Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 973 Daredevil Thoughts ([-])

After the beginning of spring, the situation in Daming has indeed "moved" again.

The reason why we say "moving" is that it corresponds to the "quietness" at the end of last year.Last year, Liu Haiyang, commander of the Southern Theater Command, led a total of [-] land and water troops. Starting from Chongmingsha, they marched westward along the Yangtze River. The cities and towns along the river in Suzhou, Changzhou, Zhenjiang, Yingtian, Chizhoufu, Ningguo, and Taiping were alerted everywhere. Many towns, including Zhenjiang, were "named" by the Allied forces. Not only did the money, food, and goods lose nothing, but even the population was looted. Now that the money and food have been divided, the population has also been concentrated in Jeju Island, Rishiri Island, The collective farm in Sakhalin Island, where they will work collectively, recuperate their bodies, and then transport them back to the east coast in batches.

Although only about 1.6 Qing troops were killed and wounded in this massive Battle of the Yangtze River (this is the statistics of the people on the east coast, it is actually far more than that. Quite powerful), but it dealt a great blow to the prestige of the Qing court. The towns along the river were completely helpless under the allied soldiers. The situation is once again boiling: the Qing court made people see its weakness. Many people originally thought that the Qing Dynasty's world was like an iron barrel, but now it seems to be paper, and this people's hearts are suddenly alive. In the future, maybe the people on the east bank will not have to fight too many tough battles, which is the benefit of disturbing the hearts of the enemy.

The Qing court is not a messy court with low executive ability like the Ming court. On the contrary, they have a group of reliable people at the helm. In addition, their executive ability is also extraordinary when they are new. corresponding strategy.No, after seeing the people in the south of the Yangtze River moving, Geng Zhongming and Shen Zhixiang, who went westward from Jiangxi to Ningguo Mansion, were not in a hurry to return westward. Instead, they began to clean up the law and order in the various mansions attacked by the people on the east bank and suppress local governments. , After a lot of tossing, the situation has stabilized, and this time is already March of the new year.

However, the main force of the Jiangxi Qing army led by Geng Zhongming was trapped in Nanzhili. His old opponent, Guo Sheng, who had already occupied seventeen counties in western Jiangxi, would not let this opportunity pass. Half of the troops are more powerful) troops are not easily suppressed by anyone.For this reason, the Qing army had to slow down its offensive on the Hubei battlefield, mobilized a large number of troops into Jiangxi, and suppressed Guo Sheng's troops who had already invaded Nanchang Mansion.

Speaking of this, I have to sigh that the Ming army failed to carry out effective coordinated operations.A group of Nanming veterans who rushed from Guangxi to southern Jiangxi were too opinionated. After a small setback on the way to Fuzhou Prefecture, they stopped directly, allowing the Qing army to calmly adjust their deployment and besieged Guo Sheng's troops from all sides.It's a pity that Wang Deren had 3 troops in the air, but was blocked by more than [-] green battalions and could not launch an offensive from the flanks, reducing the pressure on Guo Sheng.

Of course, no matter how you say it, the Qing army was mobilized by the people on the east bank this time around the Yangtze River. Afterwards, the attack became a bit weak. After all, they only had a total of 5 troops (this also includes some of the Dashun troops that were recruited last year and surrendered before the battle). , Facing the total of [-] to [-] soldiers from the left and right battalions of Dashun, but also a little guilty.

In particular, the Eight Banners have fought a lot of battles recently, and the total number of casualties has exceeded [-]. Coupled with the unaccustomed and sick, the total number is almost [-], which makes the Qing court quite unbearable.No matter how many people die in the green battalion, no one will be distressed, and the Han army flag is nothing more than high-level cannon fodder, but the Manchu and Mongolian Eight Banners are the "national foundation", and it is difficult to make up for everyone who has lost - the yellow-clothed thieves have made a big fuss in Heilongjiang recently Go on and on, my Qing Dynasty has almost lost control of the Jiangbei and Jiangdong regions, and recruiting troops has become empty talk.Under such circumstances, it is better to use the precious Eight Banners of Manchuria and Mongolia sparingly. Could it be possible to go to the desert to recruit Mongols in the future?

The main forces of the Qing and Shun sides were a little tired and slowed down their offensive, but the Pianshi never stopped fighting even for a single day.For example, the 8-strong Dashunqianying Gaoyi Gong Department in the west of Wuchang Mansion has been fighting endlessly with the Wuchang Qing army headed by Kong Youde and Shang Kexi. Li Guo, who is based in Baling County (that is, Yueyang City, which is the logistics transfer base of Dashun, has been in operation for many years and has a complete fortress group), is planning to send some troops from the Zhongying to support them.As for the more than [-] elite troops in the rear battalion that are still in his hands, this is Li Guo's general reserve team. Among them, the proportion of veterans is very high. trump card.

However, during the period when the offensive slowed down at the end of the year and the beginning of the year, the Qing court was not inactive.As the rear, Henan transferred a large number of equipment, armor, and livestock to the Qing army on the front line in Hubei, and also sent 15 supplementary soldiers. Li Zicheng's efforts to resume agricultural production in Henan since the 800th year of Chongzhen finally came to an end. After the Qing army entered the customs, it bore fruit. After ten years of recovery, Henan, a populous province, had recovered from a population of only [-] million to over [-] million, and its agricultural production was also quite good.It can also be seen from this that the Qing government’s political ability was completely out of the Ming Dynasty. The most serious stage of the Little Ice Age was at the beginning of the Qing Dynasty rather than the end of the Ming Dynasty. The Qing government could survive by restoring local order, but the Ming Dynasty could not. It's rotten to the bone, and it's unreasonable not to die.

After a large amount of food, supplies and supplementary troops arrived at the front line, the Qing government resumed its long-sedged offensive in early March. They launched several consecutive attacks and won all of them. On the south bank of the Yangtze River and on the north bank, only the reinforced and rebuilt Jingzhou City remained in Dashun's hands; in addition, the Yunyang Mansion in western Hubei was also controlled by the Liu Fangliang Department of Dashun Zuoying. They used the complicated terrain to repeatedly deal with the Qing army. It made it impossible to conquer here, and then joined the Qing army in Sichuan.

However, the Qing army's offensive may have come to an end here. In the next stage, facing the large number of city walls built by the Shun army on both sides of the Yangtze River, I am afraid that they will have to work hard one by one.Moreover, in this process, the casualties of the Qing army will inevitably increase dramatically. Since they do not have many troops, even if the Eight Banners of Manchuria and Mongolia are good at fighting, it will be very difficult to face such a tortoise shell.Perhaps, what they should look forward to is a breakthrough in the Sichuan battlefield in the west. Otherwise, unless reinforcements are added, the Huguang battlefield may not be able to make great progress in a short period of time.

As for the current situation in Sichuan, the people on the east bank are not very clear about it. They only know that there is probably still fighting there. Although Zhang Xianzhong and others are at a disadvantage, they are still carrying out tenacious resistance.And the Dashun Hezhen Division at the junction of the three provinces of Sichuan, Shaanxi and Hubei also broke out from Shangluo Mountain from time to time to harass the Qing army's rear, greatly delaying the Qing army's offensive, and at the same time expanding the Dashun armed group's presence here. Influence.

The situation has developed to today in 1653, and the Qing government probably should adjust its strategic deployment, because the situation has changed now. Although they still have a great advantage, their soldiers are blunt. National timing is no more.What they should do in the next step is to take action in both military and political aspects, insist on holding high the banner of safeguarding the interests of the landlords and gentry, unite the local tyrants and evil gentry all over the country, and then rely on their strength to use a small amount of Manchurian Eight Banners to urge a large number of green camp cannon fodder, and fight steadily. Step by step to unify the country.

And their style of play is naturally popular among people on the east coast.No one else, because this means that the Qing court has admitted that it is impossible to quickly unify the country in a short period of time, and naturally it will give the people on the east bank a chance to do something. Let's wait and see what the future situation will be like. Jin, Song and Yuan confronted each other.

And based on such a strategic consideration, Shao Shude naturally couldn't just agree to Wei Boqiu's ship and people to go to Japan.Because he was worried about what would happen to the Jiangnan, Huguang, and Sichuan battlefields this year. Wouldn't he be dumbfounded to find that the ships had been occupied by a large number of ships at the time when people from the east coast were needed to support them?Besides, Japan is a feudal kingdom with a population of 2000 million and a unified regime. The army has not had time to corrupt, and the number is quite large. Why provoke them without major interests?Of course, Shao Shude also admitted that the thousands of skilled workers brought back from Tanegashima and Jiyi Fan were a huge fortune that even the locals on the east coast would covet, but he still couldn't make up his mind if he didn't send troops now.

What's more, Chang Kaisheng in the northeast has also been applying for a military operation to mobilize troops to conduct an in-depth sweep of the Qingning Guta area after the waterway thaws in the spring of this year; In a large-scale war, can we send troops to North Korea and teach them how to behave? Are the North Koreans tired of living at the invitation of the Qing court to send troops to the Northeast to fight our Great East Bank?

Faced with the applications submitted by all parties, Shao Shude was also very troubled, so that he could not make a final decision after deliberating for a long time.Until April 4th, when the immigration transportation season in 8-1652 had just ended and all major ships entered the shipyard for routine maintenance, the full steam-powered ship "Tahiti" sailed from the east coast. A letter from the executive committee was brought to Shao Shude, which made him make up his final determination and clarified the direction of the next step.

(End of this chapter)