After arriving at the Zhongjun tent and inviting Chen Bangyan to take a seat, Pang Yue didn't say anything else, but asked directly: "I heard that Lord Chen led a righteous division to attack Guangzhou in February this year, and he must be quite familiar with the city defense situation of the Qing captives in Guangzhou. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 info I first came to Guangdong, but I don't know much about it, I wonder if Master Chen can explain it to me in general? ”

Hearing Pang Yue's question, Chen Bangyan immediately realized that the imperial army had begun to prepare for the recovery of Guangzhou. Recalling the encounter when he led the army to attack Guangzhou and failed, he couldn't help but feel a lot of emotion in his heart: After waiting for so long, he finally waited for the day when the imperial court sent a large army to recover Guangzhou! Moreover, judging from the combat power shown by Huguang Town before, it will never be as difficult to conquer Guangzhou and recover the city as before.

Despite the surging tide in his heart, Chen Bangyan still did not move, twisted his beard and recalled carefully, and said: "In February this year, when I arrived outside Guangzhou with the two generals Huo Shilian and Yu Long, the thief Li Chengdong had not yet returned to Guangdong. At that time, according to our internal adviser in the city, there were less than 3,000 prisoners in the city. Among them, the puppet governor of Liangguang Tong Yangjia has 500 standard battalion armor cavalry, and the combat strength of these people is acceptable, which is better than Li Lu's lineage. In addition, more than 2,000 people were officers and soldiers of the former imperial court guard who were recruited and surrendered by Tong Yangjia at the end of last year, or Minzhuang who were recruited on the spot. ”

"Then Lord Chen thinks that if you attack Guangzhou City directly, how difficult will it be?" Pang Yue asked again.

Chen Bangyan said: "I'm afraid it's not easy. Guangzhou is the capital of Guangdong Province and the residence of the governor of Guangzhou, the city is high and deep, and the forts are numerous, easy to defend and difficult to attack. In February. I once attacked two generals, Huo Shilian and Yu Long. When our army attacked outside the city of Guangzhou, Tong Yangjia closed all the city gates tightly and held out. Outcome. Our side attacked for two days without making the slightest progress, and when we learned the news that Li Yu had returned from Guangxi, we had to withdraw first. And now, Li Yu has led the army back from Guangxi, although yesterday under the city of Qingyuan was beaten by Ding Wubo and was greatly injured, but I am afraid that there are still thousands of people around him. With his assistance in guarding, Guangzhou's city defense will surely be stronger. Of course. The bravery of the army under the command of Uncle Dingwu, Chen saw it in his eyes. But with all due respect, Chen said bluntly, facing such a strong city as Guangzhou. No matter which troops and horses come, as long as they launch a strong attack, they will inevitably pay a lot of price, and the army under the command of Dingwu Bo is no exception. ”

Pang Yue smiled. "It's okay. I just hope that Master Chen will be honest. As long as the war is not over, no matter whether the enemy is weak or strong, we must not have the slightest contempt. In particular, in the attack on a high city such as Guangzhou, which was heavily defended by the Qing captives, our army had to pay more attention to it and see clearly its own shortcomings. ”

"Uncle Ding Wu is humble and far-sighted, Chen really admires him!" Chen Bangyan sighed and asked, "Is the imperial court going to recover Guangzhou next?" If so, that's great! Notice. Since the fall of Guangzhou at the end of last year, the hot-blooded men in the anti-Qing righteous teachers from all walks of life have been waiting for the day when it will recover. ”

Pang Yue nodded: "Guangzhou and even the whole of Guangdong were originally the land of the Ming Dynasty. How can we allow the Qing captives to trample on it for a long time? This time, we have been edicted to enter Guangdong, precisely to recover the lost territory. At present, although our army has not yet officially launched an attack on Guangzhou, if it wants to go smoothly, it must plan in advance. That's why I specially asked Lord Chen to come and discuss. Lord Chen's analysis just now is very reasonable, if you force a hard attack, even if you attack the city, you will suffer a lot of losses. It's just that I don't know what kind of strategy Lord Chen has for attacking Guangzhou? ”

In fact, Pang Yue still clearly remembers that in the time and space where he was originally located, Chen Bangyan and Chen Zizhuang, another member of the Lingnan Sanzhong, got in touch with Yang Keguan, the former commander of the Guangzhou Wei of the Ming Dynasty, and others in the city of Guangzhou in July 1647 (that is, this year), and instructed more than 3,000 "Huashan thieves" to surrender to Tong Yangjia, preparing to attack Guangzhou in a way that should be combined with the outside world, but later fell short because of the leakage of information.

But at this time, Pang Yue's question was not knowingly asked, and he did it many times. Because, since he joined, the direction of history has shifted in some places, and he doesn't know if Chen Bangyan is still in contact with the inner circle of the city as before.

Chen Bangyan said almost without thinking: "If we outwit, our losses will be much smaller. ”

Pang Yue secretly said in his heart that this was indeed the case, and then asked, "I don't know how to outwit?" Can you elaborate on that? ”

Chen Bangyan hesitated for a moment, but still said: "As early as the beginning of the year, when the captive thief Li Chengdong led the main force of the Qing captives to attack Guangxi, and the defense of the Qing captives in Guangdong was empty, I and my brother Jisheng (Chen Zizhuang's cousin) began to plan to get in touch with the inner and outer parts of the city and seize the city gate. In the city, there are Yang Kezuo, the former commander of the Guangzhou Guard, and Yang Jingye, the commander of the same knowledge, etc., when the Qing captured Guangzhou, they all led their respective troops to fight with the enemy to the end, until they fell into a desperate situation before they were forced to surrender, but after the surrender, they were not trusted by Tong Yangjia, but were deprived of most of the military power, and there must be resentment in their hearts. Therefore, when I led my army to the outside of Guangzhou in February, I secretly sent someone to send a letter to Yang Keguan and Yang Jingye, hoping that they would raise their troops anyway and join forces with our righteous division to seize Guangzhou. Although Yang Keguan and others were deprived of most of their military powers, they were once hereditary military attachés, and they were deeply entrenched in Guangzhou, and many of the Qing Green Battalions stationed in the city were their old troops. If they were willing to cooperate, it would be much easier for us to attack Canton. It's just that Yang Keguan and the others didn't give me an immediate reply that time, and after receiving the letter, they politely sent the messenger out of the city, and did not leave any message for the messenger to bring back. After that, because Li Lu led the army back to Guangdong, our righteous division attacked the city unfavorably, so we had to withdraw first, and the matter was over. ”

Pang Yue pondered for a moment and said, "Since Yang Keguan was able to accept the adult's letter and send the messenger back, it means that he did not intend to reject the adult's suggestion. If he really deliberately refused, how could he not kill the messenger and report to Tong Yu to show his loyalty? Perhaps, Yang Keguan and the others still have concerns in their hearts, and they see that it is difficult for our righteous division to attack the city for a while. And Li Lu led his army to rush back to Guangzhou, so he was not sure to take this risk. ”

"That's what Chen thinks too," Chen said. "But this time the situation is different, in the face of the pressure of our Korean army, and the situation that Li Yu's troops in the city are seriously injured, Yang Keguan and others may not have the idea of going anyway."

"Of course, it's the best of course, but then I'll have to bother Lord Chen to send someone to contact me," Pang Yue said with a smile, "I'm a newcomer, and I'm not familiar with the place." It's not as easy to do this kind of thing as Lord Chen. ”

Chen Bangyan also laughed heartily a few times, and said: "This is to serve the country, and Chen is looking forward to the recovery of Guangzhou and even Liangguang all the time." And how can you be troubled? ”

After speaking, Chen Bangyan thought of something again, paused and continued: "In addition, Brother Jisheng and Brother Xuanzi (Zhang Jiayu's cousin) are also looking forward to the day when Guangzhou will be recovered. Especially Brother Jisheng. The volunteer teachers he organized were stationed in Jiujiang Village, Nanhai County, Guangzhou Prefecture. It is the closest to Guangzhou, and it has also thought about seizing the city many times before. Perhaps, after he learned the news of the heavy losses of Li Yu's troops in Qingyuan, he would immediately start thinking about capturing Guangzhou. ”

"By the way, Mr. Jisheng that Lord Chen said is a strong man from Tanhua in the forty-seventh year of Wanli and Chen Zi, the waiter of the Chongzhen Dynasty Rite Department?"

"Exactly."

At this time, Pang Yue couldn't help but think of the fact that in the original history, Chen Zizhuang would seek Guangzhou with Chen Bangyan. Chen Zizhuang was mainly responsible for that operation, and he first got in touch with Yang Keguan and Yang Jingye, the former Ming generals in the city. Later, he instructed the "Huashan Bandits" to falsely surrender to Tong Yangjia, so that they obtained the qualification to garrison the east gate of Guangzhou from Tong Yangjia, who was short of troops. And agreed with them that one night with three drums as the trumpet, the inside and the outside should be united to conquer Guangzhou. Originally, this plan was well formulated, but unexpectedly, Chen Zizhuang and his righteous division arrived two days early, and the domestic servants who posted the list were captured by the Qing army, so that the news leaked, and the operation failed completely. More than 3,000 "Huashan thieves" and Yang Keguan and other Yuan Ming generals were all killed.

Although in the original history, this incident would have occurred in 1647, that is, in July of this year, Pang Yue was not sure whether Chen Zizhuang would really act in advance after learning the news of Li Chengdong's heavy casualties as Chen Bangyan said, so he decided to remind Chen Zizhuang through Chen Bangyan first, so as not to cause a tragedy.

"There's something I want to bother Master Chen."

"Ding Wubo is polite, but it doesn't hurt to say it."

"Can Lord Chen write to inform Chen Zizhuang and Zhang Jiayu immediately? Please don't take action against Guangzhou for the time being, and wait until the imperial army arrives before plotting to capture it, so as not to leak the news, make the Qing dog jump over the wall in a hurry, and cause some unnecessary losses to our righteous division and the inner city of the city. ”

After hearing this, Chen Bangyan nodded: "Uncle Ding Wubo is right, the righteous master lacks armor and weapons, and it is difficult to compete with the Qing prisoners head-on, so it is better to attack with the imperial army It is a safe policy." If you take the first action, not only will it be difficult to succeed, but there is also a risk that the news will leak. Okay, Chen went to write to Brother Jisheng and Brother Xuanzi to tell them the stakes involved. ”

"There's Lord Lao Chen!"

"It's okay, speaking of which, Chen still has to thank Uncle Ding Wubo for the reminder on behalf of Brother Jisheng and Brother Xuanzi!"

……

On 19 and 20 May, nearly 10,000 vanguard troops from Huguang Town and Changde Town were stationed in Qingyuan County for temporary rest and recuperation, waiting for the arrival of Yang Tinglin and his follow-up men. Originally, when they first arrived in Qingyuan County, the dry food carried by the vanguard troops of Huguang Town and Changde Town was almost eaten, but fortunately, after defeating Li Chengdong's department, some grain and grass were captured, and Chen Bangyan also supported part of the grain and grass from his own hoarding, so the nearly 10,000 vanguard troops did not have a crisis of running out of food.

While resting, Pang Yue also fulfilled his promise and sent some officers and veterans to Chen Bangyan and Cao Tianqi's army to give them a general description of the usual training methods and give them some simple instructions. Although it was unlikely that there would be any effect in just a few days, Chen Bangyan, Cao Tianqi and others still learned a lot from the drill methods introduced by the officers and soldiers of Huguang Town, and they praised Pang Yue again and again.

……

On the afternoon of May 21, Yang Tinglin, the newly appointed governor of Liangguang by Emperor Longwu, arrived at Qingyuan County with his follow-up men and horses who had entered Guangdong. After learning the news that Li Chengdong's troops were severely damaged by Pang Yue's army in Qingyuan, Yang Tinglin was overjoyed, and exhorted the generals who had participated in the war, and said that he would immediately play the Son of Heaven to ask for merit for everyone.

At the same time, some gentry near Qingyuan who were eager for the Ming Dynasty also rushed to meet after learning of Yang Tinglin's arrival. Following the death of the former governor of Liangguang, Ding Kuichu, who was killed by Li Chengdong, the imperial court finally sent a new governor to lead a large army, which shows that the Son of Heaven and the imperial court have not forgotten the gentry and people of Guangdong. After seeing Yang Tinglin, the gentry from all walks of life who rushed to meet him were almost so excited that they couldn't help themselves, and even some gray-haired old gentry threw away their crutches excitedly and cried loudly, which made Pang Yue and Wang Dongri and other generals also couldn't help but be greatly touched. (To be continued.) )