While Luo Zhixue was still in the camp on the eastern outskirts of Linxiang City, leading a group of civil servants to discuss how to raise military expenditures, the military operations of various departments of the Chu army were still going on.
After part of the main forces entered Linxiang City and crushed the main resistance in the city, the main forces quickly withdrew from the city, leaving only the troops of the Sixth Guards Division.
One brigade of the 6th Garrison Division entered the city to continue clearing operations, while the other brigade was responsible for order outside the city, while accepting and supervising tens of thousands of prisoners of war.
According to the estimates of the staff, the purge operation in Linxiang City is expected to last for about three days. During these three days, the Sixth Garrison Division will conduct a land-scraping search and purge in Linxiang City, divide it into areas, and go door-to-door. Search to eliminate all kinds of remnant troops and stubborn resistance forces.
At the same time, the reorganization operation for prisoners of war will also be carried out simultaneously. The Ministry of Military Affairs has sent relevant officials into the temporary prisoner of war camps to conduct preliminary screening of tens of thousands of prisoners of war.
It is still the old rule, first select the prisoners of war who voluntarily join the Chu army and meet the physical requirements, and the remaining people will either continue to be detained in prisoner of war camps, or they will be selected and incorporated into unarmed military camps such as reclamation camps, construction camps, and transportation camps. within the management system.
After the preliminary selection, the Ministry of Military Affairs will conduct a subdividing selection of the initially selected personnel. Only qualified soldiers who pass the second round of selection will be incorporated into the garrison.
The subsequent purge operations in Linxiang City and the reorganization of prisoners of war have nothing to do with the main forces.
Now the main forces have begun to move westward one after another to continue their next combat mission.
The fastest moving ones were the 1st Cavalry Brigade and three divisional cavalry regiments, plus a brigade of the Guards.
Some of their previous troops had already advanced more than ten kilometers westward when they continued to pursue the Ming army's defeated troops in Linxiang.
Wait until the next day, and then continue to move forward after all the troops heading westward have finished resting.
The fifth division of the main force connected with the eighth garrison division and the first mortar artillery regiment and turned westward, heading straight to Yuezhou Prefecture to control Baling City.
The 1st Cavalry Brigade, the 1st Brigade of the Guards Division and some of their affiliated troops went south towards Tumen Town. The mission of the Guards Brigade was to capture Tumen Town, control the Weishui River Basin, and cut off the connection between Changsha and Baling. connect.
Luo Zhixue led the Second Brigade and the Second Mortar Regiment of the Guards Division to advance slowly in the rear. Their mission was to act as a strategic reserve and also to escort a large amount of logistics supplies.
The Sixth Garrison Division temporarily stayed in Linxiang to control the rear area while suppressing and reorganizing tens of thousands of prisoners of war.
Luo Zhixue has already issued an order that the Sixth Defense Division will be divided into two and expanded into the new Sixth Defense Division based on the 11th Defense Brigade of the Sixth Defense Division. The 12th Garrison Brigade of the 6th Garrison Division serves as the core and is expanded into the new 9th Garrison Division.
The current number of qualified prisoners of war in Linxiang is estimated to be only about 4,000, which is not enough. If the two garrison divisions are to be fully staffed in the future, they will have to be supplemented by selecting personnel from prisoners of war captured in Yuezhou and other battlefields.
According to Luo Zhixue's order, all units of the Chu army acted quickly.
In the afternoon of that day, the First Cavalry Brigade arrived at Tumen Town. This place was not a formal city. It was just a larger market town with no decent fortifications at all.
However, there were quite a few Ming troops stationed there, about a thousand of them.
This place is an important node along the Weishui river, so the Ming army deployed its troops here, and it was also the reason why the Chu army, such as the 1st Cavalry Brigade, immediately targeted this place.
When the Ming army in Tumen Town saw a large group of Chu troops approaching and setting up several artillery pieces for bombardment, the Ming army soldiers, whose morale was already shaken and whose morale was almost zero, collapsed on the spot.
Yesterday, the news of Linxiang's defeat actually reached Tumen Town. These Ming troops did not disperse in a hurry yesterday, but persisted for a day and waited until the Chu army was really in front of them. By coaxing them to leave, it was considered a great honor to Yang Sichang.
Who knows that they are all ordinary guardsmen, and there are only a few dozen combat soldiers among them.
And the most important thing is that they have not received the money and food provided by their superiors for several months. The food they eat daily is all obtained by their own efforts.
The superiors didn't care whether they lived or died, so naturally they wouldn't sacrifice their lives for Yang Sichang and the others.
After the more than a thousand defenders of Tumen Town dispersed, the First Cavalry Brigade created their own history.
For the first time they captured a city.
Even if it is just a slightly larger market town, it is not even a county seat.
But this is also rare for a pure cavalry unit.
Since the establishment of the 1st Cavalry Brigade, most of its combat missions have been to serve as forwards for reconnaissance, pursuit of broken enemy troops, and confrontations with enemy cavalry.
This is the first time that we have conquered a place directly.
It’s not that I don’t have the ability, it’s that it’s not necessary.
After all, they are cavalry, and attacking cities is not their strong point.
At the same time, cavalry is very important to the Chu army. Even if Luo Zhixue is crazy, he cannot use his precious cavalry as cannon fodder to attack the city.
The 1st Cavalry Brigade didn't want to play any kind of force attack. They just thought that they were coming, and the friendly forces were still some distance away. At the same time, they also brought six two-and-a-half-pound field guns.
There shouldn't be any problem if you try firing a few rounds of artillery.
But unexpectedly, just after a few rounds of artillery fire, the defenders on the opposite side ran away.
Under such circumstances, it would appear that the 1st Cavalry Brigade was being hypocritical if they did not enter Tumen Town.
In the end, it happened that the First Cavalry Brigade captured Tumen Town.
This made Wang Xiazi, the cavalry director and commander of the 1st Cavalry Brigade, very happy.
This was the independent combat capability of the cavalry that he was pursuing so hard. If he hadn't brought a few artillery pieces over, it would have been so easy to scare away the defenders.
——
When the first cavalry brigade moved smoothly, the other two cavalry units, the cavalry regiment of the fifth division and the eighth garrison cavalry battalion, also successfully reached the outskirts of Baling City.
However, this cavalry force did not dare to directly attack Baling City. Instead, they wandered around the periphery to cut off the connection between Baling City and the periphery.
According to the Chu army's intelligence, there are several thousand Ming troops garrisoned in Baling City. These people are nothing to the main force of the Chu army, but they are relatively reluctant to a half-baked cavalry with only a few hundred cavalry. .
After firing a few symbolic shots with a few two-and-a-half-pound field guns carried by the army, seeing that there was no response from the Ming army in the city, they simply retreated to the outer perimeter to garrison.
As for attacking Baling directly, that is impossible.
Even if these more than 800 cavalry are half-baked, they are still very valuable to the Chu army. They will be easily lost in siege battles.
As for the cannon fodder troops used in siege, the Chu army has a large number of garrison troops available. If it is not possible, it is also possible to directly use the infantry from the main force.
Attack the city with cavalry, unless your brain is burned out.
Eight hundred cavalry arrived at the outskirts of Baling City first, and more troops from the Fifth Division and the Eighth Guard Division were on their way from behind.
At the same time, Baling City entered an atmosphere of extreme panic.
This morning, the people in Baling City had already learned the news that Linxiang City had been destroyed.
After the news came, many gentry families had already fled during the day. Not only the ordinary gentry families, but also the families of many officials and even the officials themselves were fleeing.
First came the powerful gentry, and by the afternoon, many ordinary citizens also learned the news and began to flee.
The soldiers also began to waver and desertions occurred.
It's not that they are worried, but the strength of the Chu thieves is really scary.
If it were Gao Yingxiang and other bandits who came here, they, the gentry, dignitaries and even ordinary citizens, would definitely not run out of the city. On the contrary, they would pour into the city, especially the big city, to try to escape the flames of war.
When the bandits come to kill, there are many dangers outside, and one's life can easily be lost.
It is much safer to hide in the city, because those bandits generally lack the ability to attack cities.
But when they encountered Chu thieves coming to kill them, their reactions were completely different.
First of all, many people know the rules of the Chu thieves. People know that the Chu thieves also have the emperor and the regular army of the court. They are fighting with the Ming court to compete for the world. They will not be like those outlaw thieves. They directly looted the countryside and kidnapped the young and strong.
On the contrary, the Chu army often eliminated various deserters and bandits to maintain local security.
Therefore, when the Chu army came over, it was actually quite safe to stay in rural areas. Well, the premise is that you don't resist and pay taxes...
On the contrary, it is more dangerous to stay in the city.
First of all, the Chu army has a special way of attacking cities. Regardless of whether it is Hanyang or Wuchang, or Linxiang, a fortified city on the front line, the Chu army will defeat it as soon as they say it will.
When the city cannot stop the Chu thieves, there is no point in hiding in the city.
At the same time, while hiding in the city, it is easy for the city government to conduct various recruitments. The wealthy gentry will be asked to allocate money and food, and ordinary citizens will be captured to defend the city.
During the siege, the Chu army did not have any scruples. They kept firing artillery, and they did not deliberately avoid ordinary residential areas in the city.
Because most cities these days are actually quite small, there are often large residential areas behind the city walls.
Well, even most cities already have many residential houses in front of the city wall.
Although when most cities were planned, there was open space outside the city walls. However, over the long years, because the area inside the city was not large enough, the buildings tended to extend outwards. Over time, a large number of buildings also appeared outside the city walls. Further development may An attached city will appear.
When the Chu army attacked Wuchang before, many of the early battles actually broke out in areas outside the city walls. These places also had large buildings. In order to facilitate the attack, the Chu army demolished and burned them, destroying large areas of buildings outside the city. Woolen cloth.
This is especially true in the Battle of the Bulge outside Linxiang City.
Under such circumstances, war will inevitably have an impact on ordinary people.
When the Chu army was about to attack, anyone with any brains would basically leave in advance.
No matter whether the Ming army or the Chu army wins, it is right to run away and hide first.
Against this background of panic, the infantry troops of the Fifth Division arrived the next day and launched an attack on Baling City.
At this time, the original more than 4,000 defenders in the city were reduced to less than 3,000, and the remaining more than 1,000 people were nowhere to be found.
After the three thousand defenders resisted symbolically for an hour, a large number of Ming soldiers fled, and the remaining more than a thousand Ming soldiers surrendered under the leadership of a deputy general!
