"Quick! Hurry up for Lao Tzu! Don't stop! Rush to the state city within an hour, and reward two yuan per person! "On June 16, 1687, somewhere outside the city of Qinzhou, Guangdong, a bearded officer stood on a small earthen bag, waving his arms and shouting loudly.

It was a troop of soldiers and horses from the Teochew Prefecture, numbering about 1,000 men, armed with the classic Type 32-B flintlock rifle, sold by the Southern Pioneer and manufactured by Sakhalin. Because this rifle does not have bayonets, there are also a large number of spearmen (the proportion is not high) in this unit, which is a mixture of hot and cold weapons, and this is actually a more common way of organizing combat on the land of China today.

This bearded officer named Qian Jinbao, ranked among the guerrillas in Taiao, stationed in the border with Fujian all the year round, and had several battles with Zheng Jing's soldiers and horses, and his record was not bad, so he was sent out by Li Yuanyin this time to come to this Lianzhou Mansion to "seek great things". Of course, this so-called conspiracy has nothing to do with Li Yuanyin, and they sent troops this time to help the people on the east coast. To put it more bluntly, it is to help the people on the east coast to take root in Qinzhou, an important place in western Guangdong, so as not to be too busy and passive when the situation deteriorates.

It is said that since April 20, Chen Ming of the Chengdu Commercial Station received a secret message from Zhang Guangcui, the left wing of the Sichuan Shogunate, and immediately sent two capable officers to Madang Fortress with a letter written in code as quickly as possible. Madang Fortress did not dare to slack off after receiving the news, and immediately sent a naval gunboat in the best condition, which arrived at the Ningbo Fuding Harbor at a gallop, and sent the news to the southern development team, and at this time it had only passed about 20 days, which showed the efficiency.

Liu Houfei, the leader of the pioneer team, met with two messengers in Yinxian County, and after understanding the situation, he sent people north to inform Liao Degong of Yantai, and on the other hand, he ordered a number of naval armed transport ships to rush south, carrying a large amount of munitions, and it took about eight days (the wind direction is changeable in this season) to arrive at the coast of Chaozhou Prefecture, this day was May 26, 1687, more than a month has passed since the news first came out, and the Shunguo troops in Sichuan and Hunan have begun to dispatch one after another, rushing towards Guangxi and Yunnan.

The envoy of the people from the east coast had a secret conversation with Li Yuanyin in Haiyang County. The specific content of the secret meeting cannot be known to outsiders, but it can be seen from the fact that Li Yuanyin convened the generals immediately after the talks, and this secret meeting still touched him greatly. Therefore, perhaps out of some consideration, or perhaps under the coercion and temptation of the people on the east coast, he soon sent 3,000 soldiers stationed in the vicinity of Tai O, led by the guerrilla general Qian Jinbao, to board the ships of the people on the east coast in batches (and at the same time he also sent some Chinese sailing ships to transport people and goods), and headed for the port of Qinzhou, the capital of Lianzhou, thousands of miles away.

Qinzhou is the western stronghold of Lianzhou Prefecture, and it is also the most prosperous place. For many years, although the people on the east coast have been focusing mainly on the area around Guangzhou Bay, and have not paid much attention to the relatively poor four prefectures of Lian, Gao, Lei, and Qiong in western Guangdong, they have more or less had some business contacts and have established certain contacts with local officials. In this Kunming incident, the king of Qin, Sun Kewang was killed, and the news spread to the provinces of southern China, although the Lianzhou Mansion was remote, but the news was not completely blocked, so he still learned the whole picture of the matter one after another. What's more, now that the soldiers and horses of Dashun have entered Gui from Baoqing, Yongzhou and other places, and the front line of Quanzhou has even handed over fire, just as the so-called military situation is urgent, the messengers are all changing horses and not changing people to deliver news in various places, so the officials of Lian, Gao, and Lei almost knew about it in early June.

It was at this time that the envoy urgently sent by the Haizhu Island Commercial Station on the east coast also arrived at the Qinzhou Port Wharf by speedboat, and then directly asked to meet the governor of Qinzhou. The governor of Qinzhou was appointed by the Southern Ming court, a middle-aged greasy man, who maintained trade ties with the people on the east coast all the year round, and the relationship between the two sides was quite close.

After the envoys of the people from the east coast met, they immediately asked for permission to send troops to land and take over several strategic points in Lianzhou Prefecture as a precaution. This request suddenly made it difficult for the old brother of Zhizhou, although he was greedy for money, he was also a serious court official, and he had the responsibility of guarding the land. It's just that you Dongguo people come to do some business, and everyone will make a fortune together, but what is the matter if you want to send troops ashore? Do you want to take the opportunity to swallow the Lianzhou Mansion? When did you have such a big appetite?

However, it is not very realistic to refuse the Dongguo, because there are really few soldiers in Qinzhou and even the entire Lianzhou Mansion now! The reason why there are no soldiers, just a few words: a few tosses and turns! Although Lianzhou is a poor and remote country, it was originally stationed here with several guerrilla battalions under the command of Lian Gao's general army. But in the later period of Li Chengdong, the Southern Ming Dynasty court played a careful role and divided and co-opted the Huiguo Gongsuo Department, and successfully made the Lian, Gao, Lei, and Qiong prefectures in western Guangdong break away from Li Chengdong's jurisdiction and be taken over by the Southern Ming Dynasty - it is said that it is a takeover, but at that time, it was actually autonomous by the local Li Chengdong's old department, of course, they were already nominally "people of the imperial court".

The good days of these Qiu Hachi warriors didn't last long. Playing politics, they are the opponents of those civil officials, so they were soon divided and disintegrated, and slowly lost their military power one by one, and the Lianzhou Mansion was also "de-warlordized" at this time, and most of the people and horses of the Lian Gao general army were driven back to Gaozhou, and Lianzhou left two so-called soldiers and horses with hearts to the imperial court, which were stationed in Hepu and Qinzhou respectively.

After years of uninterrupted tossing, these two ranger battalions have long been tossed and scattered. Originally, they still had a little blood and bravery, but after years of transformation, they have now become a "paramilitary force" that can only bomb and suppress the local area in their hometown, and their field combat ability has almost disappeared. Coupled with factors such as corrupt officers eating empty salaries, the Qinzhou battalion will definitely not be able to pull out more than 2,000 soldiers and horses now, and most of them are bastard soldiers with heavy habits, which are not at all the same grade as the Chaozhou soldiers who are landing at the dock one after another.

Therefore, we can see from here that in fact, the governor of Qinzhou has no capital to refuse, because he does not dare to guarantee that when the small 2,000 people in Qinzhou and the more than 1,000 soldiers and horses of Qian Jinbao will not collapse at the touch of a button, and the situation will only be more difficult to clean up at that time. Therefore, he hesitated, he was entangled, he resented, he also hesitated, and his beard under his chin was almost wiped out, but he did not give a clear word. However, the envoy on the east coast was not in a hurry, but sat peacefully in the living room of the old man Zhizhou, drinking tea and waiting.

Of course he can afford to wait! Because at the time when he was drinking tea, Qian Jinbao's men and horses had already controlled the entire dock area, dispersed all the Nanming catchers and soldiers who were originally nesting here, and set up a command headquarters in a grand manner, under the full command of the East Coast advisers who came with the army.

Behind them, a large group of men and horses were coming on the boat. Among them, there are the remaining 2,000 soldiers and horses of Qian Jinbao's headquarters, as well as people and horses recruited by people from the east coast in Xiangshan, Macao and other places, the total number is probably more than 3,000, and a considerable part of them are Portuguese mercenaries with combat experience. After these people arrived in Qinzhou, the people on the east coast had nearly 6,000 soldiers and horses here, and it was easy to suppress the two guerrilla battalions in Lianzhou Prefecture, and it could be said that they could walk sideways in the whole province.

Of course, their enemies are not these shrimp soldiers and crab generals in Lianzhou Prefecture, or even those from the surrounding prefectures and counties (such as the Lian Gao generals who are fighting on horses), what they really care about is the Dashun soldiers and horses that may be killed from the northern part of Guibei. Therefore, after receiving the news that the Shun army was going to attack Ming, the people on the east coast used the fastest speed to transmit the news, mobilized all kinds of troops and horses, and finally let the vanguard force rush into Qinzhou Port in early June, and at this time, the various forces in western Guangdong and even Guangxi were still confused.

After taking control of the docks, Qian Jinbao's troops quickly sent people to rush towards the state city, and finally arrived at the city within an hour. The officials at the gate of the city were trembling, and they wanted to express themselves, but they were rushed by the fierce Chaozhou soldiers, and immediately hid in the corner, and no longer dared to stop them.

Two thousand men and horses marched into the city one after another, and no one interfered with them from beginning to end. The men and horses of the Qinzhou battalion kept looking in front of the barracks, but they never received the order from Shangfeng to let them out of the camp to meet the battle, until they were finally forced back to the camp by the heavily armed Chaozhou soldiers, and at the same time collected their weapons, and the whole process was extremely aggrieved.

Of course, what they didn't know was that their own Shangguan (that is, the guerrillas of the Qinzhou battalion) had fled with their families and Xiaosoft long before the Chaozhou soldiers entered the city. This greedy man who was afraid of death was afraid that the Chaozhou soldiers would borrow his head to establish his authority, so he left the troops and fled decisively as soon as possible, which is quite in line with the style of the Nanming generals.

But no matter what, Qinzhou City fell into the hands of the people on the east coast, without a single shot, without killing or wounding a single person, and it was taken bloodlessly. It was only at this time that the East Coast advisors who came with him sighed that this was really the right time, this dog's day of the Southern Ming Dynasty court Wen Tian Wu frolic, the local military discipline was corrupt, the armament was lax, and the battle was probably a rhythm of collapse at the touch of a button. If the Shun army kills it, it probably only needs a small division and a few flags to easily take down Qinzhou and even the entire Lianzhou Mansion.

However, now that the people on the east coast have landed in Qinzhou and controlled the whole city, the next thing is to reorganize their armaments and control all the key points, so as to wait for the possible arrival of the Shun army. In addition to the Chaozhou soldiers who were "borrowed" in advance and the mercenaries recruited in Macao, Xiangshan, and other places, Captain Liu of the Southern Pioneer Brigade also planned to transfer a new army division from the Ningshao area (tentatively designated as the Fifth Division of the Zhejiang New Army) to deal with the situation completely.

To tell the truth, if a new army division was added, the East Coasters would have invested more than 13,000 troops in Qinzhou. Although nearly half of them are Chaozhou soldiers or mercenaries with average combat effectiveness, they are at least much stronger than the Ming army, and they also have field combat capabilities, and they will not collapse at the touch of a button, which is fine.

With more than 10,000 people, they can not only firmly control the left and close to Qinzhou City, but also scatter men and horses, control the entire territory of Lianzhou Prefecture, build complete fortifications in key parts, hoard war materials, and wait until the soldiers and horses of the Shun army come to kill. Of course, it is more likely that the Shun army saw that the people on the east coast had already controlled Lianzhou, so they gave up their plans to capture it. They are extremely dependent on all kinds of materials and machines on the east coast, and they cannot afford to lose the east coast as an ally, so there is a high probability that there will be no conflict.

Of course, the appetite of the people on the east coast may not stop at Lianzhou. According to the idea of the Southern Pioneer Team, it is best to take Wuzhou Mansion together, so that the battle line can be flattened, and the defensive forces can be saved, and the enemy will be blocked in Guangxi. And this is also the main reason why the people on the east coast sent troops this time.

In the deduction of the people on the east coast, the fall of the whole province of Guangxi in the Southern Ming Dynasty was inevitable, and the tens of thousands of veterans of the Shun army from Baoqing Mansion and Yongzhou Mansion were not something that the decadent Nanming army could resist. The main problem now is that the Shunguo people, who have played a good role, cannot be allowed to set their sights on the ground of Guangdong, which is a rich province, and if it is taken by it, its financial shortcomings can be made up for a lot, so that the trade income of the Guangzhou City Shipping Division alone can raise a lot of troops, let alone others.

Therefore, the people on the east coast were ruthless this time, directly mobilized warships, soldiers and horses to go down in person, and occupied the two very critical prefectures of Lianzhou and Wuzhou as quickly as possible, and then calmly arranged the defense line, so as to wait for the arrival of the Shunguo army for a long time. They wanted to see if Li Laiheng of Changsha felt that his wings were very stiff and that he could get rid of the people on the east coast and live on his own, so that the people on the east coast would teach them a profound and unforgettable lesson-just the removal of a large number of naval gunboats from the rivers of Hubei and Jiangxi would cause them a great shock.

The monarchs and ministers of Shunguo will definitely not be very satisfied with the occupation of Lianzhou and Wuzhou, because this is equivalent to blocking them on land, close to the sea but close to the end of the world, how can this be satisfied? But they really don't want to do anything to the people on the East Coast, because the consequences are so serious, so serious that they will shake the foundations of their country. Therefore, it is better to sweep away the Southern Ming Dynasty first, take most of Yunnan, Guizhou and Guangxi into your hands, relieve your worries, and at the same time, let your land have a certain depth, which is also very important.

Therefore, the occupation of Lianzhou and Wuzhou by the people on the east coast seems to be inadequate and dangerous on the surface, but in fact they are as stable as Mount Tai. Their only risk may be the policy risk of the homeland, that is, the local country does not authorize them to continue to expand their territory in Chinese mainland, so this occupation is likely to be "illegal", and how to define it in the future is still a bit of a problem.

Of course, this is all in the future, at least for now, the people on the east coast are still racing against time to control Lianzhou Mansion, and then go north to plot Wuzhou Mansion.