As soon as Han Huamei died, the invading army without its leader became more chaotic and immediately fled completely. Only then did Shang Yi give the order, ordering Yang Wucheng to lead the cavalry to attack to chase down the fleeing invading army and take advantage of the situation to expand the victory.
Under the leadership of Yang Wucheng, the cavalrymen of the cavalry camp chased the rear of the defeated army and caught up. In fact, under the supervision of Yang Wucheng, the cavalrymen of the Merchant Army also underwent very strict training and were very skilled in riding skills. Their capabilities have also been greatly improved. However, the Merchant Army is an army with firearms as its main combat force, and the cavalry can only be ranked second. Therefore, the cavalry in the cavalry camp have also gathered enough strength to prepare for the battle. Let's show off the power of the cavalry in this battle going south.
Now they finally got the chance to fight. Although they were just chasing the enemy, the cavalry still had high morale. Everyone mobilized their horses and pursued them hard. It was not because it was a pursuit, so the cavalry did not use spears, but all sabers. After catching up with the defeated soldiers, catch up with them from the side. Just follow the momentum of the war horse and swing the sword lightly, which is enough to cut down the enemy. If the angle and position of the strike are correct, you can even cut off the head of the enemy with one sword. .
Therefore, as the cavalry pursued them, they only killed the defeated soldiers with their heads rolling, and they fell down one after another dead. At this time, the defeated soldiers had no intention of resisting, and could only run away desperately, hoping to escape the pursuit of the merchant army.
However, Yang Wucheng not only led his troops in pursuit. After chasing for a while, he found that the defeated army had no fighting spirit, so he sent two companies of cavalry to catch up from both sides and insert themselves diagonally into the defeated army from the ribs. , cut the defeated army into two sections, blocked the retreat of the latter section of the defeated army, and surrounded them. Seeing that this part of the defeated army had no way to retreat, they had no determination to die in the first place, so they had no choice but to abandon their weapons and surrender.
At this time, Shang Yi was arranging people to clean the battlefield and deal with the aftermath in the formation. At this time, someone came to the formation on flying horses and reported to Shang Yi that the detachment of the third regiment had successfully captured Guangzhou.
It turned out that after Shang Yi learned that Han Huamei had led his army out of the city to fight against him, he immediately decided to leave only the second regiment of Zhou Shaohuan and Tong Dayong, and Yang Wucheng's cavalry battalion to build a position here to fight the Chu army, and ordered the third regiment to leave only the second regiment. The artillery battalion helped the second regiment to hold the position, and the remaining three battalions, led by brothers Cheng Jin and Cheng Gang, took advantage of the opportunity to capture Guangzhou.
Because almost all the men and horses were brought by Han Huamei to fight against the merchant army, Guangzhou's guards were very empty. Therefore, after Cheng Jin and Cheng Gang reached the gate of Guangzhou City, they took Guangzhou without spending much effort. The two entered the city. While cleaning up the remaining intruder forces, they sent people to deliver a message to Shang Yi, asking him to lead his army into the city.
After receiving the report, Shang Yi was also very happy and immediately ordered that only one battalion of soldiers be left here to clean the battlefield. The rest of the troops, along with all the food, grass and baggage, immediately followed him to Guangzhou. At the same time, he ordered people to urge Xie Ke. He and Peng Rui asked them to rush to Guangzhou as soon as possible. If Yu Qi didn't arrive, they would be dealt with by military law.
After the merchant army entered Guangzhou, Shang Yi ordered people to tally the results of the battle and took over the defense of Guangzhou City. At the same time, he also posted notices to settle the people in the city, telling them that as long as they obeyed the order and obeyed the dispatch, the merchants The army will never harm their lives, safety and property, and requires the people to actively cooperate in investigating the remnants of the intruders hiding in the city. However, anyone who steals or causes trouble will be severely punished.
In the evening, the troops cleaning up the battlefield also entered Gwangju City, and all the gains and losses in this battle were calculated. A total of 3,653 levels were beheaded in this battle. The general of the invading army, the mighty General Han Huamei,
The other eight middle and lower-level generals captured 637 people. They seized more than 3,000 pieces of swords, guns and equipment, more than 1,000 pieces of various armors, 67 war horses, and of course more than 500 dead horses. As for the merchant army,
No one was killed in the battle, and only about thirty soldiers were injured.
Although he knew that the combat effectiveness of the Chuang army was not strong, and he was not facing the elite troops of the Chuang army, Shang Yi still felt very satisfied with the result of zero casualties. He achieved a perfect victory in the first battle south, and
On the battlefield in Huguang, Shang Yi also obtained a stronghold of his own. Then Shang Yi ordered military doctors to treat the wounded soldiers, and skinned and deboned all the dead horses as a reward to the entire army. Because the weather was too hot now, the meat could not be kept for long.
time, it’s better to eat them all as soon as possible.
As for the captured prisoners, Shang Yi ordered them to be imprisoned and kept under good supervision. They were guaranteed to have two meals a day. As a result, swords, guns, equipment and armor were seized. Except for the sixty-seven horses, the rest of Shang Yi simply could not survive.
I don't look down on it, because a small amount of the weapons and armor of the Merchant Army are made by themselves, and most of them are taken from the Qing Army, but they are all well-made, so how can I look down on the inferior goods used by the Chuang Army? Therefore,
Just find a few rooms and ignore them.
Shang Yi then sent a report to Wu Zong in Luzhou, and then strengthened the guard work of Guangzhou City and built fortifications. After all, Li Zicheng would never sit back and watch Guangzhou, so there will be a fierce battle here in the future. At the same time, this is also a matter for the prisoners.
Do it, otherwise Shang Yi wouldn't have the heart to kill them, and would keep them locked up with nothing to do. As time goes by, it would be easy for things to happen.
Three days later, Xie Ke and Peng Rui also led their troops to Guangzhou. Ever since they split their forces with Shang Yi, they simply did not believe that Shang Yi's seven or eight thousand men could capture Guangzhou in one fell swoop. Now the intruders have
No matter how powerful they are, no matter how many officers and soldiers can defeat the intruders, even Sun Chuanting and Zuo Liangyu, the former bandit suppressors, are no match for the intruders. If Shang Yi has any skills, he can defeat the intruders. Therefore, the two of them
On the way, everyone hoped that Shang Yi would lose the battle at Guangzhou City, so they rushed on their way without any hurry.
Nazhi received an order from Shang Yi to send people to urge them to march on the way. Only then did he know that Shang Yi not only captured Guangzhou, but also won a great victory, beheading more than 3,000 people, and also beheaded a mighty general.
, and also captured more than 600 intruders alive. The Ming army had not achieved such a big victory against Li Zicheng for several years. It seemed that Shang Yi really had a trick. And both of them also had some regrets. If they had known it,
That's right, I should have gritted my teeth and sent out troops with Shang Yi's men so that I could get a share of the battle merits, but now I have gained nothing.
And after listening to the messenger's statement, if you fail to arrive in Guangzhou after the deadline, you will be punished by military law. Both of them were also a little scared. After all, Shang Yi had achieved this great victory. In the eyes of Governor Wu, his position was important, that is,
If he really killed himself, Governor Wu would probably not do anything to him, and he would probably say: "Well done."
Therefore, the two did not dare to neglect, and urged the soldiers to hurry up and finally arrived in Guangzhou within the time limit. They sent people into the city to inform them, and soon someone came out of the city to lure the two people into the city to meet Shang Yi.
The two of them left their troops outside the city and followed the visitors into the city.
Guangzhou is located at the junction of Henan Province and Huguang Province. It belongs to the state level. It is larger than the county seat, but more important than the prefecture. In the late Ming Dynasty, although Huguang was not as full of bandits as Shaanxi, it was also invaded by rogue bandits several times.
, Gwangju’s population has been reduced by almost half compared to normal years, and a large amount of farmland outside the city has been abandoned.
However, this time after Guangzhou was captured by Li Zicheng, it did not suffer any looting or destruction.
Li Zicheng's rebellion experience can be roughly divided into two stages. Before the thirteenth year of Chongzhen (1639), Li Zicheng was actually a very ordinary member of the peasant army in the late Ming Dynasty, and his actions were compared with other peasant armies.
, there is not much difference. After conquering a place, in addition to robbing property, he also killed all the residents. But thirteen years after Chongzhen, Li Zicheng won consecutive victories in the Central Plains and also won the support of a group of literati.
There were Niu Jinxing, Song Xiance, Li Yan, Gu Junsi and others. Song Xiance even offered the prophecy of "Eighteen sons, the main artifact", so Li Zicheng's thoughts began to change, and he had the ambition to dominate the world.
So under the persuasion of Li Yan and others, Li Zicheng also changed many of the practices he had used when he was a rogue bandit. After capturing a city, he no longer just plundered, but began to pay attention to winning people's hearts, strict military discipline, and talented "
"Whoever kills one person is like killing my father, and whoever rapes another person is like raping my mother." And he only robbed big government households and no longer robbed the common people.
Li Yan also compiled children's songs and nursery rhymes for him such as "Welcome King Chuang, No Grain", and put forward slogans such as "Equal fields, no grain", etc., and sent people everywhere to spread the praises and publicity. Indeed, Li Zicheng won a lot of hearts. Every time he arrived,
In a city, there are always hungry people in the city who are willing to act as internal agents and help him conquer the city. This also makes Li Zicheng's strength rapidly develop, gradually surpassing others, and becoming the most powerful peasant army.
After Li Zicheng reaped the benefits, he became more determined in this approach. During this period, the military discipline of the Chuang Army was still very good, even much better than that of ordinary officers and soldiers. Therefore, Li Zicheng was able to carry out his duties in more than three months.
Defeated Zuo Liangyu, captured Xiangyang, and swept across Hubei.
When Shang Yi's troops first entered Guangzhou City, the residents in the city not only did not welcome them, but were also very nervous, because the officers and soldiers during this period were actually no different from bandits.
.Common people are often robbed once by bandits, and immediately they will be robbed again by the army. Therefore, Li Zicheng's troops can basically stop looting the people this time, and they will not requisition food, which is harmful to the people.
That said, it was indeed an unexpected surprise and quite popular.
Therefore, after the merchant army entered the city, the people in the city were worried about whether they would be robbed by the army. Although Shang Yi posted a notice, no one would easily believe it. After all, the people were afraid of being robbed by the army.
Already.
However, Shang Yi was mentally prepared for this. After entering the city, the soldiers of the Merchant Army not only did no harm to the people, neither conscripted nor plundered, they also sent soldiers to actively help the people do some things, repair houses in the city, and provide them with
Seeing doctors, paving food roads, opening granaries, providing relief to some poor people, etc., have also won the favor of many people. These things are actually methods that have been tried and tested by Shang Yi's predecessors in later generations. Facts have also proved that in any era,
, are all effective.
Therefore, in just a few days, the order in Gwangju City returned to normal.