Luo Zhixue considered that the fourth mixed brigade would have a harder time playing and might even lose.
Luo Zhixue thought for a while and then said: "Order the 1st Battalion of the 6th Mixed Brigade to rush to Xinye City to prepare for the defense, and order the 2nd Supply Battalion of Li Qingdian to station in Nanyang City."
Whether it is the 1st Battalion of the 6th Mixed Brigade or the 2nd Supply Battalion, they actually have little combat effectiveness. They are stationed in Xinye City and Nanyang City just to free up the combat forces originally stationed here.
"Order the 9th Infantry Battalion stationed in Xinye City and the 8th Infantry Battalion stationed in Nanyang City to join the 3rd Artillery Post and the 3rd Cavalry Post to form the 3rd Mixed Brigade to immediately reinforce Yuzhou."
There is no strict boundary between the infantry brigade and the mixed brigade in the Baoxiang Army. According to the current situation, except for the temporary deployment of artillery and cavalry and other troops, it can be called a mixed brigade. If it is just pure infantry, then It's called an infantry brigade.
Therefore, it is very normal for the third infantry brigade to become the third mixed brigade in minutes.
"The Staff Department and Logistics Department must promptly replenish recruits, ammunition, grain, ordnance, etc. to the Yuzhou front line."
"No matter what, we must capture Yuzhou for me, and then block the Fangcheng Ancient Road!"
With the two battalions of the 3rd Infantry Brigade, plus the artillery and cavalry units, it is expected that the reinforcements this time will be about 1,500 people.
Moreover, these 1,500 people are not traditional old-style troops, but purely new-style troops. Although the two main infantry battalions have just received muskets, armor and other equipment, they have already passed intensive training before and will not form preliminary combat effectiveness. What's the problem?
In addition, there is a third artillery sentry to assist in the battle.
Many actual battles between the Baoxiang Army and the Ming Army have proven that the Baoxiang Army's lightweight long-barreled field artillery, which can be used for rapid maneuvering in the field, has a very great actual effect, far beyond what the traditional old short-barreled artillery can do. comparable.
With so many new main forces, if Yuzhou cannot be captured, there is only one possibility, and that is that a large number of Ming army reinforcements have arrived in Yuzhou.
Under such circumstances, Master Luo Zhixue had no choice but to personally lead the 1st Infantry Brigade and other core main forces northward.
But that will seriously affect the subsequent southward strategy of the Baoxiang Army, and Xiangyang may face huge dangers.
After all, the Huguang Ming Army is gathering on a large scale towards the Xiangyang area, especially in the Yicheng area. The Huguang Ming Army has gathered at least 8,000 people, and there are more and more, and they are likely to counterattack Xiangyang.
Although the city of Xiangyang is strong, the combat strength of the 5th Mixed Brigade is just that, and they are still troops that have just been reorganized. Luo Zhixue is still not sure about them.
More importantly, Luo Zhixue also planned to react before the Ming Dynasty lost the Nanyang Basin and reacted to the news that Lu Xiangsheng was killed in battle, especially before the Ming troops from Huguang, South Zhili and other places gathered in the cities of the Jianghan Plain.
First, he led the main force to quickly go south to defeat the Huguang Ming army one by one, seize the Jianghan Plain, and control the entire northern Chu.
Jianghan Plain is such a big piece of fat, but he has never given up!
————
On May 25, Luo Zhixue led his army to temporarily rest in Xinye City, and ordered the 3rd Mixed Brigade (under the 7th Infantry Battalion) to reinforce Yuzhou.
However, the very next day, Luo Zhixue received good news from the direction of Yuzhou.
An Yongduo, commander of the 4th Mixed Brigade on the Yuzhou front, reported good news, and the unit launched a general attack on Yuzhou on May 22.
After a day of hard fighting, Yuzhou was successfully captured on the morning of the next day, May 23.
Although in order to capture Yuzhou, the Fourth Mixed Brigade also paid a heavy price. At least 500 people were killed or injured in this battle, and most of them were main combatants.
But it's all worth it. After capturing Yuzhou City, the Baoxiang Army can use Yuzhou City as a strategic support point to block the Fangcheng Ancient Road. If they can capture Wuyang and Yexian in the future, then It can also strengthen part of the area's defensive strength.
However, Luo Zhixue's good mood did not last long. Just when Luo Zhixue was considering whether to cancel the request of the 3rd Infantry Brigade to reinforce Yuzhou, in just half a day, Luo Zhixue received another battle report from the Yuzhou front line.
This time it’s not a good news, but a call for help from Anyondo!
Anyongduo reported that after his Fourth Mixed Brigade captured Yuzhou City, just a few hours after he wrote the victory report and sent it back, that is, in the afternoon of May 23, about 100 meters west of Yuzhou. A large number of Ming troops were found in thirty miles.
The Ming army that came over this time was not a few thousand people, but more than 30,000 people. Even though some of them would definitely be civilians transporting heavy equipment, the real strength would not be less than 15,000 people. above.
According to the reconnaissance report, the Ming army was under the banner of Ming general Zuo Liangyu and the banner of deputy general He Renlong.
And this Ming army was also the main force of the Ming army heading south that the Baoxiang Army reconnaissance cavalry had discovered in the Lushan County area.
——
After seeing this emergency battle report, Luo Zhixue knew after a moment's thought that this Ming army should have seen Luyang Pass occupied by the Baoxiang Army and quickly moved to the Yuzhou area, hoping to enter the Nanyang Basin by taking advantage of Yuzhou City. .
Facing 30,000 people, at least half of whom were officers and soldiers, the 4th Mixed Brigade, which had just paid hundreds of casualties to capture Yuzhou, had only less than 2,000 combatable troops left.
Moreover, the 4th Mixed Brigade is not the main force of the Baoxiang Army, but a descending force. The soldiers, equipment and even tactics are still the same as those of the Ming Army, and their combat effectiveness is far inferior to the core units such as the 1st Infantry Brigade and the 2nd Infantry Brigade. force.
However, compared to the Ming Army, the traditional troops of the Baoxiang Army selected elite combat soldiers from the surrendered soldiers, so the proportion of combat soldiers is larger. At the same time, the Baoxiang Army is now not short of food and money. Therefore, the food and other treatment are also better, and the physical fitness and daily training are also better. Because there are a large number of captured and self-made cold weapons, the cold weapons, especially the armor, are also better.
Based on the above, morale is higher and combat effectiveness is higher.
But, yes, it is limited. After all, it is still the same thing as the Ming army.
Such a fourth mixed brigade faces 30,000 officers and soldiers. Even if there are many civilians among them, the number of officers and soldiers will not be less than 15,000.
It has been a hard battle for many days, and it took a lot of effort for the 4th Mixed Brigade to defend Yuzhou City with 2,000 men.
Disaster!
It is even impossible for Anyongduo to temporarily withdraw from Yuzhou City and escape westward, because the Ming army has a elite cavalry of at least 500 riders.
The elite cavalry of this unit is the cavalry under Zuo Liangyu. This elite cavalry army has fought against each other before. It is a real professional cavalry. Even though its elite level is not as good as the elite cavalry of the border army, it is not far behind. go.
It is definitely not comparable to those half-hearted mounted infantry.
At that time, Zuo Liangyu's cavalry was chasing Li Tonglin and more than a hundred elite cavalry from the border army. Although most of the reasons were due to the large gap in the number of cavalry between the two sides, it also proved that this cavalry was no ordinary half-hearted person. cavalry.
If Anyondo led his troops to retreat at this time, they would not be able to escape without cavalry cover. It would not take long for the enemy cavalry to catch up and pin them down, and they would be dead as soon as the enemy army pressed forward.
The overall situation is actually similar to the situation when Lu Xiangsheng encountered the rural protection army in Sanyuanzhuang. Lu Xiangsheng's troops lacked elite cavalry and could not retreat safely under the pursuit of Wang Xiazi's elite cavalry.
Once the retreat speed is slightly slowed down, the main infantry and artillery force of the Baoxiang Army will be able to catch up.
This is also the reason why Lu Xiangsheng chose to fight on the spot at Sanyuan Village instead of retreating directly to Dengzhou.
Because there is no way to retreat!
The same is true now for Anyondo. Although his Fourth Mixed Brigade has dozens of cavalrymen under his command, they are all half-baked cavalry. Their main function is to be dispersed as reconnaissance cavalry or simply as messengers.
Anyong Duo never expected them to fight in battle...
Once such a fourth mixed brigade leaves Yuzhou City, its fate is foreseeable. There will be no second result other than the annihilation of the entire army.
Even if the God of War Anyondo is reincarnated, it is absolutely impossible to reverse such a huge gap in strength.
As soon as An Yongduo learned of these situations, he wrote a letter asking for help without stopping, asking the messengers to immediately send them back to Nanyang City or even to Xinye City or Xiangyang City. In short, they must be delivered to Luo Zhixue.
He was so anxious to send people out of the city to ask for help because he was afraid that the enemy cavalry would arrive soon and block Yuzhou's external channels.
In fact, this was indeed the case. Less than half a day after An Yongduo's letter asking for help was sent, Zuo Liangyu's 500 elite cavalry forwards had already reached the gates of Yuzhou City.
They were cavalry, so they would not attack the city stupidly directly, but directly blocked the passages around Yuzhou. It didn't take long for Zuo Liangyu's infantry army to arrive, and then He Renlong's troops also arrived in Yuzhou.
Luo Zhixue is not here yet, but the day after An Yongduo sent the letter asking for help, the Fourth Mixed Brigade was completely besieged in Yuzhou!
Of course, it can also be said that the Fourth Mixed Brigade relied on Yuzhou City to block the ancient road of Fangcheng and attacked more than 15,000 people from Zuo Liangyu and He Renlong's coalition forces together with more than 10,000 civilians, a total of more than 30,000 people. Blocking out the Nanyang Basin.
And this is the strategic role of Yuzhou City.
The location where the city of Yuzhou City was built is disgusting. It is halfway through the official road of Fangcheng Ancient Road. The flat terrain on both sides of the official road is about ten kilometers long.
And on both sides of about ten kilometers are mountains!
Yuzhou City is stuck in the middle, not only blocking the official road itself, but also blocking the entire flat area of the passage.
If the defenders had artillery with a range of several kilometers, they could completely block the entire flat terrain around the ancient road with artillery alone.
This makes it very uncomfortable for the attacking side to continue advancing without taking Yuzhou!
If a certain amount of troops are left to guard the Yuzhou City garrison, it is certainly possible for the main force to force its way around, but you must be prepared at any time for the garrison in the city to come out and cut off your food route and your retreat.
They can even cooperate with the Home Guard Army from the west to attack from both front and back to annihilate your entire army!
