With Lu Xiangsheng's death in battle, and except for a few people in his army who escaped, the rest were either killed in battle or became prisoners of war.
At the same time, Sun Hongcai also captured Lu Xiangsheng's direct line of 500 cavalry, and led his 3,000 infantry troops north to Dengzhou.
This not only solved the siege of Xinye City, but also caused the Ming army that was originally in Yunyang and Xiangyang to be almost completely wiped out.
Such a situation can be said to be a great benefit to the Baoxiang Army.
Subsequently, the rural protection army can calmly take over large areas such as Nanyang Prefecture, Xiangyang Prefecture, and Yunyang Prefecture that are not actually controlled.
There is no need to worry about being threatened by enemy forces into the hinterland at any time, or even cutting off the connection between Xiangyang and Nanyang.
Therefore, after discovering that Sun Hongcai had fled to Dengzhou, Luo Zhixue also made influential arrangements. On the one hand, he continued to lead the 1st Infantry Brigade and other main forces to follow him north to Dengzhou.
At the same time, Li Duo was ordered to lead the 7th Infantry Battalion and other troops to move eastward and fight towards Tang County and Biyang, and then block the mountain trails in some mountainous areas east of Biyang to prevent the Ming army from passing through Tong County from Runing Mansion. Come in from the combined area of Baishan Mountain and Funiu Mountain.
At the same time, the 1st Battalion of the 6th Mixed Brigade from the Xiangyang direction was ordered to go north to Xinyecheng to fill the vacancy after the 7th Infantry Battalion moved eastward, suppressing and controlling the strategic location of Xinyecheng. At the same time, the battalion would also serve as a reserve force for the army led by Luo Zhixue himself. use.
And while they are garrisoned in Xinye City, they will gradually accept prisoners of war from the Ming army from surrounding areas, and continue to expand the two infantry battalions and the baggage cavalry and artillery units, making the Sixth Mixed Brigade truly full.
At the same time, he ordered the 9th Mixed Brigade and the 10th Mixed Brigade, which had just been established but had not yet had time to reorganize, to be reorganized within three days, and then quickly attack to move westward to seize Guanghua and Gucheng.
The Ming troops in these two places have been depleted by Lu Xiangsheng, and there are only hundreds of ordinary guard soldiers and young civilians left in the local area. Even if the 9th Mixed Brigade and the 10th Mixed Brigade have not yet been reorganized, their combat effectiveness has been restored to a limited extent. But it is not something that only a few hundred guardsmen and young men can withstand.
After capturing these two places, they continued to advance northwest and captured Junzhou and Yunyang, which also had few troops garrisoned, to completely eliminate the danger on the western front.
This series of arrangements is all in the hope of taking advantage of the lack of Ming army strength in the area in a short period of time to seize as much territory as possible, especially some important transportation routes.
Such as Biyang, Yunyang and other places.
These places now all have the same characteristic. The local Ming army is weak and unlikely to receive reinforcements in a short period of time. Even if the troops sent by the Baoxiang Army are small or weak, they are still enough to win with confidence.
There are only southern and northern routes, and Luo Zhixue has not made much changes.
The Fifth Mixed Brigade is still stationed in Xiangyang City, and has not even gone south to nearby Yicheng. This is mainly because the Ming troops from all over Huguang on the southern line have gradually gathered towards Yicheng and Nanzhang. With the strength of the Fifth Mixed Brigade, now It is actually quite difficult to even defend Xiangyang City, let alone take the initiative.
The same is true for the Northern Front. The various units on the Northern Front are now facing the threat of Hong Chengchou's troops. They are currently based on defensive operations relying on key passes and will not easily change their previous strategies.
After these strategic deployments last night, Luo Zhixue continued to lead the 1st Infantry Brigade, 1st Cavalry Brigade, 1st Artillery Brigade, Guards Battalion, 1st Transport Battalion and other troops north to Dengzhou.
Even if Sun Hongcai fled to Dengzhou, Luo Zhixue would never let Sun Hongcai stay in Dengzhou for too long.
After all, Dengzhou happens to be near Xinye City, with Nanyang City to the northeast, Xiangyang City to the south, Guanghua to the southwest, and Zhenping to the north, and these places are now or will soon be the territory of the Baoxiang Army.
Luo Zhixue would definitely not let the Ming army plant such a big nail in Dengzhou, the hinterland of his own country.
Luo Zhixue led the army all the way north and headed straight for Dengzhou.
But before Sun Hongcai, who had just led his army to Dengzhou, had time to take a breath, he learned that the pursuing bandits behind him were already less than ten miles away from Dengzhou.
For ten miles, if the two armies were in a position of formation, it might be difficult to get close to each other for several days, but in a pursuit state, the bandit army from the south would be able to kill them in less than an hour or two.
"How come these bloody thieves came so fast!" Sun Hongcai cursed.
Dengzhou Zhizhou on the side looked panicked and said: "General Sun, what to do now, I heard that there are tens of thousands of soldiers and horses coming to protect the thieves, this is what we should do."
"In the future, I will rely on you, Mr. Sun, to resist the thieves. Don't worry, I will mobilize some of the city's young men to help defend the city. I will also ask the gentry and wealthy people in the city to contribute money and food. I will never treat you badly. Send Sun Zongbing to your soldiers."
Looking at the Dengzhou magistrate who looked down upon him just a few days ago, and who even refused to let Sun Hongcai enter the city when Sun Hongcai led his troops through Dengzhou, and even refused to send military supplies, Sun Hongcai snorted in his heart. A voice: "It's too late to burn incense now!"
However, although he thought so, Sun Hongcai still said: "This will trouble you all, sir. Please immediately let the Yamen, Qingzhuang and others go to the top of the city to garrison. Our troops are new here. Let's take it easy first, and then we will go to the top of the city to defend the city. ."
"In addition, our army is exhausted from the long war and has no food or pay. We hope that the gentry in the city will generously donate their money and help us!"
Several officials headed by Zhizhou breathed a sigh of relief after hearing what Sun Hongcai said.
With Sun Hongcai's 3,000 troops and 500 fine cavalry, they have hope of holding Dengzhou. Although it is still not big, it is better than no hope.
But even though Sun Hongcai had agreed to stay and defend the city, many gentry and common people in the city, including the officials, were panicked after hearing the news. Many people were already scrambling to escape from the city.
If this were replaced by ordinary bandits, most of them would not escape from the city, because it is more dangerous to escape from the city to the countryside. Those ordinary bandits usually cannot attack the city, but they can attack the villages one by one. , Needless to say, wherever the bandits have passed, there will be tragic images.
Therefore, when ordinary thieves came to kill them, ordinary people or wealthy gentry would often choose to hide in the city.
But, when the rural protection army came over, they often didn't want to hide in the city. Instead, they rushed out of the city and ran to the countryside to avoid the war.
This is mainly because people here in Dengzhou have gradually come to know that the Baoxiang Army is different from ordinary bandits.
When ordinary thieves come over, they are like locusts, killing them all, burning them all and robbing them all.
As for the rural protection army, after they capture a certain place, especially a rural area, they will not burn, kill, and loot on a large scale. Instead, they will take the initiative to eliminate local bandits, bandits, and deserters one by one, and then set up local The government yamen governs.
Apart from the need to pay taxes, there are basically not many restrictions, and even if taxes are paid, the amount will not be too much.
Many gentry paid taxes with the idea of spending money to eliminate disasters.
Not to mention, these rural protector thieves are very strict about rules. As long as you pay the additional tax, they will basically not come to disturb you.
Even if someone from a certain gentry family served as an official in the Ming Dynasty, they would generally not be embarrassed.
Nowadays, in the areas controlled by the Baoxiang Army, many gentry families actually have clan members serving as officials in the imperial court, and the Baoxiang Army basically treats these gentry family heads equally:
As long as you pay taxes honestly, even if your father is a pavilion elder in the Ming Dynasty, the Hometown Protection Army will usually not make things too difficult for you. At most, they will just monitor you.
The premise is that you don't stupidly shout publicly that such-and-such official is our eldest boss, and in the future we will definitely gather young and strong family members to cooperate with the king's counterattack and other nonsense!
It's best to just find some excuse to say that we, our relatives, have no control over my master's actions, and that his being an official has nothing to do with us.
The Baoxiang Army often turned a blind eye to these gentry families who openly stated that they had drawn a clear line with their family members who were Ming court officials.
The Baoxiang Army has always been very particular about rules. As long as the gentry and wealthy people under their rule resist without knowing it, the Baoxiang Army will not be too embarrassed.
Rules, this is something that the Baoxiang Army has always emphasized.
The more the rural protection army adheres to rules, even if the rules are stricter, it also gives a lot of confidence to the wealthy gentry.
How to put it, at least they knew that even if the homeland protection army came to kill them, their name would not be in danger, and even their property could be saved.
These thieves protection troops are different from ordinary thieves!
Therefore, many gentry and wealthy people fled out of the city. In fact, they did not have to worry much about the danger they would encounter. On the contrary, it was more dangerous to stay in the city.
After all, when the two armies are fighting, no one will worry about accidental injuries.
Many gentry and common people in Dengzhou fled one after another, trying to avoid the fierce offensive and defensive battle of Dengzhou that was about to break out.
But their escape was in vain, because only two hours later, after getting the urgently delivered money and grain, and looting all the official warehouses, Sun Hongcai hurriedly escaped from Dengzhou City with his army, and by the way They also took away the only more than 400 guardsmen in Dengzhou City.
The offensive and defensive battle in Dengzhou that many people expected would never happen, because all the defenders ran away in one fell swoop.
Sun Hongcai, who escaped, went straight to Neixiang, but he did not plan to stay in Neixiang for long. He later planned to continue fleeing northwest, and finally fled all the way to Lushi County in Henan Prefecture.
Only by completely escaping from the Nanyang Basin and fleeing to Henan Mansion under the control of the government can he feel safe!
Staying in Nanyang Mansion and sticking to Dengzhou or Neixiang may be beneficial to the court, as it can plant a nail in Nanyang Mansion.
But Sun Hongcai did not want to fight to the death with the Baoxiang Army, and he did not want to end up defeated and dead like Lu Xiangsheng.
Sun Hongcai fled all the way towards the Lu family.
The extremely panicked Dengzhou officials and gentry were left behind!
After Sun Hongcai fled, officials such as Dengzhou Zhizhou and Tongzhi gathered together many times to discuss city defense matters, and summoned the gentry in the city many times to go. However, there were still gentry going there at first, but it didn't take long for the gentry to go.
Even the government officials fled one after another, and the young and strong civilian men who were recruited even dispersed and went home.
The huge Dengzhou City became an undefended city because of Sun Hongcai's sudden departure.
In the afternoon of May 19th, when the defense army arrived on the outskirts of Dengzhou City, the magistrate of Dengzhou City hanged himself to death in despair, and Tongzhi fled.
The remaining officials, led by Dong Quanquan, presented the city and surrendered.
Dengzhou was also the first city that the Baoxiang Army encountered during their campaign to surrender without a fight. Dong Xinquan was also the first Ming court official to voluntarily surrender to the Baoxiang Army!
