Whether it was a fierce battle for Xinhui or the capture of Gaoming, Sanshui, and Shunde, in the final analysis, it was still to be able to recover Guangzhou, and then free the whole of Guangdong from the rule of the Manchus.

The main force of the Qing army that had been eliminated quickly moved north. For Xinhui, Lian Chengbi was stationed here with several Ming troops of different systems, as a transit center for grain and grass to be transported along the Xijiang River. These Ming armies were mainly the troops of the Ming army in western Guangdong, but there was also a unit under Li Dingguo stationed here, in case Shang Kexi went and returned, jumping to the periphery to cut off the grain route of the Ming army.

This possibility is not impossible, and the "Vistula Miracle" staged in the Soviet-Polish War after World War I forcibly pulled Poland and even the whole of Europe back from the brink of extinction. God knows, whether Shang Kexi will have a Pilsudski soul possession after this fiasco, no one dares to guarantee it.

The Ming army marched north, and Shang Kexi, the king of Pingnan, and Gushan Ezhen Zhumala, who were still remembered by the Ming army, had already rushed to the lower reaches of the Xijiang River with the cavalry organized before the defeat after getting rid of the pursuit of the Ming army.

There were sailors of the Ming army cruising on the Xijiang River, which was very unfavorable for them. However, of the nearly 5,000 Qing troops, nearly half of them were Manchurian and Mongolian Eight Banners, and the rest were mostly soldiers of the Pingnan Domain.

Killing Li Dingguo with a horse gun, Shang Kexi did not think about it when he was on the road. However, whether Li Dingguo's army left or not, and where it went, these are unknown, if they are stabbed out with a horse pistol, and as a result, they smash and poke a sheep into the tiger's mouth, it is not the work of a wise man.

In addition, this rout is not Shang Kexi's alone, although that Jumala is more inclined to Shang Kexi's judgment, but there is a chance that he will not agree to such a risk. What's more, he had already told Jumala earlier that he would go south to cross the river in the lower reaches of the Xijiang River, and temporarily change his mind, which would not be conducive to the survival of this army.

All the way south, the cavalry of the brigade did not go along the coast, so as not to be discovered by the sailors of the Ming army, but in order to cross the river, they also constantly sent exploration horses to explore the hydrological situation downstream. As Shang Kexi expected, sure enough, like other Pearl River Delta areas, when it came downstream, the number of Jiangxinzhou was still very large, even more and more, and at the same time, several places that were convenient for crossing the river were selected, and Shang Kexi quietly started the work of smuggling the Xijiang River.

Relying on the lack of radio and a network of surveillance cameras with extremely high coverage in this era, Shang Kexi divided into several batches and finally transported most of the Qing army across the Xijiang River within five days.

However, in the final stage, it was discovered by the Ming army's fleet. So, the fleet assembled and rushed to the crossing point, and the Ming cavalry who rushed to hear the news also followed, and the river was already the territory of the Ming army, and the seven or eight hundred Qing cavalry left behind had to withdraw on their own, looking for other places that were convenient for crossing the river.

After crossing the Xijiang River, there were only 4,000 people left in this Qing army, and the only good news was that everyone had horses and could maneuver quickly. But the bad news is that the road home is still very far away, and the water network along the way is crisscrossed, and the time it takes is by no means imaginable in the northland. If you want to return to Guangzhou smoothly, this is just the first hurdle.

After crossing the Xijiang River, this is already the boundary of Xiangshan County. Shang Kexi looked at the map, listened to the report of the horses, and quickly determined their current location and how to move forward.

"To the southeast, it's the territory of those red-haired ghosts. They had ships, and they were very large, bigger than the Zheng family's shipwrights, and they were all used for ocean trade. It stands to reason that it is best to get there and borrow a boat to return north. But ......"

Speaking of this, Shang Kexi didn't continue to speak, but continued to stare at the map, trying to see some way out of it.

Of course, Jumala can understand this. It is said that those red-haired ghosts had cooperated with the Ming court earlier, and also sent troops to help in the war, and later Shang Kexi and Geng Jimao occupied Guangzhou, but they stopped for a few years, and the scale of trade with the Zheng family was roughly broken. However, in the final analysis, these red-haired ghosts have a better relationship with the Ming army, and there will always be some bias. What's more, even if the Macao side is impartial in the Ming and Qing dynasties, and now that the main force of the Qing army has collapsed, it is a good time for the Ming army to sweep Guangdong, and it is naturally impossible for the Macao side to offend Li Dingguo, Zheng Chenggong, and Chen Kai for the sake of these lost dogs.

The reality has always been so cruel. There is no need for Shang Kexi to make it clear, Zhu Mala had already realized that it was a dead end of wasting time when he heard the three words of the red-haired ghost.

"Actually, Lord Pingnan, before crossing the river, I also thought about whether to lie dormant on the west bank of the Xijiang River for a while, and then kill back to Xinhui and take the back road of the thief......"

As soon as Zhu Mala spoke, Shang Kexi raised his head and looked at Zhu Mala with a little shock. He also had this idea, but there were many problems and difficulties, and the risks that needed to be taken were also relatively large, and there was no lack of the need to convince Zhu Mala.

"Prince Pingnan also thought of it, right?"

The night was solemn, and the flickering light of the bonfire illuminated Shang Kexi's face in a flickering light, but that look was in Jumala's eyes, making him think so.

Sure enough, Shang Kexi did not deny this. It's a pity that, like Zhu Mala, Shang Kexi didn't dare to take risks easily, in addition to the problems that their remnants needed to face, the more important thing was where Guangzhou was.

"On weekdays, the prince of Jingnan has a lot of friendship with this king, so for the prince of Jingnan, this king always has to protect one or two. But the current situation has reached this point, and this king will be blunt - the prince of Jingnan in Guangzhou is not as good as his father. If his father was stationed in Guangzhou, and there were more than 10,000 feudal soldiers guarding it, the king would have the intention to take a risk and try, but these two things do not exist now, maybe we will take Xinhui, but Guangzhou will lose it, but it will take the sesame seeds and lose the watermelon, which is completely putting the cart before the horse. ”

Shang Kexi mentioned this point, but Jumala had never thought of it before. However, this is also very understandable, after all, Geng Jimao is Chen Kai's defeated general - it may not be a shame to lose to a little-known general, after all, maybe that military general will become a generation of famous generals in the future, but he lost to a civil official, and he lost twice in a row, resulting in heavy losses to the royal army, which is more likely to make people laugh.

The habitual view that civilian officials do not know soldiers has long been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, but in the late Ming Dynasty, there were not no civilian officials who knew soldiers and were good at fighting. For example, Xiong Tingbi, such as Lu Xiangsheng, such as Gu Yinxi, and Hong Chengchou, who is still alive but has already surrendered to the Qing army, are all quite difficult and ruthless characters, more capable and daring to fight than the vast majority of generals in this era. It's just that the view is fixed, even if Chen Kai does a good job, it is inevitable that others will ridicule Geng Jimao with "losing to civil officials".

"After this battle, maybe no one will look down on the traitor Chen Kai anymore."

"It's more likely that in the future, we will become the same as the prince of Jingnan, and become soft-footed shrimp that even civil officials can't beat."

When it came to this, the two couldn't help but sigh again. Next, it is natural to go north as soon as possible, but the choice of path, as well as grain and grass, these things must be taken into account. Otherwise, not to mention the possibility of being stopped by the Ming army on the road, only to say that the road was smooth, I am afraid that I will starve to death on the road.

"In terms of grain and grass, it is not difficult to loot some on the road and force those gentry to sacrifice the army. Moreover, the news of our defeat will not be dressed so quickly, as long as we seize all the time, be more careful, and take everything into account, we will always be able to return to Guangzhou. ”

For the time being, it can only be like this, in fact, from the moment the new will be captured by the Ming army, many things have been doomed. Even if they have managed to break free, and they have tried their best, but Chen Kai is really not one of those party supremacists, he cooperated with Zheng Chenggong before, and this time he can get along with Li Dingguo, it seems that even Chen Kai, Guo Zhiqi, and Lian Chengbi, who are crazy outside, have a discord with Guo Zhiqi and Lian Chengbi, and now that they think about it again, there is always a possibility of some conspiracy.

When it is agreed to end, it is natural to rest as soon as possible. There was nothing to say all night, and early the next morning, the Qing army ran out of dry food and set off. The first goal is to plunder a village, get some food and grass supplies, and fill the bellies of men and horses before anything else.

Looting, slaughtering, they are all veterans, and they play so smoothly.

Warhorses will always carry some dry food, which is the most basic quality of a cavalry, in case of emergency. But after a few days of fleeing from Jiangmen, they have tightened their belts and basically run out of dry food, and yesterday's meal may be the last meal for many Qing soldiers - if they can't find food to eat.

Having eaten and drunk enough, and having gathered their horsepower, they continued on their march. The crossing point, as well as the first village they plundered, were geographically located in the western part of the area with Xiangshan County as the apex, Macao as the lowest, and surrounded by the waterways of Lingdingyang, Xiangshanao, and the Xijiang River. From here, we went all the way north, out of the boundary of Xiangshan County, into Shunde County, and finally tried to return to Guangzhou. This is all discussed earlier, with the continuous progress, the route, precautions and everything are gradually completed, there is food in the stomach, and the heart has confidence.

War horses also need to store physical strength, and it is not suitable to let the horses run wild for the time being, they go north according to the plan, but the more they go on, the more they feel that something is wrong. It's not that there's something wrong with the place, it's just that there are fewer and fewer people they can see along the way, especially those villages, which are all empty, and it always makes people feel a chill down their spines.

Worried, they had no choice but to send out scouts to find out what was going on. After a long time, a tanma finally came back, but the news brought made them really unable to laugh.

"Master, Lord Pingnan, those Han dogs all said that the feudal soldiers ate people, so they all hid. He also gave the feudal soldiers the nickname "Ogre". It is said that this nickname was set by Chen Kai, and there were gentry in Xiangshan County who planned to call the vassal soldier Yama Demon, but Chen Kai flatly refused, saying that it was unlucky to call Yama Demon......"

The people who were so easy to catch killed themselves by biting their tongues on the way, probably because they were afraid that the "ogres" would eat him alive. Tanma is a Mongolian Eight Banners Eight Banners soldiers, although the real sword and real gun may not be able to beat the feudal soldiers, but the Manchu Qing system, Manchu and Mongolia are one, for the Han people, even the Han military banner has a psychological advantage, at this moment the face is clearly written The bad reputation of the feudal soldiers leads to their dissatisfaction that they may be hungry next, and there is less scruples when they speak.

Words, listening to Shang Kexi and Zhu Mala's ears, the first reaction was that Chen Kai was really lacking in virtue and smoking, obviously Yunlong did it, so he arranged them like this, but then the feelings were completely different.

The latter didn't know anything about the Xinhui cannibalism incident, and when he heard about cannibalism, he thought it was the people's fear of the Eight Banners Army, but after listening carefully, he knew that the Eight Banners Army was no longer as infamous as the feudal soldiers in this land, and for a while there was still some contention.

This was the most normal, because the Qing army relied on the notoriety of slaughtering and plundering cities to suppress many potential opponents. Now that there are suddenly competitors inside, they are really better than them, and there will always be a little jealousy. But for Shang Kexi, this gave birth to a different kind of thought.

At this moment, the Qing army rout, to be precise, the Qing army before the Xijiang River crossing, in terms of composition, there are more than 2,000 people from the Manchurian and Mongolian Eight Banners, 2,000 people are the soldiers of the Pingnan Domain, and the rest are the soldiers of the Han Army Banner and the Jingnan Domain, and the number and proportion are very small.

At that time, the defeat of the army was imminent, Shang Kexi adjusted his deployment, and when he was about to flee, he deliberately singled out the Manmeng Eight Banners and his royal vassal soldiers and distributed horses. In addition, he sent Xu Erxian to evacuate the battlefield with a group of men and horses from the Pingnan Domain, and it was also called an interception of the Ming cavalry. To put it bluntly, it is to use the Han army banner and the vassal soldiers of the Jingnan Domain, and use the lives of these Qing soldiers to fight for more life for them.

Such a subtle mind, Jumala could see it early. This is human nature, and it is also in line with his fundamental interests of giving priority to the preservation of the Manchurian Eight Banners, so he will turn a blind eye.

But now the problem is that the cannibalism of Xinhui has spread among the people of Xiangshan County, and it is likely that the same is true in Shunde County, which was once occupied by the Ming army. It is likely that the next supply of grain and grass will not be so easy, especially in this deep winter, even in Guangdong, it is not so easy to find food in the wilderness. At that time, it will naturally be the remaining Han Army Banner and Jingnan Domain soldiers who will be sacrificed first, but after these guys are sacrificed, is it possible to use the Manmeng Eight Banners to provide a chance for his domain soldiers to survive?

"Why don't you try to raid the county seat once?"

"It's useless, the city gates must have been sealed a long time ago, and there are no siege equipment, so we have no way to take the city."

With the whispers of the officers in his ears, Shang Kexi and Jumala looked at each other, and had no choice but to continue north.

Soon, they passed through the Shiqi River, which flows from the north to the east of Xiangshan County into the Lingding Ocean, and then went all the way north, trying their best to pass quickly. However, there is really no surprise that is still gratifying, the more you go down, the less people you can see, and the people who can be caught are also talking in unison about the cannibalism of the feudal soldiers.

Along the way, the people have long since run out. Once it was heard that the Qing army had crossed the border, it was not uncommon for people to enter the city, flee into the mountains, and escape into the sea by boat. All in all, they would never dare to let the Qing army see a single figure. And what's even worse is that there always seem to be some Ming troops behind them, and the number is very small, it looks like it should just be a probe horse, but who knows if there are any large-scale Qing troops behind those guys, waiting to bite them.

Occasionally, some food can be scavenged from the homes of people who have fled in a hurry, but most of the time it is only in vain. In the words of the local people, the Qing army ate people, but they wanted to eat, so of course they had to take the food away so as not to go hungry.

But in this way, the common people are no longer hungry, and the war horses can barely satisfy their hunger with weeds, but people can't eat grass. So, halfway through the journey, the killing of horses and meat began. At first, it was still those weak and powerless war horses, and the Qing army without the war horses was designated to be unable to keep up, so they simply let them return to Guangzhou on their own under the banner of quick reinforcements. Next, the weak and powerless were not enough, so they began to eat the war horses of the Han army banner and the Jingnan domain soldiers, which can be regarded as the weak and the strong. And later, when all the war horses of his people were eaten, Shang Kexi, who was full of eight banners, did not dare to move, so he could only start from the feudal soldiers in the headquarters, distinguishing the difference between the old feudal soldiers and the new feudal soldiers, and bullying the newcomers was also doing everything.

In this way, the number of people quickly shrank from about 4,000 to less than 3,000. Fortunately, thanks to the war horses, there was no delay too much, and finally arrived on the other side of Foshan. This is where they passed when they went south, and most of the newly built pontoon bridges are still there, so they hurriedly got on the bridge in a hurry to return to the area controlled by the Qing army.

The Qing army of the brigade crossed the bridge and went straight to Foshan, and those who crossed the bridge in advance couldn't wait, so they ran directly there. The follow-up Qing army is still crossing the bridge, and the Qing army that crossed the bridge in advance has rushed into Foshan Fort, but where they can see, there is still no half of a person, which is because there is an unimaginable difference between the lively ones, especially in the case of no one along the way, it makes them shudder.

quickly made a return, Shang Kexi and Jumala had just crossed the bridge, and when they heard this, they were immediately shocked. But before their shock passed, a horn sounded on the Foshan side, and the Ming army of the brigade drove and slashed the Qing army that entered the fort and swept out, and at the same time, the Ming army that followed the two counties finally showed its true face, but it was Li Jianjie's hussar town and Wang Qifeng's iron cavalry town.

Nearly 3,000 exhausted Qing army rout, after thousands of difficulties and dangers, almost turned into a wilderness to survive, where would you have thought that in the end it still fell into the hands of the Ming army. At this moment, a group of troops with different weapons from the other Ming troops came out in formation, and it was soon clear who had stopped them.

"Shang Kexi, from the fourth year of Yongli to today, it's time to make an end!"