? But on October 16, Vardak received the urgent report sent to him by Tan Tai. Only then did he know that the East Route Army was defeated by the Chinese army and suffered heavy casualties. Now it has retreated to Qiu County, the place it captured earlier.
They were all recaptured by the Chinese army.
Vardak couldn't help but be surprised. Didn't the battle on the Eastern Front go smoothly? Why was it suddenly defeated and defeated so miserably? The day before yesterday, he had communicated with Luck Dehun who attacked Neihuang County from behind.
, told him that Tan Tai was about to reach Damingfu along the way, and asked Luck Dehun to try his best to attack from the back of Damingfu, so as to attack from the front and back, and capture Damingfu in one fell swoop. But now the East Route Army was defeated and returned.
How about this.
What's more serious is that with the defeat of the East Route Army, the plan to capture Damingfu this time and open a northward retreat channel for the Qing army in the Central Plains has basically failed. There are hundreds of thousands of Qing troops in the Central Plains, and there are still several
I am afraid that all the important officials of the Qing court
It is difficult to save, and the national destiny of the Qing Dynasty may be in danger. Vardak is the son of Daishan and the direct grandson of Nurhaci. Of course, he cannot care about the fate of the Qing Dynasty, so he is confused and confused for a while.
What to do.
At this time, another person came to report to Vardak that the Chinese army launched an attack from Xinzhuang Camp Township and launched an attack on the Qing army's camp.
After listening to this, Vardak realized that after the army on the eastern front was defeated by the Chinese army, he would become the next target of the Chinese army. Now the Chinese army had already attacked him. Thinking of this, Vardak also
I couldn't help but break out in a cold sweat, and quickly ordered the entire army to prepare for the Chinese army's attack.
It turned out that Zhou Shaohuan and Tong Dayong had led their troops to the Chinese Army's position in Xinzhuang Yingxiang last night. After resting for a night, they took the initiative to attack the Qing Army today.
At this time, the Qing coalition forces had not fought again for four or five days, because the Chinese army guarding the Xinzhuang Yingxiang position had never launched an attack on the Qing coalition forces, and the Qing coalition forces also knew that the Qing-Japanese coalition forces on the east road were making good progress.
Estimated
The Chinese army would not launch an attack on the western front, so in the past few days, the Qing Dynasty coalition forces did not strengthen the fortifications of the camp. Now that they were suddenly attacked by the Chinese army, the soldiers of the Qing Dynasty were mentally unprepared.
.
However, after Vardak gave the order, the soldiers of the coalition forces also prepared to fight. However, the Chinese army's offensive method was completely different from that of the coalition forces. The position of the Qing coalition forces was first hit by a burst of fierce artillery fire, and almost the entire position was covered by explosions.
The simple stronghold where the building was built was also blown down in many places, and the first batch of coalition soldiers who were preparing to face the Chinese army were also blown away. They suffered numerous casualties and had no choice but to retreat one after another.
After nearly 20 minutes of artillery bombardment, the Chinese army began to launch a ground attack on the positions of the Qing and Japanese coalition forces. Because the defense lines of the coalition positions were basically destroyed, the Chinese army entered the positions of the Qing and Japanese coalition forces without any effort.
.The two sides immediately started a melee.
After a hand-to-hand battle, the Qing army was able to resist for a while, but the Korean soldiers were no match for the Chinese army. They were killed and retreated, leaving many casualties. As a result, not long after the two sides engaged in battle, some Korean soldiers began to escape.
.In this regard, Bangzi also showed a high degree of team spirit, which quickly led to a complete defeat of the entire army.
The defeat of the Korean army also affected the mood of many Qing soldiers, and they began to retreat. Even Vardak could not stop it. As a result, in less than an hour, the Qing allied forces were defeated and abandoned their positions. At this time, the Chinese army again
The cavalry division was dispatched to pursue them, and the battle was almost the same as the last time they retreated. The Qing coalition forces were also killed and completely defeated.
However, the allied forces of the Qing Dynasty were always blocked in Xinzhuang Yingxiang and did not attack too far, so they quickly retreated to Handan City. But despite this, more than 10,000 people were annihilated by the Chinese army.
In addition, more than 6,000 people were captured. Including the losses in previous battles, the losses of the West Route Army reached more than 27,000 people, nearly half of them.
After Zhou Shaohuan and Tong Dayong defeated the Qing coalition forces on the west route, they immediately joined a new division stationed in Zhangde Mansion, assembled more than 50,000 troops, and launched an attack on Handan. This also represented the Chinese on the battlefield in northern Henan.
After nearly half a month of defense, the army also began to take the initiative to attack the Qing court.
Handan belongs to Guangping Prefecture in Hebei Province and is the gateway city in southern Hebei Province. There are two land roads that cross in Handan, which can run directly to Beijing vertically and connect Shandong and Shanxi horizontally. The waterways include Zhang River, Fuyang River, and Ming River.
River and other rivers are Henan
, the hub area of water and land transportation in Hebei, Shandong, and Shanxi. Therefore, by capturing Handan, the Chinese army can not only expand its power to the scope of Hebei Province, but also look north to the capital and west to Shanxi, so as to march directly to the capital and lay a solid foundation for the future.
A foundation.
Of course, Vardak knew the importance of Handan, so he also strengthened the defense in the city. However, the Hebei area has never been the main battlefield between the north and the south, so Handan's city defense has not been strengthened. Now it is too late to strengthen the city defense.
Although the Qing coalition forces in Handan are still
There are more than 33,000 people, but Vardak knows that the North Korean army is simply unable to fight. The only way to resist the Chinese army's attack is with the more than 15,000 Qing troops under his command. With such a force, it is impossible to think of holding the
Handan and Vardak also lacked confidence, so they had to send people to Tan Tai of Qiu County for help.
By this time, the Qing and Japanese three-nation coalition's two-pronged attack on the Daming-Changtoku line had completely failed. The coalition's troop losses had reached about 70,000, and the number of prisoners captured by the Chinese army alone was close to 20,000. Now the Qing Dynasty
The situation facing Japan and North Korea has already been
It is not about opening up the road to the Central Plains and rescuing the hundreds of thousands of Qing troops who were cut off on the battlefield in the Central Plains, but to guard the gateway to Hebei with all their strength and save the capital. In the third battlefield of the Central Plains War, the balance of the Northern Henan battlefield has also clearly tilted in favor.
While the fierce battle between the north and the south in the Northern Henan Campaign was in full swing, on October 10th, the Chinese army's eight armies from the Huainan, Huguang, and Nanjing military districts also completed their respective rest and reorganization, and successively advanced towards Kaifeng Prefecture, and the Central Plains
The fourth battle of the war, the Battle of Kaifeng, also began almost at the same time.
After more than ten days of rest and reorganization, each army selected personnel from the surrendered Qing soldiers, and the troops lost in the battle of southern Henan have basically been replenished. Therefore, at this time, the structures of each army are guaranteed to be complete.
, and the total number of troops attacking Kaifeng Mansion reached about 220,000.
At this time, the general headquarters of the Kaifeng Campaign had been formally established. After discussions between Cheng Jin, Li Dingguo, Zhao Yingjie, You Hongliang, Yang Wucheng and other members of the headquarters, it was finally decided that the Chinese army's attack on Kaifeng Prefecture would be divided into three parts: east, middle and west. The army marched along the road, and the goal was not only to capture Kaifeng Prefecture, but to fully occupy the entire province of Henan.
The distribution of the army is: Zhao Yingjie, deputy commander of the East Route Army and the Huainan Military Region, is under the command, composed of the First Army of the Huainan Military Region and the 17th Army of the Nanjing Military Region. Chenzhou sends troops to attack Kaifeng via Taikang and Qixian; Under the command of You Hongliang, Chief of Staff of the Huainan Military Region, it was composed of the 11th and 18th armies of the Huainan Military Region and the 20th Army of the Nanjing Military Region. Troops were sent from Xiangcheng and Linying to attack Kaifeng via Xuzhou and Xinzheng.
In fact, these two armies, one on the left and one on the right, formed a clampdown on Kaifeng. The commander-in-chief of the Kaifeng campaign, Cheng Jin and Li Dingguo, led the 15th Army of the Huainan Military Region to support these two armies.
Among the three armies, only the West Route Army did not directly target Kaifeng. The West Route Army was commanded by Deputy Commander Yang Wucheng and consisted of the Sixth and Thirteenth Armies of the Huguang Military Region. Nanyang sent troops to capture Ruzhou and Luoyang.
But now the Qing army can no longer take care of other places, and can only concentrate its forces to defend the surrounding areas of Kaifeng City with all its strength, while abandoning all areas fifty miles away from Kaifeng City. Han Dai is stationed at Chenliu, and Nikan is stationed at Zhuxian. Town. Therefore, the three-way march of the Chinese Army went very smoothly. On October 13th, the East Road Army first arrived in front of Chenliu County; and on October 14th, the Middle Road Army also advanced to Zhuxian Town. On the same day At that time, the West Route Army also occupied Ruzhou and was preparing to march to Luoyang.
But by this time, the Chinese army finally encountered stubborn resistance from the Qing army.
Chenliu County and Zhuxian Town are the southeast and southwest gateways of Kaifeng respectively. These two places and Kaifeng form an equilateral triangle. If either of these two places is lost, Kaifeng will directly face the enemy. In the tenth year of Shaoxing (1140), when Yue Fei attacked Zhuxian Town, Wanyan Zongbi, the chief general of the Jin Army at that time, wanted to abandon Kaifeng and evacuate.
After Daming Mansion was attacked by the Chinese army, the Qing army began to strengthen defenses in Chenliu County and Zhuxian Town. The preparation time lasted for more than a month. Therefore, the defense fortifications in these two places were very complete. Chenliu County itself was There is a city wall. Although it is impossible to carry out major repairs to the city wall in a short period of time, a lot of reinforcements have been made at the gates, the moat has been widened and deepened, and a large number of sniper points have been built inside the city and also outside the city. In addition to the trench defense line surrounding the city, especially in the southeast of Chenliu County, two trench defense lines were built. And they were all composed of villages and towns in the southeast of Chenliu County.
Although Zhuxian Town does not have a city wall, the other defensive fortifications are almost the same as those in Chenliu County. Moreover, on the edge of the town, a low wall of more than one foot high was built with soil and sandstone. Although it is not as tall as the city wall, it is better than the city wall. The trapezoidal structure is thick and wide at the bottom and narrow at the top. It is difficult to explode with ordinary blasting. And a trench 2 feet wide and 1 foot deep was dug out on the short periphery, which can serve as a defensive position and at the same time. It is used to defend the city. Therefore, the defense is no worse than that of Chenliu County.