Last year, the two largest Ming troops in the southeast achieved victory over the local Qing army on the battlefields of Zhejiang and Fujian respectively. Although under Hong Chengchou's planning, the Ming army in Zhejiang gained less than the momentum it caused, and the Ming army in Fujian even retreated to Zhangzhou and could not continue to put pressure on Quanzhou. However, the threats of these two Ming troops still exist and they must be resolved as soon as possible.

The sudden change in the war situation in the southeast stems from Chen Wen's powerful offensive in southwestern Zhejiang. Without Chen Wen, the Zhejiang Army that aided Fujian would not have been able to settle down and siege Zhangzhou, and the defenders of Zhangzhou would not have surrendered on their own because they could not see the hope of rescue.

This is a long-standing view of Hong Chengchou. After Chen Jin's death, it became a consensus among the Qing court. Of course, the generals did not understand Hong Chengchou's resounding opening remarks.

However, Chen Wen had been fighting against the Qing Dynasty in Zhejiang for nearly three years. He was able to defeat Li Rong, the deputy general of the Thunder Camp of Tibiao for the first time. He was also the powerful general who served Tian Xiong under Huang Degong's tent. He was not a mediocre person. In the days that followed, the governor of Zhejiang and Fujian, Chen Jin, died, the general general of Jinhua, Ma Jinbao, was captured and killed, and the three deputy generals of Quzhou, Chuzhou and Fujian Jianning Prefecture, and Zhang Guoxun, the deputy general of the Central Army of the Super Biao Camp, were captured one after another, and even suffered a crushing defeat in the field battle of tens of thousands of people in Fubiao Camp. In just over two years, the Qing Dynasty had already wiped out more than 20,000 soldiers in Zhejiang by Chen Wen, and the Eight Banners of Hangzhou, which had always been the support of Mount Tai, were blocked by a small fortress in Anhua Town twice in a row...

Such a difficult opponent has been rare since the Qing army entered the pass, and it has also caused chaos in important areas in the southeast, which is of great importance and is definitely the target that needs to be wiped out first.

Among all the people here, Liu Guangbi and Wang Zhigang had personally participated in the Battle of Shentangyuan, while Yang Jie went to Jiangshan County twice as reinforcements for the Supervisor Battalion. These three people knew much better than others about the strong combat effectiveness of the Zhejiang Ming army, so naturally they did not dare to underestimate them. Even the others here were photographed by Chen Wen's reputation or due to the face of Hong Chengchou, Liu Guangbi and others. No one dared to make any crazy words for a while, and they only stared at Hong Chengchou, wanting to know what good strategies the old supervisor and the old manager had come up with to deal with Chen Wen.

"The rebel Chen Wen rebelled in southwestern Zhejiang for a year. The entire Jinhua area and Quzhou were mostly occupied. However, most of its troops were rioters in Jinhua. The rebel Chen Wen used the land to win over the rioters in order to resist our Qing Dynasty. The land they allocated was mostly in Jinhua..."

"Jinhua Mansion is the foundation of the rebel Chen Wen. However, Yanzhou and Taizhou are not conducive to the large-scale troops' attack. Wenzhou can only threaten Chuzhou. Shaoxing entered Jinhua and had a strong fortress to defend it. Therefore, after the bandits occupied Jinhua, they always used troops to Quzhou, which was crowded with heavy troops, and the official army mostly fought against it in Quzhou."

What Hong Chengchou said was the fact and reason for Chen Wen and Chen Jin's competition for strategic initiative in southwestern Zhejiang last year. Using troops on multiple lines was a taboo in military strategists, so Chen Wen used terrain to curb Anhua Town with a bastion, and then he could go westward to compete with Chen Jin for Quzhou, as well as the access to Jiangxi, Fujian and Jiangnan.

All of us here are old military affairs. Even generals like Li Benshen who have just been transferred from the north know some of the inside stories, and Hong Chengchou's words naturally would not be just these.

"The military strategy says: the superior army attacks the plan, secondly attacks the diplomatic army, secondly attacks the troops, and attacks the cities below. Our Qing Dynasty is rich in all the seas, and the rebel Chen Wen is only in the three palaces. My many plans last year have made Zheng Ni in southern Fujian unable to echo Chen Ni. However, the bandits are sharp and few, which is conducive to quick battles; the officers and soldiers are powerful, slow but not fast. Therefore, during this campaign, I have agreed with General Liu Shuai, General Liu Shuai of Pingnan, General Tian Shuai of Zhejiang, and General Ma Shuai of Taizhou, to advance in different directions. If the enemy is small, they will surround and annihilate them step by step. If the bandits advance, they will retreat. If the bandits retreat, they will advance again. Without my order, no one can fight with them in the field, so that the bandits will be exhausted and lose the other."

Once upon a time, the equal amount of Qing army could no longer fight with the Ming army in the wild, and even in the southeast Zhejiang, Hong Chengchou felt extremely unimaginable. However, the Eight Banners of Manchu and Mongolia were temporarily unable to move south, and Jin Li was severely punished by the Qing court for advocating the improvement of the Green Camp troops. There were few ways to leave it to Hong Chengchou.

However, for Hong Chengchou, war is not just about destroying the enemy in field battles. It is said that first, be invincible, and wait for the enemy to be able to win; invincible, and victory lies in yourself. Strengthening oneself, weakening the opponent, and luring the opponent to make mistakes before exploiting it is the core of strategy. Since there is no confidence in winning the field battles, try to weaken the power of the Ming army first, and then breaking the enemy when it is exhausted.

If Chen Wen refused to take advantage of his wishes, the Qing army's encirclement and suppression forces were far better than before, and even when besieging Zhoushan, it would be very inferior. It would be enough to eat a little bit. After all, the territory of the Ming army was only three prefectures, and it would not take long to force Chen Wen to death. As for giving up the fundamentals and wandering around, it would be only a way to defeat, which was just delaying some time.

"The western front is divided into two routes according to the deployment of defense troops. Through Biao Zuo Town, Jiangxi Lubiao, Jiujiang Green Camp, Huizhou Green Camp, Henan Fubiao from Guangxin Prefecture and Yushan County to Changshan east; Fujian Lubiao, left and right sides, three units from Xianxia Pass to Jiangshan north. Before completing the encirclement in Quzhou, the main force of the bandits is not allowed to fight; after completing the encirclement, the camp will be firmly isolated and the inside and outside must be isolated."

"You guys, the imperial court has dispatched troops from four provinces to encircle and suppress the enemy, but there are only 60,000 soldiers. This year, it is necessary to wipe out the Zhejiang bandits."

"The last general will obey the order!"

Hong Chengchou was old and was also busy with boats and trains a few days and nights ago, so he didn't want to say too much. A loud noise of armor and film collision, the generals stood up to salute, and then the lower-level Qing generals surrendered, and those who were left were only the admirals and generals, because Hong Chengchou still had some details to explain them clearly.

At first glance, all the generals present were Han people. Although some of them were from the Eight Banners of the Han Dynasty, their awe of him was not inferior to others. I don’t think they were instructed by the Manchus as they were when the governor of Jiangnan in the early years of Shunzhi.

In fact, this time, the Manchu and Mongolian Eight Banners did not follow the southwards, and Hong Chengchou was mixed with joy and sorrow. What was worried was that the Eight Banners of the Han army and the Green Camp were afraid of losing their battles with the Ming army. What was happy was that he could escape from the political whirlpool of the Qing Dynasty's powerful struggle that was involved in due to Tan Tai's incident, and there was no need to worry that the Eight Banners of the Manchus who were dissatisfied with him would be constrained.

In Beijing's comments, Hong Chengchou had already explained to Shunzhi that the southeast is different from the southwest. Before entering Huguang, Sichuan and Guangxi, the Ming army had accumulated in Yunnan and Guizhou for several years. It was quite strong and should be prepared for a long-term battle.

Although the Ming army in the Southeast, Chen Wen and Zheng Chenggong did not join forces, their responses had already made the Qing army in the Southeast unable to move and entered the stage of differentiation and encroachment. Among the two, they should first pacify Chen Wen and then destroy Zheng Chenggong, and they should be wiped out as soon as possible to avoid threatening the wealthy areas of Hangzhou, Jiahu and Susongchang Town. However, Chen Wen's army was very sharp and the Green Camp in the Southeast was defeated repeatedly. At present, they could only avoid the field battles that the Ming army was more eager for, and it was best to erode the Ming army's occupied areas little by little.

This is a helpless move, but although it consumes much time, effort and resources for steady use of troops is much more time-consuming and labor-consuming than field battles, it is also more stable. It is more appropriate for the Qing army in the Southeast to steadily use its military strength advantages and multi-line surround strategies to squeeze the Ming army into a blind spot, which is better than directly confronting the field battles with them to bet on national destiny.

Moreover, his stable strategy is not without the trump card used to accelerate the decline of the Ming army's strength and achieve the complete annihilation of the Ming army.

The retired generals had too low level and their power was quite limited, so Hong Chengchou was naturally unwilling to say much to them. Among the remaining generals, Hong Chengchou decided to use Li Benshen as the full commander of the besieged city, and also explained the order of the generals' progress and tasks in it.

"Old lord, the rebel Chen Wen is currently attacking Yanzhou Prefecture. Although the local defenders have been resting for a year, they are bound to be unable to resist the bandits' attacks. Should we let the surrounding governments send troops to share the downward pressure?"

The speaker was Hu Maozhen, who had been in Huizhou for a long time. His generals and school soldiers had many industries in Huizhou, while Yanzhou was adjacent to Huizhou. If the soldiers of the lieutenant generals and school soldiers knew that their wives and children were not far from the Ming army, but there were not many Qing troops in the local area, it would probably lead to unstable morale.
Chapter completed!