Guangdong and Taiwan are Fang Yuan's two targets for this southward move, but only with a proper strategy can Fang Yuan achieve the greatest victory at the lowest cost.

During Shi Lang's training in Zhenhaiwei, he had already planned a plan to capture Guangdong and Taiwan. He led Fang Yuan to the inner room, and when he entered the house, he saw a large map of the topography of Fujian, Guangdong, and Taiwan hanging on the wall of the inner room.

Fang Yuan said in admiration, "Old Five, you are really a sea thunderbolt, and you don't forget to study naval battles in your bedroom!" Ha! ”

Shi Lang smiled and pointed to the big triangle of Fujian, Guangdong, and Taiwan on the map, "Today's Guangdong and Taiwan are each other's horns, and they jointly resist the invasion of our army, but the difficulty of taking them is different." It is difficult to capture Taiwan, but it is easy to capture Guangdong. ”

Fang Yuan looked at the map and nodded, "Yes, shouldn't we make it difficult to take advantage of it, first capture Guangdong, and then Xu Tu Taiwan." ”

Shi Lang shook his head and vetoed Fang Yuan's suggestion, "Boss, I think we should gnaw on the hard bone of Taiwan first, and then capture Guangdong." ”

Fang Yuan sat on the table in front of the big map, his eyes staring at the big map, "Tell me the reason." ”

Shi Lang said loudly, "The most convenient route for the march to attack Guangdong is to land in Chaozhou Mansion by sea, then pass through Huizhou Mansion and go straight to Guangzhou Mansion. Guangdong has Zheng Sen and Francophone as backup, and if Guangdong is attacked, the three parties will inevitably join forces to fight our army. When our army attacked Guangdong, Zheng Sen and Francoji would inevitably harass the coastal areas of Fujian and attack our supply lines. ”

"The vast sea, a thousand miles of coastal defense line, if Zheng Sen, Franco and our fleet guerrillas, it is impossible to prevent it! Fujian is already short of grain and herbs, and once the supply lines are harassed, how can it support the war ahead? This is not a good idea! ”

He analyzed it well, it seemed easy to attack Guangdong, but the enemy was by no means only Guangdong, but the forces of all parties entrenched in Guangdong and Taiwan, Fang Yuan couldn't stop nodding when he heard it, "What if you attack Zheng Sen in Taiwan first?" ”

Shi Lang pointed to the map and said, "Zheng Sen treacherously invaded Taiwan, and he had already made a feud with the Francois people, whether it was the Portuguese or the Dutch, they would never support Zheng Sen, and the Guangdong Political Secretary would never dare to go to sea to rescue Taiwan." Taiwan is isolated and seemingly more difficult to capture, but in fact it has a greater chance of winning than attacking Guangdong. ”

Fang Yuan is also an old bird on the battlefield, and when he heard it, he knew that Shi Lang's strategy was as insightful as a torch and in one word. The current situation is almost the same as whether Zhu Yuanzhang, the Taizu of the Ming Dynasty, first crusaded against Chen Youliang or Zhang Shicheng first.

Zheng Sen, like Chen Youliang, is a man in troubled times who aspires to the world, and the group of smuggling officials in Guangdong seem to be enough to advocate honesty and sincerity, and they only want to guard their own one-third of an acre of land. Attack Guangdong first, Zheng Sen will inevitably attack Fujian; Attacking Zheng Sen first, Guangdong will definitely not dare to use the sword soldiers, but sit back and watch Zheng Sen perish.

Fang Yuan agreed with Shi Lang's strategy, and asked, "Old Five, how should we attack Taiwan?" ”

Shi Lang looked at the map and said, "The route to attack Taiwan is to go straight from Xiamen to Kinmen, then attack Penghu, and then land on the island of Taiwan." According to the news sent back by the spies, Zheng Sen had ordered Zhou Quanbin to lead 10,000 Zheng troops to hold on to Kinmen Island, and also arranged several fortifications on the island, as well as tunnels all over the island, to coordinate with each other. Zheng Sen was preparing to set up an impregnable defensive line at Kinmen to delay our army's attack. ”

Kinmen is Taiwan's first line of defense, and Zheng Sen will certainly not give up easily. Moreover, there was not a single warship on Kinmen Island to respond to the sea offensive, or even to meet the retreat of Zheng's army on Kinmen Island. It can be seen that Zhou Quanbin, who was stationed on Kinmen Island, made a plan to break the cauldron and retribution for his death, and decided to live and die with Kinmen Island.

Fang Yuan could almost foresee that the tragedy of the battle of Kinmen Island was no less than that before the crossing, and the battle between Japan and the United States for Iwo Jima, once the island was stormed, it would be a vicious battle of every inch of land and every inch of blood.

Shi Lang said, "After Kinmen Island, Liu Guoxuan led the only remaining naval division of the Zheng clan with 200 warships, and 40 gunboats that captured the Dutch to defend it. The wind direction and tide of Penghu are changeable, and once they encounter the strong wind and waves on the sea, no matter how powerful the sailors are, they can only retreat. A fierce naval battle with Liu Guoxuan will be inevitable. ”

Fang Yuan was silent, and after Liu Guoxuan, he was the mainstay of the Zheng family, and this person was a first-class talent in both the art of war and water warfare. Coupled with the hydrogeography of Penghu, the astronomical weather is changeable, and although the naval division of the Xuanjia Army is invincible in the world, this battle variable is still not small.

Shi Lang continued, "If Penghu can be captured, the Zheng family sailors can be completely annihilated, and then the island of Taiwan. The military and political center of the Dutch people in Taiwan is Taiwan City. A fortified military fort was also built in Tainan, the Red Embedded Tower. After Zheng Sen captured Taiwan, he also continued to use Taiwan City as the administrative center, stationed 20,000 elite Zheng troops. The military fortress Chichilou is stationed with 10,000 elite Zheng troops, which are garrisoned by Zheng Sen's henchman Wanli. ”

"One of the reasons why the Red Embedded Tower is difficult to attack is that the beach is shallow and full of rocks, and it is difficult for giant ships to approach; Second, the Red Embedded Building was well defended, and it was an impregnable military fort, and if there was no artillery attack, it would inevitably suffer heavy losses; Third, there are four artillery batteries in the Red Embedded Tower, and the firepower can cover the entire shallows and bombard the landing enemy. ”

"Before Zheng Sen conquered Taiwan, he also relied on the strength of the crowd, and the sergeants were ten times that of the Dutch, transporting 20,000 sergeants and artillery in small boats, cutting off the water source of Chijilou, and then besieging and forcing him to surrender. At that time, there were only more than 1,000 Dutch people in the Red Embedded Building, and they could not compete with the Zheng army for water at all, so they could only sit down and surrender. And we are going to attack Chijilou, facing 10,000 elite Zheng troops, which is far more difficult than Zheng Sen's battle to defeat the Netherlands. ”

Fang Yuan looked at this offensive line, and had to admire Zheng Senguo for being a general with a torch of eyes, this line of defense was simply tailor-made for Fang Yuan's attack. First use the impregnable Kinmen Island to consume the strength of the Xuanjia Army, and if you want to forcibly capture Kinmen Island, you will have to pay a heavy price. If you cross Kinmen Island without a fight and go straight to Penghu, you will face unpredictable winds and waves.

After capturing Kinmen Island, they also had to face the main force of Zheng's naval division in Penghu. In the event of strong winds and waves, the Zheng Army's sailors can still take shelter in the harbor, while the attacking Xuanjia Army's sailors will face the danger of total annihilation.

Even if Penghu was captured and there was still the defense line of the Chijilou, it was difficult for the Xuanjia Army's naval division advantage to play a role, so it could only face the artillery fire of the military fort and storm the Chichilou, and the losses would inevitably be heavy.

This route will be fought all the way, when will it be the end, Fang Yuan felt a headache when he thought about it, and asked, "Old Five, how sure are you that you can capture Taiwan?" ”

Shi Lang was silent for at least a quarter of an hour, and then said, "Boss, naval battles are no better than land battles, they rely on the sky to eat, and if you want to conquer Kinmen, Penghu, and Taiwan Island all the way, if it goes well, you can be sure of it at most." ”

Fifty percent of the chance of winning, no different from the size of the bet, Fang Yuan asked again, "How much time does it take?" ”

Shi Lang thought for a while and said, "At least half a year, at most a year, if you can't capture the Chichilou for a long time, it is possible to delay it for one or two years." ”

Fang Yuan was entangled in military affairs, Zuo Liangyu in Jiangxi, and Sun Chuanting in Shandong were all eyeing each other, how could it be possible to delay the relocation in Guangdong and Taiwan for two years? Before he went south, he thought that he would be able to pacify Guangdong and Taiwan easily because of the strength of the naval division, but when he really arrived on the battlefield, he realized that the reality was far more cruel than he imagined.

He stared straight at the map and secretly pondered, "Since our army can think of it, Zheng Sen, who is familiar with the defense of Taiwan and Kinmen, must also know it." Attacking Taiwan from the regular route will inevitably delay time, and the only way to quickly defeat Zheng Sen is to take the unusual road. ”