In the blink of an eye, it was already the seventeenth day since the Battle of Youzhou was launched.
I sat on the Jingtai Gate, the only intact gate in the inner city, receiving congratulations and gifts from the soldiers passing by the city, and the routine victory ceremony of prisoners being paraded through the streets, and watching some of them embark on a new journey. Journeys and battlefields.
However, in the final battle that just ended, the Chinese army led by me still made a very simple mistake, or it was obvious that it underestimated the opponent's willingness and determination to fight to the death; I wanted to make a profit. It was a big fish, but I didn¡¯t expect that what crashed into the net was a big tuna that was running rampant and full of brute force. .
Although there was a preset geographical advantage and the ambush advantage of the home court, the number of enemies that the opponent attacked through the reserved gap still exceeded the upper limit of our army's expectations; we thought that we could surround and eat one-third to half of the opponent's troops. The military strength was about the same, but I didn't expect that the opponent didn't shrink and reorganize their strength, but instead invested everything in;
As a result, the tactical purpose of intercepting the enemy's follow-up troops in the middle failed to achieve the expected effect; the pincer attacks launched by several integrated battalions used to block the breach of the city wall actually failed when the enemy troops continued to attack without regard for casualties. After the initial encirclement, a huge gap was opened again;
Then, under the overwhelming impact of the overloaded attack on the Huai Army's position, the pocket formations under the two relatively intact military posts in Waiguo City were almost expanded and broken, and it turned out to be a life-and-death situation.
Because the muskets and firearms used back and forth overheated and could not cool down enough, or because of the fatigue and mistakes accumulated in high-intensity offensive battles, various explosion accidental injuries occurred frequently, and the enemy took the opportunity to rush in front of them and fell into hand-to-hand melee combat. At least some of them More than a dozen preset front lines were broken through and dispersed, and could not be contained and reorganized within a short period of time;
Even though there were no major signs of wavering or retreat in some control key areas and fronts, they were still trapped in difficulties and problems such as insufficient troop mobilization and a serious shortage of manpower available for battle, declining morale and fading initiative, and were replaced by some small forces. Groups of enemies were missed, causing new chaos and losses in the rear.
If the last three hadn't taken the initiative to ask for orders, I would have led my direct battalion to kill decisively from the inner city, holding the cat's claw flag to block these enemies who were clearly at the end of their efforts, but were as crazy as chicken blood, and encouraged and inspired by the way. It arouses some weak morale; I am afraid that if they really break out of the pockets and encirclements designed by the Huai Army, a series of unpredictable changes and chain reactions will occur.
As the price of the forced ending, the Qinzhiying, which acted as the last firewall and mainstay, lost hundreds of people, and the three who bore the brunt were injured as a result; after the horse trampled and knocked down and killed the third enemy general, The enemy who was knocked down head-on tried his best to stab his leg armor with his long tip. Although the forged steel armor did not penetrate the protection due to its high quality, it left a large bruise and bruise, making it difficult to walk. inconvenient.
This battle also exposed other problems:
For example, after a series of victories and advantages over the enemy, it is inevitable to have some emotions and mentality of underestimating the enemy's victory; even the battle line is stretched too long for the sake of perfection, resulting in excessive dispersion of forces and seriously weakening the cluster advantage of the firearm array; troop expansion The new recruits who were added later lacked toughness and flexibility in close-quarters combat;
There are also poor maintenance and maintenance of firearms after continuous battles; after the start of street fighting, there is a certain degree of confusion and deviation in the delivery of supplies to the enemy; and a series of large and small problems from top to bottom; further summary and reflection are needed, and even Give rewards and punishments to encourage and improve.
But no matter what, after paying the price of seven battalions being beaten and disabled one after another, and eleven battalions losing more than 30% to 40%, the last remaining effective force in Youzhou and even the prefectures in the mountains has become an organized force. Destruction echoed, and the battle of the Northern Expedition could finally come to an end for the time being.
In this not-so-perfect ambush battle in the city, at least more than 20,000 people were beheaded and nearly 30,000 people were captured. In addition, there were about 110,000 surviving households in the city, which were included in our Huai Town. Under control.
The attached Huai Army cavalry is also pursuing the remnants of the old Pinglu Army camp outside the city that are constantly crumbling. Almost a steady stream of prisoners have been captured and transported back along the way, but there are not many real soldiers. Mainly those civilian husbands and young men who were recruited and kidnapped along the way.
Then, like a chain reaction, news and good news of another secondary battlefield followed, as one of the four towns of Pinglu, Yingzhou (now in Chaoyang, Liaoning Province), completely changed hands;
Just two days ago, Liu Qi led the fourth battalion of the Marine Corps to land in Pingzhou, northeast of Youzhou, and raided many cities behind Yingzhou along the coastline. Finally, under the besieged Liucheng City of Zhouzhi, he and Liaonan moved south ofThe allied forces of tens of thousands of vassals successfully joined forces and destroyed the city gates with artillery.
Since then, Huai Town, Liaoxi, Liaodong and even the entire territory of Andong have been connected through control areas on land, turning the entire Bohai Sea into an inland sea surrounded by the chassis of Huai Town.
It can be said that the corresponding news spreads very quickly in this great plain area. Just relying on some rangers and scouts who go out for reconnaissance and patrol can often make some cities and towns in the north of Youzhou and the southern foot of Yanshan Mountain one after another. Open the door, the morning glory and the wine will fall in the wind.
Although there may still be some remnants and potential resistance forces remaining in some places, in terms of the surging momentum currently controlled by Huai Town, it is no longer an irrelevant problem; it can be left to the follow-up. The armed reclamation regiment and the newly formed garrison regiment and patrol team were slowly sorted out and processed through low-intensity security warfare and armed clearance work.
In fact, as the Battle of Youzhou unfolds, in the rear area of ??Huaibei, south of the Yellow River, there are already newly formed sixth and seventh garrison structures on standby, waiting for a total of twenty-three battalions to be replenished. After more than half of the time, you can move to Hebei and Hepingludao.
Although all production capacity is given priority to supply the main battle troops, these newly established garrison battalions only have less than 40% of the old-fashioned firearms equipment rate. The rest are filled with cold weapons, but they are used for confrontation and suppression. Today, the only remaining ones in the North are The traditional armed forces and the old-style army still have advantages and advantages.
Although there were all kinds of flaws and imperfections in the past, the entire territory and situation of Youzhou that I finally obtained and took over was a relatively ideal result;
Except for the few people headed by Wang Yuan who promptly surrendered to lead the party and were able to preserve their family and reputation, many traditional generals of Pinglu Road represented by the late Youzhou Jiedushi, and their management and development from generation to generation are intertwined. It can be said that many of the resources and interest groups were almost destroyed in this war, and completely unable to recover.
They were first forced to fight to the death and wasted in the attack and defense of the city, and then a large number of them were killed by the internal purge launched by Han Zhongyan. Finally, the remaining ones were coerced into Yacheng for defense, and were attacked by the Huai army's indiscriminate and intensive firepower. As a result, few people survived the fire that burned the city.
Even if there are some distant clan members who are hiding and survive, as long as the main family members who originally formed the backbone of the Pinglu army no longer exist, there will be almost no chance of revolt and resistance.
However, as a vassal and relatively weak subordinate of many vassal systems and general families, most of Youzhou's local bureaucracy has been preserved and can continue to serve my newly established ruling order.
Seeing that they actively cooperated and preserved a large number of local documents and files, I even gave them comfort and encouragement.
Of course, this is only a temporary expedient for stabilization. After the takeover personnel from Huai Town arrive soon, they will be sent to Qingzhou in batches to receive re-learning and re-education of varying lengths according to the corresponding ranks and expertise. training;
Just like those disciples and retained personnel from foreign vassals from Liaoxi, Liaodong, and Haidong, they will only be released and continue to serve if they pass the annual year-end comprehensive assessment (daily screening and gradual transformation). Often it is no longer the familiar location and place; it can also be said to be the result of a boiling frog type of treatment.
The next step is to take advantage of the situation and solve the seven states behind the mountain (northwest of Yanshan Mountain) that have become extremely empty due to the lack of main combat power after a short rest, and completely include the territory of Pinglu Road in the pocket. .
??????????? During the period when our formation was resting on the spot in Youzhou and replenishing personnel and materials for subsequent transportation, and transferring the wounded and prisoners batch by batch;
As the advance force responsible for clearing the way for the army, several battalions of advance strike troops composed of chariot battalions and hussars under the leadership of Zhang Xian have passed through the natural dangers of Xifengkou and Gubeikou at the southern foot of Yanshan Mountain respectively, and began to cross Yanshan Mountain. Among the mountains.