Nearly 10,000 mountain bandits were wiped out, but the casualties of the new army were minimal.
Only two soldiers were killed, and a dozen soldiers were slightly injured. The casualties of these dozen people were mainly caused by the old bandits wearing armor.
Most of these old bandits are gangsters, and they are quite fierce.
Chongzhen asked Xu Yingwei to collect the identity tags of the fallen soldiers, and at the same time made stretchers to carry a dozen soldiers who were slightly injured. He ignored the queues of Yingshan officials to ask for an audience and continued to march towards Huanggang.
After another half month of marching, we finally arrived at Huanggang at the end of the first year.
By this time, Zheng Hongkui's navy had already arrived at Huanggang.
At the same time, I also received a letter from Du Yinxi sent flying cavalry: One hundred thousand soldiers have arrived in Hanyang.
With the assistance of the navy, the army successfully crossed the Yangtze River and reached Pankou. At this time, it was less than two hundred miles away from Wuchang, and it could be reached in two days of urgent march.
Chongzhen immediately ordered a rapid advance.
…
The rioters outside Wuchang City have become a chaotic mess.
The dozen or so generals and lieutenants who were leading the mutiny were gathering in the big tent to argue.
"I told you not to kill He Tengjiao, but you didn't listen and insisted on killing He Tengjiao. Now it's okay. The imperial army has arrived and even the last bit of room for change is gone. I asked you what to do? What to do?"
The commander-in-chief who spoke was called Xu Yong. Like Huang Degong, this man was also from the frontier army of Liaodong Town. During the Chongzhen period, he had been fighting at the forefront of suppressing the Qing bandits. He also followed Yuan Jixian, who was the governor of Xunyang at the time, to guard Xunyang for seven years.
He is a powerful warrior who forces thieves from all walks of life to take detours.
However, his conduct cannot be compared with Huang Degong.
The army led by Huang Degong was truly a breath of fresh air in the troubled times of the late Ming Dynasty.
And Xu Yong, Zuo Liangyu, Liu Zeqing and their ilk are like mudslides. They also suppress thieves, but they also rob and kill people. In short, they don't take the people's life and death seriously and only pursue personal interests.
"Bullshit! He Tengjiao killed Mr. Ma and four other people in the town. How can we calm down the overwhelming anger of the officers and soldiers in each town without killing him?"
The deputy general who refuted Xu Yong's name was Hao Xiaozhong, and he was also from Liaodong Town. There were many military generals from Liaodong like Xu Yong and Hao Xiaozhong in the Left Army.
For example, Lu Guangzu, Li Guoying, Zhang Yingyuan and others.
The military generals in Liaodong Town, or the Guan Ning Army, have a very serious tendency to become warlords.
And this is also the most fundamental reason for this mutiny, because Chongzhen's series of measures to return to Germany in Xuzhou have spread to Wuchang and reached the ears of these generals from Liaodong.
Hearing that all the frontier generals in Xuzhou were granted the title of viscount, and that each frontier soldier was rewarded with a favor, these frontier generals and soldiers in Wuchang felt that they were being treated differently and insulted.
Because none of the generals in Wuchang have been knighted, and the soldiers have no favors.
In fact, not to mention the land reward, even the salary was not paid in full.
The frontier troops in Wuchang Town were paid only for sitting, which was two taels of silver per month, which was not enough to be paid in full. However, the frontier troops in Xuzhou Town were paid as war pay, and they were paid in full. There was a huge difference!
Because of this, the generals and soldiers in Wuchang Town had already suppressed evil fire in their hearts.
In other words, the hundreds of thousands of border troops in Wuchang Town have long become a powder keg.
At this time, He Tengjiao imitated Sun Chuanting and killed the general during the banquet!
After killing the general, He Tengjiao actually dared to break into the military camp outside the city alone. As a result, he was chopped into pieces by the border soldiers who were so angry that they lost their sense.
After cutting down He Tengjiao, the rebel army went around plundering the countryside.
In just ten days, hundreds of thousands of rebel troops turned Jiangxia County upside down.
After killing a lot of people and grabbing a lot of property and women, the rebels gathered outside Wuchang City again, preparing to attack Chengchang City. As for what to do after taking Wuchang City, they haven't thought about it yet. Anyway, they haven't thought about it yet. Take it one step at a time. As long as you have an army, where can you go without food?
However, the attack on Wuchang City did not go smoothly.
The attack lasted for more than twenty days, but they could not be defeated and many people were lost.
Just when the rebels were at their wits' end, a shocking news suddenly came. The navy had arrived at Huangzhou Prefecture and had blocked the rebels' way into Nanzhi or Jiangxi.
At this moment, the rebel army's heads immediately became confused.
As of today, it is already the third day of continuous quarrel, and there is no result yet.
"Everyone, stop arguing, everyone calm down." Lu Guangzu interrupted the quarrel between Xu Yong, Hao Xiaozhong and others, and said, "The top priority is that we must come up with a charter as soon as possible. If we fight, how should we fight next? If we leave, So where should we go? We must make a decision as soon as possible and we cannot delay it any longer."
Hao Xiaozhong said with a dark face: "If you ask me, let's not attack Wuchang at all. Wuchang City is high and deep, and it is too difficult to fight. Let's just send troops down the river to attack Nanjing! Go and bring the young master back!"
"What kind of young master should I accept?" a deputy general said bitterly, "Kill Chongzhen directly and let the young master ascend the throne in Nanjing!"
"That's right, Chongzhen, the dog emperor, dares to humiliate us like this. We should show him our methods." Another deputy general said with a dark face, "If we attack Nanjing, we will attack Nanjing directly!"
"Crazy, are you all crazy?" There are also people who maintain a certain sense.
"We, with hundreds of thousands of troops, want to attack Nanjing? Hundreds of thousands of slaves were beaten to a pulp by Chongzhen. Are you all tired of living? You want to die, but I don't want to die."
"What are you afraid of? Chongzhen's army is guarding Xuzhou, and there are not many soldiers in Nanjing."
"That's right, if Nanjing can stand up to the sky, there are tens of thousands of soldiers from the Beijing camp. Are the soldiers from the Beijing camp considered soldiers? I can beat them so hard that even their mothers can't recognize them! Just attack Nanjing and fuck Chongzhen!"
Several generals and a dozen lieutenants became more and more enthusiastic, and their words were spitting.
It has to be said that these warriors still had some foresight. They knew that at this time, the elite frontier troops of the Ming army were all in Xuzhou and on the Huanghuai defense line. There were no real elite troops in Nanjing at all.
This idea is exactly the same as that of Zuo Liangyu from another time and space.
Of course, their real intention in proposing to attack Nanjing was not to support Zuo Menggeng as emperor, but simply to covet the wealth in Nanjing. The Ming Dynasty Royal Bank and the Exchange were in Nanjing.
By capturing Nanjing, they would immediately receive endless amounts of money.
Most of these rebels are from bandits, and even if there are a small number of officers and soldiers, most of them are Guan Ning troops with extremely poor military discipline, so the loyalty to the emperor and the country will not work for them.
These rebels only have money in their sights.
Seeing the dozen or so angry generals and deputy generals shouting there, Xu Yong shook his head.
Xu Yong is one of the rare people who still remains calm. He knows that attacking Nanjing is a dead end. It is more than a thousand miles from Wuchang to Nanjing. How can we get food and grass on such a long journey? Should we grab it along the way? What if we can't grab it?
I'm afraid that these hundreds of thousands of people would have collapsed before they even reached Nanjing.
But he couldn't speak to more than a dozen people with one mouth, so he simply didn't bother to say more.
Just when Xu Yong was wondering if he could take advantage of others and run away with his troops, a sentry commander suddenly ran in panting and reported: "Everyone in the military, it's not good!"
"Hou Si, why did you come back to Wuchang?" A commander-in-chief asked sternly, "Didn't I ask you to lead the sentry cavalry in the direction of Huangzhou to guard against a surprise attack by the Ming Navy?"
"It's over, it's all over." Hou Si said in panic.
The commander-in-chief became furious and said: "What's over, let's make it clear."
"My soldiers are all gone." Hou Si cried out as he said this, "They were all killed by the barbarians!"
"Yiding?" A dozen generals and lieutenants were shocked when they heard this. Is this Chongzhen coming?
In the Ming Dynasty, the Yiding were an extremely special army, and now there are hundreds of them around Chongzhen.
If these hundreds of Yiding appeared in Wuchang, wouldn't it mean that Chongzhen had also arrived in Wuchang?
Even though they were all shouting that they wanted to go to Nanjing to kill Chongzhen, and they were shouting quite fiercely, when Chongzhen actually appeared outside Wuchang, especially so suddenly, they still felt numb.
.
As the saying goes, people are reflected in the shadow of famous trees. No matter what, Chongzhen defeated hundreds of thousands of slaves in Xuzhou!
After a moment of dead silence, a deputy general asked in a deep voice: "Hou Si, do you know how many Yiding have come?"
"At least a few hundred." Hou Si said with a mournful face, "In the main town, those coming from the east are really Yiding, and there are more cavalry following them, and they are almost reaching Wuchang."
"There is no need to panic," She Zhongzhong said in a deep voice, "Chongzhen may not come to Wuchang with Yi Ding."
"What if? What if Chongzhen comes too?" A deputy general immediately retorted loudly, "Can you guarantee that Chongzhen himself did not come and only transferred Yiding?"
"Xu Yuxian, where are your eggs?"
Hao Xiaozhong immediately became angry: "You were clamoring for an attack on Nanjing just now?"
"Just now, now is now!" Xu Yuxian said in panic, "We can't defeat Chongzhen."
"It's been here for a while. If you can win, you have to fight. If you can't, you still have to fight. Otherwise, you and I will die without a burial place." Xu Yong sighed and said, "Let's gather our troops quickly and prepare to face the enemy.
.”
A dozen generals and lieutenants woke up from a dream.
Now everyone went back to camp to gather their troops.
…
At this time, it was twenty miles away from Wuchang.
Chongzhen was leading an army of more than 6,000 cavalry and infantry to advance towards Wuchang.
Coming all the way from Pankou, Bailuji, Huangzhou and other market towns, I found that there were no military disasters.
It wasn't until they entered Huangzhou Town that they encountered a group of rebel cavalry, which was quickly annihilated by the Yiding.
Seeing this, Chongzhen was slightly relieved. It seemed that the military disaster had not spread. At most, Jiangxia County, which was an affiliated county of Wuchang Prefecture, was looted.
In this case, the impact on Huguang as a whole will be minimal.
After entering Jiangxia County, I finally saw villages and towns that had been burned down one after another, and I also saw displaced people, supporting the elderly and young, fleeing towards Nankang Prefecture in Jiangxi.
Chongzhen immediately ordered the dry food carried by the army to be distributed to the people.
He also sent someone to notify the navy, and asked the navy to send ships to pick up the people and take them to Nanjing for resettlement by the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
The Ming Dynasty was on the eve of great industrial development, and manpower was the most precious resource. Therefore, Chongzhen would not give up any common people easily. A common person is a labor force!
After settling the people, Chongzhen continued to lead the army toward the west.
At nearly noon, we finally reached fifteen miles east of Wuchang City, and then we could not go any further because the rebel soldiers from Wuchang had already set up a formation in the wilderness ahead.
Upon seeing this, Chongzhen immediately climbed into the sidecar and opened his telescope.
Through the field of vision through the telescope, I could see that the vast desert in front of me was full of rioters.
Chongzhen was as stable as an old dog in his heart, and the three thousand cavalry and eight hundred Yiding were also calm in their hearts. However, Xu Wuniu and other new army officers could not help but take a breath of air.
So many rebels? Maybe hundreds of thousands?
Can we defeat hundreds of thousands of rebel soldiers?
These rebels are not the same thing as bandits.
Not to mention anything else, there are a lot of cavalry among the rebels!
While Chongzhen was observing the formation of the rebels, he asked Zuo Menggeng: "Mr. Chu, how many troops and horses are there in Wuchang?"
Zuo Mengeng didn't dare to hide anything, because he knew he couldn't hide it even if he wanted to, so he answered honestly: "There are ten total soldiers in Wuchang Town, and the total number of soldiers is more than 200,000."
"But the actual number of soldiers is less than 100,000."
"The remaining 100,000 people are basically serving as soldiers."
Speaking of this meal, Zuo Mengeng said again: "Previously, I and General Jin brought 30,000 soldiers and horses from two towns to Xuzhou, of which half were combat soldiers and half soldiers, so at this time the rebel soldiers in Wuchang Town should be eight
About ten thousand people.”
"Eighty thousand soldiers." Chongzhen smiled and said, "How many can really fight?"
Zuo Mengeng looked back at Jin Shenghuan and said, "There are only 20,000 to 30,000 people left who can really fight."
"Only twenty or thirty thousand?" Chongzhen laughed and said, "If it weren't for the Duke of Chu, I would have been intimidated by these insurgents."
Speaking of this meal, Chongzhen asked Hu Guozhu again: "Hu Guozhu, how did you feel when you fought against the rebel cavalry in Huangzhou?"
"It's not bad." Hu Guozhu said, "At least that team of scout cavalry is not bad."
"I don't believe that all the cavalry in the rebel army have this kind of combat effectiveness." Chongzhen said, "How about you take another group of Yiding to explore their background and see how good they are?"
The rebels seized 8,000 horses and trained 8,000 cavalry, which looked quite intimidating.
However, Chongzhen never believed that these cavalry could become elite cavalry in a short period of time. It took Jin Xuan and three thousand servants to train for more than half a year before they could barely form an army, and most of the three thousand servants were good equestrians.
"Yes!" Hu Guozhu bowed his hands and immediately led a group of Yiding people to accelerate forward.
"Hu Guozhu!" Chongzhen suddenly shouted again, "Don't hurt my horse!"
Hu Guozhu immediately shouted to Wu Ba Tan and other Yi Ding: "Did you hear everyone? Try not to hurt the horse!"
"Yes!" Nearly a hundred barbarians agreed in a loud voice, and then they divided into more than a dozen groups and meandered forward, with seven or eight riders in each group. They looked as if they were preparing to detour from the two wings of the rebel formation.
The most feared thing about an infantry formation, especially a large formation composed of thousands of people, is that the cavalry will outflank it from both sides, because once the infantry formation is set up, it is almost impossible to turn.
Therefore, both wings of the infantry formation are generally protected by cavalry.