Autumn of the 17th year of Chongzhen

Chapter 212 Soldiers Arrive in Jingzhou
The Qing army was in an offensive formation, which was not conducive to defense, and Geng Zhongming had no troops to defend. Once the Eight Banners soldiers were defeated, the green battalion attacking on the other two sides could not support them for a long time, and they immediately fled together.

At this time, the Ming army attacked across the board, especially the [-] cavalry who suddenly charged at him. There were only [-] soldiers around him, and they were already two loose and scattered green battalion defeated soldiers.

Although these soldiers and horses still have seven to eight thousand people, they are not enough to look at in the wilderness, let alone resist the sudden cavalry.

Now that the army was defeated, he was the first to bear the brunt. Geng Zhongming rode away immediately, and a thousand soldiers rushed forward, risking their lives to resist Wang Shixiu's two thousand cavalry.

But they didn't have a strict formation, how could they fight against cavalry, and they were knocked down by most of the cavalry in an instant. Wang Shixiu stood up with his horse and held his spear, and immediately killed the Qing soldiers.

Geng Zhongming ran away from the Central Army of the Qing Army, but the big banner of the Wang Banner was still there. This big banner is the command center of the entire army and the symbol of the commander.On the battlefield, for the army, if the flag is there, it will advance, and if the flag is not there, it means that it has been defeated.

Geng Zhongming was a prince conferred by the Qing court, and the Manchus also imitated the Han system, so his big flag was extraordinarily tall, a level higher than Wang Yan's big flag.

An ordinary person could not hold such a tall flag, so besides two flag bearers, he also had six flag bearers.

They are all strong and strong men, and they must not lose the big banner without orders. They saw Geng Zhongming run away, so they quickly pulled out the flag, but the flagpole was inserted too deep, but it was not easy to pull out.

Wang Shixiu galloped forward on his horse, but he didn't see Geng Zhongming, so he ran towards the big flag naturally. He stabbed one of the flag guards to death with a spear, but the rest of the flag bearers abandoned the big flag and came to him together.

Shixiu was originally a native of Yangzhou, without the strength to restrain a chicken, but he invaded the south by himself and his home was destroyed. He was determined to follow Wang Yan, abandon the crown of Confucianism, and join the army, determined to drive out the Tartars and restore the rivers and mountains.

Over the past year, he has honed his abilities on the battlefield, but after all, time is short. Although he has trained hard, he is still no match for the five elite flag guards.

At this time, he rushed too fast, but distanced himself from the brigade. For a while, he blocked the left and right, and the danger was all around him. , Gongjian is here!"

It was Zhou Zebin, the general banner, who charged up with his horse and gun.

The two joined hands, and with the arrival of the Ming army brigade, they were stabbed to death again in an instant, killing all the Qing soldiers' flag bearers and flag guards, and then Wang Shixiu suddenly pulled out his waist knife and cut off the flagpole.

The collapse of the Dazhu flag had a huge impact on the Qing army. Although Geng Zhongming's army was indeed relatively elite, and the Zhenghuang flag was even more powerful, most of the green battalions could only fight with the wind. Once they were frustrated, their morale immediately fell. .

At this time, the Zhenghuang flag was running back, and the other two Qing troops also ran wildly. The [-] green camp that had surrounded the [-] Ming troops, and the defeated green camp that had retreated earlier immediately retreated. The whole army retreated like a tide, and under the pursuit of the Ming army, the retreat soon turned into a rout. They were chased and killed by the Ming army for more than [-] miles, and dead bodies were everywhere.

Wang Shixiu led the cavalry and chased them directly to Chengxia, Jingzhou. Except for [-] cavalry, Geng Zhongming retreated into Jingzhou City, and all other soldiers and horses were killed by the Ming army.

In this battle, the Ming army lost the largest proportion. Zhang Youde's 800 infantry army killed more than 300 people, almost half of them. This time, more than 200 people died in the Cheying. More than [-] people died.

The Ming army defeated Geng Zhongming's 500 army at a cost of nearly 2000 people. Geng Zhongming's Zhenghuang Banner had only more than [-] people left, while the Green Battalion had only nearly [-] cavalry and fled into Jingzhou City.

The losses of the Qing soldiers can be described as heavy, but the Ming army actually killed only more than 8000 people. Most of the Qing soldiers fled in all directions except for being captured.

For Wang Yan, he could have gained a little more this time, but he had too few cavalry, and when he chased and killed the defeated army, he couldn't deal with the defeated soldiers who were all over the mountain.

After this battle, Wang Yan's biggest gain was that besides completely maiming the Zhenghuang Banner of the Han army and beheading nearly 5000 elite cavalry, the second was harvesting a large number of horses, supplies, and ten Hongbari cannons.

Firearms were originally Ming’s sharp weapon against the Manchus. The enemy chieftain Nurhachi was wounded by the Hongyi cannons. However, it was precisely because the firearms were mainly used against the Manchus that most of the heavy artillery were placed in the north. The south was relatively stable, so there were no How much heavy artillery.

Now that all the northern lands have fallen, these important weapons of the country have also fallen into the hands of the Qing court. Instead, the Ming army in the south has no red cannons.

Wang Yan's battalion didn't have a single one, but now they have ten, whether they are fighting Jingzhou or Changde, they are absolutely sharp weapons.

When the Ming army was clearing up the battlefield and lightening supplies, Geng Zhongming, who was still in shock, fled into Jingzhou. The guard Zheng Siwei was shocked when he saw this.

In the previous battle of Jingzhou, although he defended Jingzhou, he suffered heavy losses. Now he has nothing to replenish, and he will face the attack of the Ming army, and he will still be able to defeat Geng Zhongming's elite Ming army. Suddenly a burst of fear.

Zheng Siwei was originally the defender of Jingzhou in Dashun. After Li Zicheng went east to Wuchang, he sold Jingzhou to the Qing court, so that the Qing army copied the ass of Dashun army, and finally Li Zicheng was also beaten to death.

The rest of the Shun Army hated him for betraying his master and begging for glory, so when the Shun Army besieged the city, even though he was in difficulty, he had no intention of surrendering the city.

Because he knew that if he fell into Shunjun's hands, he would have to kill and pay homage to Li Zicheng, which would be his end.

Now that the Shun Army has surrendered to Daming, he naturally cannot surrender to Daming, so facing Wang Yan's army that is about to kill, Zheng Siwei can only fight to the death again, waiting for the arrival of Qing reinforcements.

At the moment, he and Geng Zhongming discussed together, and quickly wrote a report, galloped to drive away Luck Dehun, and wrote a letter to inform Changde's Qing army guard Shen Zhixiang, Xu Shun Gong, but at this time Wang Yan had sent sentries to block the Yangtze River Along the coast, the letter sent to Changde was robbed by him.

On February [-]th, only one month after the end of the Jingzhou Campaign, Wang Yan's army approached the city again.

At this time, his soldiers and horses were reduced to 5000, which was equivalent to that of the city, so he did not besiege the city.

When Wang Yan arrived in Jingzhou, among the vast mountains in western Hubei, a young general was riding a horse, and beside him was a half-hundred Confucian scholar who was also riding a horse.

"Master Wang, Duke Chu is your brother. Do you know a thing or two about his attitude towards us and the rest of the Shun Army?"

(End of this chapter)