In the blink of an eye, it was already the seventeenth day of the Battle of Youzhou.

I sat on the gatehouse of Jingtai Gate, the only one in the inner city that was still intact, receiving congratulations and gifts from the soldiers of the army who had paraded through the city, as well as the victory ceremony of the routine prisoners parade through the streets, and watching some of them embark on new journeys and battlefields.

It's just that in the final battle that has just ended, the Chinese army led by me still made a very superficial mistake, or it is obvious that it underestimated the willingness and determination of the other side to fight to the death; I wanted to catch a big fish, but I didn't expect to hit the net headlong with a big tuna that was rampage and full of brute force.

Although there is a preset geographical advantage and the ambush advantage of the home field, the number of attacks and kills by the opponent from the reserved gap still exceeds the expected upper limit of our army; I thought that it would be similar to be able to surround and eat one-third to one-half of the opponent's military strength, but I didn't expect that the other party was not shrinking and regrouping its strength, but instead invested all of its strength in a desperate way;

As a result, the subsequent tactical purpose of cutting off the enemy's troops did not achieve the expected effect; The pincer attacks launched by several well-armored battalions used to block the breach of the city wall were actually reopened a huge gap after the initial closure of the enemy, despite the enemy's advance without regard for the casualties;

Then, under the residual impact of the over-saturated attack that exceeded the pre-ambush Huai army's position, the pocket formations of the two military positions that were relatively intact in Waiguo City were almost expanded and broken, and became the result of a fish dying and the net being broken.

Because the reciprocating guns and firearms were overheated and could not be cooled, or because of the fatigue and mistakes accumulated under the high-intensity attack, all kinds of deflagration and accidental injuries were frequent, and the enemy took the opportunity to rush to the front and fell into hand-to-hand combat, at least a dozen preset fronts were broken through and scattered, and they could not be contained and reorganized in a short time;

Even in some areas and fronts where key points were choked, although there were no signs of major vacillation or retreat, they also fell into the predicament and problems of failing to mobilize troops, seriously under-manning the available manpower, declining morale, and fading initiative, and were missed by some small groups of the enemy, causing new confusion and losses in the rear.

If it weren't for the last three who took the initiative to ask for help, they took my pro-direct battalion to kill and go out decisively from the inner city, and blocked these enemies who were obviously strong crossbows at the end of the crossbow, but they were as crazy as chicken blood, and by the way, they encouraged and boosted the morale of some weakness; I'm afraid that if I really want to highlight the pockets and encirclements preset by the Huai Army, a series of unexpected changes and chain reactions will occur.

As the price of forcibly closing up, the pro-direct battalion, which acted as the last firewall and mainstay, lost hundreds of people, and the first three were also injured; After the horse knocked over and slashed the third enemy general, the enemy general who was knocked down head-on stabbed the leg armor with all his might, although because of the excellent quality of the forged steel armor did not penetrate the protection, but left a large piece of bruises and bruises, which made it a little inconvenient to walk.

This battle has also exposed other problems:

For example, after a series of victories and upper hand, there is inevitably some emotion and mentality of underestimating the enemy's arrogant victory; In addition, in order to seek perfection, the front line was stretched too long, resulting in too much dispersion of forces and seriously weakening the cluster advantage of firearms arrays; The recruits who were added after the expansion of the army lacked resilience and agility in hand-to-hand combat;

There is also the poor care and maintenance of firearms after successive battles; After the street fighting began, there was a certain degree of confusion and deviation in the delivery of supplies to the enemy; and so on from top to bottom a series of big and small problems; It is necessary to further summarize and reflect, and even give rewards and punishments, incentives and improvements.

But in any case, after paying seven battalions to be disabled one after another, and eleven battalions to lose more than three or four as the price, in Youzhou and even in the states in front of the mountain, the last of the established living forces were declared to be destroyed as an aftermath, and the battle of the Northern Expedition could finally come to an end temporarily.

In this imperfect ambush battle in the city, at least more than 20,000 people were beheaded, and nearly 30,000 people were captured; In addition, there are about 110,000 surviving households in the city, which are under the control of Huai Town.

The attached Huai army cavalry is also pursuing the remnants of the Pinglu army's former camp outside the city, and almost an endless stream of prisoners have been captured and transported back one after another, but there are not many real soldiers, mainly those who have been requisitioned and coerced along the way.

Then, as if in a chain reaction, news and good news of another secondary battlefield followed, as Yingzhou (in present-day Chaoyang, Liaoning Province), one of the four towns of Pinglu, changed hands completely;

Just two days ago, Liu Qi led the four battalions of the navy to land in Pingzhou, northeast of Youzhou, and raided many cities behind Yingzhou along the coastline, and finally successfully joined forces with the 20,000 feudal allied troops in the southwest of Liaoxi under the besieged Liucheng City, and defeated it with artillery.

Since then, Huaizhen and the entire territory of Liaoxi, Liaodong and even Andong have been connected through the control area on land, and the entire Bohai Sea has completely turned into an inland sea surrounded by the chassis of Huaizhen.

It can be said that the corresponding news is wearing fast in this great plain area, and just relying on some rangers and scouts who go out to reconnoiter and patrol, it can often make some cities and towns in the north of Youzhou and the southern foot of Yanshan Mountain open their doors one after another.

Although there may still be some remnants and potential resistance forces in some places, they are no longer an inconsequential intermediary to the surging general trend that Huaizhen has in control of today; It can be handed over to the follow-up armed cantonment regiment and the newly formed garrison regiment and patrol team, and through low-intensity public security warfare and armed clearance work, it can be slowly cleaned up and concocted.

As a matter of fact, with the unfolding of the Battle of Youzhou, the newly formed Sixth and Seventh Garrison Corps were already on standby in the rear of Huaibei south of the Yellow River, and they could be moved to Hebei and Ludao after the total of 23 battalions had been replenished by more than half.

Although these newly formed garrison battalions have less than 40 percent of the old-fashioned firearms equipment rate because all production capacity is given priority to supply the main combat troops, and the rest are filled with cold weapons, they are used to resist and suppress, and the only remaining traditional armed forces and old-style armies in the north still have advantages and advantages.

Although there were all kinds of flaws and imperfections before, in the end, the whole territory and situation of Youzhou that I got and took over was still a relatively ideal result;

In addition to the few people led by Wang Yuan who surrendered in time to lead the way to the party, and were able to protect the name of their families, many traditional generals of Pinglu Dao represented by the envoy of the old Youzhou Jiedu, and many resources and interest groups that have been intertwined and developed for generations, can be said to have been almost destroyed in this war, and completely collapsed.

They were first forced to fight to the death and consumed in the attack and defense of the city, and then a large number of them were killed by the internal purge launched by Han Zhongyan, and finally the rest were engulfed into the Yacheng garrison, and under the indiscriminate intensive fire of the Huai army, almost no one was spared in the burning city fire.

Even if some of the distant clansmen of the side branch who had gone into hiding survived, as long as the main family members who originally formed the backbone of the Pinglu army did not exist, there would be little chance of recovering and resisting.

However, as a vassal and relatively weak subordinate of many feudal systems and Jiangmen families, the local bureaucratic system in Youzhou has been largely preserved, and it has been able to continue to serve my newly established ruling order.

For the sake of their active cooperation and preservation of a large number of local documents and materials, I even gave them reassurance and encouragement.

Of course, this was only a temporary stopgap measure, and soon after the arrival of the receivers from Huaizhen, they would be sent to Qingzhou in batches to be re-studied and retrained according to their respective ranks and specialties;

Just like those children and retained personnel from Liaoxi, Liaodong, and Haidong, only if they pass the annual year-end comprehensive assessment (daily screening and gradual transformation) one by one, they will be released to continue to serve, but they are often no longer familiar with the original position and place; It can also be said to be the result of a boiled frog-style treatment in warm water.

The next step is to solve the seven states of Shanhou (northwest of Yanshan) that have become extremely empty due to the lack of main combat power, and the next step is to completely include the territory of Pinglu Dao.

During the period when my home camp rested on the spot in Youzhou and replenished the personnel and materials that were transported subsequently, and the wounded and prisoners were transported in batches;

As the vanguard force responsible for opening the way for the army, the advance strike force of several battalions composed of chariot battalions and hussars under the leadership of Zhang Xian has passed through the natural narrow victory of Xifengkou and Gubeikou at the southern foot of Yanshan Mountain, and has begun to cross the Yanshan Mountain Range.

(End of chapter)