Could it be that the Ming army on the opposite side wanted to go south to attack our own logistics line, and then he rushed all the way in a hurry, just to stop them?
In order to resist the Ming army's march south, Zhu Xingfa even ordered a group of his cavalry to dismount and build defensive positions and artillery positions, just to block the enemy's progress, and then waited for the arrival of the 10th Division.
The opposite side is the attacking party!
But now, it seems that one's own side is the attacking side, and the other side is the defensive side!
Zhu Xingfa was confused by Zu Dashou's operation, but this did not prevent him from taking advantage of this opportunity to order the 10th Division to start dividing its troops and send a reinforced regiment to march quickly around the enemy's rear to bring reinforcements and block the enemy's retreat.
The rest of the main force quickly came over and cooperated with our own side to implement frontal pressure on the enemy forces in front of them.
He didn't care why the Ming army on the opposite side didn't advance or run away. He only knew now that if the opposite side gave him another day, he might be able to attack from both front and back, and even severely damage the enemy army!
——————
After Zhu Xingfa ordered the 10th Division to send a reinforced regiment to march urgently to take a detour, he also asked the main force of the 10th Division to speed up the march and arrive as soon as possible to meet with his own side.
However, after the 10th Division moved into action, Zhu Xingfa himself led three cavalry brigades and remained stationary, staying about seventeen or eighty miles directly south of Zu Dashou's headquarters.
The main reason why Zhu Xingfa asked the cavalry to stand still was because he was afraid that the Ming army on the opposite side would escape early.
The Thirty-Eighth Regiment had not yet maneuvered in place. I casually led thousands of cavalry to kill them. What if the Ming army on the opposite side was scared away?
So in the evening of July 16th, a very strange scene occurred in the northeast of Wen'an City.
Zu Dashou led ten thousand troops to garrison in the wilderness... But anyone who is proficient in camp garrison can see that while the Ming army's garrisoned camps are easy to defend and difficult to attack, it is actually more convenient to escape to the north.
About ten miles away due south of Zu Dashou's headquarters, there were more than 4,000 Chu cavalry led by Lieutenant General Zhu Xingfa.
More than 20 miles due east of Zhu Xingfa's headquarters is the main force of the 10th Division led by Army Major General Meng Junli, with about 9,000 people.
At the same time, more than 20 miles northeast of Zhu Xingfa's headquarters, that is, northwest of Meng Junli's headquarters of more than 9,000 people, there was a Chu army of more than 4,000 people galloping, and their marching route went straight into Zu Dashou's headquarters. behind.
Zhu Xingfa's tactical concept was very simple. He didn't care what the Ming army on the opposite side wanted to do, or why they stopped suddenly. He didn't even go to Wen'an City on the side.
But he only knew that if the 38th Regiment succeeded in detouring, it would most likely lead to a flanking attack on the other side.
As for encircling the enemy, this is unlikely!
After all, Zhu Xingfa only had 20,000 troops, most of whom were infantry, and only more than 4,000 cavalry. Moreover, these 4,000 cavalry attracted the attention of the enemy, and their every move was watched by the enemy.
The main force for outflanking can only be infantry units. It is okay for infantry units to outflank enemy infantry, but outflanking cavalry... this is simply overthinking.
Even if the cavalry can't defeat your infantry phalanx, why can't they still ride away...
Therefore, if you want to use infantry to encircle and annihilate the enemy's cavalry in a field battle, just think about it. The possibility of success is almost zero, unless the opponent insists on turning into its own encirclement...
———
That night, the armies east of Wen'an City stopped their actions one after another and camped for the night.
However, although the army stopped, their respective senior generals were not idle.
Zu Dashou summoned a group of generals under his command to discuss how to face the situation.
What's the situation?
Naturally, Hong Chengchou used a very tough attitude to let them continue to move south. They were not allowed to avoid fighting and were timid. He allowed them to use the advantage of cavalry to break through the Chu army's interception, and then attack the Chu army's rear, destroying the Chu army's logistics line, and even attacking from the side and rear. Attack the Chu army's flank position and create more favorable opportunities for the upcoming Tianjin battle.
And Zu Dashou and the others did not want to fight with the Chu army, which would lead to heavy losses in their troops.
So they discussed all night how to deal with the situation and what to do to avoid Hong Chengchou's oppression without causing unnecessary losses to their troops.
After discussing for most of the night, everyone finally decided on the solution, which was to delay!
Just wait and see how the situation develops.
If there is a chance, they would not mind continuing to lead the army south, but if there is no chance, then they will continue to delay.
As for going directly south for more than ten miles to fight with the thousands of cavalry of the Chu army on the opposite side, no one said such a stupid idea.
As for whether they would be actively attacked by the Chu army, they had naturally considered it, otherwise they would not have purchased a defense line on the spot, and the place where the defense line was built was a convenient place for retreat, and it was not just to guard against the Chu army. Come and kill them in a big way.
But they never expected that the Chu army was still thinking about how to intercept them, but when they discovered that the Ming army had stopped marching south, they instantly changed their minds and turned the interception into an outflank...
The reason why there is such a big cognitive gap between the generals on both sides.
Because Zu Dashou and the others were thinking about how to deal with Hong Chengchou, how to preserve their strength, and then use themselves to save others, they did not think that the Chu thieves on the opposite side would do something thankless.
It’s not good to hit anyone. You have to hit them Guan Ning cavalry. Why don’t you just eat enough to hold on...
There are a bunch of weak chickens in Jinghai and Tianjin Wei who can be bullied. Why do you Chu thieves have to fight against the strong Guan Ning cavalry? This doesn't make sense!
But Zhu Xingfa and Meng Junli, two senior generals in the Chu army, didn't think so.
In the evening of that day, Zhu Xingfa and Meng Junli were still using the messenger's flying horse to quickly exchange information and opinions with each other.
At the same time, Zhu Xingfa also issued an updated message to the 10th Division. He required the roundabout troops of the 10th Division to arrive at the scheduled location before 12 noon tomorrow to cooperate with the advancement of the frontal units. ,
Yes, be it Zhu Xingfa or Meng Junli, what they are thinking about now is how to defeat or even annihilate the enemy army in front of them.
This will then cover the flank security and logistical security of the army heading north along the canal.
People don't care whether the incoming enemy army is Zu Dashou's Guan Ning army, Hong Chengchou's direct Qin army, or the border army from Xuanda.
These are their enemies.
As for whether the losses in the troops after the battle will cause the senior generals in the Chu army to become mere commanders, and then lose their power.
There is no need to worry about this. There is no situation in the Chu Empire where a certain army belongs to a certain general's private army.
In order to prevent the emergence of private armies, the recruitment, training of new soldiers, recruitment of soldiers and payment of salaries in the Chu army are directly under the responsibility of the three major departments: the General Staff Department, the Military and Political Department, and the Logistics Department.
The commander-in-chief of the army does not need and does not have the authority to recruit new soldiers to supplement or expand the army.
At the same time, the middle and high-level generals in the Chu army are not fixed, but are frequently mobilized.
For example, the First Division, the main force in the Chu Army, did not count the predecessor's brigade and battalion period. It is only said that after the first division was established, it had changed three division commanders.
And you don't have to worry about being unfamiliar with the troops and losing combat effectiveness after changing division commanders.
Because the Chu army's organization, equipment and even tactics are highly unified, there will be no difference no matter what main force the generals command. You don't need a senior general to be familiar with the soldiers and know everything about them.
At the same time, the troops in the Chu army did not rely on the personal fighting ability of senior generals, and changes in senior generals would not cause people's hearts to fluctuate.
Because not only the senior generals have undergone major changes, but also the mid-level officers have undergone significant changes.
To a certain extent, this is one of the reasons why the Chu army's tactics were dull and rigid when they fought. At a glance, they looked like they were carved out of a mill.
That is, generals change a lot. In order to maintain combat effectiveness and facilitate command, they often develop some model tactics for the entire army to learn and apply uniformly.
In this way, it is difficult for each unit to form a relatively unique combat style, especially one with a more obvious commander.
Because almost every main division in the Chu army has similar fighting routines. It's just that some units have more combat experience, higher morale, and better execution of routines, while some units are worse.
Even a new type of unit like the 10th Division is completely different from the old units in terms of tactics.
However, the tactics of this unit are highly consistent with those of several other new units, such as the 1st Division, 11th Division, and the 2nd Guards Division, 15th Division in the rear, etc.
From training to tactical application and even specific combat methods, they are all the same.
Because in the past year or so when the Chu Army was organizing and training new-style troops, they transferred senior generals, mid-level and low-level officers and even key soldiers from the new-style troops... they were constantly split and reorganized to speed up the expansion of the army.
Therefore, they are all playing the same trick.
Such a highly unified army will certainly lead to inflexible tactics, but the mobilization of middle and senior generals will not affect the basic combat effectiveness of these troops.
After Meng Junli took over as the commander of the 10th Division in the Battle of Jiangbei, the division still fought fiercely and swept across Shandong.
Today, when the 38th Reinforcement Regiment conducts circuitous maneuvers, it is no different from when Meng Junli led the regiment as deputy division commander to conduct circuitous maneuvers in the north of Hongze Lake.
In the afternoon of that day, they carried out a short-distance attack. After resting that night, they began to prepare in advance in the second half of the night. On the next day, they began to march quickly, all the way towards the back of Zu Dashou's troops.
People who didn’t know this looked at it and thought it was Meng Junli who personally led the regiment in a roundabout attack. But in fact, it has no special relationship with Meng Junli, and it doesn’t even have anything to do with the 38th Regiment’s own combat style...
Because, in the tactics teaching book of the new army of the Dachu Empire, this is how the roundabout and interspersed attack operations are taught.
This is what a new officer in the Chu army would do.
This is a new type of troops in the Chu army. They have all been trained in this kind of rapid march and roundabout attack...
They used to play like this, and they still play like this now...
It can be said that the Chu army and the Ming army seemed to be armies, but in fact they were two fundamentally different organizational models. Except that they were both composed of people, they basically had nothing in common.
Therefore, Zu Dashou and the others did not expect that under such circumstances, the Chu army would actually want to outflank them.
