On New Year's Eve in the first year of Taichu, the Supreme Emperor, the Empress Dowager Cisheng and their retinues had fun with the people in Junzhou to celebrate the Spring Festival.
On New Year's Eve, the Supreme Emperor held a grand "Zi Sacrifice" ceremony in Jingle Palace.
The so-called "Zi sacrifice" means enshrining the tablets of the ancestors of the Qi Dynasty in the Ancestral Temple and holding a joint sacrifice.
The lives of Emperor Wuding's ancestors are unknown, and even his parents do not know where they are buried.
Therefore, the sacrifice ceremony in the first year of Taichu was quite simple. After the ceremony, the civil and military ministers and envoys from the four barbarians gave congratulatory gifts to Emperor Wuding.
At noon that day, the Supreme Emperor gave a banquet in the main hall of Jingle Palace and announced to the world that the Royal Taoist Temple would be taken over by the Daqi Farmers' Cooperative. The land and mountains in the Taoist Temple would all belong to Daqi. People from Junzhou, Gucheng and other places who joined the Farmers' Cooperative, All were allowed to enter the mountains and forests for farming and logging; all the large and small shops in Junzhou City were taken over by the Daqi Trading Co., Ltd., all privileges of Taoists were abolished, and more than 3,600 Taoist priests were sentenced to hard labor in the army.
After the winter offensive, the White Lotus Sect bandits in the Jingxiang area became frightened and fled deep into the mountains and forests.
After the fall of Junzhou, Xiangyang Prefecture was still under the control of Nanming.
On the eighth day of the first lunar month, Zhang Dong, the leader of the Capricorn Guards, issued an ultimatum to Xiangyang General Mi Qianchun through merchants in Fancheng.
On the tenth day of the lunar month, Xiangyang Fucheng not only refused to surrender, but also reinforced fortifications around Fancheng. Although they lost foreign aid, the Xiangyang Ming army put on a posture of decisive battle with the Qi army.
Xiangyang and Fancheng are located at the southern end of the Nanyang Basin, adjacent to Xianshou Mountain (today's south of Xiangyang), standing between the Han River, connecting Jingyu and Henan, and controlling the north and south. Their geographical location is very important. The city is fortified, the pond is deep, and the warehouses are abundant. It is an important military town in the Southern Ming Dynasty.
In view of the defense situation of Xiang and Fan, the Qi army knew that it would be difficult to win by force, so they adopted a strategy of building forts on all sides, besieging them for a long time, blocking reinforcements by land and water, and waiting to break the city. Then they built forts at Lumen Mountain (southeast of today's Xiangyang) and Baihekou (northeast of today's Xiangyang), cutting off the north-south connection between the Ming army and surrounding Xiang and Fan.
The defenders of Xiangyang Prefecture saw that the Qi army was too powerful to resist, so they asked for help from the Jiangbei camp stationed in Hefei, and begged Zuo Liangyu to send troops to rescue and relieve "the people of Jingxiang and Xiang from hanging upside down."
Ning Nanbo refused to send troops to Xiangyang on the grounds that "the Huaihe River is important and should not be touched lightly." Not only that, the Ming army in Hefei also intercepted the troops, horses, money and grain sent by the imperial court to reinforce Jingxiang at the line of the Huaihe River, and robbed the grain and grass on the spot.
On the twelfth day of the first lunar month, in order to strengthen its water combat capabilities, the Qi army trained 10,000 naval troops in Wanshanxi, built 500 warships, and built a solid platform (today's East Enemy Platform) in the Han River, with red-coated cannons on it and flying divine fire. Crow, in order to cut off the military waterway, pose a threat to Xiang and Fan.
In order to get rid of the crisis, the defenders used 10,000 people on foot and cavalry and more than 100 warships to raid Wanshan Fort. General Deng Changxiong of the Qi army stood still at first. When the Ming army penetrated deeply, he beat the drums and attacked vigorously, winning in one fell swoop.
In early March, Qi Jin led his army to fight against the Ming army at Guanzitan, capturing and killing more than a thousand people, seizing 30 warships, and pursued them to Yunshengzhou, where they defeated the Ming army. His general Mi Qianchun escaped in a light boat.
In April, the Qi army launched a general attack on Fancheng in five directions from the northeast and southwest. In the southwest, Wu Aheng and Qi Jin ordered soldiers who were familiar with water properties to dive into the water, break trees and sink ropes, burn the pontoon bridge between Xiang and Fan, and cut off the connection between the two cities.
Then, the Qi army divided into multiple groups, equipped with powerful and long-range new field artillery, to attack Fancheng by land and water.
Explosive bombs blew open the turrets of Fancheng, opening a gap, and the Qi army invaded the city; in the northeast, Deng Changxiong, Qi Jin and others would launch a strong attack, fight fiercely day and night, and finally break through the city.
After the fall of Fancheng, Xiangyang Supervisory Army Deputy Envoy Zhang Kejian, promotion officer Kuang Yueguang, county magistrate Li Dajue, guerrilla Li Anmin and others were as anxious as ants on a hot pot. They hurriedly organized government soldiers and guardsmen to go to Xiangcheng to guard. On the one hand, they sent elite cavalry one after another to ask for help from Nanjing.
On April 12, General Lin Yu and Wu Xiao of the Imperial Guard intercepted the messenger sent by Zhang Kejian and obtained Zhang Kejian's token.
Pei Dahu selected thirty-six members of the Imperial Guard, headed by Wu Xiao and Lin Yu, who pretended to be Ming troops and took advantage of the chaos to sneak into Xiangyang City.
Soldiers set fire to the grain and grass mills and gunpowder depots in Xiangyang, triggering riots in the Ming army. Deng Changxiong took advantage of the situation and led his army into Xiangyang City. Xiang Wang Zhu Yiming and his family were captured by Lin Yu, and they were eventually executed.
On April 15, Emperor Wu Ding entered Xiangyang, beheaded the general Mi Qianchun and captured more than 3,000 people. The Ming army broke up and abandoned the city and fled south. The Qi army's major corps swept through Jingxiang.
The army continued to march towards Suizhou, and the soldiers pointed at the front were unstoppable.
Officials sent by the Hongguang court to Suizhou and other places opened their doors to welcome the Qi army before they arrived. They painted the red plaques in front of the prefecture and county yamen black overnight (Daqi honored black with black). Due to the need for jet black For coloring, Huguang did not produce this kind of pigment, but they could not show their contempt for the new dynasty. In desperation, these parents had no choice but to send their slaves to purchase it from other places at a high price. In this way, the price of 1 kilogram of Daqing (pigment) The number reached 16,000, and people at that time called it "Jingxiang Qigui".
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