After the defeat from Nanjing and retreat to Jinxia, the strength of the Zheng army was still very strong, although the losses of the land soldiers who had been carefully trained for several years were great, especially the basic losses of the ironclad soldiers, but the losses of the sailors were not large. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 However, this Northern Expedition consumed several years of Jinxia's savings, and the coastal islands effectively controlled by Zheng's army could no longer support the logistics supply of such a large army, so King Yanping began to consider marching into Dongfan when he was in Chongming, in order to obtain a stable base for the Jinxia army and people.

After returning to Xiamen, Dr. Taichang of the original Hongguang Dynasty and Shen Guangwen, the Shaoqing of the Taifu Temple of the Yongli Dynasty, returned from the east and said to the king of Yanping: "Kinmen has an inch of land, which is not enough to raise soldiers; Xiamen Marucheng, Xi Kansheng gathering? ”

He Bin, a Han Chinese who had served as the head of the Taiwan Council of the Dutch East India Company for more than 10 years, came to pitch and presented a secret map showing how the ships could sail around the Dutch fort and land at Luermen. Shen Guangwen's words and He Bin's coming prompted the king of Yanping to make up his mind to recover Dongfan, and he convened the generals to discuss and told the generals about sending troops to Dongfan.

"The sky is not tired of chaos, and the leap position is still there, so that the momentum of my southern capital suddenly becomes a form of disintegration. Although last year, although the puppet dynasty may not be willing to repent of the war, then my north and south expeditions, and the dependents will be tired. He Tingbin entered the east of a map, the countryside is thousands of acres, fertile fields for thousands of miles, and taxes are hundreds of thousands. Shipbuilding tools, our people are gathered, and those who are excellent. It is occupied by Hongyi, and there are no more than 1,000 people in the city, and those who attack it can be killed. I want to pinch the east, think that it is the fundamental place, settle the generals' families, and then go east and west, without internal worries, and can gather lessons. ”

After Yanping finished speaking, he thought that the generals would respond to him, and he didn't want most of the generals to be suspicious, and they all had a difficult face.

Wu Hao, the general of Xuanyi, got up and said: "Domain lord, the last general has been to Dongfan several times, and the forts built by Hongmaoyi there are very powerful, and the waterways are dangerous, which is really not conducive to the army. In addition, Dongfan and my Fujian feng shui are different, we are all people from the mainland, if you go to Dongfan, I am afraid that the water and soil will not adapt. ”

Wu Hao's opinion is obvious, he does not agree to go and occupy Dongfan. Huang Ting, the former town general of Xuanyi, also said: "Dongfan, I heard that it is very large, but I haven't seen most of them, so I don't know if the situation is true." Although Hongmaoyi's artillery fire is powerful, this is not afraid, but our sea ship is too big, if you enter the east, you must pass in front of Hongmaoyi's fort, isn't this at the mercy of Hongmaoyi's fighting? ”

The speeches of the two generals made King Yanping frown slightly, but at this time, Jianwei Bo Ma Xin said: "The lord of the feudal domain considers that our Jinxia is too small, and there are many soldiers and civilians, so it is difficult to reject the Tartars for a long time, so I want to consolidate the foundation first, and then strengthen the branches and leaves, this is a foolproof strategy." My Ma Xin is a northerner, I don't know the truth of the east, but in terms of personnel, there are still high mountains and mountains in Shu, and the soldiers can still climb the vines and roll down; The Yangtze River has iron cables across the river, and they can all be burned by fire, so although Hongmaoyi is unruly and well-arranged, is there really no way to break them? .... Now our army lost in Nanjing, the military spirit has a great impact, and the soldiers are worried that Jinxia will not be able to stand, so they believe that it is better to send an army to explore the road, and if it can be aggressive, then attack with all its strength; If the interests of Hongmaoyi are really not conducive to progress, then it is not too late for us to discuss again. ”

What Ma Xin said was very pertinent, and Yan Ping nodded after hearing it: "What Ma Xin said, according to the time and the situation, is very safe. ”

However, the generals from Fujian still spoke out against it, and the generals had different opinions. There are more people who do not agree to send troops to the east than agree, and some generals even proposed to join forces with the Guangdong to take FJ, which is better than going to the east and staying away from the mainland. Some generals are even more worried, how to resist the Qing Dynasty and revive the Ming Dynasty when they go to Dongfan?

Tang Xianyue, the former secretary of the Ministry of War, Wang Zhongxiao, the squire of the Ministry of War, and Lu Ruoteng, the governor of ZJ, insisted that the purpose of recovering Dongfan was to break away from the front line of resistance against the Qing Dynasty, and that it was a manifestation of no intention to restore sight by considering Taiwan far away from the mainland as a place to live and live only for the selfish interests of the Zheng family. But they didn't dare to speak out, so they took Wu Hao and Huang Ting's opinions as willing, thinking that they should not go to Dongfan.

Chen Yonghua, who joined the army, saw that the generals and officials did not agree with the opinion of the feudal lord, thought for a moment, and said: "Things in the world, only when you do it can you know if you can do it, how can you know if you can't do it?" Do your best first, and then listen to the destiny of heaven. What the two generals Wu and Huang said was that they had passed through the place and carefully stated the benefits and disadvantages, which was the view of abiding by the scriptures, and they also loved the Lord, and it was not wrong. However, as Jian Weibo said, when the Daxing Boat Division went to judge the situation, he took advantage of the hypocrisy, which was the exercise of power. That's why I think it's better to do your best first, and whether you succeed or not will be decided by the lord of the domain. ”

Yang Chaodong, the assistant director of the Fifth Army, supported Chen Yonghua's view and believed that it was feasible to recover Dongfan. Yang Chaodong was Zheng Hongkui's former general and had a long influence in the army, and he supported the dispatch of troops to the east, which made the generals who disagreed begin to waver. Yanping took the opportunity to get up and make a decision on this matter, and the generals were not allowed to discuss it again.

Yanping's intention was to use Dongfan as a base for restoring vision, rather than to withdraw the whole army to Dongfan and cut off the mainland. Therefore, the islands around Jinxia and Nanao cannot be lost. For this reason, he decided to personally lead the main force to Taiwan, and ordered the loyal and brave Marquis Chen Ba to defend South Australia; sent Guo Yi and Cai Lu to Tongshan to join Zhang Jin, the loyal Kuangbo of the original town, to defend the island, and if necessary, to respond to the Chen Babu who defended Nanao; Zheng Taihe, the resident officer, and Cai Xieji, who joined the army, guarded the Golden Gate; Hong Tianyou, Yang Fu, Shounanri, Weitou, and Meizhou are connected to Kinmen to prevent the enemy from the north.

In the end, Yanping decided that the prince Zheng Jing would guard Xiamen, supplemented by Hong Xu, Huang Ting and other generals, and Hong Lei, the son of Hong Xu, Feng Xifan, the son of Feng Chengshi, and Chen Shenwu, the nephew of Chen Yonghua, would arrange the defense of the islands.

Yanping has always been resolute and prestigious, and the generals had to obey orders. Yanping ordered the whole army to overhaul the ships immediately, and only waited for the next year to send troops to the east. However, on the sixth day after the military meeting, the news came that the southern capital had been recovered by the Taiping army. Immediately after that, an envoy from Zhou Shixiang came to Nandu and told Yanping that Gan Hui, Yu Xin and other Zheng soldiers had been rescued and were fighting with the Qing army in Jiangnan at the moment. Zhou Shi invited Yanping to re-enter the Yangtze River, and the two armies met in the southern capital, and jointly ordered the world to expel the Manchu Tartars.

The news of the recovery of the southern capital made the military and people of Jinxia happy and inspired, and the depression of defeat was swept away, and the sound of firecrackers on the two islands continued day and night. After hearing the news on the sickbed, Zhu Yihai, the king of Lu, burst into tears and asked the prince Zhu Honghuan to help him get up and kneel in the direction of Xiaoling. King Ningjing, Zhu Shugui, King Luxi, King Badong and other Ming Dynasty clans were also excited, jumping and shouting like children one by one.

The generals of the Yanping Domain rubbed their fists and shook their hands, and they were about to enter the Yangtze River and join the Taiping Army in the southern capital. However, Yanping did not order the armies to re-enter the Yangtze River, which confused the clan and the generals. There has been more accurate news that Admiral Ma Fengzhi of Susong pulled the flag and returned to Ming anyway, and Zhao Guozuo, the governor of Fujian and Zhejiang, and Tong Guoqi, the governor of Zhijiang, were attacking Zhejiang.

When the generals were confused, Yanping received the messenger sent by Dasu. (To be continued.) )