The Manchu-Mongolian Special Operations Team was implemented by Jiangxi Censor Li Zhicui's plan to "take the Qing army uniforms and threaten the Jiangxi Province reinforcements to enter Jiangning." However, Zhou Shixiang sent not the pseudo-Qing army, but the real Manchu-Mongolian Tartars. The purpose was not to attack Nanjing, but to attack Nanzhili and seize Anqing.

The news of King Yanping's defeat in Nanjing had been transmitted to Nanchang by intelligence personnel from the Military Intelligence Department in Jiangnan through intermittent channels. At the same time, Anqing also reported that after learning that the Zheng army was defeated in Nanjing, Prince Yue Le of Qing'an led the Green Camp troops from several northern provinces to Nanjing on ships from the Anqing Water Camp. Anqing handed over the 3,000 Henan Green Camp to Gushan Ezhenbayubudashi to take charge.

The defeat of the Zheng army forced Zhou Shixiang to summon the generals to discuss the emergency military. The soldier officer Dong Changqing suggested that the main force of the Northern Expedition Army should immediately attack Huizhou from Raozhou, Jiangxi, and then pass through Ningguo Mansion and Taiping Mansion to the city of Nanjing, and attack Nanjing before the Shunzhi army arrived.

Dong Changqing believed that as long as he captured Nanjing, he could be the basis for Nanjing. Then he sent troops to capture Zhenjiang, integrate the anti-Qing forces in Jiangnan, and confronted Shunzhi's army across the river. If the Qing army crossed the river, he would fight the Qing army with the main force. If he won, the Qing army would be in a slump and unable to fight again. If he was defeated, the Northern Expedition Army would retreat to Nanjing and would not be able to defend like the Qing army. At the same time, the main towns were drawn from Guangxi and Hunan to come from Jiangxi to help. In this way, there would be a strong city in Nanjing to support and reinforcements to arrive. The Qing army would be trapped under the city. After a long time, it would be a labor force. At that time, the internal and external attacks would be attacked, and the Tartars would be awarded the head.

Dong Changqing's proposal was very adventurous, and it was even possible to capture and kill Shunzhi in one fell swoop, so the generals were very moved, but a realistic problem was placed in front of everyone. Ningguo and Taiping Prefecture are mostly hilly areas, which is inconvenient for large troops to march. This is even more so to the west of Nanjing. More than a thousand soldiers could easily pass, but the army of tens of thousands and the baggage was difficult for the civilians to pass quickly, and it was even more impossible to deploy on the west side of Nanjing.

Nanjing is another strong city. The Qing army in the city had just defeated the Zheng army, and its morale was high. It was impossible to be as frightened as the Zheng army was at the city. It was thought that the end of the world was coming. In addition, Yue Le brought several green camp soldiers from the northern provinces to Nanjing from Anqing, so it is conservatively estimated that the defenders in Nanjing might have more troops than the Northern Expedition Army. In addition, the Qing army seized a large number of artillery and weapons from the Zheng army, which made it a sharp increase in the difficulty of the Taiping Army to attack the city. If the attack could not be defeated, wouldn’t the Northern Expedition Army become an isolated army, a labor force, and repeat the Zheng army’s defeat and retreat?

Li Zhicui and Gui Yongzhi firmly opposed Dong Changqing's risky strategy. They believed that since ancient times, Nanjing must first seize the upper reaches, and the two important towns in Nanjing, Jiujiang and Anqing, are places that military strategists must fight for. Only by gaining control of Anqing and Jiujiang can we consider attacking the downstream Nanjing, otherwise it is easy to be attacked.

Gui Yongzhi even advised Zhou Shixiang not to rush to attack Nanjing, but to stabilize Jiangxi, take Fujian and Zhejiang in the east, and occupy the entire territory of Hunan in the west, cooperate with the Zhongzhen Camp to capture Wuchang, completely recover Huguang, and then concentrate troops into Guizhou to solve the Duoni and Wu Sangui corps in Yunnan and Guizhou in one fell swoop. In this way, the territory of the eight provinces of Guangdong, Guangxi, Fujian, Zhejiang, Yunnan, Guizhou, Hubei and Hunan can be integrated, and the Qing court can confront the Qing court across the river, and take slow plans to take it slowly, and one army will recover Sichuan and Hanzhong and regain Shaanxi and Gansu. The other army will go down from the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, so that the Qing court will be difficult to take care of the head and tail, Gu Dong will lose the west, and Gu Xi will lose the east. No matter which way the east and west will succeed, it will be a fatal blow to the Qing court.

Jiangnan is a place of wealth and wealth, while Shaanxi and Gansu are the place of elite troops. Gui Yongzhi's strategy was to force the Qing court to first. No matter which one chooses to protect or which one is lost, the Qing court's rule in the north would be shaken. However, this policy took a long time to implement and could not be done in less than three or two years. We also had to worry about any changes in the middle, especially the Qing army trapped in Yunnan and Guizhou was the largest heavy army group of the Qing court after all, with 20,000 people in the Manchu and Mongolia Eight Banners, and Wu Sangui's subordinates were also elite soldiers and generals. If they really wanted to fight Yunnan and Guizhou, they would inevitably have a fierce battle.

With the existing strength of the Taiping Army, even if it can successfully annihilate the Qing army in Yunnan, Guizhou, the price will be so high that Zhou Shixiang cannot bear it. When he licked the wound, the Qing Dynasty may be able to recover. And most importantly, if Gui Yongzhi's strategy is adopted, the initiative in the war will be transferred to the Qing army from the beginning. Because the Tartars chief Shunzhi has already led the army in person and has a great victory in Nanjing, it is impossible for Shunzhi to sit idly by the Taiping Army to consolidate Jiangxi, seek Fujian and Zhejiang, and let the Doni army be trapped in the southwest without caring about it.

It is almost certain that Shunzhi would definitely march towards Jiangxi after arriving in Jiangnan. Taking advantage of the limelight of defeating Zheng's army, Zhou Shixiang forced Zhou Shixiang to concentrate his main force to fight him, while Zhou Shixiang had to fight because he could not give up Jiangxi. Whether from a political or military perspective, Jiangxi could not give up easily, otherwise the morale of the army would be shaken, and the surrendered generals and officials who surrendered would also be shaken, just like when Li Zicheng was defeated by a stone, almost all the Ming Dynasty officials and generals who surrendered and rebelled.

At the same time, if Jiangxi is abandoned, the Taiping Army will also lose its strategic depth. Guangdong will face the pressure of the Qing army and return to the situation when the Qing army attacked the southwest. At that time, Zhou Shixiang decided to fight westward to prevent the Qing army from attacking Guangdong and Guangxi. What's more, if Zhou Shixiang decides to launch a battle in Jiangxi and Shunzhi, he will definitely mobilize the main force of the field army in Hunan and Guangxi. This will inevitably weaken the defense line of Hunan and Guizhou, and the pressure of the Qing army in the southwest will greatly reduce. It is very likely to take the opportunity to break through the blockade. At that time, the two Qing troops will attack each other in the front and back, and the Taiping Army will have a difficult life. If you are not careful, you will lose all the money.

Zhou Shixiang would never give up the initiative of the war. He had to take the offensive to restrain and disrupt the Qing army, and even seize Nanjing. This was not only because Nanjing was close, but because the political significance of regaining Nanjing was extremely great and had an impact on people's hearts. Once Nanjing was restored by the Ming army, not to mention the surrendered officials and generals in the Taiping Army, even the Han officials and generals within the Qing court, they would probably re-examine the general trend of the world. At that time, it was not that Zhou Shixiang was worried about internal instability, but that the Tartars had to consider how to defend against foreign countries at the same time.

Since the day he became a human being, Zhou Shixiang has been planning to pick up the fruits of the defeat of the Nanjing country. Today, the fruit is right in front of him. Although the fruit is now full of sharp thorns, he can pick it as long as he grits his teeth and reaches out to pick it. He can always pick it when he endures the huge pain, so how could he give up?

Zhou Shi decided to decide that Nanjing must be captured. The theme of the meeting is no longer whether to fight Nanjing or not, but how to fight Nanjing!

Military officer Guo Xiong took out the map and gave the military staff's opinions. The military staff unanimously agreed that only by walking the Yangtze River waterway could there be a chance to capture Nanjing, but this opportunity has changed from 70% to 50% now. The reason why the military reduced the chance of capturing Nanjing was that the reinforcements brought to Nanjing by Prince Yue Le, Qing'an.

Guo Xiong gave specific data. If the main four towns arrive on Huizhou, Ningguo and Taiping, it will take as long as 20 days. This will be ruled out that they will be intercepted by local Qing troops in the middle of the journey, and the Qing troops in Nanjing will be trapped in the city like a fool, allowing the Taiping troops to march towards the city of Nanjing with a swagger. If the Qing troops in Nanjing leave the city to intercept and occupy the geographical advantage, then the military headquarters will not be optimistic about whether they can repel the Qing army and arrive at the city of Nanjing before the Tatar chiefs arrive.

In addition, if you take land, it will be a great test for the logistics of the Northern Expedition Army. After all, Zhou Shixiang issued a strict order that the Northern Expedition Army was not allowed to plunder the food and grass of the people, which greatly increased the logistics pressure of the military headquarters. The closer the Northern Expedition Army is to Nanjing, the longer the food and grass transportation line. In the case of relying solely on manpower to transport food and grass, ensuring the supply of food and grass on the front line is obviously a costly and extremely difficult project.

"Take the waterway and take Anqing!"

Zhou Shixiang made up his mind that the land route was too slow and the unpredictable risk was too great, so he would go on the water route. King Yanping went up against the wind and he went down the wind.

But when the generals heard the commander's unquestionable order, they looked at each other. The waterway was fast and steady, and they could transport all their troops, horses, food and grass at once. But the question is, where did the navy from the Taiping Army come from?

Jiujiang had a water camp of the former Qing army, but after the general Chen Yuan of Jiujiang escaped, the Jiujiang water camp also scattered. After Ge Yi took over Jiujiang, he only arranged dozens of ships and hundreds of Qing army naval divisions. In the short term, he would never have thought of building a Yangtze River naval division belonging to the Taiping Army.

Without a navy, how can you capture Anqing? That Anqing is across the river!

All the generals were confused, but Li Zhicui's eyes lit up and asked, "Does the Grand Marshal want to recruit the bandits of Poyang Lake?"

After the Taiping Army went north to capture Ganzhou, the Poyang Lake bandits joined forces to revolt, saying that the eighteen families were very powerful, with 10,000 or 20,000 soldiers from all over the country. The person in charge said that the Grand Marshal of the Refuting Ming was the world, which was more powerful than Zhou Shixiang, the general of the Conquering Army, and the Grand Marshal of the Tang Dynasty. The governor and the governor were granted a large group of troops. The king and the Duke were very lively. However, after the Taiping Army captured Nanchang, Raozhou, and Jiujiang, these bandits with the banner of Refuting Ming did not surrender, nor did they send personnel to contact the Taiping Army, and they were only happy in the lake. The Taiping Army was busy capturing various prefectures and counties in Jiangxi, and they did not care about these people for a while.

Li Zhicui thought the general wanted to recruit the Poyang Lake water bandits, and then let these water bandits enter the river to attack the Qing army water camp in Anqing, so that the Taiping army could attack Nanjing by water. Unexpectedly, Zhou Shixiang shook his head and said, "What's the use of a bunch of water bandits? If you point at them and are willing to serve, the daylily will be cold."

"What does the Grand Marshal mean?" Li Zhicui was puzzled and did not recruit those water bandits, so where did he get the navy?

Zhou Shi said to everyone that the Military Information Department found out that Zhang Huangyan, the Minister of War, was carrying the former Xihou Zhang Mingzhen's navy in the left prefectures in Jiangnan. Although this Zhejiang Navy was not as powerful as the Zheng army, it was also a powerful navy force. If we could contact them and let the Zhejiang Army attack Anqing, and then cooperate with the Taiping Army to attack Nanjing along the river, the waterway would naturally be unobstructed.
Chapter completed!