The plan to stand firm and wait for help seemed to come to nothing. Wu Sangui really didn't know whether Li Benzhen could get the information and come in time.

No matter how powerful the army is, if it doesn't have enough food for a day or two, it will turn into a soft-footed shrimp. What's more, the depletion of food and grass supplies will have an unstoppable impact on the morale of the army.

Kicking away the burnt objects blocking the way, Wu Sangui's anger was no longer concealed, and the generals around him were silent and did not dare to speak.

Everyone knows that the situation has taken a turn for the worse. Going straight to the heart has turned into a lone force, a turtle in the urn.

"The only plan for now is to fight hard, break through the enemy's siege, join up with the friendly forces, and then wipe out the barbarians." Wu Sangui vented his anger, calmed down a little, and looked back at the generals.

In this expedition to Shuixi, he did not bring many direct troops. Instead, the troops composed of surrendered soldiers and generals were the main force.

This is not only a way to kill people with a borrowed knife, but also an exercise and test, and it can better preserve your strength. For example, Ma Bao, Ta Xince, Shen Yingshi, etc. are all generals of the former Daxi Army.

"Your Majesty is wise." Ma Bao bowed and said: "The general is willing to lead his troops to fight and fight for the blood of the army."

Ma Bao, also known as Ma Sanbao, was originally a general under Sun Kewang. He later switched to Li Dingguo and was granted the title of Anding Bo for his merits.

In the 15th year of Yongli (the 18th year of Shunzhi), he surrendered to the Qing army. Because of his bravery, he was highly regarded by Wu Sangui and was awarded the title of chief soldier of the Zhongyong Middle Camp and stationed at Qujing Camp.

Wu Sangui smiled slightly, nodded appreciatively, and said: "General Ma is brave and good at fighting, and he will definitely be able to defeat the barbarians."

Historically, the Wu army in Guo Yongdi was besieged by local troops for more than two months. They ran out of food and had to slaughter their horses for food.

By the time they were rescued by Li Benzhen, the Wu army had "lost tens of thousands of soldiers, leaving only 8,000 soldiers and several hundred generals."

The current situation is even more critical for Wu Jun. Let alone two months, at most ten days, he will be completely without food and will be defeated without a fight.

And the reasons that led Li Benshen to lead his army to help in history may no longer exist.

One theory is that An Ruding sent someone to inquire about the situation of Li Benzhen's troops, but they were captured instead, allowing Li Benzhen to learn that Wu Sangui was besieged by Guo Yongdi.

Another theory is that Wu Sangui bribed An Kun's most powerful Tumu Chagana, delaying the time for the local soldiers to launch a general offensive, and finally waited for reinforcements.

Historical changes are cumulative, and little differences often lead to major changes in the final results and major deviations in the historical trajectory.

"If a nail is missing, a horseshoe is lost. If a horseshoe is missing, a war horse is lost. If a war horse is missing, a battle is lost. If a battle is lost, a country is lost."< /p>

In fact, every detail may be related to the success or failure of the overall situation. Even if it is very small, it will often become the key to victory or defeat, and even lead to failure.

………………

One hundred and fifty sixty miles away from Dafang, the troops led by Huang Li finally met up with the troops of Lin Guogong Li Laiheng.

Li Laiheng's troops were not marching very fast, thirty or forty miles a day. The forwards were three battalions led by Li Yue, and the distance was only five or six miles.

"His Royal Highness has arrived with the army, so our army can speed up and reach Dafang as soon as possible!" Li Laiheng paid homage to the ceremony, feeling very sad in his heart.

It has been less than half a year since we parted ways in Wushan. Mr. Huang has become His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, and has won the support of all generals and officials, and has created extremely admirable achievements.

This was once their dream result, but when it actually came true, Li Laiheng felt a little uneasy.

When Huang Li relied on them, he felt more at ease; but when the host and guest changed, Huang Li had already established prestige in the hearts of the soldiers, and they had to think a little worriedly.

But now, we can only continue to serve wholeheartedly and even more loyally, so that His Highness can be grateful for their contribution and loyalty and show his noble hand on historical issues.

Huang Li laughed loudly, helped Li Laiheng up, looked at him, and said: "Lin Guo Gong's style is still the same! He stood alone at Maolu Mountain to contain the Qing army. Our army can win a great victory in Huguang, thanks to the merits of Lin Guo Gong and the soldiers.

It’s a must.”

"Your Highness is so complimentary." Li Laiheng seemed a little embarrassed. Feeling that His Highness had become more confident, he said humbly: "In Maolu Mountain, it is very easy to just rely on strong defense. It is not as hard as His Highness's expeditions here and there.

”

Huang Li waved his hand and said, "You don't have to be humble, Duke Lin. If you have merit, you have merit. Everyone can see this."

Li Laiheng hurriedly stretched out his hand and asked Huang Li to enter the tent. Once the troops joined forces, Huang Li felt relaxed.

The men and horses brought by Linguo Duke Li Laiheng are original and have been baptized and tempered in the Maolu Mountain battle. They can be called the most capable Ming army.

The Ming army, which rebuilt its foundation in eastern Sichuan in the early stage, has experienced several expansions and has declined in overall combat strength. It will take time and integrated training before it can return to its original level.

Moreover, during the days when the Qing army besieged Maolu Mountain, Li Laixiang and Hao Yaoqi also studied the infantry phalanx modified by Huang Li, and used the blunderbuss in their hands to form two muskets in a decent manner.

Camp.

After arriving at Zuanjiang in eastern Sichuan, they received hundreds more rifles, and two newly built musketry battalions also received short training and rectification from Li Yue.

"Very good!" After hearing the simple report, Huang Li couldn't help but nod his head, expressing his appreciation and joy.

According to the musket battalion model, three musket battalions were also established in eastern Sichuan, all of which used captured muskets and muskets produced by the arsenal.

This kind of infantry battalion will be expanded in the future. If there are not enough muskets, bows and arrows will be needed. There will definitely be guns, and artillery and rocket launchers will continue to be equipped to the troops.

The large increase in armor is enough to equip a considerable number of spearmen, and similar battle formation models can gradually be promoted.

Although it is a bit nondescript, compared to the main way of fighting with cold weapons at that time, such a magically modified battle formation will at least not suffer when fighting the enemy.

"Your Highness, this aid to Shuixi may be an opportunity to severely damage the Wu army." Li Laiheng hated Wu Sangui deeply, and he did not hide it in his words, "Wu traitor left his hometown in Yunnan, and it is difficult to use it in the complex terrain of Shuixi.

”

Huang Li smiled and nodded, and said: "If there is a chance, we will naturally attack the enemy hard. The Qing army divides its troops to guard the strategic point west of the river, which is convenient for our army to defeat them one by one."

Li Laiheng smiled and said: "Wu Zhai was misled by His Highness's attack on Huguang. He did not expect that our army had long planned and fully prepared to assist Shuixi."

"There are reasons for this." Huang Li pondered for a moment and said slowly: "But I think the most fundamental reason is Wu Ni's arrogance. Guys who are at the peak of their lives often make such mistakes."

"Occupying Yunnan and Guizhou, he has a large number of elite soldiers and generals, and more than 100,000 horses are capable of fighting. Looking at the world, there are indeed few opponents. It is estimated that Wu Sangui considered himself to be unparalleled in talent and martial arts, but in the end he underestimated the heroes of the world."

Li Laiheng nodded vigorously. He thought that the hero Huang Li mentioned was him, but he didn't know that Huang Li was not that proud.

Historically, he was able to survive for half a year under Wu Sangui's army. Even though Huang Li was not optimistic about An Kun, he had to admit that this guy had two skills.

Of course, there are many heroes, but Wu Sangui, an old bastard, is completely out of date in terms of vision and structure, but Huang Li looks down on him from the bottom of his heart.

When the San Francisco Rebellion was like that, how could there be any ambition and momentum to fight for the world? It was not Kang Xiaosan who was great, but Wu Sangui who was stupid.

"As our army marched, many chieftains sent us food and grass." Li Laiheng said with a smile: "It seems that Wu Sangui's campaign to conquer Shuixi has aroused the vigilance and fear of all the chieftains."

Huang Li said: "This is for sure. When the Wu army shows its defeat, each chieftain will completely choose sides. With the help of these chieftains, our army will not need to station heavy troops in Guizhou."

"Your Highness doesn't want to attack Yunnan and Guizhou?" Li Laiheng was a little confused and said: "Yunnan is remote and difficult for the Qing army to attack, so it can be regarded as a stable base area."

Huang Li shook his head slightly and said: "Although Yunnan is good, it is not too easy for our army to capture it. If it takes another half a year for our army to grow stronger and have enough strength, we can expand aggressively."

So far, even western Sichuan has not been occupied, let alone Yunnan. In the case of insufficient strength, too much land is a burden.

Just like the Qing army, the total number is indeed very large, but it also has to be stationed in various places, resulting in a shortage of mobile men and horses that can be mobilized for combat.

Similarly, this also created an opportunity for the Ming army to attack the city and defeat them one by one.

For example, in Guizhou now, the total strength of the Green Battalion is 37,000 or 8,000. But Li Benzhen has at most 20,000 mobile troops. The other troops are divided into various places.

At that time, Guizhou Province had twelve prefectures, one Zhili prefecture, one Zhili department, thirteen generals and scattered prefectures, thirty-three counties, and fourteen departments. There were also fifty-six chiefs, fifty-six deputy chiefs, and Tuxian Cheng.

Three, soil inspection one, soil owner...

For such a large territory, if it weren't for the large number of chieftains, the Qing government would not have given Guizhou Green Camp such a quota of soldiers to maintain its rule.

Even so, when the Ming army entered Guizhou in large numbers, Li Benzhen wanted to mobilize all his troops to fight, but it was not a task that could be completed in a short time.

The most advantageous thing about the Ming army's ability to win repeated battles in more than half a year is that it has a small territory, does not need too many defenders, and its troops are very concentrated.

Therefore, in every battle, the Ming army was able to gather its strength to attack. In the areas ruled by the Qing court, it was able to form the advantage of attacking with more and less, and defeating them one by one.

Li Laiheng didn't understand very well, but he still followed the thoughts of the third prince and said: "Your Highness's concerns are not unreasonable. There are benefits from the Yangtze River in the east and west of Sichuan, and our navy is strong enough to protect itself. If we enter Yunnan, we may make the same mistake again."

The final collapse of the Yongli court that was entrenched in Yunnan and Guizhou was due to Sun Kewang's rebellion and surrender to the Qing court, the erroneous deployment of Jin Wang Li Dingguo, and the Qing army's three-sided attack from Sichuan, Hunan, and Guangxi.
Chapter completed!