Chapter 108 It is advisable to chase after the poor
At that time, Guan Beile solemnly pointed out that our real enemies in Xinjiang are not the natives of Xinjiang, but the Kokand people. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 infoAmong the indigenous people of Xinjiang, there are certainly many who fan the flames and fish in troubled waters, but after a chaotic situation, since it was the Kokand people who finally occupied Xinjiang, then the indigenous people of Xinjiang are also among the "upside down".
Moreover, the Kokand people are tyrannical and greedy, and the life of the Xinjiang people is much more bitter than under the rule of the imperial court, so the Xinjiang people are looking forward to someone to rescue them from the bottom of their hearts.
Oh, at that time, it was still early for the edict to change "entanglement" to "Uyghur" was issued.
Therefore, not only for the sake of the smooth military operation of the Western Expedition, but also for the sake of long-term peace and stability in the future, we should march into Xinjiang to "save the people from fire and water" and "relieve the people from hanging upside down", which cannot be empty words.
Therefore, after entering Xinjiang, we must treat the Kokand who inhabit Xinjiang and the "entanglement" of Xinjiang itself differently, and we must ensure that "no one kills or takes anything in vain" when it comes to Xinjiang.
After the Shaanxi-Gansu rebellion and before the invasion of Xinjiang, the above policy would be solemnly reaffirmed at every military meeting.
In addition, Guan Zhuofan and Zuo Zongtang attached more importance to the logistical support of the Western Expeditionary Army than to the military operations of the Western Expeditionary Army itself, and the above policy was also one of the reasons -- after entering Xinjiang, they could no longer casually "give food to the enemy."
After the Western Expedition entered Xinjiang, it strictly enforced military discipline and implemented the policy of "not killing a person in vain and not taking anything in vain," and achieved very good results.
The Uyghurs are almost no willing to die for the Kokand people, and they are forced to go into battle, but they also do not contribute to the work, and as soon as the guns are fired, they disperse in a hurry, such as the Hongmiaozi sniper battle in the Battle of Urumqi, which is a typical case.
For example, in the Dabancheng-Tuoxun-Turpan Campaign, the Western Expeditionary Army's understanding of Dabancheng's combat readiness and surrounding geography depended to a large extent on the communication of the local people.
Kuqa anyway, the imperial army has not yet gone south, the power of the Kokand people is still firmly enveloped in Kucha from the east and west directions, Kucha at that time, in fact, can not get direct assistance from the imperial army, but Tohu Dixia and others, still resolutely raise the flag, which shows even more that "no one kills, no thing is taken" brings about the people's back.
The "Hongfu Khanate" resisted the western expeditionary army, and not only could not effectively mobilize the manpower under its rule and thought that it would help itself, but also allocated considerable energy, manpower, and material resources to be highly vigilant against the local people, which was one of the important reasons why the "Hongfu Khanate" was defeated so quickly.
In short, in order to "save the people" and "relieve the people from hanging upside down", Zhan Donglu must find a combat plan to minimize the casualties of the people who were coerced by Bai Yanhu.
After much deliberation and consideration, he decided to do this:
First, through meticulous investigation, we have been able to pinpoint several "nodes" -- the rebels and the coerced people are not mixed together, but there is a relatively clear demarcation between them, and this is called "nodes."
This "node", more than one place, the Xuan army reconnaissance cavalry, determine the location of the "node" in advance, when the war starts, the elite cavalry out first, cut into the "node", and separate the rebels from the coerced people.
Second, send spies with local appearances and accents to blend in with the coerced people and secretly deliver the news that the imperial army has something to say, and that the war is going on, lie down immediately and do not run around, so as not to be injured by mistake.
In fact, neither of these two articles is very desirable in military terms.
First, the cavalry that broke into the enemy formation did not take the impact of the enemy formation as the first goal, and there were more than one "node", and the troops were scattered.
The second, not to mention - the possibility of exposing the actions of the Xuan army to the rebels in advance.
However, Zhan Donglu and his subordinate generals, after careful study and judgment, believed that the risk was not great - the number of rebels was limited, and they were all frightened birds, and the possibility of resolute resistance was very small, as long as the Xuan cavalry moved quickly enough, and the main force behind them "filled the position" in time, the expected results could be obtained.
As for the second point, there is no need to worry too much, there are all kinds of rumors circulating in this kind of chaotic army and people, and one more or less may not be able to attract the attention of the rebels. Even if the rebels noticed, in a hurry, it was difficult to distinguish the real from the fake and trace the source.
The biggest drawback of this plan is that if you fight like this, it will definitely be a rout, and it will not be able to fight a war of annihilation.
The arrangement was set, and a day and a half later, the Xuan army caught up with the rebels at Yinggasar.
The course of the battle was unusually smooth.
As soon as the cavalry in blue suits appeared, the rebels immediately became chaotic - Bai Yanhu dug the Kaidu River and flooded Karasar, thinking that he had a plan, he didn't expect that the Xuan army would catch up so quickly!
In a panic, including Bai Yanhu, the only word that the traitors thought of was "escape"!
There is no one who thinks of "resolutely resisting" at all, and there is no one to care about the people who are being coerced, and as for those who use them as "human shields" - hey, where is the time!
There is no need to implement the Xuanjun plan, and there is no need to implement it -- the rebels have all gone to the front, and there is a huge distance between them and the people behind, and there is no longer any "node".
All the worries of Zhan Donglu and his subordinate generals in advance were indeed "over-the-top".
It's just that this battle really turned into a rout.
Hui bandits and An Yi, most of them have horses, galloping wildly, although all the baggage has been thrown away, but the real annihilation is actually not much, that Prince Xuan will get Bai Yanhu and then rest in peace, naturally escaped.
The greatest result of this battle was the rescue of nearly 100,000 people of Karasar who were coerced.
Saving them is only the first step, and it is also a big challenge to safely send such a large number of hungry and tired people back to the two cities of Karasar and Korla.
First of all, you can't hit the road right away.
This group of people was coerced into making their way westward, and along the way, the rebels did not give them a grain of food, and relied on the little dry food they carried with them on the road, which they have sustained to this day - in fact, many of them could no longer support it, and fell down halfway. Every one of those who barely made it to Yingasar was hungry and tired, and if they were to go on the road at once, many of them, especially the old and the young, and the sick and weak, might not be able to make it to the day they returned home.
Xuan Jun's own dry food is all counted, and it cannot be evenly given to them -- even if it is evenly given to them, the number of these people is too large, and it is a drop in the bucket.
Fortunately, there is a lot of food in the rebels' baggage, which can solve the urgent need.
Zhan Donglu ordered that Yinggasar go to Korla, set up Jianzhan stations along the way, in addition to the grain seized from the rebels, and then transfer grain and grass from Karasar, and store Jianzhan stations in preparation for reception, so that one station at a time, and finally send 100,000 people back to Karasar and Korla.
Knowing the arrangements of the imperial army, hundreds of people left tears of gratitude and joy, and more than a dozen elders even knelt in front of Zhan Donglu, bursting into tears.
Zhan Donglu comforted him one by one, and then sent a deputy regiment commander with two battalions of soldiers to preside over his affairs. The arrangement is certain, and he immediately leads the main force and continues on the road to pursue the rebels.
In the battle of Yinggasar, the losses of the rebels were limited, although there was no "human shield" of the coerced people, but Bai Yanhu was fierce and cunning, and Zhan Donglu was still worried about the loss of Kucha.
It took a lot of time to settle the coerced people, hoping that Kuqa could hold the city and support it until the Xuan army arrived!
This time, Zhan Donglu is really not "too worried", but this "too much" and the other "too much" are quite different.
The militia group in Kuqa had already been informed by the flying cavalry of the Xuan army in advance, but what Zhan Donglu did not expect was that the people of Tohu Dixia and Xiri Ahong would not "hold on to the city" at all--they had tasted the sweetness of ambushing and killing Akmu Khan, so they repeated their old tricks and took the initiative to attack again and set up an ambush on the way to attack the remnants of the Karasar bandits who had fled into Kuqa.
However, they are also "Karasar bandits", this time, the last time, but very different, this time, the leader of the rebels is not Aikmu Khan, but Bai Yanhu.
*(To be continued.) )