Xu Wen County, Haibei Command.

Dianbai was an important episode, Lu Zhan pierced Geng Jimao's coastal blockade through a large hole, and ran back to the Geng Army's transit center on the ruins of Maoming County with the general soldier Xian Qiyu.

Defend the order and re-examine the situation of the war.

Wang Xing reoccupied Enping and swept the Tanjiang River.

Chen Qice made a trip to Humen.

Luo Chengji reoccupied Xining County, Deqing Prefecture.

Ye Biao and Shi Shangyi reoccupied Xinyi County.

The rebels in the east and west mountains went down the mountain to attack and harvest everywhere.

Liu Guochang, the remnant of the Shun army in the Yingde area, also went down the mountain.

The influence of the battlefield behind enemy lines on the front of western Guangdong gradually appeared, and the Tartar army rangers and grain brigades in Yong'an, Lingyuan, and Zhanjiang became sparse, and in the small-scale contacts, the victory rate of the Ming army began to increase, and this increase further exacerbated the decline of the enemy's battlefield control.

Zhanjiang's Xiang Ming established a stable connection with Suixi County, although the enemy still had cavalry on the side, and it was difficult to send large quantities of supplies to the city, but it was true that Geng Jimao had withdrawn from the siege of Suixi City.

Zhang Shijie: "Let's go to Suixi to further compress Geng Jimao's space?" ”

Shou Xuan shook his head, "Shi Jie, 20 kilometers northeast of Suixi and 10 kilometers east of Lianjiang, do you know what the situation is?" ”

"I don't know, but we can send more sentries."

"The army fights, and the sentinels can only replenish. How big can a few sentinels see? In order to find out the situation in the front of Huazhou, it is necessary to send powerful troops to contact the enemy and conduct combat reconnaissance. ”

"Why don't you send two battalions?"

Shou Xuan smiled, "Geng Jimao only needs to use a few hundred cavalry and 2,000 infantry carrying artillery to completely annihilate the troops exploring the way. You only have 7 infantry battalions at your disposal, you can't afford to waste it like that. ”

"So what do we do?"

"Xu Wen's defenders don't move, draw 300 soldiers from the second-line troops, draw 1,500 soldiers from Zhang Pengfei's sailors, and strengthen the soldiers of Xiang Mingshi (Zhanjiang), Wang Zhihan (Yong'an), Yuan Anjie (Zero Yuan), Bo Bai and Lu Chuan, and take turns with less than 100 troops. If Geng Jimao really retracts his fingers and clenches his fists to the west of Huazhou, then we will continue to consume the small forces he controls the battlefield. ”

"I'll arrange it." Zhang Shijie left the headquarters.

Orderly looked at the map and fell into thought. The battlefield to the west of Huazhou was shrouded in darkness, and all kinds of useful and useless information came one after another, and it was impossible to judge Geng Jimao's movements.

The fog of war hung heavily over the battlefield, and everything was so blurry.

Judging from the general trend, the defense of the Tatar army in the interior of Guangdong was empty, and the rebel armies that sprung up everywhere captured the prefectures and counties and sacked the countryside.

It would be good if Shang Kexi's troops in Guangzhou could maintain the Pearl River, the main artery, but he could not take care of the vast hinterland at all. If he wants to pacify the rear and stabilize the rule at the grassroots level, Shang Kexi must withdraw Geng Jimao's Western Expeditionary Army, at least part of it.

Huazhou is difficult to fight, and Geng Jimao's scout cavalry must have told him that there are still more than ten large castles on the Leizhou Peninsula waiting for the Tartar army to gnaw. Even if each castle is only half as durable as Huazhou, the amount of gunpowder and cannonballs he needs alone is an astronomical amount for this era.

Among the two passages between Geng Jimao and the rear, the mountain road in Luoding Prefecture was actually interrupted, and the Jiujiangkou in Xinhui County was continuously harassed by Chen Qice's sailors, and the only passage for the Tatar army was actually left by the land route of Zhaoqing, Yangjiang, and Maoming.

Lu Zhan's repulsion of Xian Qiyu actually opened the window to harass this land route.

"What would I do if I were Geng Jimao?" Orderly empathy.

First of all, it must be to send troops back to help Xianqiyu, stabilize Maoming, and then reopen the official road from Maoming to Yangjiang.

And then what?

The normal choice should be to retreat and go back to quell the rebel armies that have sprung up everywhere.

Judging from the information Geng Jimao has, of course he will think that the time is on their side, calm the place, return to Guangzhou to make more adequate preparations, and then go west next year.

The crux of the matter is, when and how will Geng Jimao retreat?

So far, Geng Jimao has occupied the main advantage on the battlefield, but he has not fought a decisive battle, and he has been forced to retreat by various bad tricks, and he must be very unwilling. And the troops and resources he had were still enough to inflict heavy losses on the Hainan Ming army before retreating.

An increase in the strength of the front-line Tartar army does not necessarily mean that the enemy army is ready to attack. In the same way, a weakening of the first-line Tartar army does not necessarily mean that the enemy army is retreating.

Only Zhang Shijie's troops in Hainan have relatively complete field combat capabilities, and it is impossible to confirm the deployment of the enemy's troops.

Wander a few steps in order.

"Someone."

"Your Excellency."

"Send someone to Lianzhou and ask Uncle Mihara if his cavalry is resting."

After several great divisions and thousands of miles of fighting, there were not many troops left in the loyal battalion. After Xie Yuanbian, the governor of Qinlian, inspected it, there were still more than 6,000 soldiers who could fight, and at least one-third of them were Tusi soldiers forcibly collected by the loyal battalion in the Nanning area. Dang Shousu took more than 1,000 people to Houjiangwan, and there were still more than 5,000 people left in Lianzhou.

Gao Yigong had the intention of expanding the army among the displaced people, but he was dissuaded by the order, and what he should do now is to recuperate instead of expanding the recruits who have no combat effectiveness.

Lianzhou, where the loyal battalion is located, is located in the rear, they have He Huchen and several Chu troops in the north to block the Beiliu River, and there is a Gaolei theater in the east to block Geng Jimao, Gao Yigong sent more than 1,000 troops to guard not far west of Yongan Qianhusuo, which is close to the war zone, and the other troops are resting in Lianzhou.

The Loyal Battalion included some horses to the Tusi of the left and right rivers to rebuild the cavalry unit. In the summer, the horses rest, and now it is the autumn when the horses are fattened. There has not been much change in the Guangxi battlefield for the time being, and there is a time window for the use of the loyal battalion.

Since the order does not intend to advance from the front to Huazhou, it is necessary to choose a more suitable battlefield and force Geng Jimao to show the main force.

Shou Xiang set his sights on Wuchuan.

Half a month later.

900 soldiers of the Dongshui Battalion and the Guards Battalion

Zhang Shijie's main force is 4,000 soldiers.

1,100 soldiers of the Macao regiment transferred back from Dianbai.

2,000 troops from various divisions on the land.

A makeshift artillery group of 26 cannons.

and 860 cavalry led by Li Laiheng to Wuchuan Island.

Zhang Pengfei commanded a total of 100 sampans of the Hainan Navy Division, Rong Dashuai, Yang Yandi, and Deng Yao to control the water surface of the Jianjiang River and Yuanhua River.

Geng Fan's capital was successfully retracted as soon as he saw the hundreds of masts on the sea antenna, and gathered troops in the large camp to hold on.

"Uncle Mihara." Li Laiheng, who was guarding the order and leading the cavalry reinforcements, gave a long bow.

"General Chen." Li Laiheng returned the salute with a fist.

The vicissitudes of the sea show the true character of the hero. In the last days of Nanming, when the demons were dancing, Li Laiheng was the last light of Huaxia's clothes.

Li Laiheng is 2 years younger than Shou Order, and he is 30 years younger this year. He joined the army at the age of 10, and his 20-year career left indelible marks on Lee Rae-hyung, which made him look older than his actual age. Li Laiheng did not have such a heavy burden as Li Guo, and under the rectification of him and Gao Yigong, the chaos that once existed within the loyalty camp slowly disappeared.

Li Laiheng's cavalry all disembarked from the ship, and the horses did not want to take the springboard, so they had to wrap their horses in nets and hoist them out of the transport ship.

Shou Xian inspected the legendary Han Chinese strongest cavalry on the mainland, the last vestiges of the three walls.

There are more than 700 horses, of which more than 200 are selected wide horses, with a shoulder height of 130cm, and the rest are even shorter. But he is the most elite soldier Shou Xian has ever seen, and no Ming army can be compared.

Back then, Li Zicheng relied on the Central Plains, beat Wu Sangui to death at Shanhaiguan, and beat Azig to death in Wayao Fort for a month.

Orderly reached out and tugged at a young soldier's worn-out armor. The iron sheet is corroded, and a large area of the key parts is exposed.

Shou Order, with a deep sigh, "Lynch." ”

"Yes." Chief Executive Jonesy agreed.

"Allocate 100 cuirasses and 500 cloth armors to Mihara's troops."

At present, the metallurgical level is still difficult to control the composition, the cuirass made of Sanya is made of wrought iron or mild steel, and then quenched and tempered after forging to increase the tensile strength and yield strength of the cuirass, the traditional process of Milan to produce plate armor.

Instead of producing three-quarter armor and more ornate full-body armor, one is to save the weight of the armor on the limbs and thicken the torso defense to resist shotgun lead from medium and long distances. The second is because a large part of the cost of those complex plate armor is on the movable joint head, and the cuirass does not have it, which is two large iron plates.

The cuirasses had not yet been painted, and shone silver in the primary color of metal.

Li Laiheng had never seen such a fine armor, and he couldn't put it down, so he couldn't put it down and looked left and right.

"Uncle Mihara, I have a better gift for you personally."

An Indian war horse with a height of 148 at the shoulder.

An intricately ornately carved piece of armor, including a Charrell helmet with only an eye slit left after the shield was removed, a cuirass, arm armor, shin armor kit, and a piece of chain mail worn inside.

"Good horses, good armor and brave generals, Uncle Mihara, I've sent them to you."

Li Laiheng trembled and stroked the maroon war horse, without refusal.

Shou Xuan smiled, took Li Laiheng's hand, and entered the conference room.

"Generals." Shou ordered to greet all the generals including Li Mingzhong.

"When Lian Decheng saw our reinforcements, he did not retreat in time, but chose to stay put. He made a mistake, and now he can't get out. General Li Mingzhong, you are the main army, and the troops are familiar with geography, so they will set off tonight to maintain contact with the enemy. ”

"Tomorrow the whole army crosses the Jianjiang, Nicholas, and your troops cover the 18-pounder siege guns into the preset positions."

The generals received the task.

Shou Xuan turned his head to Li Laiheng and said: "Uncle Sanyuan, please send out 500 cavalry, surpass the battalion of Lian Decheng, and open the cavalry curtain in the north of the enemy." ”

The cavalry curtain is an unfamiliar term to Li Laiheng, but he fully understands the meaning of order.

During the night, Li Mingzhong's Shaomin light infantry and some officers and soldiers of the naval division approached the Tartar camp, and the guns and rockets fired for a night.

In the early morning of the next day, under the cover of heavy artillery, the units crossed the river with heavy equipment, and the cavalry artillery finally disembarked.

There was no fighting that day, and the armies set up improvised camps with antlers and horses, lit bonfires, and camped in the open air.

On the west bank of the Jianjiang River, the fire is as bright as the stars on the ground.

Walking through the camp in an orderly manner, joking with the soldiers. Several Ming army birds were put together, and one of them was taken out of it in order.

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