I want to be emperor

Chapter 391
Just when the Suzhou Qin family was about to invest a huge amount of money in purchasing new textile machinery, trying to use this batch of new textile machines to restore their Qin family's Su Qinbu's leading position in the market and further expand the market.

The wars in Guangdong, Guangxi and Fujian and Zhejiang have also entered the most tragic stage!

Since the Great Chu Empire Army ended the war in northern Zhejiang in January this year, the strategic focus has gradually shifted to Guangdong, Guangxi, Fujian and Zhejiang, and Jiangbei.

After entering the Jiangbei area, because the battle in the Jiangbei area is more complicated, Yangzhou City is more difficult to conquer, and the empire has formally formulated a plan to move from south to north, and the strategic focus began to shift to Guangdong, Guangxi, Fujian and Zhejiang.

Therefore, after entering March, the 12th Division, [-]th Division, [-]th Division, and No.[-] Mixed Brigade of the Great Chu Empire Army consisted of four main forces. With the cooperation of many garrison troops, each launched an attack from the reserved area.

Among them, the seventh division that launched an attack from the southern direction of Chu was the first to obtain results. This division succeeded in storming Ganzhou in March, and then went south to capture Meiguan, the northern gate of Guangdong, in Nanxiongfu.

Then the Seventh Division quickly went south and captured Nanxiong Mansion. In May, Chen Bing was in Qujiang, the capital city of Shaozhou.

During this process, the Seventh Division, together with the No.11 Garrison Division and other independent units, successively defeated tens of thousands of enemy troops.

Including various ministries under the governor of Southern Jiangxi, some local troops in Guangdong under the governor of Guangdong, and most of the left army of the new standard army of Guangdong and Guangxi under the personal command of Southwest Governor Xiong Wencan.

Of the tens of thousands of Ming troops fighting in the area of ​​Ganzhou Prefecture and Nanxiong Prefecture, in the end, only more than a thousand Liangguang New Standard Army Zuo Jun and thousands of guards fled to Ganzhou in a hurry.

In this series of battles, the Chu army actually killed not many people, and more of them used firepower to force the enemy to collapse or even surrender.

Therefore, the number of prisoners of war is quite large, and more than 3000 troops have been captured successively. According to the old rules, some of these prisoners of war were reorganized, and a very small number of them were replenished to the Seventh Division on the spot, and more than 11 were successively replenished to the No. .[-] Garrison Division.

In the follow-up, some additional reorganized troops were temporarily reorganized into the No.16 garrison division.

That is to say, the Chu army fighting southward from Jiangxi is fighting more and more.

Before they launched the Battle of Ganzhou, there were about 4000 people, but when they hit the city of Shaozhou, they had already become about 3 people.

Facing the powerful Chu army, the Ming army in Qujiangli, the capital of Shaozhou, could not resist at all.

Before the Chu army launched the attack, there were less than [-] Ming troops in Shaozhou City. In fact, there were still many troops in this city before.

However, the Zuo Army of the new standard army was transferred to Nanxiong Mansion to fight against the Chu thieves and was severely injured. Only about a thousand people escaped back, and they lost all their weapons and equipment such as guns and armor.

And there are not many soldiers in the local guards, not to mention that their combat effectiveness is already very poor.

Such a city of Shaozhou simply cannot stop the strong Seventh Division, No.11 Garrison Division and other ministries.

On May [-], Lieutenant General Huang Xiangbin, commander of the Guangdong-Guangzhou garrison and commander of the Seventh Division, led his troops to capture Qujiang, the capital of Shaozhou.

After taking the city, it means that the troops and supplies of the Great Chu Empire from Jiangxi can go all the way to Guangzhou along the Beijiang River.

This is of extremely important strategic significance for the Guangdong and Guangxi strategies of the Great Chu Empire.

For this reason, Lieutenant General Huang Xiangbin personally wrote a letter of victory in handwriting.

Not only Lieutenant General Huang Xiangbin's successive battles in the direction of Guangdong, but also Major General Lin Siyong, the deputy commander of the defense of Guangdong and Guangxi, and the commander of the Fifth Division, also fought well in the direction of Guangxi.

First, the main force of the seventh division, Huitong's third garrison division captured Lingui, the prefectural city of Guilin, severely damaged the right army of the Guangdong and Guangxi New Standard Army stationed there, and forced more than [-] remnants of the army to flee to Liuzhou in a hurry.

Immediately afterwards, a reinforced regiment from the division's division, with the cooperation of the Sixth Defense Division, captured Pingle, the city of Pinglefu.

In addition, a reinforced regiment under the Seventh Division had taken He County and other places first, which meant that the Chu army had completely torn through the resistance of the Ming army on the Guangxi front, and gradually took over Everywhere on the front line.

After entering May, the seventh division of the Chu army and the three garrison divisions that cooperated in the battle are still divided into three groups!
Part of the main force of the Seventh Division headed towards Liuzhou.

A strengthened regiment killed Zhaoping, and planned to go straight to Wuzhou City along the Guijiang River.

A strengthening regiment kills Huaiji.

The three fronts broke through in an all-round way, and during the breakthrough process, it was not only as simple as capturing local cities, but more importantly, the Chu army also killed or captured the enemy's vital forces on a large scale, and even the escaped enemy had to abandon their guns. guns, armor and food.

And these also made the Chu army fighting in the direction of Guangxi, such as the Seventh Division, more relaxed in the follow-up operations.

After all, the strength of the Ming army in the direction of Guangxi is also limited, and the main force is these new standard troops.
But among them, the right army of Guangdong and Guangxi new standard army, which Xiong Wencan used as the core combat force, used inferior troops and firepower in the battle of Guilin to resist the main force of the seventh division of the Chu army. …

In this battle, the right army with the most combat experience, the highest level of weapons and equipment, and the most powerful soldiers among the Guangdong and Guangxi new standard forces was completely broken.

Before the battle, the Guangdong-Guangdong New Standard Army, which had nearly 6000 people, lost at least 4000 people in this battle, and only about 2000 people fled to Liuzhou. Among the 2000 people who fled to Liuzhou, they also lost almost all their heavy weapons. As well as luggage, many people didn't even keep much individual equipment.

The right army of the Liangguang new standard army, which came from the Huguang new standard army, can be regarded as the first batch of new standard army in the Ming court. By this time, it was completely half-disabled. It may have returned to its original combat effectiveness.

But does Xiong Wencan have guns to supplement them?

It may be possible to give Xiong Wencan a year or a half, but the Chu army obviously will not give Xiong Wencan such a long time, let alone a year or a half, at most ten days and a half months, the Chu army will kill Liuzhou.

In fact, the troops of the No.13 Brigade of the Seventh Division of the Chu Army followed the retreat route of the Right Army of the New Standard Army of Guangdong and Guangxi, and fought all the way to Liuzhou.

Just three days after the Youjun of the Liangguang New Standard Army fled to Liuzhou, the forward troops of the No.13 Brigade of the Chu Army had already arrived outside Liuzhou.

It is difficult for the right army of the new standard army in Guangdong and Guangxi to take on the heavy responsibility of the core force of Guangxi's defense.

The new standard troops in several other directions were not much better. The two new standard army rear troops deployed on the front line of Pingle originally had only about 2000 troops, and they were still newly formed troops.

In the Battle of Pingle, the unit suffered a devastating blow. It was wiped out by the No.20 Seventh Reinforcement Regiment under the [-]th Division of the Chu Army with the cooperation of the [-]th Defense Division. More than [-] people were killed on the spot, and the rest were exhausted As captives, there were only a hundred or so of those who escaped to death.

This department is also the main force of the Ming army in the Guangdong and Guangxi regions that was wiped out in the fifth army around the front and back of the new standard army of Guangdong and Guangxi.

On the contrary, the two former frontline troops of the Hexian-Huaiji line are better. This is not because they are difficult to fight, but because the No. 20 Eighth Reinforced Regiment fighting in this direction is too long and the supply is not smooth, so The storm has not been moved for a long time.

This is also the reason why the Ming army has been able to defend Huaiji so far.

Because in the past few months, the Chu army has not launched a large-scale attack in this direction.

In the end, there are two new standard troops in Wuzhou City, the Central Army, but the strength of this army is very small. Before the war, there were no more than a thousand people. There are more than 3000 people, but the weapons and equipment have not increased much. Many of these newly expanded people are cold weapon troops with spears and bows.

None of the crucial two-and-a-half-pound and five-pound field guns were added.

As of the first ten days of May, the Guangdong-Guangdong New Standard Army with a total strength of 7000 troops, which has a total of five armies in the front, back, left, and right sides, has been beaten badly.

In particular, the left army and the right army, which were full of mixed brigades, suffered a devastating blow. Even if Xiong Wencan was given a year later, it is estimated that these two main mixed brigades would not be able to rebuild.

The rear army was wiped out.

Today, Xiong Wencan's new standard army has only 3000 former soldiers left, and the Chinese army actually has 3000 soldiers, but there are only a thousand soldiers who can fight.

Adding the two together, there are only a little over 4000 people who can fight.

As for the Ming army other than the new standard army, Xiong Wencan himself does not count on it...

The soldiers of those local guards can't even fight a pirate, let alone fight with the regular army of the Chu thief.

When many bad news came from ahead one after another, Xiong Wencan in Wuzhou City became more and more desperate.

On May [-]th, Shaozhou Mansion was captured by the Chu bandits, and the last thousand or so soldiers in the left army of the Liangguang New Standard Army in the city surrendered to the bandits after a little resistance.

After the news of the capture of Shaozhou City reached Wuzhou, Xiong Wencan was extremely angry, but there was nothing he could do...he could only hastily try to mobilize troops to prepare for the follow-up Guangzhou defensive operation.

As for what kind of troops to mobilize, don't count on the new standard troops, they can only be ordinary guard soldiers.

On May [-]th, the Chu army conquered Liuzhou City. The two new soldiers in the city, the right army with two thousand remnants, fled early when the situation was not good. They grabbed a lot of tickets in Liuzhou City and got a lot of armor, old cannons, mules and horses food and so on.

In short, when the right army of the Liangguang New Standard Army escaped from Liuzhou City, the overall mental outlook was much stronger than when they fled to Liuzhou City.

As for the other guards of the Ming army in the city, they were either killed or injured or surrendered. It is worth mentioning that these local guards rarely retreated to other places in an organized way. ran home.

Because these guard soldiers are usually temporarily recruited from the local guards, or they are simply young and strong county braves recruited from the local people.

People's home is here!

As for the battalion sentry soldiers who are often recruited and formed into field troops to fight... These battalion sentry soldiers were exhausted in the previous battles in Guilin and even earlier in the southern Chu.

Whether it was Yang Sichang in the past or Xiong Wencan now, they all mobilized a large number of guard soldiers from Guangdong, Guangxi and even Yunnan and Guizhou, and organized them into battalion sentry field troops to fight against the Chu army in the Huguang area.

And these battalion sentry soldiers basically never return...

Therefore, when the Chu army invaded the Guangdong and Guangxi regions, Xiong Wencan had to use a small number of soldiers left behind in the local guards plus a large number of young guards called guards, who actually had no military training. Chu thief.

Not to mention the low combat effectiveness of these people, their morale is very low, and they especially like to surrender at every turn...

As long as the Chu thieves don't kill them, these people can easily turn to the thieves, and even if they don't turn to the thieves, they can easily run away and go home...

This also led to the fact that although the number of prisoners captured by the Chu army in the Battle of Liuzhou was not small, the quality was really not good.

The quality of these so-called guard soldiers is not even as good as the young and strong civilian husbands recruited by the Chu army behind their own homes.

So, after looking at the thousands of captives captured in the Battle of Liuzhou, several officers of the accompanying Military and Political Department shook their heads, and then dismissed the idea of ​​using these captives to replenish thousands of garrison soldiers.

Ever since, in the big battle of Liuzhou, the Chu army captured almost 7000 prisoners, and finally only selected more than 200 people to enter the garrison. The remaining 6000 people were all arranged to enter the reclamation camp. The battalion, transport battalion, etc. are placed first.

When the follow-up war is a little bit peaceful, then we will gradually demobilize according to the old rules. When the time comes, those who should go home will go home, and those who do not want to go home will be arranged to concentrate on land reclamation and farming or join the construction engineering team, or simply set up a small factory for them to work. of.

This is also the method that the Chu army has explored in the past two years to treat prisoners of war and refugees.

Whether it is captured captives or soldiers who have surrendered themselves, regardless of whether they are officers and soldiers or rogues, they are all divided into management.

Not to mention those who were reorganized into the garrison or even the main force, most of them were assigned to reclamation camps, construction camps, and transportation camps.

These battalions are all managed militarily, but the people inside are not soldiers. They will carry out reclamation and land reclamation under the supervision of the army, dig canals, build bridges and pave roads, or act as civilians to help the frontline army transport supplies.

In short, there are two core points. One is centralized militarized management. This is to prevent them from becoming rioters and bandits after escaping and harming the local area. It is also to avoid arresting people today and releasing them tomorrow. Ting has arrested a strong man... Of course, this person will definitely be let go or dismissed, but usually it will be a few months or a year, especially after the local situation is relatively stable. At the same time, if you don't want to leave, you can continue to stay , and then arrange reclamation, work, etc. on the spot.

The second is self-reliance. Although the Great Chu Empire will provide rations to support them in the early stage, the Great Chu Empire will not always support them, so they need to be self-reliant. It is to carry out the construction of various engineering facilities, or to be a civilian husband to transport materials, in addition to various other tasks...

In short, no matter what you do, you have to rely on yourself.

After all, although the Great Chu Empire has a lot of money and food, it is impossible to really raise hundreds of thousands of prisoners of war for nothing, isn't it...it is not such a waste of money.

As for the large number of prisoners of war captured in the Battle of Liuzhou, because they were all temporarily recruited by the weak local guards and recruited county bravery, most of these people were arranged to enter various reclamation camps, transportation camps, construction camps, etc. went to camp.

A similar situation also happened after the Battle of Shaozhou!
In this situation, although it is difficult for the garrison to be replenished, it still makes Huang Xiangbin and other senior generals very happy.

Because this means that the enemy's regular army has lost all their strength, and they can only use these things that the Ming army themselves didn't like in the past to make up the numbers.

Under such circumstances, Huang Xiangbin was very optimistic in the battle report he sent to Jinling City in mid-May, and boasted: Guangdong and Guangxi can go down sooner or later!
(End of this chapter)