dynasty was able to launch a battle involving more than 100,000 troops thousands of miles away from its core ruling area and ordnance production base!
Sea transportation and river transportation are the two main arteries that maintain the economic operation of the Tang Dynasty and the military operation of the Tang Dynasty. Both are indispensable!
Having invested such a huge amount of resources, the Tang Dynasty must see results in the Southwest Campaign, eliminate Dubiao, seize Hubei, and march into Sichuan. These are the goals in the early and mid-term of the Southwest Campaign.
As for the later goal, it is naturally to completely capture the entire southwest region, including Yunnan and Sichuan!
The Fifth Army set off, and the Second Army also received an urgent edict from Li Xuan. In the edict, Li Xuan agreed to Wang Chaohong's proposal to extend the time, and informed Chao Chaohong of the latest combat plan of the Operation Department, hoping that
They cooperated with the Fifth Army, and then completely surrounded and annihilated the 50,000 puppet Ming thief troops on the Huangzhou front line.
After seeing this imperial edict, the commander of the Second Army Wang Chaohong also breathed a sigh of relief. What he was most afraid of was that the Holy Emperor would let his troops increase their intensity and attack at all costs. Although it is the duty of soldiers to obey orders.
It is the duty of a soldier to fight to the death for His Majesty, but it is the best thing to be able to destroy the enemy at the minimum cost.
After being granted a free time, Wang Chaohong also made up his mind not to fight head-on with these Ming dynasties, but continued to use stupid but very effective methods to crush their resistance step by step.
As a result, the Second Army suddenly became a combination of engineers and artillery!
Artillery was firing every moment, and the rumbling sound of artillery continued. A large number of engineers, transformed into ordinary infantrymen, wielded various tools such as iron pickaxes and began to dig trenches continuously.
Then use the trenches to approach, throw grenades, arrange 24-pound howitzers to close in and fire, or simply pull over the 5-pound field artillery and aim directly at the fortress of the Ming Dynasty for bombardment.
The Third Infantry Division had already mastered this attack method in the Battle of Qishui. Although they were blocked for eight days, in fact, they completely conquered Qishui with only more than 500 casualties.
Water Fortress, and at the same time annihilated at least 2,000 Du Biao.
It can be said that it is very rare to have such a casualty ratio in a frontal attack battle.
In fact, Wang Chaohong also thought about simply letting the troops launch a bayonet charge. Although the Du Biao on the opposite side relied on the fortress to resist, their firepower density was actually only average. If Wang Chaohong made up his mind, he would have 100% chance.
With certainty, in three days at most, and possibly in one day, he could lead his army to completely kill it.
But if you do this, the casualties of the soldiers will increase sharply, and the death of several thousand people is estimated to be at least a minimum!
After all, the 50,000 supervising officers and soldiers are not idiots. They will not stand still and let you attack them. They will fight back and use various methods to fight back. If nothing else, this is the time to charge. Their shotguns
It's normal to fire a shot at your charging phalanx and kill or injure a dozen people.
One solid artillery shell, with a few more bounces, could wipe out half an infantry unit!
Thanks to the surging development of firearms in the Tang Dynasty, the firearms produced by others were not bad. There were not many large-caliber artillery, but there was no shortage of shotguns, five-pound field guns, and matchlock guns of different calibers.
In order to avoid casualties, the Second Army started doing civil engineering work and gradually advanced by digging trenches, throwing grenades, approaching and shelling, etc.!
This style of play of the Second Army also made the opposing Zuo Army very uncomfortable! 8)