In the Cabinet Office, Han Lin, Han Duan, Wang Fuzhi, and Fan Yuan, as well as Minister of Civil Affairs Chen Bangyan, Minister of State Security Zhang Tongchang, Minister of Personnel Chen Zizhuang, and Vice Minister of Finance Zhao Shouren, who had just arrived in Guangzhou, gathered together.

"What do you think of Zheng Zhilong?" Han Lin threw the question straight to the point.

"I thought it would be better for us not to conflict with the Hongguang Dynasty at the moment." Chen Bangyan put forward his own conservative opinion.

"Humph!" Han Duan sneered, "Zheng Zhilong's generation, but a pirate, a repeated villain, if we don't send troops, how can we be worthy of our brothers who died in Fujian, how can we explain to their families, and how will the people of the world treat us?!" ”

Chen Bangyan stopped talking, and Wang Fuzhi muttered: "Although Zheng Zhilong is a pirate, he must not be underestimated. The prime minister had asked me to collect his information before, and in the past, Hongyi was a disaster on the southeast coast, and Zheng Zhilong contributed a lot to being able to expel Hongyi and keep one side safe.

Over the years, Zheng Zhilong's power has grown stronger and stronger, and on the sea, those who are not allowed to order the flag of the Zheng clan cannot come and go. With an annual income of 3,000 gold and an annual income of 10 million, the Zheng family used this to enrich the enemy country and build the city of Anping Town; Since then, the sea atmosphere is quite breathing, selling foreign goods, domestic and foreign merchants, all use the Zheng banner, no example, businessmen have 20 times the benefits, Zheng Zhilong to Haili traffic court, Fujian to Zheng for the Great Wall. Zheng Zhilong's trade scope was wide in the East and South Seas: Da Ni, Hun Ni, Champang, Luzon, Yonggang, Beigang, Dayuan, Hirado, Nagasaki, Mumbai, Banten, Old Port, Batavia, Malacca, Cambodia, and Siam. It is estimated that Zheng Zhilong has a military strength of up to 200,000 people, including Han, Japanese, Korean, Austronesian and other ethnic groups, and has a fleet of more than 3,000 large and small boats. After destroying the power of his former sworn brother Liu Xiang, he became the only power on the sea. ”

"In this way, although Zheng Zhilong's power is huge, it is mainly at sea." Mr. Chan said he also advocated a counterattack.

"How many people does Zheng Zhilong have in Fujian?" Han Lin asked Wang Fuzhi.

The latter thought for a while and replied: "Fujian's health centers are actually less than 80,000 now, and their combat effectiveness is equivalent to none. As for the recruitment, due to the frequent coastal wars before, there were nearly 100,000, and the structure of the recruitment system has not changed much in recent years, but because there are no major wars, and the military expenses are too high, the imperial treasury is empty, and there is no military salary, grain and grass, and the government can hardly afford it, and the number of people should be reduced a lot, and it will not exceed our strength.

Although Zheng Zhilong has the name of the general soldier, the guards and the government recruit troops are not under his jurisdiction, except for the original group of pirates, his subordinates are recruited at his own expense, so it should be within 30,000. ”

"How can soldiers from other places be compared to our self-improvement army." Han Duan smiled confidently, he couldn't wait to take the Ziqiang army to the battlefield.

"Our sailors have only a hundred warships and seven or eight thousand people, which is far from being able to compete with Zheng Zhilong's sea power." Han Lin lowered his head, as if he was talking to himself.

"Prime Minister, are we going to leave it at that?" Zhang Tongchang was a staunch main battle faction, and seeing that Han Lin was a little afraid to fight, he hurriedly spoke.

"Hahaha," Han Lin laughed and said, "Fight, why don't you fight, and you have to teach Zheng Zhilong a lesson." ”

Han Lin walked to the huge map in the back: "Let's come and see." ”

Receiving Han Lin's affirmation, Han Duan and the others excitedly gathered around.

Han Lin made a comparison on the map and said: "Zheng Zhilong's sailors were distributed from the Wa Kingdom to Nanyang, and it was difficult to mobilize them in a short time, and the sailors left in the vicinity of Zhangzhou Prefecture, Quanzhou Prefecture, Fuzhou Prefecture and Penghu were less than half of the total strength. On land, now he is pressed on the border between Fujian and Guangdong provinces, and there are only more than 10,000 people in Tingzhou and Zhangzhou Mansions, and the local forces will not obediently listen to him.

In our periphery, Jiangxi is not to be feared, the southern part of Huguang is under our control, and all parts of Guangxi are basically subservient.

Another point is that Zuo Liangyu of Wuchang, Huguang, has self-respecting troops and is known as an army of 800,000. Ma Shiying and other powerful people in the Hongguang court rejected the Donglin Party, but Zuo Liangyu protected the Donglin Party, and his ambitions became increasingly apparent. Coupled with Li Zicheng's retreat to Huguang and his own subordinates, it is very likely that Zuo Liangyu will not confront Li Zicheng head-on, but go south along the river and approach Jinling. Ma Shiying and others deployed a heavy army east of Jinling, and the defense of both us and the Qing people in the north was extremely low. ”

Wang Fuzhi laughed: "This group of high-ranking officials is prominent, really never forget to fight for power and profit, just don't fortify us, and actually open the door to welcome the Qing people?" ”

"In this way, it is Jinling who really doesn't want to fight."

"They don't want to fight, we want to fight," Han Lin's eyes were like torches, "Within half a month, we will directly knock down the entire Tingzhou Mansion, and then, send a letter of state, and tell Jinling that we are forced to helpless." ”

Everyone looked at each other and laughed.

The next morning, after the ministers completed the simple etiquette, the eunuch Yang Shouchun read: "If there is something to start, nothing to retreat from." ”

"Your Majesty, the minister has something to do." Han Lin said.

"What is the important matter of Han Aiqing?" Zhu Changying asked.

"Fujian Zheng Zhilong despised the Son of Heaven and beheaded my courtiers without permission, the crime is unforgivable, and the ministers asked to send troops immediately to raise my prestige in the sky." Han Lin paused, "In addition, I ask Your Majesty to personally write a letter of state and send it to Jinling to bitterly explain Zheng Zhilong's crimes, and then arrive in Jinling at the same time as the news of our army's victory." ”

"Quasi-play." Zhu Changying didn't listen to Han Lin's statement very carefully, since he ascended the throne and became emperor, these ministers in front of him only met him in the early court, and usually all affairs were handled in Han Lin's cabinet office in advance, and then sent to himself to stamp a seal and approve a word, and the most common sentence he said in the court was probably "quasi-play".

The war machine was in full swing, and the orders were passed on to the post stations all over Guangdong.

Information transmission is also a key aspect of Han Lin's attention, Han Lin not only ordered people to restore many of the previously abandoned post stations, but also vigorously built a lot.

The stable, pigeon house, etc. in the post station are readily available, among which the carrier pigeon has become the main force of sending the letter, the efficiency is relatively very high, and it is a felony to capture and hunt the military pigeon without authorization, and it will not be spared.

The first time in history that China used carrier pigeons to convey military information was the Xiongnu people, and the use of carrier pigeons was because pigeons had a natural instinct to return to the nest.

The 3rd Brigade of the 1st Division of Han Lin advanced on the whole line, stationed in Tai Po and Raoping, and confronted Zheng Zhilong's subordinates in Zhangzhou Mansion in Fujian, and the 20,000 people of the 2nd Brigade of the 1st Division and the 4th Brigade and 5th Brigade of the 2nd Division of Han Duan joined Pingyuan, and the target was directly aimed at Tingzhou Mansion, and Wuping was the first to bear the brunt.

Outside Pingyuan City, Li Suiqiu, commander of the Second Brigade, Guo Zhiqi, deputy brigade commander, Kuang Lu, commander of the Fourth Brigade, Kuang Hong, deputy brigade commander, Li Wo, commander of the Fifth Brigade, and Huang Gongfu, deputy brigade commander, were discussing the battle plan together.

"Wuping is more than twenty miles southwest of Wuping City, and it is only fifty or sixty miles away from us, and according to the speed of our army, it can be reached within two hours." Li Suiqiu said his judgment, "The original guards in the Wuping Institute are negligible, and there are about 6,000 people stationed in the two battalions under Zheng Zhilong, who are not only well-trained, but also should have a lot of artillery in their hands, and their strength is not small. ”

"But with only 6,000 men, we have nearly 20,000 troops, and the power of the artillery is only strong and not weak, so in my opinion, we will drive straight in and eat these two battalions directly." Li Wo laughed.

"The other side is not a fool, if they are definitely defeated, they will definitely retreat, if they retreat to Wuping City, we will not only suffer greater losses if we attack the city again, but also waste several times more time, if the follow-up Tingzhou Mansion City, Ninghua and other cities are like this, how to take down the entire Tingzhou Mansion within half a month according to the requirements of the military commander?" Kwong Lu voiced her opinion.

Several people were silent for a while, and Kuang Hong pointed to the map and proposed a battle strategy: "I think we can bypass Wuping, march from Xiangshan at the junction of Jiangxi and Fujian, pass through Siwang Mountain, and go north to directly attack the capital city of Tingzhou." ”

"Wonderful!" Li Suiqiu praised, "With lightning speed, the Tingzhou capital city will be defeated, and those prefects, Tongzhi, and general judgments will be wiped out, as long as they surrender, the other faint officials will not fall in the wind." If the men and horses of the Third Brigade are allowed to respond from the side, Zheng Zhilong's army will be isolated and helpless, and it will be just a turtle in an urn. ”

"That's right, they would never have imagined that we would find another way, and they certainly wouldn't have imagined that an army would be able to climb mountains and mountains and travel long distances to defeat the Yellow Dragon, after all, our training is not comparable to other armies." Li Wo is full of confidence.

"What is the situation of the troops in the capital city of Tingzhou?" Kwong Hung asked.

"There are more than 10,000 guards near the capital city of Tingzhou, we don't take the initiative to attack them, they don't dare to fight us, the defenders in the city are all recruits, the specific number is not clear, but it will never exceed 10,000." Kuang Lu introduced.

"Okay, since that's the case, then let's stay in Pingyuan for a day, and send people around to spread the news that we are about to send troops to attack Wupingsuo, and set off at night tomorrow, when the time comes, our second brigade will leave a regiment to confuse the enemy," Li Suiqiu looked at a few people, "Do you have anything else to add?" ”

"That's it!"

The commander of the Zheng family army stationed in Wuping is Zheng Zhilong's third brother, Zheng Hongkui, who was named Jinglubo by the Hongguang Imperial Court, and Zheng Hongkui has been very irritable recently. Originally, as soon as he brought the army, the local officials, squires and landlords all came to visit spontaneously, and gave a lot of gifts, which made him make a windfall, so unhappy. But he didn't expect the imperial court in Guangdong to send a large army directly so quickly, and when he thought that there were enemy troops several times his size dozens of miles away, Zheng Hongkui couldn't sleep and eat.

Now it is rumored everywhere that the Guangdong army is about to send troops to Wuping, Zheng Hongkui thinks whether it is good to retreat directly to Wuping City, but retreat before the battle, where to put this face, his eldest brother will never spare himself, but he is arrogant to Yongli to cancel the emperor's title and go to Jinling to take the blame.