Orderliness stretched out his palm, and a few crystalline snowflakes landed softly on the black glove, melting.

The north wind howled, and the gray clouds gathered by the wind pressed low on the earth, bringing unspeakable gloom and tragedy to the field after the decisive battle.

On the last day of the Battle of Sanshui, it was already dark. There are scattered snowflakes in the sky, and through the falling snowflakes, you can see the lead-colored sky.

Swords and guns were stuck in the ground, weapons were everywhere, broken battle flags fluttered in the wind, and tens of thousands of corpses in different postures lay on the ground, either hideous or frightened expressions frozen in the moment before death.

Snowflakes gradually covered the battlefield, covering the devastation.

After the battle, the Marines and a cavalry rushed directly into the chaotic Sanshui Battalion.

The Sanshui Battalion was a very mixed camp full of parasites from the Tatar army.

Admiral Daniel Zhang, who commanded the besieging army, was killed in battle under the city, and Gushan Ezhen Yird cut a bloody path through the chaotic crowd and fled north with the remaining thousand or so cavalry.

The coalition captured 70,000 prisoners of war in and around Sanshui, including more than 40,000 merchants, coolies, women, servants, and sailors who served in the barracks, who watched in amazement as the Tatars were defeated and became prisoners of war in a spiritual and faith breakdown.

In the original imagination or belief of the merchants who followed the army south, the southern expedition launched in the first year of Kangxi would be the same as all previous battles, with the Eight Banners trampling on the southern cities, slaughtering the men of Guangzhou County, and selling the women to the north as slaves.

They went south with the heart of making a huge fortune, but they did not expect to experience a general battle that subverted cognition, and the omnipotent Eight Banners Horse Team was completely crushed by the silver-armored cavalry in the head-on battle, and they were also blocked by the galloping chasseurs, and the slave traders became slaves.

In the camp, large pieces of horse meat and horse bones are boiled in a steaming cauldron.

The army captured 13,000 usable horses, killed the remaining 10,000 unusable horses, used them to reward the soldiers, and salted and stored the meat that could not be eaten for later use.

In the two large battalions, the coalition forces captured 110,000 stone of grain and horse feed, 1,140,000 taels of silver, untold supplies and enough weapons to equip tens of thousands of troops.

This is a battle that will decide the fate of half of China.

Standing in front of the soldiers.

The galloping horse spewed water vapor from its mouth and nose, making a heavy wheezing sound.

Snowflakes fell on the shoulders of the soldiers, who stood on the corpses of the Tatars and shouted long live to the commander-in-chief.

Strings of prisoners of war, stripped of their armor and tied with ropes, were escorted to the rear, and after screening, they would meet a different fate.

6 Eight Banners Gushan Ezhen Flag, 18 Melle Ezhen Flags, 2 Green Battalion Admiral Flags, and 13 Green Battalion General and Deputy Chief Flags were presented to the commander by the soldiers.

Orderly saluted the soldiers who fought bloodily and ordered the guards to put away the captured battle flags.

"How many Tatars escaped?"

The guard asked the generals of the two fronts, the division commander of the 2nd division and the cavalry commander.

Filhoff's face was full of gunsmoke, and he replied a little tiredly: "Prince Yue and his guards fled to Zhaoqing, and there were thousands of remnants of soldiers following him, and Ildedu fled to Qingyuan, and there were more than a thousand remnants. ”

Shou Order: "I know you are tired, but now is not the time to rest, immediately form two composite detachments from your division and the Dianbai Brigade to pursue along the Xijiang River and the Beijiang River respectively. ”

"Overnight?"

"Overnight. The main forces of the 2nd Division will set out tomorrow morning, led by you, and attack westward. ”

"Okay."

Turning to the cavalry general, "My friend, your last charge against the cavalry of the enemy artillery group showed me the bravest of the brave. ”

The cavalry admiral touched the brim of his hat with his right hand and saluted the orderly.

"But I hope that's the last time."

The old general said proudly, "I think that I can lead the charge to boost morale and increase the combat effectiveness of the cavalry several times." ”

"The cavalry and I are proud to have you, but this matter is not negotiable, your position is heavier than leading the charge."

"Where are you going to put me?"

"I need someone to be the commander of the Guangzhou Military Region to guard our back road, he must be a veteran with deep qualifications and calmness, no one is more suitable than you."

Walter sighed slightly, "Okay, you are our commander-in-chief, I obey." ”

That night, the main force of the coalition army camped in Sanshui, and Shou Xian occupied Yue Le's golden-decorated royal tent.

The plundering soldiers did not touch the Tatar commander's residence, and the order handed over the exquisite luxuries to the Joint Logistics Department.

The Tatars fought from top to bottom, bringing the women they had stolen, and they had the women placed in tents next to them.

He met with the guard general Guangning Bo Wang Xing, who had been struggling in Sanshui for a month.

Wang Xingbi was obviously emaciated before the war, and with more than 3,000 people to resist Yue Le's main force, he could imagine the hardships of keeping order.

"Hard."

Wang Xing was very tired, but his spirit was very excited, "Compared with the time in Wencun, it is not bitter." ”

"Guangning Hou, the Governor of the Metropolitan Governor's Mansion Zuo, the seal of the Zuo General, the general of Jiangxi. In addition, your troops will receive 150,000 taels of silver, 40 cannons in red clothes, 5,000 prisoners, 1,500 horses, and I will be responsible for the salary. ”

Orderly sealing.

The 5,000 soldiers does not mean that Wang Xing can only have so many soldiers, but the expenditure of these soldiers is responsible for the government finance, and it is no problem if he pays for more soldiers himself.

Wang Xing laughed, "Thank you." But I'll deal with these things later, and I just want to get drunk tonight. ”

Shou Xuan also smiled, "Yue Le has some beauties and wine here, you can take them all." ”

Generosity is the greatest virtue of a ruler, and wine and women are the best rewards for the army after the Great War, and Wang Xing went away with his booty.

Early morning of the second day.

The soldiers ran away from the campfire, hid their pipes in their boots, loaded the bags onto the boat, and lined up with rifles on their backs.

The officers buttoned up their uniforms, wore sabers, and took up their backpacks, shouting and patrolling the queue while carrying out their cars, packing their bags, and tying up their cars.

The adjutants, battalion commanders, and regimental commanders all mounted their horses and issued final orders and instructions to the baggage soldiers who remained behind, entrusting them with various affairs, and a team of several thousand people marched in monotonous footsteps.

A soldier on the march is like a sailor on a warship, surrounded by his troops, restrained, and led.

No matter how far they have traveled, no matter how unfamiliar the area they enter, they will always be surrounded by those colleagues and contingents, and this is where their sense of security lies in their expeditions to unfamiliar areas.

From Sanshui to the west and to the north, the ships of the Pearl River Fleet were covered with masts standing like a forest, and more than 500 hundreds of ships were marching forward under the pull of the captives.

The Dianbai Brigade attacked upward along the Beijiang River, pursued Ilde, and detoured to Pingle Mansion all the way through Hezhou and Fuchuan, threatening the eastern flank of Guilin; The other way out of Nanling through Lianzhou to shake Hunan.

Shou Xiang returned to Guangzhou with the Guards Regiment and the 1st Brigade, and held a grand military parade and triumphal ceremony in front of the envoys of various countries, domains, and armies.

During the ceremony, hundreds of Tatar flags were thrown into the fire and burned.

Subsequently, Shou Xiang released more than 500 Chahar right wing prisoners from Chahar Mongolia and led by Bulni, the son of Chahar Prince Abneh, who were the only prisoners released by Shou Xiang on a large scale after the Battle of Sanshui. With the promise of order, Brni embarks on the arduous journey home.

Front-line battle reports came one after another, and the two steel tongs of Guangxi and Guangdong were closed in Wuzhou.

The Qiongzhou Brigade and Li Laiheng sent the head of Yue Le. The Qiongzhou Brigade was formed in Hainan and has been fighting on the mainland for a long time, and some customs are not immune to the influence of the mainland, such as cutting off the head, and other units do not have this hobby, only the Qiongzhou Brigade has it. Moreover, the first backbone of this brigade was the Baken pirates, and under its influence, the brigade had an irregular military flag, marked by a skull flag on a black background.

Yue Le's personal guards were scattered under the city of Wuzhou, and his more than 1,000 Bayala sentinels scattered to break through, and many people fled back to Guilin through the mountain road, but Yue Le himself did not run out and committed suicide in defeat.

Li Qifeng, the governor of Liangguang, hanged himself in Zhaoqing, and finally more than 6,000 remnants of the army were annihilated between Zhaoqing and Wuzhou, and a considerable part of the results belonged to the Ming army troops in the mountainous area.

The Tatar troops in Liangguang, Ilde had 1,000 remnants fleeing back to Hunan, and Jixiha led nearly 5,000 remnants of Guangxi to flee back to Hunan through Guilin.

After the Battle of Sanshui, the army was expanded.

The first is the Ming army.

In addition to the Nanyang New Army, which was the backbone force to stabilize the battlefield, and the troops sent to northern Guangdong and southern Jiangxi, the Liangguangming Army still had 2 patrol standard battalions, 5 military training towns, Li Laiheng, Li Yuanyin, and some local troops. Replenish prisoners of war, war horses, and supplies, and these Ming troops can be quickly replenished.

After the decisive battle of Sanshui, Guangdong has become the rear, and there is no need to keep so many people. It was decided to transfer a total of 10,000 people from the Guangdong Governor's Biao Battalion and two training towns to form the Eastern Expeditionary Army and enter Fujian to support the Yanping Domain.

Li Jianjie, Wang Xing, and Jin Shiying reinforced Jiangxi with 11,000 people, and joined the Ming army already there, a total of 31,000 people, under the nominal unified command of Lian Chengbi.

Li Laiheng commanded the headquarters, 2 training towns, Yang Yandi and Chen Qice, two town water divisions, a total of 17,000 people as the vanguard of the Northern Expedition, and entered Hunan along the Lingqu first.

A total of 12,000 troops from Guangxi Governor Biaoying, Li Yuanyin and other localities formed the Guangxi Military Region, which was stationed in Nanning, and the Qiongzhou Brigade was stationed in Guilin, establishing a frontal confrontation with the Yunnan-Guizhou and Wu Domains.

Chen Qice's detachment controlled the Pearl River.

The emphasis is on the Forces nouvelles.

The Guards Regiment absorbed the wounded soldiers who had recovered from the Battle of Sanshui and expanded it into the Guards Brigade.

With the enlistment of new recruits in the past two years, the 3rd Battalion of the rear regiments has grown into a combat unit, and the remaining tasks will be taken over by new units.

The 1st Brigade will wait for reinforcements from Nanyang to return to the full formation of the 1st Division. Because of its long-term responsibility for the garrison of the capital, the 1st Division was called the "Guard Flag Team" with an armband representing the honor of the troops.

The 2nd Division, which was the most famous in battle, was completed and added with an honorary armband as "Empire".

The Qiongzhou Brigade accepted the Hainan reserve source and expanded it into the 3rd Division, with the honorary armband "Skeleton".

The Taipei Brigade, which was fighting hard in Zhejiang, received the source of Taipei's reserve troops, expanded into the 5th Division, and added the honorary armband "Red Flag Pacific".

The Emperor of the Red Dynasty once commented on the German Führer and the French Emperor that the political and military life of their country was built on the offensive from the day it was born, and as soon as the offensive was over, its life was over.

Because France at the beginning of the 19th century and later Germany III, its resources were not enough to support a huge army, whether it was France after the baptism of the Great Revolution or the Nazis under militarism, the army fought in addition to the superficial nationalism, and more wealth and resources were the most powerful driving force.

And this thirst for wealth can only be achieved by invading other countries, looting. So there was the French Revolutionary Army, which was extorted and looted everywhere in Europe, and there was the Führer who promised the soldiers of the Eastern Front the land of the estates and the Russians who became serfs for the Germans.

Orderly faces the same problem for the time being.

Only by constantly attacking and plundering can we satisfy the army with an increasingly strong sense of autonomy and feed the appetite of the soldiers and the economic and political oligarchs. Like those kings in history, he had to keep expanding and stabilize the Yangtze River valley, the richest of the Yangtze River valleys.