Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1359 Journey to Jiangxi ([-])

Guo Shi'an quickly led everyone to live in his mansion temporarily.

It was a solid small building built of bricks and stones. In fact, there was no place to build a spacious and bright house in the cramped fortress of Madang Fortress. The regulations of Guo Shian's Madang Defense Mission were already quite large. That’s right, if you want to see bright and elegant buildings, you have to go to Nanchang to see how Guo Sheng Guo’s General Zhi and Jiangxi Jiedu Envoy’s Mansion are.

"A few of you are old buddies of my Dashun for many years, so I won't be pretentious, just speak up when I have something to say, rough people don't know how to be polite, please bear with me." Guo Shi'an sat down on the main seat , slightly suppressed the smile on his face, and said in a deep voice: "Wu Sangui of the Tartar court gathered 8 or [-] people to attack Chongqing a few days ago. Almost all of them have gone to the south now..."

Guo Puxia, Sun Wu, Liu Fubo, Tian Xing and other young officers from the army, navy and intelligence department sat quietly in the chairs and listened quietly to Guo Shi'an relaying the extremely rare news about Xiying and Wu Sangui's Department of the Qing Army in Sichuan.It turned out that the Qing government negotiated peace with the major forces in the south, but they did not mention the Xiying issue. Instead, they kept urging Wu Sangui to lead his troops to destroy this "rogue armed force", seemingly with the intention of weakening each other.

Wu Sangui has been in Sichuan for so long. After swallowing part of the Shaanxi-Gansu Green Battalion, he has an army of [-] in his hand, and he is relatively capable of fighting. Let's talk about it again.As a result, the Qing court transferred part of the Green Battalion and the Eight Banners of Manchuria and Mongolia from Shaanxi, Gansu, and the Eight Banners of Manchuria to supervise the battle in Sichuan. Wu Sangui had no choice but to pretend to send troops to fight. The ability is not bad, but the gap with the old thief Wu is too big. In the end, he lost the most affluent part of the territory of Chongqing Prefecture under his rule, and completely escaped into the valleys of southern Sichuan and northern Guizhou, playing with the local chieftain Yes—according to the news from He Zhen, who once fought against the Qing army with Xiying, Xiying has the intention of fleeing into the hinterland of Guizhou and spying on Yunnan and Guangxi. Surrender to Nanming, this is all uncertain.

After Wu Sangui invaded Chongqing Mansion, he basically confronted Dashun directly.Although He Zhen who was stationed there has never been a direct descendant (he was even forced to surrender to the Qing Dynasty, and returned after a thousand miles of fighting, but in the eyes of many people it seems to be a "black spot"), but after all, he is a member of the Dashun Zuoying Economic Management Department. Wu, because of this Shun Ting also became nervous. Although Wu Sangui has no sign of a large-scale attack yet, he must guard against it, so now the whole army of Dashun Zuoying has been mobilized to prepare for the attack of old thief Wu.

As for the other battalions of the Shun Army, apart from the Youying (Yuan Zongdi Division) and Qianying (Gao Yigong Division) that confronted the Qing Army on the front line, the Middle and Back Camps led by Emperor Dashun Li Guo personally More than [-] people have successfully reclaimed wasteland in Hunan and Jiangxi, and their lives are relatively comfortable, and most of the local economic and financial power is controlled by them. The other three hills are now basically in an obvious subordinate position. Li Guo's dominance was recognized at the beginning, but this will be the simultaneous dominance of righteousness and economic and military strength. For the first time, Li Guo has the capital to be proud of the old men under Li Zicheng's command.

In addition, as the situation in Nanming deteriorated day by day in recent years, many generals of the Shun army who had descended to the Ming Dynasty, such as Hao Yaoqi, Wang Jincai, etc., also returned to Dashun to ask for acceptance.These veterans who have been on the battlefield for many years brought more than [-] troops to the Ming Dynasty. Unfortunately, they have not been trusted by the Southern Ming court for so many years. The number of people lost is simply incomprehensible. At present, this group of people only has a staff of tens of thousands of people left, which is completely different from that in the past.Therefore, in the past few years, these people have jumped to Dashun's side one by one, and abducted a lot of land along the way, which made the Nanming court angry and anxious, and this was the most direct reason for the border conflict between the two sides a while ago.

After such a detailed count, among the various forces in the south, the most nourishing life is actually Dashun-provided that they cannot be involved in the "meat grinder" on the front line in Hubei-this group of people has been doing a lot of things in recent years. The "revisionism" that Shao Shude once pointed out not only reduced the number of weak cannon fodder soldiers to reclaim wasteland in the hinterland of Hunan and Jiangxi, but also gradually united the gentry and recruited scholars. The local economy has recovered and the political environment has also greatly improved. The old people who have come to this day feel that the small group of Shunjun seems to have hope of sustaining again.

Of course, because he was born as a "rogue" in the eyes of the people at the time, it is hard to say how effective the various changes made by the Dashun court in recent years will be.For example, they have conducted two scientific expeditions in the controlled area, but so far there are very few applicants. Except for some eager small and medium-sized landlords, most of the other gentry are still holding a wait-and-see attitude.This is probably due to the bad influence of policies such as robbing big households, eating big households, and equalizing land when the Shun army first arrived in Huguang, and also because these gentry were not very optimistic about the future of Dashun, for fear that they would be hired and become officials. In the end, Dashun was destroyed, and he became an official of the puppet dynasty, which was not worth the loss—but in any case, the external and internal environment of the Shun Dynasty had greatly improved compared with the precarious state ten years ago. Hard facts.

"We, Dashun, have to make corresponding preparations for the defeat of Xiying. This time, the generals came at the right time. If you don't come, we have to send someone to deliver a message. The situation is getting tense. I hope your country can see the cooperation for many years." For the sake of this, another batch of ordnance will be provided. Well, mainly gun barrels, spearheads, leather armor, bow strings, feather arrows, and cannon barrels. If there is a lot of gunpowder and lead, it is best to send a batch. The war may break out at any time , our army has to make complete preparations in advance." Guo Shi'an said at this time, probably not what he meant, but the meaning of the Dashun court, but it will be said through his mouth.

After everyone on the east bank heard this, Sun Wu, who was nominally the leader of the team, cleared his throat and said, "General Guo, since you are so frank, then I will open the window and speak frankly. Standing on the standpoint of our government I do not want wars between your country and the Qing and Ming countries, because this will not only cause a large number of people to be displaced and tossed between ravines, but also destroy the development of trade and cause damage to our commercial interests. This is We cannot accept it. Therefore, we hope that you can restrain your behavior and stop attacking other forces without authorization to expand your territory. This is a very dangerous move, because you will be attacked by angry parties at any time. I think you are very clear about the consequences, and it is not easy to get assistance from us. Of course, if your country is attacked first by others, that is another matter..."

After saying this, Captain Sun Wu changed the subject again and said: "According to the available intelligence, the Qing side may break the ceasefire agreement and launch an attack first. This is what we are worried about. When the situation is tense, I hope that your country can strengthen its restraint and stop arbitrarily engaging in frictions with Daming, Xiying and other forces, and even if Wu Sangui's offensive is not strong, your country had better not react too violently, so as not to be self-defeating."

After hearing this, Guo Shi'an laughed, and said: "Don't worry, everyone. After fighting for so many years, we can still tell which is more important. The old thief Wu is self-respecting and has the heart of separatism. As long as he is not blind It can be seen, hehe, Sichuan is rich and prosperous, who would be willing to come out of Sichuan to beat life and death after living in this gentle town for a long time. Don't worry, as long as the old thief Wu doesn't commit crimes, He Zhen will be able to hold on. No matter how bad Zuoying is, 3 to [-] people can be allocated to support him, lest he be taken over by the old thief Wu."

"Wang Zamao of Ganzhou, Xiying in Guizhou, and the Ming army in Guangdong and Guangxi, I hope you don't mess around at this time. No matter how bad they are, they can always pull out 20 troops. It is not a problem to contain your 8 to [-] elites. And Huguang , If the Jiangxi front line is short of these [-] or [-] people, the force will be very tense." Sun Wu asked again pressingly.

"I don't care about this matter. The court has the final say. Why don't you go to Changsha and have a good talk with the princes of the court. We old men just follow the military orders, how can we control so much..." Guo Shi'an Instead of answering Sun Wu's question, he cunningly dumped the burden on Li Guo.

Of course the people on the east bank could understand what he meant, so Sun Wu immediately said seriously: "Do you have any action? Guo Shi'an, I solemnly advise you, if you want to make some money before the Qing army attacks I advise you not to worry about it. Nanming is not going to collapse in a short while, and Wang Zamao and Li Chengdong are not something you can deal with in a short time. Taking action at this time will destroy the hard-won stability. At that time, it will be you Dashun who will be attacked from both sides, so you have to think about it clearly. Besides, did the last time pass so easily? Conflict, expansion of the territory, which side do you think they will stand in once the war with the Qing Dynasty comes? They have already played "borrow captives and suppress thieves" once, do you think they can't play a second time? General Guo, don't do it My mistake, this is playing with fire, very dangerous!"

Guo Shi'an was speechless and didn't know how to answer.It is said that Dashun really needs a large rear like Hunan, which can be used as a strategic depth, and at the same time, the land is fertile enough to provide a large amount of food, grass and soldiers, which will benefit the protracted tug-of-war between the Huguang front line and the Qing army.It's a pity that the Eastern Dynasty didn't agree with their actions of attacking Nanming and annexing the land. They only wanted to maintain the status quo and resist the Tartar court in the north. For this reason, they even did not hesitate to speak harshly and stop them many times. This is difficult. !

When I was in Nanchang a few days ago, my benefactor, the general of the Zhongying System, and Jiangxi Jiedu envoy Guo Sheng, had a military meeting and asked him to strengthen his guard. The sergeants practiced day and night to prevent being captured by the Qing army. take advantage of.The reason is that Dashun intends to instigate rebellion through some old relationships and win over Wang Zamao of Ganzhou, so that he will dedicate this important town in Jiangxi and the main road to Guangdong to the Dashun court. At the same time, Xu Qi still led the old ministry and moved to the prosperous eastern Guangdong.It's just that Wang Zamao was worried that someone in the Dashun court would turn over old accounts, so he rejected the solicitation here.

Marshal Guo originally wanted to continue persuasion, but now that Guo Shi'an heard what everyone in the Eastern Dynasty said, he immediately felt that this matter was a bit of an eyesore. If Wang Zamao really agreed, then Dashun would accept it. Well, or not to accept it?If he accepts it, then the relationship with Nanming is bound to be completely broken. After all, no one is a fool. Dashun has done this repeatedly, and his intention to grab the territory is too obvious.As long as Nanming didn't want to wait for death, he would definitely take countermeasures. Whether it was looking for the people from the East Bank or the Qing army, in short, they must kill Dashun. Guangdong, Fujian, Yunnan, Guizhou and other places will also be captured, so it is better to fight to the death and survive.

What's more, there are too many places where Dashun relies on the Eastern Dynasty. Let's not talk about the strength of the 2 horses of Liu Guochang and Liu Shijun who have withdrawn from there. Over the past ten years, they have given Dashun a lot of equipment to help Dashun repair at the cost price every year. Sometimes when the war is urgent, they will donate a large number of ordnance such as spear points, leather armor, sabers, and muskets. Drive directly into the Yangtze River to cut off the north-south traffic of the Qing army - this move is particularly important. If it weren't for the poor traffic on the Yangtze River, which caused Kong Youde's reinforcements to be delayed, how could the tens of thousands of field groups of Geng Zhongming's troops in Nanchang be wiped out? ——Thus, Dashun can't afford Dongchao now, otherwise it will be a chicken-and-egg situation.Thinking of this, Guo Shi'an secretly sighed, it's not easy to survive in the cracks of his mother, and the gods of all Bodhisattvas have to worship, this time the action of persuading Wang Zamao to surrender probably has to be terminated again, so that People are very sorry.

After talking with Guo Shi'an and others for a while, seeing that the master was not in a good mood, Sun Wu and others planned to get up and leave.Before leaving, they also sent a gift list, which was a large amount of ordnance and military supplies, and the East Coast people also marked it. This is the dividend from Chuangji Investment Company last year, and the East Coast people bought it for military supplies on their own initiative. The supplies arrived in Madang Town, hoping to help the Shun Army, which made Guo Shi'an feel a little better.

Later, Sun Wu, on behalf of the East Bank government, requested to lead the mission to Changsha to meet Li Guo, the Emperor of Dashun, to submit a letter of credence written by Quansheng, the leader of the Eastern Dynasty, and to discuss the relationship between the two countries. some other cooperation.Guo Shian agreed to this point, but he proposed to let them go to Nanchang for a short stay first, and then wait for the response from Changsha before starting. This is reasonable, people have their own rules, so Sun Wu also agreed And this time he will lead the team himself.

In addition, people from the east coast also proposed that Jiangxi should allow some former Jiangxi nationals who have emigrated to the east coast for many years to return to their hometowns to find relatives and provide necessary assistance so that they can smoothly accept relatives and friends from their hometowns to go to the east coast for reunion.Guo Shi'an felt a bit embarrassed about this point and couldn't make a decision. He could only say that he would go to Nanchang to meet with Guo Sheng Guo Dashuai to make a decision.Ever since, Captain Sun Wu appointed a young Jiangxi cadre named Min Honggui to take a few entourages to Nanchang and ask Guo Sheng to approve the matter-this should not be difficult, considering the large amount of military aid , Guo Sheng should not make things difficult.

After finishing all this, everyone on the east bank returned to the "Baikal" armed transport ship moored by the pier. While delivering supplies to the Shun Army, they packed their luggage and prepared to go overland to Nanchang.

On January 1664, 1, when Sun Wu and others were waiting impatiently, Guo Shi'an, the defender of Madang, sent his pro-military cavalry team of about 28 riders to Matou, preparing to escort the diplomatic missions of the Eastern Republic to the Dalai Lama. Shun capital Changsha.Sun Wu and the others looked at the armored cavalry on the east bank of the river and riding on the black water horses that had been in the past, nodded heavily, and then called the entourage to bring their luggage, turn over and ride on the horses, shouting Headed towards Nanchang City - this time, I will not be able to return for about half a year.

(End of this chapter)