Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 918 Alliance ([-])

A cool sea breeze blew in through the open glass windows, which relieved the stagnant atmosphere in the house.Zhang Mingzhen took a sip of tea, then sighed, and asked instead: "Liu Junmen is so concerned, but has the situation in Huguang, Jiangxi, and Sichuan changed?"

"On the Huguang battlefield, the Qing Dynasty mobilized more than 15 troops and fought fiercely with the front battalion of Dashun and the two battalions on the left and right. However, Yuan Zongdi's Jingzhou City is still safe for the time being, and the two sides are currently competing for the outlying towns, and the casualties are extremely tragic. In short, the situation is not very optimistic." Liu Haiyang didn't mean to hide from everyone, but told the truth.As a senior general of the East Coast Navy, he doesn't bother to lie to these people here. He has one thing to say and another to say two things. Love comes or doesn't come, come and go freely!

"We are not very clear about the situation in Sichuan, but according to the vague information from Huguang, Zhang Xianzhong seems to have lost Chengdu, and is currently being chased and beaten by Wu Sangui, and the situation is not very good. The only situation in each place is relatively smooth It is probably the more than [-] people led by Guo Sheng. Since Zhangshu Town defeated Geng Zhongming's thousands of elite troops, the department has advanced bravely and went north to Ruizhou Prefecture. Nearly [-] reinforcements have come. Currently stationed in Gao'an County, the next step is unknown. It may be Nanchang, or it may go north and threaten Wuchang from the flank, so as to relieve the pressure on the left, right and front three battalions of Dashun's main force; Wang Deren of Ganzhou also marched northward from Luling with an army of [-], and seems to be heading towards Fuzhou Prefecture..." Liu Haiyang has already informed everyone present of the news he got from Dashun, and he believes that there is nothing to hide, and everything should be spread out said.

And when he finished speaking, Zhang Mingzhen was still frowning and sat in his seat, as if he was digesting the news from the central battlefield brought by Liu Haiyang.Perhaps it was because the news shocked him too much (Jianguo Lu had been avoiding eastern Zhejiang for a long time, so the news was not available), he was speechless for a while.

"There is still an army of hundreds of thousands of people..." Zhang Mingzhen was a little unacceptable. Although he had heard it before, but this time Liu Junmen of the Eastern Dynasty said it clearly, but it made it difficult to maintain the army in eastern Zhejiang. Zhang Mingzhen was shocked: "The five-battalion military system has been rebuilt, and it has territories in Huguang and Jiangxi. It is really terrifying! There are hundreds of thousands of troops in panic. Can the imperial court cut them off in the future?"

Liu Haiyang looked at Zhang Mingzhen who suddenly lost his composure with pitiful eyes, and understood in his heart.Because one side is living in sporadic strongholds off the coast of eastern Zhejiang, and it is difficult to survive; while the other side has drawn no less than 30 horses in Huguang and Jiangxi. It's already scary.If we succeed in expelling the Tartars in the future, will our Emperor Ming's divided army still be able to fight against the intruders?Can you win the battle?Zhang Mingzhen didn't know.

"Hmph, the remnants of trespassing have become a thing of the past. He and Du, the two governors of Xiangzhong, should be killed if they neglect their duties!" Zhang Mingzhen hadn't said anything, but Lu Ruoteng, the representative sent by the Zheng family, started to complain again. "Does Liu Junmen want to rescue the intruders? If so, the King of Yanping County may not agree!"

When Lu Ruoteng left Xiamen, Zheng Chenggong had made it clear that he was unwilling and would not send troops. Now his mind is all on how to attack his hometown in Fujian, and he has no interest in other places, let alone attaching others' tails to help others.On this point, he was carved out of the same mold as his old man Zheng Zhilong. Didn't Emperor Longwu beg Zheng Zhilong to send troops to help Jiangxi, but he only guarded his own one-acre three-point land and refused to move.Now that the father is dead and it is the son's turn, they are surprisingly consistent on this point, which is really puzzling.

The ordnance that the people on the east coast half sold and half gave to them in the past has been ruined. What a white-eyed wolf!

And although Lu Ruoteng is a blunt guy, he is also a bit of a "quick talent". At this time, when everyone expressed their willingness to send troops to form an alliance, he deliberately used the excuse of not wanting to rescue the Chuang army to deny his obligation to send troops.Because both Lu Ruoteng and Zheng Chenggong knew that Dongchao was looking at Zheng's large number of small offshore ships and a large land army (can you tell me otherwise, at least you can be a master?), If he promised to send troops to Huimeng, there would be no 5 to [-] people, and he would not be able to explain the past, but Zheng Chenggong himself could not accept this—he is now expanding his territory in Fujian, and his troops are very tight, so how could he have tens of thousands more? People sent to the Yangtze River thousands of miles away?Therefore, Lu Ruoteng flatly rejected Liu Haiyang. Of course, what he rejected at the same time might also be the military aid from the East Coast people to the Zheng family. After all, they have already greatly offended Liu Haiyang, and the originally stable relationship between the two parties has been destroyed. , I am afraid that it will not be able to bridge in a short time.

"Mr. Liu'an, why did you say that!" Zhang Mingzhen finally "lived" after letting out a long breath of sulking, and he said in a slightly low voice: "I don't understand what Liu Junmen said about the alliance. Alright, this time I will write to Lu Jianguo and mobilize elite soldiers and strong generals to go to war. But don’t worry about Liu Junmen, let’s not talk about too many, there are still five hundred boats and tens of thousands of soldiers! Can I, Zhang Mingzhen, not be able to do the situation? This time I will try. Is Nanjing and Zhenjiang a cave of dragons and tigers or something? Can I, Zhang Mingzhen, not be able to go? Hmph, not only will I go, but I will also take over Lu Jianguo in the future. Please enter Nanjing City!"

"Emperor Yongli is my emperor Ming Zhengshuo. It is inappropriate for the King of Lu to arrogate the title of Jianguo. It is an extraordinary time to think about it. It is understandable. Today, the son has become a great treasure and announced to the world that the King of Lu will be the king." Please resign from the title of supervisor of the country, so that you can—" Zhang Mingzhen's voice just fell, and the old master Lu Ruoteng jumped out impatiently and said "messy" things, but Liu Haiyang ignored him, but "squeak "Ga" pushed away the chair and stood up, interrupting old man Lu who was talking eloquently, and said: "Dingxi Hou is really a decisive person, if tens of thousands of soldiers come to join the alliance, the benefits of your family will definitely be indispensable in the future."

Zhang Mingzhen promised to send five hundred boats and tens of thousands of troops, which made Liu Haiyang very happy.No matter how unbearable these men and horses are, they are still soldiers, and they can also be drawn into the battle to make gestures at critical moments.These people plus the 4000 troops squeezed out by Liu Guochang, the 500 troops brought by Hao Shangjiu, and the troops dispatched by the East Bank plan, the number of soldiers should be between 2.3 and 2.5. For the military men who joined the newly established military army team, the total strength of the troops would be over [-], and it would be enough to scare the unknown Qing court into a big jump if they were pulled out.

It is now the end of December. At the end of October and the beginning of November, in addition to a large number of supplies, several new immigration transport ships from the mainland transported more than 12 Polish and German prisoners of war to the Far East, including more than 10 Poles. They were sent to Dengzhou, some of them were added to the cavalry regiment of Major Yang Mingyang (there were more than 11 cavalry after replenishment), and some were assigned to the various brigades of the stand-up squad to fill up the vacancies; as for the other thousands of German mercenaries, they were It was compiled into a supplementary brigade, transferred to Yin County for training, and suppressed the local area by the way.

And with the arrival of these more than a thousand German musketeers, some troops of the East Bank Army were able to take the opportunity to escape and go to the Battle of the Yangtze River, such as the Black Eight Banners Heavy Infantry Battalion (for the No. 4 and 5 two infantry battalions, with a total of 1530 people, led by Ao Guanhai, the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd battalions are still stationed in Denglai), the East Coast Army Supplementary Company, artillery units, etc.These troops, plus the 2000 members of the fourth brigade of the stand-up team, and a new infantry division squeezed out by gritted teeth, have almost 7000-8000 members.

However, it is only the end of December now, and there are still four full months before the planned dispatch of troops—Gein’s immigration transportation mission for this year has just ended by then, and a large number of sailboats can be freed up to transport personnel and supplies—if you take advantage of this opportunity After Ningbo has trained all the troops and horses and made them familiar with each other, this combat power may still increase to a certain extent.In addition, although Lu Ruoteng, the representative of the Ningbo Huimeng sent by Zheng Chenggong, is not a thing, but for various reasons, Liu Haiyang still values ​​him very much, so he plans to go south to the coast of Fujian and Guangdong on a naval ship in the near future, and try to win over the Zheng family. Convince them to send troops and ships to participate in this joint military operation.Of course, if Zheng's ignorance persisted and he refused to send troops, then Liu Haiyang would naturally no longer have expectations of him, and his treatment would inevitably be greatly reduced in the future.

The matter has been discussed for most of the time, and the attitudes of all parties have been expressed. Liu Haiyang discussed carefully with all parties about the time to send troops, the location where the troops should be assembled, and the equipment that needs to be prepared in advance, and then decisively announced the adjournment of the meeting. After getting off Lu Ruoteng, he dragged the other representatives to the pier to watch the sergeant drill.

At this time, there are quite a lot of troops on the Dinghai Port Wharf. There are 4000 troops from the Niu Chenghu Department of the Ninth Division of the Heishui New Army, and 2000 soldiers from the Fourth Brigade of the Standing Squad. At the same time, Hao Shangjiu is stationed in a temporary barracks on the pier. He brought [-] sergeants from Li Chengdong's department.At this time, it was the time when the sun was rising, and the fourth brigade of the stand-up team, which had been reorganized, began to perform under the command of the officers. Among the [-] of them, there was a team of musketeers, and the rest were conventional cold fighters such as spearmen and shieldmen. Weapon Department Wu.

This army, which had defended the Jiaozhou Fortress for more than half a year and fought fiercely with the Qing army many times, was different from other troops in appearance alone, and looked very capable.Zhang Mingzhen, Hao Shangjiu, Ruan Jin, Liu Guochang and others were startled by their skillful transformation of formation, coordination of various arms, and skillful volley of musketeers.

With such troops who are experienced in military affairs, why worry about the Tartars not being defeated!

Continue to recommend colleagues written by book friend Liang Xiangjian:

(End of this chapter)