Yongli Ming Dynasty

Chapter 168 Strategy
At this time, the commander of the Tengxiang Army had already been decided, but Jiao Lian and Li Mingzhong looked nervous.
Jiao Lian and the others were worried, but after waiting for a while, the Regent did not mention the matter at all, as if it was really just because all the soldiers in Tengxiang's army were surrendered soldiers, and in order to prevent those surrendered soldiers from causing trouble, they sent the military supervisor among them.
After His Royal Highness the Regent arranged the cabinet ministers and made some arrangements for the remaining captured items, he directly discussed the next matter.
Seeing this, the two of them suddenly felt relieved. At this moment, they could no longer care about the affairs of the Tengxiang Army.
They had just expanded their army by 10,000 men half a month ago. Now they had not even completely absorbed the Guangdong troops, and they did not care too much about the thousands of surrendered soldiers.

In comparison, the matter of the military supervisor still had a greater impact on them. If they had a choice, they would still prefer to just obey His Highness' orders directly as they do now.
Zhu Lang glanced at the ministers in the room and continued speaking.

"Although the court has won a great victory, the battle is not over yet. Let's discuss the court's next strategy."

Everyone in the hall looked serious when they heard what His Royal Highness the Regent said. Zhu Lang gestured to Li Chengzhi on the side, and Li Chengzhi walked into the hall and said,

"After this battle, the main force of the Qing invaders entering Guangdong was completely wiped out by the imperial court. According to the information obtained by the Jinyiwei during the night's interrogation, the Qing invaders now only have soldiers stationed in a few large cities such as Huizhou, Heyuan, and Chaozhou. And their number is very small. Even in Huizhou, there are only 300 soldiers."

"The largest enemy force in Chaozhou and Huizhou is the 3,000 troops of Li Shilian stationed on the Chaozhou-Huizhou border. According to the Qing invaders, these 3,000 troops are in a disorganized state and do not seem to be very strong."

"I know this Li Shilian. Last year, Li Shilian petitioned the late emperor to recruit soldiers on the grounds that Jiangxi Province was in turmoil. At that time, the late emperor wanted to flee to Jiangxi, so the late emperor ordered him to recruit soldiers on the border between Guangdong and Jiangxi."

"That's probably how he got these 3,000 men. They have only been in the army for a year and have never been in battle. They are probably first-rate local soldiers and their fighting power is probably not strong."

Su Guansheng heard this, but he spoke softly, and Li Chengzhi was also slightly surprised. After having someone record what Su Guansheng said, he continued to speak.

"According to Tong Yangjia, Li Chengdong and others, Li Chengdong's troops were originally stationed in Tingzhou Prefecture, and Tong Yangjia's troops were stationed in Yanping Prefecture. After the Qing invaders entered Fujian, Zheng Zhilong recalled all his troops. Now Zheng Zhilong's troops are all gathered in Zhangzhou and Quanzhou Prefectures, while the Tartar Beile Bolo, the commander of the Qing invaders' attack on Fujian, is entrenched in Fuzhou."

"After the Qing invaders captured the prefectures in northern Fujian, they stationed troops in Tingzhou, Yanping, and Fuzhou, surrounding Zheng Zhilong in Zhangzhou and Quanzhou. The previous mission of the Tong and Li forces was to monitor and control Zheng Zhilong's forces from Tingzhou and Yanping."

"But they later received a military order from the Tartar Beile Bolo, ordering the two to organize their troops and start attacking Guangdong Province. According to Tong Yangjia's account, Zheng Zhilong had already sent people to Fuzhou to contact Bolo."

"It's just that Bolo was in charge of this matter personally, and Tong Yangjia didn't know the details, but Zheng Zhilong must have surrendered without a doubt, otherwise Bolo wouldn't have asked the two to relax their surveillance of Zheng Zhilong's troops and start preparing to attack Guangdong instead."

Everyone in the field fell into deep thought after hearing this, even Ma Bao. Previously, he was just a general in Li Chengdong's army, and all he knew were some fragmentary information, plus his own speculation, which was far less comprehensive than the information he got from interrogating Tong Yangjia at this time.
Zhu Lang looked at the silent crowd below and spoke softly
"This is the situation in Fujian and Guangdong now. What do you think the court should do at this time?"

Chen Zizhuang thought for a moment and then said

"What about Ganzhou? What are the movements of the Qing troops in Gan Province?"

Zhu Lang was also stunned when he heard this, and looked at Li Chengzhi below, and Li Chengzhi also spoke

"According to Tong Yangjia, the Qing army was originally planning to attack from both Fujian and Jiangxi. However, because the traitors in Chaozhou and Huizhou surrendered to the Qing, the Qing army in Fujian Province quickly captured the two prefectures. The Qing army in Jiangxi Province may have just received the news from Bolo."

"According to the secret report from the Jinyiwei, there are no signs of a large army moving out from Ganzhou at this time."

After hearing this, Chen Zizhuang thought for a moment and then spoke directly, "The Qing invaders will win quickly and lose quickly. The Qing invaders in the rear must not have received the news yet. I think we should seek stability as well as speed."

"At this time, the troops were divided into two groups. One group went to Nanxiong Meiguan to guard the pass into Guangdong and guard against the enemy from Ganzhou. This is for the sake of stability."

"On the other hand, we should quickly send a large army to recover all the lost territory of Chaozhou and Huizhou before the Qing invaders react, and push the battle line to the border of Fujian and Guangdong, so as not to give the Qing invaders a chance to increase their troops."

The ministers below all nodded slightly when they heard this. The Qing army was now short of troops in Chaozhou and Huizhou. As long as the imperial army arrived, the two prefectures and counties would probably surrender immediately. Now it was time to take back Chaozhou and Huizhou quickly while the Qing army had no time to send more troops.

But Zhu Lang above had a somewhat dissatisfied look on his face and said

"What about Fujian Province?"

Zhu Lang saw the stunned expressions on the faces of the ministers below, and continued
"Li Chengdong and Tong Yangjia were previously stationed on the border of Fujian Province. Now that they have been wiped out, the Qing invaders are already short of troops on the border of Fujian and Guangdong. If the news of Tong Yangjia and others' defeat spreads back, Fujian Province and Zhangzhou and Quanzhou will surely be shaken. Can the court take the opportunity to invade Fujian Province and take control of Zhangzhou and Quanzhou?" A stern look flashed across Zhu Lang's face.

Everyone reacted after hearing what His Highness the Regent said, but then Lu Daqi, Chen Zizhuang and others looked at each other in bewilderment. His Highness was clearly greedy. He had annihilated a part of the Qing army, so he wanted to take the opportunity to take back part of Fujian Province.
Chen Zizhuang and Lu Daqi and others looked at each other, and then said softly
"The destruction of Tong Yangjia's army must have greatly shocked the Qing invaders in Fujian Province. However, the Qing invaders lost this army, but gained Zheng Zhilong's army. Now Zheng Zhilong has surrendered to the Qing Dynasty. Zheng Zhilong has tens of thousands of troops stationed in Zhangzhou and Quanzhou. I'm afraid... I'm afraid the court may not be able to take advantage of the opportunity."

Zhu Lang heard this, but his expression remained unchanged, and he continued
"The imperial court had previously sent Zhang Tongchang to Fujian. Although Zheng Zhilong surrendered to the Qing, he had hundreds of thousands of followers, so it was impossible for all of them to surrender with him."

"Zhang Tongchang's entry into Fujian should have won over a group of military officers loyal to the imperial court. As long as the imperial army enters Fujian Province at this time, with the cooperation of these military officers, the imperial court should be able to take the opportunity to recover part of Fujian Province and also bring these military officers back to the imperial court."

"Even if we can't take over Zhangzhou and Quanzhou, it would be good if we can take back Zhangzhou and push the front line into Fujian Province."

Zhu Lang had a determined look on his face, and the ministers below were not moved at all. The Regent, who still wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to advance, was also a little stunned for a moment.
After a long time, Chen Zizhuang, the Minister of War, finally spoke up.

"May I ask Your Highness, is there any news about Zhang Tongchang now?"

Zhu Lang's expression froze for a moment, and then he spoke

"The two places are now isolated from each other by war, and the court has not yet received any information from Zhang Tongchang."

After Zhu Lang finished speaking, all the ministers fell silent, looking at His Highness the Regent above them, thinking that His Highness was really having some crazy ideas.

The ministers' meaning is also very clear. The court has no news now. So where is your so-called internal and external cooperation?

(End of this chapter)