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

Chapter 281 Stand still
On November 3, the Red Army moved out of Laibin. Cen Danchu led the Red Army and the Red Army's cavalry and personal soldiers to march quickly. The next day, they arrived in Liuzhou and set up camp on the west bank of the Liujiang River, facing the Qing army across the river.

In Liuzhou, Li Laiheng replaced the Red Army flag on the top of the city wall to deter the Qing army. Many parts of the northern city wall collapsed, and Liuzhou was in danger. Fortunately, the Red Army arrived in time, and the morale of the defenders was restored, and they repelled the Qing army's attack again.

On the fifth day, the navy arrived in Liuzhou, passed through the south gate of Liuzhou, and set up camp at Luozizhou upstream, preparing to build a pontoon bridge for the land army to force a crossing of the Liujiang River.

When Xian Guoan received the news, he did not dare to delay and had to divide his troops to block the enemy, preparing to attack the Red Army halfway across the river.

The Red Army had been dormant for a long time, and was eager to take action. The cavalry commander He Guozuo was ordered to cross the river and was already ready to take action.

At noon, Danchu convened a front-line meeting on the south bank of Liujiang River to arrange the battle plan of crossing the river. To everyone's surprise, he still insisted on restraint and only sent the cavalry to cross the river, while the personal soldiers remained on the south bank to wait and see.

"He Guozuo, you must be extra careful. The cavalry crossing the river is only responsible for rescuing the enemy, not fighting a desperate battle with the enemy."

"General, the soldiers have been well trained for a long time and their morale is high. If we can cross the river with the entire army and attack from both inside and outside together with the Fourth Brigade, we will surely be able to defeat the Tartars in one blow."

He Guozuo was unwilling to give up and really wanted to cross the river immediately to attack the Qing army. Cavalry moved like the wind, which was good for field battles, but they had few firearms and their attacks were not durable enough. If they wanted to annihilate more enemies, they had to rely on infantry.

"Otherwise, the time has not come yet, and we must not alert the enemy." Danchu patiently explained: "Your mission is to assist the Fourth Association in defending Liuzhou, not to defeat the Tartars, and especially not to scare them."

The commander-in-chief's intention was to completely annihilate the Qing army in Dingnan. He Guozuo knew this, but he was not clear about how to completely annihilate them.

"General, Xian Guoan is the top general of Dingnan Clan, and he has been stationed outside Liuzhou for a long time. As long as the personal guards and cavalry units cross the river, and with the help of the four infantry units in the city, our army will be able to expand the results of the battle. Not only can we relieve Liuzhou, but we can also defeat the old Tartar Xian Guoan."

He Guozuo was still unwilling to give in, and the other generals in the tent also agreed with him.

After losing Guilin, Qu Shisi was also eager to counterattack and urged Danchu to advance: "Zhuo Ru, the Tartars are powerful. Since Kong Ni captured Guilin, the emperor has gone on a hunting expedition to the west, and the army and civilians are discouraged. The battle of Liuzhou is of great importance to the world. The army is stationed on the south bank of the Liujiang River and cannot move forward. The troops are old and tired. Why not advance immediately, first defeat Lian Guoan, and then advance north to recover Guilin?"

Before the fall of Guilin, Qu Shisi returned the imperial seal to the court, and he was now a commoner. Although he had lost his power, his reputation remained, and his words carried a lot of weight.

At this point, Danchu dismissed everyone else and revealed his intentions to his confidants: "Although Xian Guoan is the top general of the Dingnan Army, he is not the commander-in-chief of the army. Our army's primary target is Kong Youde, not Xian Guoan.

"Sun Tzu said, 'Stand still like a mountain, move like thunder.' Now the time has not come, our army still needs to lie dormant and show weakness to the enemy. Once the time is right, we must strike with thunder. At that time, we may have to travel hundreds of miles to Guilin to take Kong Youde's head.

"A long-distance raid of hundreds of miles is no joke. The army will be on the road every day, and the soldiers will not even have time to rest. They will have to eat dry food every day.

"The soldiers might be able to bear it, but the horses have to eat beans every day during the forced march, so how can we transport the baggage? Can we rely on the auxiliary troops? The infantry are far behind, not to mention the auxiliary troops. If we want to march long distances, we have to find a way to transport the baggage ourselves.

"I have already told you that you should be prepared for a long-distance raid of 800 miles. You are still here eager to defeat the Line Guoan. The battle of Line Guoan can be left to the infantry. The Royal Guards should seize the time to recuperate and prepare for the long-distance raid."

The Red Army had experience in long-distance raids. At the end of the second year of the Yongli reign, the Red Army set out from Yong'an Prefecture and raided Nanning. But that was a small-scale raid, with only 2,000 cavalrymen participating. The opponent was the Nanning warlord Xu Biao, who was born a bandit and was vulnerable.

According to Danchu, the Red Army will mobilize its entire 10,000-strong army to attack Guilin, or even Yanguan and Zhenxiaguan. Their opponent will be the battle-hardened Dingnan vassal army.

Dingnan's two great generals, Xian Guoan, were stationed outside Liuzhou, and Quan Jie was attacking Qingyuan. Cen Danchu actually planned to cross Liuzhou and attack Guilin? This bold idea made Qu Shisi stunned.

The generals had been following him for a long time and knew that he was a master at using troops, but they were also skeptical. Yuan Ping, the commander of the personal guards, could not help but ask, "General, when is the right time?"

"This is a secret of heaven and cannot be revealed." Dan Chu pretended to be mysterious and subconsciously glanced at the Director of Intelligence Feng Jiali.

He was waiting for intelligence. When the intelligence arrived, the time would be ripe. In the past few years, the Intelligence Bureau had made many achievements, and its power had expanded rapidly, becoming independent of the Red Army. Fortunately, Feng Jiali was from the old third team, was modest and had a good relationship with the generals. On the sixth day, the cavalry crossed the river, defeated the Qing army, set up camp on the north bank of the Liujiang River, and sent troops to harass the Qing army. The National Security Bureau had to divide its troops to guard against the Red Army, and the pressure on Liuzhou City Defense was immediately reduced.

The Imperial Guards continued to be stationed on the south bank of the Liujiang River, and did not move. The Imperial Guards Artillery and Auxiliary Guards, the Second Infantry Brigade, and the Auxiliary Brigade hid in the mountains north of Laibin City, hiding their strength.

The appearance of 6,000 Red Army soldiers outside Liuzhou had aroused the vigilance of Xian Guoan. He sent a letter to Guilin asking for help, and naturally exaggerated the words in order to persuade Kong Youde to send reinforcements.

Everyone should take care of their own business and not worry about other people's business. This is how it is on the battlefield. The commander-in-chief is responsible for the overall situation, and the generals have their own tasks. Fighting for troops and money is common.

Liuzhou was the focus of the Qing army's military operations, and Xian Guoan was the most important general of Dingnan. Kong Youde naturally could not ignore it, so he had to dispatch troops to reinforce Liuzhou.

The more concentrated the frontline forces are, the emptier the rear is. This is true for the Red Army and the Qing Army. The difference is that the Red Army has been operating in Nanning for a long time, while the Qing Army has just occupied Guilin and has not yet established a firm foothold.

In general, everything is under control and the war is proceeding as Cen Danchu had envisioned.

Unexpectedly, on the 12th, the Yunnan Army was defeated in Qingyuan and the Qingyuan Prefecture was lost.

The two commanders of the Yunnan Division, the founding Duke Zhao Yinxuan and the defending Duke Hu Yiqing, finally parted ways. Zhao Yinxuan retreated southward, through Yongdingsi and Xincheng, to Qianjiang County, Liuzhou Prefecture. Hu Yiqing retreated eastward and joined the Red Army outside Liuzhou City.

The Qing general Quan Jie also divided his troops into two groups, with the main force pursuing Hu Yiqing and the small force pursuing Zhao Yinxuan.

Hu Yiqing is extremely brave, loyal and upright. He and Cen Danchu are close friends and brothers. When his brother is in trouble, Cen Danchu has no choice but to save him and send his personal soldiers to fight against Quan Jie.

Although Zhao Yinxuan was the commander of the Yunnan Division, he was obese and never personally participated in the battle. He took credit for others' achievements and shirked responsibility for others' mistakes, and became enemies with another Yunnan Division general, Wang Yongzuo. Wang Yongzuo's surrender to the Qing Dynasty was closely related to Zhao Yinxuan.

Without Hu Yiqing and Wang Yongzuo, Zhao Yinxuan was nothing and his troops collapsed at the first blow.

Zhao Yinxuan tried his best to escape, but when he arrived in Qianjiang, he was still worried and wanted to retreat to Binzhou in the south. Binzhou is located to the north of Kunlun Pass and Gulou Pass, and is located on the only way from Liuzhou to Nanning.

The main force of the Red Army had passed through Kunlun Pass and stored a large amount of food and grass along the lines of Binzhou, Qianjiang, and Laibin. If Zhao Yinxuan fled to Binzhou, it would be equivalent to leading the Qing army to Binzhou, and the Red Army would be easily exposed along the way.

As a last resort, the Qianjiang Red Army attacked and repelled the pursuing Qing army.

After the fall of Qingyuan, Quanjie and Lian Guoan joined forces, and with the addition of reinforcements, the Qing army had 20,000 to 30,000 troops on the Liuzhou front. The situation gradually got out of control, and Danchu used 6,000 cavalry and personal soldiers to support the Liuzhou front, but gradually became unable to hold on.

On the 18th, a Red Army scout rushed into the camp, exhausted. His horse was foaming at the mouth, and after entering the camp, it could no longer run, and collapsed on the ground, gasping for breath. The scout fell to the ground, struggled to take out a greasy book from his arms, and then fainted.

An officer had heard the news and came over. He opened the book and found a secret letter inside. The stamp showed that the secret letter was sent from the Guilin Intelligence Station on the 16th, passed through Yong'an Prefecture on the 17th, and was delivered to the general's headquarters today.

The officer was shocked and sighed, "Brothers are really risking their lives. It's 300 miles from Guilin to Yong'an Prefecture, and all the roads along the way have been occupied. It's another 300 miles from Yong'an Prefecture to Liuzhou, and there are many mountainous roads along the way. The Intelligence Bureau can actually deliver letters 300 miles a day, they are really fast."

He did not dare to delay and immediately presented the secret letter to the Director of Intelligence Feng Jiali.

Feng Jiali carefully opened the letter. There were only a few lines on it: "The Tartars' families have passed through the strict customs. The first batch of families arrived in Guilin at noon on November 16th and entered the Jingjiang Prince's Palace. They seem to be the family of Kong Youde. Guilin Intelligence Station, sent at noon on the 16th."

(End of this chapter)