Xiangfan is the collective name of Xiangyang and Fancheng. The two cities stand by the Han River and form a corner. They are located in Tongbai Mountain, Wudang Mountain Horizon, Guanzhong in the north, Luoyang in the east, Wuchang in the west, Sichuan in the west, and Yiling in the south. , Jingzhou, the geography scholar Gu Zuyu of the Qing Dynasty called Xiangfan the land of the world: the waist and waist of the world. //// In "Reading History's Records", he even said: "In terms of the world, the focus is on Xiangyang. ”
Although the merchant army has now recovered most of Hubei, if Xiangfan is not recovered, the entire northwestern Hubei and central Hubei will still be unstable. Moreover, the capture of Xiangfan will also lead to the merchant army's future march into Guanzhong and Central Plains. A good foundation was laid for the recovery of land in the north.
At the same time, in terms of the Qing army, the troops in Hubei were insufficient, and in the previous stage, they lost a lot of troops because they refused to defend. Although Jiergalang had arrived in Fancheng, he came too hastily. There were not many people, and the Qing army in Sichuan had no time to send troops to support him. At this time, the total strength of the Qing army was only more than 45,000. The Hubei Army Group Army of the Shang Army, plus the 15th Division of the Third Army and a cavalry regiment. As for the Zhongzhen Camp, the total force has reached nearly 100,000, which is twice that of the Qing army. Now it is a great opportunity to attack Xiangfan in one go. Therefore, Li Dingguo made a little revision of the entire army and immediately ordered to launch an order to launch a mobilization towards Xiangfan. attack.
However, Xiangfan's geographical location is important, and Jiergalang and Luke Dehun are also very clear, so they seized the time to arrange the guards of Xiangfan.
Since ancient times, Xiangfan has been a must-fight for military strategists from both north and south. There are almost countless large and small battles that have occurred over thousands of years. The most famous battles include: the battle between Guan Yu and the Seven Armies during the Three Kingdoms period, and the battle between Yue Fei and Xiangyang during the Song and Jin Dynasties. , The Battle of Xiangyang in Song and Yuan dynasties, etc. Although Xiangfan is located on the important road of the Sheichong Road and is well-connected, it is surrounded by the mountains and rivers, and the terrain is dangerous. After years of construction, the city defense facilities are not only perfect, but also very solid, and it can be said that there are mountains and rivers. There are strong cities in the water. At the end of the Southern Song Dynasty, the ancient army besieged Xiangyang for five years, which shows that Xiangfan is not easy to take.
Moreover, the Qing army now concentrates its troops and defends the two cities of Xiangfan as the core, and there is no problem of dispersing troops. Moreover, Jiergalang also brought some of the new forces, and also claimed that Nikan from Sichuan will send troops to rescue Xiangfan, as long as If you can hold on for ten days, reinforcements will arrive, which will also improve the morale of the Qing army. In addition, some unstable forces at both ends of the head and rat have surrendered to the merchant army, and the remaining Han army basically comes from the north. Therefore, the position and will are slightly better and will not be shaken easily.
The Qing army set up three lines of defense to guard Xiangfan. First, it was Yicheng County, downstream of the Han River in Xiangyang. This was the only way to attack Xiangyang from the south. Zhuo Luo led 10,000 troops to guard, of which 1,000 musket soldiers were garrisoned. People, artillery, and the Qing army could go down the Han River to come to reinforce. The second was the mountains of Xiangyang City, which were in the south of the city, including Yanghu Mountain, Hutou Mountain, and Pipa Mountain. The terrain of Fenghuang Mountain is dangerous. When attacking Xiangyang, they must first seize the southern mountains and build solid fortifications in wars throughout the ages, and become another line of defense in Xiangyang. Shang Shan led 15,000 troops. , garrisoned each mountain top and prepared a large number of rocks and rolling wood and other mountain guarding weapons. Finally, there were Xiangyang and Fancheng, with Luke Dehun defending Xiangyang and Jiergalang defending Fancheng, each with 10,000 defenders. Among them, there were fire There were more than 3,000 gun soldiers and more than 60 cannons.
Although the merchant army had an absolute advantage in military strength, this time the battle to advance to Xiangfan was not easy to fight. Li Dingguo also spent a lot of effort when formulating the combat plan. Finally, he decided to march in three directions and capture Xiangfan:
The Sixth Army entered the boundary of Xiangyang Prefecture from the northwest of De'an Prefecture, first took Zaoyang County, and then attacked Fancheng from the east; the Eighth Army and the 15th Division, advanced north from the south Zhang and attacked Xiangyang from the west; the Seventh Army
, together with the cavalry regiment and Zhongzhen Camp, Chengtian Prefecture sent troops, first seized Yicheng, then attacked from the south, and formed a joint attack with the Eighth Army, first seized the city outside, and then attacked Xiangyang City.
After the combat plan was issued, all the troops also sent troops separately.
Li Dingguo and Li Mou led the Seventh Army and Zhongzhen Camp from Chengtian Prefecture, advanced north along the Han River, and headed towards Yicheng County.
The head general of the Qing army guarding Yicheng County was Meile Ezhen Zhuoluo, the Zhengbai Banner of Manzhou Province. He had worked with the merchant army many times. He knew the strength of the merchant army, and he was also very clear about the merchant army's tactics. He knew the merchants.
The army's siege ability. Yicheng is just a small county town with average city defense ability. If you want to rely on the city wall to defend, you can't withstand the artillery fire and blasting of the merchant army. Therefore, he gave up on guarding the city wall and evacuated the soldiers to the city.
Come, let the city open, put the merchant army into the city, fight hand-to-hand combat with the merchant army, and rely on the city's buildings and streets to defend, and try to limit the advantages of the merchant army. At the same time, we sent people to Xiangyang and Xiangle
Kedehun rescues.
Although the Qing army was clear about the intention of the Qing army, Yicheng was the only way to attack Xiangyang, and it was necessary to fight. At the same time, it was necessary to prevent the Qing army reinforcements from coming. Therefore, Li Dingguo also ordered the two regiments of the Third Brigade of the Seventh Army to be killed from the east and west.
In, a special forces regiment was dispatched, and the southern army was rushed in, leaving only the northern army to let the Qing army escape. He demanded that Yicheng must be occupied today.
Because it was a city war, the battle was very fierce from the beginning. The soldiers on both sides fought fiercely in the streets and houses, gunfire, explosions, shouts, and fighting from every place in Yicheng County.
It occurred, and casualties between the two sides also occurred rapidly and in large quantities.
It is undeniable that Zhuo Luo's tactic is indeed the best choice for the Qing army at present. The Qing army is familiar with the terrain in the city, and can also seize various favorable positions in advance. It has gained the lead and has experienced so many times at the same time.
After the street fighting, the Qing army's experience and ability in street fighting were also greatly improved, and they knew how to use all the favorable conditions that could be used in the city to fight against the merchant army.
Although the merchant army still has certain advantages in firepower and process, this advantage is indeed not great. However, the merchant army has rich urban combat experience, and at the same time, it is much stronger than the Qing army in terms of fighting spirit and morale.
Even if you fight hand-to-hand combat, you will not lose to the Qing army. Therefore, you will try your best to give full play to your advantages and make full use of grenades, small artillery and other weapons with great lethality to attack the Qing army in the city and the streets.
Fighting, one garrison and another garrison breakthrough. It gradually compressed the space of the Qing army, expanded its advantages bit by bit, and occupied Yicheng County.
Moreover, behind the merchant army, soldiers from Zhongzhen Camp also joined the battlefield, guarded the positions seized by the merchant army, received captured prisoners, rescued the injured soldiers, and searched for the remaining Qing soldiers, and also asked Qianjin to do so.
The soldiers who attacked the tough can devote themselves to the battle without any worries.
Although the Qing army's tactics and resistance were very tenacious, the two sides had a big difference in strength, so they were still beaten and retreated step by step. The battle continued from early morning to around 2 p.m. in Yicheng County.
Most of the areas were occupied by the merchant army, and the Qing army was compressed to a small area in the northern city and continued to resist. At this time, the Qing army's troops were only more than 5,000 left.
However, at this time, Zhuo Luo also knew that it seemed that he could not defend Yicheng County. If the merchant army sent a unit to the north city at this time and would have been wrapped in dumplings, then the entire army would be wiped out.
Therefore, the Qing army was ordered to withdraw from Yicheng from the north and retreat to Xiangyang.
But the Qing army had just retreated from Yicheng and had not yet walked two or three miles away. Only the sound of horse hooves heard, a cavalry rushed out of the diagonal sect and entered from the ribs of the Qing army. It turned out that long before the attack on Yicheng,
Li Dingguo sent a cavalry regiment to ambush outside the north of Yicheng County, waiting for the Qing army to withdraw from Yicheng to attack and defeat the army, and expand the results of the battle.
Although the Qing army was defeated at this time, Zhuo Luo was a man who had been on the battlefield for a long time and had rich experience, so he also kept the entire army in a certain order to retreat. However, after the cavalry regiment of the merchant army broke out, the Qing army was simply
Unable to resist, he was rushed by the cavalry, and immediately the whole army could not maintain order and searched for their own way to escape. At this time, the merchant army in the city also chased them out and chased them from behind. The Qing army was immediately divided.
Completely defeated.
The merchant army immediately dispersed and continued to pursue the defeated army of the Qing army. Even the Zhongzhen Camp sent 10,000 troops to join the pursuit. At the same time, the cavalry regiment speed was dispersed into units of companies, cooperated with the large army to chase the defeated army.
Often, the cavalry rushed to the front of a defeated army to block the robbery, and the infantry surrounded the defeated army, either wiped out the entire army, or captured the prisoners. The pursuit continued until dark, and the merchant army withdrew its troops back to Yi.
city.
The final result of this battle was that the merchant army wiped out more than 3,800 Qing troops and captured 4,273 people. Zhuo Luo, the chief general of the Qing army, was chased by the cavalry and fled to the Han River.
At the end of his life, he finally fought hard by the Han River. The Shang family army itself also killed 1,153 soldiers. The loss of troops was even greater than the casualties of the capture of Jingzhou. This was mainly because the Qing army chose the right choice.
The tactics did not rely on city wall defense, but were fighting street battles with merchants.
In fact, after Luke Dehun, who was stationed in Xiangyang, immediately sent reinforcements to reinforce after learning that Yicheng was attacked by merchants, but Yicheng fell too quickly and did not defend it for a day. Therefore, the reinforcements had just arrived at Lumén Mountain.
After receiving the news that Yicheng had fallen, he had to collect some remaining soldiers who had been defeated from Yicheng and return to Xiangyang to garrison.
After winning the battle against Yicheng, the households in Xiangyang opened up, and at this time, the people from both east and west were also approaching the Xiangfan area. One day later, the merchant army also opened on both sides of the Han River, facing Xiangyang and Fancheng at the same time.