1635 Han style rises again

Chapter 670 Cloudy
On November 1651, 11, Li Dingguo led 10 elite Daxi troops from Zhaoqing to Guangzhou. Afterwards, he divided his troops into two groups, attacking Shaozhou Prefecture to the north, threatening Jiangxi; and attacking Huizhou Prefecture and Chaozhou Prefecture eastward, pushing Fujian .

Yuan Zongdi and Li Laiheng joined forces with the Ming army of Li Yuanyin's department to sweep Gaozhou Prefecture (now Maoming City, Guangdong) and Leizhou Prefecture (now Leizhou Peninsula) to the south.

However, more than [-] men from Hao Shangjiu's troops of the Qing army attacked Qinzhou for half a month, causing many casualties and being unable to defeat them.When they heard that Shang Kexi, Geng Jimao, Huang Yingjie and other main forces of the Qing army had suffered a major defeat at the foot of Nanning City, they fled all the way back to Guangdong. Frightened, they gave up attacking Qinzhou again and turned around and ran eastward.

However, Hao Shangjiu had not escaped very far when he was rewarded by scouting horses. The Ming army of Zheng Sen, who rebelled from Fujian a few months ago, landed near Hepu County (now Beihai City, Guangxi) in Lianzhou Prefecture, quickly occupied Hepu County, and stood on the east bank of the Lianjiang River. , blocking their eastward route.

In desperation, Hao Shangjiu led his troops to turn around and return to the west. Taking advantage of the unpreparedness of the Qinzhou defenders, he sneaked across the Qinjiang River, and then fled along the coast all the way to Annan.

On November 11, Hao Shangjiu seized Haining (now Mang Cai, Vietnam) and Dongxing (now Dongxing, Guangxi) at the junction of Annan and Daming to occupy the coastal plains.

The Great Western Army not only achieved major victories in the Guangdong and Guangxi regions, Liu Wenxiu, who attacked Sichuan with partial divisions, also won consecutive victories and progressed smoothly. On September 9th, Liu Wenxiu ordered Lu Mingchen to take Zunyi first, and then to attack Chongqing. Liu Wenxiu led his troops across the Jinsha River. On September 20th, he attacked Jianchang (now Xichang City, Sichuan), defeated Yuan Tao and Wu Dading, and forced both people surrender.

On October 10, Liu Wenxiu led troops northward to capture Jiading (now Leshan, Sichuan). On October 2, Syria (now Yibin City, Sichuan) was broken. On October 10, Yongning (now Yongning, Luzhou, Sichuan) was captured.On October 10, he joined forces with Lu Mingchen in Fuzhou (now Fuling, Chongqing), and defeated Yuhai, Li Zhanchun, and occupied southern Sichuan.

Li Guoying, the governor of Sichuan in the Qing Dynasty, was terrified. In addition to asking the Qing court for help, he asked the court to send large troops into Sichuan as soon as possible. All gathered in Baoning (now Langzhong, Sichuan).Li Guoying knew very well that it is a big taboo for military strategists to disperse their forces. If they are stationed in various places, not only will they not be able to defend the territory, but they may be defeated by Liu Wenxiu one by one.

Qin Wangsun is expected to command an army of more than [-], and enter Changsha at the end of September.Immediately, he divided his troops into two groups and ordered Feng Shuangli to lead [-] troops to Yiyang to attack Changde. He led [-] troops to attack Wuchang through Yuezhou and Xianning.At the same time, Sun Kewang also ordered people to collect a large number of ships in Yuezhou, preparing to attack Wuchang by land and water.

Under the threat of Feng Shuangli's absolute superiority, the Qing army stationed in Changde, Shen Yongzhong, did not dare to fight, and directly abandoned the city and fled, "turning" to Jingzhou in the north.Since receiving the decree from Emperor Shunzhi a few months ago, "Don't fight wildly, move troops to be conservative", this Duke Xu Shun of the Qing Dynasty can be said to have won the essence of it. He retreated all the way from Yongzhou, Hunan to Changsha, and then to Changde. Fleeing to Jingzhou, he will never "fight" with the Ming army, and continue to "move troops to defend".

Compared with Shen Yongzhong's Qing army who kept avoiding the battle and turning forward, Kong Youde's Qing army who fled to Wuchang had no way to retreat.

At the beginning of September, in order to ensure the safety of Wuchang, Nikan, who was conferred the title of General Dingyuan by Emperor Shunzhi, set off from the north with 9 elite soldiers from the Eight Banners and arrived in Xuchang.When gathering and recruiting Qing troops from Jianghuai, Shanxi, Henan, and Jiangxi, Nikan issued strict orders, ordering Kong Youde, Zu Zeyuan and others to stick to Wuchang and not take a step back, waiting for the army to come to help.

In Wuchang City, there are only more than [-] remnants of the Qing army, including Kong Youde, the king of Dingnan, Xu Yong, the general soldier of Chenzhou, Du Rujin, the general soldier of Changsha, and Xu Zhenghu, the general soldier of Yuezhou. The troops, moreover, all the soldiers and horses in the city were defeated troops before, with no morale, and they all planned to abandon the city and flee when the Great Western Army attacked.

Kong Youde and Zu Zeyuan received Nikan's military order to stick to Wuchang and dared not disobey.Therefore, in order to boost morale, Kong Youde secretly ordered the defenders to loot the wealthy households in the city for three days.The entire city of Wuchang suddenly became like a hell on earth. More than a thousand households of gentry and wealthy households were slaughtered, and tens of thousands of people were affected at the same time.

On October 10, Sun Kewang led an army of more than 5 to attack Wuchang City, and then launched a violent attack on the city.

It was fully vented that the soldiers of the Qing Dynasty broke out their rare fighting power and repelled the attack of the Western Army for several days in a row.Faced with the fierce resistance of the Qing army, Sun Kewang was furious, and sent someone to Kong Youde in the city to convey a message that if he did not surrender within three days, after the city was broken, no chicken or dog would be left behind.

But Kong Youde was unmoved. Half a month ago, he reorganized all the defenders in the city, placed his trusted generals in them to lead them, and obtained the unified command and dispatch power of military power.At the same time, he conscripted more than [-] men and women in the city, responsible for moving war supplies and repairing gaps in the city wall.

The Daxi Army besieged Wuchang for a month, and the artillery bombarded the city walls several times. However, under the crazy counterattack of the Qing army in the city, they failed to enter the city in time. Cannon fire and arrows quickly piled up bricks, stones and giant trees to block the gap, and repaired it as it collapsed.In addition, the Qing army also forced the people in the city to build several strong barricades behind the city wall, and almost all the walls were built into the pattern of several urns.

On November 11, when the 15 Qing army arrived at Hankou Town on the north bank of the Yangtze River, Sun Kewang realized that it was impossible to capture Wuchang.So on November 11, the army was led back to Yuezhou.

The battle of Huguang, which lasted several months, came to an end.
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December 12, Huizhou.

Li Dingguo gently closed the written booklet in his hand, and nodded with satisfaction.

"Have all the documents in the hands of the staff of the Qi State been written?"

"I've already copied everything." Ma Siliang cupped his hands and said, "After I finished writing, I checked them with the documents written by the Qi State's staff."

"In the future, whenever the army experiences wars, the generals and consuls of the various ministries must record the battle process in great detail, from the pre-war military plan to the battle deployment, battle process, and battle results...all must be recorded completely. In this way, it can be used for future The generals in the army can learn from it, and at the same time, they can avoid making the same mistakes in future wars.”

"We..., I'm afraid we can't do it." Ma Siliang looked at Li Dingguo in embarrassment, "The generals in the army are mostly rough people, not to mention writing documents, even reading military orders and reading military newspapers... it is difficult to do it. .”

"...Then recruit some scholars to join the various departments of the army." Li Dingguo was startled when he heard this, and then he smiled wryly, "The staff system in the Qi army is a very good military system in my opinion. They made some unnecessary mistakes. They recorded every battle in detail, and used it as a military textbook to draw lessons for the leading generals, which will allow their generals to gain more actual combat experience and lessons.”

"I heard from those staff officers that they have a military school in Hanzhou, which specializes in teaching how to fight in battle." Ma Siliang nodded and said, "The Huguang War and Guangdong War they recorded will definitely become one of the teaching plans in the military school."

"It's no wonder that it's not unreasonable for the Qi army to assist the Yongchu court in the Daming territory for several years without losing a single defeat." Li Dingguo said: "They not only rely on the sharpness of their firearms, the convenience of boats and ships, but also the rigor of the army. The method of regulated staff collegiality, this is a strong army! It is not necessary, and my Ming Dynasty will not be an enemy from now on."

"..." Ma Siliang was stunned when he heard the news, and then he was relieved. Since he followed Zhang Xianzhong to fight against the Ming Dynasty, he has surrendered and rebelled from time to time. He has fought against the Ming army and other peasant armies. Now he has returned to the Ming Dynasty and started to fight against the Qing captives. .No one knows that in the future, the world will change, or because of conflicts of interest, or because of different positions, there will be a war with Qi, which is determined to support and protect Ming Dynasty.

"Has the State of Qi withdrawn from Zhaoqing and Guangzhou as promised?" Li Dingguo turned his head and asked Lieutenant General Hu Shun.

"After gathering tens of thousands of refugees, the State of Qi has withdrawn from Zhaoqing and Guangzhou one after another." Lieutenant Hu Shun cupped his hands and replied, "However, they occupied Aniangxie Island (now southwest of Dongguan City) on the east side of the Yuejiang River (now the Pearl River). Weiyuan Island, on the east coast of the Pearl River Estuary)....It is said that a commercial station will be established to communicate with the hinterland of Guangdong’s inland.”

"Aniang Shoe Island?... They are clearly establishing a commercial station, but in fact they are controlling the access to the sea from the Yuejiang River, and they can block Guangzhou at any time!" Li Dingguo murmured: "Does Qi still have deep feelings for us? Wary?"

"King Anxi, the Qi Kingdom doesn't seem to want an atmosphere of disharmony within us." Ma Silang hesitated for a moment, and said boldly.

Although the dispute between Sun and Li was not brought to the surface, everyone in the Daxi Army knew that the conflict between Sun and Li seemed difficult to bridge, and the two even reached a point where they didn't want to meet each other.Originally, Sun Kewang led the army out of Guizhou and went to Hunan, so he issued an order to Li Dingguo to lead troops to attack Changde and Jingzhou, and then along the Yangtze River, from Yiling (now Yichang City, Hubei Province) to attack eastern Sichuan, and joined forces with Liu Wenxiu to attack Sichuan. Seize the entire land of Shu, and at this point, connect the five provinces of Yunnan, Guizhou, Sichuan, Hunan and Guangxi into one piece, thus establishing a stable base in the Southwest.

However, Li Dingguo did not follow Sun Kewang's order at all. Instead, he led his troops south to Guangxi. With the cooperation of Qi State, he launched the Battle of Guangdong and Guangxi. Insufficient troops, and stopped in the southern Sichuan area.With the support of Wu Sangui from Hanzhong, Li Guoying, governor of Sichuan, was lucky enough to keep half of Sichuan.

"What else did the Qi people say?" Li Dingguo asked with a worried expression.

"They said that King Qin's local governance in Yunnan and Guizhou was quite effective. Dredging Haikou, saving farming and saving, and everything that is beneficial to the people is prepared. It is especially rare that in addition to the battle, he can also build irrigation and clearing water. They also praised the Xidang Spring water conservancy project with tens of millions of acres in Juntianchou." Ma Siliang bit the bullet and said: "Besides, they think that the king of Qin stipulated that the government and gentry should be paid as a whole. The need to mobilize social resources..."

"But do they know about Sun Kewang's ambitions?" Li Dingguo interrupted Ma Siliang's words, "He wants to separate himself from the country and rule the roost, and even has the rebellious act of building a new dynasty against the Ming. Hmph, Qi is the one who left the country and left the country. People, how do I know how difficult the world is in my Ming Dynasty and the evil of people's hearts?"

The veins on Li Dingguo's forehead twitched violently, and he kicked over the table in front of him, showing an expression of indignation.

"If they asked you to bring it, what else?...Just say it!"

"...They said that everything must be done as a last resort, and tolerance should be the first priority, and we must maintain unity with the outside world, and jointly resist the Qing captives to achieve a unified and stable situation." Although he was Li Dingguo's confidant general and Li Dingguo's direct cousin, but faced with fury Under Li Dingguo, Ma Siliang still felt terrified.
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On December 12, A Niang Shoes Island.

Qi Dajiang looked at Li Laiheng who had a disgruntled expression on his face, and suddenly felt an unspeakable helplessness and disappointment.

"Are you unwilling to withdraw from Gaozhou and Leizhou?"

"General Qi, since the battle of Dashun in Changsha, the whole army fell into disintegration immediately after the battle of the king." Li Laiheng said sadly: "Although we are reckless people, we don't want to shave our heads and surrender easily Jian slaves. Therefore, I waited for tens of thousands of people to go south to join Sun Kewang, Li Dingguo and other Western troops."

"But for several years, Sun Li and others have not sincerely accepted us. Every conquest of barbarians, suppression of rebels, attacks on Qing captives, and fierce battles all put our troops in the front, trying to consume our Dashun army one after another. In the middle of the battle. As for the supply of equipment, it is also intermittent, and there is no land that can be used to raise soldiers and pay. If it weren't for this attack on Guangdong, and the large amount of military supplies from Qi State in Zhaoqing, how could our Dashun Army have thousands of soldiers and horses? They swept Gaozhou and Leizhou prefectures within one month. Now, Li Dingguo wants to transfer thousands of our troops to Chaozhou prefecture, just to continue to consume our strength!"

"So, you guys plan to use Gaozhou and Leizhou as places for the Dashun army to recuperate in the future?" Qi Dajiang stared at Li Laiheng, "Or, are you planning to separate the two prefectures in the future and passively avoid the war?"

"General Qi, our department does not intend to hide in the land of Gao and Lei, and not to fight against the Qing captives." Li Laiheng shook his head and said: "We also know that the principle of how can the general be attached to the skin without the skin, how can we be negative Avoiding war? We just don’t want to be used as cannon fodder by the Western Army and consumed in unnecessary wars.”

Qi Dajiang couldn't help but frown. The Daxi army looks at its peak now, but he didn't expect that there are so many internal conflicts, not only the dispute between Sun and Li, but also the difference between Daxi and Dashun, not to mention the existing traditional Ming bureaucrats. Consistent hostility to the identity of the Western Army.

"Li Dingguo received Sun Kewang's fast horse report, asking him to gather the main force to attack Jiangxi in order to divide the Qing army in Wuchang. Therefore, I don't think they are trying to use this to consume your strength for no reason." Qi Dajiang said in a deep voice: "In addition In my opinion, Chaozhou Prefecture has always been rich and prosperous, and it is a major grain-producing area in Guangdong. It is much stronger than Gaozhou and Leizhou. If you capture it, you can ask Li Dingguo to hand over Chaozhou Prefecture to you as a place for food and wages. At that time , I will help you talk about items one or two, and it will definitely happen."

"...But if we want to attack Chaozhou, we need to cross thousands of miles. When the time comes, our veterans will be exhausted. How will we deal with the Zheng army who is waiting for work?"

"Hehe..." Qi Dajiang laughed immediately when he heard the words, "How can we let you go all the way to attack Chaozhou? We have more than a hundred ships of various sizes, which can quickly transfer thousands of your troops to the coast of Chaozhou. And I can cover you with naval guns to seize a foothold, and help you quickly capture the Chaozhou government!"

(End of this chapter)