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

Chapter 391: Cautious and Conservative
"Gentlemen, thanks to the blessing of God and the dedication of our soldiers, the Red Army conquered Xiangtan and Tiaomajian in one fell swoop. The Tartars abandoned their weapons and fled to Changsha. Hunan was in high spirits, and the righteous army and people came to surrender in droves."

In Muyun Temple, Danchu called all the generals to hold a front-line meeting. He started with a calm and concise opening speech, then changed the subject and said:

"However, pride leads to failure. You all must stay sober after your victory. Hong Chengchou, for his part, did not deploy the elite Eight Banners troops in Xiangtan and Tiaomajian. The Red Army won two victories without hurting the elite Eight Banners troops. The next battle of Changsha will be the decisive battle between the Red Army and the Eight Banners."

The generals nodded in agreement, and saw the combat staff pushing a giant drawing board, which was covered with a simple map with various colored pins marking the enemy and our own situation.

The Operations Director He Zhaoji began to introduce the enemy situation, pointing to a high ground south of Changsha with a small bamboo stick, and said:

"Look, everyone. This highland is called Jinpenling. It is seven miles south of Changsha City. The mountain is winding like a basin and is quite dangerous. It is a famous ancient battlefield. Since ancient times, when the army attacked Changsha from the south, Jinpenling was the only way. The Tartar camp was set up here.

"There is a basin south of Jinpenling. The imperial court has set up an express delivery station here, named Shimapu. As a result, a residential area has been formed, including some commercial houses. Jinpenling is high and dangerous, so it is not suitable for stationing a large army. Although the Tartars set up their main camp in Jinpenling, their main force was deployed in Shimapu.

"Further south from Shimapu, there is a solitary mountain that rises out of the basin, called Huangtuling. Further south of Huangtuling, there are continuous mountain ranges, the one in the west is called Chigangling, and the one in the east is called Baoziling. The vanguard of the Tartars was deployed in the Huangtuling, Chigangling, and Baoziling areas.

"In addition, the Tartars have deployed a number of warships along the Xiangjiang River, most of which are sampans."

At this point, He Zhaoji smiled and said, "The Tartars imitated our army and built three-board and long-dragon warships. But they didn't have mountain-splitting cannons, so they had to move the Weiyuan cannon, the mother-and-child cannon, and the Portuguese cannon onto the warships. They were all useless small cannons and not worth mentioning."

Everyone sneered, and Danchu also showed a scornful smile on his face, adding: "It is said that it was Luo Xiujin's idea for the Tartars to imitate the warship. We will capture Changsha in this battle. If everything goes well, we will go downstream to Wuchang and capture Luo Xiujin alive."

Luo Xiujin, governor of Huguang and Sichuan, was stationed in Wuchang.

Everyone laughed. Liu Fangliang, the commander of the 12th Brigade, said, "Luo Xiujin is older than Hong Chengchou, and is already over 60 years old. Even if we don't capture Luo Xiujin alive, we must skin him alive to avenge the soldiers and civilians of Huguang."

Luo Xiujin was a cruel official who obeyed the Qing court's orders, and thus gained the trust of Dorgon and Shunzhi, and enjoyed a prosperous career. He was vicious and spared no effort to suppress the righteous army, and also forged a deep hatred with the Thirteen Families of Kuidong.

Returning to the topic, He Zhaoji continued to introduce the enemy situation, saying: "In addition to the Xiangjiang River and the banks of the Xiangjiang River, the Tartars have stationed troops in the areas of Juzizhou, Yuelu Mountain in the west of the city, Nanguan, Tianxin Pavilion, and Caigongfen.

"The main force of the Tartars is deployed in the Shimapu area. Scouts and scouts have found out that the Tartars have about 30,000 troops in the Shimapu area, with all the Manchu, Mongolian and Han banners gathered. It is obvious that Hong Chengchou and Tunqi want to fight a decisive battle with me in Shimapu."

Mo Guangshu, deputy governor, added: "The total number of Tartar troops in Changsha is about 80,000, including about 30,000 Eight Banners soldiers, about 10,000 from Shen Yongzhong's army, about 30,000 from the Green Camps of various provinces, and about 10,000 from the countryside.

"Our army has come from afar. Li Dingguo led his troops to plunder Liuyang and Liling, and Ma Jinzhong led his troops to plunder Changde. The total number of troops that can be deployed to the Battle of Changsha is about 60,000. The Huben Town has about 40,000, and the Fourth Town has about 20,000. The righteous army is incalculable.

"In terms of the navy, we have an absolute advantage over the Tartars. The soldiers have captured many fortresses one after another, and their morale is high. We still firmly hold the initiative on the battlefield."

The generals were extremely excited, as if victory was already in sight, and they all turned their eyes to Cen Danchu.

Danchu was also full of confidence and said, "The Manchus and Mongols are good at field battles. They usually take the initiative to attack and fight the enemy in the field. They rarely guard the key points and avoid fighting like they are doing now. It can be seen that the Tartars are already timid. "Hong Chengchou and Tunqi want to take advantage of the advantageous terrain of Shimapu to fight me, but I just don't want to fight him in Shimapu."

Cen Danchu convened a front-line meeting at Muyun Temple, and Hong Chengchou also met with Tunqi and Shen Yongzhong at Shimapu to discuss countermeasures together.

"Shimapu is an important road south of Changsha City, but the Red Bandits have naval warships and they fooled the common people, so they cleared the wooden fences covering the sunken ships on the Xiangtan River in just one day. Students are worried that the Red Bandits will use the navy to clear a path, bypass Shimapu and head straight for Changsha City, using their old trick of jumping over the Majian Gorge." Hong Chengchou had swollen eyelids and looked haggard, obviously he had insomnia again last night.

Shen Yongzhong had always been weak and incompetent, and had no opinion of his own. After hearing what Hong Chengchou said, he could not help but look worried and said, "What Jiuweng said is absolutely right. The army is stationed at Shimapu, and the Manchurian army is also stationed at Shimapu. Changsha City is short of soldiers and generals. With such a strong presence on the outside and weak presence on the inside, Changsha will be in danger if Shimapu fails. Or, as Jiuweng said, the Red Bandits will bypass Shimapu and attack the Changsha city wall directly. What can we do?"

According to the division of labor among the three, Tun Qi was appointed as the commander of the front line in Shimapu. Hong Chengchou stayed in Changsha City, and Shen Yongzhong assisted in defending the city. Shen Yongzhong knew that he had no ability to fight and defend, so he tried his best to shirk responsibility.

Although Tunqi suffered repeated defeats, he still looked down on Shen Yongzhong and said, "We evacuated Hengzhou and stationed a large army in Changsha. We did not defend Xiangtan and Tiaomajian, and did not fight a decisive battle with the Red Bandits. The court has already criticized us. If we return to defend Changsha, not only will the army's morale be shaken, but the court will also be suspicious."

Hong Chengchou was shocked and could not help but glance at Tunqi. He had a premonition that the Qing army would have a hard time winning the Changsha campaign. But Tunqi wanted to fight but had no confidence, and wanted to defend but was afraid of being blamed by the court. Hesitating like this was definitely not the way for a general.

"Hmph," Hong Chengchou cleared his throat and said to Shen Yongzhong, "Last year, the western bandits invaded Huguang and were very aggressive. I heard that the emperor gave Marshal Jue a secret memorial, saying 'consider the situation and move the troops to defend the city.' Is this true?"

Shen Yongzhong blushed and said, "It is true."

Considering the situation, the army was moved to a conservative position. To put it nicely, it was to let Shen Yongzhong take advantage of the situation and retreat to Changsha and Yuezhou. To put it bluntly, the court knew that Shen Yongzhong was incompetent and urged him to retreat, preserve his strength first, and wait for the Eight Banners to come to help. Shen Yongzhong "retreat by order" and ran faster than a rabbit. If Xu Yong had not held on to Chenzhou and delayed the offensive of the Dashi Army, it might not be the Red Army that attacked Changsha today, but the Dashi Army.

"Today's situation is quite similar to last year's invasion by the Western bandits." Hong Chengchou stroked his beard and pondered, pretending to be deep, and said: "The Red Bandits are ready, but our army has suffered setbacks. If we want to turn defeat into victory, we have to strengthen our troops, or join forces with the King of Pingxi, or with General Aobai. If we join forces, we will be strong and powerful enough to compete with the Red Bandits."

Tunqi also had this intention, but because he was a relative of the royal family and was appointed General Dingyuan, he did not dare to retreat without a fight, so he said frankly: "What Jiu Weng said is very true. Now the Western bandits and the sea pirates are all defeated, only the Red Bandits are strong. If I use one army to fight the Red Bandits, I will not be strong enough, but if I join forces with the armies of King Pingxi and General Aobai, I will have more than enough strength. For the long-term plan, we should not avoid suspicion, be cautious and conservative, and wait for General Aobai to move his troops to help, and then gather our strength to counterattack, and we will surely win in one blow."

Hong Chengchou was Wu Sangui's teacher. He advocated joining forces with Wu Sangui and refuted: "Luo Zhifu is the governor of Huguang and Sichuan. Huguang and Sichuan can be united. Moreover, the King of Pingxi is in a dominant position upstream, like a high building with a commanding position. If the general wants to join forces, he should join forces with the King of Pingxi."

Tunqi smiled and said, "Aobai is brave and good at fighting. He has the overall situation in mind. When he hears that there is an emergency in Huguang, he will definitely come to help overnight."

"If the Red Bandits attack Nanchang and Jiujiang and cut off our way to the east, what can we do?" Hong Chengchou retorted.

Tunqi was stunned for a moment, and said: "Even if I lose the battle, I will hold on to Changsha and wait for Aobai's army. The two armies will be united and we can conquer anything."

"Haha," Hong Chengchou smiled bitterly and stopped talking. With the enemy at hand, it was definitely not a good sign for the generals on the front line to disagree. Although he was the governor of five provinces and could nominally control three generals, not to mention that Tunqi and Oboi ignored him, would even his student Wu Sangui obey his orders?

(End of this chapter)