Chapter 155: The End of the Battle of Yangzhou (1)
Strictly speaking, the decision made by Duoduo was not to be determined or hysterical, because if it was the lost troops in the war, more than 70% of them were hunted by the enemy during the retreat. At this time, the total strength of the Qing army was
There are still about 100,000, and the merchant army has invested less than 30,000 troops on the battlefield. Even if the Qing army lacks organization and fights on their own, they can withstand a while.
On the contrary, once the Qing army retreated, the organization is now in chaos, and it will inevitably be a defeat. If the merchant army covers up and kills, the casualties will be very heavy. Therefore, it is better to grit your teeth and stand up with the merchants with the advantage of having many soldiers and good at field battles.
The army fought a chaotic war. Once the two sides were in a melee, the artillery lost its effect. Then they were able to make the fight and adjust, and they might turn the defeat into victory. Even if they couldn't get back to the situation, they could at least maintain the current situation.
Ensure that the Qing army can escape unstoppably.
Hong Chengchou also believed that this was the best choice for the Qing army at present, so he also supported Duoduo's decision. He also suggested that Ye Chen, Bai Yitu and Geng Zhongming go to fight and organize their respective troops on the battlefield.
They fought each other and restored order as much as possible. Duoduo also organized a force to supervise the battle himself to prevent the Qing army from being defeated.
Fortunately, the Qing soldiers attacking Yangzhou were basically Manchu and Han flag troops, and their fighting will was not the same as the surrendered army, and they would disperse and flee as soon as they were defeated. Therefore, under the efforts of Duoduo and others, they still insisted on fighting.
, and the battlefield gradually entered a melee situation, with cavalry and infantry mixed together, basically unable to distinguish the array of both sides, and the merchant army was also divided into regiments and then fought on their own. And all artillery were also
All of them stopped firing, and the entire battlefield entered the final moment.
The battlefield merchant army now invests three infantry regiments, two cavalry regiments, foreign mercenary regiments and about 10,000 Ming army. Although the number is only one-third of the Qing army, they all act very tenaciously, including those who went to war.
Ten thousand Ming troops had very high fighting spirit, and no one was contemplating life and death, and they fought hard against the Qing army. And they were still organized in an orderly and orderly manner, so the entire battlefield was in a stalemate and no one could occupy the wind.
What is definitely favorable for the Qing army is that there are a large number of people, and most of the Qing army have rich combat experience. After slowly gaining a foothold, they are gradually adjusting and restoring combat order. Over time, their combat effectiveness will also be
Slowly strengthening. But the merchant army also has its own advantage, that is, it has a reserve team. Now the artillery has been pushed back to the position of the merchant army, and there are four auxiliary battalions and two reconnaissance battalions in the position, totaling
Although there are not many people, if used at the time and place of the gate construction, there is still a chance to change the situation. There are also two artillery battalions and hundreds of guard soldiers, which can also be used at the same time when necessary.
Let's fight. Therefore, the outcome of this battle is indeed unpredictable.
At this time, the battle between the two sides also ran from morning to afternoon. They had fought for four or five hours. In the fierce battle, there were many casualties. Several main generals of the Qing army did play in the battlefield.
With a great effect, the chaotic soldiers were instinctively attached to the battles around the commanders and organized the order. They also restored a lot. They were not fighting like the beginning, but the merchant army finally had a huge number of people.
Too big, some can't support it.
But at this time, Shang Yi also put all the reserves into the battlefield, and the Qing army was now very tired and could not resist the fierce attack of the new force. Although it was not enough to change the situation, it defeated the Qing army's momentum.
After going on, the battle situation returned to an uneven situation.
Shang Yi looked up at the sky. There was only one hour before dark, so Guan Jian, who won and lost, was here. Duoduo and Hong Chengchou also had this idea. When it was dark,
Both sides will definitely stop the troops, so that the Qing army will not be defeated and can calmly withdraw the troops overnight. At the same time, Duoduo also made up his mind to withdraw his troops overnight after withdrawing the troops overnight and first withdraw his troops to Luzhou.
But at this moment, suddenly, dust flew in the south of the battlefield, and a group of people came to kill. Although they could not see how many soldiers there were, they could see clearly that this army was under the banner of the merchant army.
.
Duoduo couldn't help but be shocked. Of course, he knew what it meant to suddenly break out another merchant army at this time? Even if there were only a few thousand people, it would be enough to change the situation on the entire battlefield. But what made Duoduo puzzled was that
, Where did the men come from? Because at this time, the merchant army's troops had all been concentrated in Yangzhou, is it difficult to kill the men from the outside line back?
But when this team gradually approached, Duoduo also saw that the strength of this team was at least ten thousand. There were not so many people on the outside of the merchant army. Is it difficult to fall from the sky?
Of course, Duoduo didn't know that this team was the Fourth Division of the Merchant Army that had just crossed the Yangtze River and the Seventh Regiment of Shen Shouchong who had been transferred back from Taiwan. There were a total of about 14,000 people.
Before the war with the Qing army, the 4th Division and the 7th Regiment were tasked with defending Zhejiang, and also as the reserve force for the entire battle. On the eve of the Battle of Yangzhou, the merchant army had expanded two reserve brigades in Zhejiang.
, and had enough troops to defend Zhejiang, so Shang Yi ordered the Fourth Division and the Seventh Regiment to be stationed on the riverside of Suzhou, as he prepared to cross the river to reinforce.
But after the war in Yangzhou started, Shang Yi never used this reserve army, just hoping to use them in the most important places. After defeating the Qing army's attack, Shang Yi also realized that he and the Qing army had a great impact.
The final decisive battle was about to begin, so he ordered the reserve army to secretly cross the river and prepare to support the Yangzhou battlefield. Now the reserve army finally arrived at the battlefield at the most important time.
The Fourth Division was expanded with the Fourth Regiment as the core. The division commander was Wang Xin, who turned out to be a brother from Tang Town and a veteran of the merchant army. After leading the army at the extreme, he immediately commanded the troops and killed the troops.
Come into the battle group. The strength of more than 14,000 troops, even if you join the battlefield, the total strength of the Qing army is about twice that of the merchant army. If it is normal, it may not be a big deal, but at this time
, but it is enough to change the entire battle situation.
First, the Qing army could not stop this vitality, and second, the reinforcements of the merchant army also brought a heavy psychological blow to the Qing army. They didn't know if there were any other reinforcements from the merchant army, so they persisted for nearly a day.
At this moment, the morale finally collapsed, and defeat and escape inevitably occurred. In almost a few minutes, the horse spread to the entire army and turned into a complete defeat.
Duoduo, who was commanding in the back, was also in a state of dismay at this time, and he knew very well that he had lost not only the battle in Yangzhou, but also the entire middle battlefield of the Nanzheng, which would also lead to this Nanzheng. The failure, so I felt mixed feelings for a moment, regretful, hated and ashamed. I just died here in battle, so it would be better than going back to face Dorgon's impulse.
At this moment, Hong Chengchou said: "Prince Yu, we have already lost this battle. Withdraw troops quickly. Now retreat to Luzhou. We can still keep Huaixi. Just wait for Prince Ying to defeat Li Zicheng. We still have a chance to fight. Yangtze."
Hong Chengchou's words also made Duoduo wake up suddenly. As Hong Chengchou said, there are Zuo Menggeng's more than 100,000 troops guarding Luzhou. Although the combat effectiveness of the Zuo Army is not very good, the number of people is still very considerable. Retreat to Luzhou and join forces with Ajige to attack Li Zicheng. This time, there is still a chance to win when the southern expedition arrives. Therefore, he immediately ordered the generals to lead their troops to retreat and gather in Chuzhou first.
After the order was passed, Duoduo and Hong Chengchou immediately led their troops to retreat southwest.
Although the Qing army was defeated, the merchant army was exhausted. Except for the Fourth Division and the Seventh Regiment, other people were unable to pursue it. Although the Fourth Division and the Seventh Regiment were determined to pursue it, it was also very fast. It became dark, so it did not chase it far away, so it withdrew its troops back to the formation, and the Qing army also abandoned its camp and fled, withdrawing its troops overnight. The merchant army was unable to further expand its results.
But despite this, the merchant army achieved a great victory in this battle, and won more battles in a head-on battle with the Qing army. Therefore, this victory is even more valuable.
The final results statistics show that in this battle, more than 25,000 Qing troops were killed, and more than 10,000 were captured alive. Among them, nearly 10,000 were killed, and nearly 5,000 were killed in the Shang family themselves. The 10,000 Ming troops who fought had almost killed 5,000 people. Compared with the previous battles, the gap between the casualties between the two sides was much smaller.
However, the harvest of this battle was very rich. Because the Qing army abandoned the camp and fled, all the supplies were seized by the merchant army, and more than 6,000 donkeys and horses were obtained, as well as more than 150 doors of the Qing army. Although the merchants of artillery are not attracted by these artillery merchants, they wait for iron casting and can be recasted after being refurbished. Because of the fact that more than fifty red-clothed cannons are quite excellent in this era of China. , and a considerable number of red-clothed cannons are cast with copper-tied iron cores, and the copper content accounts for 70% to 80%, which is very useful to the merchant army. Originally, when guarding the Huai River, the merchant army came from Kong Youde More than fifty cannons were seized there, but they were all given to Li Zicheng, and he did not leave any of them, so he made up for it this time.
Other harvests include more than 43,000 stones of grain, more than 26,000 stones of horse material, more than 60,000 kilograms of gunpowder, more than 600 vehicles of various types, more than 1,000 tents, and 12,000 taels of gold. There were 230,000 taels of silver and more than 7,000 silk cloth. There were more than 100,000 other pieces of weapons, swords, armor and flags.
Just as Shang Yi, Shi Kefa and others were enjoying the joy of victory on the battlefield, a soldier came to Shang Yi and said, "Mr. Military Master, Fengyang sent a report."
Shang Yi took it and couldn't help laughing, saying to Shi Kefa: "Shi Governor, it's another good news, Haoge is dead."