I want to be emperor

Chapter 540

At this time, the defenders in the city of Guangning Zhongqian also learned the news of Huang Taiji's death from the arrow book shot by the Chu army.

But they didn't believe it, thinking that this was just a small trick of the Chu army to shake their morale.

Compared with these 'rumors', they have a more serious problem, that is, they have no reinforcements!
After Haug's cavalry was completely defeated two days ago, they became an isolated city defender without foreign aid, and they also knew that they were unlikely to receive reinforcements in a short time.

Even if there are tens of thousands of infantry artillery on the front of the Guangning Tunwei, don't expect to run over smoothly without the cover of cavalry.

Because once they leave the city, they are easily intercepted and ambushed by the Chu army without cavalry cover.

In contemporary times, the three arms of cavalry, infantry, and artillery cooperate with each other and are indispensable.

Needless to say, infantry, the main force of the Chinese army in the field and the main force of the siege, can also maintain multiple arms cheaply and in large quantities. It is an indispensable core force in most armies.

You can also use cavalry instead, but the price/performance ratio is too low to be worth the candle.

Artillery, placed on the East Asian battlefield, has been the core force even more than 100 years ago. Qi Jiguang's various vehicle formations and various light artillery in the northern frontier army are the core force, and all kinds of tactics revolve around it. Designed for light artillery forces.

And until now, the Chu army took the lead in putting the long-barreled artillery on a light two-wheeled artillery cart in the East Asian battlefield, and supplemented by the leading frame, so that the heavy long-barreled artillery can also quickly maneuver in the field, and then appeared In just a few years, the field cannon has become popular in East Asia. The Ming army in the past and the Dongren now imitate this field cannon on a large scale.

Now, when the Chu army and the Dongyao people are at war, the field artillery has become an indispensable and important arm for both sides.

If one side lacks field artillery, then it lacks long-range firepower. When the two sides engage in large-scale battles, they will be gradually called by the enemy's artillery calmly and gracefully.

With the continuous shelling, soldiers will inevitably suffer a large number of casualties, the formation will gradually collapse, and finally a complete defeat will become inevitable.

The same is true for the cavalry. The unique fast maneuverability of the cavalry, especially the short-distance fast maneuverability on the battlefield, enables the cavalry to play a huge role, and can effectively threaten the enemy's flanks.

If there is no effective cover from the cavalry, then the infantry and artillery can protect themselves, but don't expect to continue to operate on a large scale, and may even be besieged in the wild mountains and forests and eventually run out of ammunition and food.

Previously, Hauge led the cavalry from Dongyao to attack the Chu army, destroy the Chu army's siege, and indirectly rescue Guangning Zhongqian.

On the other hand, the Chu army sent out the First Cavalry Army and the Guards Cavalry Detachment to intercept the infantry and artillery in the rear.

As a result, the Chu army used the new cavalry to defeat the enemy's left flank, which in turn caused the collapse of Hauge's troops. The [-] Dongcap cavalry were wiped out in one day, and only a few thousand remnants of the defeated soldiers fled to the former guards of Guangning.

When the defenders of the Guangning Zhongqian Army found that the cavalry of the Haoge Army in the northern suburbs had been defeated, they were already in despair.

Anyone who sees the more than 2 elite cavalry that they clearly have the upper hand in just half a day has all been defeated, and it is impossible to get reinforcements in a short period of time, and at the same time, they themselves are not sure that they will resist for too long. despair……

The reason why they haven't completely collapsed is simply that the Chu army hasn't launched a general offensive in the past two days!

So when the Chu army launched a general offensive, under the bombardment of hundreds of artillery pieces and the repeated impact of tens of thousands of infantry, the more than 2 defenders of the Eastern Captives completely collapsed without any accident.

Guangning Zhongqian Station, a strategic location controlled and operated by Dongbang people for a long time, with complete fortifications and a large stockpile of food and ammunition, was breached by the Chu army after holding on for several days.

Thousands of defenders in the city died in battle, and the rest surrendered.

On the evening of April 29, the sixth year of Chengshun, General Zuo Yingzhe, commander of the Third Army of the Great Chu Empire, led a group of senior generals of the Third Army and several senior generals of the Guards into the Guangning Zhongqian Institute.

After entering this city, Zuo Yingzhe also found that this city was different from many other cities captured in the past. This place could not be regarded as a city at all, because there were not many ordinary civilians in the city.

At the same time, a large number of buildings in the city are basically official functional buildings. Various city defense fortifications, warehouses, government offices, and military barracks together constitute the main buildings of the city, and there are not many ordinary houses at all.

This place used to be a border town under the control of the Ming army. In the earliest days, it was actually just the settlement of the Qianhusuo of Guangning Weizhong. This can be seen from the name of the city: Guangning Zhongqiansuo.

As early as 200 years ago, this place was just an ordinary residence of thousands of households, but as Mongolia moved eastward to the Liaohetao area, this place gradually became more important.

And when the Dongyao people rose strongly, captured Shenyang, and controlled the Mongols in the Liaohetao area, the entire Liaoxi Corridor became the front line.

Jinzhou in the front has become a support point on the frontier battlefield, and the cities in the rear such as Guangning Zhongqian and Qiantunwei have also become military fortresses.

After Zu Dashou and Wu Sangui surrendered to Dongyao, after the Dongyao people took over the city, because this is the fortress city closest to Shanhaiguan, and because the Dongyao people attached great importance to this place, they not only stationed heavy troops here, but also built large-scale construction projects. The city wall was heightened and reinforced, and a large number of fortifications were excavated and built.

During this process, the number of ordinary people in the city of Zhongqian was also rapidly reduced, leaving only a small number of family members of the Liaoxi Army still living in the city. The rest of the ordinary people were either arrested and built various fortifications and died on the construction site, or He was regarded as a slave and was forcibly moved to the rear by the Eastern captives.

When the Chu army broke through the city, so many ordinary people could not be seen!

And there are not many ordinary people in the city, which also made the military lose their scruples, and directly let go of their hands and feet to kill and hunt down and kill some Eastern captives in the city.

Among them are many former soldiers of the Western Liaoning Army of the Eight Banners of the Han Dynasty.

Although the defenders in the Zhongqian Institute have thousands of troops from the Eastern Captive Headquarters, most of them are composed of the Eight Banners of the Han Dynasty. Some of the Eight Banners of the Han Dynasty are the Eight Banners of the Old Han, and a considerable part are the former Liaoxi Army who defected to the past.

But even if they were kneeling and begging for mercy, shouting that they were Han people, the Chu army did not give them any preferential treatment.

I have rattails on the back of my head, and I have been loyal to the Dongyao people and fought with the Chu army. Now you say you are your own, don't kill me...

This is no joke!
Besides, the Liaoxi army used to be a warlord's army, and it could only be regarded as the Ming army if it survived, but it had nothing to do with the Chu army, and the two sides had fought without mercy before.

After the Chu army entered the city, plus those who surrendered before, and those who followed up the city's blockade and search, they captured a total of nearly 2 prisoners.

For these people, the Chu army will definitely not be like the way it used to treat the surrendered troops of the Ming army. They will directly select them and add them to the army, even if they are only the garrison or the second-class division.

According to the high-level decisions of the empire before the war, all prisoners of war on the Northeast battlefield, recalcitrants, and those who disobeyed the managers were all executed on the spot, and those who obeyed the managers were incorporated into the prisoner-of-war camps.

The rest of their lives will be spent in the many large official construction sites and various mines in the Ministry of Industry of the Great Chu Empire.

There are no reclamation camps, construction camps, transportation camps and other things that the Great Chu Empire used to house the prisoners of war surrendered by the Ming army. There are only unified prisoner-of-war camps.

This is a war of foreign nations, not a battle between the Great Chu Empire and the Ming Empire to fight for the unification of the world. The nature is different, and the strategies of the captives and soldiers are naturally different.

They were not slaughtered directly to avoid large-scale killings of prisoners, which eventually caused the remaining enemy troops to resist and refused to surrender, which made the battle more troublesome and caused too many casualties.

In order to reduce the enemy's recalcitrant psychology in the follow-up battle, sometimes we have to give them a way to survive...

Otherwise, surrender is death, and resistance is also death. Many of them would rather choose to fight to the death.

If you surrender, although you will lose your freedom, you can only be a coolie in the future, but at least you can survive, even if you will die of exhaustion in a few years because of lack of food and hard work, but that will be a few years After the thing ah.

At least, when they surrender, they can live.

Most people are afraid of death.

There are brave men who ignore death, but in an army of more than 20 to [-] people, such brave men are definitely very few. Most of the soldiers are ordinary people, and most of the ordinary people are afraid of death!

This is also the main reason why the more than 2 defenders in Guangning Zhongqian finally surrendered on a large scale after thousands of people were killed and injured.

They don't want to die!
Zuo Yingzhe held a post-war meeting in the city of Zhongqian in Guangning that night. On the one hand, he summarized the experience gained and lost in the battle.

In the post-war affairs, in fact, the prisoners of war are not managed by the third army. Anyway, weapons and armor have been confiscated, and these unarmed prisoners of war can't resist. They just send some people to watch, and then wait for the Hebei garrison commander in the rear. The escort troops sent by the Ministry of Industry will accept it, and then send it to the coal mine of the Ministry of Industry in Luanzhou, Tangshan...

The coal mines there are in a period of large-scale development, and there is an urgent need for a lot of free young labor!

By the way, the road from the mining area to the seaside port can also be repaired.

Among the many post-war affairs, the statistics and distribution of various materials are more important, because tens of thousands of mules and horses are involved here, including tens of thousands of good horses, which can be used as riding horses for cavalry mounts.

(End of this chapter)