After Wang Dazhuang and his 16th Infantry Battalion entered the city, they began to arrange defense and take over important areas in the city.
Especially the area around the dock is an important material transfer station for the Baoxiang Army, with a large amount of strategic materials stored, so safety must be ensured.
Wang Dazhuang previously served as the deputy commander of the 1st Infantry Brigade and had many small battle stations. He had made some contributions. This time Luo Zhixue directly promoted him to the commander of the 6th Mixed Brigade, which was considered a reward.
Of course, it was also because Wang Dazhuang's abilities were not very good, otherwise Luo Zhixue would have waited and then assigned him to the two new main infantry brigades, the 7th Infantry Brigade or the 8th Infantry Brigade, as brigade commander.
But, after long-term investigation, Luo Zhixue felt that Wang Dazhuang's ability was just that. He was slightly lacking as a commander of a main infantry brigade, but he was barely able to be a commander of an old-style brigade.
After Wang Dazhuang took office as the commander of the Sixth Mixed Brigade, he also had great ambitions and wanted to organize and train the Sixth Mixed Brigade into an army as soon as possible and make achievements.
But it’s embarrassing to say that the Sixth Mixed Brigade under Wang Dazhuang’s command had already been given the designation when Xiangyang was conquered, but it still only has one battalion. Because the number of surrendered troops in Xiangyang City was limited at the beginning, it was organized into the third battalion. After the five mixed brigades were formed, there were only a few hundred qualified soldiers left.
The surrendered soldiers captured in the Sanyuanzhuang Battle were organized on the spot into the 9th Mixed Brigade and the 10th Mixed Brigade with about 5,000 troops. Currently, under the leadership of Huang Guangmao, they are heading towards Guanghua and Gucheng areas. Follow-up We will continue to Junzhou and Yunyang.
Implement the westward advance strategy formulated by the General Staff to completely eliminate the threat from the Western Front of the Baoxiang Army.
According to Luo Zhixue's order to Wang Dazhuang, after entering Xinye City, the Sixth Mixed Brigade trained while garrisoning this strategic city located between Nanyang City and Xiangyang City and along the Baihe River.
At the same time, they will also gradually accept surrendered troops from the Ming army from surrounding places. The Baoxiang Army has also received a batch of surrendered troops from Dengzhou, Neixiang and other places before. They will be selected and organized into a battalion, and new ones are scheduled to be formed. The completed battalion will be stationed in the inner countryside to guard against any enemy troops that may appear in the mountains to the west, regardless of whether they are officers, soldiers or bandits.
Before Luo Zhixue led his troops to leave Xinye City, he had officially ordered the battalion to be organized into the 17th Infantry Battalion and placed under the jurisdiction of the 6th Mixed Brigade.
At the same time, he also left an order. When the eastward troops led by the 7th Infantry Battalion led by Li Duo take over Tang County and even Biyang, they must select qualified soldiers to form the 18th Army. The infantry battalion is also under the jurisdiction of the 6th Mixed Brigade.
In this way, the three infantry battalions required by the Sixth Mixed Brigade can be initially assembled. As for the artillery and cavalry, they will be arranged later. The artillery and cavalry opposite the traditional brigade are half-baked horse infantry and light troops. Cannon artillery is relatively easy to build.
While Wang Dazhuang stayed in Xinye City, Luo Zhixue had already led the 1st Infantry Brigade and other absolute main forces to continue heading north.
Their marching speed was as fast as ever. Not only did their main force have excellent physical fitness, but they also captured a large number of mules and horses. Their marching speed was very fast.
When you are in a hurry and the roads are good, you can walk thirty kilometers in a day. If you march in a hurry, you can go a few more kilometers.
The straight-line distance from Xinye City to Yuzhou is only about 100 kilometers, but the road cannot be a straight line, it is always winding, and even has to be detoured due to mountains, rivers and other terrains, so walking down , even if we take a shortcut, the total distance will be more than 150 kilometers.
According to the traveling speed of the main force such as the 1st Infantry Brigade, it will take at least five days to reach Yuzhou.
Considering that the soldiers were tired from the long march, they also needed to leave a certain amount of time to rest. It was impossible to maintain a high-intensity march every day, so the time was further relaxed, and it was estimated that it would take about six or even seven days to reach Yuzhou.
However, can the Fourth Mixed Brigade in Yuzhou City hold on for another seven days?
Luo Zhixue didn't know that all he could do now was lead his troops there as quickly as possible, and at the same time, he also made secondary preparations.
That is, once the Fourth Mixed Brigade is defeated, Yuzhou falls, and the Nanyang Basin is wide open, he will prepare to use the high mobility of the main force of the Baoxiang Army, better field capabilities, and the incoming Ming army to attack the Nanyang-Yuzhou area A large-scale field battle was fought in the plain area.
Just like when we defeated Lu Xiangsheng, we strive to directly defeat Zuo Liangyu and He Renlong's troops in the field.
As long as these two main forces of the Ming army can be defeated in the field, it is logical to follow up the counterattack on Yuzhou.
Based on this, Luo Zhixue even asked the 1,500 men of the 3rd Mixed Brigade to slow down and never advance rashly. They must wait until the direct main force arrives before sending troops eastwards.
If Yuzhou falls, and Luo Zhixue is preparing for a large-scale field battle, the Third Mixed Brigade will also be an indispensable force.
Not to mention anything else, just the third artillery post is a big help.
Therefore, Luo Zhixue would not let the third mixed brigade advance rashly and end up losing troops and generals, or even losing the third artillery post.
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Just as Luo Zhixue led his troops northward to quickly rescue Yuzhou, Zuo Liangyu outside Yuzhou City also frowned and looked ahead.
Directly in front of him is Yuzhou City, and below the city wall are his own soldiers who are gradually retreating!
The first siege launched by his soldiers failed!
The army under his command arrived at Yuzhou City on May 23, and after three days of preparations including building siege equipment.
Early this morning, on May 27th, he ordered the army to begin the official attack on the city.
It's not that he wanted to delay for a few days, but Yuzhou City may seem inconspicuous, but it is a serious strategic location. Both the moat and the city wall are extremely complete.
When the Fourth Mixed Brigade stormed Yuzhou before, it suffered nearly a thousand casualties. At that time, there were only more than a thousand officers and soldiers in Yuzhou City.
It has always been very difficult for a traditional army without heavy artillery to conquer a city with complete fortifications and stubborn defenders.
Therefore, Zuo Liangyu was not in a hurry after he arrived at Yuzhou City. After discussing with He Renlong, he decided to rest while building siege equipment and wait three days before attacking.
I originally thought that after today's attack, the bandit soldiers in the city, with only more than 2,000 people, would be able to resist for a while, but they would not be able to stop the pace of their own army.
However, he did not expect that today's first attack was just a tentative attack. He had already lost at least 200 men before he even climbed up to the top of the city.
These two hundred people are not just cannon fodder, but real soldiers.
Although most of them were ordinary guardsmen, the loss of so much still made Zuo Liangyu feel a little heartbroken.
This tentative attack only resulted in two to three hundred casualties. If we really launched a large-scale general attack, and really rushed to the city wall or even climbed the city wall desperately, the casualties would still have to rise.
With so many troops under his command killed and injured, how can Zuo Liangyu survive in the future?
Thinking of this, Zuo Liangyu couldn't help but look at He Renlong beside him. Let He Renlong's troops be responsible for the main attack?
As soon as this idea came up, Zuo Liangyu threw it away.
He Renlong is not that stupid. Now he can agree to jointly send troops to attack. If he is allowed to attack Yuzhou alone, he will probably ignore Zuo Liangyu immediately.
He, Zuo Liangyu, knows how to support himself with troops and not to take advantage of strong thieves to protect himself. He Renlong is not stupid, so he knows the same thing.
But if Yuzhou City cannot be captured in a long battle, I am afraid it will not be easy to explain to Hong Chengchou!
After all, if you cannot capture Yuzhou, you will not be able to enter the Nanyang Basin. Once the security thieves are allowed to occupy the Nanyang Basin for a long time, the situation in Chubei will be completely corrupted.
Let alone Zuo Liangyu, it is estimated that Hong Chengchou will not be able to withstand the pressure of the court princes, and Hong Chengchou will not be able to withstand the pressure, so he will naturally have to divert the pressure.
Zuo Liangyu will probably be the scapegoat by then!
Before Zuo Liangyu went south, Hong Chengchou also told Zuo Liangyu very clearly that in the past, Zuo Liangyu played to support his troops and passively avoided war. I, Lao Hong, also noticed it. Well, it was in the past. It was in the past. It's over.
But if Zuo Liangyu messes up this time and causes the situation in northern Chu to be completely destroyed, Hong Chengchou will inevitably borrow Zuo Liangyu's head to silence the princes in the court.
Ordinary governors do not dare to say harsh words to Zuo Liangyu, nor do they have the ability to really do something to Zuo Liangyu. This does not mean that Hong Chengchou does not dare or has the ability!
Again, if Hong Chengchou is offended, he will kill you in a minute. Even if you, Zuo Liangyu, want to mutiny or rebel, Hong Chengchou will still send troops to destroy you!
Hong Chengchou, who had hundreds of thousands of troops at his disposal, was very confident. Otherwise, how could he supervise several provinces and have a group of governors, general soldiers, and deputy general soldiers follow orders to fight!
At the same time, others didn't know it, but Zuo Liangyu knew very well that Hong Chengchou had to bear great pressure in order to mobilize a total of 15,000 troops for himself and He Renlong to go south.
In early May, Hong Chengchou, who had just learned the news of the fall of Nanyang City, had already begun trying to mobilize troops south.
However, at that time, the Ming army in Henan and Shaanxi was fighting hard with Gao Yingxiang, Li Zicheng, Zhang Xianzhong and other troops, and a large number of rebels had crossed the blockade of officers and soldiers and fled back to Shaanxi to threaten the Guanzhong area.
Under such a situation, it was not easy for Hong Chengchou to mobilize troops from the northern front to go south to Nanyang.
However, the fall of Nanyang City, the crisis in Xiangyang, and the crisis in northern Chu had to be paid attention to by Hong Chengchou.
On the one hand, he sent urgent messages to the Ming army in Yunyang, Huguang and other places to let the local Ming army be more vigilant and to keep Xiangyang no matter what, while trying to counterattack Nanyang.
At the same time, he himself began to tear down the east wall and make up for the west wall and mobilize troops from Shaanxi, the Central Plains and other places. In order to free up Zuo Liangyu's troops to go south, Hong Chengchou mobilized almost all the troops in the Central Plains region on a large scale.
After all, the officers and soldiers were in a critical situation to encircle and suppress the bandits, and the mobilization of troops involved the whole body with one move. If he wanted to mobilize Zuo Liangyu's troops, Hong Chengchou would have to mobilize other troops to fill the vacancy, redeploy defenses, etc.
Later, after Cao Wenzhao led his troops south and prepared to follow Hong Chengchou into Guanzhong to fight, he was able to actually send Zuo Liangyu's troops south.
Nanyang fell and Chubei was in crisis. At the same time, Hong Chengchou mobilized such a large army to go south under such difficult circumstances, so the pressure on him was naturally considerable.
Hong Chengchou was under pressure, so he would naturally exert downward pressure.
Ever since, Zuo Liangyu finally accepted the pressure!
However, the thieves in the city were much stronger than Zuo Liangyu expected, and they were not comparable to ordinary thieves.
This Yuzhou City is not easy to fight!
