I want to be emperor

Chapter 167 The Ming Army Goes South
Luo Zhixue considered that the Fourth Mixed Brigade had a tough fight, and even had the possibility of losing.

Luo Zhixue thought for a while and said: "Order the [-]st Battalion of the Sixth Mixed Brigade to rush to Xinye City to prepare for the defense, and order Li Qingdian's [-]nd Supplies Battalion to enter Nanyang City."

No matter whether it is the [-]st Battalion of the Sixth Mixed Brigade or the [-]nd Supply Battalion, they actually have no combat effectiveness. They are stationed in Xinye City and Nanyang City just to free up the combat forces that were originally stationed here.

"Order the [-]th Infantry Battalion stationed in Xinye City and the [-]th Infantry Battalion in Nanyang City to merge with the [-]rd Artillery Post and the [-]rd Cavalry Post to form the [-]rd Mixed Brigade to immediately reinforce Yuzhou."

There is no strict boundary between the infantry brigade and the mixed brigade in the Rural Protection Army. According to the current situation, except for the temporary deployment of artillery and cavalry, it can be called a mixed brigade. If it is only pure infantry, then It's called an infantry brigade.

Therefore, it is very normal for the third infantry brigade to become the third mixed brigade in minutes.

"The staff department and the logistics department must promptly replenish recruits, ammunition, grain, grass, ordnance, etc. to the front line in Yuzhou."

"No matter what, we must take Yuzhou to this general, and then block the ancient road of Fangcheng!"

With the two battalions of the 500rd Infantry Brigade, plus artillery and cavalry units, it is estimated that the reinforcements this time will be around [-] troops.

Moreover, these 500 people are not traditional old-style troops, but purely new-style troops. Although the two main infantry battalions have just received muskets, armor and other equipment not long ago, they have already passed intensive training before, and they will not have the initial combat effectiveness. what's the problem.

In addition, there is a third artillery post to assist in the battle.

Many actual battles between the Baoxiang Army and the Ming Army have proved that the light long-barreled field artillery in the Baoxiang Army, which can be used for quick maneuvers in field battles, has a very large actual effect, which is far from the traditional old short-barreled artillery. on a par.

With so many new main forces, if Yuzhou cannot be taken, then there is only one possibility, and that is that the Ming army has arrived in Yuzhou with a large number of reinforcements.

Under such circumstances, Luo Zhixue had to take the first infantry brigade and other core main forces northward.

It's just that that will seriously affect the follow-up southward strategy of the rural protection army, and it may be that Xiangyang will face huge danger.

After all, the Huguang Ming army is gathering towards the Xiangyang area on a large scale, especially the Huguang Ming army in the Yicheng area has assembled at least [-], and there are more and more, and there is a great tendency to counterattack Xiangyang.

Although the city of Xiangyang was strong, the combat strength of the Fifth Mixed Brigade was just that, and it was still a group of soldiers who had not been reorganized for a long time. Luo Zhixue was still not at ease with them.

More importantly, Luo Zhixue also planned to react to the news that the Ming Dynasty lost Nanyang Basin and Lu Xiangsheng died in battle, especially before the Ming army from Huguang, Nanzhili and other places gathered in the cities of Jianghan Plain.

Lead the main force first and quickly go south to defeat the Huguang Ming army one by one, seize the Jianghan Plain, and control the entire northern Chu.

Jianghan Plain has such a big piece of fat, but he has never given up!

----

On May 25, Luo Zhixue led his army to temporarily rest in Xinye City, and ordered the [-]rd Mixed Brigade (owed to the [-]th Infantry Battalion) to reinforce Yuzhou.

However, on the second day, Luo Zhixue received good news from the direction of Yuzhou.

An Yong, the commander of the 22th Mixed Brigade on the Yuzhou front, sent back good news, and the unit launched a general attack on Yuzhou on May [-].

After a day of hard work, Yuzhou was successfully captured the next day, the morning of May 23.

Although in order to win Yuzhou, the Fourth Mixed Brigade also paid a big price. At least [-] people were killed or injured in this battle, and most of them were the main fighters.

But all of this is worth it. After taking Yuzhou City, the rural protection army will be able to use Yuzhou City as a strategic support point to block the ancient roads of Fangcheng. If Wuyang and Ye County can be taken in the future, then It can also strengthen part of the defense force of the area.

However, Luo Zhixue's good mood didn't last long. When Luo Zhixue was considering whether to cancel the reinforcement of Yuzhou by the [-]rd Infantry Brigade, Luo Zhixue got the battle report from the front line of Yuzhou in just half a day.

This time it's not a good news, but a call for help from Ernst Young!

Ernst and Young reported that after his Fourth Mixed Brigade took Yuzhou City, it was only a few hours after he finished writing the victory report and sent it back, that is, in the afternoon of May 23, it was about [-] miles west of Yuzhou. A large number of Ming troops were found here.

The Ming army killed this time is not a few thousand people, but more than 3 people. Even though some of them must be civilians who transport luggage, the real strength will not be less than 5000 people. .

According to the reconnaissance report, the Ming army has the banner of Zuo Liangyu, the commander-in-chief of the Ming Dynasty, and the banner of He Renlong, the deputy general.

And this Ming army is also the main force of the Ming army going south that was discovered in Lushan County by the rural protection army.

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Seeing this urgent battle report, Luo Zhixue knew after a little thought that this Ming army should have quickly moved to the Yuzhou area after Luyang Pass was seized by the rural protection army, and wanted to enter the Nanyang Basin through Yuzhou City .

Faced with 3 people, at least half of whom are officers and soldiers, the Fourth Mixed Brigade that just took hundreds of casualties and captured Yuzhou has only less than 2000 combatable soldiers left.

Moreover, the Fourth Mixed Brigade is not the main force of the Rural Protectorate Army, but a surrendered force. Its personnel, equipment and tactics are still the same as those of the Ming Army, and its combat effectiveness is far inferior to the core of the First Infantry Brigade and Second Infantry Brigade. force.

It’s just that compared with the Ming army, the traditional troops of the Baoxiang Army selected the elite soldiers from the surrendered troops, so the proportion of soldiers was larger. At the same time, the Baoxiang Army is not short of food or money. Therefore, the food and other treatment are also better, and the physical fitness and daily training are also more. Because there are a large number of captured and self-made cold weapons, cold weapons, especially armor, are also better.

Based on the above, the morale is also higher, and the combat effectiveness is higher.

But, it’s okay, it’s limited, after all, it’s still the Ming army’s set of things.

Such a fourth mixed brigade faces 5000 officers and soldiers, even if there are many civilians among them, the number of officers and soldiers will not be less than [-].

If you want to rely on this, you have been fighting hard for many days, and the fourth mixed brigade of 2000 people, which consumes a lot, will defend Yuzhou City
difficult!
It is even impossible for An Yongduo to temporarily withdraw from Yuzhou City and flee westward, because there is a fine cavalry of at least [-] cavalry in the Ming army.

The fine cavalry, that is, the cavalry under Zuo Liangyu's hands, this Jingqi Township Army has fought against each other before, and they are real professional cavalry. Although their elite level is not as good as that of the frontier army's fine cavalry, they are not far behind. go.

It is definitely not comparable to those half-baked mounted infantry.

At that time, Zuo Liangyu's cavalry was chasing Li Tonglin and other hundred multilateral troops all the way. Although most of the reason was due to the large difference in the number of cavalry between the two sides, it also proved that this cavalry was not ordinary. cavalry.

At this time, if An Yongduo leads the army to retreat, they will not be able to escape without the cover of cavalry, and it will not be long before they will be caught up by the enemy cavalry and restrained from going.

The overall situation is actually similar to the situation when Lu Xiangsheng met the Township Protection Army in Sanyuanzhuang. Lu Xiangsheng's troops lacked elite cavalry and could not retreat safely under the pursuit of Wang Xiazi's elite cavalry.

And once the retreat speed is slightly slowed down, the main infantry and artillery of the Rural Protection Army will be able to catch up.

This is also the reason why Lu Xiangsheng chose to fight on the spot at Sanyuan Village instead of retreating directly to Dengzhou.

Because there is no going back!

The same is true of An Yongduo now. Although his [-]th Mixed Brigade also has cavalry with dozens of men larger, they are all half-baked cavalry.

Ernst and Young never expected them to fight each other...

Once such a fourth mixed brigade leaves Yuzhou City, its end is predictable, and there will be no second result other than the annihilation of the entire army.

Even if Ernst and Young God of War are reborn, it is absolutely impossible to reverse such a large gap in strength.

As soon as An Yongduo learned about these situations, he wrote a letter asking for help without stopping, asking the messengers to immediately send them back to Nanyang City, and even to Xinye City or Xiangyang City, in short, they should be sent to Luo Zhixue.

He was so anxious to send people out of the city for help because he was afraid that the enemy cavalry would block Yuzhou's external passages soon after they arrived.

In fact, it was true. Within half a day after An Yongduo's request letter was sent out, the five hundred fine cavalry strikers under Zuo Liangyu's command had already reached the city of Yuzhou.

They were cavalry, so naturally they would not attack the city stupidly, but directly blocked the passages around Yuzhou. It didn't take long for Zuo Liangyu's infantry army to arrive, and He Renlong's troops also arrived in Yuzhou.

The current Luo Zhixue is still not there, and the day after Ernst and Young sent out the letter for help, the Fourth Mixed Brigade was completely besieged in Yuzhou!

Of course, it can also be said that the Fourth Mixed Brigade relied on Yuzhou City, blocked the ancient road of Fangcheng, and blocked more than 5000 people from the combined forces of Zuo Liangyu and He Renlong to attack more than 1 people and more than [-] civilians. Outside the Nanyang Basin.

And this is the strategic role of Yuzhou City.

The location of Yuzhou City is disgusting. It is halfway along the official road of Fangcheng Ancient Road, and the flat terrain on both sides of the official road is about ten kilometers long.

And on both sides of the ten kilometers, there are mountains!

Yuzhou City is a card in the middle, not only the card masters the official road itself, but also the card masters the entire flat area of ​​the passage.

If the defenders have artillery with a range of several kilometers, the artillery alone can completely block the flat terrain around the entire ancient road.

This makes it very uncomfortable for the offensive side to move on without taking Yuzhou!
If you leave a certain force to guard the defenders of Yuzhou City, it is definitely possible for the main force to forcibly go around, but you have to be on guard against the defenders in the city to come out at any time, intercept your food roads, and cut off your retreat.

Even cooperate with the front and rear attack of the rural protection army from the west, and give you annihilation of the whole army!
(End of this chapter)