Strategy for the Revitalization of the Late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 206: Two-pronged Attack
When the Palace Army and the Beijing Camp were heading to Huguang one after another, the generals Chen Fu and Gao Yigong, who were stationed in southern Sichuan, Chongqing and other places, also immediately set off for Yuezhou Prefecture to meet the emperor after arranging their military affairs, and also to participate in the military meeting of this "Northern Expedition".

This was the first strategic offensive of the Ming Dynasty since Zhu Cilang inherited the throne. It was of great significance. Although it was not actually a full-scale Northern Expedition, the entire army attached great importance to it in order to achieve the dual strategic goals of recovering Shaanxi and conducting large-scale military training.

By early March, as generals from all over the country and major officials from the Huguang Governor-General's Office gathered in Yuezhou, Zhu Cilang immediately issued an order to convene a military meeting on the "Northern Expedition" in the temporary palace.

"Your Majesty, after the New Year, the Palace Army, the Capital Camp, the Left Garrison, the Right Garrison, the Loyalty Camp, and other units began mobilizing one after another based on their training progress. Since the beginning of spring, the advance troops of the Loyalty Camp have already entered the positions of Xiangyang and Yunyang Prefectures. The current deployment of the remaining units is as follows."

In the combat command room of the Five Military Commanders' Office in a side hall of the temporary palace in Yuezhou City, Zhu Cilang, Chang Denggui, Chen Fu, Lin Changfeng, Tian Jianxiu, Li Guo, Gao Yigong, Ma Shixiu, Hao Yongzhong, Liu Tichun and other main generals gathered around a long table. The person in charge of presiding over this combat meeting was still Zhu Cilang's trusted general, the admiral of the central army in front of the palace - Chang Denggui.

Chen Fu has temporarily withdrawn from the military meetings of the Five Military Commandery because he led a large army into southern Sichuan, and together with Gao Yigong monitored Li Dingguo and Liu Wenxiu, and as the commander-in-chief of the three armies, he was responsible for coordinating the northern attack on Baoning and all major and minor military affairs in Hanzhong.

Chang Denggui was explaining with a bamboo stick in his hand. He first placed the stick on the map, pointing to the location of Baoning Prefecture in northern Sichuan, then circled upwards towards Hanzhong, and finally said slowly:

"According to military intelligence reported by the Jinyiwei spies in Shaanxi and Gansu and Admiral Chen, the Qing troops stationed in Shaanxi and Gansu are mainly composed of three forces. The strongest of these is the Pingxi Clan under Wu Sangui, whose backbone is composed of the original elite troops of the Guanning Army.

Over the years, Wu Sangui has taken the opportunity of suppressing rebellions and bandits to continuously replenish and expand his troops and conduct training day and night. His current direct troops are probably far more than 20,000. After repelling Ding Guodong's army not long ago, his strength has been further enhanced.

Secondly, there is the Shaanxi-Gansu Eight Banners Army led by Yue Le, which includes the Xi'an garrison Eight Banners Army of the Aljin tribe, and the Han Eight Banners led by Li Guohan. After the Qing court's supplementary deployment, the number of troops may be around 7,000, and the strength is quite powerful. Wu Sangui's troops can hardly match it.

Furthermore, the Green Camp troops of Shaanxi and Gansu should not be underestimated, especially the 3,000-man battalion commanded by Meng Qiaofang, which was formed entirely of the elite troops drawn from Shaanxi and Gansu by the Qing government. As for the remaining 20,000 to 30,000 Shaanxi and Gansu Green Camp soldiers after the Qing government had withdrawn all the elite troops, they would still be a formidable force if they were to defend the city.

After hearing this, Zhu Cilang nodded and then asked:
"How is the situation of the rebel army in Shaanxi and Gansu?"

Chang Denggui paused, then immediately raised the bamboo stick in his hand and pointed directly at the location of Weiyuan City on the map, saying:
Ding Guodong has already withdrawn his troops to Weiyuan City. The Qing army is recruiting troops and raising funds and food, apparently intending to continue the attack. Judging from the military intelligence reported by the Jinyiwei, Yue Le and Wu Sangui are not actually leading a single force. They are likely to split up and attack the rebels' heartland.

However, now that the Qing court was in decline, the Mongolian tribes in the north and west had been making repeated attacks, entering the Great Wall to plunder the food and property of the Han Eight Banners who had enclosed their lands. With the surge in the number of refugees, rebel armies rose up in various places. Although they were not a force to be reckoned with, they had tied down a large number of the garrisoned Green Camp troops. Meng Qiaofang was now completely overwhelmed.

If the intelligence is true, the Shaanxi-Gansu Qing army led by Yue Le, Meng Qiaofang, and Wu Sangui could actually mobilize less than 30,000 troops. The core force is still Wu Sangui's troops. Yue Le and Meng Qiaofang's troops are deployed in various places, and they also have to monitor Wu Sangui's troops stationed in Hanzhong and northern Sichuan, so they are completely unable to spare any manpower.

After Chang Denggui finished introducing the basic enemy situation in Shaanxi and Gansu, he stopped and the generals in the hall started discussing. Some of them actually already knew the enemy situation in Shaanxi and Gansu, but there were always some omissions, which were finally completed now.

After these generals had almost finished their discussion, Zhu Cilang immediately signaled Gao Yigong with his eyes, asking him to try to speak at the military meeting. This was one of his ways to train his generals and show that he valued them.

Gao Yigong immediately took the bamboo stick from Chang Denggui. He and Chen Fu were jointly responsible for the battle zones of northern Sichuan and Hanzhong, and no one was more familiar with them than Chen Fu. Li Dingguo and Liu Wenxiu were currently only subordinates of the Western Route Army.

"Wu Sangui's troops are currently divided into three major groups. One group is led by him personally, with about 3,000 troops, mainly cavalry. They are in Gongchang Prefecture, where they defeated Ding Guodong's main force and are preparing to advance westward.
Another force of nearly 10,000 soldiers was stationed in Hanzhong, responsible for resisting attacks from southern Sichuan, and also to support the garrison in Baoning Prefecture when necessary;

The third division, numbering approximately 8,000 soldiers and horses, including 1,000 cavalry, was led by his general Wu Guogui and stationed in Baoning Prefecture in northern Sichuan. This was the only major force deployed by the Qing army in Sichuan, likely to prevent our army from making a detour and launching a surprise attack on Hanzhong.

After Gao Yigong finished speaking, Li Guo immediately bowed to Zhu Cilang and reported the military intelligence he had gathered in Xiangyang, Nanyang and other places:
"Your Majesty, according to the reconnaissance of the Embroidered Uniform Guard and frontline scouts, the Qing court dispatched a Green Camp force of approximately 7,000 soldiers from other regions into Henan two months ago. After joining Gao Di's Green Camp troops stationed in Nanyang, the total number of Green Camp troops in southern Henan has reached approximately 40,000, half of whom are elite field troops.

I am basically certain that this force was transferred by the Qing army from Shaanxi and Gansu. Our army's actions over the past few months must have been discovered by the Qing army. The Qing army may transfer more troops from Shanxi in the future."

"The Qing court has probably been fooled. They must have thought that Your Majesty's main attack direction is Nanyang." Chen Fu smiled and then slowly said:

"Northern Sichuan is surrounded by mountains and ridges, making it difficult to transport food, fodder, and military equipment. The Qing government has a large number of troops stationed in Hanzhong. From any perspective, it is not suitable to be the main attack direction of our army. Your Majesty has also deployed decoy troops to launch feint attacks from Yunyang and Xiangyang. Dorgon will definitely be fooled.

If the Qing government does not send a heavy garrison from Xiangyang, Yunyang to Nanyang, such a vast area, our main force can easily bypass Nanyang and go to Shangnan, or threaten Xi'an, making it difficult for the Qing army in Shaanxi and Gansu to take care of each other, or directly attack Luoyang and penetrate into the heart of the Qing government."

Although Chen Fu had not participated in the military discussions of the Five Military Commandery for some time, his judgment and military acumen still far surpassed those of other generals. As soon as he opened his mouth, he talked about the core issues of military deployment.

You know, for a long time, Li Dingguo, leading tens of thousands of troops, was unable to make a breakthrough from northern Sichuan to Hanzhong. This forced Zhu Cilang to re-evaluate the strength of Wu Sangui's troops in Hanzhong, especially at this time, when the other side was far from intending to surrender.

After all, Wu Sangui now had over 20,000 troops under his command. Adding the Shaanxi-Gansu Green Camp, Chen Fu, and Gao Yigong together, it was possible to defeat the enemy without taking advantage of the terrain. Even after the Left Army of the Palace was fully staffed, it only had 20,000 soldiers.

"At that time, this general and the other troops of the Palace Army will go north to attack Nanyang, to contain the Qing army in Henan, and at the same time provide cover for the Eastern Army. We will ensure that the Qing army in Shaanxi and Gansu cannot react in advance, and the Qing army in Henan cannot rush to reinforce." Li Guo continued.

Now, with the troops of the Palace Army, the Left Town and the Right Town entering Huguang, the Yangtze River and Han River waterways are completely under the control of the Ming Navy. Li Guo no longer needs to deploy troops and guard his retreat. He can even send troops alone to attack Nanyang.

Of course, when the enemy is defending and we are attacking, the troops under Li Guo's command are not enough to achieve the strategic goals that Zhu Cilang needs to achieve. The Qing army has 40,000 troops in Henan and more than 20,000 in Nanyang. The Ming army must have more than 100,000 troops going north to truly scare Dorgon and force the other side to continue to transfer troops eastward from Shaanxi and Gansu.

After all, although Beijing has troops, distant water cannot quench immediate thirst!
After listening to the analysis of his generals, Zhu Cilang nodded with satisfaction. These military intelligences had been submitted by Zhou Shixian, Gao Yigong, Chen Fu and others before this meeting, and the generals present had also read them roughly. Now they were more focused on checking for omissions and filling in the gaps to avoid problems during the actual battle.

"Now, there are still thousands of Eight Banners soldiers stationed in Xi'an. The journey from Xiangyang to Nanyang is not smooth. If the Qing army defends the dangerous place, Nanyang will be very difficult to capture. On the contrary, Wu Sangui only needs a small number of troops to defend Hanzhong, or attack southern Sichuan from Baoning and attack Wei to save Zhao." Tian Jianxiu suddenly raised his hand.

"Wu Sangui is no longer willing to risk his life for the Qing court. He has even contacted Li Dingguo and Liu Wenxiu. He will never risk entering southern Sichuan again. Moreover, Sichuan has Admiral Chen and this general, as well as thousands of cavalry. If Wu Sangui really dares to come, he can't just leave." Gao Yigong said coldly after hearing this.

After Li Dingguo and Liu Wenxiu received the letter secretly sent by Wu Sangui, they pretended to cooperate and immediately reported to Chen Fu and Gao Yigong, which exposed Wu Sangui's intentions.

After Gao Yigong finished speaking, no one in the hall questioned Zhu Cilang's deployment anymore. Chang Denggui then raised the bamboo stick again and pointed at Henan, Shandong, Beijing and other places. These were the key to luring and confusing the enemy in this battle. If the Qing army sent reinforcements to Hanzhong, even if Chen Fu and Gao Yigong had great abilities, they would probably have to return in defeat.

"The core of the Qing army's Eight Banners remains in Beijing, but they have been slowly mobilized to Shandong, Henan, and other areas. The main battlefields of the Northern Expedition will also be in these places. Tartar princes and generals like Dorgon, Dodo, Ajige, Hauge, Jirgalang, and Yue Le, as well as traitors like Hong Chengchou, Shang Kexi, and Kong Youde, will all be waiting for us there.

But at present, the Qing army is not yet ready. There are only less than 20,000 Eight Banner soldiers stationed in Shaanxi, Henan, Shandong and other places, but the remaining tens of thousands of horsemen are all in Beijing and can go south at any time. In addition, there are nearly 20,000 elite Eight Banner soldiers dispatched by the Qing court from various places outside the Great Wall, and there are more than 20,000 new and old bannermen in northern Zhili and other places.

However, this 120,000-130,000-man army, including the bannermen, the Han Eight Banners, and the Mongolian Eight Banners, was the Qing court's last remaining field army. While the Green Camp garrison elsewhere within the Great Wall still numbered over a hundred thousand, these troops had little combat effectiveness and were only capable of defending the city and providing labor, not a single battle.

When Chang Denggui mentioned the future Northern Expedition, the generals in the palace all held their heads high and focused their attention. That was the battle they truly wanted to fight. This was especially true since most of the generals in the palace were from the Palace Front Army. The Left and Right Garrisons, as well as the Loyalty Battalion, were only led by their commanders and a few officers. After all, cities across the country also needed garrisons and commanders. However, the Palace Front Army, as the main mobile force for this campaign, was currently stationed near Yuezhou Prefecture.

Chang Denggui paused and continued:
"Although we launched the attack after the spring, the battlefield is now in the Central Plains. The Tartars and the Green Camp, which was reorganized from the former northern border troops, are basically accustomed to this climate. Without the humidity and heat of Jiangnan, it is unlikely to affect their combat effectiveness, let alone our goal of incapacitating nearly half of the Qing army."

As soon as he finished speaking, the hall was filled with the sounds of generals' chattering. The Qing army's inability to adapt to the hot and humid climate in the south has always been its fatal weakness, and it was also a good opportunity for the Ming army to hold the city and launch an attack twice before.

If not, the military pressure faced by the Ming army in the Battle of Fengyang and the Huguang Campaign would have been even greater, and it would not have simply been a matter of tens of thousands of casualties. This was also the reason why Zhu Cilang wanted to launch an offensive in late spring—to continue to wear down the Qing army during the summer and autumn.

Of course, Zhu Cilang had already known what Chang Denggui said, but this was the effect he wanted. It would be best if Dorgon thought he had misjudged the situation.

By that time, Dorgon and a group of Manchu princes would be more confident and would mobilize troops from Shaanxi, Gansu, Beijing and other places to reinforce Nanyang.

However, Zhu Cilang did not think that the Eight Banners Army, which had suffered heavy losses in two southern expeditions, could recover so quickly. Nearly half of the most elite soldiers were killed in the Central Plains Green Camp soldiers in Hubei, and the barbarians captured by the Qing court from outside the Great Wall and hastily supplemented into the Eight Banners, and even the bannermen, would be the opponents of his powerful army.

You have to know that this is a powerful army built with countless money and grain under strong civil administration and productivity. Strictly speaking, it already has some characteristics of modern army. As long as they don't fight recklessly on the plains, it will definitely not be easily defeated by the Qing army that has not yet recovered.

Of course, in the eyes of the Qing court, Zhu Cilang's mobilization of so many troops must mean that he was planning a large-scale northern expedition, so they would have fallen into Zhu Cilang's trap.

"For this battle, our army will deploy the Palace Front Army, the main force of the Heavenly Cavalry Army, most of the Left and Right Armies, most of the Left and Right Towns, most of the two Jiangbei Towns, most of the Loyalty Camp, and four naval divisions, totaling over 150,000 troops. Among them, there are over 120,000 land troops, over 31,000 cavalry, nearly 30,000 naval divisions, and over 2,000 large and small boats.

In addition, in order to ensure the smooth progress of the Northern Expedition from both the east and west routes, this battle also required the mobilization of 110,000 civilian laborers to be responsible for the loading and unloading of logistics supplies and the construction of siege fortifications. The army's logistics bases were initially set up in Chengtian Prefecture City and Yicheng, with three battalions of troops from the Zhongzheng Camp and the Tianqi Army left behind to defend them.

In this two-pronged attack, the Western Army's goal was to attract the main force of the Qing army in Shaanxi and Gansu to move eastward, waiting for an opportunity to annihilate the Qing army in northern Sichuan and Hanzhong in one fell swoop, recapture southern Shaanxi, and then contact Gansu and Ningxia, restore the entire Shaanxi, and push the front line to the east bank of the Yellow River.

In this way, when our army has acquired enough cavalry, we can launch simultaneous attacks from three directions in the Northern Expedition: Shaanxi, Xiangyang, and Xuzhou, forcing the Qing army to split up and block the attack, preventing them from concentrating their forces, and then defeat them one by one."

After Zhu Cilang once again spoke of the strategy and purpose of this battle from a high-level perspective, he turned around and signaled Chang Denggui to continue with the deployment. If he wanted to train his generals, he couldn't always steal their limelight.

"In this Northern Expedition, the Western Route Army will be centered around the Palace Front Central Army, with the Palace Front Right Army and the Right Town Army as flanks, the Loyalty Battalion as the vanguard, and the Left Town as reserve. They will be responsible for the northern battlefield, dealing with Gao Di and the main Qing reinforcements led by Ajige, Yue Le, and others.

In addition, Gao Jie, Huang Degong, and three battalions of the Beijing Camp will be deployed to contain some of the Qing troops in Huaibei and Lunan. The Yangtze River and Zhejiang naval divisions will be responsible for the eastern battlefield, from Denglai, Liaohai, and other places, to deal with the Qing troops deployed along the coast.

After Chang Denggui finished speaking, he moved the bamboo sticks to the Xiangyang area in northern Huguang, and first talked about the final battle deployment of the main army with the Palace Front Army as the core:

"As for the Eastern Route Army, the primary goal of the Palace Front Central Army is to capture Xiangyang, and then take advantage of the situation to recapture Gucheng, Xinye, Tangxian, and Dengzhou counties on both sides of the Han River, completely depriving Nanyang of its southern cover. The Palace Front Central Army and the Loyalty Camp will then converge near Nanyang, while the Palace Front Right Army and the Right Town will deploy their troops on both wings. Combined with the Dongting Lake Navy, relying on these cities, even if the main force of the Eight Banners of the Qing Army moves south, they will be helpless.

Many gentry in prefectures and counties like Xiangyang and Nanyang have already contacted the Jinyiwei. As soon as the main force of our army arrives, they will respond en masse. The Qing army is mainly concentrated in Nanyang and Xiangyang. The garrisons in other prefectures are mostly local Green Camp troops and are not to be feared.

After Chang Denggui finished speaking, Zhu Cilang nodded, and the generals had no objection at all. He turned his head and winked at Chen Fu, indicating that he would be responsible for explaining the combat strategy of the Western Route Army to the generals.

Chen Fu immediately understood what was happening, and then he picked up the bamboo stick, pointed to the locations of Baoning Prefecture in Sichuan and Hanzhong Prefecture in Shaanxi, and said in a resounding voice:
“The Western Route Army will also split into two routes. One route will bypass Tongchuan and head towards Jinzhou, waiting for an opportunity to capture Lizhou and then march directly into Hanzhong Prefecture to cut off the Qing army’s withdrawal from Baoning and Hanzhong’s attempt to send troops to reinforce Baoning.

At present, there are almost no Qing troops deployed in Chengdu, Tongchuan, Long'an and other prefectures. If the army takes a detour northward, as long as they are careful enough, the defenders of Baoning Prefecture will definitely not be able to detect it. Moreover, even if they detect something unusual, it will be useless.

Therefore, I will lead another group of troops from Nanchong directly north to attack Baoning Prefecture. The total force will be about 15,000, which is enough to delay the Qing troops stationed in Baoning Prefecture. If they dare to break out, I will definitely annihilate most of them.

After removing the thorn of Baoning Prefecture, our army will have no worries when attacking Hanzhong. By that time, Your Majesty will have led the troops to tie down the main force of the Qing army in Nanyang. General Gao and I will be able to successfully enter Hanzhong Prefecture and capture the prefecture city.

Hanzhong blocks the southern army's route from northern Sichuan to Shaanxi, and is the most important barrier in southern Shaanxi. As long as Hanzhong Prefecture is captured, the gateway to Shaanxi will be wide open, and Ding Guodong will definitely take the opportunity to send troops to help.

In this great war, the eastern and western armies fought in concert. No matter which side won, the Qing army would inevitably be passive and trapped in a dilemma, causing the Qing troops to waste food and fodder and be unable to take any action.

After Chen Fu finished speaking, Zhu Cilang immediately hinted to Chang Denggui to continue. He had already shown Chang Denggui the navy's battle plan, and that place was not the focus of the eastern and western armies, so he only needed to give a brief introduction.

Of course, in addition to the deployment of the army, Chang Denggui also needs to introduce the food and grass arrangements of each unit. This is the most important mistake, especially when each army is on the move, not defending the city. As long as there is enough food, grass and firewood in the city, it will be fine.

"The combat objectives and missions of each unit have now been clearly defined. Next, we need to address the supply of firearms and fodder needed for the army. These are crucial to ensuring the successful achievement of the combat objectives on the northern battlefield."

Chang Denggui had been talking for so long that his mouth was dry, but he naturally couldn't stop. Instead, he continued to hold the bamboo stick and said in a hoarse voice:

"Food and armaments for each unit will be provided according to the plan drawn up by the Military Affairs Department and the Five Military Commandery. Every batch of supplies will be inspected and shipped through multiple levels of inspection, and no omissions will be allowed."

This is the current logistical organization method of the Ming army. At the same time, Zhu Cilang warned the generals under his command. He knew very well that these generals understood what Chang Denggui meant.

In this way, the Ming Dynasty could institutionally prevent the various troops from acting recklessly and out of control after they had food in their hands.

Zhu Cilang continued to listen to Chang Denggui explaining to the generals the specific dispatch operations of each army and the corresponding logistical supplies. From time to time, a general proposed optimized routes and sequences, and the officers around Chang Denggui immediately wrote them down, and many of them were decided on the spot.

When he heard these words and thought of the Northern Expedition that was about to begin, his heart, which had become silent and indifferent due to his high position and tedious government affairs, suddenly became inexplicably excited - the Ming Dynasty was really going to launch a Northern Expedition, and the end of the Tartars would soon be here!

Zhu Cilang believed that as long as he could capture Shaanxi in this battle and block the Qing army in Xiangyang or even Nanyang, he would be able to expand his cavalry and annihilate the main force of the Eight Banners in North China or even outside the Great Wall in the near future.

By that time, the Qing Dynasty's rule in the northern provinces would inevitably collapse, and recovering the lost territory and expelling the Tartars would no longer be a great goal!

(End of this chapter)