Even though the infantry of the Chu thieves in front had just rushed out and had not yet approached the New Biao Army's defense line, Yang Sixing knew that he was completely defeated.
The New Standard Army Left Army initially deployed no more than a thousand troops on the northern front, and even after receiving promotion reinforcements, it only had no more than 2,000 troops.
However, the number of Chu thieves who launched the attack exceeded 6,000, and they also had artillery support that far exceeded their own.
It is impossible to hold this northern line.
Once the northern front is finished, the artillery positions in the rear will also be finished. As for the southern and western fronts, they will also be finished sooner or later.
At that time, this battle will be considered a complete failure.
What's ridiculous is that before the war, he actually thought that he could hold on to his position and wait for the source of the army led by his cousin Yang Sichang.
But I didn't expect that under the overwhelming strength, my left army would not be able to hold on for even a day!
Yang Sixing closed his eyes slightly, and finally couldn't help but sigh: There was no chance of winning this battle from the beginning, and all he did was just a desperate struggle!
This battle is unfair from beginning to end!
He only led a mixed brigade, but the Chu thieves opposite had two full divisions and a cavalry brigade.
In terms of military strength, our side is at an absolute disadvantage.
We are also at an absolute disadvantage in terms of equipment, especially artillery.
Even regarding the combat skills and combat experience of the soldiers, our left army is just a new standard army and has never experienced actual combat.
The main force of the Chu thieves on the opposite side has experienced hundreds of battles since last year. Whether they are senior generals, middle and low-level officers, or even non-commissioned officers and other key soldiers, they all have rich combat experience.
Even though there are some new soldiers among the Chu thieves who have never participated in the war, they have experienced many battles such as the Battle of Linxiang and the Battle of Baling in Yuezhou before, and they have experienced actual combat to some extent.
The comparison of strength between the two sides was not on the same level at all, and I was still dreaming of resisting them before.
The impact of the Guards on the northern line finally made Yang Sixing realize the gap in strength between the two sides, and even gave him the idea of defeat.
However, even so, Yang Sixing did not give up completely.
Even though he was defeated, even though he knew he was going to be defeated, Yang Sixing was still making the final struggle.
He took the risk of deploying some troops from the Western and Southern Fronts to reinforce the Northern Front, while allowing the Northern Front to resist and defend.
But all this is in vain!
After the Chu Army's Guards Division launched its attack, the six infantry battalions belonging to the two regiments of the first wave directly covered the entire northern front and launched a full-scale attack.
Although the Ming army's artillery fired as many shells as possible to intercept, and indeed killed and injured many Guards soldiers, this still failed to stop the assault of the Guards soldiers.
Soon, the two infantry regiments of the Guards, one on the left and one on the right, reached the front of the Ming army's position on the northern front.
The Ming army once organized troops to rely on the breastworks to resist. However, as the Chu army directly pulled out a large number of two-and-a-half-pound field artillery and bombarded them, destroying a large number of breastworks and the Ming soldiers behind the breastworks, the remaining infantry of the Ming army finally came. The inevitable collapse.
After the second wave of Guards troops are also killed, there will be no suspense on the northern front.
After hundreds of casualties, the remaining Ming troops either collapsed or surrendered on the spot.
Immediately afterwards, part of the Guards troops rushed to the top of the mountain and captured the Ming army's artillery position.
These Ming Army artillerymen actually fled before the Guards soldiers rushed up.
There is no way, the northern front is completely finished, and the two to three hundred people in their artillery team cannot stop the impact of so many Guards infantry.
What happened next was even simpler. The Ming army on the southern and western fronts saw that the situation had been completely ruined. Most of them chose to surrender, and some of them fled.
But many of the fleeing Ming troops had no way to escape!
The hilltop that Yang Sixing chose to defend was surrounded by the Chu army on the south, north and west fronts, and was also the direction of the Chu army's attack.
Although there is an open area of about a few kilometers to the east, if you continue to go east, you will reach Dongting Lake!
These fleeing Ming troops seemed to have taken out the battlefield from the east, but in fact they encountered the First Cavalry Brigade led by Wang Xiazi not long after, and some of the Ming troops were forced to surrender or were killed or injured.
In the end, only two to three hundred people were left and fled all the way to Dongting Lake!
However, these two or three hundred people failed to escape in the end. Under the threat of the 1st Cavalry Brigade, they finally chose to surrender.
At this point, the entire New Standard Army Left Army was wiped out!
The commander-in-chief of the Zuo Army, Huguang Inspector Yang Sixing, died on the battlefield during the melee on the top of the mountain. Many of his middle and senior generals suffered less than half of their casualties, and most of the remaining surrendered with the army.
By the afternoon, the post-war report was also delivered to Luo Zhixue.
After seeing the battle report, Luo Zhixue frowned slightly!
Although the battle was won and the enemy troops were completely wiped out, the Chu army's casualties were not small.
A total of more than 200 soldiers were killed before and after the battle, and another 400 soldiers were injured. The total casualties were about 600.
At the cost of more than 600 casualties, the Chu army killed about a thousand people from the left army of the New Biao Army of the Ming Army, injured about 1,400 people, suffered about 2,400 casualties, and captured 4,000 people (including the wounded).
Just looking at the casualties, the ratio is about one to four. This casualty ratio is the highest among the Chu army's previous battles!
In the past, the Chu army could basically defeat the Ming army at a ratio of one to ten, or even an exaggerated casualty ratio.
One to four, this has never happened before.
However, considering that the opponent is a new standard army, its equipment and tactics are basically the same as those of the Chu army.
At the same time, this battle is not a battle in the traditional sense, but an offensive battle.
After all, the Ming army had a terrain advantage, and their artillery and muskets could also cause casualties to the Chu soldiers.
In other words, the Chu army has absolute strength and artillery advantages, otherwise it would be more difficult to fight and the casualties would be greater.
However, in Luo Zhixue's view, this still exposed a problem, that is, the Chu army used to have soldiers in battalions and sentries who had no guns, no cannons, and not much armor, and many officers' combat thinking was limited.
When faced with the new standard army, which was also equipped with guns and had similar tactics to their own, it was still not easy to fight.
Luo Zhixue feels that it is necessary to continue to improve tactics and strengthen training in the future.
Because the New Standard Army Left Army was not the only New Standard Army in the Ming Army. There was also a New Standard Army Right Army in Changsha.
In addition, the Great Chu Empire also learned that many ministers of the Ming Dynasty were also imitating Yang Sichang in setting up a new standard army, but the momentum was not so loud.
In other words, in the future, the Chu army will definitely continue to encounter these new Ming army troops who adopt new guns and new tactics.
If you prepare early, it will be easier to fight later.
At the end of the First World War, among the more than 5,000 people in the New Standard Army's left army, except for the thousand who died in the battle, the rest were basically taken as prisoners, and only a handful of people actually escaped.
In terms of seizures, about a thousand muskets that were in good condition and usable, as well as spears, armor, and waist knives were seized.
In addition, fifteen field artillery pieces were seized, including twelve two-and-a-half-pound field guns and five-pound field guns.
However, these field battles were all made of iron-cast artillery, and their performance and barrel life were not as good as the bronze artillery currently used by the Chu army. In addition, during this battle, the Ming army's artillery unit maintained high-intensity shelling. Several of the artillery pieces were obviously overused and were no longer able to carry out their duties.
But no matter what, the capture of these fifteen field artillery is a good thing.
In addition, a batch of war horses, ordinary mules, horses, grain, grass and other supplies were also seized.
After reading the battle report, Luo Zhixue said: "This batch of New Standard Army prisoners of war are different from the camp prisoners of war. They are all good seedlings. After proper selection by the Military and Political Department, they can be directly added to the main force."
The New Standard Army Zuo Army is a new army purely based on the main force of the Chu Army. It is very different from the previous battalion sentries and guard soldiers in the Ming Army. If these surrendered troops are directly organized into Garrison, that's a waste.
After instructing the Ministry of Military Affairs and other departments to deal with the issue of prisoners of war, Luo Zhixue did not stay in this small battlefield for long, but led the army to turn around and attack Yiyang City that day.
Now that Yang Sixing's new standard army, the Zuo Army, has been destroyed, it is impossible for any large-scale Ming army in the entire southern Chu region to stop the Chu army.
Now Luo Zhixue is not even in a hurry to go to Wuling, Changde Prefecture, but directly diverts to Yiyang City.
The more than 3,000 defenders in Yiyang City were still debating whether to send troops to rescue Yang Sixing's troops, but before they could reach a conclusion, they received bad news.
Yang Sixing's army of more than 5,000 people was completely wiped out in one day.
This frightened a group of civil and military officials in Yiyang City to death, and many Ming army soldiers were even more panic-stricken.
In the afternoon and evening of that day, hundreds of the more than 3,000 defenders had already fled.
When Luo Zhixue led the Guards Division towards Yiyang City the next day, there were less than 2,000 defenders left in Yiyang City.
The two thousand people resisted symbolically for only about half an hour. After the Chu army built artillery positions and fired, they surrendered neatly.
If nothing unexpected happens, the same will happen in Wuling City. According to the prisoners of war, although there are more than 3,000 defenders in Wuling City, they are all guard soldiers and their combat effectiveness is worrying.
Luo Zhixue had already dispatched the fifth division to Wuling City yesterday, and if nothing else happened, it would be captured soon.
The battle situation was indeed as Luo Zhixue had judged. Although the civil and military officials in Wuling City were more determined to resist, they still could not stop the fifth division's fierce attack.
Under the cover of the First Mortar Regiment, the Fifth Division built fortifications on the first day, filled in the moat on the second day, and launched a general attack on the third day to capture the city.
After the Fifth Division captured Wuling City, it did not stop in Wuling City, but evacuated one after another the next day, because by this time the Third Guard Division had also reached the Wuling City area.
The Third Garrison Division had crossed the river many days ago, and then successively attacked the area south of the Yangtze River in Jingzhou Prefecture and the area west of Dongting Lake in Yuezhou Prefecture.
There are no Ming troops stationed in these places, but because the place is large and there are many cities that need to be conquered, the strength of the Third Garrison Division is relatively scattered and it takes more time.
By the time they arrived at Wuling City, the Fifth Division had already captured Wuling City in advance.
In fact, if Yang Sixing had not taken the initiative to lead his army eastward and was eventually wiped out by the Chu army on the Yiyang front line, in fact, according to the planned battle plan, the Third Guards Division would not have arrived too late.
Because at the beginning, the Chu army's goal was to reach Wuling City, then break through the city and eliminate the New Biao Army's Left Army. However, with the combat effectiveness of the New Biao Army's Left Army and the support of Wuling City's fortifications, it would be difficult to hold on for too long. I dare not say, but five, six days or even ten days and a half month is not a big problem.
It was a pity that Yang Sixing led his army eastward in advance, and finally ran into the main force of the Chu army. Then the entire army was destroyed, and Wuling City was captured in advance.
With the arrival of the 3rd Garrison Division, Luo Zhixue did not delay any longer and immediately turned south with the Guards Division, the 5th Division, the 1st Cavalry Brigade and other troops.
This time, they went straight to Changsha!
