The first town has returned to Guangzhou, and the town command post is located in Foshan; The second town returned to Yuexiu Daying; The third town also returned to Zengcheng from Haifeng, and the town command post was also located in Zengcheng; The newly built Seventh Town was moved to Qingyuan County to undertake the defense of Qingyuan and Lianhua. Together with the Fourth Town, which had been guarding Guangzhou, the Taiping Army had five towns in Guangzhou. By the time Zhou Shixiang returned to Guangzhou with the Iron Man Guard and the Cavalry Brigade, the Taiping army in Guangzhou had reached more than 50,000 people.

Compared with Huizhou and Chaozhou, where more than 7,000 troops were stationed in one town each, Guangzhou had more than 50,000 troops stationed at once, and the supply of military rations was immediately tight. Originally, the Taiping army had a small number of soldiers, and it could be maintained by capture and self-sufficiency, and even had a surplus to support the friendly army in Zhaoqing, but now the number of soldiers and horses has more than doubled, and it is certainly not possible to maintain the needs of the army by capture alone.

Among the counties in Guangzhou, only Xiangshan was the first to implement the establishment of villages and townships, promote the cultivation of tuntian, and integrate the land, while the rest of the counties only began to integrate at the end of last year. Before the counties had time for spring ploughing, many young and strong people were drawn from the army's eastward expedition to serve as people's husbands, which delayed spring ploughing a lot. After the first battle of Xuanwu Mountain, Zhou Shixiang judged that Jidu was already waiting for death, so he ordered all the grain transportation teams requisitioned in Guangzhou to be sent back, and seize the time for spring ploughing, so as to barely fill the gap. But the grain planted will not be harvested until the summer, so there is a big gap. In the past, the Taiping army did not have many war horses, but now thousands of war horses have been added, and one war horse can eat as much as three young and strong, so that the supply of grain and grass in Guangzhou is even more tight.

Liao Ruixiang, the prefect of Guangzhou, is busy every day these days with how to solve the military rations of the Taiping Army towns that have returned to the division, and he has also searched for the foundation, but he still can't make up for this gap. At the beginning, the military rations of the two feudal domains of Pingnan and Jingnan in Guangzhou, together with the Manchurian soldiers in Manchuria, did not rely on the Guangzhou government to solve the problem. Instead, grain was transferred from Chaozhou, Huizhou, Shaozhou, Nanxiong and other prefectures, so as to ensure the grain and grass of the Qing army in Guangzhou. Now Guangzhou has marched into more than five towns with an army of nearly 60,000 at once, and Liao Ruixiang, the prefect, has great ability, and he can't turn it into food.

Liao Ruixiang found Song Xianggong to complain. What can Song Xianggong do, he can only write to Zhou Shixiang to complain. No matter how you look at the eastward crusade, the Taiping army has achieved a lot of results, but in terms of military food consumption, it is a big loss.

Although the Taiping army organized grain in Chaozhou, they got a lot of food. But half of this part of the grain was reserved for military use, and the rest was used for the tens of thousands of displaced people, otherwise there would be no food. Hungry and migrated, these tens of thousands of people will starve to death on the road.

Zhou Shixiang went to great lengths to move these people to Guangzhou, and he always emphasized that the population, like grain, salt and iron, was a strategic material that the Taiping army had to grab, so driving the Chaozhou people out of the stockade was not to starve them to death. Instead, they were to be sent to Guangzhou to build a new home. Reclaiming new land and becoming a constant supplier of money and food for the Taiping Army naturally can't let people die. Not only should they not be allowed to starve to death, nor should they be half-full, but they should be fed enough so that they can recover their physical strength and work after a few days of rest after arriving in Guangzhou.

The first town on the northern front, the second town of Lufeng, the third town of Haifeng, the cavalry brigade plus Qi Hao's artillery battalion, and Zheng Chengkui's sailors. The Taiping army participated in the Eastern Expedition with 30,000 troops, and nearly 10,000 people were responsible for transporting grain. In addition, there are thousands of masons, plus the Chaozhou Zhaiding and battalion soldiers who have been recruited, and the Chaozhou young and strong people who have been recruited, 50,000 or 60,000 people are on the front line, and the daily consumption of grain and grass is amazing, and this number is even more astronomical after the first war.

For the eastward crusade, the counties of Guangzhou mobilized tens of thousands of people to form grain transportation teams, and there were thousands of trolleys driving on the official roads every day. From Guangzhou to Lufeng on the front line, it will take half a month no matter how fast it is. The grain that a man can push is about 200 catties, and a cart needs two men to rotate, because it is physical work, and the food cannot be less, otherwise there is no strength at all, so these two men have to eat a few catties of grain a day, and when they arrive at the front line, most of the food left on the car is only half. On the way back, the people also need to have food, so they can't go back hungry, and they have to lose dozens of catties this time, and the rest can be regarded as official military food. Compared with such losses, it was obviously much more cost-effective to ship grain by sea with the warships of the water division, but because of the sudden eastward expedition, Zhou Shixiang did not have time to arrange the shipping of grain, and the sailors also had to undertake the task of transporting troops from the Taiping army, so it was impossible to have enough ships and manpower to organize large-scale shipping.

The grain transported from Guangzhou, together with the grain from Chaozhou and the grain and grass supplied by Hu Qili, ensured that the Taiping army could confront the Qing army for a long time, and ensured the strategic intention of Zhou Shixiang to starve the Qing army to death. If there is no such a huge supply of food, it is difficult to say who is afraid of the death of the deer, and the best outcome is only that the Qing army will return to Chaozhou because of no food, and the Taiping army will retreat to Huizhou because of no food, and the two sides will prepare for the next decisive battle, and it is impossible to have such a great victory.

Originally, after Jidu led the army into Chaozhou, the grain transported from the provinces south of the Yangtze River was successively transported to Nanzhao, Fujian, Jidu went south to Huizhou, and used Chaozhou City as a place for military grain storage, but the Taiping army moved too fast, and when the grain and grass of Nanzhao in Fujian had not been transported to Chaozhou, they ambushed the Wuzhen Chaoha artillery battalion of the Qing army in Huilai, and as a result, Fujian's military grain naturally would not be transported to Chaozhou.

After Lu Guangzu surrendered, he suggested that Zhou Shixiang send troops to Fujian to seize the grain transferred by the Qing court from Jiangnan, but before Zhou Shixiang could do it, Dasu of Fujian heard about the change of banner in Chaozhou and ordered to disperse the military grain of Nanzhao to Quanzhou and Zhangzhou as soon as possible.

If there is no danger in the southwest, Zhou Shixiang naturally does not mind occupying a bridgehead for the Taiping army to march into Fujian, and by the way, he will go to all parts of Fujian to supplement the military rations consumed, but now he has no way to send troops into Fujian, so he can only seize the time to integrate and surrender troops, clear the military and government, and let the troops participating in the war get rest, otherwise they will not be able to enter Guangxi in August at all.

With the help of Tang Sanshui, the general soldier of Shaozhou, Zhou Shixiang can regularly receive the Qing Tingtang newspaper that Song Ying got from Tang Sanshui. In order to publicize the war of annihilation in the southwest, the Qing court published the war in the southwest in great detail in the Tang Newspaper, and the great victories published on it certainly made the people in the world more and more pessimistic about the situation in the southwest, but let Zhou Shixiang, Zheng Chenggong and others clearly understand the war in the southwest.

Li Dingguo, the king of Jin, and Wu Sangui led their troops to retreat into Yunnan after a great battle at Qixingguan in Guizhou, and Wu Sangui did not pursue easily. Instead, he rested and waited for the other two soldiers. The Doni army that had been watching from Hunan had also entered Guizhou, and Hong Chengchou, who had been "watching from the wall" in Hunan, also set off for Guiyang, and it seemed that the Qing army was going to hold a meeting with the commander Doni. Determine the specific deployment of troops in Yunnan.

Zhou Shixiang estimated that the Qing army would enter Yunnan in July and August at the latest, and Li Dingguo, who had no way to retreat, would definitely choose to fight a decisive battle with the Qing army all the way, and this decisive battle would inevitably be Wu Sangui, who ran the fastest and hardest.

In history, the details of the battle between Li Dingguo and Wu Sangui in Yunnan are not clear to Zhou Shixiang, but it is known that Li Dingguo finally fell into a desperate situation after the defeat in the Battle of Mopanshan. And whether the battle of Mopan Mountain took place in the thirteenth year of Yongli (the sixteenth year of Shunzhi), that is, next year, whether it was the beginning of the year or the middle of the year, this Zhou Shixiang is not clear, but no matter when the battle of Mopan Mountain will take place next year. At least it shows that Li Dingguo has not fallen into a desperate situation this year, so Zhou Shixiang plans to enter Guangxi west in August, and the time can completely achieve the containment of the Qing army. Assist Li Dingguo's strategic intentions.

At the beginning of April, Song Xianggong sent someone from Guangzhou to report to Zhou Shixiang, that is, a few days ago, several Qing army spies disguised as traders wanted to rescue Hong Chengchou's son Hong Shiming, but they were found out because of their haste to act. Surrounded by the Taiping army who arrived. Those spies are also brave. Four died on the spot, and the remaining one was wounded, and refused to tell who had sent him to torture him. But this answer obviously doesn't matter, who will take the risk to save Hong Shiming, pull a random person on the street to tell him Hong Shiming's identity, and this person will also answer that his father, the traitor Hong Chengchou, sent someone. Lao Tzu saves his son, human nature, and it is also a matter of course. There are not many people in this world who can be ruthless and don't care whether their son lives or dies.

Regarding the handling of this matter, Zhou Shixiang did not deal with it. only asked Hong Shiming to send a letter to his father again, and it was still the words that his son was very good, and my father was not worried, and he didn't mention anything about Hong Chengchou sending someone to save him.

Song Xianggong has always been very confused about Zhou Shixiang's handling of Hong Shiming, since he is Hong Chengchou's son, either kill or persuade him to surrender Lao Tzu, this neither kills nor persuades him to surrender Lao Tzu, but also wants him to be the official of the Ming Dynasty, what is Zhou Shixiang's calculation.

Zhou Shixiang's answer is that the time has not yet come, who is Hong Chengchou? took his son, and he was willing to obediently obey and come over again anyway?

The answer is obviously impossible, but this impossibility is just not yet the time, and if the time comes, the impossible will often become possible.

Song Xianggong asked when the time came, Zhou Shixiang did not reply, he has not sent people to Hong Chengchou has had any contact, and the people who sent the letter have also quietly submitted to Changsha's Jingluo Mansion, the reason for this is that Zhou Shixiang feels that the time to persuade Hong Chengchou has not come, and now Hong Chengchou cannot have the idea of returning to the Ming Dynasty, otherwise the three-way Qing army will not go south so quickly.

Zhou Shixiang is really just telling Hong Chengchou one thing now-"Your son is in my hands, don't worry, he is fine"

Guangzhou's military rations were in an emergency, and Zhou Shixiang naturally couldn't ignore it. The territory of Chaozhou is dilapidated, the food that can be squeezed is limited, and the reputation of the Taiping Army in Chaozhou is really not very good, so Zhou Shixiang does not want Zhao Ziqiang to harm the people of Chaozhou again, so he can only focus on Huizhou, but he does not want to squeeze food from the people of Huizhou, but from those gentry and big households.

For the task of "persuading grain" from large households in Huizhou, Zhou Shixiang handed it over to Suna. Hu Qili also persuaded the gentry in Huizhou to have grain, but the targets of his persuasion were selective, and most of the large families had not been persuaded to have grain, but these people owned the most land and the most grain.

Zhou Shixiang told Song Xianggong that if the Huizhou government and those large households who were persuaded to sue for grain, they would put the blame on Suna, a Manchurian, and wait until the grain was squeezed out, and then Song Xianggong, the political envoy, appeased the Huizhou government. If this doesn't work, it will be shameless, and Huizhou will also be completely in accordance with the Xiangshan model, Zhou Shixiang doesn't mind that Huizhou has a few big "Tartar" cases.

Huizhou persuaded grain on the one hand, and on the other hand, it bought grain from Tang Sanshui in Shaozhou. After hearing that the Taiping army had defeated the Qing court, Tang Sanshui sent a letter to congratulate Zhou Shixiang with great interest, but he was worried that Zhou Shixiang would not miss friendship and attack him.

Zhou Shixiang is definitely not an unsentimental person, so he replied that he had no intention of contaminating Shaozhou, and only hoped that Brother Tang could rise step by step on the side of the Qing court.

Zhou Shixiang asked Song Ying to tell Tang Sanshui that he had just won a big victory, but he didn't forget Tang Sanshui's good brother, so Tang Sanshui could send troops to a certain place on a certain day, and Zhou Shixiang also sent troops here, and then the Tang soldiers were brave, and the Taiping army did not dare to fight, and fled in embarrassment, so Tang Sanshui could send good news to Beijing. Youjidu's army was defeated, and Tang Sanshui's good news would definitely impress the Qing court and take him very seriously. It is impossible to say that Wu Liuqi's position as the governor of Guangdong is Tang Sanshui's.

Tang Sanshui got Song Ying's words, naturally he was very happy, he suddenly found that he could rise step by step, it seemed that it was all thanks to Zhou Xiucai, now Zhou Xiucai's side is more and more able to fight, Prince Jian's army has called him defeated, but he is not afraid of reputation and humiliation to cooperate with him Tang Sanshui to give the Qing court a good show, to ensure that he Tang Sanshui continues to rise, this affection is enough to move the heavens and the earth, Zhou Xiucai is really my good brother!

Although Zhou Xiucai finally tactfully expressed that he was very short of food and hoped that Tang Sanshui, who was his brother, could provide relief, and there were still a lot of them, Tang Sanshui didn't mind, and decided the matter to ensure that Zhou Shixiang's subordinates would not go hungry because they didn't have anything to eat.

Under the arrangement of Zhou Shixiang and the coordination of Song Ying, the Seventh Town, which had just moved to Qingyuan, sent a brigade to Yingde in Shaozhou to wander around, and then returned to the garrison with hundreds of trucks of military rations. These military rations were specially transferred from the grain transported to the southwest army in order to let Tang Sanshui hold Shaozhou and prevent the Taiping army from going north from Hunan, but he didn't want to change hands, so he asked Tang Sanshui to send Zhou Shixiang as a favor. I don't know if Shunzhi would be so angry that he would vomit three liters of blood if he knew about it.

Tang Sanshui's report of the victory and Dasu's report to the Qing court on the disastrous defeat of the Jidu army were issued one after the other. After Jidu's death, Zhou Shixiang also ordered someone to block a piece of news, until he was about to return to Guangzhou, he ordered the Fifth Town to lift the blockade of the junction area between Chaozhou and Fujian, and released the news of Jidu's disastrous defeat

Because of the plot, the two changes were merged into one change, and they were not split into two changes, and the 13,000 words update was completed today, thank you for your support! (To be continued.) )