Zhou Shixiang arrived in Shunde on the second day of the ninth lunar month, just as he personally went out of the city a few days ago to welcome Geng Jimao into the city -- Hu Qili also opened the city gate and personally went out to welcome him Zhou Dashuai.

The difference is that after the prince of Jingnan was welcomed into the city, he was placed under house arrest in the palace of Jingnan, and he could only listen to the sound of the wind and rain and read under the eaves, but did not know about family affairs, state affairs, and world affairs; After Hu Qili welcomed Zhou Dashuai into the city, he honestly handed over the city's defense to the Taiping army, and all the grain and grass hoarded in the city were handed over to the Taiping army. Zhou Dashuai didn't listen to the rumors.

Zuo Qing and Wu Eryuan, the magistrate of the county, were also forcibly put out to greet Zhou Dashuai by Hu Qili's people, one of them was full of anger, and the other was full of sadness. I thought that the thief Xiucai would definitely persuade the two of them to surrender when he came, but the thief Xiucai didn't pay attention to them at all, as long as someone sent them to Guangzhou. This made one of them feel humiliated, and the other was disappointed. If the two of them see the old man Xu Yingyuan, they don't know if there is any indignation that Master Xu had at the beginning - the thief Xiucai is too disrespectful to the reader, and the official may not want to return to the Ming, but you have to put down your body and have a "three visits to the thatched house", right? At least we have to make the official face passable!

When appeasing Hu Qili and his generals, Zhou Shixiang once again promised the ownership of the position of the general army in Huizhou, ensuring that Hu Qili could lead his troops to conquer Huizhou after this incident, which reassured Hu Qili and his subordinates, and the worries of many days were swept away.

During the banquet, Hu Qili mentioned his family in Huizhou, as well as the safety of the families of his generals. If necessary, Wang Zhaoxing of Foshan and Zhao Ziqiang of Nanhai can help. No matter how much effort you expend, no matter how much money you spend, you will definitely bring people back.

Zhou Dashuai made a special case. was resolute and resolute, which made Hu Qili and others grateful, and they got up to kowtow to Zhou Shixiang.

Zhou Shixiang smiled to stop them, and in the middle of the wine, he suddenly asked.

"When was the last time Shunde delivered grain to Shang Zhixin's army?"

"Six days ago."

"How much did it go?"

"For ten days."

"In this way, the grain and grass in Shang Zhixin's army can support it for another two or three days?"

"It should be so."

Zhou Shixiang nodded, thought for a moment and asked, "Where are the Han troops who fled back?" ”

Hu Qili said: "The last general is afraid that there are spies hidden in it. He didn't dare to let them into the city, so he told them all to go to the Guanyin Temple in the west of the city, and finally asked someone here to bring them some food every day. Just wait for the big marshal to come over and then settle down. ”

The Qing army and his predecessor Jin army used a large number of spies to enter the city in advance in the battle with the Ming army, and then broke out to seize the city, the Ming army suffered a lot of losses for this, and many cities outside the pass were called Jin army to take it away. Calculate it carefully. Li Chengdong also used this method to seize Guangzhou, and Zhou Shixiang also seized Guangzhou in the same way, so he naturally knew that Hu Qili's arrangement was the most appropriate method, otherwise he really wanted Shang Zhixin to seize Shunde, and this war would have more troubles.

nodded and praised him a few words, and then ordered the whole army to enter the city, rest in the city today, and enter the Sanjiangkou tomorrow. Fight to the death with Shang Zhixin.

"Dashuai wants to fight Sanjiangkou?"

Zhou Shixiang's decision surprised Hu Qili and others a little, Shunde was not only a grain and grass supply point for the Qing army on the Sanjiangkou defense line. At the same time, it is also the only way for the Qing army in Sanjiangkou to go to Zhaoqing.

Zhou Shixiang knew that the Qing army was short of food and grass, and the army's morale was unstable, so why didn't he guard the Shunde City and consume Shang Zhixin alive, but instead risked going out of the city to find the Qing army for a decisive battle? This trapped beast is still fighting, there are more than 10,000 Qing troops in Sanjiangkou, they really want to fight for their lives, the Taiping army will definitely win?

Zhou Shixiang did not explain to Hu Qili that he had already sent someone to contact Chen Qice and Zhu Tong of Xinhui, and in addition to telling them what had happened in Guangzhou, he asked them to immediately reorganize their army and cooperate with the Taiping army to attack the Qing army on the Sanjiangkou defense line. In this way, the sailors are in front, the Taiping army is behind, the two sides are flanking, and the morale of the army is extremely low, can Shang Zhixin, still have the power to return to the sky!

Of course, the main reason for Zhou Shixiang's decision to immediately fight a decisive battle with the monk's letter is that he can't stay too long on the Sanjiangkou side, he brought most of the military strength in Guangzhou on this trip, although he reorganized two battalions of soldiers and horses with the young and strong in the city, but it was a face-saving goods, just to bluff those prefectures and counties, the real Taiping army in Guangzhou City is only about 1,000 people, so Zhou Shixiang must return to the division as soon as possible, so as not to let people see through Guangzhou's hypocrisy, and then anyone who eats the bear's heart and leopard gall will also give him a "My Qing soldiers are back again!" ”

The old general Chen Qice's personality Zhou Shixiang knew, but he also knew that the Zhenguo general Zhu Tong was a master who didn't see rabbits and didn't scatter eagles, so the price he gave was to supply the Xinhui Ming army with half a year's grain and grass, and he sent it to the whole Zhaoqing mansion.

After Zhou Shixiang promised to defeat Shang Zhixin's soldiers and horses, the Taiping army took a short rest and joined forces with Chen and Zhu to attack Zhaoqing. After conquering Zhaoqing, the Taiping army returned to Guangzhou, and the Ming army under Chen and Zhu took over the defense of Zhaoqing.

There is a territory, no matter how close to Xinhui is, there are sailors to follow, and no matter how incompetent Chen Qice and Zhu Tong's subordinates are, they can always gain a firm foothold in Zhaoqing.

Zhou Shixiang himself was a little reluctant to let Zhaoqing out, because Zhaoqing is as strategically important as Xinhui, and both are also the gateways to Guangzhou.

If Zhaoqing and Xinhui were handed over to Chen and Zhu, he would have a stalemate with the Yongli Imperial Court in the future, and the Ming army of Zhaoqing and Xinhui would be a sword hanging over the head of Guangzhou.

However, Zhou Shixiang really decided so, he said in a letter to Xiangshan Song Xianggong that the next target of the Taiping army was Shaozhou, and then Chaoshan, and after obtaining these two territories, the Taiping army would still not go to Zhaoqing, but would go north from Shaozhou to Hunan and Jiangxi.

Song Xianggong felt from Zhou Shixiang's vague words that Zhou Shixiang seemed to intend to lead his army north to recover the southern capital, but the southeast was an important place for the Qing court's wealth, and it was also guarded by heavy troops, but he didn't know where he had the courage to try to recover the southern capital.

Song Xianggong was puzzled, he had to do his duty to persuade Zhou Shixiang, he thought that the Taiping army should be born in Guangdong to develop, take Guangdong Province as the foundation, slowly consolidate a few years before trying to go north, at least there must be a base area that can provide a steady stream of money and food before going north.

Zhou Shixiang has his own ideas, no matter how bad he learned history in his previous life, he also knew that Zheng Chenggong's soldiers entered the Yangtze River in the villain's book.

What the Zheng clan can't do, maybe I can do it, provided that I have the ability to pick up the leaks when the Zheng clan is defeated in Nanjing.

Zhou Shixiang thought so. (To be continued.) )