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

Chapter 313: Defeat the Enemy
On the afternoon of February 20th, Cen Danchu arrived late, leading 30,000 troops from Huben Town downstream and arrived in Wuzhou.

The situation on the front line is already quite serious.

On the northern front, Bashan and Geng Jimao led the army to capture Luoding Prefecture and Dong'an County. Deqing Prefecture was occupied by the Red Army. The defenders held out for ten days, but when they ran out of ammunition and arrows, they were ordered to break out to Fengchuan County (now Fengkai). Fengkai County was the last line of defense for Wuzhou. The First Brigade of the Red Army defended Wuzhou, Fengkai, Linshanyi, and Hejiangkou to prevent the Qing army from spying on Wuzhou.

On the southern front, Shang Kexi captured Gaozhou Prefecture, and then divided his troops into three routes. One route went south to capture Suixi and eyed Leizhou; one route went north to fight for Luchuan and Bobai and eyed Yulinzhou; and one route went west to fight for Yong'an and eyed Lianzhou.

The Red Army was moving slowly. The Fifth Brigade of the First Infantry Regiment had just left Liuzhou and arrived in Xiangzhou. The Second Brigade of the Second Infantry Regiment was stationed in Xunzhou as the general reserve and was temporarily unmoved. The Fourth Brigade had reached Zhaoping, and the Sixth Brigade was still in Pingle.

However, the Huben Town did not need to be reorganized. Most of them were cavalry and navy, and they could come and go freely to reinforce Wuzhou first. The morale of the Wuzhou defenders was greatly boosted.

That evening, Cen Danchu entered the city and presided over a front-line meeting. Operations Director He Zhaoji had been supervising the battle in Wuzhou and first introduced the enemy and our situation:

"Please see, my Lord, the distribution of the Tartar troops is clear, and the main force is concentrated on the northern front. According to reliable intelligence, the Tartars have about 60,000 troops on the northern front, under the unified control of Bashan, including Geng Jimao's Jingnan troops. They are making rapid progress and have advanced to Fengchuan County, only 40 miles away from Wuzhou.

"There are about 40,000 Tartars on the southern front, all under the unified command of Shang Kexi, including Hu Yousheng's Jiangxi Green Camp. The troops are scattered and are heading to three directions: Leizhou, Lianzhou, and Yulinzhou."

Historically, when fighting between eastern and western Guangdong, they could take two routes, the northern route along the Xijiang River and the southern route along the South China Sea. Historically, Li Dingguo entered Guangdong twice, the first time he took the northern route and the second time he took the southern route.

The northern route is mountainous, and the Xijiang River runs through the mountains, making it difficult to deploy troops. The southern route is mostly plains, which is convenient for war horses to gallop, but because it is along the coast, it must be escorted by a naval division.

The Qing army's naval division was weak, so it could only place its main forces on the northern line and bite the bullet to take on the tough nut of Wuzhou.

As for Shang Kexi's decision to divide his troops into three routes, it may seem unwise, but he had to do so because the southern route was open and had a special terrain. The Leizhou Peninsula was deep into the South China Sea and faced Qiongzhou across the sea. Leizhou, Lianzhou, and Yulinzhou supported each other. If the Qing army wanted to attack western Guangdong via the southern route, it had to take all three places into consideration at the same time.

In addition, the main forces of the Red Army were all in the Guilin area, far away from the southern line. Shang Kexi was hoping for a lucky break and wanted to attack the Red Army from the south and threaten Nanning, the Red Army's old nest.

"Where is Zhang Cunren?" Dan Chu asked.

Intelligence chief Feng Jiali responded, "Since the Guangzhou assassination, the Tartars have been on high alert. Zhang Cunren's whereabouts are strange, and there is no definite news about him yet. However, the Tartar soldiers frequently travel to Zhaoqing, so we can judge that Zhang Cunren is likely to be in Zhaoqing."

The main force of the Qing army was on the northern front, so it was reasonable for Zhang Cunren to be stationed in Zhaoqing. If he could cross Fengchuan and Deqingzhou and attack Zhaoqing directly, he could crush the Qing army's offensive and break the Qing army's advantage on the northern front in one fell swoop.

However, this would require a very high level of navy. The current transport and naval warfare capabilities of the Huben Town Navy Association were not enough to penetrate deep into the enemy's rear and risk attacking Zhaoqing. The Nanyang Fleet should have this capability, but the Nanyang Fleet's ships were large and deep in water, and they could not enter the upper reaches of the West River at all. It was impossible for them to go around Guangzhou and then go up the river from Guangzhou to Zhaoqing.

"Is there any news from Zhu Chenggong?" "Not yet. The Tartars have already breached the Siming Mountain Stronghold and are preparing to attack Zhoushan. If Zhoushan is breached, Lu Jianguo will have nowhere to rely on, and Kinmen and Zhongzuo will also lose their barriers. Therefore, we judge that Zhu Chenggong will not send troops to eastern Guangdong. Even if he sends a naval division to eastern Guangdong, he will not attack the Tartars, but will only add insult to injury and seek to seize Chaozhou."

Feng Jiali added: "Hao Shangjiu of Chaozhou is also watching. We sent a detective marquis to contact him and promised him the title of Marquis of Xintai. Hao Shangjiu was hesitant because the situation was unclear and he did not dare to turn against the government easily.

"Ma Xiong, a former general of Dingnan, still has 3,000 soldiers under his command. Zhang Cunren did not trust him, but it was inconvenient for him to disarm him, so he ordered him to move his troops to Huizhou to protect Guangzhou. Ma Xiong was unwilling at first,"

Hao Shangjiu and other warlords were all like this, unclear and ambiguous, clear and clear, and they would side with whichever side had the stronger momentum. Danchu had experience in dealing with these warlords in the battle of western Guangdong, that is, taking advantage of the war to forcibly recruit them.

Sun Kewang sent the Dashi Army to govern Guizhou and Sichuan. Whenever he encountered warlords of all sizes, he would eliminate or incorporate them indiscriminately, thus completely ending the chaos in Guizhou and Sichuan.

Cen Danchu was also deeply inspired: in order to resist foreign aggression, one must first stabilize the country. Warlords are the root cause of trouble in troubled times. Only by eliminating warlords of all sizes can one consolidate the rule in the rear and then compete with the Qing Dynasty for the world.

Hao Shang has occupied Chaozhou for a long time, so we must do our best to win him over. After the Red Army seizes eastern Guangdong, we may try to win him over with high positions and generous salaries, but we must not allow him to cede territory and continue to rule Chaozhou.

"Du Yonghe was staying in Qiongzhou, so he had to respond to the Red Army's counterattack in eastern Guangdong. But he said that the army had just been defeated and was short of food and grass, so he needed to reorganize his military before counterattacking. He was also waiting and watching, like a gambler, not daring to place a bet easily. Fan Chengen in Guangzhou City, on the other hand, was unhappy after surrendering to the Qing Dynasty, and secretly protected anti-Qing patriots. He was worth winning over."

Fan Chengen was originally a deputy general of Dongxun, and had a bad relationship with Du Yonghe. He was born in Huai'an as a government official, honest and loyal, and had a good relationship with Li Chengdong and Li Yuanyin, father and son. After Li Chengdong died in battle, Fan Chengen actively wrote to Emperor Yongli, advocating that Li Yuanyin should take over as the chief general and opposed Du Yonghe's self-appointment as the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi.

Du Yonghe held a grudge against Fan Chengen and publicly called him a fool. When Guangzhou was in a critical situation, Du Yonghe advocated fleeing to Qiongzhou, but Fan Chengen strongly opposed it and was publicly punished by Du Yonghe. Fan Chengen was indignant and surrendered to the Qing army, which broke into the city.

Fan Chengen did not kill Du Yonghe, but was branded a traitor, and his relatives and friends despised him. Zhang Cunren and Shang Kexi also did not trust him and were unwilling to use him. Li Erlong assassinated Zhang Cunren and died bravely, which further stimulated Fan Chengen. Historically, Fan Chengen rebelled again in the sixth year of the Yongli reign, occupied Guangzhou, and then committed suicide after his defeat.

The situation on the front line was clear. Danchu made up his mind and said, "The soldiers on the front line fought bravely, fought against the enemy with a small number of people, and held their positions. During this time, we will find out the deployment of the Tatars and discover their weaknesses. The main force of the Tatars is on the northern front, and the troops on the southern front are scattered and there are loopholes.

"I decided to use the southern route as a breakthrough point, and to march south with Huben Town and the Second Town. Huben Town's personal soldiers and auxiliary soldiers crossed the Xijiang River in Wuzhou, went south to Cenxi, and entered Yulin Prefecture via Rongxian and Beiliu County to fight the Tartars on the southern route. The Third Brigade was assigned to the Second Town and was under its command. The Fourth and Sixth Brigade of the Second Town stepped up their march south to attack the enemy along the southern route. The Nanyang Fleet set sail, exited the Qiongzhou Strait, and prepared to fight the Tartars in Leizhou Bay.

"On the northern route, the Huben Town Navy Division will be assigned to the First Town and will be under the command of the First Town. The First Town will take the northern route, using the First Division, the Fifth Division, and the Navy Division to first repel the enemy in Wuzhou and wait for an opportunity to counterattack Zhaoqing. When the time is right, they will attack Guangzhou together."

Counterattacking the Qing army from the south obviously can make the best use of its strengths and avoid its weaknesses, making full use of the advantages of the naval division, so that the Red Army can obtain supplies from Lianzhou, Leizhou, Qiongzhou and other places. There are also a large number of volunteer divisions and community soldiers in the coastal areas of Gaozhou and Zhaoqing. Wang Xing is in Wencun, close to Guangzhou, and can harass the Qing army's food supply route.

(End of this chapter)