Cheng Hanbin went to Guangdong more than ten days ago as the ambassador of the Ordnance Bureau, in charge of self-producing muskets and producing saltpeter. Before leaving, he proposed to Zhou Shixiang that he should lead his troops north to capture Wuchang, and then go east to attack Nandu. This strategy coincided with Zhou Shixiang's attempt to seize the fruits of Zheng Chenggong's battle in Nanjing. However, this strategy faces a problem when implementing this strategy, that is, Zhou Shixiang did not have a navy force that could roam the Yangtze River, but the Qing army had a navy force, not one, but multiple.

In Huguang, the Qing army not only had the Dongting Lake Naval Division, but also the Wuchang Water Camp. There were Qing army water camps along the Yangtze River, such as Jiujiang, Anqing and other places. Therefore, without the assistance of the navy, it was difficult for the Taiping Army to go downstream from Wuchang. There were naval divisions in eastern Sichuan, but if they did not go down to Wuchang for a day, the navy in eastern Sichuan could not come out.

Going east along Wuchang to Jinling, the Taiping Army led by Hong Yang in later generations was accomplished. Now, it is not difficult for Zhou Shixiang to repeat the path Hong Yang took to implement it. After all, the Qing soldiers in Huguang were not the main force of the Qing army, and most of them were second- and third-rate soldiers like the Green Camp Regiment. In addition to several important towns such as Wuchang and Changsha, the rest of Huguang were occupied by the Ming army. Zhang Changgeng, the governor of Qing Huguang, survived in Wuchang and lived like a year. Therefore, if the Taiping Army really wanted to attack Wuchang in large quantities, Zhang Changgeng would either die with the city or leave the city and run away. However, Zhou Shixiang could not use troops to Wuchang at present.

The key reason why the inability to use troops against Wuchang was not to be controlled by the navy, but to have too late. The Military Information Department achieved some results in the rebellion of the Dongting Lake Navy, but the Dongting Lake Navy was unable to return anyway. If Yongli had abandoned the country, the Tang Wangjian State Affairs Office, Zhou Shixiang could lead troops to join forces with the Zhongzhen Camp, and the Huang Shisanjia and other forces to besiege Wuchang. After taking Wuchang, the Qing army Dongting Lake Navy was forced to join forces with the Qing army, and then join the Kuidong navy to go east. However, it cannot be implemented now because he was anxious to rush back to Guangdong and persuade the Tang Wangjian.

If the King of Tang does not supervise the country for one day, then the Ming Dynasty will be without a master.

The impact of Yongli's abandonment of the country and fleeing was really bad. In the history without Zhou Shixiang, Yongli's abandonment of the country ruined the last hope of the anti-Qing military and civilians, resulting in a large number of Ming troops who had persisted for more than ten years surrendering to the Qing army. A large number of civil servants and generals either abandoned their officials and fled their hometowns, shaved their hair and braids to surrender to the Qing court, or hid in the mountains as survivors, while some important officials, such as Wen Anzhi from Sichuan, died of illness. Grand Secretary Guo Zhiqi and some anti-Qing generals from Guangdong led their troops to Annan in despair, but were detained by the Annan people. Then the Annan people drowned thousands of Guangdong Ming troops. Guo Zhiqi was also sent to the Qing court by the Annan people.

In Yunnan, before the death of King Li Dingguo of Jin, a large number of Ming generals surrendered to the Qing Dynasty, such as Ma Bao, Ma Weixing, Feng Shuangli, Qi Sansheng, etc., and King Gongchang Bai Wenxuan also surrendered to the Qing Dynasty shortly after. After the death of King Jin, his son Li Siye and others did not see any chance to recover, and eventually violated the last words of King Jin's "will rather die in a desert, but not surrender" to the Qing Dynasty. The Zhongzhen camp consisting of only the remaining troops of the rebel army in the entire Chinese mainland persisted until the third year of Kangxi, and most of them died heroically.

After the failure of the Nanjing Battle of Zheng Chenggong in Jinxia, ​​he was also disheartened and led his troops to develop the Eastern Banner. From then on, the Zheng army was alone in the East Banner Island until it surrendered to the Qing Dynasty more than 20 years later. After that, the land of China finally saw Han crowns and Hanfu, and it was in decline for more than 200 years.

There is an old saying in the Han Dynasty that a snake cannot do without a head, and no matter how bad the government is, it is better than that without an official. This statement is more appropriate after Yongli abandoned the country. If Zhou Shixiang did not support the Tang King's regent, the various anti-Qing forces would collapse and collapse immediately because they had no loyalty and no backbone. The great situation captured by the Taiping Army was likely to be lost.

Zhou Shixiang could not accept this ending, so he had to support the king of Tang. Even if the king of Tang was worse than Yongli, as long as the flag was there, people's hearts could be saved.

It’s not that no one from subordinates advised Zhou Shixiang to become independent, but Zhou Shixiang refused. It is true that Yongli abandoned the country, but the people of the world could not immediately accept an emperor with another surname. At this difficult time, only the Zhu family can call on the world, and only the Zhu family can unite all forces.

Zhou Shixiang never thought about being independent.

That late at night in Xinhui, when he knew what he had happened in this life and how his parents, wife and children died, he knew that the meaning of his life in this world was revenge - revenge for himself, and even revenge for the billions of Han people who died at the hands of Manchu since the Liao Dynasty.

In his previous life, he had no chance because Manzhou became his compatriot; in this life, he would either fail or be virtuous, or he would live to the death.

Restoring the deep hatred of the sea of ​​blood is natural, even if the sea of ​​blood is surging, it is beyond retribution

Zhou Shixiang clearly told Cheng Hanbin the importance of supporting the king of Tang, telling the other party that the Taiping Army could not go north to attack Wuchang, and he would have to go back to Guangdong to persuade him to advance immediately.

Cheng Hanbin thought for a while, but proposed another strategy. He said that the Taiping Army's strategy to defend against the Qing army in the southwest is to defend, but this defense is only to block the Qing army in Yunnan and Guizhou, but it cannot damage the Qing army in the southwest. If the Qing court could cut off its arm and ordered the Duoni to lead the army back from Sichuan and Shaanxi, then these hundreds of thousands of Qing troops could return to the north every night and become the enemy of the Taiping Army again. No matter which direction the Qing army attacked, the Taiping Army that had lost its geographical advantage would have to be beaten passively. The best situation was that the two armies were stalemate, and the worst situation was that the Taiping Army might be driven back to Guangdong by the Qing army and encircled and annihilated.

After all, the Taiping Army actually owned the territory of Guangdong and Guangxi seemed to be large, but the population was only one million. After this war, the two provinces of Yunnan and Guizhou in the southwest had even more withered. Zhou Shixiang had no time, and the Qing army would never allow him to govern Yunnan and Guizhou like Sun Kewang, thereby integrating the territory and obtaining a stable base for anti-Qing. At that time, the Taiping Army looked at more than 100,000 soldiers, but they were facing the Qing army with the land of essence of wealth and wealth, and the soldiers of the whole country were fighting. At that time, how could it be fought, how could it be fought for a long time, and how could it be fought?

The assumption proposed by Cheng Hanbin made Zhou Shixiang panic. Yes, he had been thinking about blocking the hundreds of thousands of Qing troops in Yunnan and Guizhou, but what if Shunzhi asked Duony to give up Yunnan and Guizhou and return to the north from Sichuan and Shaanxi. Hundreds of thousands of Qing troops were locked in Yunnan and Guizhou with inconvenient transportation and complex terrain, the role it could play was very limited, but if it was placed elsewhere, it would definitely be enough for the Taiping Army to see it.

He was not afraid of ten thousand, but afraid of what if. If Shunzhi was ruthless and refused to Yunnan and Guizhou, Zhou Shixiang really had no choice. He asked Cheng Hanbin what strategy he could deal with it. Cheng Hanbin suggested that he mobilized several towns of troops to go north from Shaozhou to attack Jiangxi and seize Ganzhou, the important town of Jiangxi. Then he advanced eastward, causing the Taiping Army and Zheng Army to jointly seize Jiangnan. In this way, in order to protect Jiangnan, the Qing court would have to urge Doni to lead the army out of the Taiping Army's blockade and rescue the Southeast.

The Jiangnan land was no less important to the Qing court than the Guangdong's Taiping Army. It was seven inches to hit the snake, and the ten southwests were not as important as the Jiangnan. It is certain that once Shunzhi knew that the Taiping Army entered Jiangxi and entered Jiangnan, it would definitely make Doni rushed out for rescue immediately. The more urgent the Qing army was, the more favorable the Taiping Army was. The flesh-and-blood defense line on the Hunan-Guizhou border made the Qingping County Prince Luo Keduo sigh. Although the line Guoan suddenly came in here in Guangxi, Roto's reinforcements occupied the Hechi area. However, as long as the Duni army arrived, the two troops could be eliminated before the arrival of the Duni army, it would be able to block the Guizhou-Guizhou border in time, and then rely on the geographical advantage to consume the strength of the Qing army in the southwest little by little.

This is an open conspiracy. If the Qing court wants to protect Jiangnan, Doni's army must come out from Yunnan and Guizhou, not from Sichuan and Shaanxi, but from Hunan or Guangxi, otherwise it will be too late to go in time.

After repeated weighing, Zhou Shixiang adopted Cheng Hanbin's suggestion and decided to form the Northern Expedition Army to seize Jiangxi from Shaozhou. This not only forced Doni to hit the Taiping Army's defense line without his life, but also went to Nanjing to pick up the fruits of the national surname.

To make a northern expedition, all towns must be mobilized.

Zhou Shi ordered the rebuilding of the Eastward Detachment, which had been harassing the four prefectures of Baoqing to plunder money and grain, into the fifteenth town, with Qi Hao as the general of the town. In addition, the six newly formed towns of the bandit suppression army in western Hunan were also transferred out, and returned to Guangdong with the fifteenth town and the sixth town of Suna. Later, with the first town of Geyi and the third town of Jiang Tuzi in Guangdong, the Northern Expedition Army. The Northern Expedition Army had a total of six towns, with 54,200 troops, and would be commanded by Zhou Shiwang himself.

Hunan was accused of Guangxi's example to establish the Hunan Field Army. Zhao Sihai was appointed as the commander. He was under the jurisdiction of the ninth town of Guo Dengdi, the second town of Tieyi, and the four towns of Xiangxi bandit suppression army. A total of six towns were soldiers, with 51,200 soldiers. The army was stationed in Yuanzhou. Hunan did not have a governor for the time being, and military and civil affairs were all under the responsibility of the army.
Chapter completed!