Just when the officers of the First Infantry Corps were worried about the fifth or even sixth strong attack of the Ming army, the Ming army under the mountain retreated!

When they saw a large number of Ming troops beginning to retreat, many Tang soldiers on the top of the mountain burst into cheers!

In the face of four waves of wheel warfare of nearly 30,000 people, this forward force, which only had more than 4,000 people, paid a lot of price with the first step corps as the core, but in the end it was blocked.

And the commander of this forward force, Wang Chaohong, chief of staff of the First Army, also smiled!

As a senior general, he knows better than ordinary soldiers that the victory in this battle is not only to hold this position and kill or injure five or six thousand Ming troops, but also to bring a series of reactions behind it!

He defended this fort and successfully forced the Ming army of Hengyang to abandon the ship and go ashore, and then had to go to Changsha from the land with a large amount of baggage!

With such a long distance from here to Changsha, there was no way for them to escape the interception of the main force of the First Army!

At present, there is the main force of the first army to intercept, and then there is its own side and the third mixed regiment to pursue, and the remaining more than 20,000 Hengyang Ming troops are difficult to fly even if they have wings!

When this Hengyang Ming army is annihilated, the main force of the first army of their own side will be able to go north to Changsha to join the second army, and then take Changsha with an absolute advantage.

And in the follow-up, it will be able to integrate the main forces of the First Army and the Second Army to advance eastward along the river, sweeping Wuchang and Jiujiang all the way to Jinling City in Nanzhili!

The impact of this battle is far more far-reaching than what appears on the surface!

And Wang Chaohong also believes that His Majesty can see this, can see the merits of his Wang Chaohong, maybe it won't be long before he can sit as the commander of a certain main infantry division, and if he stays up for another year or two, the scale of the Tang Army will expand a little, and he can also be expected to be a commander.

Wang Chaohong, who was in a good mood, on the one hand, ordered the soldiers to clean up the battlefield, mainly to bury the dead soldiers on both sides and treat the wounded on both sides!

Even if most of them were killed and wounded by the Ming army, since they won this battle, as the victors, they didn't want to see their dead in the wilderness, so it was better to let them be buried in the ground.

And the wounded can be treated!

After all, there is respect for opponents, that is, respect for oneself!

It is a pity that although the Ming army failed to attack, it was still very orderly when retreating, except for a few exploding guns, none of the other field guns remained.

However, the shotguns and light weapons such as muskets, swords, spears, armor, shields and other light weapons carried by the Ming troops who participated in the attack before were left behind!

The shotguns and muskets in them naturally have to be recovered, even if the quality is poor, but they can still be used.

Swords, spears, armor and shields are selected and selected, and the good quality ones are used directly, and the general ones are not taken away, and they are directly stored here for the troops behind to take over.

With the bloodless capture of Hengyang, the current Tang Dynasty has completely opened up the river transportation channel of the Xiangjiang River, a large number of civilian officials began to be stationed in various parts of Hengyang Prefecture, and the first supplementary brigade was also stationed in Hengyang, and took on the important task of maintaining the entire logistics supply line, and at the same time had to clear out some Ming army routs, bandits and the like.

The third mixed group is to go north along the Xiangjiang River day and night!

It's a pity that the ships on the Hengyang side were all taken away or burned by the Hengyang Ming Army at that time, and there were not many ships of the Tang Army in the rear, most of which had to be used to transport supplies, otherwise, the third mixed regiment could also go north directly by boat.

Even at the Shenjia Ferry, the ships that the Ming army in Hengyang originally took were all set on fire by themselves before the Ming army withdrew, otherwise, the capture of more than 100 large and small ships could greatly alleviate the dilemma of the lack of ships in the Xiangjiang River of the Tang Dynasty.

When cleaning up the battlefield, Wang Chaohong was already the first cavalry detachment in the forward army and gave an order, asking them to follow closely and harass the Ming army and delay their retreat, of course, it would be great if they could take the opportunity to eat part of the Ming army!

However, although there are not many cavalry on the side of the Hengyang Ming Army, the number of retreating Hengyang Ming Army is still very large, and at the same time, there are hundreds of cavalry, Lu Yuzhi's first cavalry detachment can delay it, but if you want to take the opportunity to fight, I am afraid it will be difficult.

As for Wang Chaohong himself, after letting the troops rest for a long time, he also followed with the first step corps and artillery baggage troops, of course, he didn't follow too closely.

If the distance is too close, it will be a big trouble if the Hengyang Ming Army kills a horse pistol.

There are still more than 20,000 people, and there are only 4,000 people under his command, and if he really wants to face off head-to-head in the field, even if he can barely win, I am afraid that his forward force will be completely disabled!

Now that the situation is very good, he naturally won't take any more risks!

The task of intercepting and even annihilating more than 20,000 people of the Hengyang Ming Army was the task of the main force of the First Army, not the task of his forward force, Wang Chaohong.

When these two troops were heading north one after the other, in the northwest, the main force of the First Army was also speeding up!

Since receiving the information that the Hengyang Ming army had fled north, Hao Bonian had already changed the direction of the march, not directly towards Changsha, but directly eastward, trying to intercept the Hengyang Ming army.

Hao Bonian can't let this Hengyang Ming army also enter Changsha City, in that case, the battle of Changsha will not be easy to fight.

And Hao Bonian, who was on the way, received news from Wang Chaohong today, and learned that the forward troops led by Wang Chaohong had already repelled the attack of the Hengyang Ming army, forcing them to abandon the ship and land on the shore, and rushed to Changsha by land.

Hao Bonian said with joy on his face: "This Wang Chaohong has finally lived up to His Majesty's hard work for him!" ”

The Hengyang Ming army could not take a boat down the river quickly, which meant that his first army would be able to stop them!

And calculating the distance, it is estimated that the two armies will be able to contact in two days, and when the main force of his first army is exhausted, he doesn't think that the Hengyang Ming army will be able to break through his own interception and go north!

And the fact is indeed as he expected, the next day, the reconnaissance cavalry of the First Army contacted the First Cavalry Detachment, and learned the accurate location of the Hengyang Ming Army.

But then this Hengyang Ming Army also seemed to find that there was the main force of the First Army in front of it to intercept, and then turned to the east!

Looking at the map, Hao Bonian knew what these Ming troops were planning, they wanted to cross the Xiangjiang River and get rid of the interception of the main force of the First Army!

If you calculate the distance, you are still far away from them, and there is no way to stop them before they cross the river, so Hao Bonian immediately ordered to continue to move eastward, and then cross the river directly!

At the same time, he also personally gave an order to Brigadier General Lu Yuzhi of the First Cavalry Detachment, asking the cavalry detachment to delay their crossing of the river and buy time for the main force of the First Army to arrange an interception circle!

Lu Yuzhi, a cavalry veteran in the Tang Army, did not act brutally after receiving the order, but first made a big circle, and after getting rid of the entanglement of more than 500 cavalry of the Ming army, he appeared in the north of the Ming army in Hengyang and attacked the Ming army that was crossing the river!

Although this attack was blocked by the Ming army's palace troops, it also successfully disrupted the Ming army's rhythm of crossing the river, forcing the Ming army to slow down the speed of crossing the river and dispatch more troops to the palace to guard against Lu Yuzhi's cavalry raid.

At the same time, the forward troops and the 3rd Mixed Regiment that were chasing in the rear also received orders and crossed the river directly!

As a result, this battle was transferred from the west of the Xiangjiang River to the east!

Although the armies of both sides are still dozens of miles apart, there are a large number of scouts on both sides, and the armies of both sides are not hundreds or thousands, but tens of thousands of people who can't hide it at all, so whether it is the Ming army or the Tang army, they have been able to know the situation of the other side.

Cheng Hongan almost watched as a huge encirclement gradually took shape on the east bank of the Xiangjiang River!

And the road to Changsha in the north is even more blocked!

Continue to go north, that's looking for death!

At this time, Cheng Hongan was also decisive enough, he directly abandoned almost all the field guns and ammunition and other slowing down baggage, and in order to prevent these artillery and baggage from being tested by the Tang Army, he simply abandoned these heavy field artillery and ammunition directly in Xiangjiang!

Then continue to flee east with a large army without baggage!

He's going to Jiangxi!

Although it is also dangerous to go to Jiangxi, it is better than being surrounded like now!

Knowing that the Hengyang Ming Army had abandoned all the artillery and baggage and fled lightly, Hao Bonian snorted coldly: "With these artillery, the official will be afraid of three points, but now!" ”

Soon he called the adjutant: "Order the troops to pursue lightly, the infantry to march quickly, and the artillery and baggage to follow!" ”

"Send a fast horse to the striker again, and let them follow lightly!"

"As for the 3rd Mixed Regiment, they are too late, let them go directly to Changsha with the artillery and baggage of the forward troops"

After that, he looked up at the southeast direction and muttered, "If you want to run, it depends on whether I agree or not!" ”

After the order to march hastily was issued, the four infantry regiments and two five-pound field artillery battalions in the main force of the First Army began to speed up with only five days' rations and light weapons and ammunition, and in addition to leaving an infantry regiment to cover the heavy artillery, baggage and other troops to continue the pursuit.

A pure infantry unit under a rapid march can march at a speed of thirty kilometers in a day!

Although this will consume the physical strength of the soldiers, the Datang Army gives the soldiers a full meal every day, and then conducts physical training, for today!

Four infantry regiments plus some auxiliary troops, nearly 14,000 people ran wildly all the way, and in three days they ran a hundred kilometers, and finally blocked the front of the Hengyang Ming army!

When he learned that the scout cavalry reported that a large group of pseudo-Tang thieves had appeared a few miles ahead, Cheng Hongan's dim eyes were full of despair.