Zengcheng is the same as Xiangshan is a county under the jurisdiction of Guangzhou Prefecture, which is only 60 kilometers away from Guangzhou City, and only 40 kilometers away from the area around Yinzhuizi Mountain, the closest control place of the Taiping Army, so the Qing Army in Zengcheng is the closest Qing army to the Taiping Army except for the Shunde Green Camp.

Zhou Shixiang did not want to attack Zengcheng at first, because in terms of distance alone, attacking Shunde, which was closer, would be conducive to the Taiping army's surprise attack and retreat, while attacking Zengcheng would be much farther, which would not be conducive to the strategic intention of this operation only to seize food, and would also increase the transportation burden of the baggage battalion.

However, the intelligence that Zhang An bought from Tang Sanshui showed that although the Qing army in Shunde was smaller than that of Zengcheng, with a total of only 1,600 people, its combat effectiveness was much stronger than that of the Qing army in Zengcheng, and there were 400 banner soldiers stationed here.

Zhou Shixiang is not afraid of the Han army banner soldiers in Shunde and dare not fight Shunde, now his Taiping army also has more than 1,000 Han army flag soldiers, the army has no fear of the flag soldiers, really decide to attack Shunde, the morale of the Taiping army will not be weakened by the existence of the flag soldiers.

The reason why Zhou Shixiang decided not to fight Shunde but Zengcheng was that the Qing army general stationed in Shunde was Ge Mingyi, a general of the Green Battalion, and according to Zhang An's intelligence, Ge Mingyi was known for his good defense in the Qing army.

Ge Mingyi was originally a low-level officer in Zuo Liangyu's army, and after Zuo Liangyu's son Zuo Mengeng surrendered to the Qing Dynasty, he also surrendered to the Qing Dynasty, and then stationed in Ganzhou, Jiangxi Province with Hu Yousheng, the commander of the Southern Jiangxi Army appointed by the Qing court. Five years after Shunzhi, Jiangxi Jin Shengheng, Wang Deren, Guangdong Li Chengdong and other Qing generals successively returned to the Ming Dynasty anyway, in order to open up the connection between Jiangxi and Guangdong, Jin Shengheng and Li Chengdong successively attacked Ganzhou City, and as a result, let Jin and Li lead their troops to attack Ganzhou, Ganzhou City was firmly controlled by the Qing army, and finally the existence of this city also made Jin Shengheng and Li Chengdong hate and die.

In the battle to defend the city in Ganzhou, Ge Mingyi, who was the general manager at the time, offered a number of strategies to the general soldier Hu Yousheng. showed an amazing talent for defending the city, and then Ge Mingyi was favored by Shang Kexi, who went south, and was transferred to the domain. When Li Dingguo led a large army to attack Zhaoqing the year before last, Ge Mingyi assisted in defending Zhaoqing City with the rank of guerrilla, and the result was that Li Dingguo failed to return from the wall under Zhaoqing City.

After that, Ge Mingyi participated in several siege battles one after another, but the Ming army that attacked the city failed, so it can be said that as long as Ge Mingyi is in the city. The besieging side would not have been able to break down the gates under any circumstances. It is precisely because of Ge Mingyi's good defense that Shang Kexi ordered him to garrison Shunde, a military town.

Shunde is close to Jiangmen and Foshan, and connects Panyu and Xiangshan counties, which is an important support point for the defense line of the Qing army's Sanjiangkou. Such an important place, Shang Kexi naturally wants to send a fierce general to defend it, this fierce is not the fierce of the battlefield, but the fierce of defending the city as stable as Mount Tai. Shang Kexi's generals are like clouds. Ge Mingyi is the only one who is excellent at defending the city, and he is the only one who can take on the responsibility of guarding Shunde.

The Taiping army had just been formed, the new battalions had just been reorganized, and the training of the recruits was not enough, so Zhou Shixiang could not risk attacking a city with a good defender. The Qing army could endure a hundred defeats, but the Taiping army could not accept one, this is the reality, it really has to fail because of the attack on Shunde. Zhou Shixiang believed that the morale of the military spirit he had worked so hard to manage would be severely defeated.

Another reason why Shunde could not be attacked was that Shunde was related to the safety of the Sanjiangkou defense line of the Qing army, and it was still gratifying that the Taiping army could operate in Xiangshan. Because the activities of the Taiping Army in Xiangshan could not touch the safety of Guangzhou. But Shunde is different, if the Taiping army attacks Shunde, it is very easy to provoke the nerves of the Xinhui Ming army, in case the Taiping army really occupies Shunde, Xinhui's Chen Qice and Zhu Tong and others will definitely take the opportunity to wave the Sanjiangkou, and then the Taiping army will be behind. The Xinhui Ming army is in front, and the Qing army of Sanjiangkou, which is suffering from the enemy on its back, may not be able to support it.

As soon as Sanjiangkou is lost, Shang Kexi will lose the initiative in the war, and it will be up to him whether to fight or defend at that time, so he can only deal with it passively. Therefore, before the arrival of the Eight Banners of Manchuria. Shang Kexi could not tolerate the loss of the Sanjiangkou defense line, which doomed the Taiping army's rash attack on Shunde to attract Shang Kexi's crazy revenge. The newly formed Taiping Army also could not withstand the blows of the Qing army pouring out of the nest in Guangzhou.

"Shunde has to stay, and if you want to fight, it's not this time!"

Zhou Shixiang vetoed the proposal to attack Shunde, and Song Xianggong and Qin Zhisheng could only submit Xin'an and Zengcheng counties to Zhou Shixiang's decision.

Xin'an County is also the location of some towns in Shenzhen and Dongguan in the later generations, and Xiangshan County across the river, which is also the site that Zhou Shixiang is looking for for the next development of the Taiping Army. To the east of Xin'an is Huizhou, and further east of Huizhou is the Chaoshan area, which is the largest grain-producing area in Guangdong and the main source of food and salary for the Qing army in Guangdong.

There were not many Qing troops in Xin'an County, because Chaoshan and Huizhou were occupied by the Qing army, and the Ming army in Xin'an was exterminated in the area of Wutong Mountain and Qiniang Mountain, so there were only a few hundred people stationed in the green battalion. However, if you want to attack Xin'an, you must first solve the Qing army in Zengcheng, otherwise the Qing army in Zengcheng will be like a nail stuck in the junction of Xin'an and Xiangshan, which will make the Taiping army very unsafe. Therefore, it is very uneconomical and extremely dangerous to fight Xin'an now.

"Just hit Zengcheng!"

At the meeting of the Military Marshal's Mansion, Zhou Shixiang slapped the board, "Preemptively, the Manchurian Eight Banners from Beijing have arrived in Guangzhou, Shang Kexi that old turtle will do it after they finish resting, he will either attack the old General Chen of Xinhui, or attack our Taiping Army, so we have to give him a guy before he makes a move, so that he can't be stable first, at least let his backyard catch fire, and can't do it with all his might!" ”

"The attack on Zengcheng is responsible for the left battalion of the infantry army and my personal battalion, in addition to Shao Chengguo's cavalry battalion also participated in the battle, and the baggage battalion followed the main force to stand by, once our army captured Zengcheng, the baggage battalion immediately entered the city to move all the grain that could be moved back, and not a single grain was left to the Qing army! The people in the city who are willing to go back to Xiangshan with us are also taken away, and those who are unwilling to send them some food to take refuge in other places, so as not to be slaughtered by the Qing army in retaliation. ”

"After taking Zengcheng, the cavalry battalion covered the baggage battalion to move grain and retreated, the left battalion of the infantry army should not be withdrawn for the time being, stay for 3 days, if the Qing army in Guangzhou came, they would be blocked in Zengcheng. Don't fight hard with the Qing army, retreat while fighting, try to attract them to Yinzhuizai Mountain, I will take my own barracks to meet there, and then ask the artillery battalion to set up an ambush there, see if I can wrap up the Qing army that has caught up! ”

After Zhou Shixiang's series of orders, Qin Zhisheng raised a question, and he said: "Marshal, since we have sent troops to attack Zengcheng, why can't we occupy it, but withdraw it?" Isn't it good to turn Zengcheng into the territory of our Taiping Army? ”

Zhou Shixiang understood what Qin Zhisheng meant, and directly occupied Zengcheng to gain an additional active territory for the Taiping army, so that the Taiping army could have a buffer in the future large-scale offensive of the Qing army, or a place to escape.

He explained why he couldn't do this, he said: "Our current strength is limited, all battalions are new, training is insufficient, as the left battalion of the infantry army and the right battalion of the infantry army in the field can really go into battle only half of the strength of the whole battalion, or even less than half!" If we want to defend Zengcheng, it will definitely not work if there are fewer soldiers, and we must let the two most elite battalions of the left battalion of the infantry army or the right battalion of the infantry army be placed there. Let me ask you, the left or right battalion of the infantry army has released Zengcheng, how many troops can our army marshal's office have to deal with the Qing army in the direction of Shunde? In case Shang Kexi decides to come to Xiangshan first, should we keep it? If you want to defend it, should the soldiers of Zengcheng be withdrawn? If we want to withdraw, what are we going to do with it? If we don't withdraw, we will have a total of 10,000 people, and we will go to Zengcheng for 3,000, and the remaining 7,000 are you sure that you can block the Qing army? Don't forget, compared to the Qing army, our Taiping army is still very weak, and every ounce of strength at hand must be held tightly and must not be dispersed! ”

"The Admiral understands." Qin Zhisheng and Song Xianggong glanced at each other and agreed with Zhou Shixiang's explanation.

Zhou Shixiang did not stop there, he continued: "We fought Zengcheng but did not leave troops to guard, the situation is different, the initiative is completely in our hands, we want to fight, we don't want to fight, we don't want to fight, the existing forces at hand can be concentrated in Xiangshan, so that we are not afraid of the Qing army coming to turn over our nest I ask you again, if we withdraw troops from Zengcheng, will the Qing army continue to send troops to defend Zengcheng?" If he sends troops to defend it again, we will also find a gap to fight it again, repeat it a few times, Zengcheng will become the chicken threat of the Qing army, unless Shang Kexi is determined to solve our Taiping army first, or they will give up Zengcheng themselves! ”

"In short, we can't defend the dead city, put ourselves in a passive place to be beaten, no matter how good that city is, as long as our strength is not enough to carry the burden of guarding this city, then don't take it. The so-called saving people and losing land, people and land exist; If the land is lost, the land will be lost. ”

Zhou Shi is relatively confident in winning Zengcheng, because Zengcheng is really a soft bone compared to Shunde.

Zengcheng Green Battalion was originally adapted from the Ming military guard of Nanhaiwei, and the leader of the Qianzong Jiang Shuangxi was even more incompetent, with more than 1,000 subordinate battalion soldiers who wanted to rescue the good word to get a credit, but they were defeated by more than 40 cavalry of the Taiping Army. With this kind of combat effectiveness, they can still be expected to hold Zengcheng. After Jiang Shuangxi fled back to Zengcheng, he still had lingering fears about the Taiping army, and ordered all his battalions to retreat in Zengcheng, lest the Taiping army would kill him from Yinzhuzui Mountain into his lair.

After the governor of Guangdong, Li Shutai, heard that Jiang Shuangxi was defeated in Yinbeizui Mountain, he was so angry that he was about to order Jiang Shuangxi's thousands of commanders to be cut down immediately, but this Jiang Shuangxi couldn't fight, but he was a powerful man, and the governor had already been properly dealt with by him, and as soon as the governor spoke, a group of staff persuaded him, saying that Jiang Shuangxi had no merit and hard work over the years, and for the sake of him who took the initiative to lower the Qing Dynasty back then, he couldn't be so harsh on him, and besides, victory and defeat were a common thing in soldiers, and the gang of fierce generals under King Pingnan were so able to fight. Isn't it still the same in the new meeting, let alone Jiang Shuangxi.

was persuaded and persuaded by the people below, and because it was also the same reason, Li Shutai gave up his mind about punishing Jiang Shuangxi, and instead cobbled together 2,000 battalions from Huizhou and Conghua Prefecture and transferred them to Zengcheng to garrison

(To be continued.) )