It is difficult for people who have not experienced war to accurately judge the battlefield situation! For example, Zhu Youjian, who stayed in the capital, misjudged the status of the Qing army. The scene in his mind of the new army going into battle was based on the situation of the Qing army scattered everywhere.
The various departments of the Qing army were divided and annihilated. As a result, there was no such opportunity on the real battlefield. The various departments of the Qing army were very close to the camp. They were not scattered as imagined. They did not have this opportunity to fight guerrilla warfare.
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Those who set off early and arrive late are talking about the Ming army at this time. The army has been marching south for five or six days, but it is still in Hejian Prefecture! It has only now reached Wuqiao County, Jingzhou, Hejian Prefecture.
Wuqiao County is the junction between Beizhili and Dezhou, Shandong. The army entered Shandong only after passing here. This place was quite famous in the late Ming Dynasty. Kong Youde's Shandong Revolution was initiated here.
The famous Wuqiao Mutiny was caused by a chicken. Because Kong Youde's troops ate a chicken from a nearby squire, the whole Shandong Province was in ruins, which is also a strange thing through the ages. This is also the case in the early days of Chongzhen, when the military commanders did not have enough power. If we look at it now
, no country squire would have such courage and hold a large army of soldiers at his head.
The Wuqiao Mutiny was a landmark event. Since then, the civil and military power of the Ming Dynasty has been reversed. As long as there are soldiers in hand, the soldiers will not piss off the civilian officials at all! The imperial court's control over the soldiers and generals has become weaker and weaker, so that
Up to now, the imperial court has been unable to complete any effective military deployment.
"General, when can we reach Yanzhou with our marching speed? By the time we get there, the Qing army will not even know where they have fled!" Cao Ruohai saw that the army was moving slowly and had not yet left the territory of Hejian Prefecture.
He couldn't help but become anxious and ran to Liu Yuanbin to complain.
"We are marching according to the order of the military governor. What else can we do? Now is not the time to rush for a battle. We and the rear army cannot be too far apart, otherwise we will be in danger of trapping the enemy." Liu Yuanbin was hanging around in the old army.
It's been a long time, so I'm not surprised by this kind of marching speed of thirty to fifty miles a day.
Although he has various opinions in his heart, he knows that this status quo cannot be changed. At this time, everyone is a grasshopper on a rope and must keep their actions consistent. After the Battle of Hejian, the New Army should become the Qing Army's
A thorn in the side and a thorn in the flesh, if the space with the large army is too large, it will be easily surrounded and annihilated by the Qing army.
"It looks like we have to camp in Wuqiao tonight! It takes two days to cross the border in a small county, which is enough." Cao Ruohai also knew that he and Liu Yuanbin had no say in the movement of the army, so they could only complain and complain.
Return to the brigade headquarters and discuss the matter of setting up camp.
Although the march was slow, nothing about setting up camps could be spared. Most of the new army generals felt that all the time the army went south this time was spent setting up and dismantling camps.
After setting up the camp and preparing dinner, the whole day passed. Early the next morning, when Cao Ruohai was preparing to arrange for the army to start camp, Mayou Liang, who was in charge of guarding outside, hurried to the camp on horseback.
"Brigadier, we found a reconnaissance cavalry of the Japanese army twenty miles ahead. It seems that a large group of Japanese soldiers are coming towards our army!" As soon as Ma Youliang saw Cao Ruohai, he reported all the situation of the reconnaissance to his brigade commander.
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"A large army of prisoners? How many troops are there?"
"The number of people cannot be determined yet, but judging from the formation, there should be quite a few, at least several thousand cavalry."
"You take people to continue to investigate the situation, and I will quickly send people to notify the commander-in-chief and the governor."
After arranging for Ma Youliang to continue to investigate the enemy's situation in depth, and then sending guards to notify Liu Yuanbin and Chen Xinjia, Cao Ruohai quickly gathered his troops and prepared for battle.
The camp was a temporary station for one night, and no fortifications were built! Suddenly there was news about the Qing army, and Cao Ruohai did not dare to neglect, and quickly arranged for people to build forts, and built some trenches in front of the camp just in case.
Liu Yuanbin's camp was only two miles away from Cao Ruohai's camp. The reason why the two brigades did not camp together was mainly because the emperor had ordered that the two brigades must camp separately. This would facilitate management and support each other! Camp together.
It is easy for a brigade to be in chaos and the whole army to be in chaos. After receiving the military information from Cao Ruo's poster, Liu Yuanbin was not idle and quickly sent Ren Shuangyou and the cavalry company to the front line to help Mayu Liang detect the enemy's situation.
Like Cao Ruohai, he quickly arranged for manpower to secure the camp.
After about an hour, the military situation was basically confirmed! Nearly 10,000 soldiers and horses of the captive army arrived at the new army station. At this time, the distance between the main forces of the two armies was less than ten miles. Standing in their own camp, they could vaguely see the troops of the other side.
appearance.
It was the Qing army's vanguard Mandahai who came. Unlike the Ming army, which was grinding and grinding, the Qing army moved very quickly. They also walked along the canal, and the distance they could travel was much longer than that of the Ming army.
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During the confrontation between the two sides, Mandahai already knew that the Ming army blocking his front was the Yongwei camp. According to the prior plan, he asked the army to move forward, and on the other hand, he quickly sent someone to notify the main force behind him.
Troops. Let Abatai make strategic decisions quickly to see how to defeat this Ming army.
After receiving the military information, Abate quickly organized a meeting of generals to discuss military strategies.
"Blocking the main entrance of Wuqiao are the men and horses of the Yongwei Camp of the Ming Emperor's personal army. They are more than thirty miles away from the rear army camp. So the distance between the two armies is quite close! If we attack the Yongwei Camp,
It is easy for the Ming army's rear troops to come over and join forces, so this battle will be difficult to fight." A Qing army general who led the troops expressed his opinion.
"Can we let the two Ming armies join the camp before we fight again? This way we can fight as a whole, and we are not afraid of Ming armies suddenly coming to the battlefield." Subban, the commander of the Mongolian Dorote tribe who accompanied Abatai to the battle.
Dai expressed his thoughts.
"No, the combat power of the Yongwei Battalion of the Ming Army cannot be underestimated. If they are combined with the main camp and have this unit as the base of the army, we will not be able to capture the Ming Army's main camp in a short time." The Qing army general said.
Ta expressed his opinion. He had met the new army of the Yongwei camp and knew that it was a capable army.
"How about we bypass the enemy and look for fighter opportunities elsewhere?" Liang Huacheng, the commander of the Han Army Flag, also expressed his opinion!
"No, the Ming army is blocking the right entrance of the canal. The materials we robbed from the south have to be transported north through this road. If the canal is abandoned, transportation will be more troublesome."
Abatai sat in the chief general's seat, listening to the mixed opinions of his generals and lost in thought! He wanted to have a good fight with the Ming army and let out a bad breath about the fall of Hejian. But he also didn't want to let out a bad breath and let the army down.
The Ming army was blocked at Wu Bridge, which happened to be an uncomfortable pain point. The battle was likely to be a bitter battle, and giving up would make the army more passive. This decision was not easy to make!
After pondering for a long time, Abatai stood up! Seeing this, the other generals of the Qing army hurriedly became quiet. They knew that their general had already made an idea.