Before the Manchu Qing Dynasty entered the customs, Kong Youde and other Sanshun Wang Yishun Gong's troops only had more than 10,000 soldiers, Kong Youde and Geng Zhongming's troops were called Tianyou soldiers, and Shang Kexi and Shen Zhixiang's troops were called Tianzhu soldiers.

In the two years after entering the customs, Kong Youde and others followed the Eight Banners to fight in the south and the north, looting a large number of people, and the strength of the army expanded rapidly, and a large number of auxiliaries were needed to control the artillery.

Jin Li and Tong Yanghe are both genuine Han Army Eight Banners, and they also have a unit that is good at using firearms, named Wuzhen Chaoha, which translates into Chinese as "heavy soldiers", equipped with a large number of artillery and birds, plus the elite green battalions transferred from Henan, Shandong, and Shanxi, which put a lot of pressure on Hubei's loyalty.

Li Guo introduced: "Kong Youde's fake Tartar is different from the real Tartar, there are not many cavalry, but there are a lot of artillery and birds, and when the war is fought, the cannons are fired back and forth, and the fight is fast and accurate, and the loyal battalion company has suffered several losses, and has not yet found a way to crack it......"

The Qing army spread from Wuchang Mansion to Xiangyang Mansion, forming a semi-encirclement of Chengtianfu controlled by the loyal battalion, and several small-scale contact battles have occurred between the two sides, the Tianyou soldiers and the Tianzhu soldiers have been using firearms, well-trained, and have brought into full play the power of the bird guns and artillery, and the loyal battalions are not familiar with their tactics, and still fight in dense formations, and have suffered heavy casualties under the attacks of artillery and bird guns, and have fought several defeats in a row.

Tian Jianxiu continued: "Tong Yanghe and Jin Li's clothed soldiers are a little worse, and the name of the Eight Banners is scary, but they always fight with the Heavenly Blessing Soldiers and the Heavenly Aid Soldiers, and the dogs are also very annoying." ”

The "Wuzhen Chaoha" of the Manchu Han military banner sounds very bullish, but in fact, they are all apprentices of the Heavenly Blessing Soldiers and the Heavenly Aid Soldiers, and the tactics and tactics are the same. can be regarded as their accomplices, in addition, there are several elite soldiers in the green battalion transferred from Shanxi and Henan, most of them are from the surrendered Ming army, and some are old opponents of the peasant army.

Li Guo said again: "After Kong Youde entered Hubei, Le Kedehun of Wuchang Mansion was also alive, and the Tartars recently transferred troops and sent generals, it seems that they are going to attack Chengtianfu first, but I don't hide it from Yuntai and say, I'm afraid that Chengtianfu will not be able to hold it." ”

Wang Kefan asked, "Look at the appearance of the tartars." When will we be able to launch an attack on Chengtianfu? ”

"That's not accurate." Li Guo frowned and thought about it for a while, and said: "Kong Youde is not good at coming this time, he spreads out the people little by little, and is more patient than the eldest girl embroidery, look at his appearance." It will take at least a month or two before the fight really starts. ”

This is not good news, Kong Youde has come all the way. The troops were somewhat tired. It is more beneficial for the Ming army to start a war now, and the longer he prepares, the greater the impact when he launches an attack. On the other hand, this also proves that the Qing army was very well fed and could calmly prepare for the war, rather than rushing to war.

Logically speaking. The Ming army should take the initiative to attack at this time and disrupt Kong Youde's deployment, but the loyal battalion and Luck Dehun were already in a confrontation, if they rashly dispatched troops to attack. This equilibrium will be broken, and flaws will be exposed.

Wang Kefan thought for a while and said: "If this is the case, you can't defend Chengtian Mansion, once the war starts, Jingzhou Mansion may not be able to hold it, and the loyal battalion must be ready to retreat." ”

It is the long-term plan not to fight for the gains and losses of one city and one place, and to preserve the vitality.

Du Yinxi was a little displeased, and interjected: "Do you want to run away without a fight?" I'm afraid it's not right! ”

"The war still has to be fought, but it cannot be fought to the death." Wang Kefan smiled and said: "The Heavenly Blessing Soldiers and the Heavenly Aid Soldiers are good at attacking fortifications, our army must not defend the lonely city, otherwise once it is surrounded, the whole army will be wiped out after the city is broken, please remember this point!" ”

The Qing army has a large number of artillery, and it can break a city in three or four days, and ordinary cities have lost their defensive value.

"Abandon the city and fight in the field?" Li asked.

"It's about the same, but the city can't be easily abandoned, at least you have to pretend to defend it for a while, and hang the appetite of a hanging tartar." Wang Kefan thought for a moment and said with a smile: "Well, this kind of tactics is called 'feint guard', the battlefield that determines the outcome is still in the field, I just have some experience in artillery warfare, as long as I find a hillside, I can greatly reduce the power of the Tartars' artillery......"

Jumping out of the ground to fight, looking for favorable terrain and the Qing army's field battle, is the only way to deal with the Tianyou soldiers and the Tianzhu soldiers, even if you take two or three lives in the field for one life, it is better than shrinking in the city and being dumped by the Qing army.

Although Kong Youde's artillery is powerful, it also has his weaknesses, the rate of fire is slow, the steering is slow, the trajectory is too low and flat, which is conducive to attacking fortifications, not conducive to field warfare, the city wall is a fixed target that can only be beaten, but the role in the field is significantly reduced, as long as the thinking is reversed, do not engage in frontal combat in dense formations, the loyal battalion can fight with the Tianyou soldiers and Tianzhu soldiers.

Wang Kefan is quite familiar with the history of the development of artillery, and has a general understanding of the advantages and disadvantages of artillery in various periods.

In the face of Li Guo and Tian Jianxiu, he did not hide his selfishness, and introduced these methods in detail one by one, and Li Guo and Tian Jianxiu were overjoyed when they heard it, and kept asking questions.

"Yuntai, is the cannon really not good at attacking from the back?"

"What should I do if I use trenches to defend against artillery on the flat ground, and the Tartars charge into battle?"

"Can cavalry rush really break artillery?"

……

Wang Kefan patiently answered them one by one. Some of these methods he put forward had been tested in actual combat in the history of warfare, and he did not hesitate to strongly recommend them to Li Guo, and some of them were his personal ideas, so he made them clear and clear, so as not to mislead the other side.

In any case, this general direction is correct, the artillery of this era is too heavy, the mobility is too poor, as long as the loyal battalion dares to go out of the city to fight, the battle will be fought.

Of course, due to the meeting of Kong Youde and Luck Dehun, the strength of the Qing army has greatly exceeded that of the loyal battalion, and Hubei will not be able to hold it sooner or later.

Let He Tengjiao send troops to support Hubei, they didn't dare to count on it at all.

"Yuntai, we came to the door rashly today, in fact, we have something to ask for." Li Guo said: "Once Hubei starts a war, even if the loyal battalion is not an opponent, it will have to fight with the Tartars, I am afraid that Luck Dehun will attack Jingzhou from the Yangtze River and cut off the retreat of my army, so no matter what, please Yuntai stick to Yuezhou Mansion for a month to ensure that Chenglingji is not lost!" ”

The loyal battalion is known as 200,000 horses, some of whom are the families of women and children in the old battalion, and some are auxiliary soldiers with poor combat effectiveness, and their own burdens are also very heavy. For more than a year, the Loyal Battalion has gained a foothold in Hubei Station, owning part of Jingzhou, Chengtian, and Xiangyang Mansions, and can barely feed the stomachs of these 200,000 people.

Although the loyal battalion either retreated to the Three Gorges area in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, or retreated to the poorer mountainous areas of Xiangxi, or retreated to Hunan and He Tengjiao's troops to grab food, no matter where they retreated, they had to prepare to live a hard life.

If you are in a hurry to escape, you will be hungry in the future, so Li Guo plans to raise a batch of food and salary in Hubei and take away all the belongings that can be taken away. More importantly, even if the loyal battalion wants to withdraw from Hubei, it will have to fight a few battles with the Qing army, and try to hurt Kong Youde, so that the Qing army will not catch up with him, and the loyal battalion will still not be able to get rid of the danger.

Wang Kefan's Chu army was stuck in Yuezhou Mansion, and the Qing army could not use the Yangtze River waterway to threaten the rear road of the loyal camp, so Li Guo could fight the Qing army with confidence and boldness.

Plug Yinxi interjected: "Yuntai, I know that this is a bit embarrassing for you, Yuezhou Mansion has no danger to defend, and the Tartar cannon is powerful, if you really can't hold it, just tell Xingguo Hou in advance." ”

Li Guo was stunned for a moment, and then nodded unwillingly: "That's right, a month is a bit long, just do your best." ”

Wang Kefan pondered for a moment and said: "If the fight really starts, I may not be able to hold on for a month, but if I fight in advance, I may be able to help Brother Li." ”

"In advance? How in advance? Plug Yinxi was puzzled.

"The Tartars have dispatched troops to attack Chengtianfu, and they can't let them live in peace like this......" Wang Kefan thought about the feasibility of this plan, and his eyes gradually radiated: "I'll fight a guy from Huangzhou Mansion first, what do you think?" ”

……

The night was dark, Changsha City had already fallen asleep, but there were people in the "Long Maochang" branch in the south of the city who were sleepless in the middle of the night.

There was a bamboo food box on the table, and Seal Ji sat at the table, playing with a delicate note in her hand, looking a little dazed.

"Sure enough, everyone is beautiful, the handwriting is good, and the cooking skills are good, just like the man said: you can go up to the hall, you can go down to the kitchen......" She snapped and opened the food box, and inside the food box was a plate of rice cakes fried to golden brown, carefully placed into the shape of ingots, but no one ate them after they were delivered, and the rice cakes were already cold.

This is a good intention, or a demonstration, Zhu Ji is a little unsure, when Wang Kefan was joking, the sentence he said is still the following, and explained to her - "I can fight the junior, and I can beat the hooligan." ”

Is Fu Shihua really so powerful? Zhu Ji pursed her lips unconvinced, she secretly made up her mind that no matter what happened in the future, at least she wanted to meet this Fu Shihua.

"When, when, when."

Suddenly, someone knocked on the door, and Zhu Ji answered, and an old housekeeper walked in: "Miss Qiyu, Chen Youlong has a message from there, as long as Wang Junmen sends a word, he can return the shop to us." ”

Chen Youlong is a warlord in Chenzhou Mansion, he sealed several shops in Long Maochang, and also detained the goods in the shop, the old steward went to ask him for it, but Chen Youlong ignored it at all, until he moved out of Wang Kefan's name, Chen Youlong promised to return the shop and goods, but asked Wang Kefan to say hello.

"Ignore him for now." Zhu Ji said: "A few small shops, I also went to bother Wang Junmen, do you really owe people a favor and don't have to pay it back?" ”

"Yes." The old steward saluted, turned and withdrew. (To be continued......)