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

Chapter 84 Guilin is in danger

The chieftain of the Tian clan surrendered, and Danchu got what he wanted. He appointed a mine supervisor and sent garrisons to manage the Jinxiu mine.

In this battle, the battalion defeated the enemy with fewer troops and won easily. The confidence of the soldiers was greatly boosted, and Danchu was also full of confidence. The expansion of the army was so smooth, and it was so easy to fight against the chieftains. Given time, what could not be accomplished in the world?
Many ideas popped up in his mind. He wanted to set up a school, a factory, gather refugees to cultivate land, encourage industry and commerce, form an engineering battalion, and a craftsman battalion... Ten thousand years was too long, and he had to seize the day. He really wanted to work day and night to realize these beautiful ideas as soon as possible.

However, on February 16, Jiao Lian sent someone to deliver an urgent secret letter, interrupting Danchu's beautiful vision: Quanzhou was lost and the Qing army was approaching Guilin!

Years ago, the Ming army had won a great victory in Quanzhou, so why did it suddenly fall? It is really incredible.

It turned out that the Manchu Huaishun King Geng Zhongming was defeated in Quanzhou and soon received support from Gongshun King Kong Youde. The two had a good relationship and became brothers when they were in Dongjiang Town. Kong Youde had been appointed as the General of Pingnan and commanded Zhishun King Shang Kexi and others to resist the bluffing counterattack of the Ming army and reoccupy Yongzhou.

At the same time, Li Chengdong defeated the rebel forces in Guangdong and sent troops to capture Wuzhou, Guangxi.

Wuzhou is the eastern gateway of Guangxi, and Quanzhou is the northern gateway of Guangxi. At this time, Quanzhou still had four military towns, Hao Yongzhong, Jiao Lian, Lu Ding, and Zhao Yinxuan, under the unified command of He Tengjiao.

Hao Yongzhong, the Marquis of Nan'an, who was born in the Dashun Army, was repeatedly marginalized, and his army's baggage and family were all in Guilin. He was worried that Chen Bangfu would withdraw from Wuzhou and annex his old camp's baggage, so he withdrew his troops from Quanzhou and rushed back to Guilin without asking He Tengjiao for permission or informing his allies.

He Tengjiao was more of a hindrance than a help. Not only did he fail to stop Hao Yongzhong, he also led his own troops back to Guilin without informing the other three towns.

This is where the problem lies! The soldiers of the other three towns did not know why He Tengjiao and Hao Yongzhong withdrew their troops, and they were all confused. Soon, Zhao Yinxuan and Lu Ding also withdrew their troops, leaving only Jiaolian Town in the whole state.

Quanzhou was Jiao Lian's garrison, so it was inconvenient for Jiao Lian to retreat. He used Pingle as his territory, and Pingle was separated from Quanzhou by Guilin.

Jiao Lian did not dare to defend Quanzhou alone, so he led his troops back to defend Pingle, and appointed three generals, Tang Wenyao, Quanyong General Wang Youchen, and Quanyong Governor Ma Mingluan, to stay in Quanzhou.

In Quanzhou, the northern gate of Guangxi, there were originally tens of thousands of elite soldiers, but in an instant, only 1,800 troops under Tang Wenyao were left.

Tang Wenyao, Wang Youchen and Ma Mingluan became abandoned and decided to surrender to the Qing Dynasty. The envoy went to Yongzhou to ask Geng Zhongming to surrender, but Geng Zhongming still didn't believe it. In desperation, Tang Wenyao beheaded the military supervisor Zhou Zhen who opposed the surrender and took his head as a token of his surrender.

Geng Zhongming was overjoyed and sent two thousand cavalry to take back Quanzhou.

He Tengjiao was horrified and led his troops to garrison Xing'an. He also ordered Zhao Yinxuan, Hao Yongzhong and Jiao Lian to send reinforcements. Jiao Lian had already returned to Pingle and was too late to rescue. The Qing army had already broken through Yanguan and massacred the city of Xing'an.

He Tengjiao broke out of the encirclement under the protection of Hu Yiqing, a brave general of the Imperial Dian Camp. None of the 1,000 cavalrymen sent by Hao Yongzhong were spared and all died in the battle.

Once Xing'an was broken, Guilin only had Lingchuan as a barrier, which was defended by Hao Yongzhong.

Upon hearing the alarm, Jiao Lian immediately led his troops to rush to Guilin overnight to reinforce it, and also dispatched troops from all other units to rush to Guilin quickly...

This matter was of great importance, so Danchu immediately summoned all the generals to discuss it.

After reading the letter, the generals looked at each other in bewilderment. Kuang Shi broke the silence and asked first, "Marshal Jue was vague in his letter. We are not clear about the situation in Guilin and the whereabouts of the emperor."

This is where the problem lies. Perhaps Jiao Lian was not clear about the situation in Guilin. Perhaps he was careless and forgot to explain it clearly.

Danchu realized that he was already the general commander and had to clearly grasp the enemy's situation and keep an eye on changes in the situation. It seemed that he was not capable of building an intelligence network, but at least he had to send scouts to Guilin and Wuzhou to transmit intelligence at any time. Well, with a powerful enemy at hand and the situation deteriorating, he should speed up the construction of an intelligence network.

Danchu remained calm and said, "From the tone of the commander, the situation is very bad. Guilin is in danger. As for the imperial carriage, it should still be in Guilin. I have decided to lead the army to reinforce Guilin and move out tomorrow. I am meeting today to ask you if there will be any difficulties in the expedition tomorrow."

Of course, no one would show weakness on this occasion. Otherwise, his ability would be questioned. This would have extremely serious consequences for the general.

"Very good," Danchu was very pleased and said, "Time is tight, so I won't ask for opinions one by one and will start the deployment directly."

The commander-in-chief is very different from a general. He must take charge of the overall situation and consider all aspects of the problem. When Danchu organized the entire army for the first time, he considered the problems comprehensively and his command and deployment were remarkable:
The expedition to Guilin involved the Standard Battalion, the Central Army, the First Infantry Battalion, and the Second Infantry Battalion, totaling about 1,800 men. The Standard Battalion was the vanguard, led by Danchu himself. The Central Army, the First Infantry Battalion, and the Second Infantry Battalion were commanded by the Right Assistant General Fang Yizhi, following the Standard Battalion.

The entire army will travel by land, passing through Xiu'ren, Lipu, Pingle, Yangshuo to Guilin. The entire journey is less than 300 miles, and it is expected to arrive in Guilin on February 23.

Yu Houji, the left assistant general, stayed behind to guard Yong'an. He made decisions on minor matters by himself and discussed major matters with Mrs. Qu. The 300 soldiers in the camp were all city guards, left behind to defend Yong'an.

Fighting is not difficult, but logistics is difficult. Danchu did not expect Qu Shisi and He Tengjiao to supply him with food and ammunition, and tried his best to supply food and ammunition on his own.

With the money and food that Yong'an Prefecture still has, it should be no problem to support this battle. The key is to deliver the food and supplies to the front line in time and prevent them from being looted by friendly forces.

Danchu decided to set up grain stations in Zhaoping and Pingle. The grain transportation route was different from the marching route. First, it was a land route from Yong'an to Zhaoping, about 80 miles, and then it was changed to a water route in Zhaoping, going up the Li River.

Relying on carts to transport food by land was extremely inefficient and often delayed the war. In the Battle of Sarhu and the Battle of Songjin, the Ming army repeatedly made reckless advances. Due to the tight logistics, they had to fight quickly and decisively, which led to great defeats.

Although the Yongan Army was a newly trained army, Danchu was confident. What he was most assured of was the supply of food and grass. Fortunately, with the help of water power, Yongan Prefecture was not short of food for the time being.

The Third Infantry Battalion did not participate in the battle at the front line, but was responsible for protecting the grain. This task was not easy, as they not only had to supervise and organize the laborers who transported the grain, but also had to guard against looting by the disorderly soldiers.

Danchu's appointment was finalized, and all the generals were convinced. Finally, he looked around at the generals and asked, "Everyone, do you have any questions?"

Yu Houji had the responsibility of staying behind, not only to defend Yong'an, but also to supply food and grass to the front line. He had a heavy responsibility and asked, "General, I have two questions. How long is this battle expected to last? If the Qing invaders attack Yong'an, assuming our army cannot resist, can I abandon the city?"

The historical records of the Southern Ming Dynasty have been lost, so Danchu is not familiar with this period of history. However, there is one thing he is sure of:
The Yongli Dynasty had a great chance to turn the tables, but unfortunately it failed to seize it. Stimulated by this, the Qing court changed the titles of Kong Youde to Dingnan Wang, Geng Zhongming to Jingnan Wang, and Shang Kexi to Pingnan Wang, and promised them fiefs and mansions in Guangdong and Guangxi. The Three Feudatories were greatly encouraged and eventually occupied Guangdong and Guangxi.

Oh, now I remember that Li Chengdong must have achieved great success late in life and returned to the Ming Dynasty anyway.

Based on this, it can be inferred that the Qing army will not capture Guilin this time.

Danchu's confidence increased, and he said: "This battle will not last long, at least one month, at most two months. If the Qing invaders attack Yong'an and our army is defeated, we can abandon the city.

"When our army fights, we focus on destroying the enemy's effective forces, not caring about the gains and losses of a city or a place. However, I am very sure that the Qing invaders will not be able to capture Yong'an."

(End of this chapter)