Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 2016 Upheaval ([-])

"Lianzhou and Wuzhou are two poor places. The people are in dire straits and all industries are withered. It is really not worth seeing. However, the geographical location of Wuzhou is very important. It can be called the center of Guangdong and Guangxi. If you win it, you will end your dream of taking Guangzhou from the east.” Army Major Tang Moyu said with a smile while standing on the shore of the sparkling Xijiang River.

He does have reason to be happy now.Because he had just resigned from a position he didn't like very much as the head of the Haizhu Island Commercial Station, and was appointed by the Ministry of War as the commander of the third mixed battalion.And this third mixed battalion was only transferred to the Far East this year (1687) to change defenses. Together with the famous first mixed battalion, it became the elite force to defend the Far East.

The first battle after the Third Mixed Battalion arrived in the Far East was to go south to Guangdong, and then take various ships upstream to occupy Wuzhou, an important town on the north bank of the Xijiang River.Undoubtedly, this is a plan that can best utilize the water advantages of the people on the east coast. Because the West River flows down from Wuzhou, the river is wide and deep, and it can navigate most ships including sailing warships. It is very suitable for people on the east coast who fight against the river.Here, they are playing at home and no one can challenge their water superiority.

Due to the urgent situation and the inconvenience of mobilizing for this raid, the Southern Exploration Team has only collected six 72-ton steamers and two "Yaksa"-class armed transport ships to Guangdong in a hurry, and even took the The naval inland river shallow-water gunboats on the escort mission are still undergoing maintenance in Ningbo Dinghai Port, so they have to decide to temporarily requisition many Chinese sailboats in Guangdong for material transportation, which undoubtedly requires the actual rulers of Guangzhou, Huizhou, Zhaoqing and other prefectures , Nanming Huiguo Gong Li Yuanhao's approval.

To be honest, Li Yuanhao's mood at the moment is extremely contradictory.On the one hand, he was terrified by the power of Dashun's elite soldiers coming out of the cage, and the two routes of attacking Ming, so he subconsciously strengthened the defenses of Nanxiong and Shaozhou, the two key pass areas, and even built more than 30 new gates for each of them. The type artillery was also dispatched, and the determination was very firm.

On the other hand, Li Yuanhao himself also expressed great vigilance to the people on the east bank.These powerful enemies from abroad have had a very bad influence on him in recent years, and they openly supported his cheap brother and ruled Chaozhou separately, making him, the new Duke Hui, sleepless day and night.Under such circumstances, how can you expect Li Yuanhao to have a good impression of the people from the East Coast?

On the one hand, he was afraid that the territory would be taken by Dashun, and on the other hand, he was afraid that the people on the east bank would do something wrong, so Li Yuanhao was very conflicted about the east bank's request to sail all the way up the West River. Should he agree or not? okay?

Many of Li Yuanhao's deployments were closely related to the people from the east bank, but it was difficult for them to speak out at this time, because they were afraid of being suspected by their suspicious lord, and that would be more harm than good.The veteran Hao Shangjiu went to see Li Yuanhao with his sickly body, but he didn't say anything. The entire eastern Guangdong province is still in a state of chaos.

On July 1687, 7, without waiting for Li Yuanhao to give an answer, the people on the east coast carried four 25-ton small steamers and two Yaksa-class armed transport ships to the west with a part of the third mixed battalion of the East Coast Army. Go to Wuzhou Mansion.The Guangdong local government along the Xijiang River never waited for Li Yuanhao's order to intercept (in fact, they didn't have any effective means to intercept them, so they fired some cannons on the river), so they could only give up and let the people on the east bank go along the river to the west ——In their view, the people from the east bank are sharp and vicious, and this trip is to fight the Guangxi guys, so why bother to cause trouble, and let them go.

But after the people on the East Coast tried out the attitude of Guangzhou, they went ahead and openly hired boatmen at high prices on the ground in Guangdong to help transport materials and personnel to Wuzhou. The Huiguo government was silent about it.As soon as this gesture came out, everyone undoubtedly understood what Hui Guogong Li Yuanhao was thinking. Isn't it just staying out of the matter and strictly keeping neutral.Okay, this attitude is enough, I didn't expect you to help send troops to attack Wuzhou, Lianzhou and other places.

The main force of the third mixed battalion of the Dongan people arrived at Wuzhou Port in early August.Before that, the two infantry companies that arrived earlier had captured the capital city of Wuzhou.Some people may ask, how could two infantry companies with less than 8 officers and soldiers be able to capture such a big city as Wuzhou?

Perhaps Major Tang Moyu, who was in command at the front line at that time, could give you a clear answer: After they arrived at the wharf of Wuzhou Port in the early morning of July 7, two infantry companies of the Army occupied the wharf without encountering any resistance, and then quickly headed towards Fucheng. develop.After experiencing the lesson of the rapid fall of the Lianzhou Mansion without a single shot—perhaps it is a bit exaggerated to say this, in fact, the Lianzhou Mansion just didn’t react. At present, the Lian Gao Commander appointed by Nanming is already organizing a counterattack. After all, the warlords Still very important to the territory - the Wuzhou mansion has long been extremely vigilant, and has heavily deployed troops to guard all key points.

But the problem is that they deployed too many troops at the border with Lianzhou Prefecture. After all, there are more than 8000 troops on the east coast watching.But I didn't expect that the people on the east bank used the waterway to quickly transport troops, and went straight to the capital Wuzhou with elite force, which caught them by surprise.Five hundred elite infantrymen from the east coast, under the cover of a small number of land battle field artillery, defeated more than 4000 Ming soldiers guarding Fucheng in a single battle outside Wuzhou City.The Minie-style rifles they equipped played an extremely critical role in the battle. The rifles with ultra-long range and high precision bit the flesh, and the hit rate was so high that the soldiers of the Ming army could not bear it. It fell for a little while, and then was randomly bombarded by a cannon, and basically scattered like birds and beasts.

It can be said that this battle is a great victory of technological weapons.The Ming army in the countryside like Wuzhou Prefecture has never seen such a brutal style of play!In their impression, don't muskets just make a sound?The real victory in combat still depends on face-to-face hand-to-hand combat (Guangxi soldiers' courage in hand-to-hand combat is still acceptable)!But who would have thought that they could not even see the faces of the soldiers on the east bank clearly, so they were beaten and ran away. Those officers and soldiers standing in the front two rows of the army with cold weapons of various colors were all selected athletes from the army, but they were like this He hanged up as soon as he met face-to-face with aggrievedness. It's no wonder that the people behind were terrified. This battle is really impossible to fight!

The main force in the field battle suffered a disastrous defeat, and the little two thousand old, weak, sick and disabled who defended the city immediately lost the courage to continue fighting.Ever since, dozens of officials and more than a hundred gentry from Zhifu Xia Junbo directly opened the city gate to beg for surrender, allowing the people on the east coast to seize this hub of Guangdong and Guangxi without any effort.

Major Tang Moyu also received relevant process training in front of the station, so he quickly appeased these Nanming officials and gentry who surrendered, and then announced the opening of a warehouse to release grain, benefiting ordinary people in the city and inviting people's hearts.Even those soldiers of the Ming army who were defeated and captured were paid back three months of wages (this was naturally paid by the gentry in the city). Outside the flag of the East Coast and the Army flag hanging above their heads, it was as if nothing had happened.

The 500 people brought by Tang Moyu took control of government offices, official treasuries, city gates and docks, and all others were appointed to the management of former officials.In addition, he also released some prisoners who didn't look like good people from the prison, and let them directly control some of the selected soldiers to form a security force.Among them, one of Kong Wu's generation named Qu Dayong, who was a private salt dealer, was directly appointed by Tang Moyu as the acting head of the security regiment of Cangwu County (that is, Wuzhou City). daily order.

The follow-up troops of the third mixed battalion did not keep Commander Tang Day waiting long. On August 8, with the arrival of a large-scale fleet, the remaining battalion personnel, artillery company, supply company, engineering platoon and two infantry companies landed at the pier, and only the land-based cavalry company remained. They have been trekking for a long time, but they are not far away, and the Guangdong side did not dare to keep them in trouble.

Along with the follow-up troops, there are also a large amount of military resources, weapons and ammunition, which are indispensable for follow-up operations.Of course, the third mixed battalion had only more than 1000 people. The elite were elite enough, but they were still unable to effectively occupy the entire Wuzhou Prefecture, so recruiting and accepting rebels became the only option.

On August 8, the position of Dayong in the security regiment of Cangwu County was officially corrected. At the same time, the army quickly expanded to more than 13 people, except for some old brothers and colleagues (private salt dealers) who were anxious about someone in the district. , and a large number of Ming troops surrendered.The main force of the third mixed battalion is here. Tang Moyu felt that he had the power to control the whole city, so he released the surrendered soldiers of the Ming army who had been locked in the barracks these days, and added them to the security regiment under pick and choose. They became the cannon fodder thugs subordinate to the people on the east coast, so as to facilitate the next attack on the surrounding area.

Throughout the following August, the two prefectures of Lianzhou and Wuzhou were shrouded in flames of war.The two warring parties are the East Bank army and some Nanming troops who are unwilling to surrender. One of the major features of the war is that there are almost no large-scale battles, and they are replaced by small-scale battles with less intensity but many times. do not adapt.

Guangxi's complex terrain, hot and humid climate, and unfamiliarity with local conditions have greatly weakened the advantages of people from the east coast.They have modern combat ideas, advanced weapons and equipment, and well-trained soldiers, but they can't exert half of their true strength. They can only constantly lure local armed forces to surrender, and sometimes even bandits and bandits are accepted. The purpose is to make a quick decision, seize the time to calm down the situation, and control more territories.

According to the plan formulated in advance by the Southern Exploration Team, the Tang Department in Wuzhou (recently added a local armed force of more than a thousand people from Xiangshan County) will continue to sail westward by boat to the upper reaches of the Xunjiang River to defeat or surrender the local forces. The Ming army then went upstream along the Nanjiang (Yujiang) all the way, and joined forces with the troops going north along the Qinjiang River in the direction of Lianzhou.

This marching route is basically the land in Guangxi that the people on the east bank intend to occupy this time. The intention is to use these natural rivers to build a defense line on the spot, so as to achieve the strategic goal of containing Shunguo to the greatest extent.One must know that if the troops on the east bank of the North and South Routes can successfully complete this marching mission, then the mouth of the Lianzhou Prefecture will not be connected to the Shun Kingdom, and they will still be a sad landlocked country.In addition, the loss of Wuzhou Mansion was another heavy blow to Shun Kingdom, because it meant that they could not send troops from Guangxi, go downstream along the Xijiang River, defeat the weak but rich Guangdong Huiguo Gong regime, and gain This province is very powerful both in terms of population resources and economic strength.Without Guangdong, Shunguo would not be able to conduct direct transactions with foreign businessmen. At the same time, it would not be able to make up for its financial shortcomings, and its strategic depth would not be able to be further improved. This time, Faming could not do its best.

Of course, some people said that Shunguo could send troops from Ganzhou Prefecture in Jiangxi to attack Guangdong in the south, but any military commander with a brain would not be too optimistic about this route of march.The existence of Dayuling has made the traffic between Jiangxi and Guangdong extremely difficult. The only traffic channels have also built fortress passes. It has been a battleground for military strategists since ancient times. Li Yuanhao is not a fool. He deployed in Nanxiong and Shaozhou early on. As an elite soldier, he is well aware of the importance of these places, and it is absolutely impossible for Shun Guo to easily win from Jiangxi.

The direction of Guangxi is actually quite different.Mengzhu Ridge straddles Guangxi and Guangdong, making the attack on Guangzhou from the land doomed to be a military adventure that will require an expedition. Because it could well lead to a tragic fiasco.So, all in all, the best way to attack Guangdong from Guangxi is to occupy Wuzhou, and then go downstream along the Xijiang River, all the way to a high-level, powerful and easy.But now Wuzhou has been taken by the people from the east coast, and they will also develop further upstream along the Xunjiang River to build a forward line of defense, which further squeezes the room for Shunguo to move around and make them farther and farther away from Guangdong. .

In this way, even if they successfully won most of Guangxi (this is almost inevitable), it seems to be a bit delicious.The land in Guangxi is barren and the people are poor, the transportation is inconvenient, and the folk customs are still very tough. The only places that look a little bit decent have been gnawed away by the people on the east coast, and they have never wanted to go east to the world of flowers and flowers in Guangdong. This is simply Let the monarch and ministers of Shunguo vomit blood.This time, the people from the east bank's outstanding raids to seize Lianzhou and Wuzhou really hit the vital point of Shun country. If they want to reverse this very unfavorable situation, they can only launch a war to the east bank. If you are not stable, you are not afraid of sacrifice, and you can kill a small number of vanguard troops on the east coast with superior forces, and quickly seize Wuzhou.

However, would the people of Shunguo dare to take such a decisive action?East Coasters are skeptical.The Emperor Dashun in Changsha was not so stupid. Their biggest enemy was not the East Bank, but the Qing Dynasty.Before the fall of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, they did not dare to do anything seriously hostile to the East Bank. This would only seriously hurt themselves and even lead to the collapse of the regime. This is not an exaggeration.Going to war on the east bank for the sake of Wuzhou is simply a foolish act. Li Laiheng would not be so stupid, and neither would the civil servants and military generals in Changsha. , Waiting for the favorable time for the final showdown with the East Bank, if there is such a day.

(End of this chapter)