Although the battle has been remarkable, eliminating more than 60,000 Qing troops, the Taiping army itself has also paid nearly 30,000 losses, and the senior generals Zhongzhen have lost one, four adjutant generals, and 175 officers below the brigade school level have been killed, and even Zhou Shixiang himself has been wounded, and his mount has been killed. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 infoThis battle is not without tragedy.

In the towns that participated in the battle, only three brigades were able to completely preserve their formations, and the others suffered more than half of the casualties. Shunzhi fled north, but Zhou Shixiang is also a mess now, and he can't afford to go north at all. He bravely returned to the army outside Yangzhou again, in fact, he also had the idea of scaring the tiger to death, if Shunzhi really held on to Yangzhou and did not leave, he also beat the drum in his heart, after all, he only had more than 10,000 soldiers in his hands.

Fortunately, Shunzhi softened first, so soft that it was a mess, so that Ma Harrier picked up a big bargain, and there were more than 60 Manchu officials who were caught, and the captured ordnance, war horses, and goods were countless, and more than 20 tops were picked up on the top of the second grade, and Zhou Shixiang was also stunned, and he regretted it. Knowing that Shunzhi was so embarrassed to flee, he desperately wanted to send all the forces at hand, and if he didn't get it, he would be able to change the first year of "Kangxi" in advance this year.

But looking back, it's a good thing that Shunzhi ran away, if he dies in Yangzhou, Xuan Ye's little doll ascends the throne, and a bunch of old, weak, sick and disabled people in Beijing, I'm afraid that he is really not Wu Sangui's opponent. Zhu Youlang's coward really wants to go to the Ming Tombs to cry and worship, and the legal sacrifice to the filial piety tomb is a bit discolored, after all, Nanjing is only the capital, and Beijing is the real capital of the Ming Dynasty.

Regardless of whether Shunzhi can stop Wu Sangui after escaping back, Zhou Shixiang must now piece together the three steps, one cavalry and four towns of the Jiangbei Army, and also form the Jianghuai defense line. In the future, whether to go north to seize Beijing or resist the possible Wu army to the south, Jianghuai will inevitably be the main battlefield. Can't hold the Jianghuai, the Yangtze River is a joke, no matter how strong the Taiping army's sailors are, they can't watch out for the Wu army going south day and night. If you really want to let Wu Jun and Shunzhi come to the Yangtze River, I am afraid that the hearts of the people in Jiangnan will be ready to move again. No matter from which point of view, Jianghuai is the lifeblood of the Dingwu Imperial Court and the gateway, and there is no room for failure, so the formation and replenishment of the Jiangbei Army is the top priority.

The more than 20,000 captured Qing troops are obviously the best source of replenishment, but the army has great opinions on directly supplementing a large number of troops into the main towns, believing that most of these Qing troops are from the north and have no sense of belonging and loyalty to the Taiping army and the Ming Dynasty, so they cannot be directly supplemented into the Jiangbei army, but should be transferred to Huguang and Liangguang in batches, and even the most heinous people among them should be directly sent to Annan, and then some elite soldiers and strong generals from Annan will be transferred back to China to supplement the towns, so that the combat effectiveness and cohesion of the main towns will not be reduced because of the addition of a large number of troops.

Guo Xiong, an officer of the military department, vigorously opposed the direct surrender of troops, and he was inclined to draw troops and horses from the second-tier towns of Liangguang and Huguang to the north. At the same time, it was suggested that the expeditionary force had made great contributions to the commander in Annam, and had also sent a large amount of money and grain to Liangguang, and that officers and soldiers should also be transferred from the expeditionary force to return to China, so as to supplement the huge casualties of the main force town, and second, to reward and punish clearly, so that the expeditionary force would not think that they had been abandoned by the commander. As long as everyone works hard, they have the opportunity to return to China and be promoted. In this way, even if the expeditionary force was composed of troops from the former Guangxi and Hunan Green Battalions, their loyalty would never be lower than that of any one in the Taiping army.

Guo Xiong's suggestion is very good, but it can't quench the thirst of the near water. Annan is thousands of miles away, but the Jiangbei Army has to replenish it now, so Zhou Shixiang can only solve the problem of replenishing the Jiangbei Army first, and then go back and implement the internal transfer of the expeditionary force. He planned to transfer two second-tier towns in Guangdong to Annan for rotational warfare, and at the same time began to deploy a strategic policy of attacking Yunnan from the southern front.

Wu Sangui is a big trouble, a big trouble, but this trouble has a pathogenic loophole, that is, Wu Jun's current situation is like a long snake. The head of the snake is in Shaanxi and Gansu (it may also be in the Central Plains and in Gyeonggi in the future), but the body of the snake is in Sichuan, and the tail of the snake is in Yunnan and Guizhou. If you really want to fight this snake, the snake head will definitely not work, the snake body is inconvenient, and it is not conducive to the action of the army, but the snake tail is easy to attack.

To hit the snake tail of the Wu army, Annan's expeditionary force is a sharp knife that chops the snake's tail, Zhou Shixiang intends to enter Burma from Annam, and unite with Li Dingguo, the king of Jin, who does not know his whereabouts, to enter Yungui from southern Yunnan, and clean up Burma by the way.

This strategic deployment is very large, and it cannot be completed in a short period of time, at least two or three years, and at most five or six years. Zhou Shixiang was not in a hurry, although Song Xianggong mentioned in the letter that Wu Jun was worried about entering Beijing first, Xu Yingyuan, Gui Yongzhi, and Dong Changqing also said in front of him many times that Wu Sangui could not be allowed to take advantage, and many officials in the southern capital also had this worry, worried that there would be a fight between the two Ming in the future, but Zhou Shixiang was not worried. The current situation is that the three parties compete with each other, and it is a chess game, although it is important to seize the opportunity, but there is no absolute strength, and no matter how sharp the opportunity is, it will eventually be short-lived. This strength is territory, population, money and food resources.

The land of wealth and taxation in the world is under the control of Zhou Shixiang, and the population of Liangguang, Hunan, Jiangxi, and Jiangnan is tens of millions.

What he lacks is time, and enough time allows him to run in internal affairs, improve military equipment, and train soldiers and horses.

On the third day of Ganlu Temple, Xu Yingyuan was summoned by Zhou Shixiang from Nanjing, and then Xu Yingyuan took Zhou Shixiang's autograph to embark on the road to the north. His trip was to secretly persuade the Qing court to make peace.

Guo Xiong's suggestion that the Northland soldiers may not be loyal and will be homesick, which may lead them to be unwilling to work for the Taiping Army, Zhou Shixiang's view is the opposite, he believes that it is precisely because these Northland soldiers will miss their hometown and relatives that they can work for the Taiping Army.

"Eat the handsome food, get the handsome salary, and follow the handsome back to his hometown!"

"Go back to your hometown, have money and food to see your father!"

“......”

Zhou Shixiang personally wrote these few propaganda slogans and ordered the military department to send the Jiangbei Army, and the Jiangbei Army organized propaganda and mobilization, telling those soldiers who surrendered to the north that only by doing a good job in the Taiping Army, they would definitely be able to fight back to their hometown!

After arranging the affairs of the Jiangbei Army, Zhou Shixiang was not idle for a day on Beigu Mountain, and Tie Yi, Jiang and them returned to Nanjing with 5,000 sergeants. Previously, Zhou Shixiang had sent someone to inform Guo Zhiqi, hoping that Guo Zhiqi could organize a grand triumphal ceremony in Nanjing to welcome the return of the Taiping Army. And Zhou Shixiang himself did not return, and Nanjing did not know how to prepare for this triumphal ceremony and how to set the corresponding regulations. The most deeply involved is undoubtedly the existence of Emperor Dingwu, the victory in Jiangbei, the elimination of tens of thousands of Qing troops, the killing of dozens of generals and colonels above the capital commander, and the beheading of the Tartar chieftain uncle, what a great victory. Such a great victory, how should Emperor Dingwu reward Zhou Shixiang, Zhou Shixiang is already the king of Qi, how should Emperor Dingwu reward him? Isn't it possible to add nine tin?

Zhou Shixiang recuperated in Zhenjiang, but to some extent resolved this big problem, Emperor Dingwu sent university scholar Hong Yuao and the eunuch Pan Yinglong to Zhenjiang to visit Zhou Shixiang. This is a due gift, and the eldest princess Zhu Shuyi who doesn't want to come with Hong and Pan is also there.

As everyone knows, the eldest princess Zhu Shuyi is the daughter of Emperor Shaowu, the niece of Emperor Longwu and Emperor Dingwu, and the only bloodline descendant of the Tang Domain. But these are not important, the important thing is that everyone in the world knows that the eldest princess Zhu Shuyi has already been ordered by Yongli to marry Zhou Shixiang, and this matter has also been approved by Emperor Dingwu, so the arrival of the eldest princess has made Ganlu Temple lively, and everyone wants to see how Zhou Shixiang meets this fiancée.

The blind Li was even more looking forward to it, squatting outside the gate of Ganlu Temple every day and waiting for the future housewife, Zhou Shixiang was very helpless after hearing about it and smiled bitterly, he had no good impression of this eldest princess who had never seen it, and he was also very disgusted with this marriage, because it was obvious that Zhu Youlang or Tang Wang, they all wanted to win over Zhou Shixiang through the political means of marrying the princess and marrying her. In this marriage, the biggest beneficiary is not Zhou Shixiang, nor the eldest princess. (To be continued.) )