Bai Guangen's death in battle and the defeat of the 12,000-strong army in Jizhou Town shocked Hong Chengchou, Zhang Ruoqi, and Ma Shaoyu, and they were no longer calm as before. Especially Zhang Ruoqi and Ma Shaoyu, both of them shouted and asked Hong Chengchou repeatedly, not knowing what to do.
Hong Chengchou looked at Ye Bushou who came to report in disbelief. He asked three times in a row, but got the same answer: Bai Guangen died in the battle, the 12,000 troops in Jizhou Town collapsed, and the defeated army was heading towards The Chinese army is coming over here, and you should be able to see it soon.
At this time, not to mention Hong Chengchou, even Liu Yan could not believe it. Bai Guangen was originally a subordinate of Li Zicheng, but later surrendered to the army and became the chief soldier of Jizhou Town by virtue of his military exploits. A soldier who is known as a brave general, who would have thought that Bai Guangen would be defeated so quickly and so miserably?
Moreover, the military foundation of Jizhou Town is good. Qi Jiguang was in command in Jizhou Town back then. Even now, Jizhou Town still retains many of the rules of the Qi family army. It can be said that the soldiers and horses of Jizhou Town are at least as strong as those of Xuanfu Town. Even if they are attacked by the Qing army, they can still stand firm and wait for reinforcements. How could the Qing army's cavalry break through in one round? Are so many tanks and Folan cannons vegetarian?
Moreover, Wu Sangui's 20,000-strong army is not far from Jizhou Town. The two armies combined have more than 30,000 soldiers. Their equipment is not bad. Why don't they support each other? If Liu Yan were to take command, with such a force, he could defeat at least the Qing army of less than 20,000 people!
At this time, Hong Chengchou looked up to the sky and sighed. The battle in Jinzhou had just begun, but a town's general officers were lost, and the army in Jizhou Town was defeated. Such a situation, you can imagine what kind of storm it would cause in the DPRK.
"General Liu, the situation is like this, what do you say?"
Hong Chengchou looked at Liu Yan. Fortunately, he still had Liu Yan's trump card in his hand. With the tens of thousands of elites from the new army in Qinglai Town, Hong Chengchou had the confidence to stabilize his base and prevent the war from overturning.
Liu Yan thought for a moment and was about to speak when he saw the troops of the brigade running back with their horses running wildly at night, and then reported to Hong Chengchou: Most of the Jizhou Zhenzheng barracks and most of the car camps are still there, but they have been cleared. The army was defeated, and now these defeated troops were carrying a large number of civilians. They were deliberately driven away by the Qing army's cavalry, and were fleeing towards the direction of the Chinese army and the Xuanfu Town army that was attacking the mountain.
Liu Yan knew that this was a common method used by the Qing army, which was to drive the defeated troops to attack their own military formations and shake the morale of the Ming army.
At this time, Hong Chengchou, Liu Yan and others raised their telescopes and looked northeast. Through the hills and ridges, they could even hear cries. I saw dense small black spots appearing on the fields, which were countless defeated soldiers and civilians. From a distance, I didn’t know how many people there were in the mountains and plains.
Liu Yan couldn't help but take a deep breath when he saw this. It seemed that he had indeed overestimated the combat power of the Ming army. This method of using servants to drive the army to fight was far from meeting the needs of this era. After all, due to his own reasons, the Qing army has made great changes compared to its history, and the ordinary Qing army has no advantage against it.
Historically, in the early stages of the Battle of Songshan, the Ming and Qing armies fought back and forth. In fact, it was also because the Qing army had fewer troops. One to two hundred thousand troops fought against 40,000 to 50,000 Qing troops. Although a small profit was made, the overall situation remained deadlocked. However, after Huang Taiji mobilized the country to help and the forces of both sides were equal, the contact between Song and Xing was quickly cut off, and the result was a complete defeat of the Ming army.
At present, the overall strength of the Ming army has not increased much, while the Qing army has a powerful firearms army. Based on this calculation, the current battle situation is really dangerous.
At this time, Zhang Ruoqi no longer had the previous high spirits. The scene in front of him had a great impact on him, a scholar who went to the battlefield for the first time. When the cruel side of the battlefield appeared in front of him, he was at a loss.
Zhang Ruoqi saw Hong Chengchou asking Liu Yan, so he clasped his fists at Liu Yan and stammered: "Mr. Liu, Chief Bing, what should we do?"
Although Hong Chengchou was frightened and angry, he had experienced many wars and had served as governor of Jiliao for many years, so he could still remain calm and composed. He said to Liu Yan: "General Liu, the Chinese army needs to immediately rescue the east, and we cannot let the defeated troops attack the Chinese army." The formation must not affect the two troops of General Yang and General Li who are attacking the mountain!"
Liu Yan nodded and accepted the order. Although the Qing soldiers were attacking the Ming army's soldiers and horses in all directions, they were still testing on the whole and did not choose a key point to attack. However, if the Qing army is allowed to act arbitrarily and defeat the Ming army one by one, making them think that the Ming army is vulnerable despite its appearance, the result will be unimaginable and it will also be a very big blow to the morale of the Ming army.
The top priority is to protect the flanks of Yang Guozhu and Li Fuming's armies first, so that the defeated troops and the Qing cavalry that follow will not affect the Huangtu Ridge battle of Yang Guozhu and others.
Only by taking Huangtu Ridge at all costs and severely damaging the main force of the Qing army stationed on the mountain can the negative impact of Jizhou Town's rout and the death of the commander-in-chief Bai Guangen be minimized!
Therefore, Liu Yan still strongly agreed with Hong Chengchou's deployment. However, Hong Chengchou did not mention Wu Sangui's troops on the front line, and he was obviously very confident in the combat effectiveness of his troops.
So Liu Yan hurriedly summoned the commanders of each battalion and began to conduct a simple military meeting with Hong Chengchou's central army.
At the same time, Yang Guozhu, who was commanding the attack on the mountain at the foot of the Loess Ridge, also noticed something was wrong. He looked to the east and saw a large number of defeated troops running towards him, and he suddenly cursed in anger.
Yang Guozhu then hurriedly sent out his reserve troops to form an arc-shaped defensive formation toward the northeast, mainly composed of chariot camps and cavalry, to prevent those broken troops and the Qing cavalry following from causing trouble and affecting the ongoing attack on Huangtu Ridge. The main force in Xuanfu Town and Shanxi Town.
On the central side of the Ming Army, Hong Chengchou waited for Liu Yan to explain the battlefield situation to his subordinates, and then said to Liu Yan very solemnly: "General Liu, the situation ahead is critical now, and you still need to lead the new army of Qinglai Town to fight. , turn the tide and reverse the current decline!”
Ma Shaoyu and Zhang Ruoqi also clasped their fists and saluted. They complimented Liu Yan for a while and then bowed down.
Liu Yan clasped his fists and said: "The governor and the two supervisors have spoken seriously. It is the duty of the general to severely defeat the Tartars. No need to say more, the general will organize his army to fight now!"
At this time, there were still over 100,000 troops in the Chinese army, including more than 76,000 from the New Army in Qinglai Town, Liu Yan, which was an extremely strong force.
In addition, Zuo Guangxian, the commander-in-chief of the reinforcement and suppression force, had 8,000 troops, and Hong Chengchou's supervision camp had less than 3,000 troops. The local governors and soldiers also had several hundred or more than 1,000 troops in their camp.
Some local officers and generals from Liaodong, such as Qian Youlu, the forward right battalion commander, and Dou Chenglie, the general patrol criminal commander, accompanied them to the battle. As for the local troops in Songshan, except for the city garrison Shang Yudi, the city garrison was stationed as a guerrilla and Ge Chaozhong stayed at the castle. Songshan Deputy General Xia Chengde, Songshan Tour Camp General Liu Zhengjie, Songshan General Fan Chenggong and other troops also pulled out.
Although they have many battalions, most of them have one to two thousand troops per battalion, so the total number of these generals, lieutenants, guerrillas and other troops totals only more than 10,000 men. In addition, there are a large number of civilians on the Chinese army side, but they are not considered to have much combat power.
At this time, Liu Yan also saw that the strength of the Chinese army was too thin. To be on the safe side, he left the rear camp troops led by Wang Yue and prepared to lead the remaining five battalions of left, right, center, guards and cavalry. Horses, and artillery battalions went into battle. Following Liu Yan's order, the commanders and commanders of each battalion also returned to their respective camps to mobilize troops and horses to prepare for battle. 33
At this moment, another group of soldiers who stayed overnight came with news. Just to the northeast of the Chinese army, about a few miles away, the Qing army had assembled more than 20,000 cavalrymen of various banners. Their combat power was extraordinary, and they were following Jizhou Town. The crowd of defeated soldiers came over.
Especially when the Qing army had just defeated the 12,000 soldiers and horses of the Jizhen army, and when the hearts of all the Chinese army were shaken, the only ones who could go out to fight against the enemy were the tens of thousands of Qinglai Town new troops under Liu Yan. .
At this time, Chen Xun, the capital commander and guerrilla general, led the front battalion to garrison the Hongluoshan defense line. Wang Yueyao, the capital commander and guerrilla general, led his troops to stay behind in the Chinese army. Liu Yan led the remaining battalions, totaling more than 64,000 people, to fight.
There were more than 20,000 Qing troops in front of them. Liu Yan's new army not only had an absolute advantage in strength, but was also far stronger than the Qing army in terms of combat power.
Therefore, when Liu Yan led his troops to attack, he had already made up his mind to severely damage the 20,000 Qing cavalry. It was best to annihilate this enemy force and let the new army of Qinglai Town fight in the first battle of Liaodong battlefield. Get off to a good start!
When Liu Yan was reorganizing his troops and preparing to attack, Hong Chengchou sent someone to deliver the latest intelligence.
At this time, Wang Pu's troops were fighting back and forth with thousands of Qing troops, so there was no worries there. As long as Wang Pu's troops are undefeated and can protect the flanks of the army, Yang Guozhu and Li Fuming will have no worries.
As for the Ma Ke and Tang Tong armies to the west of Songshan Fort, although their combat strength is worrying, they can still retreat to the camp if they are the worst. The Ming army camps around Songshan Fort also left some soldiers and horses in each town. They may not be able to fight in the field, but there is no problem in defending the city and the stronghold. It was not easy for the Qing army to bypass the densely packed camps and attack the east side of Songshan Fort.
And even if the Ming army in the Songshanbao area was defeated, the Qing army really attacked the Ming army from the west, and Liu Yan left a rear camp of more than 12,000 people. Now every battalion of the New Army has its own strategic combat capabilities. Although Wang Yue is not a general, as long as he follows the step-by-step command in the drill and uses the powerful firepower and combat power of a battalion of the New Army to stop more than 20,000 people and five A Qing army of less than 10,000 people is not a problem.
After Liu Yan received this news, he decided to use the posture of a tiger fighting a rabbit and use the new army of Qinglai Town with absolutely superior strength to deal a heavy blow to the Qing cavalry in the east. It is best to kill a few enemy generals, so as to boost the morale of the somewhat depressed army. Everyone also agreed that when the gap was closed and the battle was settled, Cai Maode, the military commander, would lead a large number of civilians down and continue to dig trenches. The connection between thieves and slaves between Huangtu Ridge and Songshan Ridge must be cut off!
At the same time, Hong Chengchou and Liu Yan were worried that the Qing army to the east also carried Hongyi artillery, so they urgently mobilized more than 200 earth-moving vehicles from the Chinese army to make complete preparations.
As the new troops from Qinglai Town were dispatched, tens of thousands of elite soldiers moved eastward in a uniform formation. The most powerful army of the Ming Dynasty is extraordinary. In that neat square formation, thousands of troops and horses seem to be one person. The huge square formation marches all the way, and there is no need to form a team. Looking horizontally and vertically, it is a straight line. Hong Chengchou and other civil and military officials were shocked!
Seeing the strong army like this, everyone was thinking that with the strength of the new army in Qinglai Town, they would definitely gain a lot in this attack. If they were lucky, they might even be able to kill a few generals and princes of the Qing army. Time is a great achievement. If you can follow Liu Yan's army, you will definitely get a lot of credit.
So the supervisor Zhang Ruoqi stood up first and said loudly and righteously: "Supervisor! The thieves and slaves are fighting wildly. As a supervisor, how can I sit quietly in the middle of the army and wait for good news? You should follow General Liu and fight against the thieves together. ...Even if I am weak in my job and cannot fight slave thieves with my own hands, I should still beat drums and cheer for the army!"
Everyone around them looked sideways when they heard this, with contempt in their eyes: When the other towns went to war, why didn't you follow them?
However, under Zhang Ruoqi's strong request, both Liu Yan and Hong Chengchou agreed.
At this time, everyone in the Chinese army saw that Zhang Ruoqi had successfully joined the army in the battle, and they all wanted to fight for the opportunity to fight. They started making noises, but they were all scolded by Hong Chengchou, and everyone gave up.
Some people died, but not completely...
