Chang Yu led nearly a hundred personal guards to leave the main force and take the lead. After the rain, the humidity was heavy but it was cooler, and more importantly, he was in a better mood. He fought in the north with Huang Degong, and Zhou Yuji and those strong generals joined forces, whether marching or fighting. It's all a tacit understanding, but now, hey, the king carries bronze... or scrap metal, and even marching in the army feels really depressing.
The road was muddy after the rain, but it did not affect Chang Yu's hundred cavalry. There was a warning signal ahead more than half an hour later, but he caught up with the pioneer Jin Shenghuan. At this time, he led a thousand pioneer cavalry to repair by an unknown lake. Hearing that Chang Yu Come see me in a hurry.
"Lord Governor, you are here late at night, could something have happened?" To be honest, Jin Shenghuan was a little nervous. After all, he was not very familiar with this place but he was in the vanguard. If he unknowingly fell into an ambush by the bandits, it would be extremely difficult for him to survive. retreat.
"Without him, the rear is boring," Chang Yu said lightly. After asking him about the topography, he learned that there was Jiangxinzhou in the Yangtze River to the west. After a brief recollection, he realized that he had reached the location of Ma'anshan City in later generations. This nameless lake was most likely to be the location of later generations. Yuxin Lake is only twenty or thirty miles away from Dangtu, the city of Taiping.
"Can you find out how the thieves are working?" Chang Yu asked.
Jin Shenghuan shook his head: "There are many cottages around, and there are many fishing villages along the river. Even if there are thieves working carefully, it is difficult to identify them."
Chang Yu hummed, and told him to be careful, not to disturb the people, and to wait until dawn before rushing on his way. Jin Shenghuan repeatedly dissuaded him: "Master Governor, please do not take risks. Although I say that I am fine, I cannot rule out that there are people in the territory." A small band of thieves."
"In your opinion, this governor's nearly a hundred warriors are nothing that a small band of thieves can do." Chang Yu laughed and whipped away. Jin Shenghuan sighed and said to the soldiers around him: "Young people are full of energy and arrogance, after all, You will suffer a big loss."
A person in the lobby of the Anqing government office frowned and pondered. This person was Li Zicheng's general Bai Wang. He was not outstanding among the rebels. He was low-key and calm. This was why Li Zicheng asked his queen to guard Xiangjing during the Northern Expedition to Sun Chuanting. main reason.
Bai Wang acted steadily and knew that greed for power and rash advancement would lead to misfortune. After unexpectedly capturing the city of Anqing, he decided to manage this place well. The city strangled the throat of the Yangtze River with its thick walls and deep mountains and old forests. It can advance or retreat far beyond Germany. So much peace. Therefore, he personally took charge of the operation, promoted and appointed pseudo-officials, and did not do any harm to the people or the surrendered officials, but tortured the wealthy gentry without any bottom line. At the same time, he ordered his subordinates to advance along the river and approach Nanjing City.
In fact, Bai Wang also knew that unless there was another accident, Nanjing City would not be defeated at all. The reason why he continued to send troops was exactly the same as Li Zicheng's Eastern Expedition, to extend the war and take the opportunity to consolidate the territory in his hands.
As long as Anqing's status is consolidated and then slowly encroached on surrounding states and counties, Nanjing won't be within easy reach by then!
But just now, an urgent report from the north disrupted his plan. The imperial court sent reinforcements south, known as an army of 200,000. At this time, they had arrived in Luzhou Prefecture and faced Wuhu across the river, and were ready to cross the river to recapture Wuhu at any time. .
This news was absolutely unexpected by Bai Wang. Although he knew that Li Zicheng had returned in defeat, he thought that the imperial court would kill eight hundred enemies and lose one thousand. In addition, there were wars, locust plagues, droughts and plagues there, so he had no time to take care of himself. It is said that there are no soldiers available, even if there are soldiers, there is no way to rush to help here.
But it came, and it came so quickly, and it was called two hundred thousand!
This two hundred thousand is absolutely impossible, but it has been confirmed that there are tens of thousands of people in the king's body.
If there are only tens of thousands of people, and their ability to attack thousands of miles in a short period of time is reduced, the rebel army is not afraid of the current momentum and combat effectiveness. What makes Bai Wang a little confused is why the reinforcements of the officers and soldiers did not go south along the Yangtze River to attack Anqing. Why risk crossing the river to hit Wuhu?
However, he quickly found an explanation for the officers and soldiers. First of all, Anqing was further away, and the city was easier to defend and harder to attack. If they went straight to Anqing, they might be attacked from behind by the rebels. Furthermore, Wuhu was too close to Nanjing, and the imperial court could lose countless people. Anqing Fucheng, but Nanjing City must not be lost. If Nanjing City is lost, the impact will be too great!
So, they abandoned their pawns to save their chariots! First remove the threat from Nanjing, and then slowly advance southward.
That must be it!
What a beautiful thought! A sneer appeared at the corner of Bai Wang's mouth. He finally managed to get out of the mountain nook in De'an. How could he go back easily? How could he spit out the Anqing city again? But if he wanted to operate Anqing as a base, he had to fight the war. Burn out and attack Nanjing! The imperial court was so busy that it had no time to do so.
Naturally, I also made a comparison in my mind. Today's rebels are no longer the Amon of the past, nor are they bandits who flee into the mountains at every turn. They are fully capable of fighting head-on. In terms of military strength, the imperial court's reinforcements from the north are no more than 20,000 to 30,000, and they have to travel long distances. In addition, due to the acclimatization and other factors, the combat power is negligible. Although there are tens of thousands of soldiers and horses in Nanjing City, they dare not go far for fear of being intercepted. Besides, there are no officers and soldiers around here.
Jiujiang has a little bit, but Lu Daqi doesn't dare to go out to challenge. Wuchang Zuo Liangyu claims to have two hundred thousand, but he is watching behind closed doors, and there is Yuan Zongdi waiting beside his bed, watching him eagerly in Jingxiang, and he doesn't dare to do it. You may come here to provoke him, but if you take ten thousand steps back, he will dare to come and have nothing to fear. You must know that Zuo Liangyu has never defeated him once!
After all, the number of officers and soldiers around Nanjing is only one hundred thousand. Although he only has 20,000 elites, he also has tens of thousands of cannon fodder. No matter how hard he is attacked, he will not be afraid. Anyway, the purpose is to protect Anqing, and attacking Nanjing is A cover.
So Bai Wang summoned several confidants to discuss the matter overnight, and finally decided to go to the front line in person to take charge, leaving his general Cheng Niandong to lead three thousand bandit troops to guard Anqing, while the rest went north along the river to attack the officers and soldiers.
Of course, he did not forget to tell Cheng Niandong to pay attention to the disturbances on the west bank of the Yangtze River. If he found the officers and soldiers, he would immediately attack him. Cheng Niandong was very confident about this and threatened to kill as many as he came and not let them get even half a step closer to Anqing Fucheng.
This sounds very arrogant, but in fact it is well-founded, because Anqing's geographical location is really advantageous. It is surrounded by the Yangtze River in the southeast, which is a natural hazard, and there are boundless mountains in the west, and the Qianshan Mountain in the west is even more boundless. There are deep mountains and old forests, and there are lakes and swamps between Zhengbei and Songyang County. If you want to march, you must stick to the Yangtze River, or go to the foot of the mountain in the west, or... fly over, as long as you intercept according to the terrain, the officers and soldiers will really be able to do it. It is difficult to reach the city.
Therefore, Bai Wang was relieved to leave three thousand people in this new base area and led his troops northward.
Fengyang Mansion, on the south bank of the Huaihe River, Wu Sangui frowned and looked at the soldiers and horses crossing the river: "There are many rivers, ditches, and rain in the south. At this speed, we won't even be able to drink the soup when we reach the end of the field." Ma Ke, who was next to him, said with a smile: "The road is the same. If we keep going, they may have just arrived at the end of the field. Mr. Wu, don't be impatient. The soup will not miss our meat."
"That's the best, otherwise this life will be in vain." Wu Sangui hummed, and looked into the distance to see Tu Yuan and Jia Waixiong who had just landed: "Brothers, we don't have much food and grass left, do you want to go to Fenghuang?" Can Yang Mansion ask for some?"
Tu Yuan raised his eyebrows and thought for a while: "People don't open their doors in the middle of the night, and it will delay the trip until dawn. Everyone, be patient, but we will be at the end of the country in just a few hundred miles."
"Should we go straight to Nanjing or..." Ma Ke asked. He and Wu Sangui looked at each other with dark eyes all the way. Tu Yuan and Jia Waixiong had the final say on which way to go, because the information was in their hands. In their hands.
"I also want to go to Nanjing to drink flower wine, but the problem is that I can't do it now." Tu Yuan laughed and said, "We are about to attack Wuhu. Let's go straight southeast from here to Chaohu to cross the river!"
Ma Ke and Wu Sangui looked at each other without saying anything.
The imperial capital, the Forbidden City.
Although it was already late at night, Emperor Chongzhen was still busy with state affairs. Although the war in the north had calmed down, cleaning up a mess was sometimes more difficult than fighting. Natural disasters and famines continued everywhere. There was a shortage of food and rice everywhere. People were starving to death every day. Even in the capital, hundreds of people died every day, some were infected by the plague or starved to death, and bones on the roadside were commonplace.
In the past, when the treasury had no money, the young eunuch robbed the homes of several Shanxi merchants in Shanxi and made a large sum of money. However, there were so many places where the court needed money. What's even worse is that these days, even if you have money, you can't buy it. food.
Food can only be transferred from the south of the Yangtze River, but let’s not talk about the war in the south. With the speed of logistics these days, it is difficult to quench the thirst of people far away. When the food arrives, I don’t know how many people will starve to death. At this most difficult time, Chang Yu once again became a bodhisattva who rescued those in distress. Octopus returned from the grain ship from the south, and the grain donated by King De of Shandong also arrived. Although it could not completely solve the famine, it could give people a breather.
Emperor Chongzhen breathed a sigh of relief and even wrote a letter of commendation to King Zhu Youli. This made Zhu Youli so happy that he felt grateful for Chang Yu's natural advantages.
Just how could Ma Shiying, the governor of Lufeng, die suddenly and suddenly? Lu Zhenfei's excerpt said that he slipped and fell into the city. Chang Yu's secret letter also said the same, but how could a little old man be so bighearted and climb up the battlements? This was too much. What's strange is that all the ministers in the court discussed this in private.
In the past, Emperor Chongzhen would not have thought too much, but as soon as something came into contact with Chang Yu, he couldn't help but think more about whether Chang Yu was killed, but why did they have no grievances? What about killing Ma Shiying?
Yes, just die. Emperor Chongzhen will not mourn for Ma Shiying. At present, besides the civil affairs in the north, what he is most concerned about is the war in the south. The latest intelligence from the Jinyiwei shows that the rebel army has reached Wuhu, which is one step away from Nanjing. This He was shocked but secretly relieved, because Chang Yu had also arrived in Nanjing at this time. As long as the rebel army did not break through Nanjing City before he arrived, there would be no chance of breaking through again.
Of course, he also knew that he would soon receive information about Chang Yu's impeachment from Nanjing. If not, it would be too strange.
Thinking about this time when he went south to fight for reinforcements, the food and grass for tens of thousands of troops depended on this guy's deceit and deception. Looking at the whole Ming Dynasty, there was no other person who could do such a thing. Emperor Chongzhen couldn't help but raise the corners of his mouth while feeling lucky. Now Chang Yu is already in Nanjing, Gao Jie and other pioneers are on the other side of Wuhu, and Li Yan's main force has also passed through Nanjing. He believes that good news will come soon.
