As the Chu army captured Hukou, almost the entire eastward march was completely opened up.
Not only can they take advantage of the situation and completely control the northern and central Jiangxi regions, but more importantly, they can directly enter the southern Zhili region.
The Chu army did the same thing. As soon as they captured Hukou, the army continued to advance eastward. The First Division and the Sixth Division of the First Army joined forces and did not even care about the Chu army that had not yet been attacked. The large area of Raozhou Prefecture under his control went directly to Chizhou Prefecture.
In the meantime, they also captured Pengze County, which was not garrisoned by many Ming troops.
After entering Chizhou Prefecture, the First Army did not encounter much practical resistance. Most of the Ming troops originally stationed in the area were transferred to the Jiujiang defense line.
Especially after the fall of Jiujiang and Shi Kefa retreated to Hukou, he even transferred the remaining local troops from Chizhou Prefecture, Huizhou Prefecture, Ningguo Prefecture and Taiping Prefecture to Hukou for the final resistance.
Otherwise, Shi Kefa would not have been able to gather more than 30,000 troops in Jiujiang City before, let alone be captured in Jiujiang City. After retreating to Hukou, he would have gathered another 20,000 troops in Hukou in a short period of time.
Among the 20,000 troops, the original strength was only a few thousand, and the remaining more than 10,000 troops were basically urgently recruited from various prefectures and counties in the rear in a short period of time.
With the capture of Hukou, a small number of the 20,000 defenders in the city were killed or wounded, and most of them became prisoners. Many cities behind Hukou also lost their only barriers.
At the same time, they themselves lacked the garrison troops to conduct defensive operations.
When the First Division of the Chu Army attacked Pengze, there were only more than a thousand Ming troops in Pengze city. Facing the menacing force of more than 10,000 Ming troops, these more than a thousand Ming troops did not even have the courage to resist. This symbolized After stubbornly resisting for several hours, the Chu army simply surrendered after the Chu army officially attacked the city.
Not only the defenders surrendered, but also the county magistrate and other officials in the city surrendered en masse.
Subsequently, in Jiande and Dongliu in Chizhou Prefecture, the local Ming troops either fled or chose to surrender, without any actual resistance at all.
In this way, the First Army fought smoothly all the way to the Huangshiji area.
Not far to the north of Huangshiji is Anqing City.
At the same time, the Second Army operating on the north bank of the Yangtze River, after taking Taihu City, moved eastward along the Wanhe River and headed straight for Anqing.
While the army was in action, the navy, which had just won the Battle of Hukou, actually moved faster.
Before the army reached Anqing, the navy's Yangtze River Fleet had been divided into two. Except for a small number of small and medium-sized ships left to accept the reorganization of the Hukou Ming Army Navy surrender fleet, and based on this, the Ganjiang Squadron began to be formed. It will be used in subsequent operations in Poyang Lake and the Ganjiang River Basin.
The main force of the Yangtze River Fleet has already moved eastward in advance. Two days ago, it reached the Yangtze River outside Anqing City and blocked water transportation between Anqing and the outside world.
How many Ming troops were there in Anqing at this time?
In fact, it was not much. The full force was less than 10,000 people, and there were no new standard troops. The new standard troops under Shi Kefa were all on the Jiujiang defense line before, and even the Yingtian new standard troops who came for reinforcements were deployed in Hukou.
Nothing happened to Anqing.
When Shi Kefa served as the governor of Anlu, his main focus was on the Jiujiang defense line. As for Jiangbei, neither Shi Kefa nor Wang Jiazhen paid much attention to it.
In this aspect, Jiangnan is more important. You must know that whether Shi Kefa or Wang Jiazhen, the reason why they can produce a large number of new standard troops and even maintain the food and salary expenditure of a large number of battalion sentries is inseparable from the power of the powerful gentry and large households in Jiangnan. support.
To put it simply, the combat needs of the Ming army along the Yangtze River were actually maintained by the gentry in the south of the Yangtze River and had nothing to do with the Ming court.
From the beginning to the end, Chongzhen did not give Wang Jiazhen or Shi Kefa a few taels of silver.
Taking people's money and eliminating disasters for others, the Ming army in the areas along the Yangtze River naturally fought to defend the south of the Yangtze River. As for the north of the Yangtze River... they can just take care of one and two when they have spare strength.
In addition to this economic factor, there are two important reasons.
For example, both Wang Jiazhen and Shi Kefa believed that Jiangnan was more important. To fight against the Chu thieves, other places could be left alone, but Jiangnan must be preserved. Otherwise, once the Chu thieves obtained Jiangnan's money and food, Ming Dynasty would be completely destroyed.
In addition, it is also related to the open terrain of Jiangbei.
There are mostly plains in the Jiangbei area, and this kind of place actually has a greater advantage for the Ming army.
Because the Ming army had more cavalry, but the Chu army had less cavalry.
Due to the lack of cavalry, the Chu army could not even defeat Zuo Liangyu's troops in the Central Plains. The same was true in the Jiangbei area. When the Jiliao border army led by Wu Sangui was still active in the Jiangbei area, the Chu army basically failed in this direction. They are just playing strategic defense and will not take the initiative at all.
The reason why the Second Army is marching eastward so boldly now has something to do with the Ming court's transfer of the Jiliao border army headed by Wu Sangui to the north.
If there were Jiliao frontier troops in the Jiangbei area, facing thousands of frontier cavalry, the Second Army would really not dare to rush out so carelessly.
But that's where things went wrong. Because of the Eastward Captives entering the Pass, a large number of Ming troops were transferred north, including the Jiliao Border Army headed by Wu Sangui.
As a result, the Second Army had no scruples, and its main force, the Fourth Division, directly attacked Taihu Lake and then diverted to Anqing.
The dissatisfied Eighth Division turned north to Qianshan, not to attack Qianshan, but mainly to prevent the Ming army in this area from going south and threatening the flanks of the main Fourth Division.
There is still a Ming army on the other side of Qianshan. Although the number is not large, only a few thousand people, there are thousands of cavalry inside.
Even if they were just ordinary cavalry that Shi Kefa had gathered and formed from broken troops, many of them were still half-baked, and their combat effectiveness was far inferior to those of the elite cavalry of the border troops, but they were still cavalry after all.
If left alone, it would also be a huge threat to the Chu army heading east to Anqing.
In order to deal with this Ming army cavalry, the two cavalry regiments of the Fourth Division and the Eighth Division, plus the cavalry battalion of the Fifth Guard Division, formed a temporary cavalry detachment, which wandered around the Eighth Division The main flank.
The entire cavalry detachment is now facing a powerful enemy and is very cautious.
Looking at the Second Army, it seems that it is moving smoothly now, but it is far from as smooth as the First Army fighting on the south bank of the Yangtze River.
The reason is that the terrain platform in this place is more suitable for cavalry operations, but the Chu army's cavalry is not very good, with not much quantity and poor quality.
With an army of more than 200,000, the number of elite cavalry available was only a pitiful 1,000, while the half-baked mounted infantry only had 6,000 in full force, and they were scattered on various fronts.
The Chu army's lack of cavalry strength was also an important reason why Ming court Shi Kefa and others relaxed their defense line in Jiangbei.
If Jiujiang can be defended, what if the Chu thieves are allowed to break through Taihu Lake, or even go all the way into the hinterland of Fengyang Governor?
After the Ming army reacts and mobilizes a large number of troops, especially cavalry, to counterattack, I am afraid that the Chu army that marched directly from Jiangbei to the east will be finished.
However, neither Wang Jiazhen nor Shi Kefa expected that the heavily fortified Jiujiang defense line, under the fierce attack of the Chu army, seemed to hold the cities together for a month, but they could not be defeated again.
Not only that the defense line was breached, but also the main force of 50,000 to 60,000 people was completely annihilated by the Chu army.
As a result, Jiangnan is in danger.
After the Chu army captured Hukou, Wang Jiazhen, who was far away in Jinling City, received the news. Although he wanted to send troops to reinforce Anqing as soon as possible, he tried to build Anqing into a new bridgehead to prevent the Chu army from advancing eastward, or at least cut off the Chu army. Thieves used the Yangtze River for transportation.
However, time is very tight, and reinforcements cannot be directly passed through the Yangtze River. The only way is to go around to the north and then cross the mountains for reinforcements.
Because on September 19, only four or five days before the fall of Hukou, the Chu army's vanguard troops had already reached Anqing, and they had reached Anqing from both the north and the south at the same time.
Before that, the navy's fleet arrived one step ahead to blockade it.
At this time, it was no longer possible for the Ming army to reinforce Anqing via Yangtze River shipping. If they wanted to reinforce, they could only enter from the Jiangbei area, and they would also need to cross the mountains north of Anqing for reinforcements.
Why do we need to cross the mountains to the north instead of going directly to the east for reinforcements?
Because there are large lakes to the east of Anqing City, including Pogang Lake, and many waterways, which are not suitable for large armies to pass.
When the Chu army quickly reached Anqing and had an absolute advantage in both the navy and the army, Anqing's end was inevitable.
Sooner or later, the Chu army will be able to capture this city.
The only question is, how long will it take?
After all, Anqing City was originally similar to Wuchang City. Its military role was far greater than its economic role. This city was originally used as a fortress.
In addition, although the Chu army blocked the Yangtze River, it was difficult to completely block the Ming army's reinforcements from the mountains to the north. Therefore, the Ming army in Anqing City could continue to receive reinforcements, and it was still difficult to fight.
But even if it is more difficult, it will not be more difficult than the previous attack on Jiujiang and Hukou.
On September 22, with the cooperation of the navy, the army troops landed in the open space outside the city of Anqing. They braved the Ming army's artillery fire on the city to build artillery positions and bunkers on the spot, and used a large number of artillery to counterattack. .
The battle in Anqing was fierce from the beginning.
After five days of fierce fighting between the two sides, the commandos under the Fourth Division successfully climbed to the top of Anqing City and pried open the most critical link of Anqing's city defenses.
Next, the Ming army in the city was defeated like a mountain. It only took the Chu army just one day to completely eliminate the remaining enemies in the city and completely control the city.
On the day Anqing was captured, Luo Zhixue also led the First Guards Division to the military camp on the south bank of the Yangtze River. Although he was across the Yangtze River, he also watched the final siege battle.
After taking the city, Luo Zhixue let all the ministries take a short rest for two days.
On September 29, Luo Zhixue personally led the troops to continue eastward and headed straight for Jinling City.
And the news of Anqing's fall followed by Hukou also spread to the Jiangnan area!
Immediately Jinling was shaken and Jiangnan was shaken!
Coincidentally, at almost the same time, the news that Hukou had fallen and Shi Kefa had surrendered to the thieves was also rushed to the capital after five hundred miles.
When Chongzhen heard about this, he was furious. In addition to holding Shi Kefa, Jie Xuelong and other important civil and military officials who were defeated or even turned over to the traitors on the front lines accountable for their crimes, he also ordered that for the crime of "losing troops and generals, losing cities and territory", he had the title of Shangshu of the Ministry of War and the right deputy governor of the capital. Wang Jiazhen, who was in charge of military affairs in Henan, Jiangxi, and South Zhili, was dismissed from his post and arrested and imprisoned.
As soon as the news came out that Hukou had fallen, Shi Kefa surrendered to a traitor, and Wang Jiazhen was arrested and imprisoned, the capital was in an uproar!
