Strategy for the Revitalization of the Late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 170 Fruitful Results

Before it was completely dark, the news of the Ming army's great victory had already reached Jingzhou City. The east and south gates were immediately opened, and the "Zhongzheng Camp" defenders in the city quickly dispatched thousands of soldiers to assist in the battle.

Inside and outside the Qing army camp in the east of the city, teams of soldiers from the "Loyal Camp" were escorting dozens or even hundreds of ox carts, preparing to transport all the supplies from the Qing army camp outside the city into the city.

Li Guo's attack just now was swift and powerful, and the defense inside the Qing army camp was empty again. He led the soldiers of the "Loyal Camp" and quickly made a breakthrough and entered the camp.

Zhunta and Bahana had originally deployed troops outside the city to contain the defenders of Jingzhou City. As soon as the main army in the east was defeated in the decisive battle, riots broke out immediately. Part of the Green Camp Army fled north first, and some Eight Banners horsemen had to pursue and intercept them. The remaining soldiers and generals were no match for Li Guo's army.

You know, the "Loyal Camp" had recovered its strength at this time. Although Li Guo sent Liu Rukui to lead troops to assist in the battle, there were still three to four thousand elite soldiers in the city.

These troops were certainly not enough to deal with the main force of the Eight Banners Army under Zhunta, but they were more than enough to deal with the Qing troops outside the city who had already lost their composure!

Soon, Chen Fu personally led the army and entered the heavily guarded Qing army camp without encountering any obstacles. The Qing army flags around the camp had long been chopped down by the soldiers of the Loyalty Camp who swarmed in.

At this time, the part of the Qing army that had originally stayed in the camp had already fled, but when they retreated, they directly set fire to the food and some supplies in the camp.

Huge fires broke out in many places in the camp, and black smoke was still rising. Even some of the tents around the food camp were burned down.

Zhu Cilang did not enter the city directly. Instead, he led the main force of the army to stay in the camp outside the city. At the same time, he sent Tang Ma to contact Zheng Sen, who was in Linxiang, Yuezhou Prefecture and other places, commanding the navy to block the Qing army reinforcements, to ensure that he was fully aware of the movements of the Qing army reinforcements.

He wasn't worried about Dorgon rushing in with his Eight Banners cavalry. Even if the Eight Banners cavalry were fast, they couldn't cross the Yangtze River without boats. He just wanted to avoid over-mobilizing the army, which would give the defeated Qing soldiers outside the city an opportunity to escape in the chaos.

After such a great battle, although the Ming army was the victorious side, it was also in chaos. If Zhu Cilang could reorganize the troops before dawn the next day, everything would be fine.

However, these tens of thousands of well-trained troops also maintained a certain order in the chaos. On the way back to the camp, Zhu Cilang's soldiers along the way were waving their flags and weapons wildly, shouting constantly, their joy and excitement beyond words.

After Zhu Cilang returned to the camp, he immediately sent Lin Changfu to lead the troops left behind in the camp and the imperial army to gather the troops and deploy night defense and blocking.

Soon, military intelligence from all over the battlefield began to be transmitted back continuously, especially the news about the main Qing generals such as Zhunta, Bahana, and Wang Guangtai, which Zhu Cilang paid particular attention to.

If he could capture these Manchu nobles and generals, it would be of great use politically, and the impact would even be greater than killing a few hundred more Eight Banners soldiers.

If Wang Guangtai was captured alive, the fortified city of Yunyang would probably fall without a fight. He would then further seize the initiative on the Huguang battlefield, and Dorgon would certainly not dare to stay south of the Yangtze River for a long time.

However, due to the chaos on the battlefield and the inconvenience of moving at night, there was no definite news about Zhunta. Bahana was eventually confirmed to have died in the breakout battle in the deserted village, while Wang Guangtai was captured alive by the cavalry under Li Guo.

As for the results of this battle, especially the exact number of enemies killed and captured, as well as the Eight Banners who broke through and escaped to the north, there is no exact statistics yet from any of the tribes.

Zhu Cilang estimated that the number of Eight Banners soldiers who broke through the siege should not exceed 1,500, most of whom were the Eight Banners soldiers left behind by Zhunta outside the city of Jingzhou, and only a few hundred escaped from the decisive battle.

The number of Green Camp troops that successfully broke through should be even smaller, and most of them were the troops left behind by Zhunta outside Jingzhou City. After fleeing north, these troops would most likely follow the official road heading north, pass through Jingmenzhou, and flee directly back to Xiangyang.

At this time, the once invincible Eight Banners Army had been frightened by Zhu Cilang and his army. They fled in a panic and did not dare to stay on the road for a moment.

As night fell, the mopping-up operations in Jingzhou and various places on the north bank of the Yangtze River came to a temporary halt. Hundreds of defeated soldiers of the Eight Banners Army and the Green Camp Army fled into the surrounding abandoned villages and hid under the cover of night.

In the wilderness outside Jingzhou City, countless bonfires were lit around the several camps of the Ming and Qing armies. Under the night sky, the ground looked like a sea of ​​stars, brilliant and dazzling.

At this time, the battle in the wilderness had completely ended, and Zhu Cilang had completely controlled the battlefield. The bonfires in the surrounding areas were mainly to prevent the defeated soldiers from escaping under the cover of night.

The Ming army also sent out a large number of scouts and ambush troops. At the same time, in those key places, there was a bureau of combat soldiers and a team of cavalry to provide support, which was very tight.

At this time, Zhu Cilang naturally could not order his soldiers to take the risk of encirclement and suppression, as that would only increase casualties!

After all, these deserted villages had long been abandoned and there were no supplies at all. On cold winter nights, it was impossible for the defeated Qing soldiers to stay there for long. Even after one night, hundreds of Green Camp soldiers surrendered voluntarily.

Zhu Cilang was not worried at all about not being able to wipe out these defeated Qing soldiers. The weather was enough to weaken their combat effectiveness and kill most of the wounded.

The Central Army, the Left Army, the Heavenly Cavalry Army, and the Loyal Camp needed to rest in the wilderness for a few days to recover their combat effectiveness. As for the pursuing troops, Zhu Cilang only sent Chang Denggui to lead a team of cavalry to symbolically pursue them north for more than a hundred miles.

However, under such a heavy blow, the Qing army had no ability to launch a large-scale counterattack or surprise attack. At most, the defeated soldiers could only struggle to their death.

By the afternoon of the next day, all the armor and weapons on the battlefield had been collected and piled up in the wilderness, but there was no time for specific classification. The captured Qing army muskets and artillery were only used for simple rain protection.

The moment Zhu Cilang won the battle, he immediately ordered Li Guo to quickly regroup the 20,000 to 30,000 civilians who were on high alert in Jingzhou City and leave the city early in the morning.

They were well-supplied and moved quickly. Seeing His Majesty's great victory, their morale was greatly boosted. Tens of thousands of corpses of soldiers and horses in the wilderness were quickly cleared away, gathered together and burned, and the pools of blood were quickly buried.

After arranging and deploying a series of actions outside the city, Zhu Cilang led part of the troops into Jingzhou City and began to prepare for the summary meeting of the war.

Every time he was preparing for a decisive battle, he would stay awake for several days and nights. This had become a habit. Last night's sleep was the most comfortable sleep he had had in the past five days.

This is what is required of a military commander in a decisive battle involving tens of thousands of troops. If his body cannot withstand it, he will probably fall down before the battle even begins.

Of course, this is not just the case with Zhu Cilang. The same applies to Chen Fu, Chang Denggui, Zhang Huangyan, Lin Changfeng, Li Guo and others. During the preparation period for the war, they would often seize any opportunity to rest, even if it was just to take a nap.

However, except for Zhang Huangyan, these people are all those who survived in extremely harsh environments. Their physical conditions are already one in a hundred, or even one in a thousand. For them, enduring a few days of hardship is nothing.

By the time all the affairs outside the city were basically handled, Chang Denggui had also returned to Jingzhou City. Li Guo's general's mansion was now filled with generals and battalion officers from various armies. Everyone was talking excitedly, and bursts of hearty laughter could be heard from time to time.

At the beginning of the meeting, Zhu Cilang naturally praised the generals in front of him, starting with Chen Fu, then Chang Denggui, Lin Changfeng, and Li Guo, and praised the heroic performance of each unit in turn, especially at the critical moment, when they defeated the Palace Front Army and the Tianqi Army of the Eight Banners.

In this battle, the performance of the Palace Front Central Army was particularly outstanding. Not only did they cooperate with the Tianqi Army to block the fierce attack of thousands of Eight Banners cavalry, but they were also able to successfully counterattack in the end, dealing a huge blow to the Qing army and laying the foundation for the final victory of the war.

Of course, in addition to this contribution, Chang Denggui also made an indelible contribution by leading his troops to block the Qing army's breakout.

The powerful attacking power and flexibility displayed by the "Palace Front Central Army" and the "Heavenly Cavalry Army" during the all-out charge ultimately contributed to the victory on the northern battlefield, and once again earned recognition for Chang Denggui, the veteran leader of the Heavenly Cavalry Army.

Of course, Chen Fu blocked the Qing army's attack at the beginning, and Li Guo finally took decisive action, attacking the fleeing Qing army from the west and capturing Wang Guangtai alive, which was also a significant contribution.

After Zhu Cilang's initial evaluation of his achievements, Chen Fu immediately began to preside over the subsequent agenda in a warm atmosphere, with Zhang Huangyan assisting as his deputy.

After the reconstruction of the Five Military Commandery and the further refinement of its functions, this post-war summary meeting did not directly report the results of the battle as in the previous Battle of Fengyang, but first analyzed the gains and losses of the strategies and tactics of each unit in this war.

As the most insightful general in strategic research in the Five Military Commandery, Chen Fu, at the instruction of Zhu Cilang, began to take charge of the explanation of this area.

It's important to understand that this war, from pre-war decisions to the strategic choices made on the battlefield, was entirely carried out within the framework of the Five Armies Commandery. The Commandery formulated a comprehensive and well-planned defensive and offensive plan, as well as backup plans for various emergencies.

This is actually the fundamental reason why Zhu Cilang was able to react so quickly on the battlefield and launch attacks so decisively and boldly. Relying solely on personal strength, without pre-war deductions and preparations, it would be difficult to make accurate and comprehensive judgments on the overall situation of the battlefield in a short period of time.

Of course, Zhu Cilang's ultimate goal in instructing such a discussion was to unify the military's opinions, so that he could capitalize on the momentum of this great victory and further expand the authority of the Five Military Commandery. Furthermore, he announced that he would continue to promote the "Military Academy" within the army after this battle, and intended to make strategic and tactical training a prerequisite for the promotion of mid- and senior-level officers.

He has always attached great importance to education, but the current financial situation and talent pool have forced him to concentrate educational resources on the military, especially officers, and he plans to improve the military and cultural quality of soldiers in a timely manner in the future.

The army is an important force for him to control the local area. Many soldiers and officers in various armies will retire in the next few years for various reasons and become the backbone of the new dynasty's governance of society.

This has already been experimented with in various places in Jiangbei, and Zhu Cilang has seen encouraging results.

If he wants to further reform the Ming Dynasty in the future, he must reserve enough cadres in advance, and these reserve cadres from the army are his largest support group.

Zhu Cilang knew very well that outside the court, his enemy was the Qing Dynasty, and inside the court, he also had opponents. This meant that as the emperor of the Ming Dynasty, he had to be prepared for every step he took.

At the same time, taking this opportunity, Zhu Cilang also made a timely summary of the army's strategic thinking of concentrating superior forces in this battle, the coordinated use of muskets and artillery, and the powerful mobility and battlefield application of cavalry.

Of course, he also mentioned the shortcomings of the infantry on the battlefield due to problems with soldiers' equipment and combat effectiveness.

However, such a problem cannot be solved directly, especially the presence of a large number of musketeers in the army, which makes the close combat strength of the infantry inherently flawed.

After all, if the configuration of the musketeers is weakened, the central army and the left army in front of the palace will fall into the same predicament on the battlefield as the original Ming army in the nine borders.

After Chen Fu finished discussing strategic and tactical issues, Zhang Huangyan, the military judge-in-chief who was responsible for verifying the battle results, immediately began to report the battle results summarized by each unit.

"According to the reports from various units, the Training Corps has made preliminary statistics. In this battle, our army killed over 13,000 Qing troops, including nearly 4,000 Eight Banner soldiers, over 2,000 armored Baoyi soldiers, and over 7,000 Green Camp soldiers. The vast majority of them were killed after our army's full-scale charge.

In addition to the Qing troops who were directly killed on the battlefield, the various units also captured more than 400 Eight Banner soldiers, Baoyi soldiers and more than 1,000 Green Camp soldiers. After their confirmation, it has been confirmed that the Qing army commander Zhunta died in the battle. At the same time, the deputy governor Aksan, the lieutenant Batulu Chuku, the guard commander Jueluo Yabulan and others were also killed in the battle by our army.

Wang Guangtai, the general of Yunyang in the Qing Dynasty, was captured by the Zhongzheng Camp. Most of his troops died in the decisive battle. Among the more than 1,000 Green Camp soldiers who surrendered in this battle, only two or three hundred were his subordinates.

However, this man surrendered voluntarily, and after surrendering, he confessed the deployment of the Qing army in Yunyang, Xiangyang and other places. His two younger brothers were also leading the remaining troops under his command and stationed in Yunyang City.

He now only asks Your Majesty to show mercy and spare his life, allowing him to atone for his sins. As long as he can contact his brothers and generals, he says he is willing to do his utmost to help Your Majesty recapture Yunyang."

After hearing this, all the generals present showed proud smiles on their faces, especially after hearing that the Eight Banners suffered 4,000 casualties in this battle. This was an unprecedented result for the Ming army.

The previous "Battle of Huaibei" was against Geng Zhongming's vassal troops and a large number of surrendered Shun troops. Although the "Battle of Fengyang" was against the main force of the Eight Banners Army, it mainly relied on surprise attacks on the city walls. The "Battle of Tushan", although it was a field battle, was a pursuit of retreating troops.

But this time's "Battle of Jingzhou" was completely different. It was a decisive battle that both the Ming and Qing sides had been fully prepared for. The Ming army defeated the Eight Banners Army in a field battle and, to a certain extent, wiped out the main force of the Qing army north of the Yangtze River in Huguang, causing Dorgon's deployment to fail!
This was the "unprecedented victory" achieved by the Ming army. The main force of the Qing army was actually still intact, but they could no longer continue with their plan to besiege Changsha City, otherwise they would run out of ammunition and food.

Of course, the generals were so excited because they had enjoyed a great killing spree after the all-out charge. Some even recalled the exhilarating one-sided slaughter.

In the face of the entire army's defeat, the so-called elite Eight Banners became like headless flies, completely unable to fight back.

As for the treatment of the captured Eight Banners, Baoyi and Green Camp soldiers, Zhang Huangyan and others understood it and handled them according to the old rules - the former were thrown into excavation fortifications or mines, and the latter were pruned, pacified and reformed.

As for Wang Guangtai, the other generals in the big tent also expressed their opinions. Among them, Zhu Cilang paid particular attention to the views of Li Guo, Ma Chongxi, Liu Rukui and others.

After all, they were all from bandit backgrounds and already knew Wang Guangtai. Zhu Cilang also wanted to pacify him and set him as a role model so that he could continue to incite more Green Camp troops to rebel in the future.

Of course, the most crucial thing is actually Yunyang City. This place is really too important. If Zhu Cilang can control it, he can even directly cut off the Qing army's food supply and force Dorgon to retreat.

If Dorgon withdrew his troops at this time, Zhu Cilang could launch a counterattack directly. His troops had just entered a wartime state, their morale was high, their soldiers were strong, and they were fully capable of launching a strategic counterattack.

You must know that in Zhu Cilang's original plan, he could not easily force Dorgon to retreat. In a situation where the enemy was strong and we were weak, the two sides could only consume each other until one of them could no longer hold on.

But now, the situation has changed. Zhu Cilang has turned the entire war situation around through victory on the battlefield!

After listening to the opinions of Li Guo and others, Zhu Cilang immediately expressed his own opinion: Wang Guangtai must of course stay, and he even wanted to let him go back to Yunyang directly, and immediately.

After all, once the Qing troops in Xiangyang and other places reacted, Wang Guangtai's role would not be that great.

As for whether Wang Guangtai would say one thing in public and another in private, Zhu Cilang was not worried at all. He would definitely give it a try in exchange for a surrendered general and a strategic location!
Chen Fu, Chang Denggui, Li Guo, Lin Changfeng, Zhang Huangyan and others were all impressed by Zhu Cilang's courage when they heard this. In the eyes of this young Ming emperor, their worries and anxieties about gains and losses were not worth mentioning at all.

Afterwards, Zhang Huangyan began to report the various types of spoils captured in this battle. The armor, weapons, muskets and artillery were not only huge in number, but also in variety.

Although the Qing army set fire to the camp when they were defeated, the food and supplies left in the camp were still abundant, and the number of war horses captured far exceeded Zhu Cilang's expectations.

What Zhu Cilang was most concerned about was naturally the captured war horses. Although the Tianqi Army did not suffer heavy losses in this battle due to its own troop advantage, more than 2,000 war horses still lost their combat effectiveness.

At the same time, the Ming army also needed to further expand its cavalry. When the Ming army counterattacked in the future, it would have to defeat the main force of the Qing army in a field battle in order to win.

In other words, in the future battlefield in North China, or even outside the Great Wall, Zhu Cilang will need at least 30,000 to 50,000 cavalry to defeat the main force of the Eight Banners in a decisive battle.

Therefore, when he heard that more than 7,000 excellent war horses had been captured in this battle, he was very excited. At this time, there were actually a few escaped war horses on the battlefield, and Chen Fu was organizing his men to capture them.

Among the other captured items, the most precious is the armor, but these armors are also old problems. Most of them are seriously damaged. After repairs, there may be only three to five thousand sets that can be used. Most of them are cotton armor, which is a good choice to equip the garrison.

Similarly, the Qing army also seized a lot of muskets and artillery, including more than 2,000 muskets, of which more than 1,000 were still usable. There were more than 50 artillery pieces of various sizes, but only more than 20 were still usable.

As for the huge number of swords, spears, bows and axes, they have just begun to be counted. Except for a few intact weapons that are directly equipped to the army, the rest are basically used to equip the garrison.

After Zhang Huangyan finished talking about the results of the battle and the spoils, Chen Fu immediately began to report the specific casualties of each army. The atmosphere at the scene also became heavy, and Zhu Cilang and the generals couldn't help but restrain their expressions.

In this battle, the Ming army's losses were not heavy. Due to Zhunta's poor command, the various units suffered only nearly 3,000 casualties, with a casualty ratio of less than 10%. Among them, only more than 1,300 were killed directly on the battlefield.

Among them, the Left Palace Front Army and the Celestial Cavalry Army suffered the heaviest casualties, with the Left Palace Front Army losing over a thousand soldiers and the Celestial Cavalry Army losing over five hundred cavalry and over two thousand horses. Both suffered primarily in early battle formations and cavalry charges. Furthermore, the Central Palace Front Army, which resisted the Eight Banners cavalry charge from the north, also suffered over six hundred casualties.

As the victorious side, the Ming army used such casualties in exchange for the record of annihilating more than 13,000 enemies, which was already a very impressive performance.

The Qing army suffered more than 70% casualties, and 10% of the soldiers were captured, which was caused by underestimating the enemy and the terrain restrictions of the battlefield.

Otherwise, most of the Qing army, which was mainly composed of cavalry, would have been able to escape the battlefield successfully. Although the Ming army under Zhu Cilang had an absolute advantage in manpower, it would have been difficult to achieve such a result.

After hearing this, Zhu Cilang immediately ordered Zhang Huangyan to lead the Teaching Corps, the Joint Military Affairs Department, and the Logistics Department to take joint action to ensure the pensions and protection of the wounded, fallen, and retired soldiers.

He has always attached great importance to relieving the soldiers' worries. This is an important step in ensuring the combat effectiveness of the army, and it is also the key for him to control the local area with these soldiers as the main body.

(End of this chapter)