But now, almost all the capable soldiers in Zhao Wushu's hands have been deployed to the front line, and there is no way to spare the troops to intercept. Zhao Wushu could only hurry up for eight hundred miles and take a detour to report the news to Jiangning Mansion. In fact, there is no need for Zhao Wushu to report at this time. Cao Rui, who is now in charge of Jiangning Mansion, is the newly appointed envoy of Jiangnan East Road. After the rebels rose up, Cao Rui was given full authority to control Jiangnan East and West Road and the military affairs of the two Zhejiang provinces.
Already at his Jiedushi Yamen, he saw Huichi Ning Guangbing preparing for the road, running all the way from Huizhou Mansion to Jiangning Mansion. Huizhou is on Jiangnan East Road, the gateway to the southwest. When the rebels attack Jiangning Mansion, as long as they march from Jiangnan West Road, no matter which direction they choose to march from, they need to pass through Huizhou Mansion. If Huizhou is lost, it means that the entire gateway to Jiangnan East Road will also be lost.
The two, together with the civil and military officials of Huizhou Prefecture, discovered that the rebels had entered the territory of Huizhou Prefecture. It is different from other state capitals that cling to the city and stay behind closed doors without daring to fight. None of the three people, including the two civil servants, were afraid of avoiding the battle. Because they knew that behind Huizhou was Ningguo Mansion. After passing Ningguo Mansion, it is already Jiangning Mansion. Except for Moling Pass, almost all institutions are undefeated. Therefore, although the three of them did not have many available troops, they still used all the troops they could mobilize.
The three people immediately divided the work. On one side, the civil servants headed by the Huizhou magistrate mobilized people to quickly clear the fields and immediately transport all the grain stored in the counties to the capital. On the one hand, led by Bingbeidao, they mobilized regiment training in various states and counties, and cooperated with the military envoys to immediately mobilize troops and horses out of the city to intercept, trying to buy time for Jiangning. Although none of the three of them were afraid, they were the prefects of Huizhou with a Jinshi background.
He did not escape, leaving his colleagues and commanders to continue to clear the field, and he accompanied the army to supervise the battle. But the combat effectiveness of the Jiangnan Guards was really poor. Facing 20,000 elite rebels, 3,000 troops and horses from the four prefectures were hastily mobilized, plus 2,000 regiment training. After fighting hard for more than three hours, they were finally defeated on the north bank of Jiyang River. The prefect of Huizhou was caught up by the rebels and captured on the spot because he was riding a sedan and had difficulty escaping.
The soldiers and horses envoys and soldiers prepared the road, and led the defeated army back to Huizhou City. They lit a fire and transferred the grain and grass to the city. Then they fled all the way from the south gate to Ningguo Mansion. Trying to gather the defeated army, the levy group practiced fighting. But the magistrate of Ningguo Prefecture, together with the judge and others, refused to accept him. In desperation, the two men could only pack up the remaining 300 defeated troops and gallop all the way to Jiangning Mansion.
After passing Ningguo Mansion, they are in Jiangning Mansion. No matter how they escape, there is no need to go anywhere else. The soldier and horse envoy who was eager to report the news gave his good party horse to Bing Beidao and asked him to return to Jiangning Mansion to report the news. He himself ran to Moling Pass, where 1,200 people from the Biao Camp under the direct control of the Jiangnan Jiedushi were stationed. The preparation meeting and these 1,200 people will continue to rely on Moling Pass to defend.
When the messenger sent by Zhao Wushu detoured to Jiujiang Mansion to deliver the letter to Jiangning Mansion. Bing Beidao, who had no one around him at this time, also arrived at almost the same time. Notified. After the rebels have entered Huizhou Prefecture. Cao Rui, who had experienced hundreds of battles and had served as commander of four major battalions, immediately determined that the rebels' primary target this time was no other place than Jiangning Mansion.
Without any delay, all the troops and horses outside the city were immediately mobilized to Jiangning Mansion as quickly as possible. He also sent a messenger to cross the river immediately to urge the reinforcements that had already arrived in Liuhe to speed up the crossing. The guards in his hands were really unsafe to use. Even after he took office, he put a lot of effort into training the guards on Jiangnan East Road. But only his direct subordinate battalion was still barely capable of fighting.
Moreover, the sneak attack, no, it should be called a storm attack by the rebels now, had a total of 20,000 troops and horses. In his own hands, he only has twelve thousand troops and horses that can be mobilized. A considerable part of this was due to the fact that last winter, after he took office, he adopted the method of drawing one out of three to recruit team trainers according to the decree of Prince Jun. These regiments, after a year of rigorous training, are actually better than the Guards.
But the disparity in military strength made him still afraid to rest assured. Now the entire Jiangnan autumn tax has just been collected. There is a large amount of money and food accumulated in Jiangning Mansion, although part of it has been sent across the river. But the food and grass in the city is still enough to last 200,000 rebels for two years. In addition, as the most important place for the imperial court in the south of the Yangtze River, Jiangning Mansion has a large amount of ordnance and armor stored in it, and there is no problem in arming 50,000 people.
The huge disparity in military strength and heavy responsibilities made Cao Rui feel even more stressed. Fortunately, Jiangning Mansion relies on the river, and its terrain can be said to be like a dragon encircling a tiger. Moreover, the city wall has been repaired for many years and is extremely strong. In addition, last winter and this spring, the imperial court secretly delivered more than a hundred cannons, as well as a large amount of medicine and shells. At this time, Cao Rui was still confident that he would persist until reinforcements arrived.
But the key issue is that the rebels' target is Jiangning Mansion, but they cannot just defend Jiangning Mansion, and Jiangnan East Road is not just a Jiangning Mansion. The surrounding Suzhou, Zhenjiang, and Changshu prefectures are all places with great wealth. If everything is lost, what's the use of guarding Jiangning Mansion alone? There are only 20,000 rebels now. If they are allowed to occupy other state capitals, it will be difficult to control this rebel army.
Cao Rui now has a headache. On the one hand, the surrounding state capitals cannot give up easily. But the troops in hand are unable to control the entire Jiangnan East Road. After hesitating for a long time, he finally chose to take the initiative to fight. On the one hand, he transferred all the troops and horses stationed in Lishui to Moling Pass. Regardless of winning or losing, let’s fight this battle first. Even if he loses, he can give an explanation to the court and himself.
What's more, the prince has allocated so many cannons for himself. The two major battalions going south, with 50,000 troops and horses, have arrived in Liuhe and can cross the river southward at any time. I still have some capital. If I don't fight this battle, I will be sorry for myself. Cao Rui was a military attache who came up through the ranks with his military exploits. Now that he had made up his mind, he no longer hesitated and started taking action immediately.
After the guards from various states arrived at Jiangning Mansion one after another. He did not wait for the follow-up troops to arrive. In addition to leaving two thousand troops and horses to guard Jiangning Mansion, Cao Rui mobilized five thousand troops and horses first and arrived at Moling Pass with all the firearms. After arriving at Moling Pass, Cao Rui immediately sent people to build a large number of earth fortresses, camouflaged all the cannons according to their range, and deployed them inside and outside Moling Pass.
Cao Rui here seizes the time to set up defenses, but Zheng Tong over there has not been very active since entering Jiangnan East Road. After the battle of Huizhou Prefecture, Ningguo Prefecture surrendered without a fight under the leadership of the prefect. After entering Ningguo Mansion, Zheng Tong led 20,000 rebels to rest in Ningguo Mansion for three days, regardless of Zhang Gongming's objections. It's not that Zheng Tong doesn't know the importance of speed in fighting. The problem is that the whole road is interspersed with speed.
Because most of the troops are infantry, there are only 1,700 cavalry. And most of them are still very weak in speed, unable to sprint Dali horses quickly. Although apart from the battle in Huizhou Prefecture, there were almost no tough battles along the way. But in order to capture Jiangning Mansion before the imperial reinforcements arrived. Zheng Tong traveled day and night along the way, and he was already exhausted when he arrived at Ningguo Mansion.
If you don't take any rest, you may not be able to survive on the battlefield. The most critical thing is that the food and grass carried when setting off have been exhausted. Along the way, no prefectures or counties were captured, so there were no additions. If we don't add more, there will be no way to fight the next battle, and we will collapse even if we are hungry. When the magistrate and fellow magistrates of Ningguo Mansion told Zheng Tong that all the grain and grass had been transferred to Jiangning Mansion.
Ningguo Mansion now has less than 500 shi of food in stock, which cannot meet his request of 3,000 shi. His request for 20,000 chickens, ducks, and 1,000 pigs and sheep was even more unsatisfactory. Zheng Tong simply ordered his troops to go to the countryside to rob them directly. The soldiers recruited by the Guilin County King were all recruited from the refugees in the name of recruiting people to reclaim wasteland. Over the years, in Shiwandashan, I have been training day and night.
These soldiers had already heard about the wealth in Jiangnan when they were refugees. Now that I have received this order, how can I still control it? As soon as the 20,000 troops and horses were dispersed, the 3,000 veterans of the Guangnan West Route Guard, led by Youzi, who were incorporated into the 20,000 troops and horses, were like a pack of wolves coming out of the gate. Naturally, the chickens, ducks, and food will not be spared. Gold, silver jewelry, and valuables are also conveniently placed in the pockets.
If you meet a beautiful girl or young daughter-in-law, you will naturally not let them go. These big-headed soldiers robbed not just ordinary people. Those wealthy gentry families became key targets because they were wealthy people. Even veteran Youzi who came from the Guards openly carried out kidnappings. He broke into those high-rise mansions, tied up the young men and ladies of those wealthy families, and took them back to his military camp.
Their parents, if they want their children back, they must put a price on it. How much does each young master cost? As for the ladies, I am embarrassed to redeem them based on their beauty. The more beautiful the one, the higher the asking price. As for those who cannot afford redemption, the young masters are directly changed to wives, and the young ladies are used as military maidens. Of course, Deputy Zheng would have to deal with the stolen property and beauties.
Zheng Tong, who also made a fortune, became wild-minded. For those gentry who came to complain, they could not see it at all. Are you kidding? If you don’t get rich now, when will you get rich? He never paid attention to Zhang Gongming's hard advice. He didn't care about anything, he just hugged the two robbed women and had fun. Suddenly, the entire six counties of Ningguo Prefecture were filled with mourning.
The magistrate and fellow magistrates, who had been carefully accompanying the smiling faces, could only stare helplessly. The original plan was to raise food and grass for three days, but because it was really difficult to control the group of soldiers, it took until the seventh day to reluctantly regroup. But just as they were gathering, Zheng Tong discovered that his team was missing two thousand people. I don’t know that these guys made a lot of money and hid it.
Still unwilling to fight in the army, he ran away. Faced with the sudden loss of so many people, Zheng Tong originally wanted to send troops to search. But in the end, under Zhang Gongming's persuasion and finally remembering the methods of the Guilin Prince, a thousand troops and horses were left behind to hunt down the deserters. He led the group of soldiers with red eyes and headed towards Moling Pass, the gateway to Jiangning Mansion.
In order to encourage these eager subordinates to fight, Zheng Tong directly announced before setting off that he would open Jiangning Mansion and deploy troops for three days. After he said these words, Zhang Gongming's expression changed immediately. This Lord wants to push the entire Jiangnan to oppose the prince. What kind of place is Jiangning Mansion? It is the most beautiful place in the south of the Yangtze River where talents are most concentrated. How dare he be so presumptuous?
After three days of fighting, did he really think about the prince? As for the group under his command, I don’t know how the battle went. But in the past few days in Ningguo Mansion, he was even more skilled than the bandits in robbing homes and kidnapping people. They were able to rob a huge Ningguo Mansion in seven days. They also grabbed parts of Huizhou Prefecture and Chizhou Prefecture.
It is true that a bandit's attack is like a haircut, and a soldier's attack is like a grate. Those places they took away will almost be yours. If these soldiers did what they did in Ningguo Mansion, they could do it all over again in Jiangning Mansion. Then Jiangning Mansion, hasn’t it become a purgatory on earth?
