At the end of the third year of Kangxi and the nineteenth year of Yongli, the Qing court launched an offensive against northern Sichuan. At the beginning of the following year, it suffered an unprecedented defeat, and since then it has completely lost its military deterrence against the south.

The central court of the Ming Dynasty, headed by Yang Zaiyang University, immediately wanted to further add officials to Deng Ming in the name of the Son of Yongli. Deng Ming declined the grace to promote him to the rank of county king, but hinted that he hoped to be promoted higher in his position.

After some research, Yang Zai reopened the Dadu Governor's Mansion in the name of the Great Emperor, intending to grant Deng Ming the title of General of the Expedition, which was also the highest official position that a military general could get. Although Zhu Yuanzhang stopped conferring the position of general from conferring military generals, the reopening of the Metropolitan Governor's Mansion seems to be a violation of the ancestral system. However, Zhu Yuanzhang has not granted the prince to a person with a foreign surname, from this point of view, Yongli has set a precedent for the title given to the prince of the three princes of Nanming.

Soon after Deng Ming happily accepted the highest position of a martial artist, there was another fierce upheaval in the south.

Due to the crushing defeat in northern Sichuan, the Qing court had no choice but to hand over the governance of Fujian and Guangdong to the monk Geng Jimao and Shang Kexi, making the two of them vassal kings as independent as Wu Sangui. However, the Qing court's handling of Guangxi was a little slow, and Sun Yanling could not compare with his father-in-law Kong Youde in terms of qualifications and strength, and his control over Guangxi was also very limited, so he could not take this ride.

Sun Yanling, who had found nothing, was of course very dissatisfied with this, and he began to openly complain to his subordinates, saying that the main force of the Qing court could not defeat the Sichuan army first, and then the Kuidong Army and the Zhedong Army supported by the Sichuan army, and now they could not even defeat the peasants in western Sichuan -- the most embarrassing thing in northern Sichuan was that the elite of Hexi, which was commanded by Zhao Liangdong, a famous general who was touted by the Qing court, was almost completely wiped out by the Jiangxi peasant self-defense force of the Jiangyou generation. Although the Qing court tried to explain that the peasants in western Sichuan were not peasants in the ordinary sense at all, this was completely smeared and blackened, and Sun Yanling had no intuitive impression of the combat effectiveness of the Sichuan army, and believed that the elite of the Qing court had been decayed, and in this case, they were still clinging to power, which showed that the court was now completely self-aware.

In this case, Sun Yanling began to hook up with Wu Sangui, planning to use the crime of "Tongdeng" to crusade against Zhang Changgeng, the governor of Huguang.

Compared with Guangxi, which was closed to news, Zhang Changgeng of Wuchang was shocked by the combat effectiveness of western Sichuan, and he saw many reports in the newspapers about the battle of northern Sichuan. Before the regular army of the Ming army and the main force of the Qing court entered the battlefield, Zhao Liangdong only faced the militia of Jiangyou. And Zhao Mingjiang also has the advantage of surprise attacks, at the beginning, Zhao Liangdong used Han Xinming to build a plank road to secretly cross Chencang's old trick, and when Jieshu announced that he was going to Chongqing, he secretly sent elite soldiers to carry a small amount of grain, smuggled into the Sword Pavilion day and night, and raided Jiangyou; It is true that the Ming army was not able to react at the first moment, and when the vanguard of the Qing army was in the Jiangyou area, the regular army of the Ming army had not yet received the news.

Jiangyou land is vast and sparsely populated, but each farmer owns a lot of land and produces abundant grain, so farmers raise their own horses and sell them to mules and horse dealers in western Sichuan. When Zhao Liangdong invaded Jiangyou, everyone in the local peasants had horses, and each family had several rifles. What shocked Zhang Changgeng the most was that the newspapers in western Sichuan detailed the feat of a peasant named Kuang Taiping to defend his homeland. This man refused to provide food to the Qing army's grain collection squad, and hid in his barn with his wife and two-year-old child to resist. The Qing army's grain collection squad consisted of ten people, Kuang Taiping killed five with a rifle, and then rode a horse to pursue the fleeing Qing army, and hacked three more to death. The next day, the Qing army mobilized hundreds of armor, led by a thousand generals, and besieged the peasant barn with spears, broadswords, and bows, and several people were killed by rifles. At this time, Kuang Taiping's brother-in-law Sima Qiudao heard the news, and arrived with more than a dozen peasants around him on horseback and guns, and killed Qian Zong, who led the team, on the spot, and also took advantage of the victory to chase and kill and wound dozens of Qing soldiers. As a result, the brother-in-law became a sensational hero in Sichuan, and they were interviewed by several newspapers after the war. There is also a peasant from Mianzhu who came to reinforce Kuang Taiping, and also became a news figure, this Mianzhu farmer named An Yichen, Kuang Taiping's former friend, is also the first batch of Mianzhu farmers who rushed to Jiangyou to support on horseback and gun after hearing the police, and many newspapers have enthusiastically reported the comrade-in-arms feelings of these two people.

The Qing army, which was advancing lightly, could not collect food and immediately fell into a predicament. Zhao Liangdong's men were beaten by the peasants and disarmed, forcing him to personally direct the attack on these armed peasants, and also threw himself into his own battalion. However, in the face of a peasant dragoon brigade with more than one person and more than one horse and everyone with advanced weapons, Zhao Liangdong's hoplites were not opponents, and their feet were deep in mud. Ten days later, the regular army of the Ming army had not yet arrived, but thousands of peasant brigades with guns in Mianzhu had already arrived on horseback and carriage to reinforce one after another, and even Zhao Liangdong's pro-army camp was beaten by them to the point that it lost its combat effectiveness.

For these reports, most of the other regions think that it is a fantasy, even Beijing will be suspicious, suspecting that the Ming army is boasting, and it is more likely that the regular army of the Ming army disguised themselves as peasants and ambushed Zhao Liangdong, who was unfamiliar with the place. But Zhang Changgeng did not doubt it, so after the battle of northern Sichuan in the early fourth year of Kangxi, he made up his mind to move closer to Sichuan. Moreover, at this time, Zhang Changgeng had already received news from Chengdu and Beijing respectively, knowing that Wu Sangui was attacking his territory. After learning that Sun Yanling was also involved in the conspiracy, Zhang Changgeng transferred a large number of troops originally placed in Hubei to Hunan to guard against Wu Sangui and Sun Yanling, and also asked Beijing and Chengdu for help at the same time.

In order to obtain the support of Chengdu, Zhang Changgeng sold Yuezhou to Li Laiheng at a low price, and Zhong Xiang to Hao Shaoqi, and after getting the money from Chengdu for the land sale, he gave half of it to Beijing as a loyalty fee. Originally, neither Chengdu nor Beijing was willing for Wu Sangui to enter Hunan, but after receiving the benefits, they both made their stand and supported Zhang Changgeng to continue to rule Huguang -- because of Zhang Changgeng's land sale, Chengdu felt that Zhang Changgeng was indeed the most suitable candidate to rule Huguang at present, and Beijing also expressed its understanding of his forced behavior. Beijing announced that Zhang Changgeng would never act in accordance with Deng, and if Wu Sangui and Sun Yanling started the war without authorization, they would be guilty of rebellion, and asked the two of them to restrain their behavior; Chengdu said that although he had no collusion with Wuchang and vowed not to stand with the Qing court, if Wu Sangui and Sun Yanling were neither loyal to the Ming nor the Manchus, they would also support Wuchang out of the principle of supporting loyal ministers and righteous people against repeated villains, so as to promote the righteousness of heaven and earth.

While Wu Sangui continued to secretly make a case to Chengdu and Beijing, he was still preparing to attack Hunan in full swing. His ally Sun Yanling also openly attacked Zhang Changgeng's land sales and southward transfer, believing that this showed that Wuchang had no intention of resisting the Ming Dynasty and was bent on fighting a civil war with the Qing army.

If all this has dazzled the people of the world, the events at the end of Kangxi's fourth year have become even more exciting. Wu Sangui finally swore an oath to set off to defeat the traitors of "Tong Deng", and Sun Yanling provided some grain and grass and sent soldiers and horses to help in the battle. As a result, after Wu Sangui got the grain and grass, he suddenly purged Sun Yanling's troops, raided and killed Sun Yanling's father and son, put Kong Sizhen under house arrest, and annexed Guangxi's army and land, declaring that Sun Yanling was bent on launching a civil war in the Qing army and was a traitor of "Tongdeng"!

After the war, Wu Sangui and Zhang Changgeng restored their friendship and took the initiative to evacuate the garrisons on the borders of Guizhou, Guangxi and Hunan, and at the same time included Sun Yanling's share of the Huguang Association that Sun Yanling originally deserved; Zhang Changgeng kept most of his territory and prevented Wu Sangui or the Ming army from entering his territory; Beijing and Chengdu have also put aside their concerns about Hunan; Wu Sangui doubled his territory at once. Everyone was happy, except for Sun Yanling, who was already in a different place.

Because the Ming army recovered the two prefectures again, Scholar Yang also removed the word "conquest" in front of Deng Ming's official title, and from then on he was called the general Deng Ming. When the Nanyang War was launched this time, after Deng Ming's high-profile announcement of sending troops, the Daimyo Cabinet also announced in a high-profile manner that it would restore the official position of "Prime Minister", which was abolished by Ming Taizu, and temporarily let Deng Mingzhi "Deputy Prime Minister" to act as Prime Minister.

When this war is won, the word "deputy" in front of the prime minister will definitely be removed, which everyone knows well, and Deng Ming's subordinates have begun to call him the prime minister.

"In close combat, it is better to capture the Spaniard's big ship." After reading the documents of the meeting, Deng Ming and the generals sat down and further elaborated on his purpose of the battle: "It is a very important task to keep these large ships of the Spaniards, and if we simply destroy them, we will certainly win the control of the surrounding seas and successfully obtain Manila, but the threat of the Dutch is still there." ”

Not every naval battle can be predicted, and once the Dutch enters a state of war, the entire South Sea will no longer be safe. If they encounter a Dutch ship in a vast sea, China's armed merchant ships will become targets with no self-defense capabilities.

Although the Spaniards hoped to destroy the Ming navy with a decisive battle with the main force, and the Ming army was not the same, Deng Ming hoped that through a few dignified naval battles, the Spanish and Dutch maritime forces in Southeast Asia could be completely destroyed, so as not to fall into passive naval engagements and guerrilla warfare. The Spaniards and the Dutch valued trade, and Deng Ming did not attach any less importance to trade than his enemies.

"Only the great ships of the Spaniards had heavy guns comparable to those of the Dutch ships. We were able to capture the Spanish ships so that we could penetrate the armor of the Dutch when they attacked us. When the time comes, these large ships will be the first targets of the Dutch, and our small ships will have a chance to attack at close range; If the Dutch avoid a decisive battle, we can also use these large ships to protect the waterways. As long as the new shells were used, we could still have the upper hand over the Dutch in one-on-one situations, even if the sailors were a little less experienced in actual combat. Speaking of this, Deng Ming smiled: "After all, the goal of our expedition this time is Batavia and not Manila, if we can solve it all at once, we don't need to delay it until a few years later." ”

Therefore, the key to this expedition was a naval battle with the main Spanish fleet, in which the Ming army not only had to win, but also to capture the Spanish warships rather than simply destroy them, and more importantly, to prevent the Spanish ships from escaping; In this operation, there will be no large warships to attract firepower, creating an opportunity for the Ming army's small warships to attack progressively; As for Deng Ming, the commander of the Ming army, he had no experience in naval warfare.