From the moment when the 80,000 Ming army led by Song Yingchang and the 60,000 People's Army led by Wang Shengrong, the third encirclement and suppression of the People's Army officially began.

However, the Ming court's third encirclement and suppression of the People's Army was not smooth. In the first battle, Song Yingchang's army was defeated by Wang Shengrong's army.

At the end of the battle, nearly 10,000 people were killed or captured by Song Yingchang's army, more than 1,000 injured (excluding minor injuries), and less than 70,000 people were able to continue fighting.

It was also because Song Yingchang's army was defeated in the first place, and many Ming soldiers who were injured and unable to escape were killed by the People's Army, resulting in a huge difference in the proportion of those who died and injured in the Song Yingchang's army.

The highest number of casualties in the Song Yingchang army was in close combat with Wang Shengrong's army and was hunted by Wang Shengrong's army. Wang Shengrong's army first joined forces and grenadiers to cooperate, and repel Song Yingchang's army twice during close combat. Instead, during long-distance attacks, Wang Shengrong's army caused up to 1,500 casualties to Song Yingchang's army.

Wang Shengrong's army, who won the first battle, had more than 2,000 people killed and nearly 1,000 injured (excluding minor injuries), and more than 59,000 people were able to continue fighting.

The places where Wang Shengrong's army suffered the most casualties were when they were bombarded by the Ming army and the two armies in close combat. The one with the most casualties were the first-hand troops, which charged ahead. The number of casualties in the first-hand troops exceeded 1,200, and the proportion of war damage was almost one-third of the first-hand troops organized by a brigade.

Fortunately, Wang Shengrong's army had a great advantage, otherwise the proportion of casualties to the troops who had first arrived would basically collapse.

After a battle, it was undoubtedly a great victory for the People's Army. At the cost of killing and wounding 3,000 people, nearly 10,000 prisoners were killed and captured. The war loss ratio between the People's Army and the Ming Army was as high as one to three. If the ratio of deaths continued with this battle, the Song Yingchang Army would definitely be the first to be defeated.

Song Yingchang's army suffered more than 10,000 casualties in one battle. If it were a Ming army with only 20,000 or 30,000 people, it would be a complete defeat in this battle.

However, on the battlefield, the total strength of Song Yingchang's army was nearly 80,000, and the battle lost more than 10,000 people, less than one-seventh of the total strength of Song Yingchang's army. Song Yingchang's combat effectiveness was only a part of the decline. Thousands of Ming troops in Ganzhou Prefecture would quickly join the Song Yingchang's army, causing Song Yingchang's army to recover to more than 70,000.

It can be said that after the Song Yingchang army lost more than 10,000 people in the battle, they still had the strength to fight against Wang Shengrong's army, but the first battle was defeated and so many people were killed and injured, which greatly reduced the morale of Song Yingchang's army.

In the case of a sluggish morale, starting another war would only result in more casualties. Song Yingchang directly asked the army to retreat ten miles and did not want to go to war with the People's Army in a short period of time.

There is another reason why the war was not started with the People's Army. The chariots built by the Ming army were abandoned on the battlefield. Without these chariots, the Ming army would suffer heavy casualties when facing the People's Arms firearms. If you want to continue to fight, the Ming army had to build another batch of chariots. Fortunately, it was not difficult to build a simple chariot. A batch of chariots could be modified in one day with chariots loading food and grass.

The first battle between the Ming army and the People's Army failed, with more than 10,000 casualties. The morale of the Ming army plummeted, which made Commander Song Yingchang fall into deep self-blame.

Before the war, Song Yingchang and other generals in the Ming army were very confident in this battle, believing that after using chariots to resist the People's Army's sharp firearms, they could defeat the People's Army through melee battles, but they did not expect that the Ming army was defeated by the People's Army in melee battles.

"My generals, can you have a way to resist the hidden weapon of the thief?" Song Yingchang raised his head and asked. You can see that Song Yingchang's eyes were covered with blood.

As soon as Song Yingchang finished speaking, someone expressed his thoughts.

"Sir, the enemy's hidden weapons seem to be heavy and cannot be thrown out too far. We can use muskets and bows to kill the enemy from a distance."

“This is a good way.”

“Agree.”

Many people in the camp agreed after hearing this method. Even Song Yingchang's eyes lit up, feeling that it was the best solution at present.

However, Song Yingchang quickly realized that there were many limitations in this, such as the fire speed of the musket was too slow, and the power was greatly reduced if it was a little longer. It was blocked by the shield. Moreover, the enemy could not be defeated by a long-range attack alone. You should know that the enemy's long-range attack was more sharp.

Obviously, the best way is that the Ming army also has this kind of hidden weapon. Everyone has this kind of hidden weapon. If you use it on the battlefield, I will suffer more casualties and you will suffer more casualties. The total strength of the Ming army is greater than that of the People's Army. One change to another is acceptable for the Ming court.

According to the description of Ming army soldiers who have seen hidden weapons, this hidden weapon seems to be an iron lump that can explode. If you can get a few from the enemy, perhaps the Ming army cannons can be imitated by craftsmen. After all, all the Folang machine cannons from the West were easily imitated by the Ming Dynasty.

At the end of the meeting, Song Yingchang asked the generals to go back to appease the soldiers and restore morale as soon as possible. When thousands of Ming troops arrived in the future, they also waited for the new chariots to be built. Song Yingchang would lead the army to fight with the People's Army again, and today he was easily defeated by the enemy. Song Yingchang and the generals of Ming army were really unwilling to accept it.

On the other hand, in the People's Army camp, Wang Shengrong was also discussing this battle with a group of senior officers of the People's Army. This battle is acceptable to the People's Army. With his own casualties and injuries, more than 10,000 enemies were killed or injured, if the Ming army was completely destroyed by this battle, it would be a better result. After all, there are too many new recruits in the People's Army.

Three thousand people died and injured on their own. It is impossible to say that Wang Shengrong and others do not feel sorry for each other. Everyone is alive, but now these people have fallen down forever. However, in order to guard their homes, death and injury are inevitable. They can only find ways to kill more enemies with fewer casualties.

During the meeting, Wang Shengrong and others mainly discussed two issues.

The first thing is to replenish the troops for the first landing troops. A brigade with less than 4,000 first landing troops died or injured more than 1,200 people in one battle. It is only a heavy casualty for the first landing troops. We must replenish the troops for the first landing troops as soon as possible, otherwise the morale of the first landing troops will decline greatly, and we may even be unwilling to continue fighting.

You can choose new recruits who are not afraid of the tragic battlefield in this first battle to join the first-row army and adopt the principle of voluntary action.

The second thing is that the People's Army continues to fight with the Ming army. After this battle, it may be afraid of the Ming army and begin to avoid the war. The People's Army must take the initiative to find the Ming army to fight, and the harassment of the Ming army can also begin.

The People's Army harassed the Ming army, and generally mainly firearms and cavalry units. However, there were few cavalry in the First Army, so they could only be dispatched by firearms and rely on the cover of mountains and forests. They retreated after firing muskets in a few rounds, giving the Ming army a killing and injury.
Chapter completed!