Chapter 1030: 1031 Lost ground
Chapter 10301031 Lost ground
Before the demise of an empire, there will always be some tragic heroes. It would be really weird if a dynasty lasted for hundreds of years and could not even cultivate a few loyal ministers and good generals.
Zhao Chen is that loyal minister of the empire who is dedicated to the Great China Empire and has certain abilities. What he still wants to do at this moment is to bring as many troops as possible back to the lower bridle.
It is a pity that he is one of the few generals in the Great China Empire who thinks wholeheartedly about this country. In the rising country of the Great Tang Empire, there are too many generals who think like Zhao Chen.
After occupying Hezhe, Luo Xiao, a general of the Tang Empire, immediately realized that his strategic depth was too shallow, and that sticking to Hezhe might let the big fish Zhao Chen go.
So he left 10,000 troops to garrison Hezhe, and personally led the remaining 90,000 troops to attack eastward.
Luo Xiao's judgment is this: the Dahua Empire troops in the lower direction are unlikely to come back again and again to fight for Hezhe. If they dared to come back, or had the intention to recapture Hezhe, they would not have given up on Hezhe and retreated in the first place.
Since the Dahua troops in the lower direction will not turn around and return eastward, it is impossible for them to fall into the unfavorable situation of being attacked by the enemy from both sides in Hezhe.
If it has been determined that the real threat comes from the east, then why not take a preemptive strike and lead the troops to kill the enemies fleeing to the west before they have a stable foothold?
According to Luo Xiao's theory, only if he keeps attacking eastward will his strategic depth be long enough, and the opponent will be less able to penetrate his control area if he breaks out along the railway line.
To put it more intuitively, Luo Xiao believes that as long as he can reach Fengjiang City, the Dahua troops surrounded by Fengjiang City, even if they are broken into pieces, will not be able to escape all the way west across Hezhe to Xiajuan. .
This is what he planned and did: In addition to a regiment of troops heading north to the wasteland along the railway line, Luo Xiao assembled about 90,000 troops, including the only armored regiment in his hands, and started eastward like this. Enter.
At that time, Zhao Chen's vanguard troops, which had arrived around Hezhe, did not expect that enemies appeared in front of them. They thought that He Zhe was in the hands of Prince Zhao Ji, so they were not ready to fight at all.
Because in their opinion, they were "retreating" this time, not a dangerous "breakout"! The troops that arrived near Hezhe had neither security forces nor sufficient weapons and ammunition.
After all, when they set out to retreat to Hezhe, Zhao Chen gave the order to retreat to Hezhe, without fighting or carrying sufficient ammunition.
The ammunition that originally belonged to them was left to the rearguard, and they didn't bring much food. They agreed to eat whatever they wanted when they arrived at Hezhe...
In such a state of relaxed vigilance, a force of unknown origin came over from the west. Everyone was confused and didn't know what was going on.
Hence, being stunned by the sudden attack, the Dahua Empire troops near Hezhe began their familiar rhythm: rout!
Of course they couldn't flee westward, because the enemy came from the west! So they chose to retreat eastward. After all, there were hundreds of thousands of their own people behind them.
That afternoon, Luo Xiao ran forward fifty kilometers. If the Fengjiang rebels' own capabilities were not really limited, Luo Xiao would probably have advanced another fifty kilometers...
The miserable Dahua troops retreated 70 kilometers in one breath before barely gaining a foothold. Having stabilized their position, they counted their losses and found that they actually lost nothing at all.
Except for the several thousand troops who were scattered, whether they were completely wiped out or could not be found for some other reason, the rest of the troops only lost some supplies and equipment.
But the most important thing they lost was actually the 70 kilometers of strategic depth they lost along the way.
When Zhao Chen rushed from Fengjiang to take command of the Western Front in person, he was so angry that he almost vomited blood: the retreating troops lost their baggage, including precious artillery shells and some food tents and other camping supplies.
In the absence of supplies, it goes without saying how valuable ammunition is. Those lost tents can also be said to be extremely important: now almost all troops have to sleep in the wild. How can they set up camp if their tents are lost?
Behind Zhao Chen, the rearguard troops who knew they were running had actually lost almost all the ruins in Fengjiang City. Now Zhao Chen couldn't even turn around and rest in the city for the night.
Part of the troops are still dawdling in the original barracks, and their situation is pretty good. Those troops that had already set off were about to stop before they had traveled ten miles. Zhao Chen didn't dare to think about that.
His troops walked for five days before reaching the foot of Hezhe City, and now it only took one day to return to the position they had held three days ago.
The armored troops and main elites who originally wanted to break out in the direction of Hezhe are now blocked on the road and unable to assemble. The entire retreating army is in a mess, like crabs in a pot, each dragging its hind legs.
The marching operation of a large corps is a complex matter in itself, which is very particular about the commander's dispatching ability and the training level of the troops. Many people were unconvinced, thinking that in ancient times they must have been capable of leading troops in battles, but in fact they didn't even know how large a camp of two thousand people would be.
It can make hundreds of thousands of troops act in order, and it is already the commander of the ancient and modern times. If it weren't for the leap in communication technology in modern warfare systems, no one would be able to do this.
Zhao Chen is actually the same. He cannot directly see the 800,000 people under his command. He can only control and dispatch the troops in his hands based on radio communication equipment.
But now, the command and dispatch are in chaos, and the original plan has completely lost its reference value. The troops who want to carry out the main attack are still blocked in the middle of the cluster, while the rearguard troops have begun to abandon their blocking positions.
This is the normal state of dispatching at the level of World War II. Why the troops will quickly collapse once they are surrounded and be annihilated and captured. Zhao Chen's current state is the reason.
The long shot of Huang Wei's regiment advancing in the decisive battle is known as the most spectacular and classic gang-breaking shot in history. This is the reason: troops that can break out of such an advancing formation are considered the best among the best in the world. If Huang Wei's regiment had this No one can surround him... In most cases, there is no need to see the enemy. If there is a little trouble, these troops will start to stir up. Sometimes they can walk more than ten kilometers a day, which is considered good.
"Let the rearguard troops stop retreating! Stop retreating! Stand firm! We must hold on until tomorrow evening! We must hold on until tomorrow evening! Don't retreat even one step!" Zhao Chen angrily grabbed the officer responsible for delivering the order and ordered fiercely.
Then he pulled over another confidant and threatened sternly: "Go to the 1st Armored Division in person! Tell them that if they can't reach the westernmost position in three hours, they will engage in firefights with the Fengjiang Army! He will be punished by military law!”
He doesn't have to worry about anything now, since Zhao Kai has passed away anyway. No one knows who takes the last position. He, Zhao Chen, can do whatever he wants with these generals now!
"Yes! Yes!" The confidant held the military cap on his head, agreed hastily and ran out.
When Zhao Chen angrily commanded the troops to move westward, Zhao Yu, who was originally trapped in Fengjiang, was resurrected. He can be said to be very proud now, and even his speaking temperament is really different.
After all, the more obvious the civil strife in the Dahua Empire becomes, the more likely it is that he will return to the position he has longed for with the support of the Tang Empire.
Now he is deploying troops and generals in Fengjiang, desperately pressing against Zhao Chen's troops who have retreated from Fengjiang.
At this moment, the beauty of his status as "the most outstanding prince of the Dahua Empire" was revealed: Dahua troops, who were theoretically cornered, began to surrender to him, the Dahua prince, in an organized manner.
It was also because the Tang Empire did a good job in publicity. These Dahua troops knew that the best way out might be to follow Zhao Yu, so they unanimously made the most "wise" choice.
At the beginning, it was the surrender of troops at the battalion and company level, and later it began to develop into an entire regiment or an entire division. More and more troops surrendered, spreading to Zhao Chen's entire rearguard.
Zhao Chen was still busy breaking out of the encirclement in the west, and the troops behind him began to disappear in formation: by the time Zhao Chen discovered it, Zhao Yu's army had already caught up with him, and had already bitten Zhao Chen's tail.
“This Luo Xiao is really a blessed general.” Almost at the same time, in the general staff of the Tang Empire, Tang Mo, the emperor of the Tang Dynasty who was attending the meeting, looked at the map on the west side of Fengjiang and laughed.
Marshal Redman and Marshal Tiger who attended the meeting also laughed. Marshal Loew said jokingly: "When he attacked Shanping, Shanping's guard Zhao Zheng surrendered, and he took advantage."
"When he fought Guiguang, Guiguang surrendered, and he got another advantage." Admiral Strauss, who was sitting aside, couldn't help but add with a smile.
Admiral Bolton next to Strauss also said: "When he attacked Wanliang, the defenders of Wanliang surrendered, and he got another advantage."
Sometimes I have to envy a person's luck. Luo Xiao has been promoted to major general after winning Guiguang. Now he has made continuous achievements and surrounded Zhao Chen's cluster. He can be said to be a rising star.
“Now he has captured Hezhe, and he picked it up for nothing, hahaha.” Tang Mo was in a very good mood and laughed again.
“Your Majesty, what is your order to promote him?” Marshal Tiger asked after he had laughed enough.
Tang Mo answered his question very generously: "There is nothing to say. If you win, you win. If you need to be promoted, you will be promoted! But he still needs to train hard and be promoted to lieutenant general. Give him the 8th Army!"
“Yes!” Tiger agreed immediately. The position of commander of the 8th Group Army has been unresolved. No one expected that the young general Luo Xiao would take the lead.
"Zhao Chen, I want to live! I like such a minister very much. If it doesn't work, let Feng Kezhi or Qian Jinhang go again!" Tang Mo thought of cherishing his talents and added the order.
"Like Wang Yucai, he has worked in the household department of the Dahua Empire for so many years. He is definitely an economics talent. Putting him in the financial department can help Alice a lot. Chen Jing can also help Matthews or Parker to make up for it. The problem of their insufficient administrative ability is not to mention Chu Muzhou. The prime minister is talented and mature, so he is very suitable to serve as the deputy prime minister of the empire. "Tang Mo is very familiar with some of the ministers of the Great China Empire.
The Tang Empire was short of talents, and it lacked older and stable talents. Although these talents from the old era have little merit in terms of innovation ability, it is indeed a very good choice to let them serve as assistants to the young officials of the Tang Empire.
As long as there are no problems with their conduct, these talents who have been officials for many years can still have many wonderful uses. Facts have proved that not all officials in the Great China Empire are mediocre.
For example, Qian Jinhang currently serves in the General Staff, and Feng Kezhi, commander of the 9th Army, as well as Lu Qianshan and Bai Fei, as well as many old officials from Zheng and Qi among the middle-level cadres of the Tang Empire.
They are all very good. If they were not really useful, then there would not be the growing power of the local faction today, right?
"I understand," the marshals and generals at the meeting agreed.
“So, get them back to me!” Tang Mo stood up and ended the meeting: “No one can be careful, otherwise I will be very angry.”
“Long live my emperor!” Everyone stood up and stood at attention to salute.
“Long live the empire!” Tang Mo waved his hand and walked out of the conference room.
(End of this chapter)