The battlefield at this time was in the area near Ewangcheng, on the south bank of the Yangtze River opposite Huangzhou Mansion. This place has many waters, mainly lakes.
The 50,000 to 60,000 troops on the Guanjun North Road deployed westward from the county seat to a place ten miles away from Sanshan Lake; to the north of Sanshan Lake is Ya'er Lake, and between the two lakes are more than 20 camps of the Suzaku Army's Huben Camp with about 20,000 people.
Further west of Sanshan Lake are the largest local lakes, Liangzi Lake and Niushan Lake. To the north of the two lakes are Hou Lake, Yangzhuang Lake and other waters. The land in the middle is intertwined and the terrain is complex... These lakes are located on four sides, with a large piece of land in the middle.
Because the official army controlled the Yangtze River, the march route of the new Suzaku Army was the land road west of the Yangtze River. They marched southward from the flat road in the middle of the lake group, and then turned east to attack the official army. The forward Huben battalion had already arrived at the lake group.
In the far east, fortifications were built between Sanshan Lake and Yaer Lake; while the main force of the Zhongwu Camp was still near Niushan Lake in the northwest; and the Pingyuan Camp of the Hou Army was in the north of the densely populated water area.
In fact, the official army failed to block the southward route of the Third Battalion of the Suzaku Army. If Zhou Mengxiong desperately rushed southward for reinforcements, there were several major roads he could take; but the North Route Army of Ewangcheng was located between Wuchang Prefecture and Jiujiang Prefecture. If he left it alone,
, the threat is extremely great. The northern route of the official army can not only attack to intercept the Suzaku Army's supply route, but also follow the north of the Yangtze River and take advantage of the opportunity to capture Wuchang, the home base of the Huguang regime; Monk Yao of Yuezhou has increased his deployment despite the lack of defense in Yuezhou.
Half of the soldiers and horses of the "Changde Camp" and the First Battalion of the Navy reinforced Wuchang's defense, but those few people were obviously unable to withstand the elite North Route Army of the official army.
That's why the officers and soldiers gathered heavy troops on the river bank instead of setting up defenses on all sides to contain the reinforcements.
...After the commander-in-chief of the army sent people to deliver the letter of challenge, Zhou Mengxiong did not make any movement all day long. He just analyzed the strengths and weaknesses of the enemy and ourselves in public, as if he wanted to defend the fortifications.
"It has been learned that there are the remaining Shenji Battalion and the Fifth Army Camp on the North Army Road, all of which belong to the Beijing Camp. Among them are many veterans who have been in battle for a long time. The veterans of the Beijing Camp are familiar with swords, guns and sticks, and are good at fighting in melee battles; how many soldiers of our new army are there?
A few months ago, most of them were farmers, and they would definitely suffer a disastrous defeat in a direct confrontation with them.
But our army is not completely inferior to others. We have been practicing firearms continuously for several months, and each battalion has become proficient in practice. In terms of tactics in the face of salvos, it is not worse than the Shenji Battalion; and it will definitely be better than the Fifth Army Battalion and the local garrison.
The soldiers are skilled. The Fifth Army Camp rarely used firearms in the past. They were good at riding, shooting and foot combat, but they did not have much time to practice firearms. The strengths and weaknesses of the enemy and ourselves are clear at a glance. The generals must always remember this link. In every battle, they must use their strengths and avoid weaknesses and rely on fortifications as much as possible.
Use firearms to kill people from a distance and avoid fighting with the enemy."
After a whole day like this, Zhou Mengxiong issued a military order in the evening, ordering each village to rest for one night and prepare meals at the fifth watch tomorrow; but he left the command of each village with the Chinese army.
All the generals thought that the reason for ordering the soldiers to get up early to prepare was to defend the positions where the government troops would attack tomorrow... If Marshal Zhou did not accept the letter of war, the government troops might march directly to the front of each village to attack the fortifications.
As night falls, the more than twenty villages crisscrossing the north and south gradually fall asleep, leaving only the light of fires shaking in the cold wind.
Unexpectedly, just after the third watch, the commanders of various villages who had settled near the Chinese army camp were called up. It was October, and it was the middle of the third watch. Everyone was sleeping soundly, and they would rather use chamber pots even when they got up at night.
None of them wanted to leave the warm bed. Everyone listened and heard nothing, so they asked what happened. Later, Liu Mazi went outside the tent and cursed, and everyone hurriedly put on their clothes and armor.
It was really uncomfortable to have the cold iron pieces directly touching the ears and neck. Many people also wore scarves. There was a "ding-ding-clang-clang" sound outside the ruined temple, and a group of military generals entered the dilapidated house one after another. There was a child in the middle of the house.
There was a fire, and Zhou Mengxiong was seen neatly dressed and sitting on a chair in the middle.
"The general will wait to pay homage to the commander-in-chief." Everyone came forward to pay their respects.
Zhou Mengxiong pointed to the ground, motioned for everyone to sit on the ground, and then ordered the guards to hang up a picture drawn with a brush. "Zhang Fu's military order to Zhu Mian, the commander-in-chief of the North Route Army, must be to defend the northern front and not to waste the battle. If he leads the army tomorrow,
They must have come here to deceive our newly trained soldiers and come from far away, hoping to gain the upper hand and give us a warning. But if we stick to the fortifications and it is difficult for Zhu Mian to break through, he will retreat and continue to huddle by the river to defend, and it will be difficult for us to find him in the future.
Fighter planes. Now I will arrange new tactics to lure the enemy deep and divide and encircle them..."
An hour later, all the generals rushed back to their respective camps overnight. The drums started to sound at the fifth watch, and the soldiers of each battalion got up under the stars to make breakfast, and then assembled for exercises. It was just dawn. The commander took out the instructions issued by the Chinese Army.
After checking the military symbols with the trumpet officer's military symbols in public, he immediately ordered the main force to withdraw from the fortifications, leaving only a hundred people in each camp to guard.
The commander said to the remaining officers and soldiers: Since the Chinese army has mobilized troops and horses, the remaining people will do their best to defend the camp; if they cannot hold it, they can abandon the camp and escape to the west. Keep going west, and there will be our garrison behind you. Remember to follow these rules
According to military law, if the rebel soldiers cannot find their superior, the highest ranking officer among them will be the leader and obey the command. Anyone who disobeys the order will be regarded as disobeying the military order!
This is a military law of the Suzaku Army. When a small team arrives at the post, the commander calls the official a "soldier" and the small soldiers a "pawn." If the pawn cannot see his general in chaos, he must listen to the orders of the nearest soldier. This rule is in
It is very useful in melees and after defeats. The army is easy to disperse because the soldiers cannot find the generals, and the generals cannot find the soldiers, and they become scattered sand. With rules, everyone will have methods to follow according to their habits.
And because the clothes of the Suzaku Army are uniformly issued, the soldiers have different shades of color, and the ranks are distinguished by the color of the belt and the material of the buttons. Therefore, anyone who is familiar with the Suzaku Army can judge the official position of the other party by just looking at the clothes.
, to facilitate the formation of upper and lower organizations.
...Early in the morning, the main force of the Huben Battalion had abandoned the Sanshan Lake fortifications and retreated twenty miles to the west. After the armies arrived at the designated location, they found that there were already many ditch and wall fortifications there; the Zhongwu Battalion behind them had helped to repair the camp yesterday.
The ready-made local armies were directly divided into territories and stationed there.
At this time, the two sentinel infantrymen of the Shenji Battalion and the thousands of horsemen of the Fifth Military Battalion also moved westward. They advanced for more than ten miles without encountering any enemy soldiers; more than an hour later, they reached the front of the Sanshan Lake Suzaku military fortification.
Apparently the "rebels" broke the promise and did not accept Zhu Mian's challenge. They were still huddled inside the earthen wall even after three hours of sunrise.
Zhu Mian felt a little disappointed, because he thought that the rebels would definitely win the first battle if they dared to fight, and knocked down the opponent's spirit in one fell swoop. Unexpectedly, since the rebels came to attack, they pretended to be Sun Tzu.
The detailed work of the factory guards has revealed the details of their opponents. The commander-in-chief, Zhou Mengxiong, is the father-in-law of the King of Xiang. He leads about 50,000 to 60,000 soldiers, but the "new army". The so-called new army refers to young men who have been recruited and trained recently.
It only took a few months to form an army. Huguang is an inland province with very limited military resources, so it could only be drawn from the common people for training. These people who used to only farm and do crafts, after several months of training, Zhu Mian could not
Do you think they have any combat effectiveness? The rebels rely on firearms. They can bully the equally weak inland guardsmen, but they can't get much benefit from the strong bows and crossbows of the Beijing camp. As long as they charge up close and fight hand-to-hand, they will win... Use
When veterans who are accustomed to swords and guns fight, they work like skilled craftsmen. How can they be compared with novices?
So Zhu Mian observed the fortifications in front and decided to try an attack. Of course he remembered the words of the British Duke Zhang Fu, but defense was not just about defense but not attack.
After the Shenji Battalion received the military order, it first set up heavy artillery and bombed it randomly, but the effect was not very good. The General and the Tiger Cannon equipped by the Shenji Battalion were both artillery pieces that project huge projectiles.
Falling in mid-air is quite powerful, but the chance of hitting a low earth wall is very small, and it hardly causes any damage to the fortifications.
The only way to be effective is to attack with soldiers. Zuoye of the Shenji Battalion was ordered to mobilize troops to attack a camp directly in front. A square formation composed of several hundred people began to march forward slowly to the sound of drums. After a while, a message came
The noise of exploding firecrackers and the smoke and dust in the air made the vision blurry.
(There are only about a hundred people in one camp over there. If they all join the front line for intensive volley fire, they will not be able to change teams; if they are divided into three teams, there will only be more than 30 people in each team, and more than 30 projectiles will be fired in one salvo.
Most of them cannot hit anything. How can such damage be able to withstand an infantry charge of dozens of steps?)
It was unclear how the rebels were deployed. Hundreds of officers and soldiers rushed forward but were not repulsed at all. After the gunshots were fired, the crowd started shouting and swarmed up to the wall without stopping. Then many hard bamboo strips and wooden boards were thrown
After setting it up, people rushed up; the waist wall can protect against bows, crossbows and firearms very well, but if it is too low, it cannot be compared with the city wall in defense against the infantry rushing towards it.
There was a brief fighting in the camp, and soon the Shenji Camp's flag was erected in the center. The remaining rebels escaped over the wall, and some of them fell into the deep ditch they dug outside in desperation and could not get up. The official
The army captured a village in a short time.
Zhu Mian then ordered to continue attacking other fortifications. After breaking through one point, it became easier: the officers and soldiers could attack from both fronts and from the already captured fortifications, further spreading the defenders' defenses and making them easy to defeat with one attack.
Upon seeing this, the rebels in various fortifications began to flee. Zhu Mian immediately ordered the cavalry of the Fifth Army Camp to follow and kill them. The rebels suffered casualties along the way and were completely defeated. Fortunately, the cavalry general of the Fifth Army Camp was worried that they would pursue too far and be ambushed and did not continue the pursuit. Otherwise,
The rebels were defeated and lost all their troops along the twenty-mile escape route.
In less than half a day, Zhu Mian's men occupied the Sanshan Lake fortification group. The victory was too easy. According to reports from various generals, the rebel defenders were obviously too few. The battle line was stretched nearly twenty miles away, and the troops were simply too thin.
Can't stop the attack.
Zhu Mian suddenly thought of whether the rebels were trying to lure the enemy into setting up an ambush, so he sent out scouts to investigate, but found no ambush. The rest of the rebels were already twenty miles away to the west. He also observed the newly occupied area.
The fortifications were dug deep, and there were sacks filled with sand on the walls, which showed that a lot of work had been done. Such a situation made Zhu Mian suddenly wonder if Zhou Mengxiong was a complete amateur... He was originally an unknown person, and he was
The in-laws of King Xiang may really be incompetent people who have a nepotistic relationship.