After looking around for a week, Zhu Hongyu spoke.
"Send the order for the army to prepare for war. Let the soldiers who go home to visit relatives return to camp immediately!"
"The Logistics Department quickly started preparing the materials needed for the army to go on the expedition, and the Staff Department formulated corresponding combat plans!"
"Then send an order to Macau to ask them to be prepared to evacuate at any time, and to ask Wang Youcai in Hong Kong to be prepared to respond!"
Looking across the faces of the generals below, Zhu Hongyu took a deep breath and spoke.
"According to the information obtained by the Jin Yiwei brothers!"
"Shang Kexi may mobilize 10,000 flag soldiers from Pingnan Palace and 30,000 green troops from Guangdong, Guangxi, Huguang and other places, for a total of 40,000 troops!"
"This battle will be the largest battle our Liberation Army has faced since its formation!"
"If we win this battle, it will be a foregone conclusion that the whole province of Guangdong will fall into the hands of the Ming Dynasty!"
"But if this battle is lost, Macau will be lost, and the situation in the mainland's resistance to the Qing Dynasty will be ruined!"
"Our Ming Dynasty will also encounter great financial difficulties. Within two or three years, we will have no choice but to retreat overseas, without the ability to aggressively counterattack the mainland!"
Zhu Hongyu glanced around and said in a strong and firm tone.
"If we win this battle, I will not hesitate to be rewarded with a title!"
Zhu Hongyu said the four words "Reward of Marquis" almost word for word.
After the words fell, everyone's faces showed uncontrollable excitement and excitement.
Originally, with the smooth development and growth of the Liberation Army in the past two years, the generals of the Liberation Army were filled with pride and complacency.
This kind of mentality is simply called "I can't do it without me!"
Until a few days ago, Zhu Hongyu was annoyed by the behavior of the generals jointly seeking rewards.
Zhu Hongyu beat them and rotated almost all the chief officers of each department.
When orders are given, they will be obeyed!
Only then did the generals of the Liberation Army clearly understand their position.
He also clearly realized Zhu Hongyu’s prestige in the military!
Facing His Royal Highness the Supervisor, they really have no qualifications to support him.
Originally, they thought that His Highness the Supervisor would have to suppress them for a while before he would talk about the reward.
But unexpectedly, Zhu Hongyu now offered the reward of becoming a lord!
How can they not feel excited and excited?!
…
The generals retired, but Zhu Hongyu did not leave the conference room, but began to think about the Ming army's future Northern Expedition strategy.
Originally, Zhu Hongyu’s strategy for the Northern Expedition was:
No large-scale Northern Expedition will be launched within two or three years.
Maintain our own port in Macau, and use the scissor gap created by our large-scale development of industry and commerce to seize profits from the Qing government and use them to raise troops and govern the people.
Then they took advantage of the Ming army's naval superiority to harass the Qing Dynasty's coastal areas piecemeal.
While training troops, the world's fear of the Qing army was eliminated, and the myth that the Qing army was invincible was broken.
And in the process, they relied on various means to obtain people from the mainland.
Then use the population obtained from the mainland to train troops in the fields and other places in Luzon, and accumulate food, grass and weapons.
Wait until he has enough troops on hand before launching a large-scale Northern Expedition.
However, now that the Qing court has colluded with foreigners, the situation has changed.
The first is the Macau issue!
Shang Kexi is now able to continue his business with the Dutch and British as backup options, and is ready to leave Macau.
If the Ming army wants to keep Macau, they can only fight a decisive battle with Shang Kexi!
Regardless of victory or defeat in this battle, it will have a great impact on the Liberation Army's next plans.
Needless to say, if they lose, the Liberation Army will retreat from Guangdong in disgrace, coupled with the financial problems caused by the loss of Macau.
The Northern Expedition will only be more difficult in the future!
If they win, Shang Kexi's troops will definitely be severely damaged. At that time, the Qing government will definitely send high officials and heavy troops into Guangdong to deal with the Liberation Army.
By then, there is a high probability that business in Macau will not be able to continue!
Zhu Hongyu got a severe headache when he thought of this!
After much deliberation, the best choice currently facing the Ming army seems to be to directly recapture Guangdong after defeating Shang Kexi.
Then borrow Guangdong's manpower and material resources to support war with war and start the Northern Expedition!
But if this happens, the Liberation Army will need to face the pressure of the Qing army on land and the Dutch fleet at sea...
By then, I'm afraid the situation will be very dangerous.
Zhu Hongyu's expression suddenly changed. Perhaps he could withdraw his people from Macau first to avoid a large-scale war with the Qing court and preserve his strength for the time being.
Then he roped in Zheng Chenggong and led his troops to gnaw down Batavia and annihilate the Dutch fleet in Southeast Asia.
In this way, the Ming Dynasty could swallow up the interests of the Dutch in the Spice Islands, as well as Southeast Asian countries, Japan and other countries, thereby making up for the impact of the loss of Macau on the finances of the Liberation Army.
It would be even better if we could capture Malacca!
As long as we can control this most important waterway for maritime trade between the East and the West, we will be able to collect a lot of money from just the tariffs every year.
And it can also eliminate the possibility of collusion between the Qing court and foreigners!
Kill two birds with one stone!
And more importantly, in this way, the Liberation Army's absolute maritime hegemony in East and Southeast Asia can be confirmed.
Even if the Qing army rebuilt its navy in the future, the Ming army would not have to worry about the Qing army colluding with the Dutch and then being attacked on both sides.
In addition, expelling the influence of Western colonists in the East can also be regarded as leaving an escape route for the Han people in Nanyang.
In case the Northern Expedition really fails to defeat the Manchus in the future, the Han people still have Nanyang. They don't have to be real slaves to subjugation. They can accumulate strength in Nanyang for the future!
As for the Guangdong side, it won’t be too late to talk about the decisive battle with Shang Kexi after the defeat of Batavia!
If we were to attack Batavia, including the time required for traveling back and forth, we would have to complete it in March or April at the very least.
If we want to attack Malacca, the time will have to be postponed to at least May or June!
By that time, with the recruit camp operating at full capacity, the Army of Liberation's ground strength should be able to exceed the 30,000 or even 40,000 mark.
When the time comes, we can have a decisive battle with Shang Kexi, and the winning rate will be even greater!
As for the promised reward of becoming a prince, there is no rush.
Zhu Hongyu can announce the original knighthood reward at the Zhengdan court meeting in a few days to appease the morale of the army.
Thinking of this, Zhu Hongyu ordered people to get paper and pen, prepare to edit a letter, and discuss the attack on Batavia with Zheng Chenggong.
By the time Zhu Hongyu returned to his mansion after finishing his busy work, it was already late at night.
Li Lingxiu and others have already rested!
Zhu Hongyu ate some food by himself and then went to rest.
…
Guangzhou!
The green battalions from Huguang and Guangxi greatly filled the Qing army's military vacancy in Guangdong.
As the New Year was approaching, Shang Kexi ordered an inventory of the vassal banner soldiers in Pingnan Palace, and asked the Governor-General of Guangdong and Guangxi to prepare food, grass and weapons for the army.
He wants to send troops to conquer Macau after the Chinese New Year!
Kill all the thieves in Macau and avenge your son!
The arrival of soldiers from other provinces across the border made the already poor public security in Guangzhou even more chaotic.
Green battalions from Guangxi and Huguang fight in other provinces and will not restrain themselves.
Burning, killing, and looting occurred frequently inside and outside Guangzhou!
Even among the wealthy gentry in Guangzhou, many people were killed by the rebels.