I want to be emperor

Chapter 419 Complete the encirclement
Meng Junli led the army to attack Suqian City alone and did not encounter too many obstacles. There were only five to six thousand defenders in the city, and there were no new standard troops among them, only more than a thousand new standard troops from Shanxi.

This new standard army from Shanxi was not detected in advance by the intelligence agencies of the Great Chu Empire, because this new standard army is really not like a new standard army. Its soldiers are all traditional troops, and the muskets they use are still Bird guns, but there are several field cannons.

The most important thing is that this Shanxi new standard army did not go south for reinforcements until after the Chinese New Year. When the Chu army first launched the Jiangbei Campaign, this Shanxi new standard army had just arrived in Xuzhou.

They only went south and arrived in Suqian in the last few days.

However, this new standard army from Shanxi did not cause any practical obstacles to the No.30 Nine Infantry Regiment.

Under the ferocious firepower of the Chu army, this team is from Shanxi. They have never even met the Chu army, nor have they fought against new troops like the Chu army, and have not even had much contact with other new standard troops of the Ming army. The so-called new standard army.

It doesn't look like a new standard army at all, but it's no different from a traditional old army.

They didn't know how to build a new type of anti-cannon, but simply relied on the city wall for defensive operations, and even deployed the artillery directly on the top of the city.

Then the artillery units of the Chu army were overjoyed when they saw it, and then they unceremoniously used many nine-pound field cannons, five-pound field cannons, and a batch of mortars to attack the Ming army's city. A surprise bombardment was carried out at the head artillery positions.

As a result, the long-barreled cannons of the Ming army on the top of Suqian City were basically finished. The artillery suffered heavy casualties, and even the cannons were overturned.

Immediately afterwards, the artillery fire of the Chu army began to bombard other directions of the city head, and the soldiers of the Ming army who could only rely on the battlements of the city wall itself for defense suddenly suffered heavy casualties.

A large number of solid shells fired by the Chu army's field artillery hit the thin battlement walls, and then scattered the thin walls, causing deaths and injuries to the soldiers of the Ming army behind them.

A large number of mortar shells fired by the Chu army fell near the city wall one after another, a few directly landed on the top of the city wall and exploded, and some exploded just above the city wall.

These volley explosions, or the mortar shells that exploded after falling to the top of the city wall, inflicted great damage on the Ming soldiers defending the city.

In just half a day, the Ming army on the top of the city couldn't stand it anymore and fled one after another.

Even the more than a dozen officials who watched the battle and commanded at the city gate tower were dead and fled...

These idiots actually ran directly to the city gate tower to watch the battle and command. They still used the traditional concept to think that this place was so high that the soldiers of the Chu army could not hit it.

As a result, the Chu army directly mobilized two sentry posts, and a total of eight field artillery shelled the gatehouse fiercely.

Many Ming court officials were killed or injured on the spot.

The overall difficulty of this Suqian siege battle was far from being comparable to the series of siege battles that the Chu army had previously conducted in the south.

When the Chu army was fighting in various places in the south, the main enemies in the past one or two years were the new standard troops trained by the local governors of the Ming court, the Huguang new standard army, the Guangdong and Guangxi new standard army, the Jiangbei new standard army, and the Anlu new standard army. Biaojun, Jiangnan New Biaojun, Jiangxi New Biaojun, Zhejiang New Biaojun, etc.

Except for the Jiangbei New Standard Army, the rest of the New Standard Army have basically become history.

And these new standard troops are also strong and weak. The weak ones are actually not much stronger than the battalion guards, but the strong ones can also fight back and forth with the main force of the Chu army.

Regardless of their combat effectiveness, they have generally fought against the Chu army, know some details about the Chu army, and have some experience in dealing with them.

For example, they generally know that the Chu army's guns are sharp, and they know that the Chu army's artillery, especially the long-barreled large-caliber field guns and mortars, are siege weapons.

After being hit by the Chu army's guns more, they naturally thought of ways to defend against the Chu army's artillery, and finally came up with various anti-cannon fortifications.

In the end, Shi Kefa came up with the Jiujiang City Defense System, a defense system that was incompatible with traditional warfare. Song Zushun went a step further and proposed a Hezhou defense system with defense and offense.

Whenever encountering a city with perfect city defense fortifications and garrisoned by new standard troops, the Chu army usually can't get there soon.

Because if you attack rashly, you will easily be counterattacked by the enemy's concealed firepower and suffer heavy casualties.

Therefore, most of the time, the Chu army used water to grind their time, and gradually cleared the various fortifications of the Ming army through intensive shelling of a large number of artillery, and waited until these peripheral fortifications were almost destroyed, and suppressed the enemy's firepower at the top of the city through intensive artillery. After that, the infantry attack will be launched.

The previous battles of Jiujiang, Anqing, Hezhou, Huzhou, Gannan, Guilin, Wuzhou, Nanxiong, etc. were basically in this mode.

The Chu army relied on its absolute superiority in firepower to carry out long-term bombardment, gradually crushing the resistance of the Ming army.

But when it came to Suqian, the Chu army discovered that the opposite side didn't even build anti-cannon fortifications...

So much so that when the fight started, the Chu army hadn't even sent out the infantry, and the shelling had only been going on for a few hours, but the opposite side could no longer withstand the shelling, and then retreated from the top of the city.

The next thing was very simple. The Chu army didn't even engage in the time-consuming and labor-intensive action of blasting the city wall, and directly dispatched commandos under the cover of artillery to forcibly initiate the ascent of the city.

When the commando went to the city to fight, they didn't even encounter effective resistance. Therefore, the Ming soldiers who had defended the city before had already been defeated by shelling, and now there were not many Ming soldiers on the city.

The assault team climbed to the top of the city, then opened the gates, and finally welcomed more main forces into the city.

Ever since, Suqian City was taken by the Chu army, and the whole process of fighting took only half a day.

In the morning, Brigadier General Meng Junli, the deputy commander of the Tenth Division, was still eating breakfast outside the city, but in the evening, he had already entertained his generals for dinner in the city.

When the No.30 Ninth Infantry Regiment took Suqian, the No.20 Third Mixed Brigade went north to Pizhou, while the Tenth Cavalry Regiment wandered around the periphery of the Western Front.

The 23rd Mixed Brigade did not encounter any resistance when they attacked Pizhou. There were originally thousands of troops stationed there. For example, the Shanxi Xinbiao Army was stationed here.

However, most of the troops, including the Shanxi Xinbiao Army, had gone to reinforce Suqian before, so there were less than a thousand local troops left behind in Pizhou.

Even if the 23rd Mixed Brigade was unlucky all the way, there were not many artillery pieces, and the logistics supply was not good, but it was no problem to fight this kind of city with less than a thousand people and no heavy artillery garrison.

It took only two days to smash the resistance of the defenders in the city, forcing the officials in the city to surrender with their remaining troops.

On February 22, the No.20 Three Mixed Brigade officially conquered Pizhou.

As a result, the Chu Army's 20th Division and No.[-] Three-Mixed Brigade successively captured three major cities along the canal north of Hongze Lake: Taoyuan, Suqian, and Pizhou.

This not only completed the strategic encirclement of Yang Sichang's troops in the Huai'an area, but even expanded the encirclement to a depth of hundreds of kilometers.

Immediately afterwards, in order to ensure the safety of the encirclement line, in order to cooperate with the First Division and the No.11 Division to annihilate more than [-] people under Yang Sichang's troops in the direction of Huai'an, Brigadier General Meng Junli, the deputy commander of the Tenth Division, led his troops to withdraw from Suqian to the south. When passing through Taoyuan, they also took away an infantry battalion stationed in Taoyuan, then turned around and went south to kill Qinghe.

As for the defense of Suqian and other places, it was fully handed over to the main force of the Tenth Division and the Tenth Cavalry Regiment who arrived later.

As for the No.20 Third Mixed Brigade that just won Pizhou, under the leadership of Bai Yangrong, they will stop and reorganize in Pizhou. After the rest and reorganization, they will continue to fight along the Yellow River to Xuzhou, trying to capture Xuzhou, which is also connected to Shandong, It is a strategic location for transportation in Henan and Jiangbei.

According to intelligence, there are not many Ming troops in Xuzhou, and only a few thousand people survived. The No. 20 three mixed brigade with artillery and ammunition has the ability to take Xuzhou.

By the end of February, the 20th Division and the No.[-] Third Mixed Brigade had each completed their first phase of strategic goals: to capture Suqian, join forces between the two armies, and cut off the connection between Fengyang, Xuzhou and even Shandong and Huai'an in the rear.

And in actual combat, they have done better. For example, the No.20 three-mixed brigade won Pizhou and is preparing to march into Xuzhou.

The Tenth Division is preparing to go south to attack Qinghe.

Qinghe County, located on the north bank of the Yellow River, was built along the river, only more than ten kilometers away from Shanyang County, Huai'an Prefecture.

Because it is located along the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, Qinghe City also belongs to the Jiangbei area, and there are few relatively prosperous cities. Although it is not as good as Shanyang County, the prefecture city of Huai'an, where the Governor of Water Transport is located, it is not bad.

But such a bustling city ushered in a large-scale escape on the first day of March!

A large number of gentry and wealthy households in the city rushed out of the city, and then fled to the countryside.

All of this was because the Chu bandits had already reached Qinghe City, which was only seven or eight miles away from Qinghe City.

The local gentry have more or less heard of the cruelty of the Chu thieves, who ransacked their homes and wiped out their clans at every turn, so as soon as they heard that the Chu thieves had killed them, many people began to flee with gold and silver and their families. up.

However, they did not go to Huai'an Fucheng in the south, even though tens of thousands of troops were stationed there, and Yang Sichang, the governor of military affairs in several provinces, personally sat in the town.

But they still haven't gone to...

Because there are tens of thousands of Chu thieves outside the city of Huai'an Mansion. Those Chu thieves had already killed outside the city of Huai'an a few days ago. Many of them fled to Qinghe County.

Now you will let them run back to Huai'an City, isn't that nonsense!
(End of this chapter)