Chapter 170: Sweep
Jishui, also known as Jiahe - actually this is a slip of the tongue, its origin is in Zhongnan Mountain, Shaanxi, and the upstream section is called Jiahe River. More than 95% of the people in the Ming Dynasty were illiterate, and due to the difference in accent, people called him Jiahe. However, in government maps and documents, the official title is still Jishui. Jishui flows almost straight south from Shangjin in Yunyang Prefecture, Huguang, and flows into the east-flowing Hanshui at the mouth of Baihe River at the border with Shaanxi. The river was now overcrowded, with hundreds of small and large boats struggling upstream, and the official road on the shore was also crowded with people heading north.
To the south, Gao Tengdou's three battalions were "rearing" Zhang Hu. To the north, Gu Baisong's cavalry was the forerunner of the army, leading Niu Youtian's front army to "open the way". To the west, Hanzhong Prefecture had already captured Yunyang Jianfu. He turned a blind eye to the huge flow of people heading straight to Shangnan, supporting the old and young. To the east far away from the shore, a large fortress stood sideways blocking the official road leading to Yunxi, fluttering in the wind. The "Gong" and "You" general flags were ringing loudly. All this completely put an end to all Zhang Hu's illusions about entering Huguang.
Zhang Hu and Fang Ge said goodbye to Gao Tengdou who was "seeing him off" in Shangjin. Although there was no one hundred and seventy or eighty reluctances in their hearts, Zhang Hu and others could only follow Luo Yonghao's plan and go straight to Shangnan at the junction of Shaanxi and Henan. From here they would enter the heart of the Ming Empire.
At first Guan Shengyun wanted to devour Zhang Hu's men in one go, but was dissuaded by Military Advisor Luo. Luo Yonghao's reasons are very forward-looking: now the Guan Department has strong troops and horses, which will be enough to deal with any eventuality for a long time; Zhang Hu's military camps are almost the same as the general officers and soldiers of the Ming Dynasty, and may even be weaker, which is purely useless. ——Eating them will not substantially improve your own strength. On the contrary, it will immediately arouse everyone's vigilance: not only the court, but also the She'an family in Shanxi, Yunnan, Henan and other places are openly rebelling at this time. There are several other rising new forces, and annexing "friendly forces" will make them feel grudges. Therefore, it is better to let Zhang Hu and others cause trouble everywhere to further distract the court's attention. Luo Yonghao cited the example of Taizu of this dynasty who "built walls high, accumulated grain widely, and became king slowly" to convince Guan Shengyun and the generals. Not only that, Military Advisor Luo also generously allocated 20,000 shi of grain to Zhang. Tiger did a big favor.
Hearing that Zhang Hu had left more than 1,500 horses, Gu Baihua was so happy that he pestered Guan Shengyun to form a pure cavalry force. Guan Shengyun told him that those horses had circled most of the way along the border of Shaanxi Province, and had received little rest and recuperation along the way. They were now skin and bones, and many were infected with diseases. They might not live for a few days. After hearing this, Gu Baihua felt extremely distressed. He ran directly from the ancient city without even seeing Gao Tengdou, and went straight to the makeshift horse farm. Then they plunged in for several days and nights without coming out, while Gu Baihua's soldiers captured all the veterinarians they could find in the Yunxi area of Shangjin and took them all to the horse farm. After more than half a month of recuperation, more than 1,300 horses have fully recovered, of which nearly 500 can be used as war horses, and the remaining 800 can also be used as pack horses or riding horses. Huguang is rich but does not produce horses. Horses are treasures and all the generals are coveted, so they all take advantage of the opportunity to guard against Zhang Hu and come over to strike up a conversation in secret. But Gu Baihua was more concerned about guarding these horses than his own wife. Whoever came to worry was the one who was anxious. In the end, it was Guan Shengyun who came forward and took over a hundred horses away for the generals to serve as mounts or Weitang riders. Gu Baisong's cavalry team expanded to more than 600 cavalry, one man and three horses. When Gu Baihua returned to the ancient city angrily, he said: Next time he gets a horse, no one will try to steal one. Anyone who is not convinced can just go to him to have a discussion. This guy has long wanted to build a pure cavalry force, preferably five thousand, oh, no, ten thousand cavalry - he wants to lead this armored torrent to run amok!
Zhang Hu entered Nanyang Mansion in Henan Province from Shangnan. As expected, as Gao Tengdou had told him, everything he saw was filled with desolation. Fortunately, there were a lot of captures in the Shaanxi province, and Zhang Hu was not willing to give away all the 20,000 shi of grain given by Guan Shengyun. Of course, the soldiers had to be well fed, but the family members, old and young, who accompanied the camp only had more to eat every day. I drank a bowl of porridge that was neither thick nor light, and I only finished half of it after walking for many days. Guan Shengyun went to Huguang from Henan Prefecture (not Henan Province, mind you) and Nanyang Prefecture. He couldn't stay in these two prefectures, so Zhang Hu went straight to Ruzhou, preparing to go to Kaifeng Prefecture, the provincial capital, to grab a handful.
Different from the elite route taken by Guan Shengyun, Zhang Hu still adopted the old method of taking everything with him, taking away all the people and property wherever he went, and setting a fire that could not be lifted to completely burn the ground to white. It has to be said that this method will certainly cause huge damage to society, and even drink poison to quench thirst - once the momentum is stopped, everyone will immediately lose supplies and help, and most of them will starve to death in a short time, but it is very effective: raiding After taking care of everything along the way, by the time Lushan was captured, the team had rapidly expanded to more than 300,000 people. Every time they stopped to rest, the camps and shacks would stretch for dozens of miles, and the momentum was extremely terrifying.
Zhang Hu didn't understand this. What he saw was his unstoppable momentum like a mudslide. Following the lessons learned from Guan Shengyun in the previous episode, Henan Province urgently reported to the capital and mobilized troops from various state capitals to resist. However, what can be done in the face of hundreds of thousands of refugees, a few hundred, or at most two or three thousand beggar-like guardsmen? There is almost no suspense in a field battle. Looking at the endless crowd of people on the opposite side, no matter how brave the general is, he will rush his horse to escape; as for the siege battle, it is also very easy: when the enemy attacks, all the city gates will be closed. Zhang Huhui drove the people to surround the city tightly, then built some ladders and began to besiege on all sides. The auxiliary barracks where Ning A'long was located continued to be built day and night. Once a batch was built, a batch was sent up. The common people were treated as expendables. The dead and wounded groaned in the trenches under the city, and the ones behind were still being driven to the battlefield in a steady stream. . Such a style of fighting that relies solely on brute force will definitely kill many people, but the last thing King Zhang cares about is human life! The soldiers were all used to hold down the formation and supervise the battle, and the people climbing the wall were ordinary people. The moment the defenders were too weak to hold the sword, the city was broken. Immediately, not only did all the materials in the city fall into their hands, but also the Receive a massive complement of personnel! Relying on the cannon fodder who came one after another, Baofeng, Jiaxian, Yuzhou, and Xinzheng were captured one after another. Niu Youtian's forward had reached Weishi, and the army's front was directed at Kaifeng Mansion, the center of Henan Province.
Zhang Hu went so smoothly on this journey, so after Weishi and Niu Youtian met, he immediately allocated 100,000 people to Fang Ge and ordered him to raid Chenliu, Qixian and other places, while he led the main force to attack Kaifeng Mansion. He has the momentum to flatten him in one fell swoop.
[There are a lot of things going on these days, so I have been writing a little bit intermittently. I have something to do tomorrow, so I’ll try to write it down the day after tomorrow^_^]
