In fact, the crusade was at sea. With the supremacy of the sea, the initiative in the war was in the hands of the Ming army. But as Deng Yao and other generals think, the navy serves the army and cooperates in operations. If the navy loses, the war on land may be difficult and may have limited results; And if the army is defeated, it will have nothing to gain, and it will even be forced by the Qing army to Yunnan Province.

Under the current situation, although Wu Sangui, Sun Yanling and others are all on the sidelines, if the Ming army shows defeat, their attitude will not be easy to say.

By now, the Ming army's tactics seem to have been clear, and the attack route adopted was almost the same as that of Li Dingguo's second attack on Guangdong in the eighth year of Yongli. Nanning, Lingshan, Lianzhou, and Gaozhou, if the progress goes smoothly, it is bound to repeat another Xinhui offensive and defensive battle. With the great victory of the Ming army's naval division, this possibility is becoming more and more likely.

On September 23, 1661 (the eighteenth year of Shunzhi and the fifteenth year of Yongli), the Ming army of the Eastern Expedition broke through Lianzhou Mansion (now Hepu, Guangxi); On September 25, the army invaded Leizhou Mansion and occupied Suixi and Lianjiang successively. At this time, a reinforcement army sent by Shang Kexi, led by Yunlong and Wu Jinzhong, entered Gaozhou to block the Ming army's continued offensive to the east.

On the first day of October, Ma Bao, the king of Ruyang, personally went to the front line and ordered to first stabilize the front line of confrontation against the Qing army, and then divide his troops to attack Leizhou in the south to relieve the threat from the rear.

This is a very steady command, but it seems to have given Shang Kexi time to continue to deploy troops, in fact, Ma Bao is not in a hurry to attack Gaozhou, firstly, Leizhou is not appeased, and secondly, he is waiting for the sailor to cooperate with the development of the operation. The initial offensive was very smooth, which was due to Shang Kexi's refusal to follow the mistake of Kong Youde's division of troops to defend the town and the destruction of zhì, and concentrated the main force of the vassal army in Guangzhou, while the other prefectures and prefectures were garrisoned by the green battalion soldiers who were not strong in combat.

Therefore, the closer you get to Guangzhou, the stronger the combat effectiveness of the enemy army. The more cautious you are. And judging from the historical examples, Shang Kexi's department should be stronger in defense than in offense, in the two battles of Zhaoqing and Xinhui, they were defensive counterattack style of play, and it was indeed thwarted by Li Dingguo, the king of Jin.

Of course, there are many factors that go into failure. Including Li Dingguo's sudden illness, soft-heartedness, Zheng Chenggong's selfishness and so on. However, after careful analysis, some gratifying characteristics can still be seen. If it is said that the first of the three feudatories had the idea of retaining their strength, it should be gratifying.

During the Battle of Zhaoqing, Shang Kexi vigorously asked the Qing court for reinforcements; When it came to the Battle of Xinhui, Shang Kexi was even more frightened and complained to the Qing court, saying that there were only 2,500 soldiers under him, and there were only 20,000 soldiers in the green battalion. "Everywhere the battle was not without damage. It is difficult to recruit, and the top compensation rate is all southerners, all wandering generations, and none of them are warlords. For many years, the western thieves (referring to Li Dingguo's army) have been stealing everywhere, and the troops are too many to be feared." He also asked the Qing court to send Manchu and Mongolian soldiers to Guangdong to help in the war.

Even when Xinhui was in danger, Shang Kexi still did not dare to lead troops from Guangzhou to help, but stopped troops in Sanshui. After waiting for the arrival of the Manchu and Mongolian troops sent by the Qing court, he dared to go to Xinhui to relieve the siege. From these analyses, it is not difficult to conclude that the strength of Shang Kexi's department is indeed much worse than before. The most important thing is that after a series of battles, there are not many judgments about "war-hardened people".

"Defend to the death, keep to the death." Ma Bao, the king of Ruyang, muttered repeatedly, and his eyes slowly shot a fine light.

The generals who had experienced the counterattack in Yunnan Province knew that the key to victory at that time was the use of very effective and fast siege tactics. Because of this, Wu Sangui's expectations were greater. In terms of time, the Qing army could not be reinforced, and in the battle, the enemy defending the city was like a turtle in an urn.

The current situation is somewhat similar, Shang Kexi is still the same as the previous two practices, that is, he did not press all the main forces at the beginning. Either they want to use the fortified city to frustrate the enemy's spirit first, or they are waiting for reinforcements. Anyway, he still showed the characteristics of being timid in the field.

But Shang Kexi didn't know that during the two battles of Zhaoqing and Xinhui, the Ming army had the possibility of attacking from east to west, but the Zheng army could not delay, so it was not successful. Now, although there is no Zheng army, but the great victory in the naval battle, and Su Li's imminent uprising, the east and west may be in the middle of the attack, but it will take time to see.

"Shang Wei wants to delay time to exhaust our army, but he is stupid and brings about his own destruction." Wu Sanxing sneered and said: "When the Suli incident and the sailor start the operation, the Qing army will be clumsy on the left and right, and they will not dare to move at will, just so that our army will break through one by one and turn the fortified city into a grave." ”

"That's what Your Highness meant." Ma Bao nodded and said: "When I was in Yunnan Province, I was like a thunderbolt, taking Yongchang, Kexiaguan, and recovering Dali. ”

In fact, although the sailor won a big victory, the real containment has not yet been played. Shang Kexi thought that it was in his best interest to procrastinate time, but he didn't know that it was the opposite. Moreover, the follow-up measures of the Ming army were not limited to this, more than 10,000 troops were reinforced from Yunnan Province, and the recruits recruited since the Eastern Crusade were transferred back to fill the vacancies. After coming and going, the total number of troops in the Eastern Expedition remained unchanged, but the combat effectiveness of the veterans was replaced by new soldiers.

Zhu Yongxing saw very clearly that as long as the Eastern Crusade was won, Wu Sangui would not dare to make any changes, and there would be no danger in Yunnan Province.

"It's just that the strength of the Marine Corps seems to be a little weak, if Su Li only sticks to the same place after the uprising, I'm afraid it won't be enough to contain it." Wu San Province was a little worried about whether the 5,000 Marines would be able to attack the city and seize the land and achieve cooperation with the army.

Ma Bao smiled faintly and said: "The marines are not enough, our army can also transfer troops and take a boat to copy behind enemy lines by sea." Now the person who is worried should be the enemy's reinforcements, and the most likely is Fujian's rebellion. ”

"It's a pity that the Zheng family—" Wu Sansheng smiled bitterly and shook his head slightly.

If the Zheng army takes action to contain Geng Jingzhong in Fujian, it is very likely that Shang Kexi will be isolated and helpless, and will be dealt a heavy blow by the Ming army. Now, there's some variability.

Although Zhu Yongxing's General Staff did not regard the recovery of Guangzhou as the dead task of the Eastern Crusade, the generals of the Eastern Crusade regarded it as a goal. Especially Ma Bao and other senior generals, if they have such an opportunity to surpass Li Dingguo, the king of Jin, they naturally don't want to let it go.

"As soon as Leizhou is over, our army will attack Gaozhou." Ma Bao's gaze moved forward from the location of Gaozhou on the map, lingering for a moment in Xinhui and finally in Guangzhou. Although it is beneficial for the Ming army to delay time at present, it is too much, and before the arrival of enemy reinforcements, it is necessary to act quickly and attack fiercely, so that Shang Kexi is as unexpected and unprepared as Wu Sangui

(To be continued......)