Hubei, Jingzhou.

Wu Sangui stationed in Jingzhou City on June 1st. This station lasted for more than two months. Until the Mid-Autumn Festival, he did not have a decisive battle with the Qing soldiers.

The reason why he crossed the river without fighting was of course not because of cowardice, but because he really had no chance.

As soon as Leerjin retreated from Jingzhou, and Dong E and Eza arrived at the front line with a total of 48,000 bannermen, the Qing army's defenses in Xiangyang, Jingmen, and Anlu became quite tight.

The Qing army did not only have the 40,000 Eight Banners soldiers on the Huguang front. There were tens of thousands of Green Battalions under Leerjin, as well as the Eight Banners and Green Battalions under Tuhai and Shi Lang. They were also stationed in Jiujiang, but they could be used at any time.

Joined the Jieshu Division on the Huguang battlefield. There are hundreds of thousands of them in total!

The army that followed Wu Sangui across the river was only 50,000.

In addition to these 50,000 people, Wu Sangui also had three main forces on the Huguang battlefield.

One is Wu Yingqi's troops in Yuezhou.

Wu Yingqi originally had a land division of 10,000 in Yuezhou, and in the past few months he has worked hard to expand a navy of 20,000, for a total of 30,000. However, the newly expanded 20,000 navy did not have strong combat effectiveness, and the ships used were civilian ships.

Therefore, they could only huddle on the Dongting Lake and the river near Yuezhou, not daring to compete with Shi Lang and Fu Honglie's naval forces.

Although Shi Lang and Fu Honglie's navy were also newly trained, there were three to four hundred veteran pirates under Shi Lang, as well as hundreds of large sand boats stolen from the Yangtze River. These sand boats were all selected by Shi Lang himself.

It is relatively strong and can place a general cannon on the bow of the ship, making it a powerful gunboat.

In addition, Shi Lang also collected a batch of powerful turtle-dove-foot muskets to equip the navy. Therefore, the firepower of these warships is very powerful! Even without fire and thunder, they are enough to dominate the river.

The insufficient strength of the navy was also Wu Sangui's biggest weakness on the Huguang battlefield. Fortunately, Wu Yingqi had already built a fort in Yuezhou, which could cooperate with the navy to lock the Yangtze River waterway.

In addition to Yuezhou's army, Wu Sangui also stationed more than 10,000 troops in Changsha and Hengzhou.

Among them, the soldiers in Changsha were led by Gao Dejie, a fierce general of the Wu family army. Gao Dejie was a strong general under Wu Sangui. He had some elite men under him. After arriving in Hunan, he expanded the army and the total strength increased to more than 10,000. The troops were guarded in

At various strategic locations within Changsha Prefecture, they were training and defending against the Qing army from Jiangxi.

The person guarding Heng Prefecture was Li Benzhen, who was transferred from Guizhou by Wu Sangui. Li Benzhen was the nephew of Gao Jie, one of the four towns in Jiangbei in the Southern Ming Dynasty. After Gao Jie's death, he took over Duduo, who surrendered to the Qing army. Later, he joined Wu Sangui and served in the Heng Prefecture.

Wu Sangui was promoted to the admiral of Guizhou. This time, in order to reward Li Benzhen for following him, Wu Sangui transferred him to Hengzhou, Hunan and became the admiral of Hunan.

Wu Sangui personally led 50,000 people, plus Wu Yingqi led 30,000 people, plus Gao Dejie and Li Benshen's 20,000 people. At present, Wu Sangui's main force on the Huguang battlefield is almost 100,000.

Compared with the Qing army, it is indeed a little less.

However, Wu Sangui was not at his wits end. Although his troops were small, most of them were elites who were good at fighting and were accustomed to the humid and hot climate in the south.

In addition, he can also buy the most advanced arms from Guangdong - although he still does not recognize the status of the third prince Zhu as a supervisor, does not need to determine the reign of the king, and does not accept the canonization of the third prince Zhu.

But... Zhu Heji also regarded him as an anti-Qing comrade and provided him with a large amount of military white sugar, Neichang gunpowder, Xichang fire salt, and Foshan muskets at the "anti-Qing friendship price."

With these equipment, the firepower of Wu Sangui's unit has been greatly improved compared to history, and its ability to attack difficult situations is naturally much stronger.

However, Wu Sangui was still in no rush to initiate a decisive battle.

Because he is waiting for three people, one is Kangxi... He wants to wait until Kangxi arrives in Xiangyang before starting the decisive battle!

Because the meaning of defeating Kangxi is not to defeat people like Leerjin and Tuhai.

The second person he was waiting for was Geng Jingzhong!

Geng Jingzhong's military advisor Zuo Chunqiu was currently in the presidential palace in Jingzhou, talking happily about the "route to becoming emperor" he had planned for Geng Jingzhong.

"...Once the raid on Hukou is successful, King Geng's 40,000 troops and 60,000 family members will board the ship at Hukou and go straight to Jiangdong! As long as Jiangning can be captured, King Geng will ascend the throne and proclaim himself emperor in Jiangning City.

!”

Wu Sangui was holding a writing brush and writing on a map with his head down. When he heard Zuo Chunqiu saying that Geng Jingzhong wanted to attack Jiangning, he chuckled and said, "Jiangning is guarded by Yue Le, and he can't defeat it.

"

"It doesn't matter if you can't defeat him," Zuo Chunqiu said with a smile, "King Geng can occupy a piece of territory in Jiangbei...and then submit his vassalage to the president. If the president becomes the emperor, he can make him a king. When the time comes, he

I have offended the Qing Dynasty to death, and my desire to be emperor has also died. If I want people to survive, I have to risk my life to conquer the world for the president."

"Hahaha!" Wu Sangui put down his brush, "So it turns out that you, Military Advisor Zuo, are my number one adviser!"

"President," Zuo Chunqiu said with a smile, "I am also thinking about King Geng! Although King Geng will not lose his title if he stays in Fujian, his father and ancestors have committed too many crimes and offended the Chaozhou people too much. It is inevitable that he will be settled by the Queen of Qiu.

.”

Geng Jingzhong himself actually did not commit any evil. He was not yet alive when his grandfather did bad things. When his father did bad things, he was a hostage in Beijing. After he arrived in Fujian, he dreamed of becoming an emperor... and he had a goal in life.

, naturally he has to be positive and win people's hearts. So he is basically a "benevolent king".

But his "benevolence and righteousness" cannot stand up to his "unfilial father", who has done too many bad things!

"Continuing to be loyal to the Manchus is a dead end," Zuo Chunqiu added. "If he wants to follow the Manchus to death, that would be gratifying. The lessons of Shang Zhifilial piety and Shang Zhijie are still vivid in his mind! And the president already knows that he paid tribute to Kangxi

The proposed plan of a surprise attack on Changsha must be prepared... Therefore, his plan cannot succeed."

"Father," Wu Sangui's son Wu Yingxiong suddenly asked, "If Geng Jingzhong really marches on Changsha, can Gao Dejie's 10,000 men hold out?"

"I can't hold on..." Wu Sangui shook his head, "And there won't be 10,000 people left in Changsha!"

"Father, you mean..."

"The decisive battle in Hubei is imminent. How could my father place Gao Dejie's and Li Benzhen's 20,000 elite troops in Changsha and Hengzhou? My father's troops are not that generous."

Wu Sangui actually wanted to gather the 20,000 people guarding the retreat to Jingzhou!

"Commander Father, do you want to transfer them to Jingzhou?" Wu Yingxiong was stunned, "But if this happens, Hunan will be too empty. What if Geng Jingzhong..."

Wu Sangui said with a smile: "My father has a third trump card! He is the real eldest son on the battlefield in Huguang!"

"Father, you mean Zu Zeqing?"

"How could it be him? He only has thousands of elites at his disposal, and it would be very difficult to defend Guangxi."

Wu Sangui shook his head with a smile and said with a smile: "My father is talking about Zhu Heji! The battle of Huguang is related to the rise and fall of the world. Does he really want to wait and see? Although I don't want to be a slave anymore, I can still become a grandson with him."

If I win in Huguang, I can still expect three points in the world. If I lose, can I really use Guangdong to fight against the world?"

Wu Sangui’s biggest reliance turned out to be Zhu Heji!

This old traitor is really good. Zhu Heji will definitely not ignore the Huguang battlefield.

But now he still wants to add another layer of insurance.

Wu Sangui glanced at his former First Military Advisor Liu Xuanchu, "Xuanchu, I think that Yang Qilong will explain this truth to him, right?"

Wu Sangui now knows that Yang Qilong has been under Zhu Heji... This is really Sanhe Qilong, having both.

Liu Xuanchu said with a smile: "President, why don't you go to Guangdong and talk about it... I heard from the feudal merchants who brought gunpowder from Guangdong that Zhu Heji will recently welcome Zheng Yanping's cousin as his concubine, and there will be a big event.

I just happened to pay a visit in the name of the envoy."
Chapter completed!