Southern Ming: A boy soldier at the beginning, supporting the world

Chapter 235 Anticipate the enemy first
"Chen Bangfu has always had evil intentions. Now that Your Majesty is stationed in Wuzhou, could Chen Bangfu be planning on kidnapping? If our army wants to send troops to aid Guangdong, we must pass through Wuzhou. If Chen Bangfu has evil intentions and cuts off our retreat, our army will be in danger." Fang Yizhi said.

Danchu nodded and said thoughtfully: "Zhaoping, Xunzhou and Yulinzhou are all owned by our army, located upstream of Wuzhou. Li Yuanyin occupies Zhaoqing, located downstream of Wuzhou. Given the situation, Chen Bangfu will not dare to act rashly.

"Otherwise, our army will set out in the morning and arrive in the evening, and Li Yuanyin will lead his troops to intercept them, and Chen Bangfu will undoubtedly be defeated. However, this man is ultimately a nuisance, and it will not be happy until he is eliminated. He is good at flattering the superiors and making friends with the military governors. The imperial carriage is in Wuzhou, so it is a pity to act rashly. If we want to get rid of him, we have to do it slowly."

Chen Bangfu was born into a wealthy family in Shanyin, Zhejiang, and was skilled in flattery. In addition to actively making friends with the sycophants in the court, he also used every possible means to form alliances with other military governors. For example, Chen Bangfu's second son, Chen Minglei, married Jiao Lian's daughter. In order to make friends with the loyal camp, he did not hesitate to marry his daughter to Gao Bizheng as a concubine.

Danchu once invited Jiao Lian to join him in attacking Chen Bangfu, offering him Liuzhou as a reward, but Jiao Lian disagreed, perhaps because they had a relationship and it was inconvenient for them to fall out.

"How about this," Yu Houji said with wisdom, "When Marshal Jue leads his troops to Wuzhou, the court will surely send ministers to appease him and persuade him to make peace with Chen Bangfu. Marshal Jue might as well pretend to be friendly with Chen Bangfu and then force him to join the army to fight against the Qing. If Chen Bangfu leaves Wuzhou, the imperial carriage will be safe. By then, it will be easy for our army to take Wuzhou."

This was a feasible solution. Dan Chu decided to send more troops to Pingnan and Wutunso to put pressure on Wuzhou as a prelude to sending troops to resist the Qing.

"According to your opinion, the Tartars have entered Guangdong. What is the strategy? Can we capture Guangzhou?"

Dan Chu is a man of great foresight. Even though Fang Yizhi is extremely intelligent, he still has to humbly ask for his advice.

"Shang Kexi and Geng Jimao were ordered to establish a vassal state in Guangdong, aiming to seize Guangzhou. They will attack Guangzhou first, and only after taking Guangzhou will they free up their hands to plunder Guangdong, and finally send troops to threaten the imperial court. Therefore, the emperor will not be in danger for the time being when he visits Wuzhou, and will settle down in Wuzhou.

"Du Yonghe was originally Li Chengdong's central army, and his seniority was equal to that of Dongxun generals such as Luo Chengyao, Zhang Yue, and Hao Shangjiu. With his prestige, it was difficult for him to control the Dongxun generals. Once the Tartars besieged Guangzhou for a long time, the defenders would surely surrender, as happened in Nanchang and Datong."

Last October, the Qing army besieged Datong for more than half a year. The food in the city was exhausted, "the soldiers and civilians were starving, almost all died, and there were few soldiers left." The defending general Yang Zhenwei and others surrendered to the Qing army, beheaded Jiang Ge and his brothers, and surrendered the city. Ajige was finally able to enter the city and ordered a massacre. Except for the families of Yang Zhenwei's officers and soldiers, "all officials, soldiers and civilians were killed", "the city was destroyed and the five-foot-high walls were overlooked", and neighboring prefectures, counties and other areas were also massacred, which was known in history as the "Datong Massacre".

Danchu looked heavy-hearted and said, "Li Chengdong, Jin Shenghuan, and Jiang Ge were defeated one after another, and the whole world was discouraged. This time, if Guangzhou is lost, the scholars of the world will be even more disappointed. The court will definitely have to move, and most likely it will move to Nanning. At that time, whether the Red Army can take on the great responsibility will be related to the fate of the world."

There was silence in the room, and all three of them fell into deep thought.

In the past few years, the Qing army has repeatedly approached Lingnan. Each time, the Ming army was able to turn danger into safety. On the one hand, it was because the soldiers on the front line fought desperately. On the other hand, Jin Shenghuan, Li Chengdong, and Jiang Ge successively rebelled, and the Qing army's rear was threatened, so they had to retreat actively.

Now, the Qing army has no more worries. Kong Youde, Geng Zhongming, and Shang Kexi are all veteran generals of Dongjiang Town, and are known as famous kings in the Qing Dynasty. Kong Youde and Geng Zhongming are good at using firearms, and Shang Kexi is also good at naval warfare. With 40,000 elite soldiers, they should not be underestimated.

"In your opinion, Commander, how long will it take Shang Kexi to capture Guangzhou?" asked Yu Houji.

"Guangzhou City has high walls and thick walls. Dongxun has been operating it for a long time. If the Tartars want to break into the city, they will have to use red cannons. When Shang Kexi and Geng Zhongming left Liaodong, they each had only more than 2,000 people. They went to Jiangnan to recruit soldiers and horses, and then to Guangzhou. The journey was thousands of miles, so they must not have brought many red cannons. "The Tartars will definitely cast cannons on the spot in the north of Guangzhou, rest their troops and horses, and pacify the locals. When the weather turns cooler in autumn, the cannons will be cast, and the Tartars will not suffer from the heat. They will take this opportunity to break into the city."

The city was conquered in autumn, which was around October or November.

"So, when will Kong Youde attack Guangxi?"

The Red Army used Nanning as its base and was more sensitive to Kong Youde's movements.

"Hunan has a large number of celestial troops, including the troops of Duke Xuan (Jiao Lian), Duke E (Ma Jinzhong), Duke Wei (Hu Yiqing), and Duke Xiang (Wang Jincai). In Hunan, the Tartars only have one general, Xu Yong, besides Kong Youde, and few soldiers and generals.

"Unless the Tartars can send a general to Hunan to guard Baoqing and Hengzhou, Kong Youde's rear will be threatened and he will not dare to go south to spy on Guangxi. Think about it, who will the Tartars send to guard Hunan?"

Hunan was the main battlefield of the Ming-Qing conflict, and its location was extremely important. To send someone to guard Hunan, on the one hand, he had to be reliable enough, and on the other hand, he had to have sufficient strength.

The Green Camp soldiers were all surrendered soldiers of the Ming Dynasty, unreliable, and unable to take on this important task. The Manchu Eight Banners and the Mongolian Eight Banners were not used to the southern climate, and except for a small number of troops stationed in Nanjing, there were no troops stationed south of the Yangtze River. The number of the Manchu and Mongolian Eight Banners was too small, and they suffered heavy casualties after entering the pass. Unless it was absolutely necessary, the Qing court no longer sent the Manchu and Mongolian Eight Banners to fight in the front line.

The only ones that could be sent to Hunan were the Eight Banners of the Han Army. The strongest among the Eight Banners of the Han Army were the "Four Kings and One Duke", namely Wu Sangui, Kong Youde, Geng Zhongming, Shang Kexi, and Shen Yongzhong.

"But is it the fake Xushun Gong Shen Yongzhong?" Fang Yizhi reacted quickly and answered first.

Shen Yongzhong is the second generation Xushun Gong, and the nephew of the first Xushun Gong, Shen Zhixiang. Shen Zhixiang, like Kong Youde, Geng Zhongming, and Shang Kexi, came from Dongjiang Town of Mao Wenlong. He died of illness last year without a son, and Shen Yongzhong inherited the title.

Wu Sangui guarded Hanzhong and brutally suppressed the Northwest Volunteer Army. Kong Youde and the other three kings each had their own tasks, and the only one who could move to Hunan was Shen Yongzhong.

"That's right," Danchu replied, "Last year, Jiang Ge rebelled in Shanxi, and the capital was in danger. Dorgon transferred Shen Yongzhong to Jinan to cooperate with Zhang Cunren to suppress the Liuyuan Army in Shandong. Looking at the situation in the world, Dorgon wanted to transfer the Tartars to Hunan, so he could only transfer Shen Yongzhong."

Shen Yongzhong's troops were mostly infantrymen. It would take at least three or four months to march from Shandong to Hunan, and it would be midsummer when they arrived in Hunan. The Eight Banners were all northerners, and they never fought in the summer. If Kong Youde wanted to march south in a big way, he would have to wait until autumn. Quanzhou, Yanguan, Zhenxiaguan, and Guilin were all places that must be fought for by military strategists. Even if Kong Youde conquered them one by one, it would take until the end of the year for him to attack Zhaoping, Yong'an, or even Xunzhou and Nanning.

Danchu sighed, "Jin Shenghuan, Li Chengdong, Jiang Ge and others have all been defeated. This time, no one can help us. We still have more than half a year, so we must speed up our military preparations and equip ourselves with all the equipment and train our troops before the Tartars arrive. Then, we will be able to fight the Tartars to the death, and we will be confident of winning."

(End of this chapter)