For Geng Xingwen, these Song soldiers were completely unimportant. Even if he did not capture them, these broken soldiers would naturally be captured by the large troops following behind.
It is said that these captives will be sent to Haizhou to participate in the Ming Empire's massive Yellow River regulation project as a labor force for the upcoming Yellow River regulation project.
Before Geng Xingwen went to war, he heard from familiar friends in the Fuxing Society that the prisoners of war captured by the Song Army this time would be put to work and reformed at the same time.
When the Yellow River is renovated, they will be transformed and can become their own people.
It would be good if we could capture more prisoners. These prisoners would definitely not need to be paid or given free notes to work. They would just be in charge of the food. The more labor force they can get here, the more project funds they can save for the Ming Dynasty, and they can do more work. Many things.
Geng Xingwen looked down upon these bits and pieces of mosquito meat. He wanted to eat a big fat meat.
He chased and chased so patiently, and finally, Geng Xingwen caught up with the main force of the Song army in Husu Town.
At that time, the defeated Song army still had about 20,000 troops and was rapidly turning in. Geng Xingwen galloped past with his cavalry.
While quickly weaving through the middle of their team, tearing apart their connections, they quickly deployed an encirclement formation and formed a large circle. They trapped all these people in it, forming a faint encirclement, surrounding more than 20,000 people. The defeated troops surrounded him.
Those Song soldiers and generals who still had strength in the encirclement were certainly not willing to be eaten like this. They chose to resist with all their strength, especially the cavalry around Wu Chao and Wei Tang, who immediately gathered to attack, trying to kill the senior officers. Make a bloody path.
Their actions attracted Geng Xingwen's attention, so Geng Xingwen personally led his own soldiers to rush over and confront them directly.
The two cavalry fought together, and the battle was very fierce. Geng Xingwen himself participated in the battle with his personal guards, and fought fiercely with them. They fought for about two sticks of incense. The Song Army's cavalry was defeated, and Geng Xingwen won the final victory.
Then came the one-sided slaughter and capture.
Those who dare to resist will be killed, and those who dare not will be captured.
Originally, these defeated troops had no will to fight. The cavalry fighting the Ming army were still elites fighting to escape and survive. The elites were defeated. What choice did the remaining people have?
The soldiers of the Ming army, while shouting to surrender without killing, killed the Song soldiers who were lying on the ground without throwing away their weapons one by one.
The advantage of cavalry over infantry without military formations was evident at this moment.
To be honest, if there were 20,000 pigs, Geng Xingwen would definitely not be able to capture them, but if there were more than 20,000 pigs, he would be able to capture them, because pigs will not surrender until they are exhausted, but people will.
Many Song soldiers were frightened when they first saw the roaring Ming cavalry. They dropped their weapons and ran away like headless flies. They waited until they were exhausted or saw someone. If he was killed in front of him, he would quickly lie down and tremble with his head in his hands.
Obviously, the final outcome has been determined.
On April 19, the Ming Army's pursuit force completed the pursuit and interception of the defeated Song Army in Huxi Town. The Song Army was severely defeated. About a thousand people were killed, and more than a thousand clever people took advantage of the opportunity. They escaped, and most of the rest were captured by the Ming army.
At this time, Geng Xingwen finally had no way to divide his troops and continue southward.
He led the cavalry to guard nearly 20,000 prisoners on the spot, and interrogated the captured Southern Song officers.
Wu Chao, Wei Tang and Guo Zuo were all interrogated and confessed their military positions and what they had done before.
Through interrogating them, Geng Xingwen determined the Song army's defense along the southern route and the main garrison of the Lin'an Forbidden Army. He recorded all the military intelligence he knew and sent it to Zhou Zhi who was following him. He looked at Guo Zuo and Wei Tang with interest.
"After all, our General Wu has fought before. He also fought back and forth with our navy in the beginning. He was quite brave. Although he is not safe in the late season... I don't know if this is the right word, but he has fought at least. , you two ran away without even fighting, is that appropriate?"
Guo Zuo and Wei Tang were tied up tightly, and they knelt in front of Geng Xingwen with their heads lowered and said nothing.
"One has 10,000 soldiers and horses, and the other has 20,000 soldiers and horses. Wei Tang, did you know that when our army just landed and prepared to attack Zhenjiang Mansion, we only had 4,000 soldiers and horses? If you knew, you would still choose to abandon it. Fleeing from the city?"
Geng Xingwen looked at Wei Tang with a smile.
Wei Tang was stunned for a moment, with a look of shame on his face.
"The defeated general does not dare to speak bravely. I only ask the general to be merciful and spare my life. I have an eighty-year-old mother at home with many children. If I am gone, they... will not be able to live well. Please forgive me, general." My life!"
Geng Xingwen shook his head, sighed, and looked at Guo Ze again.
"What about you? Guo Zie, you have 20,000 forbidden troops. Why didn't you go to support Liu Qi? Instead, you hesitated. Before our army went south, you ran away. If you choose to resist, you might be able to take advantage of our army's foothold. We haven't retaken Zhenjiang yet and turned the situation around. You have 20,000 troops in your hands. What can't you do? Why are you running away?"
Guo Zie's oily face was not only frustrated, but also depressed.
"How could a defeated general dare to confront the Ming army? After hearing Liu Qi's defeat, I knew that a mere 20,000 troops were no match for the Ming army. Rather than die, it would be better to preserve our strength and return to Lin'an, so I had no choice but to come here You have to take the next step to retreat, who knows..."
Guo Zuo glanced at Geng Xingwen, then quickly lowered his gaze and said: "The Ming army swept across the Central Plains and destroyed the Jin Kingdom. How powerful and majestic it is. How can we be an opponent? Now that I have become the general of the defeated army, I dare not What can I do? I just think that there are seniors and juniors at home, so I would like to ask the general to spare my life."
Geng Xingwen was speechless after hearing the answers of these two people.
After a while, he asked again: "Have you never thought of fighting to the death with the Ming army? Just like your colleagues who died in the battle?"
The two of them looked at each other - they confirmed that they were greedy for life and afraid of death.
There is no such thing as a fight to the death.
Only by leading the army to quickly move in and survive can we survive and continue to enjoy the glory and wealth - this is the most important thing. If there is no glory and wealth, there is no meaning in living, but if there is glory and wealth, then no matter what Don't want to die.
Geng Xingwen finally sighed, shook his head, and said nothing.
With a large army in hand but no thought of resisting, only running away, how can we continue to fight this battle?
Even if there are one million troops, if they are filled with people like this, it will be the end of the country.
There were serious problems with the military system and the will of the country in the Southern Song Dynasty. Issues that were not a problem in the Ming army actually became politically correct here. If the war is not defeated, who else can defeat the war?
On April 20th, Zhou Zhi led the main force to Huxi Town and accepted all the results of Geng Xingwen's battle.
He praised Geng Xingwen's achievements, credited him with great merit, and then announced that the army would continue to move south, and its next target would be Huzhou.
After taking Huzhou, there will be a direct waterway to Lin'an. Lin'an City will no longer have any obstacles that can hinder the advancement of the Ming army.
Was it such a simple matter to invade the capital of the Southern Song Dynasty?
If the same was true in the Northern Song Dynasty, Zhou Zhi felt that he could almost understand why Jin Bing was so greedy. Facing such an opponent, even he couldn't help but want to make a big profit from him.
Apart from Liu Qi, are there no generals who dare to fight the Ming army?
It's not that there is nothing. If such a large country did not have some generals and troops who dared to fight, it would have been unified when the Jin Kingdom went south, and there was no need for Wan Yanliang to continue [Lima Wushan's First Peak].
It's just that Zhou Zhi has not encountered more generals and soldiers who dare to fight until now.
Similarly, Ma Hongxing, who divided his troops and went to Jiankang Prefecture to carry out the task of conquering, did not encounter generals and soldiers who were more daring to fight.
He led 20,000 troops and navy to Jiankang Mansion by land and water, preparing to challenge Jiankang's general Wang Quan, further destroy the military defense of Jiankang Mansion, and complete the task of completely destroying the Jianghuai War Zone of the Southern Song Dynasty.
And what is Wang Quan doing at this moment?
He is running away.
