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

Chapter 370 Cen Danchu Goes West to Hengzhou

The Qing army in Ganzhou was about to collapse, and the Cixing Fan had already headed north to the Yangtze River. The conditions for the Red Army to enter Hunan and fight were ripe.

On June 21, Cen Danchu led the Huben Town to break camp from Ji'an and head west. This move was quite unexpected, but also reasonable. In any case, Cen Danchu dared to ignore Oboi and risked a shortage of food and grass to enter Hunan, which was indeed very courageous.

Judging from the comparison of military strength, the Red Army had no advantage over the Qing army in Huguang.

The Second Infantry Brigade entered Yongzhou with 15,000 soldiers. The Tenth Infantry Brigade, which was Li Dingguo's old army of the Western Palace, had less than 20,000 soldiers. The Huben Town Artillery Brigade, the First Brigade of the Imperial Guards, the Cavalry Brigade, and the Auxiliary Brigade were ordered to enter Hunan, with a strength of about 35,000. One Huben town and two infantry brigade, at most 80,000 men.

The Qing army under Tunqi's command had more than 100,000 regular soldiers, including 30,000 to 40,000 Manchu, Mongolian and Han Eight Banners and 60,000 to 70,000 Green Camp soldiers. Hong Chengchou, as the governor of four provinces, was stationed in Changsha and had an elite Green Camp force of more than 10,000 soldiers under his command.

From the perspective of exclusive power, the Red Army does not seem to have an advantage.

The Red Army killed Zhang Cunren and secured Lingnan. The Qing Dynasty saw no hope of "recovering" Yunnan, Guangdong, and Guangxi, so it stopped deceiving itself and revoked Hong Chengchou's old edict and issued a new one.

Hong Chengchou was originally in charge of managing the four provinces of Yunnan, Guizhou, Huguang and Sichuan, but was later appointed to manage the four provinces of Huguang, Jiangxi, Sichuan and Guizhou, and to unify the planning of the war in the southwest.

The fighting in the southern and eastern Fujian and Zhejiang regions slowed down, and Lingnan had been completely taken over by the Red Army. The Qing government did not send anyone to take over the post of military governor left by Zhang Cunren.

In fact, Hong Chengchou had become the commander-in-chief of the Qing Dynasty's front line against the Southern Ming army, controlling the three great generals Wu Sangui, Tunqi and Oboi, as well as vassal kings like Geng Jimao and Manchu veterans like Zhumala. His power and status had reached its peak, and his authority was more concentrated.

The Ming army had always been at odds with each other, and the Dashi Army and the Red Army had always been at odds. Cen Danchu recruited Li Dingguo, and his relationship with Sun Kewang deteriorated further.

It's possible or not, Danchu didn't expect Sun Kewang to send troops to help him in this battle in Hunan. The Red Army would be thankful if the Dashi Army didn't come to sabotage them.

"Old Feng," Dan Chu was riding west on his horse during the march and felt quite bored, so he called the Director of Intelligence Feng Jiali.

"My lord, what do you want me to do for you?" Feng Jiali was born as an old soldier in northern Shaanxi. He has always been humble and polite, living up to his name.

"In your opinion, will Ma Jinzhong, Liu Tichun, Yuan Zongdi and others respond to our call?"

"Except for Hao Yaoqi who may not respond, the others should be fine."

When Cen Danchu was a general under Jiao Lian, he was appointed by Emperor Yongli as the commander of the Jinyiwei to escort Emperor Yongli and his ministers out of Guilin. At that time, the rebels under Hao Yaoqi entered Guilin, and Yaoqi was unable to control them, and there was a conflict between him and Danchu.

The Yongli court excluded the peasant army. Liu Tichun, Yuan Zongde, Hao Yaoqi, Ta Tianbao and other former members of the Dashun army came to Kuidong at the same time and joined forces with Wang Guangxing, Tan Wen, Tan Yi, Tan Hong and others to persist in resisting the Qing Dynasty. They were the famous Thirteen Families of Kuidong in history.

Kuidong is located at the junction of Huguang and Sichuan, which is now the junction of Hubei, Chongqing and Hunan. If the Thirteen Families of Kuidong can be mobilized and forced to cross the river to Hunan to join the war, it will be possible to threaten Hong Chengchou in Changsha and echo the Red Army from afar.

Cen Danchu sent Dang Shousu as an envoy to cross the river to Kuidong to persuade Liu Tichun, Yuan Zongdi and other former comrades. Li Laiheng and Dang Shousu joined the Red Army with the Loyal Camp, and they were both reused and their families had no worries about food and clothing. Liu Tichun, Yuan Zongdi and others must have been moved after meeting Dang Shousu. The counselor Gu Yanwu said on the side: "When Emperor Gaozu of Han first conquered the world, he did not have time to reward the generals. Many generals were resentful and gathered to discuss, which made Emperor Gaozu suffer. Zhang Liang advised Emperor Gaozu to reward his enemy Yong Chi, and Emperor Gaozu followed his advice and made Yong Chi a marquis. The generals were relieved and their hearts were firm. Although Hao Yaoqi had a grudge with the king, he was still a fierce general. The king might as well reuse Yaoqi to show his magnanimity."

Danchu also had this idea and said, "If Hao Yaoqi can sincerely surrender and enforce military discipline, we might as well appoint him as the commander of the infantry battalion."

Danchu also wanted to recruit Ma Jinzhong. After experiencing the tragic war in the late Ming Dynasty, Ma Jinzhong showed his determination to fight against the Qing Dynasty to the death. His troops were brave and good at fighting, and were valued by the Red Army. In the battle of Mahe, Ma Jinzhong severely damaged the Eight Banners Han Army and beheaded more than 6,000 people, achieving extremely fruitful results.

"Wang Yuncheng and Ma Jinzhong have a very good relationship and are known as 'Wang and Ma'. When Zuo Liangyu raised his army to defend the emperor, he had twenty generals under his command. When Zuo Menggeng led his troops to surrender to the Qing, only Wang Yuncheng and Ma Jinzhong refused to surrender. Wang Yuncheng is attached to He Tengjiao, and Ma Jinzhong is attached to Du Wenzhong. Now, Wang Yuncheng has become the commander-in-chief of the Red Army. If he goes over to persuade Ma Jinzhong, even if he won't surrender to the Red Army for a while, he will definitely send troops to respond." Jiao Lian said.

Jiao Lian, Cen Danchu's benefactor, also came with him on this expedition. He was a senior member of the Shaanxi Army and had a long career. He was very familiar with the stories of the previous dynasties and could talk about them like the back of his hand.

If Ma Jinzhong, Liu Tichun and other Shaanxi generals surrendered to the Red Army, they would have to find someone with rich experience and prestige to control them. Looking at the entire army, there was no one more suitable than Jiao Lian.

Feng Jiali said: "Since the death of Du Wenzhong, Ma Jinzhong has had no one to rely on, and has been fighting against the Qing in Xiangxi. When the Ming army was strong, he left Xiangxi, entered Changde, and pressed on Changsha. When the Ming army was weak, he retreated to Xiangxi.

"This man had been through many battles. He came from the peasant army, but he was older than Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong. He was famous and many chieftains in western Hunan were afraid of his bravery. When the western army entered Hunan, Ma Jinzhong was forced to surrender.

"But Sun Kewang is narrow-minded and quite afraid of Ma Jinzhong. He has always wanted to deprive Ma Jinzhong and Ma Weixing of their military power. The king is kind and trustworthy, so Ma Jinzhong will be happy to serve. Wang Yuncheng will definitely fulfill his mission."

Wang Yuncheng was a native of Liao and a general from Liaodong. He was nicknamed "Iron Cavalry King". He later surrendered to Kong Youde and then to the Red Army in the Battle of Guilin.

Sun Kewang was humiliated in the Battle of Baoqing, and his prestige was greatly reduced. Ma Jinzhong was also ordered to retreat to Xiangxi. With Wang Yuncheng's invitation, Ma Jinzhong would probably respond with his troops. His son Ma Weixing was also a brave general. The father and son had more than 10,000 soldiers under their command, and their combat effectiveness was considerable.

"Well," Danchu pondered for a moment and said, "Time is the trend. Ma Jinzhong, Liu Tichun, Yuan Zongdi and others have extraordinary experience and are not ordinary people. Our Red Army has won many battles and achieved new achievements. This time we take the initiative to show goodwill to them. How can they not know what is good for them? However, although the Huben Town's entry into Hunan is unexpected, it is inconvenient to transport food and grass, so it is better to fight quickly. What do you think, should we go west to Hengzhou or south to Chenzhou?"

Gu Yanwu was familiar with the terrain and said, "Hengzhou is more important than Ganzhou. We should go straight to Hengzhou and attack the place where the enemy must come to rescue. If Tunqi's rear road is cut off, he will definitely lead his troops back to rescue. At that time, the Huben will block the enemy's head and Dingguo will chase the enemy's tail, and the chances of victory will be even greater."

This statement is quite similar to Qian Bingdeng's. However, military generals such as Jiao Lian and Ma Bao were more cautious and advocated going south to Chenzhou to join forces with the Second and Tenth Armies and obtain food and grass guarantees.

They were already on the march, but they hadn't decided on the final destination yet? This was something Chen Youliang often did at the end of the Yuan Dynasty. Danchu didn't have accurate intelligence, so he didn't dare to make a decision easily.

The next day, the Intelligence Bureau finally delivered accurate intelligence: the Qing army's garrison commander in Hengzhou was Ke Yongsheng. As the Second Division of the Red Army attacked Yongzhou from Quanzhou, Tunqi transferred Ke Yongsheng's troops to Yongzhou, leaving Hengzhou's defenses even weaker.

Therefore, Cen Danchu decided to advance westward to Hengzhou and force Tunqi to return to rescue.

(End of this chapter)