Late Ming Dynasty: Oops, I am surrounded by the Donglin Party

Bolger was angry because his close friend had made it clear that the distribution of benefits after the war would be determined based on contributions.

What was his contribution during the war? It was nothing more than the number of ships sunk and captured, and the intensity of the attacks on Zheng's ports and industries.

The two of them had originally agreed to launch an attack together, but the shameless Shi Luobao actually attacked first, although he himself had the same idea.

But at this point, Bolger could only speed up the fleet so that it could join the battlefield as soon as possible.

A quarter of an hour later, all three parties finally arrived at the combat area, and bursts of artillery sounds began to resound throughout the East China Sea of the Ming Dynasty.

The fleets of Borg and Schroebau together had more than 70 warships. Even so, the two of them asked for help from the headquarters and urgently deployed the headquarters' warships.

Zheng Zhilong's side only mobilized less than 30% of its naval forces from its base in Jinjiang for this patrol, including more than 300 warships of various sizes.

Although the number of warships of Borg and Schrobao was small, the displacement of their warships and the total amount of artillery were not inferior to Zheng Zhilong's.

The two of them attacked from both sides. In less than half an hour, many ships in Zheng Zhilong's fleet were sunk and even more were seriously injured.

However, Zheng Zhilong was angry, and since he was a wealthy man, he didn't care about any losses. In a fit of spite, he not only did not order a retreat, but instead ordered the fleet's fire dragon ships to launch a suicidal fire attack.

In a sea area ten miles away from the battlefield, on two small fishing boats, seven or eight young men dressed as fishermen put down their monoculars. One of them frowned and said:

"These foreigners dared to act on their own. We must quickly report this matter to the commander-in-chief and the imperial court."

These people were none other than the Jinyiwei who were in charge of monitoring the Zheng family. They had been secretly watching the Zheng family's fleet for half a month under the cover of being fishermen.

The people above them told them that the red-haired barbarians and the French were foreign aid invited by the commander-in-chief just to intimidate Zheng Zhilong.

But they had never heard of these foreign vassals directly launching an attack. What they saw now was that these foreign vassals took the initiative to provoke a war.

This is forcing the Zheng family to rebel, which is something the court and the commander-in-chief do not want to see.

Another person snorted and said:

“It’s nothing surprising, and I don’t think it’s a bad thing.

Zheng Zhilong was a two-faced person. He ate the emperor's food but obeyed orders and not announcements. Given the commander's wisdom and bravery, even if he did not deal with the Zheng family this time, perhaps the first thing he would do after the war in the north was over would be to destroy Zheng Zhilong.

These guys just brought things forward.

The Red Barbarians' warships and artillery are quite formidable. If they dare to attack, they must be confident of victory."

"Anyway, let them fight as they please. It has nothing to do with us." Another person laughed.

"That's right. Our fleet didn't cost a single soldier, yet they thought they were the oriole. Little did they know they were just mantises and cicadas. Hahahaha!"

"But Zheng Zhilong is really indecisive. He didn't make a decision and ended up suffering from the chaos. He really deserves it. If it were me, I would have..."

"Huh? What did you say?"

……

On June 16, the 14th year of Chongzhen, thirty miles west of Yizhou City.

On the vast grassland, tens of thousands of Guards and Tiger Guards were still chasing the defeated remnants of the Jiannu.

This chase has lasted for ten days. During these ten days, the two sides have had no less than five major fierce battles, and each time ended with Dorgon's defeat.

The Ming army was very tired, but everyone was holding on because everyone understood that the Jianlu were more tired than them.

With ten thousand soldiers, there is no limit to their strength; with a hundred thousand soldiers, they stretch from the earth to the sky.

Countless flags were waving, some of them belonged to the Imperial Guards or the Tiger Guards, but they were different.

In order to enhance the soldiers' sense of honor and pride, Zhang Shikang and Lu Xiangsheng not only worked hard on patriotic education, but also made major improvements in military flags and uniforms.

For example, the Tianxiong Army directly under Lu Xiangsheng still had the Ming Dynasty's dragon flag as its national flag, but there was an additional military flag specifically for the Tianxiong Army, which was a purple-red flag embroidered with a dragon.

Zhang Shikang once gave a speech to all members of the Tianxiong Army, mainly focusing on the Tianxiong Army's past battle records and great contributions to the court, in order to inspire the soldiers' sense of belonging and honor to the Tianxiong Army.

The effect was very good. After all, before this, few generals mentioned the past. Winning or losing a war was just a matter of course. But Zhang Shikang made everyone understand the importance of the number.

Of course, this was just a demonstration by Zhang Shikang to other generals.

For example, Sun Chuanting's Qin Army, Wu Sangui's Yuan Army, and even Li Zicheng's Zui Camp, existing generals can apply for their own numbers and exclusive military flags based on their contributions.

This number and military flag require the joint efforts of the soldiers of the unit to maintain their own sense of honor.

Lu Xiangsheng didn't understand at first, but later he felt that Zhang Shikang was a rare talent.

Since the gentry class in the interior of the country was cleared out two years ago and the court was no longer short of money, the treatment of the Huben Army has been significantly improved.

In the absence of a shortage of food and wages, it is absolutely wise to improve combat effectiveness and move towards patriotism, military honor and a sense of belonging.

During this battle, each unit was even competing secretly to see whose unit could kill the most enemies and achieve the greatest merit.

It is also for this reason that even after so many days of forced marches, the soldiers not only had no complaints, but even worked very hard.

Zhang Shikang looked at the setting sun and raised his right hand to signal the army to stop marching and rest on the spot.

They were about to reach Yizhou City. Although Dorgon was a good runner, after so many defeats, the only people who finally followed him back to Yizhou were about 6,000 people, which was no longer a threat.

What we need to do next is a strategic counterattack.

However, since the elite troops of the Jianlu had been almost completely wiped out, it was unnecessary and inefficient to gather hundreds of thousands of troops together.

Zhang Shikang felt it necessary to hold a combat meeting to discuss the respective division of labor.

He summoned senior generals such as Lu Xiangsheng and Sun Chuanting to discuss matters. Hong Xiucheng hurriedly ordered people to set up military tents, but Zhang Shikang waved his hand.

The weather is too hot, and it's even more stuffy in the tent. It would be better to be outside where there is occasional breeze.

The meeting place was chosen to be under a tree whose trunk was only as thick as a bowl. After all, it was a grassland and trees were scarce, but at least there was some shade.

Zhang Shikang also ordered the Fire Camp to prepare some wine and food, and sat on the ground with senior generals such as Sun Weifan and Lu Xiangsheng.

After a day's journey, everyone had a look of fatigue on their faces. Sun Weifan was not polite at all. He poured himself a bowl of wine and started drinking it.

Lu Xiangsheng became much more polite and just picked up a piece of horse meat and put it in his mouth to chew.

However, Zhang Shikang had no interest in horse meat. There had been many wars recently and many horses had died. Eating horse meat every day was uncomfortable because it got stuck in his teeth.

Sun Chuanting, Cao Bianjiao and others also bowed. They had all taken off their armor. Now that the battle situation was clear, everyone was not only physically relaxed, but also mentally relaxed a lot.

What was rare was that everyone was gathered so neatly, and what was rare was the sunset glow on the grassland. Zhang Shikang took the lead, raised his glass, and said to everyone with a smile:

"This first glass of wine is for you all. After this battle, I'm afraid that my Ming Dynasty will have several more dukes and marquises."

……