Such ferocious officers and soldiers were already at odds with the people of Xiangyang. When they heard that the peasant army was coming soon, they all burned incense and offered wine to welcome them. Some people even took the initiative to act as guides and led the peasant army around Zuo Liangyu.
They crossed the Han River from the entrance of Baima Cave to the fortified place. They also desperately carried guns and cannons for Zhang Xianzhong's troops and assisted the brigade in crossing the beach.
Seeing that the situation was not good, Zuo Liangyu immediately broke camp and fled eastward. In the place where he passed, he burned down the houses, destroyed all the stoves and wells, captured all the young men and women, killed all the old and weak women and children, and left no chickens or dogs.
The imperial court gave an explanation, and he even asked Ma Xianglin, the chief soldier of the collateral faction, to defend Xiangyang City, which had no soldiers and no food.
Before the war, Wu Shigong wrote to Ma Xianglin, asking Ma Xianglin to flee to Runing in a critical moment. However, Ma Xianglin was deeply influenced by his mother's "loyalty to the emperor" thought. Before the war, he wrote to his mother Qin Liangyu: "My son swears.
We will live and die together with Xiangyang, and I hope you will not worry about your son's safety!" And Qin Liangyu's reply only said: "Okay! Good! My real son!"
On October 18, the city of Xiangyang was defeated, and Ma Xianglin died in battle. After the news of the fall of Xiangyang reached Jingzhou, King Hui Zhu Changrun, Governor of Pianyuan Chen Ruimo, and all the civil and military ministers fled, leaving no one alive at the city gate. 2
On the 10th, the peasant army occupied Jingmen Prefecture and advanced towards Jingzhou. The people of Jingzhou killed pigs and sheep and held flags to welcome the peasant army. On the 22nd, the peasant army entered Jingzhou and killed the entire family of Zhu Yanyi, King of Xiangyin.
It can be seen from this that Zuo Liangyu's devastation to the people of Huguang was so great that the people were looking forward to the arrival of the peasant army to save them from the fire and water. But in this way, the threat of Zhang Xianzhong's troops to the Runing army was also eliminated.
The child has grown bigger.
Then, the peasant army continued to march towards Chengtian. Chengtian is today's Zhongxiang County in Hubei Province. It was the fiefdom of Emperor Jiajing's father, Xingxian King Zhu Youhang. Because Emperor Wuzong Zhengde of the Ming Dynasty had no sons after his death, Jiajing succeeded him. So Zhongxiang was also
It is regarded as the "Longqian Land" and the location of Xianling Mausoleum. Therefore, it was upgraded to Chengtian Mansion and two guards, Chengtian and Xianling Mausoleum, were set up for defense.
When the storm of peasant armies from various places swept across the land, the imperial court not only moved the general troops of the province to garrison, but also mobilized the general troops of other provinces to assist in the defense, and ordered the governors and inspectors of the province to sit in Chengtian to protect the mausoleum. But even though there were heavy troops here
Guarding, but unable to control the will of the people. When the vanguard of Zhang Xianzhong's troops arrived in Chengtian by boat, some local residents wrote "Welcome to the King" on their gates. Some opened the Xiguan City Gate to prepare for the peasant army to enter the city.
On the first day of November, the peasant army captured Chengtian. Song Yihe, the governor of Huguang, committed suicide, Li Zhensheng, the censor of the patrol, was captured, General Qian Zhongxuan died in battle, and Yang Yongyu, the doctor of Qintian Supervisor, surrendered. Zhang Xianzhong ordered that Chengtian Prefecture be changed to Yangwu Prefecture. This means
The place where the Ming Dynasty inherited its power has been turned into a place where the peasant army showed off its power. At the same time, people were sent to demolish the Xingxian Mausoleum and enjoy the hall and excavate the Xianling Mausoleum.
When Zhang Xianzhong's Peasant Army was flourishing, the Runing Army remained stationary. Even after the Peasant Army entered Huguang, no naval warships from the Runing Army entered. This allowed Zhang Xianzhong's troops to smoothly cross back and forth across the Yangtze River and Han River.
The main reason for this is that Huguang is the territory of the Zuo Liangyu Department of the official army. The Runing army does not want to have any friction with the official army in Huguang before solving the problem of the Li and Luo coalition forces in the north. In addition, the Runing army
The military expansion is concentrated on the Army side, and the Navy's gunboat construction has been greatly slowed down, which also leaves the Navy without enough ability to blockade the Yangtze and Han Rivers.
But Wu Shigong never expected that Zhang Xianzhong would recover so quickly, nor did he expect that Zuo Liangyu was so unlucky. Even his hometown of Xiangyang gave up.
Although in terms of performance, Wu Shigong was very sad about the death of his godbrother Ma Xianglin, he was more worried about the fact that Runing's defense was now empty, and the peasant army of Zhang Xianzhong in Huguang was getting more and more troubled. Wu Shigong was really afraid
Zhang Xianzhong stabbed himself in the back.
"Sister-in-law! The only two armies we are worried about are the Qin army and the Chu army. Now that the Qin army has been completely defeated, the Chu army is strong on the outside and weak on the inside. It has defeated these two major enemies. And our Runing army is focused on attacking the outside world. Where can we not go inside?
"Xue Yongli comforted Wu Shigong and said.
"So, it's really unreliable to rely on these pig teammates." Wu Shigong also smiled bitterly and shook his head, "We can't slowly grind it out in Henan. The south is our foundation and there must be no room for failure. Let Yongzi and Xunzi first
Let’s go into Huguang and encircle and suppress them! We will start another war here and strive to drive the Shaanxi bandits out of Henan Prefecture within a month. After that, the main force will go south to completely wipe out the Zhang bandits first.”
"But without Commander Zhou watching from Nanyang, we can't drive the Li and Luo thieves south. We will either force them to return to Shaanxi or force them to cross the Yellow River. This is different from our pre-war estimates.
Ah!" Xue Yongli said.
"It is best to force them into Shaanxi. As long as we hold Tongguan in our hands, the large group of Shaanxi thieves will not be able to get out. It is not bad not to cross the Yellow River. Let them go to Beizhili and Shanxi to cause trouble. We need to inform Idiot Yu
, if he wants Henan Mansion, he has to do it himself, our Runing Army will not do anything for him."
"Hmm!" Xue Yongli nodded, then she thought about it and plead for Zhang Rubao: "Then Rubao also has no rice to eat. He can't be blamed for not being able to control Jiang Mian. How about demotion and keeping him?"
"Forget it! Let the whole army report it!" Wu Shigong waved his hand and said, "Give him another chance. But it is also good to drive away the Shaanxi thieves. This time we go to Huguang and capture Ruzhou and Nanyang by the way! First
Let’s hold Henan in our hands.”
"Uncle! I heard that Mr. Deng's brain is going to explode these days. In Runing, a group of people who lent us money are surrounding him, hoping to get the land in Henan as soon as possible."
Xue Yongli smiled.
"Let's divide the unclaimed land that has been measured first! Let these rich people feel at ease first. Also tell Mr. Deng not to worry anymore. It is fair for everyone to draw lots. But the management of those Zhuangzi requires our Runing Army.
Especially the village protection team cannot be controlled by those squires. I don't want to create a state within a state. As for the seeds and farm tools, the people who get the land will take care of them. In terms of manpower, we still need to capture more prisoners. As long as the population is
The old and the weak, women and children are all fine. These people will be regarded as the domestic slaves of our Runing army, and they will be temporarily lent to those squires, so we will not charge any more! It can also be regarded as a discount to them. "
"But there are very few local farmers in Henan. According to Nei Shufang, less than 10% of the local people have land. The rest of the land is in the hands of relatives of the emperor and official families. My uncle, you are afraid of causing trouble if you deal with it like this.
!" Xue Yongli said worriedly. (To be continued...)
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