Withdrawal of troops?

  After the victory of Haicheng, Zheng's army advanced triumphantly and successively recovered lost territories, occupying counties such as Changtai, Tong'an, Nan'an, Huian, Anxi, Yongchun, and Dehua, seemingly with the momentum to sweep across all of Fujian once again. However, Liu Guoxuan suffered a setback under the city of Quanzhou and had no choice but to resume the old tactic of besieging the city.

  However, this time Liu Guoxuan miscalculated. Quanzhou has always been a famous town in Fujian Province, with strong walls and abundant grain supplies, far surpassing the small county of Haicheng. Liu Guoxuan led his troops to besiege the city for over two months, but the Qing army inside refused to surrender. Meanwhile, various Qing armies rushed to Quanzhou under Kangxi's strict orders.

  Among them, General Ninghai Laha Da led 15,000 troops to guard the home of Li Guangdi's uncle, Li Rijin, who led more than 100 local militiamen to guide them through the mountain roads and attack Tong'an, cutting off the land connection between Liu Guoxuan's division in Quanzhou and Xiamen; Fujian Governor Wu Xingzuo led a force of over 10,000 from Xianyou via Yongchun, approaching Quanzhou from the northwest; Fujian Commander Yang Jie led 20,000 Green Standard troops from Xinghua to Huian, slowly advancing along the official road from Quanzhou to Fuzhou.

  Facing the enemy army that was attacking from three sides, Liu Guoxuan remained calm and built fortifications to wait. Given Liu Guoxuan's illustrious military achievements, although the Qing army had a much larger force than Zheng's army, they did not dare to take a step forward easily. Just as the Battle of Quanzhou was at a stalemate, a change outside the battlefield in Quanzhou affected the overall situation.

  In early August, the Qing army Lin Xian and Huang Duo led the fleet out of Majiangkou to launch a counterattack on Dinghai, which was occupied by Zheng's army. The intention of these two was only to pin down the Zheng army's naval force that provided cover and supplies for Quanzhou, but the defender of Dinghai, Xiao Chen, was derelict in his duty and had no preparation for the Qing army's counterattack, and as soon as he saw the Qing army coming, he prepared to abandon Dinghai and escape.

  Zhang Yuanshun, the commander of the Zheng army's naval forces, refused to retreat without a fight and launched a desperate attack on the Qing army with his 10 warships. However, he was vastly outnumbered and lacked external support, resulting in the annihilation of his entire fleet. After Zhang Yuanshun's death, Xiao Chen became even more panicked and fled southward, escaping back to Siming before the Qing naval forces had even returned to Min'an Town (near Mawei).

  If the loss of Dinghai had no great impact on the front line in Quanzhou, it was unexpected that Xiao Chun would falsely report military information to reduce his responsibility for the defeat. He claimed that the Qing army's naval forces were making a big move from Fuzhou to the south, with a scale several times larger than the current Zheng Jun naval forces in Siming and Quanzhou. As for Xiao Chun's report, Zhu Jin was skeptical but considering Liu Guoxuan's troops were being attacked by the Qing army from both inside and outside, he sent someone to recall Liu Guoxuan

  ??

  "General, it's General!" A goshha with a long knife at his waist rushed into the backyard of the Quanzhou Prefecture Government Office where Vice-General Ya Dali lived, coincidentally catching him red-handed embracing a half-undressed beauty in broad daylight. If it were any other day, the goshha would have pretended not to see anything and retreated, but today was different. "General, good news!" The kneeling military officer hastily reported before Ya Dali's anger erupted. "Liu's rebel army has retreated!"

  "What!" Yada Li pushed away the woman who was still entwined around him and stood up with a "ding". "Quickly lead this official to take a look."

  "Heavenly Emperor, bless us!" As Ya Dali rushed to the city wall, all the Qing court officials and soldiers besieged in Quanzhou had gathered on the enemy tower. "General Ya, Liu's rebel army has retreated." The governor of Quanzhou, Ta Xin, grabbed Ya Dali's sleeve. "Look, their troops are disorganized and their morale is gone. Why don't you regroup and pursue them, achieving an unprecedented feat?"

  "General Ta, this is not right!" Although Ta Xin was not a red bandit, his wife's sister was the concubine of Jian Qinwang Labu, so Ya Dali had to give him some face. "As they say, 'don't stop a returning army'." However, giving face was one thing, but making Ya Dali go all out against the notorious Liu Guoxuan was not something this red bandit dared to do. "Besides, has Liu Guoxuan really retreated? Or is he setting a trap? Who knows for sure?" If they pursued and fell into a trap, their army would lose, and Liu's troops would return, then could Quanzhou still be defended? As soon as Ya Dali heard that Quanzhou might not be able to hold out due to reckless action, Ta Xin, as the prefect of Quanzhou, didn't dare say more. "Forget it, forget it." Ya Dali knew he must still have some resentment, so he consoled him. "First send someone to contact the outside and figure out what's going on before deciding what to do."

  ??”

  The cautiousness of the Qing army in Quanzhou gave Liu Guoxuan the opportunity to transport his troops back to Siming, but although this elite force was preserved, the territories they had previously occupied were completely lost overnight. For this reason, after Liu Guoxuan returned and only then received accurate intelligence, Zhu Jin was furious and summoned Xiao Chen to be beheaded as an example.

  Xiao Chen's crime was well-deserved, but the situation continued to deteriorate. Unable to do otherwise, Zhu Jin called upon the remaining troops and ships of Zuo Town Chen Xian, You Town Chen Qiming, Lou Chuan Zuo Town Zhu TianGui, etc. to withdraw from Nan Ao and Tongshan and head to Jin Xia to prevent a possible Qing army waterway attack. At the same time as the naval mobilization, Liu GuoXuan led various towns to launch a counterattack on Zhangzhou.

  The Qing army in Zhangzhou had about 20,000 troops from the Eight Banners and Green Standard Army. The two sides formed a line of battle north of Jiulong River at Honglao Mountain and Shiluo Mountain (note: northwest of Quanzhou). Liu Guoxuan personally led the charge, breaking through several Qing army formations one after another. The Qing army was defeated, and Liu Guoxuan took advantage of the momentum to attack Geng Jingzhong's main camp at Shiniu Mountain. Geng Jingzhong remembered old grudges and personally directed the battle with his spear. Zheng's army had been fighting for half a day and were exhausted, but they continued to charge forward on adrenaline alone. However, after three rounds of drumming, their energy was depleted, and not only did they fail to attack successfully, but they were also defeated by Geng Jingzhong. When the remaining Qing troops regrouped and counterattacked, Liu Guoxuan could no longer hold out, resulting in a crushing defeat for Zheng's army. Although Liu Guoxuan managed to lead a small group of soldiers back to the east bank of Jiulong River at the last moment, the elite forces of Zheng's army were completely lost in this battle. With no choice, Liu Guoxuan led the remaining 2-3 thousand defeated soldiers to abandon Changtai and retreat to Haicheng.

  ??

  "Fu Pu, how did you come?" Zhu Jinru, who had suffered consecutive defeats, was like a trapped beast. Suddenly seeing Chen Yonghua, the Eastern Ning General Envoy, appearing in front of him with a dusty and exhausted look, his astonishment was palpable. However, after the initial shock, a wave of unease surged up in his heart. "Has something happened in Eastern Ning?"

  "Your Majesty need not worry, everything is fine in Dongning." Despite the fact that Taiwan's internal treasury was depleted and external factions were causing trouble, Chen Yonghua had to comfort Zhu Jin, who had become a startled bird. "I just heard that our vassal state has suffered consecutive defeats, with significant losses of soldiers and generals, so I came to beg Your Majesty to withdraw troops."

  "Retreat?" Zhu Jin looked at Chen Yonghua. "Is this what Chen Qing meant?" Zhu Jin was somewhat incredulous, knowing that Chen Yonghua was always cautious and never overstepped his authority, so why would he suddenly interfere with military affairs today? He thought for a moment, seeming to understand something. "It's because of Qin She letting you come."

  "Your Highness, although it was the Marquis's decision to withdraw troops from our province, I also agree with it." Chen Yonghua said indirectly, and then pulled out a letter from his sleeve. "The Marquis has also entrusted me with another letter for Your Highness." Zhu Jin took it and scanned it briefly before Chen Yonghua continued, "Now that the Tartars and Han traitors are powerful, our province in Fujian can no longer make progress. It would be better to shift our battle to Guangdong, Guangxi, or Guizhou, where we may find new opportunities."

  "Yue Guiqiang?" Zhu Jin read the letter again and again, then slapped it on the table. "This matter is of great importance, I must consult with someone." Zhu Jin was a careless boss, what he meant by consulting was originally to find Chen Xiangwu, now it's to find Feng Xifan to take charge. "However, this province still has its naval forces, and Haicheng is also under our control, the so-called failure is just an arbitrary decision of Qin, why should Fu follow in panic."

  "Our financial resources have reached their limit." Chen Yonghua confessed. "The savings of ten years have been used up, and we are really unable to bear the expenses of the large army; apart from this, the households that followed the former king to Taiwan at that time are now almost all in mourning, with no strong men to recruit, and the new Taiwanese people who came recently were only for land and not truly loyal to our kingdom, so it is also impossible to easily sign up soldiers." The financial difficulties and the drying up of military resources, these two things are normally enough to be a sign of the downfall of a country if they happen at the same time, therefore Chen Yonghua's strong suggestion to withdraw troops was reasonable, not simply following Zheng Kezang's suggestion. "Therefore, I think that late withdrawal is not as good as early withdrawal."

  ??”

  Chen Yonghua soon returned to Dongning, but the suggestion he brought back caused a great stir in the army - it was a major issue, and Feng Xifan did not dare to speak lightly to Zhu Jin, so he pushed the question of whether to withdraw or transfer to Guangdong, Guangxi, and Hainan to the frontline commanders. Many Zheng army generals were eager to return home, but some saw Yang Xian's success in Leizhou and wanted to shift their focus to southern Guangdong. However, a group of Zheng army generals led by Liu Guoxuan were unwilling to become supporting actors for Yang Xian.

  "We can't withdraw our troops," Liu Guoxuan shouted loudly to Zhu Jin. "Now the Tartars want to take Haicheng but cannot, if we admit defeat and withdraw voluntarily, wouldn't that make the Tartars overjoyed?" Of course, this statement could not satisfy Zhu Jin, so Liu Guoxuan added, "Now our army is disheartened, if we don't fight a battle and retreat from Haicheng and Siming back to Dongning, I'm afraid in the future when they see the Qing barbarians' flag, they will flee at the mere rumor."

  Feng Xifan glanced at Zhu Jin, who seemed to have a motive, and decided to speak up to help Liu Guoxuan. This would not only show goodwill to Liu Guoxuan and other military leaders but also continue to attack Chen Yonghua's uncle and nephew: "Your Majesty, I think the words of Wu Pingbo are not unreasonable. Moreover, I think that occupying Siming and Haicheng is necessary before negotiating with Beiting, in order to gain the greatest benefit at the smallest cost."

  Zhu Jin's eyebrows twitched, and he naturally understood Feng Xifan's meaning. It was nothing more than using Si Ming and Hai Cheng as bargaining chips to get some promises from the Qing court. Although this was not his original intention, it would at least allow him to make up for the losses of sending troops to the mainland for several years, and also give himself a bit of face to return to Dongning to see his parents.

  Although he felt convinced again, Zhu Jin still hesitated: "What about retreating to Qiongzhou?"

  "Qiong Lei is just a biased place, with one battalion of Yang Xian and Yang Lao, it's enough." Liu Guo Xuan thought so. "Moreover, the sea route is very far, if the Qing army's naval forces directly cross the sea to attack Taiwan, it will be too late for us to come and rescue them."

  "What about provisions and troops?"

  "With Hai Cheng, it's like having a gateway on the mainland. Our province can gather scattered troops and re-recruit soldiers." Liu Guo Xuan swore solemnly. "As for food supplies, Dong Ning is in dire straits, but Qiongzhou has an abundance of imports." The so-called abundance was because Zheng's army had fewer troops after their defeat, not because Qiongzhou had increased its imports. "It can hold out for a while, or perhaps turn the tide."

  "What?"

  Seeing Zhu Jin still hesitating, Feng Xifan hastened to firm up his resolve: "Your Majesty, when it's time to decide, then decide."

  "Well, as you said, let's just continue to hold on for now."

  Liu Guoxuan and Feng Xifan exchanged a glance, both nodded their heads in unison: "Yes!"