In fact, the key to the Eastern Expedition lies in the sea. With control of the sea, the initiative in the war will be in the hands of the Ming army. But as Deng Yao and other generals thought, the navy serves the army and cooperates with the army. If
If the navy fails, the land war may be difficult and the results may be limited; if the army fails, it will gain nothing, and the Qing army may even approach Yunnan Province.
Under the current situation, although Wu Sangui, Sun Yanling and others are waiting and watching, it is hard to say what their attitude will be if the Ming army shows signs of defeat.
As of now in the Eastern Expedition, the Ming army's operational strategy seems to be very clear. The attack route adopted is almost the same as when Li Dingguo attacked Guangdong for the second time in the eighth year of Yongli Period. Nanning, Lingshan, Lianzhoufu, Gaozhou, if progress goes well, will inevitably
There will be another offensive and defensive battle of Xinhui. With the great victory of the Ming Navy, this possibility is becoming more and more likely.
On September 23rd of 1661 AD (the 18th year of Shunzhi and the 15th year of Yongli), the Ming army attacked Lianzhou Prefecture (now Hepu, Guangxi) on September 23rd; on September 25th, the army invaded Leizhou Prefecture and successively occupied Suixi.
, Lianjiang. At this time, a reinforcement force sent by Shang Kexi, led by General Yunlong and Staff General Wu Jinzhong, entered Gaozhou to block the Ming army's continued attack to the east.
On the first day of October, King Ma Bao of Ruyang personally went to the front line and ordered to stabilize the front line against the Qing army first, and then divide his troops to attack Leizhou southward to eliminate the threat from the rear.
This is a very stable command, but it seems to have given Shang Kexi time to continue to deploy troops. In fact, Ma Bao did not rush to attack Gaozhou. Firstly, Leizhou was not in peace, and secondly, he was waiting for the navy to cooperate with the operation.
.The initial offensive was smooth. This was because Shang Kexi was unwilling to make the mistake of Kong Youde who divided his troops to defend and led to his destruction. He concentrated the main force of the vassal troops in Guangzhou, while other prefectures and states were garrisoned by green battalions with weak combat effectiveness.
Therefore, the closer to Guangzhou, the stronger the enemy's combat effectiveness, the more cautious you must be. And judging from historical battles, Shang Kexi's troops should be stronger at defense than offense. In the two battles of Zhaoqing and Xinhui, they were all defensive.
The counterattack style of play indeed thwarted Jin King Li Dingguo's attack.
Of course, there were many factors for the failure, including Li Dingguo's sudden illness, his soft-heartedness, Zheng Chenggong's selfishness, etc. However, after careful analysis, we can still see some gratifying characteristics. If the San Francisco was the first to have the idea of retaining its strength, it must be him.
It's undoubtedly gratifying.
During the Battle of Zhaoqing, Shang Kexi kept asking the Qing court for reinforcements; during the Battle of Xinhui, Shang Kexi was even more frightened and complained to the Qing court, saying that he only had 2,500 soldiers under his command.
There were only 20,000 soldiers in the green camp. "Conquests in various places were not without damage, and it was difficult to recruit. The replacements were all from the south, and they were all wanderers, not experienced in combat. In recent years, the Western bandits (referring to Li Dingguo's army) have been on the rise.
"The local bandits are stealing everywhere, and we cannot rely on them because of the large number of troops." He also requested the Qing government to dispatch Manchu and Mongolian soldiers to Guangdong to assist in the war.
Even when Xinhui was in danger, Shang Kexi still did not dare to lead troops to come to rescue from Guangzhou. Instead, he stationed his troops at Sanshui. He waited for the arrival of the Manchu and Mongolian troops sent by the Qing court before he dared to go to Xinhui to relieve the siege. From these analyses, it is not obvious
It is rare to find out that the strength of Shang Kexi's troops is indeed not as good as before. The most important thing is that after successive battles, there are not many "those who have experienced battles" anymore.
"Defend to death, defend to death." Prince Ma Bao of Ruyang chanted repeatedly, his eyes slowly gleaming with light.
Generals who have experienced the counterattack in Yunnan Province all know that the key to victory at that time was to use very effective and fast tactics to break the city. Because of this, it exceeded Wu Sangui's expectation. In terms of time, the Qing army was unable to catch up with reinforcements.
In the battle, the enemy defending the city is like a turtle in an urn.
The current situation is somewhat similar. Shang Kexi still followed the same approach as the previous two times, that is, he did not attack all the main forces at the beginning. Either he wanted to use the strong city to weaken the enemy first, or he was waiting for reinforcements. Anyway, he still showed
He has the characteristic of being timid in field battles.
But Shang Kexi didn't know that during the two battles of Zhaoqing and Xinhui, the Ming army had the possibility of attacking from the east and west. It was only because the Zheng army was delayed that it failed. Now, although there is no Zheng army, the naval battle is great, and the Su
The possibility of an imminent attack from east and west exists, but it will take time to see.
"Shang Ni wanted to delay time in order to exhaust our army, but he was foolish and brought his own destruction." Wu Sansheng sneered and said: "When Su Li rose up and the navy started to take action, the Qing army was helpless and did not dare to act casually.
The mobilization is just in time for our army to defeat them one by one and turn the fortified city they rely on into a tomb."
"This is what Your Highness should have meant." Ma Bao nodded and said, "When he was in Yunnan Province, he moved like a thunderbolt to capture Yongchang, conquer Xiaguan, and recover Dali. Wu Ni was caught off guard and fell into a passive position."
In fact, although the navy won a great victory, the real containment effect has not yet been exerted. Shang Kexi thought that delaying time would be beneficial to him, but he did not know that the opposite was true. Moreover, the Ming army's follow-up methods did not stop there.
The province added more than 10,000 troops, and the new soldiers recruited since the Eastern Expedition were transferred back to fill the vacancies. Over time, the total number of troops in the Eastern Expedition remained unchanged, but the veterans were replaced by new ones, and their combat effectiveness was improved.
Zhu Yongxing saw clearly that as long as the Eastern Expedition was victorious, Wu Sangui would not dare to make any changes, and Yunnan Province would not be in any danger.
"It's just that the strength of the Marine Corps seems to be a bit weak. If Su Li just sticks to his original position after the uprising, I'm afraid it won't be enough to contain him." Wu Sansheng was a little worried about whether the five thousand Marines could attack the city and seize territory and cooperate with the Army.
Ma Bao smiled faintly and said: "If we don't have enough marines, our army can also mobilize troops to raid the enemy's rear by ship and by sea. What we are worried about now should be the enemy's reinforcements, and the most likely one is Fujian Geng Ni."
"It's a pity that the Zheng family——" Wu Sansheng smiled bitterly and shook his head gently.
If the Zheng army took action to contain Geng Jingzhong in Fujian, Shang Kexi would most likely be isolated and helpless and suffer a heavy blow from the Ming army. Now, there are some variables.
Although Zhu Yongxing's general staff did not regard the liberation of Guangzhou as the fatal mission of the Eastern Expedition, the generals of the Eastern Expedition regarded this as their goal. Especially senior generals such as Ma Bao had such an opportunity to surpass Jin King Li Dingguo.
, naturally I don’t want to let it go.
"After Leizhou, our army will attack Gaozhou." Ma Bao's eyes moved forward from the position of Gaozhou on the map, stayed for a moment in Xinhui, and finally focused on Guangzhou. Although delaying time is beneficial to the Ming army at present, going too far is not enough.
Before the enemy's reinforcements arrive, they must move quickly and attack fiercely, so that Shang Kexi is as unexpected and unprepared as Wu Sangui.