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

Chapter 266: The Third Infantry Division

The continuous rains took away some of the heat. Danchu climbed up the southern tower of Sanshui County and looked out from the railing. He saw the West River surging and the water was turbid. It merged with the Sui River and the Bei River and turned southward into the sea.

"Oh!" He couldn't help but sigh, with a hint of sadness and melancholy in his eyes.

As the commander of an army, decisiveness is a basic requirement. Cen Danchu was wise and courageous, which led to the current situation. But at this moment, he was unable to make a decision and once suspected that he was cold and bloodthirsty.

"General," Intelligence Bureau Chief Feng Jiali followed and asked softly, "Are you still worried about what happened just now?"

Just now, Chen Jiao came over to plead, with tears in her eyes, begging Cen Danchu to let her husband Chen Minglei go. Chen Minglei was the second son of Chen Bangfu, and Chen Jiao was Jiao Lian's daughter.

Not long ago, Cen Danchu killed Chen Bangfu, Chen Zengyu and his son in Zhaoqing, along with their followers and their families. Chen Minglei was also arrested, but considering that he was Jiao Lian's son-in-law, Danchu has not killed him yet.

"What do you think about this?" Danchu asked back.

"Cut the grass and root out the evil. The Chen father and son have committed many evil deeds. Keeping Chen Minglei will ultimately be a disaster."

Danchu looked at Feng Jiali, then thought of Chen Jiaoshi and Jiao Lian, and in the end he was unable to speak.

"Chen Minglei is Marshal Jiao's son-in-law. It would be inconvenient for the general to deal with him, so let the Intelligence Bureau do it."

Danchu's expression changed, and he said ambiguously: "Well, you should handle this matter. You have to do it well."

Some dirty work should indeed be left to the Intelligence Bureau. Feng Jiali was willing to take the initiative to take this job, and Danchu looked much more relaxed and asked, "Is there any movement in Huguang?"

"Rumor has it that Shen Yongzhong, the pseudo-Xushun Gong of the Qing Dynasty, has led his troops across the Yangtze River and entered Hunan via Wuchang. However, the news has not been confirmed."

"Why would Shen Yongzhong go to Wuchang?" Dan Chu couldn't help but wonder.

Under normal circumstances, Shen Yongzhong could lead his troops by water, saving the soldiers the hardship of trekking. First, he would go south along the Grand Canal, then go up the Yangtze River to Yuezhou, then enter Dongting Lake, go up the Xiangjiang River to Hengzhou and Baoqing to take over the defense. If he landed in Wuchang and took the land route, he could take a shortcut, passing through Xianning, Tongshan, and Tongcheng, and directly go to Changsha.

"This? This?" Feng Jiali was speechless and could only say, "I really don't know. However, this news has not been confirmed. Whether Shen Yongzhong entered Changsha by land remains to be seen."

In general, Cen Danchu anticipated the enemy's arrival, and the Qing Dynasty sent Shen Yongzhong to replace Kong Youde to guard Hunan as he expected. Kong Youde was already eager to try in Hunan, and only needed to wait for Shen Yongzhong to take office before he could lead his army south to Guangxi.

This rumor aroused Danchu's vigilance. Originally, he estimated that the Qing army would attack Guangxi in the autumn. Shen Yongzhong changed his route and took a shortcut to enter Hunan, and he could reach Hengzhou at the end of July. If everything went well, Kong Youde could lead his troops south in August to attack Guangxi.

The progress of history has accelerated!

Presumably, the Red Army made too much noise in eastern Guangdong and defeated the Qing army one after another, which aroused the Qing court's vigilance. Shang Kexi and Geng Jimao defended Conghua, Qingyuan and other places, and must have asked the Qing court for help many times.

The Red Army must step up its preparations to better deal with the powerful enemy. The Navy has already added a second brigade, and the Army already has a lot of escort troops, so expansion is a natural outcome.

Facing a powerful enemy, there is no room for hesitation. The melancholy on Danchu's face was swept away, and he immediately walked down the city wall and returned to the headquarters to arrange for the expansion of the army. The Red Army's land division already had more than 20,000 followers, and their strengths varied. Some were strong, some were weak, some wanted to join the Red Army, and some were still waiting and watching.

The expansion of the land army this time, like the expansion of the navy, mainly involves the recruitment of the escort troops. It is planned to expand an infantry brigade, named the Third Infantry Brigade, and the brigade commander will be Wu Jie, who is Danchu Yuancong Laoren, promoted from the deputy brigade commander of the personal guard brigade.

The main combat unit of the Third Infantry Brigade was composed of three infantry battalions, numbered as the Seventh, Eighth, and Ninth Infantry Brigade. The commander of the Seventh Battalion was Ma Bao, who was also the deputy commander of the Brigade. His troops originally had 5,000 men, but he eliminated the old and weak to 3,000. The commander of the Eighth Battalion was Liu Guochang, who had less than 3,000 men. He also eliminated the old and weak and selected the elite from the surrendered troops of Chen Bangfu. The commander of the Ninth Battalion was Cen Yong, Danchu's cousin, who was brave and good at fighting. His troops were composed of the surrendered righteous army and surrendered troops.

Danchu originally intended to win over Li Yuanyin and make him the infantry commander. However, Li Yuanyin was still connected with Dongxun and regarded himself as the eldest son of Li Chengdong, so he was unwilling to serve as a general in the Red Army.

The rainy season is not suitable for marching and fighting, so the Red Army was stationed in Sanshui, Foshan, Sihui and other places, concentrating on expanding its troops.

The Second Brigade of the Navy is the Marine Brigade, which is an unprecedented creation. After more than a month of exploration, the organization and strength of the brigade have gradually become clear. There are actually more than 8,000 sailors, warships including one large bird ship, twelve Guang ships, ninety-seven small warships, and more than 200 other baggage ships.

The Third Infantry Brigade was relatively simple in organization, similar to the First and Second Infantry Brigade, with a total of more than 15,000 men. Each battalion was basically overstaffed, with more than 3,000 men, and its main work was to eliminate the old and weak and to place women and children.

There was considerable debate within the headquarters regarding the next steps.

Many people advocated that the Red Army should concentrate its main forces in a single battle to counterattack Conghua and Qingyuan and force the Qing army into a decisive battle. When the Third Infantry Brigade was trained and the Red Army's strength doubled, it would be no problem to unite with the Dongxun in various places to defeat the Qing army.

Most naval commanders advocated sailing westward to seize the four prefectures of Lianzhou, Gaozhou, Leizhou and Qiongzhou and connect them with the Guangxi base.

Others advocated returning to Guangxi to strengthen the defense of Nanning, Xunzhou and other places to prevent the Qing army from spying from the south.

Danchu also intended to counterattack the Qing army and asked Wu Jie for advice.

Wu Jie was already the commander of the Third Infantry Brigade. If the Red Army wanted to counterattack Qingyuan and Conghua, it had to rely on the infantry. Therefore, Wu Jie's opinion was very important.

"General, it's not that we dare not counterattack because of victory, but because counterattack is useless. Last time, Du Yonghe sent troops to attack Zengcheng, but failed after a long siege, so he asked for help from the headquarters. Li Yuanyin led his troops to reinforce, flying the red army flag. As a result, as soon as Li Yuanyin arrived in Zengcheng, the Tartars abandoned the city and fled.

"If our army counterattacks Qingyuan and Conghua, and if we exert all our strength, we will surely be able to capture Qingyuan and Conghua. But even if we capture two cities, what good will it do? The more cities the Red Army occupies, the more divided our strength will be. The fewer cities the Tartars occupy, the more concentrated their strength will be.

"The Red Army has been ordered to aid Guangdong and repel the Qing army. We have done our best. Now we are staying in eastern Guangdong. This is not a long-term solution. Either we seize Guangzhou and drive Dongxun away; or we ask the general to call on all the towns to counterattack with all their strength, and finally recapture Meiguan and force Shang Kexi to fight a decisive battle."

The conditions for capturing Guangzhou were not yet ripe, and a full-scale counterattack was even more unrealistic.

Seeing that Danchu remained silent, Wu Jie continued, "If I were Shang Kexi, I would avoid fighting and wait for the Manchurian Tartars to reinforce me before engaging in a decisive battle with the Red Army. By then, Kong Youde would have already invaded Guangxi, and the Red Army would be attacked from both sides."

The words were rough but true, Danchu was quite inspired and said with a smile: "You are really a Wuxia A Meng. After three days of absence, I look at you with new eyes."

Wu Jie also smiled and said, "It's all thanks to the general's cultivation."

(End of this chapter)