Hubei, Jingzhou.
Wu Sangui stationed in Jingzhou City on June 1st. This stationing lasted for more than two months. Until the Mid-Autumn Festival, he did not have a decisive battle with the Qing soldiers.
The reason why he crossed the river without fighting was of course not because of cowardice, but because he really had no chance.
As soon as Leerjin retreated from Jingzhou, and Dong E and Eza arrived at the front line with 48,000 bannermen, the Qing army's defenses on the front lines of Xiangyang, Jingmen, and Anlu became quite tight.
The Qing army does not only have the 40,000 Eight Banners soldiers on the Huguang front line. Leerjin also has tens of thousands of Green Battalions, as well as the Eight Banners soldiers and Green Battalion soldiers under Tu Hai and Shi Lang. There are also soldiers stationed in Jiujiang, but they can be used at any time. Joined the Jieshu Division on the Huguang battlefield. There are hundreds of thousands of them in total!
The army that followed Wu Sangui across the river was only 50,000.
In addition to these 50,000 people, Wu Sangui also had three main forces on the Huguang battlefield.
One is Wu Yingqi's troops in Yuezhou.
Wu Yingqi originally had 10,000 land troops in Yuezhou, but in the past few months he had worked hard to expand 20,000 naval troops, for a total of 30,000 troops. However, the newly expanded 20,000-strong navy did not have strong combat effectiveness, and the ships they used were civilian ships. Therefore, they could only huddle in Dongting Lake and on the river near Yuezhou, and they did not dare to compete with Shi Lang and Fu Honglie's navy.
Although Shi Lang and Fu Honglie's navy were also newly trained, there were three to four hundred veteran pirates under Shi Lang, as well as hundreds of large sand ships stolen from the Yangtze River. These sand ships were personally selected by Shi Lang. They were relatively strong and could place a general cannon on the bow. They were considered powerful gun ships.
In addition, Shi Lang also collected a batch of powerful turtle-dove foot muskets to equip the navy. So the firepower of these warships is very powerful! Even without fire and thunder, it is enough to dominate the river.
The lack of navy strength was also Wu Sangui's biggest weakness on the Huguang battlefield. Fortunately, Wu Yingqi had already built a fort in Yuezhou, which could cooperate with the navy to lock the Yangtze River waterway.
In addition to Yuezhou's army, Wu Sangui also deployed more than 10,000 troops in Changsha and Hengzhou.
Among them, the soldiers in Changsha were led by Gao Dejie, a fierce general of the Wu family army. Gao Dejie was a strong general under Wu Sangui. He had some elite men under him. After arriving in Hunan, he expanded the army, and the total strength increased to more than 10,000. They were stationed at key locations in Changsha Prefecture, training and defending against the Qing army in Jiangxi.
The person guarding Heng Prefecture was Li Benzhen, who was transferred from Guizhou by Wu Sangui. Li Benzhen was the nephew of Gao Jie, one of the four towns in Jiangbei in the Southern Ming Dynasty. After Gao Jie died, he took over Duduo, who surrendered to the Qing army. Later, he took refuge with Wu Sangui and became the admiral of Guizhou under Wu Sangui's promotion. This time, in order to reward Li Benzhen for following him, Wu Sangui transferred him to Hengzhou, Hunan and became the admiral of Hunan.
Wu Sangui personally led 50,000 people, plus Wu Yingqi led 30,000 people, plus Gao Dejie and Li Benshen's 20,000 people. At present, Wu Sangui's main force on the Huguang battlefield is almost 100,000.
Compared with the Qing army, it is indeed a little less.
However, Wu Sangui was not at a loss. Although his troops were small, most of them were elites who were good at fighting, and they were also accustomed to the humid and hot climate in the south.
In addition, he can also buy the most advanced arms from Guangdong - although he still does not recognize the status of the third prince Zhu as a supervisor, does not need to determine the reign of the king, and does not accept the canonization of the third prince Zhu.
But... Zhu Heji still regarded him as an anti-Qing comrade and provided him with a large amount of military white sugar, Neichang gunpowder, Xichang fire salt, and Foshan muskets at the "anti-Qing friendship price."
With these equipment, the firepower of Wu Sangui's troops has been greatly improved compared to history, and the ability to attack difficult situations is naturally much stronger.
However, Wu Sangui was still in no rush to initiate a decisive battle.
Because he is waiting for three people, one is Kangxi... He wants to wait until Kangxi arrives in Xiangyang before starting the decisive battle!
Because the significance of defeating Kangxi cannot be compared with defeating people like Leerjin and Tuhai.
The second person he was waiting for was Geng Jingzhong!
Geng Jingzhong's military advisor Zuo Chunqiu was currently in the presidential palace in Jingzhou, talking happily about the "route to becoming emperor" he had planned for Geng Jingzhong.
"...Once the raid on Hukou is successful, King Geng's 40,000 troops and 60,000 family members will board the ship at Hukou and go straight to Jiangdong! As long as Jiangning can be captured, King Geng will ascend the throne and proclaim himself emperor in Jiangning City. !”
Wu Sangui was holding a writing brush and writing on a map with his head down. When he heard Zuo Chunqiu saying that Geng Jingzhong wanted to attack Jiangning, he chuckled and said, "Jiangning is guarded by Yue Le, he can't defeat it. "
"It doesn't matter if you can't defeat him," Zuo Chunqiu said with a smile, "King Geng can occupy a piece of land in Jiangbei...and then submit his vassalage to the president. If the president becomes the emperor, he can make him a king. When the time comes, he I have offended the Qing Dynasty to death, and my desire to be emperor is dead. If I want people to survive, I have to risk my life to conquer the world for the president."
"Hahaha!" Wu Sangui put down his brush, "So it turns out that you, Military Advisor Zuo, are my number one adviser!"
"President," Zuo Chunqiu said with a smile, "I am also thinking about King Geng! Although King Geng will not lose his title if he stays in Fujian, his father and ancestors have committed too many crimes and have offended the Chaozhou people too much. It is inevitable that he will be settled by the Queen of Qiu. .”
Geng Jingzhong himself actually did not commit any evil. He was not yet alive when his grandfather did bad things. When his father did bad things, he was a hostage in Beijing. After he arrived in Fujian, he dreamed of becoming an emperor... and he had a goal in life. , naturally we have to be positive and win people's hearts. So he is basically a "nioh".
But his "benevolence and righteousness" can't stand up to his "unfilial father" and "unfilial master" who do too many bad things!
"Continuing to be loyal to the Manchus is also a dead end," Zuo Chunqiu added. "If he wants to follow the Manchus to death, then the lessons of Shang Kexi, Shang Zhifilial piety, and Shang Zhijie are still vivid in his mind! And the president already knows that he asked Kangxi The proposed plan of a surprise attack on Changsha must be prepared... Therefore, his plan is unlikely to succeed."
"Commander Father," Wu Sangui's son Wu Yingxiong suddenly asked, "If Geng Jingzhong really marches on Changsha, will Gao Dejie's ten thousand men be able to hold on?"
"I can't hold on..." Wu Sangui shook his head, "And there won't be 10,000 people left in Changsha!"
"Father, you mean..."
"The decisive battle in Hubei is imminent. How could my father place the 20,000 elite troops of Gao Dejie and Li Benzhen in Changsha and Hengzhou? My father's troops are not that generous."
Wu Sangui actually wanted to gather the 20,000 people guarding the retreat to Jingzhou!
"Commander Father, do you want to transfer them to Jingzhou?" Wu Yingxiong was stunned, "But if this happens, Hunan will be too empty. What if Geng Jingzhong..."
Wu Sangui said with a smile: "My father has a third trump card! He is the real eldest son on the battlefield in Huguang!"
"Father, you mean Zu Zeqing?"
"How could it be him? He only has thousands of elites at his disposal, and it would be very difficult to defend Guangxi."
Wu Sangui shook his head with a smile and said with a smile: "My father is talking about Zhu Heji! The battle of Huguang is related to the rise and fall of the world. Does he really want to wait and see? Although I don't want to be a slave anymore, I can still become a grandson with him." If I win in Huguang, I can expect three points in the world. If I lose, can I really use Guangdong to fight against the world?"
Wu Sangui's biggest reliance turned out to be Zhu Heji!
This old traitor is really good. Zhu Heji will definitely not ignore the Huguang battlefield.
But now he still wants to add another layer of insurance.
Wu Sangui glanced at his former First Military Advisor Liu Xuanchu, "Xuanchu, I think that Yang Qilong will explain this truth to him, right?"
Wu Sangui now knows that Yang Qilong has been under Zhu Heji... This is really Sanhe Qilong, having both.
Liu Xuanchu said with a smile: "President, why don't you go to Guangdong and talk about it... I heard from the feudal merchants who brought gunpowder from Guangdong that Zhu Heji will recently welcome Zheng Yanping's cousin as his concubine, and there will be a big event." The venue. I just happened to pay a visit in the name of the congratulatory envoy."
Wu Sangui laughed: "That's good. We are fighting with Xuan Ye to the death, but he is busy getting married. This is too comfortable."
