When the Chu army attacked and garrisoned in front of Guangning, the Dongjie defenders in the city were in great panic!
The more than 20,000 cavalry led by Hauge himself were defeated miserably. Guangning's central front post only defended it for a few days before being breached, but they were frightened.
They have been fighting wars for so many years. To be honest, they have never experienced a few such large-scale battles, let alone a large-scale battle that was a disastrous defeat.
In the past, their battles against the Ming Army, North Korea and Monan Mongolia went smoothly, and the battle process seemed huge, but in fact it was just that, not to mention tragic.
But in the Battle of Guangning, thousands of Dongji people were killed on the spot, and countless others were injured.
The most important thing is that when all the cavalry, infantry and artillery are added together, the total strength of the front-line defenders and reinforcements of Guangning Zhongqian Post is a full 50,000 people.
And these 50,000 people couldn't even hold on for a few days, and in the end they were almost completely wiped out...
The reason why it is said to be close is because Hauge fled back in embarrassment with thousands of cavalry. Well, as soon as this man escaped back to the front guard, he heard the news that Huang Taiji was unconscious, and now he has brought these thousands of cavalry with him. The remnants of the cavalry went to Jinzhou in a puff of smoke, paying no attention to the battle on the Guangning front line.
That was an army of 50,000, and it was wiped out in just a few days. This had a huge impact on the former garrison defenders.
So much so that they all lost the courage to continue to defend the former garrison!
In addition, Hauge had fled westward before, and there was no military commander with enough weight in the former garrison. So, as the Chu army approached, the remaining generals of the Eastern Captives thought about it.
I feel like I can’t just sit there and wait for death in Qiantunwei City!
If they stayed in the former garrison and resisted, and there were no external reinforcements, they would not be able to hold on for more than a few days with the Chu barbarians' ability to attack fortresses.
Rather than staying in the front guard and dying like this, it is better to preserve your vitality and retreat to Ningyuan City in the rear.
By the way, all the troops from the former garrison to Ningyuan City must also be packed away...Between the former garrison and Ningyuan City, there are Guangning Zhonghou Suo, Ningyuan Zhongyou Suo and many small and medium-sized fortresses.
If the scattered troops in these places are gathered together, plus the main force from the former garrison, they should be able to gather about 35,000 troops.
Ningyuan City is also a large city where Dongduo is garrisoned. Although it is located in the rear, there are still more than 10,000 troops garrisoned.
Adding the two units together, they can probably gather nearly 50,000 troops in Ningyuan City. At the same time, if they gather the scattered cavalry from each unit, they can also gather about 10,000 cavalry.
In this way, they would be sure to defend Ningyuan City.
Otherwise, it would be easy for the Chu barbarians to defeat them one by one. Especially those garrisoned in small and medium-sized fortresses would have little resistance when faced with the Chu barbarians' large-scale attack.
It would be better to concentrate our forces and retreat to Ningyuan City.
Especially now that even Huang Taiji is unconscious, Dorgon is taking the opportunity to fight for power, and even Hauge hastily returned to Jinzhou with his three thousand cavalry. Under such circumstances, the entire Qing Dynasty is in turmoil. Government orders are inconsistent.
"The Romance of Fairy Wood"
Maybe there might be a civil war among the troops stationed in the rear.
Under such circumstances, it is impossible to obtain reinforcements...
In this way, after urgent discussion, they finally made a decision: Thirty-six strategies are the best strategy...
The Dongji people were walking fast and hurriedly... The Chu army's vanguard was still more than ten miles away, but all of them had already fled. Before leaving, they also carried out various destructions such as setting fire to the city as usual.
By the next day, when the Chu army's vanguard arrived belatedly, there was no sign of the Dongjiu people in the entire Guangning Qiantunwei City. There were not even a few ordinary people... a few ordinary people in the city. They were all forcibly pressed and driven away by the Dongluo people.
Population is also an important strategic material for the Dongji people. The Dongji people have repeatedly raided the customs. In addition to regular money, food and livestock, the population is also an important target of their plunder.
Most of these plundered people will become slaves of armored soldiers.
Therefore, when the Dongjiao people retreated, they would not forget to take their slave property with them.
As a result, what the Chu army saw was an empty city with lingering fire!
In response, the Chu army acted quickly. The First Cavalry Corps and the Guards Cavalry Detachment once again continued and marched quickly in an attempt to pursue.
However, the Dongjiu people also had a lot of mules and horses, and their maneuvering speed was quite good, let alone when it was time to escape... The Dongjiu people ran all the way, and the Chu army cavalry chased them all the way, but they failed to catch up...
As the pursuit distance lengthened, the physical energy of the horses and soldiers was consumed too much.
At the same time, there are many problems after the supply line is lengthened accordingly. You must know that there is no place for them to feed the enemy along the way. In the past two years, the Dongjiu people have gradually moved the Han people in the Western Liaoning Corridor to areas west of the Liaohe River and other areas. They went to live there, and when they finally evacuated, they used erecting walls to clear the fields, forcibly took away all the remaining ordinary people, and also set fire to the houses on a large scale.
Therefore, the grain supplies for the Chu army of more than 100,000 people marching eastward had to be transported from the rear. In addition, the Chu army always consumed a lot of food and grass. Therefore, the Third Army and the Guards relied extremely heavily on logistics.
If this logistics line is harassed on a large scale by the East Riding Cavalry, it will easily fall into an embarrassing situation of running out of ammunition and food.
In addition, because the cavalry advanced too fast, it also caused a disconnect with the infantry and artillery units in the rear.
When Lieutenant General Zhu Xingfa led his troops to take over the empty Ningyuan center and rear post, Zuo Yingzhe, who was behind him, had just arrived at Guangning's center and rear post with infantry, artillery and baggage troops. The distance between the two was already about fifty kilometers.
This distance is already considered a serious disconnect. In order to avoid accidents, Zhu Xingfa's cavalry had to wait for the main force of the Third Army behind them.
Therefore, Lieutenant General Zhu Xingfa ordered to stop the pursuit!
And at this time, it’s already May!
The Third Group Army and part of the Guards Army successively captured many areas west of the center and right of Ningyuan, including four large cities and dozens of medium and small fortresses.
A total of more than 50,000 enemy troops were annihilated, of which nearly 10,000 were killed and more than 40,000 were captured.
More than 10,000 riding horses, more than 30,000 draft mules and horses, and tens of thousands of ordinary livestock such as cattle and sheep were seized.
More than 80 long-barreled field guns and old-style Hongyi cannons were seized that were intact and usable, and hundreds of other old-style short cannons that were intact but not used by the Chu army.
More than 3,000 imitation first-year-style matchlock guns, more than 5,000 old-style blunderbuss, and nearly 10,000 old-style fire gate guns were seized.
In addition, a batch of grain and other miscellaneous strategic materials were also seized.
Compared with the huge results obtained, the losses incurred by the Chu army were not large!
As for the Third Army, a total of more than 400 people were killed, more than 800 were injured, and the total casualties were about 1,000 people. They mainly occurred in the cavalry operations and siege operations in the battle of Guangning Zhongqiansuo.
The material losses were even smaller. At most, a large amount of ammunition was consumed during the siege.
After a brief summary, Zuo Yingzhe personally wrote a letter of victory and sent someone 500 miles away to Jinling City to report the victory!
This was Zuo Yingzhe's military exploits, as well as those of the entire Third Army and the Guards detachment. A large number of meritorious soldiers were waiting to be rewarded based on their merits, to be promoted and make a fortune.
The good news was delivered all the way south by the Postal Service at an expedited speed of 500 miles. At the same time, the Postal Service also conducted a test. The good news was made in two copies, one by land and expedited at a speed of 500 miles. Delivered; one copy was delivered by sea by the postal express ship that was just launched by the Post Office.
This postal express ship, as you can see from its name, is just like an ordinary ship. The Post Office specially commissioned several shipyards under the Royal Institute of Technology and the Ministry of Industry to design and build it. It is used to deliver urgent documents and military information. Fast ships.
The pursuit of speed comes first!
Among them, the first-generation express ship, which was just commissioned for coastal communications, has a slender hull and a huge aspect ratio.
An oversized sail rig for a small hull.
Then, the ship of more than 100 tons did not even have a long-barreled artillery for self-defense. There were only light tunics and matchlock guns held by a few individual soldiers.
When this thing runs, let alone battleships, not even those pirate ships can catch up...
This time the Liaodong Campaign began. In order to ensure the smooth flow of information in Jinling and Liaodong areas, the Postal Service implemented a parallel plan of land and sea routes.
All emergency documents are made in duplicate, one goes by land, using the traditional 500-mile express or 300-mile express, and the other goes by sea, via mail express ship, or hitchhiking on a round-trip naval express ship.
Just wanted to make a detailed comparison and find a way to communicate faster.
After all, for a huge empire, communication capabilities directly determine the empire's center's ability to govern local areas.
The reason why the traditional Chinese dynasty was able to control the huge Chinese territory relied on the post system.
The Chu Empire was no exception. The reason why the Ministry of Communications was established as a separate department was largely because of the Postal Department.
In the beginning, the post station system of the Great Chu Empire was directly under the jurisdiction of the military, because at that time, the Chu army's post station system basically served the military. It was said to be a post station, but in fact it was run part-time by military messengers. .
Later, the control area gradually expanded, and the post system of the Ming Dynasty was successively taken over. At the same time, the control area expanded, and various official documents, including emergency official documents, increased significantly.
As a result, the Postal Department was established, and the post station system built by the military in the early days was also cut off and handed over to the Postal Department.
Subsequently, with the Postal Department as the core, functions such as official road construction, maintenance, and river transportation were added, and the Ministry of Transportation was established.
It can be said that the current Ministry of Communications of the Dachu Empire is actually built on the Postal Service, which shows the importance of the postal system to the empire.
Zuo Yingzhe's successful message was made in duplicate, and was transported by the postal service by land and sea. Even if the comparison was made, it was to further improve the emergency document delivery system by land and sea through actual combat.
