Su Xiong and Li Qingmu personally went out of the city to greet the logistics team.
Five warships, with only soldiers on board.
Thirty large ships transport baggage. Looking at the draft, you can see that they transported a lot of materials.
Yang Zhengfeng and Xu Youlin got off the warship and met Su Xiong and Li Qingmu.
Yang Zhengfeng clasped his hands and introduced himself: "My wife, Yang Zhengfeng, I was appointed by Commander Su as the prefect of Chongqing, responsible for taking over the government affairs of Chongqing.
The person next to me is Xu Youlin, the prefect of Kuizhou.
I will follow the army and go to Kuizhou to take office.
We have brought many officials with us this time.
It can restore the Chongqing government officers to normal.
If you have wounded soldiers, you can recommend them to us and we will arrange for them to become patrol inspectors. They can also return to their hometowns to become village chiefs.
Here is a letter personally written by Commander Su to Marquis Fengxiang.
At present, the logistics route from Guangyuan to Nantong has not yet been opened, and the Jialing River channel is being cleaned.
The logistics manpower is insufficient, so we help transport military supplies.
Let’s hand over the supplies first, and then we’ll be relaxed.”
Su Xiong took the letter and asked the troops to receive the logistics supplies first.
The army officially handed over the management of Chongqing City to Yang Zhengfeng, the prefect of Chongqing.
Ask some wounded soldiers for their opinions on whether they want to stay here or return to their hometown after being discharged.
If they stay in Chongqing and become an official, they can bring their family over and their land will be moved here.
After Su Xiong finished handling everything, he read the book and the letter written to him.
Su He stated in the letter that he had captured Rongcheng, sent troops to capture other places in Sichuan, and sent officials to establish a stable rule.
Su Xiong captured Kuizhou Prefecture as soon as possible to prevent the Huguang Ming Army from attacking Sichuan.
After pacifying Chongqing Prefecture and Kuizhou Prefecture, Su Xiong immediately returned to Rongcheng. There were important things for him to take charge of.
The troops were left to garrison Chongqing Prefecture and Kuizhou Prefecture, and Su Xiong made arrangements based on the local situation.
Li Qingmu organized the Yangtze River Navy and built coastal defense forts in key areas.
The Yangtze River Navy quickly wiped out the remaining naval forces of the Ming Army and restored Sichuan's water transportation to normal.
After Su Xiong read the letter, he circulated it to other military commanders.
After Su Li read the letter, he said directly: "Our Sixth Division will follow the arrangements of Marquis Fengxiang."
Li Qingmu put down the letter and said sheepishly: "Marquis Fengxiang, our Navy should have fully supported your eastward march.
Now that Commander Su has asked us to form the Yangtze River Navy, we can only send some warships to support your eastward march.
Fortunately, a batch of new warships were sent from the rear, and our navy has enough manpower.
It can be divided into two troops, with Chongqing as the node, controlling the upper and lower reaches of the Sichuan section of the Yangtze River."
Su Xiong saw that the military commanders of the two main armies had spoken.
He directly assigns tasks to various units.
"Su Li led the Sixth Division to control Chongqing City and capture the remaining cities in Chongqing Prefecture.
I led a division to march eastward to Kuizhou Prefecture and clear out the Ming army in Kuizhou Prefecture.
Most of the key cities in Chongqing Prefecture and Kuizhou Prefecture are along the river.
The Yangtze River Navy dispatched part of its troops to assist the army in siege and transport troops and baggage."
When Su Li heard about Su Xiong's arrangement, he knew that Su Xiong was taking care of the Sixth Division.
"Our Sixth Division has no problem. Now Chongqing City has been captured, leaving Fuzhou, Zhongzhou and Wanxian.
These cities are all on the shore and can be easily conquered with the help of naval forces.
The difficulty is the Shili toast and the Youyang toast.
These chieftains are all in the deep mountains and old forests, and it is difficult for the army to clear them out.
I will take the chieftain seriously, our military is very strong, and the chieftain is not a problem."
Pang Jian'an, chief of staff of the Sixth Division, added: "The general Qin Liangyu and the white pole soldiers of the Shili Tusi are very famous.
They are the strongest arm of the Ming Army in Sichuan, and we will not underestimate these native soldiers.
But Qin Liangyu and the elite white-pole soldiers went to Qinwang and have not returned to Sichuan yet.
The remaining white-pole soldiers are old, weak, sick and disabled.
As long as the terrain problems are overcome, it is not difficult to capture these chieftains."
Su Xiong felt relieved when he saw the military commander of the Sixth Division expressing his stance.
"Then let's arrange it this way. We have sufficient logistics supplies and we will set off tomorrow."
…………………………
Li Qingmu returned to the warship and discussed with Chief of Staff Wei Jingtao.
"Our Yangtze River Navy was divided into two. I took eight warships to clear the upper reaches of the Yangtze River and the Minjiang River and other tributaries.
You bring seven warships to help the First Division and Sixth Division attack the city."
Wei Jingtao was very excited. They were both first-year students of the military academy.
He saw that Wang Shiyuan, Tong Yunpeng and others were at a higher level.
These people have also made many meritorious deeds. After this war, they will definitely be awarded titles and may be made marquises.
He has yet to make any meritorious deeds. He can only be awarded the title of Lord at most based on the collective merits of the Navy.
Now he finally waited for the opportunity to make a contribution.
"Brigadier, please don't worry.
I have been training in the Navy for a long time, wiping out the remnants of the Ming Army's Navy and assisting the Army in siege, and there is no problem at all."
Li Qingmu was also satisfied when he saw Wei Jingtao's performance.
During this period, Wei Jingtao worked very hard and has been studying the navy's tactics.
Nowadays, the morale of the Ming Navy's navy is completely depleted, and a person who does not understand water warfare will have no problem at all.
He left the navy in charge of Wei Jingtao, and he felt relieved.
…………………………
Su Li disembarked in Zhongzhou, and they sailed eastwards and successfully captured several cities along the Yangtze River.
When Fuzhou saw their warships arriving, they opened the city gates and surrendered without having the courage to resist.
He looked at the city wall of Chungju in front of him.
The collapsed city walls made Chungju known as an undefended city.
Chungju's resistance was fierce, and heavy artillery fire lasted for more than an hour before the city wall collapsed.
Su Li led a large army into Zhongzhou. He also sent a regiment of troops to take the Yangtze River Navy ships to continue the attack on Wanxian.
The first thing he did when he entered Zhongzhou was to control the Qin family in Zhongzhou.
Qin Liangyu was born in the Qin family in Zhongzhou, and many people in the Qin family were generals of the white-pole army.
Su Li left part of his army to control Chungju.
He took his guide and several leading men of the Qin family in Zhongzhou and rushed to Shidong Tusi.
…………………………
Su Li and Chief of Staff Pang Jian'an divided their forces.
The mountain road is difficult to travel and the soldiers cannot carry the 110 medium artillery.
Four soldiers carried the 75 light artillery body and gun carriage respectively. This was the only cannon that soldiers could carry.
Only light artillery can be transported in lofty mountains, and its weight is only 75 kilograms.
When encountering a difficult cliff, a strong soldier can carry it away.
Su Li used his stick to kill a venomous snake that was spitting out snake letters.
"Zhong Liqing, our non-combat attrition is too high.
When a soldier is injured, two people must be sent to take care of him.
The ferocious beasts along the way could be killed with muskets, so they did not dare to approach the large army.
Venomous snakes and insects are too difficult to deal with, and realgar wine doesn't work at all.
When soldiers slept in their tents, they could be bitten by venomous snakes.
There are also these locusts, lying on the body sucking blood, which are really difficult to get rid of.
There are even more poisonous insects that are unrecognizable."
Zhong Liqing also sighed and said, "Our army doctors don't know how to treat poisonous injuries at all.
These things cannot be seen at all in Shaanxi.
We were not prepared this time and did not seek out a few more local doctors.
The doctor accompanying the army was just a method occasionally mentioned by Commander Su.
After a person is bitten by a poisonous snake, the toxin can heal the person and suck out the poisonous blood as soon as possible.
After being bitten by an unfamiliar venomous snake, immediately use a red-hot iron spoon to burn the wound directly.
Commander Su said that poisonous snake venom is protein and will denature when exposed to high temperatures.
Doctors don't know what protein is either.
This method must burn people immediately, and it will be useless if it takes a while, and you can only watch them die slowly.
If a soldier is bitten by a poisonous insect, there is really nothing he can do about it. No doctor can treat such a poisonous wound."
Su Li was walking on the mountain road. He now understood why the imperial court generally would not send troops to attack a chieftain as long as he surrendered in name.
Where they are, they are in barren mountains and rivers.
His non-combat casualties along the way were more than those suffered during the siege.
"Guide, how far is it to Shili Dazhai?"
The guide was a simple-looking herb collector. These troops avenged his blood by annihilating the Lu family of the wealthy gentry of Zhongzhou.
In order to repay his kindness and fifty taels of silver, the guide came to guide these people.
"Crossing the hilltop ahead is Shili Dazhai.
The main family members of Shizhu's Ma family and Qin family are all in Dazhai.
Sir, the white-pole soldiers are very powerful."
The guide reminded the men that he thought the army was well disciplined.
An army that does not harm the people is a good army.
When Su Li heard this, he smiled happily.
After marching for so many days, they finally arrived at Shili Dazhai.
He directly raided the families of these white-pole soldiers to see if they could still resist.
The guide saw the soldiers resting and everyone drinking hot water.
"Sir, if you drink hot water, it is really useful.
I have taken other people into the mountains to look for medicinal materials before, but they were all acclimated to the climate due to miasma and other factors.
Some people even had vomiting and diarrhea, and died immediately.
Apart from being bitten by venomous snakes and insects, few of your troops died due to acclimatization and other reasons."
"Drinking hot water is a good habit."
Su Li had seen the gooseneck bottle experiment displayed by the Hanzhong School, and he knew that there were things invisible to the human eye in the water.
These little things cause many diseases.
Drinking hot water can kill small things in the water, so soldiers are less likely to get sick.
The army shuttled through the mountains and forests, facing the scorching sun and the attacks of poisonous snakes and insects.
They finally walked out of the forest, and in front of them was Shili Tusi Dazhai.
Su Li took a strange soldier and walked on a small road.
Chief of Staff Pang Jian'an led the main force, and he and Shizhu Tusi's white-armed soldiers faced off on the road.
Although it is a major road, it is only a barely passable mountain road.
In mountainous warfare, the power of muskets and artillery cannot be exerted.
Three to five meters ahead of the mountain road is a bend and a cliff. Guns and artillery can only kill a small number of people.
There is no way to form a queue on the mountain road.
Su Li tried several attacks, but he failed to break through the white-pole soldiers' defense.
Only then did he choose a small road and directly attack Shili Tusi Dazhai.
A regiment of troops, carrying 75 light artillery pieces and flintlock rifles on their backs, all walked out of the forest.
He brought two regiments with him this time for non-combat attrition and to care for the wounded.
One regiment was unable to participate in the battle.
Su Li looked at the large village made of earth and stone in front of him.
He ordered his soldiers to attack.
The 75mm cannon is not very powerful, only slightly more powerful than the Crouching Tiger Cannon, so it is not something that these villagers can withstand.
The earthen wall of the stockade was broken, and Su Li led an army and rushed directly into the stockade.
The people of Chieftain Shili saw the thief in yellow rushing in.
They immediately panicked and all the young men in the tribe went out.
Some women and children picked up white-steel guns and prepared to defend their homes.
"fire!"
Su Li gave the order and the cannon sounded.
He will not be merciful to the enemy, but now he is only intimidating. These people are still of great use, and he has not used shotguns.
After a few cannon shots, the army composed of women and children could no longer hold on.
Their formation immediately became disorganized.
Su Li ordered the soldiers to start attacking.
The soldiers raised their muskets and lined up to approach these people.
There was a burst of gunfire.
These people no longer had the courage to resist, so they laid down their weapons and surrendered.
Su Li led his men and captured all of them.
He also captured an important figure, Qin Liangyu's grandson Ma Wannian.
Su Li brought Ma Wannian and the family members of Chieftain General Shizhu.
They surrounded the white pole soldiers from the rear.
Qin Gongming cried bitterly: "I am so ashamed of my aunt, her grandson has been caught."
"Sir, our wives and children are all in the hands of the thieves in yellow.
The stronghold is also lost, do you still want to continue to resist?"
"Sir, let's surrender!
Most of Sichuan has been lost. If we can stop it today, we will not be able to stop it in the future."
Qin Gongming had no choice, he sighed and said: "I'm sorry to my aunt and dad.
They are still there in the Ming Dynasty, and they don't know if they will be affected by this incident.
Send people to the thieves in yellow and we will accept the surrender."
When Su Li saw the white soldiers surrendering, he smiled.
With the reputation of defeating the white pole soldiers, he sent troops to suppress Youyang.
When the chieftains of Youyang saw the army coming, they did not resist and chose to surrender.
…………………………
Wei Jingtao pointed to the front and said: "Fengxiang Hou, ahead is Fengjie.
The Yangtze River runs east from Fengjie to the three gorges: Qutang Gorge, Wu Gorge, and Xiling Gorge.
The Yangtze River in the Three Gorges area has a huge drop, making sailing extremely dangerous.
It takes experienced experts to ensure the safety of this waterway.
Especially when Huguang enters Sichuan, it is very difficult to reverse the Yangtze River.
However, the Yangtze River waterway and the roads along the Yangtze River are also the best routes from Huguang to Sichuan.
As long as we hold Fengjie and the Huguang Ming Army has a large-scale army, there will be no way to enter Sichuan."
Su Xiong nodded and arranged for the soldiers to get off the transport ship.
"The army began to attack Fengjie.
Along the way, the Fengjie Ming army resisted.
The other cities have all surrendered, and there are several city defenders who have abandoned the city and fled."
Wang Shiyuan smiled and said: "I also understand that the Ming army lost both Rongcheng and Chongqing.
Just a few of their small towns cannot change the overall situation.
Defending the city means risking death, so just stop defending it.
The situation here in Fengjie is special. They gathered many remnants of the Ming army who wanted to flee to Huguang.
Because I am not a good sailor, I dare not sail into the Three Gorges.
These are extremely vicious Ming troops. They knew they would not survive if they were caught by us, so they had no choice but to risk their lives to resist."
"They tried their best to resist, but they could never hope to defend Fengjie.
Let’s fire!
I want to lead the troops to the city for dinner."
Wei Jingtao followed Su Xiong's order and ordered the heavy artillery on the warship to aim at the Fengjie city wall.
Fengjie is not a fortified city and has no way to deal with artillery attacks.
The heavy artillery fire lasted less than an hour, and Fengjie's city wall collapsed.
Su Xiong commanded the army and rushed directly into Fengjie City, clearing out all the Ming troops who resisted.
He accomplished his goal of entering Fengjie for dinner.
The main force of the First Division was stationed at Fengjie, and three brigades were sent to attack various places in Kuizhou Prefecture.
Slowly capture other areas of Kuizhou Prefecture.
Su Xiong asked Chief of Staff Wang Shiyuan and Zhu Shi Li Zhengfeng to lead troops to garrison Fengjie.
He took a navy transport ship and went to Rongcheng to meet Su He.
…………………………
Su Zhuang looked at Zunyi Mansion ahead. He had besieged Zunyi Mansion for ten days.
Because the road was difficult, all 110 medium-sized artillery pieces were left behind.
There are no cannons in hand. The defenders of Zunyi City are very powerful and have not captured Zunyi City yet.
Su Zhuang looked at the troops from the command camp and shouted anxiously:
"Reinforcements from Guizhou are coming. At any cost, capture Zunyi for me before the reinforcements arrive.
I got news that Wu Jie's troops moving south have already reached Usa Mansion.
He captured most of southern Sichuan, and we couldn't even capture the small city of Zunyi.
Our Second Division is in the whole army, so we can’t stand up straight.”
Guizhou Commander-in-Chief Xu Chengming has some abilities.
The Second Division scaled the walls of Zunyi City several times.
All of them were blocked back by the troops led by Xu Chengming.
In Zunyi City, Guizhou Commander-in-Chief Xu Chengming looked at the army of yellow-robed thieves besieging the city outside.
He cursed loudly: "Trash Zhang Lun, trash Hou Liangzhu.
When you compete for merit, you are better than anyone else, but if you really encounter a tough opponent, you will be finished so quickly.
Once Rongcheng was lost, the southern Sichuan region fell into disrepair.
They surrendered faster than the thieves in yellow rushed on their way.
When I got the news, the thieves in yellow had already arrived outside Zunyi City.
The thieves in yellow have strong soldiers and horses. Look at the morale and firearms of the thieves in yellow. We will not end well when we leave the city."
Xu Chengming said so much and found that it affected the morale of the generals.
He encouraged everyone again: "I have mobilized troops from Guiyang, and reinforcements will arrive soon.
If everyone persists for a while longer, we will be able to defend Zunyi City.
The city of Zunyi was lost, and everyone in Guizhou had trouble sleeping."
Xu Chengming heard the cannon fired by the yellow thief outside go off again.
He laughed twice and comforted:
"It's just a small cannon. Don't worry, everyone, the yellow-robed thieves' small cannons can't break through the city wall.
The cannons at the top of our city can hit farther than the small cannons of the thieves in yellow."
When Su Zhuang saw that the soldiers did not rush to Zunyi City, he was knocked down by shotgun fire from the Hongyi cannon at the top of Zunyi City.
There are only four Hongyi cannons in Zunyi City, one at the top of each city.
The Hongyi cannon, combined with other cannons, played a great role in defending the city.
Soldiers who want to break through the artillery defenses have to pay a heavy price.
Wen Jingming walked to Su Zhuang with a smile on his face.
"Master, we succeeded.
The craftsmen accompanying the army successfully prepared a large amount of gunpowder based on raw materials near Zunyi.
They recruited wounded and sick soldiers and built many trebuchets and stone bombs.
We can use trebuchets to throw a large number of stone explosive shells towards Zunyi City."
When Su Zhuang heard the good news, he also smiled.
"Ming Jin withdraws his troops and lets them withdraw first.
Our trebuchets can throw explosive bombs to the sword gate and close it. At the height of Zunyi City, there is no problem at all.
The trebuchet must be within the range of the Hongyi cannon.
But we can build many trebuchets, while Zunyi City only has one Hongyi cannon per city wall.
Even if you pay some casualties, they will be far less than the casualties caused by attacking the city."
Su Zhuang ordered the siege to stop and began to prepare for the deployment of trebuchets.
Wen Jingming suddenly remembered Qu Tian and said, "By the way, there is a Zhushi Qu Tian who is good at observing the trajectory of cannonballs.
Commander Su promoted him to be the commander of the Second Brigade, and asked the Second Brigade to control the trebuchets. When other troops saw that we had the advantage, they directly attacked the city."
Su Zhuang and Xu Chengming are both waiting.
Tong Yunpeng came to the command camp and asked anxiously: "Master, how are we preparing?
The reconnaissance battalion has sent out traces of Guizhou reinforcements, and they will be able to reach Zunyi City in an hour or two."
Su Zhuang said confidently: "We are ready. I can capture Zunyi City in less than a day."
"Command Tao Guifan and Qu Tian, their trebuchets are ready for use."
Tao Guifan, commander of the Second Brigade, heard Su Zhuang's order.
They pushed the trebuchet and rushed to the north gate of Zunyi City.
Qu Tian observed the Hongyi cannon on the city wall and directed the soldiers to dodge.
There is no way to avoid the trebuchet, and the soldiers must try to avoid the attack of the Hongyi cannon.
"Light the fire and start throwing."
Each wall was attacked by forty trebuchets.
The stone explosive bullet is not very powerful. It hollows out a stone and fills it with gunpowder and fuse.
There are no grooves in the explosive bomb, so it cannot explode into pieces flying around.
Stone-made explosive bullets will only break into three or five fragments, and their lethality is extremely limited.
Forty stone explosives were thrown onto the city wall at the same time, causing panic among the Ming troops defending the city.
Su Zhuang commanded the troops responsible for attacking the city and immediately launched a charge, preparing to scale the city wall.
With the suppression of explosive shells, the Ming army on the city wall had no way to use siege equipment to deal with the siege soldiers.
Soon, soldiers climbed to the edge of the city wall and threw grenades on the wall.
"Sir, the thieves in yellow have attacked the city, and the brothers can no longer stop them. What should we do now?"
When Xu Chengming heard the news, his face turned a little pale.
"Assemble the team and let's escape quickly. If it's too late, we won't be able to escape."
Xu Chengming led his army and fought out from the south gate of Zunyi City.
The yellow-clad thief Xiaopao whom he looked down upon became their life-threatening talisman.
The 75mm gun fires shotgun shells very close to it, and there is no way to deal with it.
Xu Chengming just escaped from Zunyi City with more than 600 elites.
Su Zhuang planted the Great Wall military flag on the top of Zunyi City.
There was a relaxed look on his face, Zunyi City was finally taken.
…………………………
Zhang Yunqing came to Jianchangwei with a few confidants.
"Go and tell your commander that Zhang Yunqing is here."
Zhang Yunqing ordered to the soldier who looked nervous and panicked.
Soon a middle-aged general with a strong body, a round waist and a sinister face came out to greet him.
"Brother Zhang, you are here to join me.
Don't worry, we are in Jianchangwei, a place where people hate dogs, so it's safe to hide here.
This place needs people but no one, and it needs food but no food.
Tusi often gets into trouble. If it weren't for nothing, I would have wanted to be transferred out of this miserable place.
We are here to observe the situation in the world, whether the thieves in yellow can hold Sichuan, or whether the Ming Dynasty can fight back."
Mo Yunbao has learned about the fall of Chengdu.
Judging from his military experience, once Chengdu was lost, the Ming Dynasty would definitely not be able to defend Sichuan.
All parts of Sichuan will surely be slowly taken over by thieves in yellow clothes.
The Jianchang Guard where he was located had nothing to offer, so it was definitely the last place the thieves in yellow would consider attacking.
Zhang Yunqing's face turned red and he took out the autographed letter written by Su He.
"Brother Mo, I'm here to be a lobbyist.
I have surrendered to Commander Su. You don't have many soldiers here, so you will definitely not be able to defend it.
It's better to take advantage of this opportunity and negotiate some good terms.
If you have any conditions, I can help you convey them.
When the army comes to attack, there will be no chance."
When Mo Yunbao heard the news, he was a little silent.
He took Su He's handwritten letter from Zhang Yunqing and read the contents of the letter.
"Is it true?"
"Brother Mo, I saw this written by Commander Su with my own eyes.
There is no need for me to lie to you about our friendship."
"Then I'll think about it."
When Zhang Yunqing heard Mo Yunbao's words, he knew that things were stable.
…………………………
Rongcheng, Governor's Yamen.
Su He received reports from various units.
He couldn't help but laugh a few times.
"It's great, Sichuan has been brought under the rule.
There is no large Ming army, and the army has already pacified Sichuan."