Chapter 161: The Situation

After the Taiping Army broke through the city, the Qing-appointed County Magistrate of Xinhui, Huang Zhizheng, set fire to himself in the county yamen. Fortunately, the fire started only in the rear hall and did not spread through the entire yamen.

Afterwards, soldiers of the Hujie Battalion who entered the yamen searched out the military dispatches and official documents sent over the years from Beijing, Guangzhou, and other places.

Combining the contents of these dispatches and documents with prisoner confessions and reconnaissance along the way, Zhou Shixiang marked the strengths of both enemy and friendly forces on a map of Guangdong he had drawn, using red dots for the Ming army and black dots for the Qing army, then summoned the commanders for a council of war.

On the map, the number of red dots representing the Ming army and black dots representing the Qing army showed no great discrepancy — in fact, the red dots even outnumbered the black.

But the areas held by the Ming army were all remote mountains and coastal regions, while the Qing army occupied the richest parts of Guangdong. Guangzhou and the Chaozhou-Shantou region were covered in black dots.

By comparison, the manpower and material resources controlled by the Ming army were nowhere near comparable.

"Wei Yingdeng of Dong'an and Regional Commander Ye Biao's force, Wang Han's force in the Qingyuan Mountains of Shaozhou, and Deng Yao's force on Longmen Island in Qinzhou each have anywhere from several hundred to several thousand troops."

"There is the force of Zhu Tong, General Who Guards the State of the Ning Principality; Zhou Tengfeng's force on the Haibei Circuit; Zhou Jintang, the Earl of Zhangping, in Shicheng County; Assistant Regional Commander Li Changrong on Hailing Island in Yangjiang County; further, General of the Tiger Guards Wang Xing's force in Enping County; and General Who Tames the Seas Chen Qice's force on Upper Chuan and Lower Chuan Islands in the South Sea.

These forces vary in troop strength and quality, but all have naval units attached, which is why the Qing army can do nothing about them."

"These Ming armies and loyalist forces are all under the command of Guo Zhiqi, Grand Secretary of the Yongli court, and Governor-General of Liangguang Lian Chengbi.

In addition, there is Zhang Xiaoqi, Governor of the Four Prefectures in Gaozhou. But this Zhang Xiaoqi is a man without strategy — nothing can be expected from Gaozhou.

The forces we can draw on now lie chiefly in the three prefectures of Qin, Lei, and Lian. Among them, General Who Tames the Seas Chen Qice has just dealt the Qing army a heavy blow and can be called upon for support.

Also, Assistant Regional Commander Li Changrong's force on Hailing Island is closest to us. If we can draw him straight into the Jiujiang estuary, he can pin down the Qing army's Guangdong naval force.

If the Qing navy is smashed, our army can cross the river and strike straight at Xiangshan."

"The Green Standard prisoners have confessed that there are quite a few Ming troops active in the mountains near Xinhui.

These men were left behind at the start of the year when the Prince of Xining retreated and had no time to withdraw. There are soldiers of the Prince of Xining, and also men of other Ming armies and loyalist forces.

Back when we followed Boss Hu down the mountain to attack Xinhui, we too nearly failed to make it back."

At this point, Song Xianggong paused, a look of sorrow on his face, clearly thinking of the departed Hu Quan. Ge Zheng and the others, seeing this, were likewise downcast and grief-stricken.

Straightening his expression, Song Xianggong put away his grief and continued: "The Battalion Commander has already sent men to contact these scattered soldiers.

Though these stragglers are a mixed lot, among them are many good men wholly devoted to restoring the Ming, and many who once served in the crack troops of various garrisons.

If we leave them scattered across the countryside without recruiting or pacifying them, in time they will either turn bandit or truly fade away.

Therefore, if we can bring them into our Taiping Army, we will surely strengthen our forces, and also let these men rekindle their hope of contending with the Tartars."

When Song Xianggong had finished, Zhou Shixiang rose and said: "Men have already been sent to contact the stragglers and the Ming forces in various places. Our most urgent task right now is to defeat the coming attack of the Qing army from Guangzhou.

Only by doing so will these stragglers come to join us, and those sons of Han who keep the Great Ming in their hearts and refuse to be slaves of the Manchus will also come to join us!

Even if we cannot defeat the Qing army, we must nail ourselves firmly here... even if it means death, we will die here in Xinhui city!"

Zhou Shixiang spoke with absolute finality, and the commanders all knew that the battle of Xinhui would decide the life or death of the Taiping Army. With no further argument, they roared their assent, and the rougher-tempered among them even began cursing the female ancestors of the Qing troops.

The analysis of the situation had been pushed to the very limit of Zhou Shixiang's ability, and it was extremely thorough. Better to rely on oneself than to beg others — since raising troops at Luoding, Zhou Shixiang had always held firmly to this belief.

That was why he had abandoned the idea of going west to join Li Dingguo, and instead used Hu Quan's strength to carve out a situation of his own. Say what you will, a man's life must be in his own hands — even in death, a man must decide for himself how he dies!

Everything on the external front had been arranged, and within the city, the "unity of hearts" also lay with the Taiping Army.

With a strong wall to rely on, and the whole camp of one mind and ready to fight to the death, Zhou Shixiang had made his decision: right here in Xinhui city, he would contend with Shang Kexi and Geng Jimao for victory or defeat.

In the Taiping Army's organization, twenty soldiers made a squad, five squads made a company, five companies made a battalion, with an additional twenty cooks attached, so one battalion numbered 520 men. At present there were five battalions: Xiongwei, Hujie, Zhenlu, Xianzhen, and Jinwei.

After the battle of Guifeng Mountain, every battalion had suffered casualties. After replenishment with Green Standard prisoners, the battalions now at full strength were Jinwei, Xianzhen, and Hujie, while the Xiongwei and Zhenlu battalions were each short by several dozen men.

Thus, the total combat strength of the Taiping Army's five main battalions came to less than 2,500 men.

Defending Xinhui city with 2,500 men was certainly not a comfortable margin, and moreover, new recruits and prisoners made up more than half of each battalion, most of them untrained, so their combat effectiveness was a real concern.

In addition, the loyalty of the newly inducted prisoners was doubtful. As long as the Taiping Army remained strong, these prisoners would not dare make trouble, but if the Taiping Army weakened, it was hard to avoid the risk of them turning their coats.

The killing of the bannermen might steady hearts for the moment, but at the true moment of life and death, how many Green Standard prisoners would weigh whether the Qing army would spare them after they turned coat — that was a real question.

After all, when a man's head is about to fall, even knowing it is only a straw to clutch at, plenty of people will still reach out and grab it.

Zhou Shixiang had no time, and no need, to take precautions against potential dangers. Whether the prisoners could be won over, whether the new recruits could become veterans — no amount of talk would settle it.

Only fighting a real, solid battle would settle anything. Whether Xinhui could be held depended on whether they could beat back the Qing army's first assault.

If they won, no danger would exist; if they lost, what point was there in talking of danger?

The shortage of troops would have to be made up with weapons. The dozen or so Hongyi great general cannons and several dozen large and small bronze cannons in Xinhui city became Zhou Shixiang's chips for victory.

Only a few dozen men in the Taiping Army knew how to work the cannons. For this reason, Zhou Shixiang set aside his thought of killing the prisoners.

After the city walls were repaired, more than a hundred Han troops of the Bordered Blue Banner were driven up onto the wall.

Just as these Han troops thought the Taiping Army was going to kill them, Zhou Shixiang gave them a choice: serve the Taiping Army by working the cannons, or jump off the wall themselves.

The result surprised no one — every one of the Han troops chose to serve the Taiping Army by working the cannons, without a single moment of hesitation. For safety's sake, Zhou Shixiang assigned two swordsmen to each cannon.

These swordsmen had one task only: to watch whether the Han troops were working or slacking. If any Han soldier was found firing blank shots, he would simply be cut down on the spot.

With several dozen cannons in hand, the whole Taiping Army gained a few more degrees of confidence in holding Xinhui. As for other weapons, they were also in ample supply.

Thanks to the Qing troops in the city, the Taiping Army had also gained 250 matchlock muskets, 16 large-barreled fowling pieces, 72 standard long sabers, 1,362 long spears, 460 bows with nearly 6,000 arrows, 8 suits of iron armor, and 180 padded cotton armor coats.

The weapons of the five main battalions had all been distributed. The iron armor went to officers of all ranks, and the cotton armor was issued entirely to the Zhenlu Battalion, making Ge Zheng's Zhenlu Battalion the only combat battalion in the Taiping Army fully armored.

Though there were many bows, the Taiping Army had few soldiers who could shoot. In the end, 100 Green Standard soldiers were selected as archers, and the bow squad of the Jinwei Battalion was expanded into an archer company, held in readiness as a mobile force.

The warhorses rounded up in the city were not many — only a bit over twenty. These were assigned to Zhu Er's cavalry squad.

Even so, the cavalry squad numbered only a few dozen men, utterly incapable of serving as an independent fighting force, let alone of facing the Han Banner cavalry that might appear.