Chapter 206: Coming to Ming but not Zheng, decisive battle
Among the generals of the Qing army, Shi Lang was undoubtedly the most familiar with naval warfare. At the same time, he was also deeply confident in his ability to command operations at sea. Before the decision to reinforce Zhangzhou, the Qing army was preparing to let Shi Lang lead his troops on an expedition.
However, Shi Lang's untimely and euphemistic request deepened the Qing court's suspicion of him and prevented him from having another chance to conquer the sea.
I am afraid that only Shi Lang could ask for exclusive power as a commander-in-chief. Of course, Shi Lang's request for exclusive power was not only due to his victorious character and the hope of having sole power, but more importantly because of the overall situation of this battle.
Consider and learn from the disastrous failure of the last attack on Jinxia.
Dasu led the Qing army to attack Xiamen on a large scale, but almost the entire army was wiped out. He was not familiar with naval warfare and was not familiar with winds, floods and tides. In particular, the command fell into the hands of generals who did not have the ability and experience in naval warfare, which was the main reason for his disastrous defeat. Again.
Looking at the generals in this reinforcement operation, although Geng Jingzhong, Li Shutai, Ma Degong and others have fought against the Zheng army for many years, they do not have the ability to command maritime operations. Although Huang Wu is familiar with naval warfare, his ability is insufficient and he is dismissed.
Trapped in Zhangzhou.
However, these people were more powerful than Shi Lang, and Shi Lang did not have exclusive power. Once there were differences of opinion, the consequences would be unpredictable in the ever-changing battle process. Shi Lang did not want to suffer another defeat, so he proposed that he only wanted to let Geng Jingzhong, the king of Jingnan,
, Governor Li Shutai, Admiral Ma Degong and others worked with him to plan the reinforcement of Zhangzhou without requiring them to manage the finances. They euphemistically expressed their willingness to take responsibility for this operation alone, implying that they had obtained exclusive power.
mean.
In order to gain support, Shi Lang also met with Dang Wuli, the minister of the Ministry of War sent to Fujian by the Qing court. He introduced the operation strategy in detail and reiterated his request to direct the reinforcement operation in Zhangzhou alone. Unfortunately, Shi Lang's two generals rebelled, and
The rumors that spread later made the party affairs ceremony very cautious. However, Shi Lang's original speech was dull and he spoke an incomprehensible Hokkien dialect, which made the party affairs ceremony of the powerful officials in the DPRK even more displeasing.
In the end, Shi Lang not only failed to achieve his goal, but was excluded from the operation. However, the navy he had trained so hard was all deployed. Subsequently, the Qing government stepped up its implementation of "allocating surrendered officers and soldiers at sea to other provinces to disperse their strength."
, in order to eliminate hidden dangers" policy, Shi Lang was honored to become one of them and was transferred to Dengzhou, Henan for garrison.
For the Manchus who want to rule the main ethnic group with ethnic minorities, the psychological complex towards the Han people is difficult to eliminate. It is common to use, despise, suspect, and guard against the Han people. Especially in areas they are not familiar with, it is even more common.
I am afraid that Han officials will dominate the family.
Shi Lang had no place to use, and the level of Admiral Ma's achievements was really limited. The Qing army scraped together a force from scratch, and the ships were considered to be large-scale reinforcements. However, they finally made the same mistake again, and were defeated in the naval battle and lost the last naval capital.
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The sea route reinforcements were exhausted. Zheng Army generals Liu Guoxuan and Feng Xifan joined forces with the Ming Army Marines and defeated Geng Fan's land reinforcements Wang Jin and Liu Yan respectively. Zhangzhou became an isolated city, and the Ming and Zheng coalition forces could attack Zhangzhou with confidence.
After the Qing army received the news that there was no hope of reinforcements, their morale and morale were greatly reduced. There was also internal chaos.
Huang Wu, Chenggong of Qinghai who was defending Zhangzhou, was at a loss and fell ill and was bedridden. His son Huang Fangdu saw that the Ming and Zheng coalition forces were gaining strength. He wanted to surrender, but he was worried that his father Huang Wu had a deep grudge with the Zheng family. He was always uneasy, so he decided to surrender.
Secret personnel were sent to contact the Ming army. After receiving a clear promise, Huang Fangdu placed his father under house arrest, and suddenly launched an attack with his men, killing Xu Long, the general of Nanyang, and Liu Bao, the Geng vassal general, and surrendered the city to the Ming army.
In the Battle of the Eastern Expedition, there were many reasons why the Qing army was not willing to fight. Among them, the coastal border relocation and the Qing government's forced sending of surrendered officers, soldiers and their families to other provinces to reclaim wasteland and farmland were undoubtedly very important. Short-sighted and self-defeating
Out of precaution against the Han people and fear of the sea, the Qing government adopted these stupid policies that alienated those who had surrendered and chilled those who had not yet surrendered. For the majority of surrendered officers and soldiers who were mostly coastal people and were nostalgic for their homeland, the Ming-Zheng coalition forces were extremely powerful.
, wouldn’t it be their chance to escape the sea of suffering?
Not only the lower-level officers and soldiers hated the Qing government's policies, but also some high-ranking generals were extremely dissatisfied with it. For example, Jieshi Suli raised a flag to rebel, Zhong Rui, a guerrilla under Shi Lang's command, Chen Sheng, the Chinese Army garrison, and many others surrendered to the Qing Dynasty
A former general of the Zheng army.
For these officers and soldiers who rebelled or surrendered anyway, the vast majority were those who made the decision to "surrender the Ming Dynasty but not the Zheng Dynasty" like Huang Fangdu. The Ming army was orthodox, the Ming court was Zhengshuo, and the Ming Dynasty was already dying of several provinces... these
The reasons are of course important, and "a good horse never turns back to eat grass" is probably also the psychological reason why these former Zheng troops surrendered their troops and generals that cannot be ignored.
………………
Morning fog is very common in Fujian Province. In the imagination of many Qing soldiers, they seemed to have walked in the fog and darkness for a long time. In fact, the time was not long. It was just an illusion given by this environment.
Less than an hour later, the environment began to turn white and the sky began to light up. Although there was still fog and confusion around them, the soldiers and generals of the Qing Dynasty all knew that daybreak would soon come and they felt relieved.
The expression on Deputy Capital Tong Tuhai's face did not ease. The scouts had already come into contact with the Ming army sentries, which meant that the Ming army was in front and getting closer. This situation deepened his worries. After receiving the message from the messenger,
After receiving the information, he immediately led the army to rush back non-stop, but was it still too late? If it was still supporting, the Ming army would have the remaining strength to draw troops to intercept. If this was an opportunity to defeat them, they would still be blocked by the Ming army, but instead defeated by the Ming army.
Eat it in one bite?
From the current point of view, the initiative in the war is in the hands of the Ming army. The cavalry did not carry heavy weapons and could not break through the Ming army's tightly defended positions. Instead, they lost some men and horses in tentative attacks; the camp was attacked.
The cavalry galloped through the starry night, consuming a lot of manpower and horse power. The situation was unclear, and I didn't know whether the cavalry's response was to respond internally and externally, or whether it was to rush into the pocket.
All these thoughts made Tu Hai uneasy and had an ominous feeling, but now he could only move forward and rely on the bravery of the Eight Manchu and Mongolian Cavalry to reverse the situation of the war.
The sun has already appeared in the east, and the fog is thin and will soon dissipate without a trace in the sunshine. The gunshots rang out from the front, as well as the flag-flower rockets flying into the sky, made the Qing army who had just breathed a sigh of relief suddenly become nervous again.
Tuhai's face became even more serious. Was the war about to begin? He waved an order and ordered the troops to temporarily stop advancing. The men dismounted and rested to recuperate their strength. He briefly listened to the story of the sentry who came back to report, and then, accompanied by dozens of guards,
Urging the horse forward.
The shallow trench and Luzhai were not the kind of fortifications that gave him a headache. Tu Hai breathed a sigh of relief. But when he looked ahead, he felt a lot of pressure.
Ten square formations gathered together to form a large formation, square and upright, which was very visually shocking. The solemn and orderly military formation made Tu Hai secretly frightened. Although his face was calm, he knew that this was probably the most serious formation he had ever encountered.
A powerful enemy.
When we meet on a narrow road, the brave will win. There is no choice but to fight! Tu Hai narrowed his eyes and clenched his fists. He had no choice.