When the Chu army conquered the city of Ganzhou, Wang Zhiliang, who had just replaced Pan Zenghong who died of illness in the army at the end of last year and then served as the governor of southern Gansu, disappeared in the chaos.
No one was seen alive, no body was seen dead, and even the Ming court had no news about him since then.
However, the Chu army did not care much about Wang Zhiliang's whereabouts. They only cared about how many trophies they had seized and how many prisoners they had captured.
If captured, they can be reorganized into a garrison division on the spot. It is estimated that two to three thousand people can be selected from these tens of thousands of prisoners, which can be just enough for the 11th garrison division, which has continued to fight for more than half a year and has suffered relatively heavy personnel losses, so that the garrison division can regain its strength. Return to full capacity.
In the Great Chu Empire, there were no specially trained recruits to supplement the garrison divisions.
The many new recruits in the Dachu Empire are all to supplement the main force, or simply to train new soldiers, and will not be provided to the garrison division.
This is because the main division is actually the regular army of the Chu Empire Army, and the garrison division, although it also participates in the battle, is actually a temporary measure used to place prisoners of war.
At the same time, the combat effectiveness of the garrison division is actually very limited due to the lack of technical weapons such as guns and artillery.
This is already too much, and recruiting new soldiers to supplement it is putting the cart before the horse.
Therefore, the current replenishment of the garrison division basically relies on prisoners of war.
However, these prisoners of war are also diverse, not only limited to captured Ming Dynasty officers and soldiers, but also include all kinds of thieves, bandits, and even official young and strong county warriors, landlord armed forces, etc.
For these people, the Chu Empire dealt with them in a unified manner, selecting elites to be incorporated into the garrison, while the others were organized into reclamation camps, construction camps, transportation camps, etc.
Therefore, even in the existing control areas of the Dachu Empire, through frequent suppression of illegal armed forces and the reorganization of large-scale refugee groups, a large number of garrison soldiers can be obtained, and then replenished for each garrison.
The 11th Garrison Division has continued to fight for a long time. When fighting in central Jiangxi and other places before, it also suffered continuous battle losses, but it continued to be supplemented by prisoners of war, but the number of supplements was insufficient.
Now, more than 10,000 people have been captured in Ganzhou, which is enough to select two to three thousand people to supplement the 11th Garrison Division.
Therefore, to a certain extent, prisoners of war were a burden to the senior leaders of the Dachu Empire. They wished they could throw them all into the Pacific Ocean, and then save money and food for training more main forces.
But for frontline generals, the garrison can fill the vacancies in the main force in a timely manner, and it is also very useful. Therefore, sometimes it is hoped to capture more prisoners of war to supplement battle losses.
As for war supplies such as money and food, it is even more important. If the quantity is not enough, then the siege of Ganzhou City will be a big loss. After all, the Chu army spent a lot of money to capture Ganzhou City. The ammunition consumption alone is not a big deal. A small sum, let alone the expense of a months-long siege.
On the other hand, if the amount of money and food seized in the city is large enough, not only will there be no loss, but also a profit, then Lieutenant General Huang Xiangbin, commander of the Jiangxi garrison and commander of the 7th Division, will have enough reasons to convince Gyeonggi. He asked several senior generals to support him in leading his troops to continue southward.
Not verbal support, but support with ammunition and food!
For this reason, he wrote a handwritten letter immediately after taking Ganzhou City. In addition to reporting the victory, he also elaborated on the necessity and feasibility of continuing to attack Nanxiong Mansion southward and entering Guangdong.
Now that the Seventh Division has captured Ganzhou City, it also means that the entire southern Gansu region is open to the Chu army. If the Chu army continues to move south, it will directly approach Nanxiong Mansion in Guangdong.
Nanxiong Mansion is the northern gate of Guangdong. If this place can be captured, the Chu army can then go down the river and attack Shaoguan. After capturing Shaoguan, they can continue down the river and head straight to Guangzhou.
Capturing Guangzhou is basically equivalent to controlling the entire Pearl River Delta plain.
While Lieutenant General Huang Xiangbing sent a letter reporting the victory to Jinling City, he took the lead and led some of the Seventh Division and other troops to continue southward and attack Nanxiong.
What if Nanxiong doesn't have many heavy Ming troops and takes it directly?
Isn’t this a dream that makes me wake up laughing...
Unfortunately, Huang Xiangbin was still too optimistic. As soon as he took over Ganzhou City, the news was urgently reported to Xiong Wencan, the Southwest Governor who was in Wuzhou.
After learning that Ganzhou had fallen, Xiong Wencan hurriedly mobilized troops to strengthen the defense of Nanxiong Mansion while calling Wang Zhiliang a waste.
Not only Huang Xiangbing knew the importance of Nanxiong Mansion, but Xiong Wencan also knew it.
No, within a few days, the first batch of Ming army reinforcements from Ganzhou had arrived at Nanxiong Mansion in an emergency, followed by several batches of reinforcements from different places in the rear. Among them were Xiong Wencan's carefully trained troops. The new standard-bearer of Guangdong and Guangxi.
The predecessors of the Guangdong and Guangxi New Standard Army were actually the Huguang New Standard Army and the Guangdong New Standard Army.
When Yang Sichang was defeated and retreated to Chunan, not long after he retreated to Guangdong, he was dismissed from office by Chongzhen and locked up in a prison.
The Huguang New Standard Army Right Army under him fell into the hands of Xiong Wencan.
Xiong Wencan combined the New Standard Army, which was the earliest among all the New Standard Army in the Ming Dynasty, and the half-baked New Standard Army that he had trained by himself, the Guangdong New Standard Army, and renamed it the Guangdong and Guangxi New Standard Army.
This Guangdong and Guangxi New Standard Army is currently considered a relatively large-scale New Standard Army in the Ming Dynasty. There are currently a total of five armies in the front, rear, left, right and center.
Among them, the Right Army is the most powerful. Well, this Right Army is actually the original Huguang New Standard Army Right Army. It is currently stationed on the front line of Guilin, Guangxi.
Secondly, there is the Zuo Army. This Zuo Army is the Guangdong New Biao Army as the main force. It joins some of the original Huguang New Biao Army and is stationed on the front line of Shaozhou Prefecture.
The above-mentioned two armies are both new standard armies of the Manchu Army. They have six infantry battalions, one artillery battalion, one baggage battalion, and one cavalry battalion. Their total strength reaches more than 5,000 people, and they have eighteen gates of two and a half kilograms or five kilograms. Jin field artillery is a very typical Chu-style mixed brigade.
The two armies at the front and rear are newly formed units later, and they are not full for the time being. The front army has four infantry battalions, two artillery posts, one cavalry post, and one baggage post. The total strength is about 3,000 people, and they are stationed in Huaiji. One line.
The rear army only had three battalions of infantry, one sentry for artillery, half a sentry for cavalry, and one sentry for baggage. The total strength is about 2,000 people, stationed on the front line of Pinglefu.
Finally, there is the Chinese army led by Xiong Wencan himself. This Chinese army actually has fewer troops, only about a thousand people, and only has the size of two infantry battalions, one artillery sentry, one cavalry sentry, and one baggage sentry.
This Chinese army is actually used as Xiong Wencan's personal troops. It is stationed in Wuzhou City with Xiong Wencan and used as a strategic mobile force.
The entire Guangdong and Guangxi New Standard Army has a total of five armies in the front, rear, left and right, with a total strength of about 17,000 people.
The reason why Xiong Wencan was able to create such a large-scale New Standard Army was simply because he took advantage of Yang Sichang. You must know that when Yang Sichang retreated to Chunan, he was already gradually restoring the strength of his Huguang New Standard Army.
By the time he fell and was replaced by Xiong Wencan as the governor of the Southwest, the strength of the Huguang New Biao Army had returned to six to seven thousand men.
On this basis, Xiong Wencan was able to continue to expand, and eventually had about 17,000 people.
As for guns and cannons, to be honest, Xiong Wencan doesn't really lack these things.
Haojing (Macau) controlled by the Portuguese was the most important artillery producing place in southern China during the late Ming Dynasty. It had previously produced large quantities of Hongyi cannons and supplied them to the Ming army.
If Xiong Wencan wants artillery, he can just go to the Portuguese in Hao Jingli to buy it.
In addition, Foshan was also an important iron product base at this time. In addition to various civilian iron products, its guns were also very famous.
As for Foshan, the contemporary influences are iron pots and artillery!
The iron pots produced in Foshan are representative of the highest quality iron pots in modern times, and their selling prices are often two or three times that of iron pots of the same size elsewhere.
Not to mention the artillery in Foshan, which has long been manufacturing guns and supplying them to the army. Many of the Hongyi cannons used by the Ming army in Liaodong were made in Foshan.
As the two major firearms producing areas in Haojing and Foshan, Xiong Wencan actually has no shortage of firearms!
What he lacks is money and food!
In order to purchase guns and equipment for the new standard army, Xiong Wencan thought of all possible means, not to mention the government's money and food, and even made several private donations.
Even so, it was nothing. Later, he borrowed some from Zheng Zhilong, and killed several maritime merchant families that had always been at odds with him, and then he scraped together the money to expand and raise the army.
Of course, although it was done with difficulty, the combat effectiveness was actually just that.
After all, Xiong Wencan is not Yang Sichang, let alone Song Zushun.
Although the Huguang New Standard Army created by Yang Sichang was defeated miserably at the hands of the Chu army, according to their conscience, their combat effectiveness is still quite good.
It's rare to be able to fight so tenaciously for the first time.
Needless to say, Song Zushun was actually one of the most serious military talents among the governors and governors in the late Ming Dynasty. As for the others, they were just good soldiers.
But Song Zushun, this man can write military books...
The "Key Points for Defending the City" written by him is a serious military book, much better than those knowledgeable military and civilian officials who have great names but have not actually won many battles and have no writings.
Looking at actual combat, Song Zushun was the only one who was able to retreat in an organized manner with several thousand main troops under the heavy attack of the Chu army.
The other so-called famous generals and ministers, under the fierce offensive of the Chu army, one by one, they were either wiped out or completely collapsed and fled.
Everyone who can fight!
Why?
Because they are not professional generals to begin with!
Xiong Wencan is a typical example...
He is a politician, and he became famous by recruiting Zheng Zhilong. If you ask him to train troops and fight, to be honest, it will be embarrassing.
The left army of the Guangdong and Guangxi New Standard Army created by Xiong Wencan, a half-assed general, was the main force to reinforce Nanxiong Mansion.
