According to the estimates of the staff office, it is unlikely that the troops heading north will encounter the large-scale Guang'an Army.
After all, the Guang'an Army was also limited. According to estimates from the Intelligence Department, the total strength of the Guang'an Army before the war was only about 60,000.
At least 45,000 people were accumulated in the defense line of Chongguang City. Most of this army has been annihilated or captured, and about 15,000 others have been gradually escaped in the past few days.
As for the rear area in Guang'an City and other areas, Du Zhikuan actually only had more than 10,000 troops left under his command.
It can be said that when the South Korean Navy captured the defense line of Chongguang City, it actually defeated the main force of the Guang'an Army. At the same time, the cavalry troops and the Second Division also pursued the more than 10,000 enemy troops who fled.
The pursuing troops did not expect to be able to completely catch up and annihilate them. Their strategic goal was just to break their organizational structure. They could escape, but they could not escape in an organized manner.
Once the fleeing enemy troops are disorganized, it is estimated that many soldiers will directly become deserters. If the Guang'an Army wants to reorganize these defeated troops, it is estimated that they will not be able to find them all within a few months.
In this way, the focus is not on how many people are annihilated, but on dismantling their organization.
Therefore, when pursuing troops, they usually pursue large groups of enemy troops, and generally do not bother to deal with scattered enemy troops.
Anyway, the scattered enemy troops lost their heavy weapons, and many deserters even threw away their rifles. These scattered enemy troops could no longer affect the situation.
If it were only aimed at the Guang'an army, then the subsequent Guang'an war would quickly move northward like an autumn wind sweeping away fallen leaves.
However, attacking Guang'an County is never just about attacking the Guang'an Army. There is also Hexi County nearby.
Lin Ziran will never forget that when Luo An's third division entered the hinterland of Guang'an, it was attacked by the Hexi County cavalry.
Therefore, he specifically instructed his troops not to be careless when pursuing the enemy, especially to be wary of the cavalry in Hexi County.
The cavalry of Hexi County are also famous in Nanhai Prefecture.
It is worth noting that Hexi County does not have strong cavalry or a tradition of cavalry since ancient times. The grassland terrain of Hexi County has a large number of herdsmen. The terrain of Hexi County cannot be said to be good or bad. In Nanhai
The state is just an ordinary county.
The cavalry of Hexi County is strong simply because the current governor of Hexi County, Hu Shiming, is a cavalryman.
In the early years, he relied on his nearly 10,000 cavalry troops to capture Hexi County and became the governor of Hexi County.
Later, he did not relax the construction of cavalry. In the regular army of Hexi County, the proportion of cavalry is quite large. It can even be said that infantry and artillery are only auxiliary arms of their cavalry.
Daheng's army already attaches great importance to cavalry. The Nanhai Navy under Lin Ziran now has five cavalry brigades and eight divisional cavalry regiments, with a total of more than 20,000 cavalry.
At the same time, we are continuing to expand the size of the cavalry and preparing to form a larger cavalry unit, such as a cavalry division.
But as for Hexi County, their total military strength is actually not large, only about 40,000 in total.
However, their cavalry number directly exceeded half, accounting for more than 50%.
Twenty thousand Hexi cavalrymen were what Hu Shiming relied on to secure the position of governor of Hexi County.
Not only are there a large number of cavalry, but the combat effectiveness of the Hexi cavalry is also obvious to all. Their results are quite good. In the early years, they defeated the Eighth Army under Cheng Lingfeng, which was the attack of Luo Guang's army. Otherwise, Cheng Lingfeng would not have been able to do so.
It will only be the Luo Guang garrison envoy, but the Luo Guanghe garrison envoy.
In the later Battle of Guang'an, after the Third Division penetrated deep into the hinterland of Guang'an, it was attacked by the Hexi Cavalry and was ultimately defeated. This directly led to the failure of the Luo'an Army's northern expedition to Guang'an, which in turn triggered a series of chaos within Luo'an County.
It can be seen from this that the cavalry in Hexi County are not only large in number, but also have good combat effectiveness.
Lin Ziran did not take this lightly and directly instructed the combat troops to be more vigilant. At the same time, he sent reconnaissance cavalry to conduct large-scale reconnaissance to the west and north to avoid being ambushed by the enemy's cavalry accidentally.
When Lin Ziran led the army north from the Chongguang City Fortress, Du Zhikuan, who had just fled back to Guang'an City with the remaining soldiers, could not sit still. On the one hand, he sent an envoy to Hexi County to ask for help. This time, people did not say that Chun Han Te was dead.
Just tell me directly that if you don't come, I will surrender with my troops.
I can't be the governor of Guang'an County, but I can still enjoy the glory and wealth. If I'm lucky, I might be able to continue leading troops!
In fact, there is no need for Du Zhikuan to say so. The troops from Hexi County have already begun to come over. However, the number of troops that came at the beginning was not large, only about 10,000, but they were cavalry troops. Even the artillery and artillery accompanying the army were
The baggage troops are all cavalry artillery and horse baggage troops.
However, such a cavalry unit marched very slowly. After two days of walking, it had just crossed the border between the two counties.
The people in Hexi County are also making their own plans. Now the war in Chongguang City has just broken out. Why are you going there so early in the morning? Anyway, Chongguang City will not be lost for a while.
Moreover, at the beginning, it was when the firepower of the South China Sea was the most fierce. There was no need for me to run up and get bombed at this time, right?
Take your time and walk slowly. It won't be too late to go up there by yourself after the fight to Chongguang City has been going on for ten days and a half.
However, they obviously underestimated the huge combat effectiveness brought by the combination of the Southern Navy's new tactics and new weapons, and also overestimated the Guang'an Army's determination to hold on to Chongguang City.
How could they have imagined that on the first day of the fighting, the defenders in the city were directly routed because their camp was shelled, and nearly ten thousand people fled on the spot.
They also did not expect that the eastern defense line could not be held for several hours, allowing the artillery unit of the South Korean Navy to obtain the best artillery position and then bombard the entire Chongguang City.
There were many things that they didn't expect, so this situation emerged. Lin Ziran's side had captured Chongguang City and moved towards the hinterland of Guang'an. The reinforcements of 10,000 Hexi cavalry had just crossed the border between the two counties.
Where is the line?
When the 10,000 Hexi cavalry learned that Chongguang City had been lost, they became panicked.
Some people say that they will withdraw directly to Hexi County, and some people say that they will go south to intercept the Southern Navy and attack their supply lines.
Some people talked about turning north to Guang'an City to help Du Zhikuan defend Guang'an City.
At this time, they also received a letter from Du Zhikuan. When they saw Du Zhikuan's letter, they Hexi people felt a little unhappy.
He, Du Zhikuan, is acting rogue now, saying that if your troops from Hexi County don't come, I will surrender directly.
Regardless of whether Du Zhikuan is finished or surrenders, this means that the Southern Navy can capture Guang'an County, and when the time comes, how can Hexi County in the west be able to survive alone.
Impossible!
Nowadays, many people know that Lin Ziran's foreign campaign is to unify Nanhai State.
After Lin Ziran takes Guang'an County, his next target will most likely be Hexi County.
In short, Hexi County will inevitably have to fight a war with the Southern Navy in the future. And when the time comes, how can the Hexi County family resist the Southern Navy alone?
After comprehensive consideration, this Hexi cavalry force of 10,000 people began to move eastward quickly, but it did not go directly to Guang'an City or Chongguang City, but between the two cities.
They are preparing to ambush the Southern Navy heading north!