Hong Chengchou sent Zu Dashou, Wu Xiang and other Liaodong generals to attack in a roundabout way with ten thousand troops.
There is no way this kind of thing can be hidden from the Chu army!
Although the two sides are still separated by dozens of kilometers, in fact, the total number of troops from both sides is more than 100,000, and their respective reconnaissance cavalry are everywhere. It may be difficult for these reconnaissance cavalry to directly break into the enemy's main force at close range, but It is still possible to break into the outer areas and take a look from a distance.
What's more, tens of thousands of troops are attacking. This is not a small movement. As soon as Zu Dashou and the others attacked, the Chu army's reconnaissance cavalry lurking around Tianjin noticed something strange. They immediately followed it from a distance and sent people to quickly send back the news.
With the scouts galloping on horseback, the speed of message delivery was no less than that of the five-hundred-mile rush supported by the post system. In just one day, General Li Chengtong, who was leading his army northward, received information that a large number of Ming troops were attacking. .
"There are a large number of cavalry in the enemy army?"
"Still carrying the banner of Zu Dashou?"
Li Chengtong immediately judged based on various intelligences that the Ming army must have sent a large group of cavalry to attack their supply lines around the back, and even to contain or even threaten their own army from the rear position.
At this time, General Dong Mingjie, commander of the Second Army, said: "Brother Li, a large number of enemy cavalry are attacking. If nothing else, they are heading towards our rear and even Jinghai. Should we send cavalry to intercept them?"
Although Dong Mingjie is also an army general and the commander of the first army, his qualifications are more junior. He was promoted to army general due to military merit after the Jiangbei Campaign, while Li Chengtong was promoted to army general after the Eastward Campaign last year. , are also among the first army generals in the Chu Empire.
Therefore, although both sides are generals, their qualifications are still quite different.
What's more, before the Northern Expedition, when they held a strategic meeting in Huai'an, Emperor Luo Zhixue had already appointed Li Chengtong as the garrison commander of Northern Zhili in advance to take charge of the war in the Northern Zhili region, and gave instructions for coordinated operations by multiple armies if there was a situation on the front line. Below, Li Chengtong is the main one, supplemented by General Dong Mingjie, commander of the Second Army, and General Li Dongshao, commander of the First Army.
Therefore, in this Tianjin battle, the supreme commander is Li Chengtong. Dong Mingjie naturally needs to ask Li Chengtong to make his decision.
Li Chengtong said: "The troops from Liaodong are coming out. There are tens of thousands of them. Naturally, we cannot let them go south easily. If we let them run behind us, although the navy's inland fleet has fierce firepower, We can’t prevent the other party from ambushing the canal in advance or even directly blocking the canal. Once the canal is blocked, the logistics will be worrying!”
"Since the other party's big move is to send out all their Guan Ning cavalry, we can't be too petty here. Let the three cavalry brigades gather to attack, and let the 10th Division cooperate with them."
"Just in time, we can let the 10th Division try out the actual combat effectiveness of their long-term hollow square formation!"
Hearing Li Chengtong talk about the hollow phalanx, Dong Mingjie said: "Hollow phalanx? Is it a formation proposed by His Majesty himself to resist cavalry?"
"At the end of last year, I also watched the 10th Division practice the hollow square formation in Jinling City. To be honest, I always felt that this formation was too thin."
"Relying only on musketeers, then these musketeers' muskets have sleeves and spears, and they can barely serve as short spearmen. But after all, they are not spearmen wearing heavy armor. I'm afraid it will be difficult to resist the impact of the cavalry!"
Dong Mingjie is still a little worried about this. In his opinion, the best way to fight against the enemy's elite cavalry is a huge phalanx composed of musketeers and spearmen of the traditional infantry division.
The center of the four sides is protected by heavily armored spearmen, while musketeers are deployed at the four corners for shooting. It has both defensive capabilities and lethality. It is difficult for ordinary cavalry, even those wearing heavy armor, to break through this formation.
Li Chengtong said: "The problem shouldn't be big. We have conducted many drills before. During the Battle of Jiangbei, an infantry battalion of the 10th Division was also attacked by enemy cavalry. It relied on Then we formed three hollow square formations, one large, two small, and three, which blocked the enemy's cavalry attack and forced them to retreat in spite of the difficulties!"
When Li Chengtong said this, his confidence was actually somewhat lacking.
Although this hollow square formation tactic was proposed and implemented by His Majesty himself, it has performed very well in many drills and even several small-scale actual battles.
But it's still hard to feel completely reassured.
For example, a drill is more of a simulation. You can't really let a group of cavalry charge directly at the infantry. This is not a drill, but actual combat.
In the case of exercises, it is difficult for infantry to feel the sense of oppression when a large number of enemy cavalry are charging, and this sense of oppression is a great test of the will of the soldiers. Soldiers with weak will will face a large number of cavalry charging towards them. It is very possible to give up holding the line or even turn around and run away.
Once a soldier escapes, a chain reaction will easily occur, eventually causing the entire formation to collapse. Subsequently, the enemy cavalry will kill the fleeing soldiers one by one like pigs.
In addition to not directly charging, it is also difficult to simulate the situation where the enemy cavalry rushes up at the risk of death, and then fires a large number of cavalry bows and arrows at close range. Although our own musketeers are all armored, the protective area of the half-body light armor is prioritized. , its performance is also limited, and it is still unable to cope with some heavy arrows that are specialized in breaking armor.
However, Li Chengtong still sent them out.
Because Li Chengtong knew that the firepower density of new units such as the 10th Division was not comparable to that of old units such as the 8th Division.
Even under the attack of enemy cavalry, the 10th Division, which used flintlock muskets and could form a tighter formation, was enough to fire more bullets.
Perhaps, when the enemy cavalry charged, they would collapse due to heavy casualties.
Li Chengtong issued an order to have three cavalry brigades and the 10th Division attack together and march to the Xiwen'an line.
There was the circuitous direction of Zu Dashou's troops.
If nothing unexpected happens, these two armies will encounter each other about fifty kilometers west of Jinghai.
And this is unlikely to be an accident.
Under the supervision of many reconnaissance cavalry on both sides, the movements of the main forces of both sides were basically translucent. The Chu army knew that the Ming army's tens of thousands of Liaodong soldiers were making detours. It didn't take long for Zu Dashou to also know that the Chu army had sent nearly two soldiers. An army of ten thousand people came to intercept them.
Yes!
The Chu army did not play any trick of equal strength with the Ming army. Instead, it dispatched three cavalry brigades and a 10th division in one go, with a total strength of nearly 20,000 people.
This force instantly reached twice the advantage!
This made Zu Dashou on the opposite side want to vomit blood... Why, he still wanted to bully others with numbers.
After complaining, Zu Dashou chose to retreat with all his heart!
But as soon as he retreated, Hong Chengchou behind him learned the news and sent someone to scold him bloody.
Retreat if Chu thieves intercept you?
Your ancestor, Dashou, is still fighting. Since the Chu thieves are intercepting him, you just have to go around for me. If you can't get around, just rush over.
No matter what method you think of, you will have to bypass it for me, attack their logistics line, and even attack Qingxian County.
Now that I'm halfway there, I want to run back in despair. Do I want to sit back and watch the Chu thieves steadily march northward and then reach the gates of Tianjin?
In that case, if I want you Guan Ning cavalry to be useless, why not bring tens of thousands more cannon fodder to the battlefield?
Yes!
The reason why Hong Chengchou used various methods, even forcibly ordering Zu Dashou and others to send troops from Liaodong, and brought at least four thousand elite cavalry with them.
The purpose is to allow them to use the mobility advantage of the cavalry to attack in a roundabout way when the Chu thieves attack, so as to phase out the Chu thieves' logistics line.
To reduce the pressure on the subsequent frontal battlefield.
It is best to be able to kill the Chu thieves' cavalry in one fell swoop, and then gain control of the mobility advantage on the entire battlefield. In this way, the subsequent battle will be easier to fight.
However, as soon as Zu Dashou met the Chu thieves, the distance was still dozens of miles, and he wanted to run away without even meeting him.
Hong Chengchou was driven crazy by this.
In response, the envoy sent by Hong Chengchou brought a very rude message from Hong Chengchou.
He said that he could find a way around it, but he didn't want to find an opportunity to rush over directly, so he just wanted to retreat!
Even if you don't have the confidence and confidence, and you're afraid that you won't be able to defeat him, you can always take a detour, and you can find an opportunity to sneak past at night or some other opportunity.
This place is so big, and there are empty places for dozens of miles around... Even if you don't want to fight with the Chu thieves, you can still find an opportunity to sneak over.
As long as it passes, as long as there is such a large army behind the Chu thieves, it will be enough to reduce the huge pressure on the front battlefield of Tianjin.
In short, don't expect to run away. If you continue to lead the troops to retreat, I will go crazy. When the time comes, I will have to borrow my head to boost the morale of the troops...
Not to mention, Hong Chengchou's threats are still very effective these days, more effective than Chongzhen's threats...
Chongzhen and the cabinet bosses did not dare to threaten Zu Dashou, because they did not have direct troops on hand, and they were not front-line leaders, and they had to worry about the many overall effects, so they often followed Zu Dashou.
But Hong Chengchou was different. When he first took office as governor of Jiliao, he brought tens of thousands of Qin troops with him and had dozens of long-barreled artillery under his command.
Moreover, this person has been leading troops in Shaanxi and Jiliao for a long time. He is very good at dealing with the general soldiers, deputy generals and other veterans. He also knows how to use money, food, armor, artillery and other things to win over people's hearts, and even uses food and grass to blackmail many of his generals. .
Even the extremely domineering Zuo Liangyu had to obey Hong Chengchou when he was in Henan.
Although Zu Dashou is usually more arrogant than Zuo Liangyu, that was in Liaodong...
After entering the customs, Zu Dashou found that he was controlled by others everywhere!
This is especially true after the money and food brought from Liaodong were all eaten up on the road.
Because from that time on, all the food and grass needed by their tens of thousands of troops was in the hands of Hong Chengchou. If Hong Chengchou was offended, he would directly cut off the food for you. Even if Zu Dashou could lead his troops to escape back to Liaodong, he would probably starve to death on the way back to Liaodong. .
As for rushing all the way back...
How do you think Hong Chengchou got the food in his hands? The court did not give Hong Chengchou food...
Hong Chengchou had already sent troops to rob all the food in large areas of Beizhili, leaving little food for Zu Dashou.
Facing Hong Chengchou's order, Zu Dashou deeply felt the humiliation of having to bow his head under the eaves.
So while sending people to secretly search and prepare food in the surrounding areas, they reluctantly turned around and headed south.
