At this time, Jin Guangzu, the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, and Zeng Qizhao, the commander-in-chief of Dongguan Town, appeared in front of Shang Zhijie.
Looking at Shang Zhijie who looked panicked, Jin Guangzu sighed and couldn't help but complain in his heart.
This Shang Zhijie is really incompetent. Whether it is ability or character, it is far inferior to Shang Zhixiao and Shang Zhixin.
If these two men had not died at the hands of Ming thieves, and the other sons of King Pingnan would have been even worse than Shang Zhijie.
The title of Prince Pingnan cannot be compared to that of Shang Zhijie!
The Ming thieves have not yet reached the walls of Guangzhou!
Are you, Shang Zhijie, so panicked?!
"The thief of the Ming Dynasty is coming, the thief of the Ming Dynasty is coming!"
"what do I do?!"
Shang Zhijie asked with a look of panic on his face.
Beside him, Jin Guangzu and Zeng Qizhao looked at each other, and Jin Guangzu spoke.
"Please, Your Highness, the Crown Prince, order the troops under the royal vassal to mobilize to prepare to fight against the invading thieves or to defend the city."
"Send a message to the prince in parallel and ask the prince to return to Guangzhou quickly for support!"
Shang Zhijie nodded vigorously and then followed all instructions.
Facing the invading Ming army, Guangzhou responded quickly.
In addition to Shang Zhijie mobilizing the bannermen of Prince Pingnan's vassal, Zeng Qizhao ordered the green battalion troops from various towns in Guangzhou to converge on Guangzhou City.
Jin Guangzu also ordered the recruitment of strong men from inside and outside Guangzhou City to prepare volunteers for fighting against the Ming army or defending the city.
…
The Ming army's fleet continued to move north along the river, but Zhu Hongyu did not disperse his troops to attack cities and territories along the Pearl River.
Instead, it concentrates superior forces and clenches all the forces together, like a fist with five fingers clenched together, ready to strike at any time.
Give your enemy a heavy blow!
Because Zhu Hongyu did not need to attack the city and build the stronghold, at this time, in the entire south, I dare not say that all, at least 90% of the gentry and common people were sympathizing with the Ming Dynasty.
As long as Zhu Hongyu can win a decisive victory on the frontal battlefield, there will be no problem in Guangdong, Guangxi, Fujian, and even the entire south of the Yangtze River.
In this Northern Expedition, Zhu Hongyu's most proud operation was to attack the Leizhou Peninsula, lure the Qing army to rush for rescue, and then use his own advantage to attack Guangzhou.
Unlike the Ming army, which marched by water, and soldiers transferred directly by boat, the Qing army marched entirely on two legs!
Although there were many cavalry in the Qing army!
However, unless there is no shortage of war horses like the Mongols in history, with an average of three and four horses per person, the cavalry will move in on horseback.
Ordinary cavalry marches, that is, walking with their horses.
War horses are too delicate to be messed with.
To a certain extent, the Qing army that controlled the prairie had no shortage of war horses, but that was the Qing army's cavalry group in the north.
For the Qing army in the south, war horses were still a rare thing.
The Qing court had no shortage of war horses, but the distance from north to south was simply too far.
If you want to send a thousand war horses from the north to the south, the various climates are not suitable, they will be exhausted on the way, and they will be lost halfway. At least half of them will be lost.
Of course, the real loss is not that high, but the Qing Dynasty has its own national conditions!
In addition, due to the crisscrossing waterways in the south, the role of cavalry was limited to the greatest extent, and the Qing government also had some small ideas to control the military strength of the three vassals.
Therefore, the number of Qing troops' war horses in the south was also limited.
The distance from Guangzhou to Gaozhou is about four hundred kilometers!
That is eight hundred miles!
This is still talking about the distance traveled by highways in later generations.
In this era, there is no so-called highway, you can only take the official road.
Judging from the traffic conditions on the official road in the late Ming Dynasty, this number could easily exceed a thousand.
The Qing army traveled from Guangzhou to Gaozhou, a round trip of two thousand miles!
It’s better to settle for less!
Zhu Hongyu made such a move to avoid the truth and attack the fictitious. In addition to luring the Qing army to divide their forces, he also concentrated his superior forces to inflict heavy damage on the Qing army.
The Qing army in this battle also changed from a force that was stuck in Guangzhou City, waiting for work, to a tired army that ran forward and backward for two thousand miles.
Which one of the two sides is better to fight? Needless to say, everyone knows!
The Ming army continued to advance along the Pearl River towards Guangzhou. After experiencing the initial panic, the Qing army in Guangzhou made the decision to leave the city to fight.
The main force of the Qing army in Guangzhou was taken by Shang Kexi to reinforce the Leizhou Peninsula, leaving Guangzhou empty of troops.
The huge city of Guangzhou has only a few thousand green battalions, and some of the bannermen from the Pingnan Prince's Mansion who were urgently recruited during the Monk Festival are guarding the city.
Taken together, this number does not exceed 10,000 people!
Logically speaking, facing the menacing Ming fleet, the Qing army should choose to stand firm.
But, in the past few years since the end of the Ming Dynasty, when the Qing army faced off against the Ming army, the Ming army's crotchless performance in battle gave the Qing army a huge psychological advantage when facing off against the Ming army.
Such a psychological advantage made the Qing army in Guangzhou make the decision to attack the Ming army!
Outside the city of Guangzhou, with the fortified city of Guangzhou as its back, we took the initiative to fight against the invading Ming army, instead of being trapped in the isolated city!
I, the Qing Dynasty, am so confident!
…
Outside Guangzhou, on the broad Pearl River, the Ming fleet was lined up in a row, and the sides of the ships were opened, revealing the dark muzzles of the guns.
From this position, Zhu Hongyu could already see the blue-black city wall of Guangzhou from a distance.
It can even be said that the outer city wall of Guangzhou at this time was already within the coverage of the Ming army's naval guns!
"Command the army to prepare for landing operations!"
Zhu Hongyu put down the telescope, rubbed his slightly dizzy eyes, and secretly cursed that the telescopes of this era were too inferior.
Even if the lens of the telescope he uses is ground with extremely pure East China Sea crystal instead of glass, the distant scenery in the lens barrel will be distorted.
If you look into the distance with a telescope for a long time, you will feel dizzy.
The Ming army began to land, and flat-bottomed landing craft advanced toward the dock, preparing to seize the dock at the port outside Guangzhou.
The Qing army's fort at the dock began to fire back, and shells were fired at the Ming army's landing craft!
The cannonballs hit the water, forming ripples on the wide Pearl River.
Or hit the landing craft and smash the landing craft into wood chips all over the city.
However, before the Qing army's fort had time to be proud, it was instantly overwhelmed by an overwhelming barrage of naval gun shells.
One after another, the explosive shells seemed to be free of charge, pouring firepower towards the Qing army's fort.
Zhu Hongyu has always adhered to the philosophy that there is no difficulty that cannot be solved by a round of firepower coverage.
If it doesn’t work, try another round!
The entire dock was smashed to pieces by the deflected shells, and countless houses and buildings were turned into a pile of ruins in front of the solid shells and explosive shells.
Boom! Boom!
The rumble of shelling and the roar of exploding bombs resounded throughout the entire city of Guangzhou.
It can even be heard clearly throughout Guangzhou!