The three hundred cavalry under Chen Yongfu were defeated, completely defeated!
The cavalry on both sides seemed to be going back and forth and chasing each other during the battle, but in fact from the beginning to the end, the Ming army's cavalry failed to seize the opportunity to get close and engage in a large-scale close combat with Wang Xiazi's cavalry.
Most of the time, the Ming cavalry was under the attack of bows and arrows from the Baoxiang cavalry. Only a few Ming cavalry took the opportunity to rush forward and fight at close quarters with the Baoxiang cavalry.
But when these few Ming army cavalry finally rushed up to fight with the Baoxiang army cavalry at close quarters, they found that they could not beat them either.
Not only were these rebel cavalry capable of firing volleys, but they were also equally capable of fighting at close range with their sabers.
The core of the two hundred cavalry led by Wang Xiazi is the elite cavalry of the Yulin frontier army, supplemented by some surrendered officers and soldiers cavalry and veteran rebel cavalry.
The Baoxiang Army successively recruited elites from more than 10,000 surrendered officers and soldiers, bandits, refugees and civilians, and finally managed to collect 200 elite cavalry.
These backbone old thieves and elite officers and soldiers have good personal combat skills. After more than half a year of training under the guidance of Wang Xiazi and the other elite professional frontier cavalry, although their personal skills and tactics are not as good as those of Wang Xiazi and the other elite frontier cavalry. , but not bad.
With adequate food support and intensive professional training, the combat effectiveness they can develop is definitely not comparable to that of the three hundred and a half sloppy cavalry under Chen Yongfu.
It can't be defeated by mounted archers, nor can it be defeated by close combat.
At this moment, these Ming army cavalry completely lost their courage to fight, and began to turn their horses' heads and flee in a swarm.
The escape was not smooth either, because Wang Xiazi and the others continued to pursue him.
Some people simply left the battlefield and fled, while others simply surrendered when they saw that they could not escape.
The Ming Army cavalry was undoubtedly defeated, completely defeated. In the end, only a hundred Ming Army cavalry were able to retreat to the rear.
Looking at the recovered cavalry, Chen Yongfu's expression turned ugly.
Chen Yongfu's mind was blank now. Even though he expected that his cavalry would not be the opponent's opponent, he never thought that he would be defeated so completely.
He also thought that his own cavalry could fight bravely, and there was a cavalryman who was not afraid of death to block the opponent's cavalry.
But he overestimated the combat effectiveness of his own cavalry and underestimated the cunning of the opponent's rebel cavalry.
These thief cavalry were obviously bullying the half-baked cavalry under him because they had no long-range firepower, and they were just flying kites from beginning to end.
Protecting a thief from bullying is too much!
If these bandits encounter the elite cavalry of the border troops from Yulin Xuanda and other places, or encounter the Guanning cavalry and other cavalry from Jiliao, they will definitely not dare to be so arrogant, and they may even turn around and run away.
Not to mention the elite cavalry of the frontier army, even if they met the elite cavalry under Zuo Liangyu and Chen Zhibang who were also good at riding and shooting, they would definitely not dare to play like this.
But no matter what, he, Chen Yongfu, didn't have such an elite cavalry under his command.
The cavalry was defeated. Some were killed, some fled, and some surrendered. Only about a hundred cavalry escaped back to their own battle formations.
These cavalry were completely destroyed.
These cavalrymen all looked terrified now. If they hadn't relied on the archers and guns of their own soldiers for cover, they would have probably run away.
The cavalry can no longer be counted on, what should we do next?
To be honest, Chen Yongfu didn't have much choice but to put his hope in his own soldiers.
The soldiers of his own headquarters have rich combat experience and personal abilities in killing thieves. They have always been able to win equally, if not completely, in battles with thieves' infantry.
As long as the camp can be defended, it will be able to wait for reinforcements in the future.
He, Hong Chengchou, couldn't really watch Chen Yongfu being besieged, defeated and dead.
Even if Hong Chengchou doesn't care about Chen Yongfu's life or death, he still has to consider the gains and losses of Nanyang City and even the three passes of Yalu.
Chen Yongfu still has some confidence in whether he can hold the camp.
His own cavalry is only half-qualified, but the infantry and car camp artillerymen in his own troops are all elite.
In this part of the Central Plains, his two thousand soldiers can be regarded as capable of fighting. At least they can hit high-class thieves accurately. It is a routine operation to win with less than many.
Not to mention fighting bandits in the Central Plains, even if they draw the Xuanda and Jiliao areas to engage in battle with Dongluo, they can still last for a while.
Well, it's not easy to hold on for a while.
Don’t you see, when the so-called elite frontier troops in Jiliao, Xuanda and other places are fighting against the Eastern captives, they need to avoid frontal combat with the Eastern captives in the wild as much as possible. They usually rely on city fortresses for defensive operations.
The Jiliao border army was like this, let alone the Ming army in the Central Plains region, whose combat effectiveness was even lower, going to the border and east to fight.
However, a captive is a captive, and a bandit is a bandit.
In the eyes of Chen Yongfu and in the eyes of the court officials, the two have always been two different things, and it is very clear that their combat effectiveness is not on the same level.
It’s not a boast, but the Dongluo’s combat effectiveness before entering the customs was quite strong.
How the Eastern Capture was fought during this period, especially the Battle of Songjin, is too detailed to describe. A simple description is: the cavalry swept the formation, the artillery blasted the infantry and charged, the infantry charged and the artillery blasted, and so on. , after the Ming army's formation collapsed, the cavalry rushed forward to cover up the killing and expand the victory.
Their tactics are very simple, and even most of the time the battles are very rigid. However, with such a simple set of things, the Ji Liao Ming Army can't breathe in the field, and they can only rely on the city passes to carry out defensive operations.
But as the saying goes, a captive is a captive, and a bandit is a bandit.
Even though the Ming army suffered a great deal against the Dongchu on the Jiliao front line, in the Central Plains it rarely suffered against the rebels. Most of the time they were chasing the rebels.
Chen Yongfu did not believe that the enemy troops of the Baoxiang army on the opposite side could defeat him in terms of infantry, and that they could form a camp to protect themselves, wear heavy armor like Dongduo, and rush forward to fight without fear of death.
It's just that if they want to rely on the camp to protect themselves, they have to return to the camp.
Will Luo Zhixue give him this opportunity?
Nonsense, Luo Zhixue is not stupid, he will definitely not give him a chance to retreat back to the camp.
The reason why he asked Wang Dazhuang to lead the southward troops such as the 4th Infantry Battalion and the 2nd Artillery Sentinel did not directly enter Zhaozhuang, but detoured to the west, because he wanted to decide the outcome in one battle and prevent Chen Yongfu from leading the main force back to the camp, so as to strive for victory in the field battle. Completely annihilate Chen Yongfu's troops.
As for not eliminating Chen Yongfu's troops and avoiding the Ming army's attention, it is now impossible to achieve.
The Ming army is not stupid. They have exposed more than 4,000 troops on their side, as well as guns, cannons and fine cavalry. They are also entrenched in the eastern part of Funiu Mountain and control a large amount of rural areas in Nanyang Prefecture.
No matter how stupid the senior officials in the Ming army are, they can still see that the Baoxiang Army is a huge threat!
Luo Zhixue even estimated that Hong Chengchou and other senior civil servants and generals of the Ming Dynasty were already aware of the Baoxiang Army and were planning to eliminate this threat to themselves.
Otherwise, it is impossible to explain why Chen Yongfu, after being quiet for more than half a month, suddenly sent all his strength to move north.
Luo Zhixue believed that the only possibility was that the Ming Dynasty had fully realized the huge threat posed by the Baoxiang Army and paid attention to this threat, so that Chen Yongfu came to encircle and suppress him.
Even more Ming army reinforcements may be on the way.
It has to be said that Luo Zhixue completely misjudged the Ming army's strategic intentions!
And this cannot be blamed on Luo Zhixue. When Luo Zhixue guessed the strategic intentions of the Ming army, he used conventional strategic thinking to guess the strategic intentions of the Ming army, and he could not take into account the many private thoughts and intentions of the Ming army generals.
Until today's battle, Luo Zhixue still doesn't know the relationship between Hong Chengchou and Chen Yongfu, let alone Chen Yongfu's real thoughts and Hong Chengchou's real thoughts.
If he had known that Chen Yongfu's true thoughts were just to delay time and give Hong Chengchou an explanation, he would have already cooperated with Chen Yongfu in acting...
It's a pity that he doesn't know!
Therefore, Luo Zhixue used conventional strategic thinking to consider the problem. He felt that when the threat of the Baoxiang Army had been exposed, what he had to do was to buy as much time as possible.
It is necessary to take advantage of the fact that the main force of the rebel army such as Gao Yingxiang is still restraining the main force of officers and soldiers in the Central Plains, to capture Nanyang City first, seize Luyang Pass and other strategic places, and then plan to attack Xiangyang and control the entire Nanyang Basin.
Immediately, they continued to urgently expand the army with the help of resources such as population, money and food in the Nanyang Basin, laying the foundation for subsequent counterattacks by the main force of the Ming army.
As long as Luo Zhixue is given one and a half months, that is, by June, he will be able to completely complete the Nine Battalions and Three Sentries plan.
By that time, the Li Qingdian Arsenal's production capacity will have reached its designed peak. As long as iron, saltpeter, sulfur and other raw materials are sufficient, the Baoxiang Army can produce enough infantry equipment to arm two infantry battalions every month. Plus six 600-pound artillery pieces.
As long as the money and food can keep up, the Baoxiang Army will even be able to expand its army by recruiting a thousand new infantrymen of various types and one artillery post every month after June.
As long as it takes a few months, Luo Zhixue will have the confidence to pull out an army of tens of thousands of people.
Gaining time is the direct goal of many of the recent strategies and tactics of the Baoxiang Army. This was true for not attacking Chen Yongfu's troops in the early stage, and it is also true for attacking Chen Yongfu's troops now.
Under such a background, Luo Zhixue will naturally not let Chen Yongfu lead the main force to escape!
On the battlefield, as time passed quickly, Wang Xiazi's cavalry had reorganized. Instead of covering up and chasing the fleeing guardsmen, they went directly around the thousand-man Ming army led by Chen De.
He didn't come close, he just stayed by the side.
This move made the thousands of Ming soldiers led by Chen De extremely uncomfortable. They could not ignore their formation and march quickly under the eyes of the cavalry. They could only continue to maintain their formation and retreat slowly.
At the same time, Luo Zhixue had also ordered the infantry and artillery in Zhaozhuang, including the First Artillery Post, the First Infantry Battalion, and the Second Infantry Battalion, to attack quickly.
The target was directed at Chen De's troops, who were slowly retreating.
On the west side, southward reinforcements led by the Fourth Infantry Battalion led by Wang Dazhuang also arrived on the battlefield and quickly approached the main force of Chen Yongfu's headquarters. It is expected that fighting will break out in this direction soon.
At this time, the situation on the battlefield was very clear.
Luo Zhixue wanted to completely retain Chen Yongfu's Ming army and lay the foundation for the subsequent successful attack on Nanyang City, Nanzhao County, Luyang Pass and other strategic locations.
