Autumn of the 17th year of Chongzhen

Chapter 446
From the decision to attack Zhangzhou to mid-February, all the food, forage, ordnance, and salary needed by the Ming army had been delivered to the front lines of Guangjing and Chaozhou.

Guangnan has been in peace for less than half a year, and the gentry and common people have seldom mentioned it. Last year, when the Qing soldiers invaded eastern Guangdong, human nature was always at ease, and instinctively did not accept the heavy and painful, and did not want to recall the suffering.

The imperial court's attack on Zhangzhou this time undoubtedly dug out people's memories. In order to support the Ming army's eastward advance to regain the old land, nearly [-] civilians in Guangnan worked hard day and night.

On the Pearl River, there is an endless stream of shirtless men stretching their muscles from morning to night. Donkey carts, mule carts, and wheelbarrows from Guangzhou to the Chaozhou front line cover the road and stretch for dozens of miles.

Civil servants had to be recruited for war, and because there was no preparation before, and Wang Yan set a time limit, the labor intensity of civilian servants was particularly high, and some civilian servants often fell tired when they arrived at the office.

The ancients said that "the tyranny is fiercer than a tiger, and the corvee is as heavy as a mountain." Guangnan people supported the entire Longwu court, plus nearly [-] Ming troops. Not lightly, now that spring is approaching to sow seeds, recruiting civilian husbands is definitely not a benevolent government.

At this time, there must have been complaints from the people, but since the chief secretary of Guangdong issued the recruitment order, the people have not resisted, and the civilian husbands have not fled or delayed.

This is because the troops assembled in the city of Guangzhou and the naval warships shuttling on the river revealed their memories of the war. The increasingly prosperous economy of Guangzhou seems to have smoothed over the wounds of the Battle of Guangzhou last year, but in reality There are hundreds of thousands of solitary graves on the outskirts of Guangzhou, and the trauma is still there, but it is not mentioned.

It is impossible for people to think about the pain of the past all the time. For ordinary people, life has to go on, so Wang Yan can see the prosperous scene in Guangzhou.

"Cold lips and teeth, protect Guangdong and Fujian." This is the government's slogan to mobilize Guangnan. In fact, when Guangnan people's memories of last year are brought up, most people understand this truth. If you want to live in Guangnan well, you have to put The Qing army in Fujian drove away because they were too close.

Guangnan people know that the Ming army's eastward expedition was not only to restore the old frontiers, but also to defend Guangnan. Even if you complain, do your best.

Emperor Longwu went out of the palace and inspected the preparations for the war with Wang Yan. He saw a steady stream of civilian men on the official road, heading east. He looked at the naked trackers who were shouting and pulling the big boat, and said to Wang Yan: "Guangzhou The people in the south have paid a lot for Ming Dynasty, if the Qing family cannot achieve success this time, then I will be sorry to the court and I, and I will be sorry to the people of Guangnan."

The Qing army stationed 3 troops in Zhangzhou, Zhang Cunren had 6 troops in Fuzhou, Quanzhou, and Anping combined, and the Qing army in Fujian was about [-].

Wang Yan recruited 4 people this time, and Zheng Chenggong should be able to send [-] troops, a total of [-] troops. Considering that the Ming army attacked, the Qing troops defended, and the troops were scattered, the Ming army actually had an advantage, but most of the Qing soldiers were old soldiers, and Ming However, most of the soldiers are new recruits, and Wang Yan's burden is actually very heavy.

He is well aware of the great responsibility and dare not be sloppy.

After returning from Jinxia, ​​he issued a transfer order from the Ministry of War as a bachelor supervisor, ordering the Zhongwu Battalion on the front line of Chaozhou to prepare, ordering the superintendent, and Zhongzheng, who was on rotation from the front line of Chaozhou, to deploy a capable team. Guangjing assembled.

By mid-February, [-] infantry troops had assembled on the front line of Chaozhou, and [-] infantry troops and [-] cavalry troops had assembled outside Guangjing City.

In addition, Wang Yan also dispatched Pang Tianshou, the Chief Eunuch of the Lieutenant, and [-] Portuguese gunners hired from Macau, firstly to see the Western Yi's tactics, and secondly to prepare for dealing with the Dutch.

Naturally, the Qing soldiers in Zhangzhou would not be ignorant of such a big move by the Ming army. In fact, both Ming and Qing sides sent a large number of spies to each other within their respective jurisdictions.

Wang Yan's dispatch of troops had alarmed Tong Yangjia and Li Chengdong, the commanders-in-chief of the Qing army in Zhangzhou. The army's secret operations found out that the Ming army was mobilized in Guangjing on a large scale, and food and equipment began to be shipped to Chaozhou. Based on this, Li Chengdong judged that Wang Yan was going to beat him up.

Last year, Li Chengdong and Wang Yan had a very hot fight, and they exchanged several letters every month, but Li Chengdong was not satisfied with the terms Wang Yan offered. In addition, Wang Yan used to be just a thousand households below him, but now he is so much higher than him. , he was inevitably a little unbalanced in his heart, and after the Qing court raised the flag for him, he cut off correspondence with Wang Yan.

Zhang Cunren asked him to assist Tong Yangjia in guarding Zhangzhou. He was always worried that Wang Yan was angry with him and wanted to beat him with troops. Now that the definite news came, this general of the Qing army was a little restless. He warned his subordinates to strictly guard against death , On the one hand, he quickly reported to Zhang Cunren, the governor of Fujian and Zhejiang, and requested that the Qing army be transferred from Fuzhou and Quanzhou into Zhangzhou Prefecture.

For the Qing court, Fujian was actually rather embarrassing, because Jiangxi was not controlled by the Qing army as it was in history, so Fujian was actually surrounded by Jiangxi Ming army, Guangnan Ming army, and Zheng Chenggong.

If the Qing soldiers stationed more than [-] troops here, Dao would not be afraid of being surrounded by the Ming army, but Fujian has eight mountains, one river and one land, and the food produced is not enough to support more than [-] soldiers, and the Qing government did not do sea trade. Therefore, if Fujian wants to station heavy troops, it has to transport food from Jiangnan, but this will undoubtedly weaken the strength of Jiangnan.

Hong Chengchou still has a pile of shit under his ass now, and the problem in Jiangnan has not been resolved, so how can he have time to take care of Fujian.

From a strategic point of view, Fujian was surrounded on three sides and was already at a disadvantage. However, the Qing court managed to lure Zheng Zhilong into surrender and obtained Fujian. Although it is a bit tasteless now, it cannot give up.

Zhang Cunren was defeated by Wang Yan before, and all the hundreds of cars of gold and silver he looted were taken away by Wang Yan. Bing, it may not be easy to block Wang Yan and Zheng Chenggong's attack.

For a while, he could only quickly spread the news to Jiangnan, saying that Wang Yandong's expedition was inevitable, and asked Hong Chengchou to find ways to send reinforcements, or to fight Jiangxi, so that Wanji and Jin Shengheng should not be allowed to enter northern Fujian and threaten Fuzhou.

When the news reached Jiangning, it happened that Hong Chengchou gathered more than [-] people to fight against Chen Zilong in Taihu Lake, and he was able to help Fujian thousands of miles away.

At the end of last year, Dorgon keenly noticed that after the Eight Banners entered the customs, their strength had declined. The national policy of attacking Chu and Jiangxi.

As an admonisher, Hong Chengchou's mission is to stabilize the south of the Yangtze River, guard against the Chu, Gan and Ming armies, resume production, and provide the Qing court with food and tax sources.

The basis of all this is to first ensure peace in the south of the Yangtze River. Therefore, after Hong Chengchou returned to the south of the Yangtze River, he and Duoduo, who went south to sit in town and regained military power, formulated a strategy of [-] Qing soldiers to suppress Taihu Lake. This big nail in Jiangnan.

Jiangnan is about to be massacred, and there is no time to support Fujian. However, if the Qing army in Fujian is beaten to death by Wang Yan, and the Ming army not only conquers Zhangzhou, but also recovers the entire territory of Fujian in one fell swoop, then the situation in the Ming and Qing Dynasties will reappear. If there are major changes, Zhejiang will be under great threat.

In view of this concern, Hong Chengchou finally decided to let Tan Tai, who was planning to go south to encircle and suppress the rebel army in Siming Mountain, lead less than 2 people into Fujian to help defend.

(Forgive me for being a little late. Thank you Yuedong Woxin, who came to give me a smile, and thank you Wang Dana, book friend 6845 for the monthly ticket)
(End of this chapter)