To the east of Tashan, more than ten thousand captive troops were hurriedly heading east. In front of them was Xingshan City.
The distance between Tashan and Xingshan is actually not that big, just over ten kilometers. If we march on a normal day, it will only take one day.
But during the war, especially when the two sides were fighting, and the Chu army in the rear did not intend to let them escape smoothly, it was very difficult for the Dongji people to cross the distance of more than ten kilometers when they were desperately pursuing them.
At dawn on June 1, the seventh year of Chengshun, when the Dongji people had just left the city, the 108th Division of the Chu Army had already received the news. They were extremely eager for military success and wanted to add another general star to their epaulettes. Brigadier General Bian Liming ordered a rapid march to pursue without hesitation.
Although the 108th Division is said to be a second-class division with worse weapons and equipment and fewer auxiliary troops, it is a regular army anyway.
Although the soldiers of this division were from the Ming Border Army, after two years of hard training, they were basically the same as the soldiers of other units of the Chu Army.
After all, in the Da Chu Empire Army, the personal treatment of soldiers is almost the same regardless of whether it is an A-class division or a B-class division. The salary is the same and the food is the same. There is no better food for the troops of the A-class division. The food of the B-class division is better. The food for the waiters is a bit poor.
This means that even the second-class divisions in the Chu army have very good physical fitness among their soldiers.
One of the reasons why the three armies of the Chu Empire were able to attract so many poor people to join the army was that they could have enough to eat.
In terms of food and treatment for the soldiers, the Da Chu Empire military has always done as good as it can.
The good food treatment and the good physical fitness gained from daily training made the soldiers of the 108th Division extremely fast after they started their emergency march!
The 431st regiment at the front took just over an hour to bite the tail of the Dongjiu people, and directly launched a strong attack under the cover of more than 500 cavalry reinforcements, while the Dongjiu people left two thousand soldiers behind. Many people carry out rear-end operations, while the remaining troops continue to advance.
The sound of the two-and-a-half-pound field cannon continued to sound, the horses neighed, and soldiers from both sides began to fight in the wilderness.
Just when the 431st Regiment and the cavalry had bitten the enemy's tail, the 430th Regiment of the right army had already begun to take a circuitous route, directly forcibly crossing a distance of about three kilometers and inserting itself into the flank of the enemy's retreating troops.
In order to protect themselves, thousands of people on the flank of the Dongjiu people had to stop their retreat and changed from a marching column to a fighting formation.
Brigadier General Bian Liming, who was behind him, saw that his own troops had held back at least 5,000 enemy troops. When he was confident, he personally led the last regiment of the unit, the 429th Regiment, to join the battle, and also carried out an interception attack. posture, forcing the enemy forces to assemble and enter a fighting posture.
As a result, the Dongji troops who had just withdrawn from Tashan City a few hours ago were dragged into a narrow strip of land about six to ten kilometers northeast of Tashan City and about two kilometers wide.
Tens of thousands of troops were forced to form battle formations to confront the Chu army!
After seeing the enemy troops being overtaken and entering combat formation, Brigadier General Bian Liming finally breathed a sigh of relief!
Finally we didn't let them run away!
Then he ordered: "Hold them all to me, hold them back as much as possible, don't take the risk of attacking!"
"Deputy division commander, go to the group army headquarters in person and ask for support from your superiors. We can't hold them back for too long just relying on our words!"
"This place is too close to Xingshan. Once the enemy troops in Xingshan City escape, it will be a big trouble!"
What Brigadier General Bian Liming wants is not to kill or injure many enemy troops, nor to completely defeat them, but to hold them back.
Therefore, his tactics from the beginning were mainly to hold back the opponent, and did not allow the troops to launch a forced attack. At the same time, this was also to guard against the enemy forces in Xingshan City.
This place is only seven or eight kilometers away from Xingshan City. If the Dongjiu people from Xingshan City come for reinforcements, the lightly-armed troops can kill them in an hour.
Brigadier General Bian Liming must be more cautious before his own reinforcements arrive.
Brigadier General Bian Liming's guess was correct. As soon as they stopped the Tashan retreat, the Dongjiu people in Xingshan City sent more than 5,000 infantry and at least 3,000 cavalry to quickly rush out of the city to support them.
Brigadier General Bian Liming listened to the movements of the East Riding Cavalry in front, his face turned frighteningly dark, and his troops immediately gathered their formation to guard against the cavalry attack.
As a result, the suppression of Tashan's retreating troops was inevitably reduced. Immediately, thousands of Tashan's retreating troops in the north took the opportunity to break away and retreat toward the northeast with oil on their soles.
Brigadier General Liming jumped anxiously, but there was nothing he could do.
His 108th Division was just a downsized second-class division. Although it was assisted by a cavalry regiment of the independent cavalry unit, it could only protect itself when faced with the threat of a large-scale enemy cavalry.
It is not easy to be able to contain thousands of Tashan enemy troops while protecting ourselves.
At about two o'clock in the afternoon, the Chu army's reinforcements finally arrived. They came from a division belonging to the Ninth Army, the main force in the rear.
With the addition of such a first-class division, the Chu army's pressure on the front line was greatly reduced, and they could even try to launch a counterattack.
The reason why it is said to be an attempt, rather than to directly launch a large-scale counterattack, is because the Donglu people on the opposite side have three thousand fine horses riding on the side, watching eagerly.
Just to guard against these three thousand Japanese cavalry, the Ninth Army not only used three divisional cavalry regiments, but also used two main infantry regiments and more than thirty lightweight two-and-a-half-pound field guns.
These troops were divided into several directions to deploy defenses to ensure that the three thousand Eastern Cavalrymen could intercept them in time no matter which direction they came from.
As a result, there was only one main infantry regiment left to actually reinforce the 108th Division for the frontal advance.
On the other side, there were quite a lot of captives from the east, as many as ten thousand.
And after there was no big threat, they had no intention of fighting a large-scale battle with the Chu army in the wild. Instead, they ran back whenever they had the opportunity, wanting to retreat directly to Xingshan City.
At this time, the Ninth Army also gave Brigadier General Bian Liming a new order, which was to continue to launch a frontal attack and attack quickly, trying to leave more enemy troops behind before the enemy fled on a large scale.
At the same time, they also revealed the news that the Chu Army's First Cavalry Corps and the Cavalry Detachment, a total of 20,000 cavalry, had begun galloping toward the northeast, preparing to make a large-scale roundabout to outflank Xingshan's rear.
"Even if we can't swallow the hundreds of thousands of enemy troops in the entire Jinzhou defense line in one go, we will at least swallow the 30,000 enemies in Tashan and Xingshan."
At this time, in fact, the Third Army Headquarters had misjudged the strategic choice of the Dongji people.
The reason why the Tashan garrison retreated to Xingshan was to join the Xingshan garrison and then engage in an offensive and defensive battle with the Chu army...
However, because the Dongji people frequently abandoned the city before, and then immediately abandoned a large area to escape, the Third Army directly believed that the Dongji people wanted to retreat in full.
With the idea of leaving as much as they can, the Third Army had already launched a full-scale attack...
The 20,000 cavalry troops have directly bypassed Xingshan and fought directly from Xingshan to Jinzhou to the rear position of Xingshan, directly cutting off the possibility of Xingshan's enemies escaping eastward. The Ninth Army sent a first-class division to follow to cover the cavalry unit, and at the same time, the division can also engage in a strong attack on Xingshan if necessary.
Of the two remaining divisions of the Ninth Army, one Class A division reinforces the 100th Division and is responsible for the frontal attack; the other division is detouring from the south of Xingshan and is responsible for the subsequent strategic encirclement of the enemy in Xingshan.
In this way, the Ninth Army, the First Cavalry Corps, the Guards Cavalry, the 108th Division and other units formed a frontal advance and roundabout raids on both sides.
The core strategy is obvious at a glance...encircle and annihilate the Tashan-Xingshan enemy.
As for whether this will cause the enemies of Jinzhou and Songshan to flee on a large scale and let the tiger return to the mountains, Zuo Yingzhe can't care so much now.
He was afraid that he would go too late and not even be able to catch the 30,000 enemies!
It has to be said that the battlefield is full of all kinds of accidents, and wars are mostly composed of a series of accidents.
No war is carried out exactly according to the plan specified before the war. Various accidents will always occur in the middle.
Senior generals on both sides have adopted what they consider to be the most advantageous strategy for their side, but the actual situation often deviates greatly from what they expected...
It's like this on the Chu army's side, and it's even more like this on the Dongjiu people's side!
Outside Xingshan City, Jierhalang, the captive prince of Zheng from the east, looked at the growing number of Chu troops in front and a large number of various field artillery being dragged up, and learned that a large number of Chu barbarians were bypassing this place. , when they rushed directly to the rear of Xingshan.
"Damn it, we have fallen into the trap of the Chu barbarians. They want to lure us out and defeat us in the field with their sharp guns!"
"The Chu barbarians have sharp guns, and there are no trenches and artillery holes in the wilderness to rely on. Resistance is the only option. The only solution is to retreat quickly and return to Xingshan City to defend!"
"In Xingshan City, there are various trench parapets and anti-artillery facilities that our army excavated urgently, which are enough to offset Chu Barbarian's sharp guns!"
At this time, someone on the side looked worried and said: "There are at least 3,000 people in the front who are entangled by the Chu barbarians. If we retreat now, I'm afraid..."
Jierhalang said: "Tell Wudahai to try his best to buy time for the army to withdraw from the city!"
After Wu Dahai in the front heard the order from the messenger, he wanted to scream in his heart, but finally endured it. At this time, more than 3,000 troops under his command had been entangled by the Chu barbarians.
And it has been divided into two parts. Although it has not yet entered the stage of large-scale handover, but with the current distance between the two sides, if they dare to take a step back and the formation is slightly disordered, then the whole army will be defeated!
There will be no second possibility.
He had struggled to hold on before, hoping to wait until Qilharang led his troops to rescue him. Unexpectedly, a few hours had passed and the reinforcements had not arrived. Instead, he had received an order to cut off his rear.
Wearing armor, Wu Dahai took a deep breath, gritted his teeth and said, "In return for the prince, I, Wu Dahai, will successfully cover the army's entry into the city!"
At this time, he actually had no other choice!
Whether he wants it or not, his three thousand troops can't leave...and he can't leave either.
In fact, the troops under his command can't leave, but it doesn't mean that Wudahai himself can't leave. He is also a member of the Dongli clan, and there are many personal guards around him who can escort him out of the battlefield, let alone being surrounded by people who are not yet trapped.
If you really want to leave, the Chu army won’t be able to stop you!
Of course, it cannot be delayed for too long. Once the Chu army completes the strategic encirclement, he will not be able to leave even if he wants to.
But... if he escapes from the battlefield and abandons his troops to escape alone, he will most likely be ordered to be beheaded when he returns, and the entire family will also be implicated.
So... after Wuda Haidu gave the order to his troops to resist and wait for reinforcements, he evacuated several kilometers back under the escort of his personal guards.
Well, he didn't say it was in the name of evacuation, he just moved the command tent to a place only three kilometers away from Xingshan...
As the Dongji people chose to retreat to Xingshan, there was no suspense about the upcoming war.
By the afternoon, as the main force of the Eastern captives gradually retreated to the Xingshan City area, more than 3,000 Eastern captives who were left seven or eight kilometers away from Xingshan City were surrounded and annihilated by the overwhelmingly superior Chu army.
They also tried to break out of the encirclement at one time, but by that time it was too late. The Chu army with several times the strength surrounded them and they could not escape at all.
After more than 3,000 Dong captives were annihilated by the Chu army, the Chu army's frontal troops also took advantage of the situation and rushed outside Xingshan City.
However, it was already approaching evening, so it was naturally impossible for the Chu army to directly attack the city under the cover of night, not to mention that a large number of Chu army's heavy artillery had not yet arrived.
On this afternoon, a division of the Ninth Army of the Chu Army had also bypassed Xingshan and fought directly to a place about three kilometers southeast of Xingshan. At the same time, the First Cavalry Army had also bypassed and fought to the northeast of Xingshan. Four kilometers away in the direction.
In other words, the Chu Army's Third Army had completed the strategic siege of Xingshan City in one day, surrounding more than 25,000 Dongji people in the city.
However, the Dongjiu people did not panic, but began to actively strengthen various fortifications, conceal their few artillery, and prepare to fight against the defensive mountain city.
According to the Dongji people's own predictions, relying on these city defenses, they should be able to render most of Chu Manzi's artillery useless. When Chu Manzi sent heavy armored infantry to attack the city, they could use their own heavy armored infantry to resist. Then they killed and wounded the Chu army in large numbers.
They believed that fighting a defensive battle was more advantageous than fighting a large battle in the wilderness.
And this is also in line with military thinking in the traditional sense.
After all, it is more difficult to attack a city.
The Dongji people made their own choice, while the Chu army continued to implement the frontal attack plan in accordance with Zuo Yingzhe's strategic deployment.
The First Cavalry Corps and the Guards Cavalry Detachment continued to advance, and the two divisions of the Ninth Corps detoured respectively, facing the Songshan and Jinzhou lines.
On the other side, the Guards, about 20,000 people, also received orders. Under the leadership of Guards Lieutenant General Qian Tai, they quickly advanced eastward. They would capture Daxing Fort and then continue eastward, and finally attack Jinzhou. .
As for the Eighth Army further north, it continues along the northern Great Wall direction of the Liaoxi Corridor, responsible for guarding and guarding the foreign troops such as the Duoyan Guards.
All the forces of the Third Army in the direction of the Western Liaoning Corridor were already on the move, and they were moving extremely quickly, not leaving much time for the Dongji people to react.
On June 3, the seventh year of Chengshun, the Chu army completely completed the strategic siege of Xingshan City, and after the arrival of the heavy artillery troops, they quickly launched a storming operation against Xingshan City.
At this time, it basically means that the more than 20,000 Dongji people in Xingshan City have been surrounded.
There was also a debate in Jinzhou City about whether to rescue them.
Dorgon and Hauge discovered that the situation had changed dramatically in just a few days.
As soon as they gave up on Tashan, the Dongjiu people were chased and killed, and they fully demonstrated the Chu barbarian's rapid maneuvering ability. Even though they were mainly infantry, they also carried a large number of artillery, but their maneuvering speed was also very fast. of fast.
In just a few days, they maneuvered dozens of kilometers, so that they quickly completed the strategic siege of Xingshan City, and between Jinzhou and Xingshan, there were still 20,000 Chu barbarian cavalry standing in the middle.
At the same time, they also discovered that more than 20,000 Chu barbarian troops were coming along Jinzhou.
And the distance is only more than twenty kilometers.
According to the marching speed of this Chu barbarian group, it is estimated that they will be able to reach Jinzhou City by tomorrow evening.
"Now that we send troops to rescue Xingshan, Jinzhou will be in danger. Our total strength in Jinzhou is only more than 50,000. If we want to rescue Xingshan, we must first kill Chu Manzi's 20,000 cavalry. Chu Manzi's 20,000 cavalry It’s not easy to fight. The previous cavalry battle in the northern suburbs of Nakazensuo was defeated. We must remember this lesson!”
When Dorgon said this, he glanced at Hauge again, which made Hauge very unhappy.
Damn it, isn’t it just a defeat? As for saying it every day?
Dorgon continued: "And Xingshan City has gone through a series of city defense reinforcements. It has a complete city defense system and many anti-artillery fortifications. There are more than 20,000 troops in the city. I dare not say for a long time, but it can block the Chu barbarians. A month shouldn’t be a problem!”
"So, our top priority now is not to rescue Xingshan, but to continue to gather more troops, especially the Mengba Banner's cavalry, while Xingshan is holding back the main force of Chu Manzi!"
"I have sent envoys to the various Mongolian tribes in Monan. The closest Duoyan Guards will soon be able to send at least ten thousand fine cavalry south to join the battle!"
"The Liaodong Peninsula has also dispatched five thousand cavalry for emergency reinforcements!"
"Now we have 30,000 cavalry in Jinzhou and 5,000 in Songshan. The more than 5,000 cavalry in Xingshan and Tashan have also successfully withdrawn to Songshan."
"Then we will be able to gather 40,000 cavalry in Jinzhou and 10,000 cavalry in Songshan. We will have an absolute advantage in cavalry!"
"After all, Chu Manzi only has 20,000 cavalry that he can use!"
"As long as we can gain a greater advantage over the cavalry, we will have the final say in the subsequent field battles. Whether it is attacking the enemy's flanks or cutting off their food routes, we will have great potential!"
"It's still unclear who will win this battle!"
After hearing this, Hauge wanted to refute something, especially if he wanted to refute that even if his side had a total of 50,000 cavalry, it might not be able to kill Chu Barbarian's 20,000 fine cavalry.
But he knew very well that as long as he refuted it, Dorgon would blame the failure of the cavalry battle in the northern suburbs of Zhongqiansuo!
He has already lost a lot of prestige because of this matter. If Dorgon continues to talk about this matter again and again, his prestige will be hit even harder. I'm afraid no one will pay attention to him by then.
So he simply shut his mouth!
However, he was still worried inside.
He had fought against the Chu Manzi cavalry. The other Chu Manzi cavalry were nothing. If they were beaten to death, they were just enhanced Ming army cavalry.
But one of the Chu barbarians' guards cavalry was not simple.
In the past, Hauge actually didn't know much about the composition of Chu Manzi's army, and he didn't even know much about many superficial or public things.
After all, the Great Chu Empire rose too quickly, and the internal organization and composition of the military also changed frequently, and it was very different from the traditional army. In addition, after the Great Chu Empire controlled the Hebei region, it became the same as Ji Liao, Xuanda and other border towns were planned as military restricted areas, prohibiting ordinary people from entering, and completely cutting off trade with Mongolians and Eastern captives.
Finally, the intelligence departments in the Da Chu Empire are not just ordinary... There are four intelligence departments alone, and it is actually quite difficult for the Dongjiu people's spies to enter and collect intelligence.
Especially after the Patrol Department of the Dachu Empire began to implement a household registration system and required people to present identification when going out and entering the city and registering for accommodation, the management of mobile people was extremely strict.
Not to mention spies, even the large number of refugees, beggars, and heroes who existed in the past were thrown into the mines to mine because they were wandering around and lacked identification documents...
Under such circumstances, it would be difficult for Dongjiuren's spies to even penetrate into Hebei, let alone collect all kinds of intelligence.
Even if the information is collected, it is not that easy to send it back smoothly.
If you want to cross the Chu army's military restricted area, which is heavily garrisoned, you need strength and luck, both of which are indispensable.
The rise of the Great Chu Empire was short-lived, and the internal air defense was extremely tight. In addition, various reasons for the complete blockade of border towns also resulted in the Donglu people's current understanding of the Great Chu Empire dynasty being only half-understood.
For example, the Guards... The Dongji people had actually heard of the saying that there were Guards among the Chu barbarians, and at first they thought it was something like the Emperor's personal army, the Imperial Guard.
But unexpectedly, after carefully collecting intelligence, I found that the guards of Chu Manzi were in a different system from their army... but they often fought together.
The spies who kidnapped people from the East were often confused.
As for the cavalry of the Guards, the Dongjiu people didn't pay much attention at first, thinking that they were just the ordinary divisional cavalry regiments among the Dongjiu people.
The Chu army's cavalry has two major components. One is the cavalry unit that fights independently, such as the First Cavalry Army and the Second Cavalry Army. Most of these independent cavalry units were also formed based on the surrender of cavalry troops from the Ming Army's border troops. It is a traditional mounted archer cavalry.
There is also a divisional cavalry regiment under the jurisdiction of each infantry division, and the divisional cavalry battalion of the second-class division. These divisional cavalry are mainly dragoons.
The Dongji people also know something about these.
At first, they thought that these Guards cavalry were just divisional cavalry in the Guards. After all, they were not large in size, with hundreds of people, which was what Chu Manzi called the cavalry regiment.
But after the actual fight, I discovered that these Guards cavalry were different from the divisional cavalry regiments in Chu Manzi, and they were also different from the independent cavalry.
There are huge differences in terms of equipment and tactics.
And the combat effectiveness, especially the ability to charge and fight in formation, is particularly strong.
In the cavalry battle in the northern suburbs of Nakazensuo, Hauge's cavalry troops suffered a major defeat because the left wing collapsed first, and the reason why the left wing collapsed was because the left wing cavalry suffered heavy losses from the Guards cavalry.
If this Guards cavalry hadn't suddenly appeared, given the situation of the Eastern Cavalry at that time, there was a high probability that they would have won the cavalry battle.
After all, on the right wing at that time, the Dongjie cavalry had already defeated the Chu army's cavalry, which greatly restrained the Chu army's central cavalry. As long as they worked harder, they would most likely be able to completely defeat the Chu army's first cavalry army.
However, the Guards cavalry took the lead and killed the Dongjiu people's left wing, completing a great reversal on the battlefield.
As Hauge who personally commanded this battle, it can be said that he has fully experienced the combat effectiveness of the Chu Barbarians' cavalry. He did not believe that even with twice the cavalry advantage, his side would be able to take full strategic initiative.
Of course, he partially agreed with Dorgon's statement.
After all, it is 50,000 cavalry. As long as it is used well, even if it cannot take an overall advantage, it can still gain a local advantage and turn the tide of the battle.
——
