When he asked the soldiers to call for people, Luo Zhixue once again looked at the inconspicuous report in his hand, and finally murmured: "As expected of a famous general, his brain is so damn smart. Not only is his brain smart, he is also brave. !”
"Even if we gave up attacking Xiangyang City, we actually dared to attack our army's hinterland and cut off our army from the middle."
The intelligence in his hand was just a very ordinary enemy situation report. It said that Lu Xiangsheng's troops had gathered the Ming troops from Junzhou Division to continue their march south and were setting up camp to rest in the Yangpitan area.
At first glance, there was nothing special about the above content. When the notice was delivered in the morning, Luo Zhixue read it personally, but did not see any problems at that time.
Luo Zhixue didn't even notice the problem when watching it.
But now the abnormal behavior of the Ming army has made Luo Zhixue wary, so when he looks at these war briefings, he always looks at them with a critical eye.
In this way, Luo Zhixue got a very valuable piece of news from this ordinary war situation report. The rhythm of Lu Xiangsheng's troops going south was wrong.
When Lu Xiangsheng's troops went all the way south, they were always collecting ships. Especially when they were in Junzhou City, they packed up all the ships in Junzhou and took them away.
Logically speaking, with the help of more ships, Lu Xiangsheng's troops would move south faster, but instead of going faster, they would become slower.
Even on the day the intelligence was sent out, that is, yesterday, Lu Xiangsheng's troops had traveled less than ten kilometers and were already stationed at Sheepskin Beach to rest at noon.
With a large number of ships collected along the way, the speed of going south slowed down instead of increasing. What's more important was that they only walked less than ten kilometers in that day, and stopped to camp at noon to rest.
This is not normal!
Since there were no troops protecting his hometown in the Yangpitan area, Lu Xiangsheng didn't have to be so cautious and only walked for half a day and stopped at noon. He could have done the same as the previous few days and set up camp in the afternoon, which would allow him to march for at least four more days. Five kilometers.
Then I thought that the Ming army in the Gucheng area had already moved forward and headed towards Dengzhou.
Then Luo Zhixue had to suspect that Lu Xiangsheng was preparing to cross the river in the Yangpitan area.
Otherwise, it would be inexplicable that we only walked less than ten kilometers that day before we stopped and camped at Sheepskin Beach, which is very suitable for crossing the river.
What if Lu Xiangsheng wants to cross the river?
Luo Zhixue didn't even need to look at a map. He could picture in his mind a smooth road from the north bank of the Han River in Yangpitan to Xinye City or Nanyang City!
In this way, Luo Zhixue's strategic plan of direct confrontation in the western wilderness of Xiangyang City and relying on hard power to crush Lu Xiangsheng's troops had to be declared bankrupt before it could be implemented.
Because Lu Xiangsheng has no intention of coming to Xiangyang City!
Instead, he suddenly turned eastward when he was halfway there. Whether he went to Xinye City or continued north to Nanyang City, he could cut off the contact between the rural protection armies of Nanyang Prefecture and Xiangyang Prefecture, and cut them off in the middle!
The remaining 8th and 9th Infantry Battalions of the 3rd Infantry Brigade, which had not even completed recruit training and were not fully equipped, could not stop an army of tens of thousands.
Once either Xinye City or Nanyang City is lost, it means that the Second Mixed Brigade, the Fourth Mixed Brigade and the Third Infantry Brigade in the north will soon fall into a dangerous situation of being attacked from both sides.
The Nanyang armies on the northern front are in danger!
And once the Nanyang armies are defeated, all the departments in Xiangyang City led by Luo Zhixue will become rootless duckweeds in a matter of minutes, and Luo Zhixue himself can predict the subsequent outcome...
It will definitely not be good, and the whole army may even be annihilated!
And these, Huang Guangmao, Xu Zhixian and others who rushed over later also speculated.
And it won't be long before there is no need to speculate anymore, because information will soon confirm this.
That night, an urgent message from the Yangpitan area arrived in Xiangyang City.
Intelligence showed that yesterday afternoon, Lu Xiangsheng's troops had been building pontoons and collecting wood to build more rafts in the Yangpitan area. Some troops had already arrived on the north bank of the Han River by boat. It is suspected that the main force of Lu Xiangsheng's troops wanted to cross the river north. superior.
"The situation is very clear. Lu Xiangsheng and the others want to cross the river. After crossing the river, whether they go to Xinye City or go directly north to Nanyang City, they will pose a major threat to our army."
"According to their actions, and the fact that they have collected a large number of boats along the way, they may be able to complete all preparations for crossing the river today and start crossing the river tomorrow."
"They also have a forward force of 3,000 people that has gone to Dengzhou."
"They are heading to Nanyang Mansion!"
Xu Zhixian frowned and said: "We must not let them take Xinye, let alone Nanyang City, otherwise our army will be in a dilemma."
Huang Guangmao also said: Although the 7th Infantry Battalion is located in the Dengzhou area, one 7th Infantry Battalion alone cannot stop the enemy's more than 15,000 troops. "
"The top priority is to move north immediately and quickly to join the 7th Infantry Battalion."
Luo Zhixue said: "However, we must also prevent the enemy from moving away from the mountains and attack Xiangyang by surprise when our army is moving away from Xiangyang City. When the main force of our army moves north, we must also leave sufficient defensive forces in Xiangyang City."
After everyone discussed the map, Luo Zhixue stood up, put his hands on the table and said: "
Luo Zhixue looked around at everyone and began to give orders one by one.
"The fifth mixed brigade will stay in Xiangyang City, and the first battalion of the sixth mixed brigade will stay in Fancheng."
"The rest of the army will follow me northward!"
"Lu Xiangsheng wants to play sports battles, okay, then we will play sports battles with him!"
"Hmph, we need to let them know that long-distance raids must be based on strength, and they can't!"
The soldiers of the Baoxiang Army had an advantage in physical fitness, and even had a greater advantage on mules and horses. This reflected the fact that the marching speeds of both sides were not at the same level.
It should be said that playing sports to protect the hometown army has more advantages.
After the simple emergency meeting adjourned, the city of Xiangyang stayed up all night, and the lights on the pier were brightly lit!
The next day was May 15th.
This day is quite special, both for the Ming Army and the Baoxiang Army!
As soon as it got dark that day, Luo Zhixue led the army across the river who had rested early yesterday and started preparing meals in advance in the middle of the night today.
After taking Fancheng, in order to connect the two cities and facilitate mutual support, the Baoxiang Army directly built a pontoon bridge on the Han River between the two cities, so it was convenient to cross the river.
Not all troops going north need to cross the river from Xiangyang City, but the First Heavy Battalion does not need to cross the river. They are originally stationed in Fancheng with the 1st Battalion of the 6th Mixed Brigade.
Later, Luo Zhixue led his troops northward, including the First Infantry Brigade of 2,000 people, the Guards Battalion of 1,000 people, the Cavalry Brigade of 300 cavalry, the Artillery Brigade of 320 people, and the First Baggage Battalion of 500 people.
The total strength is 4,000, including twelve 600-pound field cannon, twenty-one 200-pound light cannon, and 300 cavalry.
There are also more than 600 working mules and horses, and more than 300 four-wheeled or two-wheeled carriages.
Not all of these carriages were used to transport food or ammunition. In fact, many carriages were used to transport soldiers' personal equipment, including armor and spears.
You can't expect those soldiers, especially the heavily armored soldiers, who wear dozens of kilograms of armor and carry four-meter-five-meter-long spears to walk dozens of kilometers...
During the march, these heavy equipment were actually transported intensively by the army's two-wheeled carriages assigned to each infantry post, and they were armored when defending against the enemy.
Therefore, in many ancient wars, you can often hear the words "wear armor, wear armor" when generals give orders.
The infantry troops, especially the accompanying carriages in the heavy infantry, are also an important guarantee for ensuring the marching speed of the troops. Only with sufficient carriages accompanying the soldiers can ensure a certain degree of physical preparation for unexpected events when marching long distances.
When Luo Zhixue led his troops all the way north along the avenue, Li Duo, the deputy commander of the 3rd Infantry Brigade and the commander of the 7th Infantry Battalion on the other side, had a gloomy face.
Yesterday, the few half-baked mounted infantry scouts under his command gave him quite bad news.
Not only were at least 3,000 enemy troops found in the southwest area of Dengzhou, but at least 2,000 more enemy troops were found about 30 kilometers to the west.
Even these two thousand enemy troops are not the final number. This morning, there was another report from the reconnaissance cavalry, saying that a large number of enemy troops were crossing the Han River in the west. It was conservatively estimated to be more than 10,000 people!
At this time, Li Duo still didn't know that he had met the main force of the Ming army, and it was the main force led by Lu Xiangsheng himself.
Because in the entire Yunyang and Xiangyang area, except for the main Ming army led by Lu Xiangsheng himself, there was no second Ming army of such a large number.
Thirty kilometers to the west, the main force of Lu Xiangsheng's army numbered more than 10,000 people, and about seven or eight kilometers to the southwest, there were more than 3,000 Ming troops.
Adding the two together, that's more than 13,000 people.
Li Duo did not include the Ming army in Dengzhou City to the north of him.
Although there are not many Ming troops in Dengzhou City, there are still thousands of them.
what to do?
What else can we do, just run away!
The force he brings now is composed of the 7th Infantry Battalion as the core, and a small number of mounted infantry reconnaissance cavalry, plus a baggage sentry that is not enough to make up. When he set out from Nanyang City, the total force was only more than 600 people. .
After the Zhenping battle, dozens of people were lost, and now there are still 600 people left.
Six hundred people faced off against at least 13,000 people. No matter how arrogant he was, Li Duo would not be stupid enough to run headlong into it.
Not to mention, a group of approximately 500 enemy cavalry was heading towards them. It seemed that the Ming army had discovered itself and sent cavalry to intercept them.
Once entangled by the enemy's cavalry, the strength of the 7th Infantry Battalion can naturally face the enemy's 500 cavalry, but well, there are tens of thousands of infantry behind them.
Once tens of thousands of infantry come over, even Li Duo, who has only three heads and six arms, won't be able to hold on.
So, in the morning, he ordered the troops to start retreating towards the east, where was Xinye City.
He wanted to push into Xinyecheng and defend the city. This way he could not only protect himself, but also unite with the 9th Infantry Battalion to defend Xinyecheng, a city with extremely important strategic position.
Sun Hongcai, the commander-in-chief who led the Ming army's 3,000 infantry and also took along the 500 cavalry sent by the Chinese army under Lu Xiangsheng, couldn't help but feel that when he learned that the hundreds of thieves on the opposite side were able to flee in embarrassment all the way to Xinye City in the east. Hehehe smiled:
"I heard earlier that the security thief's combat power is far superior to ordinary bandits, but today I saw that this security thief is just like this. He is no different from Gao, Li, Zhang and other thieves. He kills the people when he sees them and flees when he sees officials!"
"Let us all work harder, we will chase you all the way to Xinye City!"
"Then take Xinye City and open the way for the army!"
