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

Chapter 364: Advancing into Ji'an
Chen Tai's suicide was not unexpected. The laws of the Qing Dynasty were harsh, and many generals on the front line committed suicide out of fear of punishment, such as Geng Zhongming of the Han army and Dasu of the Manchus. These people either lost the war or committed a capital crime. If they committed suicide to apologize, they would often be forgiven by the Qing court, and their titles, salaries and families would be preserved.

It was Aobai who led the defeated troops to retreat to Nanchang via Jianchang and Fuzhou, which was unexpected. This move of retreating to advance surprised Danchu and made him difficult to decide.

Lead the Huben garrison to pursue northward and besiege Nanchang? This is definitely not feasible. It is more than 700 miles from Ganzhou to Nanchang, and it takes half a month for infantry to march normally. Without Ganzhou, there is no way to attack Nanchang.

If we go east, there are mountains in western Fujian to the east of Ganzhou, which are continuous and inconvenient for military deployment, and are absolutely unfeasible.

If you go west, to the west of Ganzhou are Nan'an and Ji'an, and after Nan'an and Ji'an are Huguang Chenzhou, Hengzhou Prefecture, and Changsha Prefecture. Hunan has a large army stationed in Qi, and there are Wugong Mountain, Shihan Mountain, Jinggang Mountain and other mountains at the border with Jiangxi, which are also inconvenient to use troops.

Without taking Ganzhou, it would be futile to talk about the Northern Expedition.

While Cen Danchu and Chen Tai were fighting in Yudu, the situation in Huguang was gradually deteriorating. Sun Kewang's conspiracy was exposed, and he turned against Li Dingguo. Li Dingguo knew that he was not strong enough to fight Sun Kewang, so he led his troops to withdraw from Yongzhou.

Dingguo wanted to retreat to Guangxi, but the commander of Zhenxia Pass closed the gate tightly and refused to let Li Dingguo enter the pass, saying that he had not received the king's order. Dingguo had no choice but to lead his troops to retreat eastward to Guiyang Prefecture and Chenzhou, trying to get closer to the Red Army in Ganzhou.

Among Sun Kewang, Li Dingguo and Liu Wenxiu, Sun Kewang was the best at governing civil affairs, Li Dingguo was the best at using troops, and Liu Wenxiu was somewhere in between. Liu Wenxiu was dismissed from his military power by Sun Kewang because of the defeat in Baoning, and retired to Kunming. Li Dingguo and Sun Kewang were at odds, and there was no food supply. Many generals' families were in Kunming, and the army was in turmoil. Similarly, without Li Dingguo, Sun Kewang lacked a capable general on the front line, and suddenly lost his arm.

The feud between Sun, Li, and Liu had a very bad impact on the Dashi Army, but Sun Kewang was complacent, thinking that he had squeezed out Li Dingguo and Liu Wenxiu, and from then on he had the power to himself and could do whatever he wanted.

The Red Army sent troops to Jiangxi to contain the armies of Chen Tai and Aobai. The Dashi Army had more victories than defeats in Hunan, so it could continue its efforts and challenge the Tunqi army.

The front troops, such as the Red Army and the Huben Town, were not only the elite troops of the Dashi Army, but also Sun Kewang's personal troops. The generals of the front troops were all Sun Kewang's confidants, and they all urged Sun Kewang to lead the troops in person and fight a decisive battle with Tunqi.

Sun Kewang was ambitious and had long wanted to ascend the throne and become emperor. Now that the Dashi Army was gradually becoming unified and the military power was in his hands, if he could defeat Tunqi and recover Hunan, he would surely be able to improve his prestige and become emperor and establish a country.

"Your Majesty, the intelligence is clear. Sun Kewang is mobilizing troops and generals in Baoqing, intending to have a decisive battle with Tunqi. Li Dingguo's rear army has left Yongzhou, and many of his subordinates have defected to Sun Kewang. They are currently concentrated in Guiyang Prefecture and Linwu County south of Hengzhou Prefecture, and there are still 20,000 to 30,000 soldiers and horses." Lu Shouyi, a detective from the Intelligence Bureau, rode to Yudu and secretly informed Cen Danchu.

Baoqing is connected to Changsha in the north, Hengzhou in the east, Guilin in Guangxi and Yongzhou in Huguang in the south, Chenzhou and Jingzhou in the west, and overlooks Guizhou. It is an absolute strategic location.

Sun Kewang's Dashi Army had already occupied Chenzhou, Jingzhou, and Baoqing. Li Dingguo withdrew from Yongzhou to Chenzhou, and the pressure on Hengzhou to garrison was reduced, so he could concentrate his forces to deal with Sun Kewang.

Danchu sighed, "Li Dingguo killed Nikan in Hengzhou, and the situation was very good, but he was jealous of Sun Kewang and brought about his own death. The two were brothers, and if they could work together, they could have pincered the Tunqi in Hengzhou, instead of being in such a mess like today."

"The fault lies with Sun Kewang," Feng Jiali said, "He is arrogant and has been disloyal for a long time. Most of his subordinates are villains who call themselves subjects in front of Kewang. The editor Fang Yuxuan compiled the history of the Western Army and called Zhang Xianzhong the Taizu. He also planned the civil and military officials of the Western Camp to persuade him to ascend the throne. The pseudo-Minister of War Ren Zhen advocated that the Ming Dynasty was in decline and that nothing could be done. He set the emperor's procession and court ceremonies for Sun Kewang. He also established the Imperial Ancestral Temple, with the tablet of Taizu Gaohuangdi in the middle, Zhang Xianzhong's tablet on the left, and Sun Kewang's father's tablet on the right. It was out of place..."

Sun Kewang sought to be crowned the King of Qin but failed, and gradually drifted away from the Yongli court. This time he squeezed out Liu Wenxiu and Li Dingguo, and if he could defeat Tunqi, he would most likely take advantage of the situation to become emperor.

"Birds of a feather flock together. Sun Kewang is domineering and disloyal, and is surrounded by treacherous villains. He cannot tolerate Li Dingguo and Liu Wenxiu, and it will be difficult for him to unite the generals. He will have few supporters because of his unrighteousness, so Sun Kewang will not win this time against Tunqi." Dan Chu made this judgment, which made everyone worried.

After Liu Wenxiu was defeated in Baoning, Sun Kewang did not send troops to counterattack Sichuan. Instead, the Qing government conscripted northern people to Sichuan to cultivate land. Wu Sangui had money and resources and decided to stay in Sichuan. Once the food problem was solved, Wu Sangui could go down the river and attack Guizhou and Huguang.

If Tunqi defeated Sun Kewang, he would be able to free up his hands to reinforce Oboi and put pressure on the Red Army. If Wu Sangui sent troops south again, the entire anti-Qing situation in the southwest would be greatly unfavorable.

"We can't care about that anymore. Let's capture Ganzhou first and then try to take over Jiangxi."

Ganzhou could not be captured in a short time, so Danchu first sent troops to conquer Jianchang and Ji'an prefectures.

The Jiangxi Independence Association went north to Jianchang to call for a volunteer army. For this reason, Danchu promoted Zhu Tongjian to be the deputy commander of the Independence Association to assist the commander Wang Xing.

Zhu Tongjian was a descendant of the Ning clan and fled to Lianzhou, Guangdong at the end of the Ming Dynasty. He organized a volunteer army and restored Lianzhou Prefecture for a time, showing outstanding military talent and was respectfully called "Zhu Qiansui" by the people of Lianzhou. However, the Yongli court inherited the Ming court's tradition of guarding against the royal family, and appointed Zhu Tongjian as the magistrate of Lingshan County, depriving Zhu Tongjian of his military power.

Ning Fan had been in Jiangxi for a long time, and Zhu Tongjian was quite familiar with the terrain and culture of Jiangxi. This time he came to Jiangxi, he could show his talents.

The First Infantry Brigade returned to Ganzhou and joined the Second Infantry Regiment to continue the siege of Ganzhou. The reinforcements from Oboi had already returned to Nanchang, and the defenders of Ganzhou were isolated and helpless, becoming even more desperate.

As long as the Red Army tightened the siege and sealed off the city, Ganzhou would naturally fall without a fight. The Qing army had used this tactic to capture Nanchang and kill Jin Shenghuan, capture Datong and kill Jiang Ge, and capture Guangzhou, and it worked every time.

Now, the Red Army has used their own methods to treat the enemy, which can be regarded as retribution. The commander of the Second Town, Kuang Shi, led the siege of the city. In addition to digging deep trenches and building pontoon bridges, he also worked hard to incite the defenders to revolt, and this has begun to show results.

The Ganzhou garrison included the Eight Banners of Manchuria and Mongolia, the Jingnan Fan Army, the Southern Gan Green Camp, the Northern Green Camp, and the temporary recruited regiments, with a very complex composition. Except for the Eight Banners of Manchuria and Mongolia, who would live and die with the city, most of the other troops would not die with the city.

The Red Army has former Dingnan vassal soldiers who can incite the Jingnan vassal army to revolt, and there are surrendered soldiers from the Nangan Green Camp who can incite the Nangan Green Camp to revolt. There is even a Henan Green Camp in the city, and most of the Red Army's former Dongxun generals are from the local area, so they have contacted the Henan Green Camp in various ways.

Cen Danchu personally led the Huben Town into Ji'an, collecting food and fodder while calling for volunteers. Raising food and expanding the army locally are also the strengths of the Red Army. Ji'an has abundant grain production, the Ganjiang River leads to Nanchang, and the post road leads to Hengzhou in Huguang, and the terrain is critical.

The Second Town had sent troops into Ji'an and captured Longquan, Wan'an and Taihe counties. Jiangxi Governor Xia Yi'e sent Jiangxi Green Camp to reinforce and try to hold on to Ji'an.

Huben Town advanced to Ji'an, which was a big overkill. It was not difficult to capture Ji'an. With Ji'an, the Red Army could contain the two Qing armies of Aobai and Tunqi at the same time, creating convenience for the second town to capture Ganzhou.

(End of this chapter)