After listening to Sun Kewang's analysis, Zhang Xianzhong fell into silence.
Going south to Guangdong is indeed a way out, but it is not a long-term solution.
In particular, Sun Kewang's idea of occupying Qiongzhou Prefecture and governing it across the sea from the Ming court was simply unrealistic.
Although the Dashi Army also had a navy, it was ultimately an inland navy.
Once they went out to sea, they would be no match for the Ming navy.
"Dingguo, what do you think?" Zhang Xianzhong looked at Li Dingguo.
Li Dingguo was embarrassed to deny Sun Kewang, after all, he was his elder brother, so he said cautiously: "I think what you said makes sense, we can send the vanguard troops to try to enter Guangdong and Guangxi. If the attack does not go well, we can consider moving to other places."
Zhang Xianzhong raised his head and was somewhat disappointed with these people's military vision.
Wang Zhaolin stood up with his head held high and said, "Father-in-law, I don't think it's appropriate to go south to Guangdong and Guangxi."
"First, Guangdong and Guangxi are mountainous, which will slow down the army's march, which is contrary to our strategy of defeating the enemy by marching. Secondly, our army has been resting in Yongzhou for more than a month. The Ming court must have deployed a large number of troops in Guangdong and Guangxi, just waiting for our army to take the bait."
Zhang Xianzhong immediately became alert. He stared at Wang Zhaolin and asked, "Where do you want to go, military advisor?"
“Sichuan!”
Sun Kewang snorted coldly: "Military Advisor, this is wrong. Guizhou has many more mountain roads than Guangdong and Guangxi. I don't know how many people will die if they enter Sichuan from Guizhou!"
Li Dingguo then said: "Indeed, the risk of entering Sichuan from Guizhou is much higher than that of entering Guangdong and Guangxi. It is not the best strategy."
Wang Zhaolin chuckled: "In terms of leading troops in battle, I am indeed not as good as the two generals; but in terms of strategizing, the two generals are probably not even half as good as me."
Crazy, too crazy!
Sun Kewang was so angry that he clenched his fists to suppress his anger.
Li Dingguo was also very angry and raised his hand to hit someone.
Liu Wenxiu stepped forward to stop him: "Second brother, if you have something to say, please talk to me nicely, don't do it."
Amidst everyone's different expressions, Wang Zhaolin came up with a surprising strategy.
"Father-in-law, everyone present! What is the essence of defeating the enemy by walking?"
Li Dingguo rushed to say: "Yes, let's go!"
"Um...not bad." Wang Zhaolin was very dissatisfied with Li Dingguo's behavior of stealing the limelight.
Forced by the current situation, he couldn't say much.
"The purpose of the march is to tie down the main force of the Ming army and make them run behind us. The more main forces of the Ming army we tie down, the fewer Ming troops there will be in other places."
"So my strategy was to go downstream along the Xiang River and pretend to capture Hengzhou (now Hengyang), and then go upstream along the Fen River to You County east of Hengshan Mountain."
"After reaching You County, quickly march north to attack Pingxiang and Wanzai, then divide the troops into two groups to attack Yuanzhou."
"Yuanzhou was an important place in the south of the Yangtze River, with merchants gathering and goods coming and going, and it was extremely prosperous. Especially for merchants from Guangdong and Guangxi, most of them would first go north to Yuanzhou (now Yichun), go down the Yuan River outside Yuanzhou City into the Gan River, then enter Poyang Lake and send goods along the Yangtze River to Nanjing and Yangzhou."
(There were pirates on the sea in Guangdong and Guangxi, and the ships were too large to sail on the Yangtze River. If you wanted to transport goods by sea, you had to change ships near the mouth of the Yangtze River, which was time-consuming and laborious. Therefore, most of the goods in Guangdong and Guangxi in the Ming Dynasty were transported by land.)
"I don't need to explain the importance of Yuanzhou, right? In order to ensure the smooth passage between Guangdong and Guangxi, the Ming court will definitely find a way to mobilize a large force to recapture Yuanzhou."
"Li Zicheng is currently besieging Fengyang. The Ming court is short of manpower. If they want to recapture this place, they will definitely send Qin Liangyu southward."
"After attracting the main force of the Ming army, our army will immediately follow the Yuan River eastward to Poyang Lake, and then attack Anqing. Anqing is the gateway to Nanjing, and those people in Nanjing can only mobilize their main force to attack again in order to protect themselves."
"Then our army went north to Lu'an, west to Luoshan County, through Tiantai Mountain and south to Xiaogan, and then to Jingzhou! This not only bypassed the heavily guarded Yueyang, Wuchang and Jiujiang, but also confused the Ming army. By the time they reacted, we had already arrived in the Jingzhou area and were ready to enter Sichuan."
"Sichuan is short of troops right now, so our Dashi Army can take advantage of this opportunity and move in!"
For ease of reading, a simple map of the marching route is drawn.
After Wang Zhaolin finished speaking about the countermeasures, his throat felt a little dry, so he stepped aside, picked up the water bag and started drinking it.
It was quiet in the military tent and no one spoke.
What a brilliant plan!
The more Zhang Xianzhong listened, the more excited he became. He first drew a simple map of the marching route in his mind. As Wang Zhaolin mentioned more and more place names, his brain began to overwhelm him.
Without waiting for Wang Zhaolin to finish speaking, he reached out, spread out the map on the table, and began to analyze it carefully.
After a long time, Zhang Xianzhong let out a long sigh and sat back.
"Everyone, what do you think of the military advisor's strategy?"
Still no one spoke.
They were all shocked by the march route.
The total distance of the detour from Yongzhou to Jingzhou is nearly three thousand miles.
Shocking, and still shocking.
Seeing that no one spoke, Zhang Xianzhong did not urge them, but stood there waiting.
He himself was very satisfied with the march route and final destination.
This route not only avoided the main force of the Ming army, but also confused the Ming army's judgment, making them unable to figure out the direction of the Dashi Army.
After all, no one would have thought that they would return to Jingzhou after going around in a circle.
Not to mention Ming Jun, even he himself didn't expect it.
Seeing that no one spoke, Zhang Xianzhong coughed lightly and said, "Ahem, if there is no problem, we will march along this route in three days."
"This is the top secret of the Dashi Army. If anyone dares to leak it, don't blame me for being rude to him!"
Although the people present were the backbone of the Dashi Army, this matter concerned the life and death of the Dashi Army. For the sake of safety, Zhang Xianzhong decided to give one more instruction.
"I will follow the orders of the Great Western King!"
"Everyone else can go, Military Advisor, please stay for a while."
After the others left, Zhang Xianzhong patted Wang Zhaolin on the shoulder and said, "Military Advisor, you are indeed a talent of my Dashi Army."
"Thank you for the compliment, King Daxi." Wang Zhaolin smiled awkwardly.
"Tell me, what reward do you want?"
"I..."
"You only have one chance. If you really don't want it, I won't give it to you."
Wang Zhaolin knelt down and said, "My father-in-law, I really don't want anything."
"Okay," Zhang Xianzhong laughed, "I'll have someone send you five hundred taels of silver later for your personal use."
"Thank...thank you very much, godfather." Wang Zhaolin bowed with a smile, then turned and left.
After walking out of the tent, the smile on his face gradually disappeared, replaced by... perseverance.
Five hundred taels of silver?
After such a great contribution, you only get five hundred taels of silver?
Isn't this looking down on people?
The Guangzhou merchant gave him one hundred thousand taels of silver!
As he walked, Wang Zhaolin suddenly realized a big problem.
The army will set off soon. How can we get the 90,000 taels of silver promised by the merchants in Guangzhou?
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