When Li Shi received the news of the Battle of Sanpeng, he secretly said in his heart that it was dangerous, he was not as confident as Hu Hanshan, and he did not expect that Shi Shibi was good at land warfare, and he was a master of water warfare, and his family inheritance skills were indeed profound. If there is no Xiao Sheng, there is no gold and silver ao, the outcome of the Sanpeng naval battle is really unimaginable.

Fortunately, this battle was narrowly passed, and Niu Ang, the chief soldier of Jieshi Town, was captured, not only that, but the result of the Battle of Sanpeng affected the entire eastern battle situation. Shi Shibiao didn't even dare to stay on Dongshan Island any longer, and withdrew the remnants of the sailors straight to Penghu, and withdrew the land soldiers of Nanao Town to Zhao'an, Fujian, the former was to protect his Taiwan sea route, and the latter was to protect Fujian, after all, that was where his main job was.

Shi Shibiu's movements affected the entire Qing army on the East Road, and Mu Tingyu, the governor of Fujian's land route, was old and weak-hearted, and he was watching Shi Shibiu actively enter Guangdong and take precautions, so he gathered troops to follow behind and guard the Chaozhou Mansion. Now that the main owner has slipped away, there is no basis for the sea route, he is not a fool, and he can naturally see the prospect of the thief army entering Fujian by boat, so he also hurriedly retreated to protect Yunxiao Zhangpu and even Quanzhou and Fuzhou.

The Fujian soldiers have retreated, what should Chaozhou do?

Mu Tingtong said to Zhang Wenhuan, who was looking at him with teary eyes, that is the matter of your Guangdong soldiers.

Zhang Wenhuan had no choice but to give up Jieyang and retreat to Chaozhou, he could not retreat any longer, just like Yang Lin, the governor of Guangdong, who was guarding Gaozhou, before the imperial court set a new strategy, they must stay in Guangzhou, as long as their feet are still in the boundaries of Guangzhou, they will not be considered fleeing from their backs. But Zhang Wenhuan is very bitter, because behind him is Fujian, in addition to the Chaozhou city wall, the small county behind him is not defended at all, but Yang Lin has Lianzhou behind him...... Seeing that the New Year was approaching, the navy under the banner of Li Xi occupied Nanao, the Eagle Yang Army entered Chaozhou, and the military house and letter in the north took the rear camp Meng Songjiang to surrender all the way, and the Chenxiang, Heping, and Lianping counties bordering Jiangxi fell to the wind, and the northeast of Guangdong has all fallen into the hands of Li Shi.

"Fight Chaozhou Mansion and go home for the New Year!"

Under the city of Chaozhou Mansion, Li Xi gave orders to Wu Ya and other generals of the Eagle Yang Army, and calculated that he only gave them less than ten days.

In Li Shi's opinion, this kind of slogan is actually very unlucky. But he had to use this excuse to urge his subordinates, not because he wanted to go home for the New Year, but because the war situation in the west made him a little worried.

The problem is not on the road of the Long Xiang army, the Long Xiang army has approached the city of Gaozhou Mansion, Yang Lin left the Gaozhou prefect to lead tens of thousands of Qing soldiers gathered from all walks of life to defend, but he continued to retreat west with the town mark, and proudly declared that he wanted to "threaten the west side of the thief army", so he couldn't spell out the well-organized town mark under his command. From a strategic point of view, he was not wrong in what he said, but the price was that the Gaozhou prefect and the miscellaneous soldiers of various towns had to block the gun for him.

What worries Li Xian is the West North Road, the Yulin Army led by Jia Hao, this is the most reassuring road for him. Jia Hao is prudent and thoughtful, and once he makes a decision, he is as fast as a tiger. And the Yulin Army is based on the veterans of the guards, and the combat power still maintains seven or eight percent of the previous Qingtian guards, and even the ordnance is the strongest among the three armies. All the self-made muskets of the Qingtian Company were gathered in the Yulin Army, and the new artillery produced by the Foshan Manufacturing Bureau was also deployed to the Yulin Army first.

But the problem is that just like Hu Hanshan against Shi Shibiu, if Xiao Sheng, the Battle of Sanpeng is estimated to be unpredictable, and Jia Hao has also encountered a strong enemy, and there is more than one. Li Shi was very worried that Jia Hao was too young and too shallow, so he wanted to end the battle in the east as soon as possible, not only to free up his energy and pay attention to the Yulin Army all the way, but also to have emergency time in case the Yulin Army was frustrated.

"Zhaoping County is also resisting stubbornly, and Zuoying Lin Tangjie believes that Guangxi is not the same as Guangdong, and it should start from the hearts of the people."

In the east of Wuzhou Mansion City, on the north bank of the Xijiang River, the large military camp looks at Wuzhou Mansion City from afar, and the golden double-body Tai Chi Tuan Dragon banner with a blood-red background is waving in the wind. In the big tent of the Chinese army, Xiang Shanxuan, who joined the army, unfolded the letter he had just received, and said to Jia Hao with worried eyes.

Xiang Shanxuan is the nephew of Xiang Huailiang Xiang who was the head of the Taiping Guan, Xiang Huailiang entered the Qingtian Company early, and is now the senator in charge of customs affairs in the middle of the Tianwang Mansion. Xiang Shanxuan is also a business scrivener, has been trained in the public relations department of Qingtian Company, is calm, and Jia Hao got together, Yulin Army's Chinese army tent along the way, the atmosphere is always so dignified and stereotyped.

"He fights his battles, people's hearts, it's not his turn to interject, reply to the letter and first discipline him......"

Jia Hao said lightly, the words of Lin Tangjie, the commander of the left battalion, have exceeded the duty of a soldier and must be reprimanded.

"As for Zhaoping County, it doesn't matter if you can't eat it, look at this situation, even if you take it, it is estimated that it will be difficult for Xiang to join the army to organize my Yinghua official mansion, let the left battalion withdraw."

After giving the order, Jia Hao buried his head in Wuzhou on the sand table, and there was nothing else to say, but his heart was churning.

When Zhang Hanwan's Long Xiang Army was frustrated by Xinhui County, he also secretly laughed at that guy's luck was too bad and he met a group of faceless people, so that he couldn't get out of the door. But now he himself has become the laughing stock of Zhang Hanwan and Wu Ya.

His Yulin army is strong and strong, not only has four battalions of the headquarters, but also two battalions of Shaozhou reserves, and nearly 10,000 people in the whole army have set foot in Guangxi, and then ...... Then it was difficult to take a step, and he didn't even capture the capital city of Wuzhou.

Wuzhou is a thousand-year-old city, bordering the Guijiang River in the west and the Xijiang River in the south, the terrain is dangerous, and the city is high and thick. The twelve-pound cannon of the Yulin Army also took a lot of effort to collapse a section, but the defenders leaned on the rubble and still fought non-stop. Jia Hao felt at that time that this was completely different from fighting in Guangdong, even if the city was broken, it was estimated that he would have to pay a heavy price, so he stopped the strong attack, divided the troops to the north and south, and attacked other states and counties.

When the Yulin army marched into Guangxi, the primary goal was not to attack the city and seize the land, but to stir up the southwest, so that it could not calmly arrange the strategy of encirclement and suppression in the west, and Jia Hao thought that his response was right.

But unlike Xinhui, Wuzhou has been blocking the mouth of the Xijiang River and the Guijiang River if it is not pulled out, and it is necessary to enter the hinterland of Guangxi, and Wuzhou is a gateway that cannot be avoided, so he has been trying to weaken the defenders and wait for the opportunity to take the city.

Unexpectedly, just like Xinhui, the defenders and the people of the city worked closely together to collapse a section of the city wall today, and it will be roughly repaired tomorrow, and it will be piled up into a rubble cliff that is difficult to climb. Except for Huaiji and Hexian, which had a lot of contact with the Qingtian Company and the assistance of businessmen from the Cantonese Chamber of Commerce, they were able to easily take the city, and the other prefectures and counties were fighting to the death.

When the right battalion attacked Cen Xi, the Qing soldiers and Minzhuang even dared to counterattack and fought out of the county town, but fortunately, the commander of the right battalion made Ding Tangrui command effectively, and most of his subordinates were Yingde old guards, and the retreat was orderly, and there were no major casualties. He also turned retreat into ambush and killed the city guard Xun Qian and the county training general who rushed in, but this Cen Xi regarded them as thieves, and even if they were captured, it was difficult to gain a firm foothold, so they had to retreat.

With the lesson of the right battalion, Lin Tangjie's reaction of the left battalion is logical, if the other party resists, there is no need to fight this county, and there is no calculation of how many states and counties will be accepted in Guangxi.

But Jia Hao understands that the main reason for the stubborn resistance of the state and county is that Wuzhou is still holding on, and the big enemy he is facing is Wuzhou in the open, but it is the people's hearts inside.

A few days ago, the strength of the defenders was suddenly strengthened, and thousands of Qing soldiers went out of the city to assault, and they were crashing into the muzzles of the Yulin officers and soldiers who were on fire, and they were beaten to the point that they only fled back to more than 100 people, but this small victory made Jia Hao even more worried, and another big enemy arrived.

This is Chen Yuanlong, the governor of Guangxi, who is very popular in Guangxi by virtue of his honest and honest official name. The prisoners confessed that it was the governor Yamen who sent a message to the whole province, saying that it was a thief who had invaded the territory, and that he wanted the officials and people of Guangxi Prefecture and County to unite and protect their homeland together, so that they could unite the army and the people and rise up against the enemy.

Only then did Jia Hao understand why Guangxi people can have such a blood surname, and the root is in this Chen Yuanlong. Originally, he and the Yulin army not only despised Chen Yuanlong, a scholar and civil official, but also despised the combat power of the Guangxi soldiers, after all, they had left thousands of corpses outside Baicheng before, and Admiral Zhang Chaowu was still a guest in Baicheng.

Now that Yulin Army has entered the country, he was bewitched by Chen Yuanlong, and the matter involved his family name, and the Guangxi people fought hard, which really made Jia Hao feel very tricky, and sometimes he even felt that this Guangxi people were as disgusting as Xinhui people.

He naturally didn't know, unlike Xinhui, the Guangxi people at this time were no longer the Guangxi people of Li Dingguo's era, and the Guangxi people of that era, especially the Han people, followed Li Dingguo's allegiance to the Southern Ming Dynasty, and almost all of them died. In the early years of Kangxi, the entire Guangxi population was less than one million, less than half of the Ming Dynasty, and it was not until the Qianlong era that it rose to five or six million. In the past 100 years, most of the immigrants have poured in.

Now the Yulin Army can't capture Wuzhou, and the four prefectures and counties haven't got much, it's not that Jia Hao's surname is calm, and he has changed Wu Ya, and it is estimated that he has organized the first arrival of the Heavenly Punishment Society, and he wants to wipe out Wuzhou in one fell swoop.

Regarding the matter of people's hearts, Jia Hao can only learn from Zhang Hanwan, urgently report to Li Xian, and petition the strategy, but he still puts his mind on how to occupy Wuzhou. It is not a problem to break through Wuzhou, but to hold Wuzhou firmly, with his 10,000 people, against the 10,000 Qing soldiers in the city with high fighting spirit, and the 60,000 or 70,000 people who regard him as a thief, I don't know how much price to pay, Jia Hao is not reluctant, but feels that it is not very cost-effective.

His subordinates have repeatedly urged him to attack the city with all his might, Jia Hao is still weighing, and he is also waiting for Li Xi to have any instructions.

"MIA Emergency!"

The guards brought a dusty herald into the big tent, checked the number seal, and confirmed that this was the news sent from Guangzhou, Jia Hao and Xiang Shanxuan, who joined the army, glanced at each other, and said in their hearts that the dull deadlock in front of them may be about to be broken. The Military Intelligence Department in charge of Luo Tangyuan is responsible for grasping the enemy situation on the entire battlefield, and the news he sent will naturally not be a trivial matter.

"The governor of Yunnan and Guizhou, Guo Ying, sent Meng Yong, the general of the middle battalion to raise the standard, to lead the fourth battalion to aid Guangxi, and the officers and soldiers of the town association are still gathering along the road, and the number of troops should be tens of thousands! It is estimated that I can go to Wuzhou before the beginning of the year. ”

"Hunan Governor Nian Qianyao sent Hunan to raise the standard of the battalion general Yue Zhongqi, led the newly recruited army to fill the standard, totaling about 4,000, from Xiangxi into Quanzhou, to Wuzhou hurriedly! It is estimated that it will arrive in Wuzhou by the end of the year. ”

After reading the urgent news, Xiang Shanxuan took a sharp breath, Yungui and Hunan both moved at the same time!

"Chen Yuanlong is converging the Xielu Battalion in Guixi and Guibei Town, at the end of the month, Wuzhou is estimated to have 30,000 Qing soldiers, plus the soldiers of Yungui and Hunan, and then our Yulin Army will face 50,000 people!"

Xiang Shanxuan's voice trembled a little, although the Yulin Army had six battalions of tens of thousands of people, but only four battalions were real soldiers, 50,000 against 6,000, the disparity in strength was huge, and the battle of Shaozhou was not as good as that. At that time, the essence of Qingtian Siwei gathered, officers from all walks of life were compacted in the army, and Li Xi himself was in charge, and now ...... "Not only soldiers, but also the pair of Hunan Nian Qianyao and Yue Zhongqi are the enemy." ”

Jia Hao's heart was also heavy, the situation changed suddenly, he felt that he couldn't afford it, so he hurriedly wrote another urgent letter, urging Li Xian to come to the town.

As soon as this letter was delivered, Li Shi's reply to his previous urgent letter arrived, and he directly said that he wanted to come, and he had to do it in the middle of the first month of the new year, and before that, he would do it according to the established strategy.

Established strategy...... Jia Hao pondered these four words, and suddenly had an understanding, and his eyes lit up. What did the Yulin Army enter Guangxi for? In order to sabotage the encirclement and suppression strategy that the Qing court was arranging, and to take the initiative to stir up a favorable battle situation. Now that Yungui and Hunan soldiers have moved, doesn't this mean that the established strategy has taken effect?

Then Jia Hao received the news that Yang Lin, the governor of Guangdong, had been reinstated as the governor of Liangguang and that the troops were also rushing to Wuzhou.

"It's not enough! The total number of Qing soldiers is at most 60,000, which is not enough for us to clean up! ”

Jia Hao smashed his fist on the bookcase, he is not fighting the enemy with Yulin's army now, the Long Xiang army that had just occupied Gaozhou Mansion also quickly approached him, Li Xian couldn't come over, but he sent reinforcements that exceeded expectations.

Chen Yuanlong naturally did not expect that he encouraged the whole province to fight against the "thieves", and Wuzhou firmly blocked the way of the thief army, which affected the entire battle situation.

Guo Ying, the governor of Yunnan and Guizhou, was very sober-minded, he was afraid that his lips would die and his teeth would be cold, after all, the former Ming banner was in his place, especially Yunnan was very sensitive, once Li Shi's army entered Yunnan, the situation was unimaginable, he did not wait for the imperial court to order, and resolutely sent troops to aid Gui.

Seeing that the Yulin Army was frustrated in Guangxi, he also felt that this was a good opportunity to gather and annihilate the thief army brigade, and sent Yue Zhongqi to lead the troops to help. Yue Zhongqi's deputy general petitioned, but the Ministry of War rejected it on the grounds that there was no suitable real vacancies, but gave a real general. Yue Zhongqi's heart of meritorious service was blazing, and he felt that as long as he made great achievements in this battle, the deputy general did not need to sign it anymore, at least the general army of a town was waiting for him, so the soldiers acted quickly.

A decisive battle on a scale better than Shaozhou has begun, not only the promotion of the Yulin army, but also the intentions of the Manchu civil and military officials in various places, the northern court has not had time to set a comprehensive strategy to suppress the thieves, the situation has changed so violently, and Yang Lin had to be hastily reinstated as the governor of Liangguang, after all, only he can control the armies in this war.

Yang Lin took four or five thousand lonely soldiers, who were already lonely, and were ready to retreat straight to the remote area of Lianzhou. Now that the situation has changed, he has also rushed to the north with all his strength, Guangxi has returned to his control, and in the battle of Wuzhou, he is determined to wash away his shame.

In a big war of such a scale, Li Shi was unable to move, not only because Chaozhou had not yet been captured, but also because of the hasty decision of the Qing court, the situation in the east was changing and blurring, and he had to grasp it personally.

(To be continued)