At the same time, on the other side of the Yangtze River to the west of Tongling, a group of nearly 10,000 cavalrymen were quietly and slowly moving southward along the river among the vast mountains under the night sky.
It’s really difficult!
Needless to say, this is naturally a team of Gao Jie, Liu Zeqing, and Liu Liangzuo, and the three of them are scolding each other.
A few days ago, the three of them resisted the other side of Wuhu and thought of crossing the river to attack and win the first victory. However, after a few days of preparation, the young eunuch asked the three of them to set off south to raid Anqing.
The three of them all know the importance of Anqing to Bai Wang, and they also know that capturing Anqing is definitely a great achievement, but they also know that it is impossible to break the city with only more than ten thousand cavalry and no siege troops! The little eunuch meant this.
It's just to let them be the vanguard and clear the way for Li Yan's army behind.
Because the terrain of Anqing is too steep, surrounded by water on three sides and mountains on one side, and there are several large lakes blocking the mountains and rivers to the north. If you want to get close to the city, you have to take the path between the lakes and mountains in the west, or take the river and river in the east.
Narrow area between lakes.
But no matter what, the bandits will not let such a good geographical location easily allow them to reach the city. They must set up obstacles at strategic points to stop them.
But we don’t know this until we get to the ground. However, just marching in the past few days has made Sanri suffer a lot. In addition to suffering from the rain, the road is difficult to travel, and the river beach is full of rocks, overgrown with weeds, and muddy, not to mention that it is too close.
It was easy to be discovered by the other side. It was far away and took a detour, and there were no big towns for rest on the way. Most of them were shabby fishing villages. The three of them could sleep in a clean place, but the soldiers under his command could only
Not to mention getting annoyed when you are surrounded by mosquitoes in the rain and wind.
It was clear today that we should have accelerated the march, but we found that the way forward was blocked by mountains. Liu Zeqing was familiar with the terrain here. He knew that there were vast mountains to the west and there were trails. It was too inconvenient for the cavalry to cross the mountains and they had to detour a long way.
, we can only walk close to the river bank, but the other side is Tongling. Across the river, tens of thousands of troops can easily be discovered by the rebels. After all, Tongling is occupied by the rebels at this time.
After a long discussion, the three decided to rest in the mountains and wait for dark to march. Although it was difficult to march in the dark, it was better than being exposed. If they could reach outside the city without anyone noticing, it would save a lot of trouble.
So when Wu Sangui on the other side rushed to Tongling, Gao Jie and his three men secretly followed the river bank towards Anqing.
Chizhou Prefecture belongs to Nanzhili and has jurisdiction over six counties. The prefecture governs Guichi County (today's Guichi District).
Although the night was very deep, the lights in the city government offices were still burning, and the candles were flickering in the lobby of the back mansion. A short-bearded man in his forties was meditating. The tea next to him had already cooled down, but he didn't know that at this time he was one of Li Zicheng's generals.
Baiwang.
There was a sudden sound of wind in the courtyard. Bai Wang looked out and stood up and walked to the porch. He stretched out his hand and saw the rain falling. He couldn't help but curse in his heart. The endless rain was really annoying.
He is indeed very upset now and has encountered a rather difficult problem!
Li Zicheng's fierce generals are full of heroes who can break into formations, but defensive types who are quiet and ruthless but also steady and ruthless are rare, and Bai Wang is one of them or even the only one.
Because of his stability, when Li Zicheng went north to compete with Sun Chuanting, he asked Bai Wang to stick to the old nest he had managed to manage, De'an, Jiangxi, deep in the mountains.
Bai Wang lived up to his trust and defended that corner of the mountain. Zuo Liangyu went to suppress the bandits several times but was beaten to a bloody head. In the end, he simply gave up and left Lu Daqi in Jiujiang to watch him and went to Wuchang to plot big things.
As soon as Zuo Liangyu left, Bai Wang felt much more relaxed, and he started to live a good life in the mountains. Although he was still the dominant player in the mountains, his life was fine. However, after a long time, he felt a little neglected and abandoned, especially after hearing that Li Zicheng was in Xi'an.
When he proclaimed himself emperor, it was really a mixed bag of emotions.
You conquered the big city and enjoyed the blessings of being king and emperor, but you left me here in a corner of the mountain and ignored me.
Bai Wang also wanted to join Li Zicheng in Xi'an, but the two places were separated by thousands of mountains and rivers. Where could he go? From the upper reaches of the Yangtze River? Lu Daqi stared at him in Jiujiang. Even if he rushed over, Zuo Liangyu claimed to have two hundred thousand
The army defends Wuchang, a natural barrier, and goes downstream? Follow the river south to Anqing and then cross mountains and ridges for thousands of miles?
Unrealistic and impossible.
However, when the news of Li Zicheng's eastern expedition came, Bai Wang sensed the opportunity and seized it. He immediately sent troops to respond and marched north along the Yangtze River. The results were fruitful, far exceeding his original expectations and even approaching Nanjing.
But then the news came that Li Zicheng failed in the Eastern Expedition and fled back to Xi'an. Bai Wang also knew that if he took too big a step, it would be easy to lose his temper. The top priority was to manage the territory in his hands well and stabilize it. Of course, in order to divert the attention of the court
The troops of the Northern Expedition had to continue beating gongs and drums, and there were surprises all the time. Wang Tizhong actually walked out of Chizhou Prefecture, entered Taiping Prefecture, and captured Wuhu City.
Maybe the city of Nanjing can really be taken down. Just when Bai Wang was daydreaming, the news that the imperial court was dispatching troops from the north for reinforcements was sent to him. Tens of thousands of troops were ready to move on the other side, and Wuhu was in danger.
Bai Wang, who has been on the battlefield for a long time, understands that although this is a crisis, it is also an opportunity. As long as he defeats the supporting troops or recruits them to surrender, he will be even more powerful and invincible in the south of the Yangtze River. Even the city of Nanjing will take the initiative to sacrifice the city in fear of its power, so he decided
Head to Wuhu for reinforcements!
Bai Wang's reaction was quick, but his movements were a little slow. Because of the heavy rain recently, the swollen river caused a lot of trouble for him to cross the river. His marching speed was also delayed due to the bad weather, but he took the opportunity to capture a lot of people.
Refugees, this is in conflict with the previous policy, but now that he needs to deal with tens of thousands of reinforcements, it will naturally be beneficial to get more cannon fodder.
In this way, they marched across the river in the rain from Anqing, one step at a time, one step at a time, and finally arrived at Chizhou where the team finally had a solid sleep. Bai Wang was about to ask someone to ask what was going on in the north, when the messenger from Wang Tizhong arrived:
Wuhu City is lost!
Later, it was learned that Wang Zamao had accidentally tricked the soldiers to lure the tiger away from the mountain. Although he had the extraordinary skills of the sensory soldiers, his thoughts were no longer on the gains and losses of Wuhu City, but on Wang Tizhong's speculation: There were more than 10,000 soldiers on the other side of the river. Could it be that they were just waving flags and shouting?
Attracting attention? Moreover, the security is getting tighter so that Seisaku cannot penetrate. If it is just to attract attention, he should deliberately let Seisaku in to see how powerful he is, thus putting pressure on the rebels.
Therefore, Wang Tizhong guessed that the officers and soldiers on the other side were not only cooperating with Nanjing's troops to seize the city, but they also had their own goal, which was to directly send troops to Anqing!
Bai Wang was deeply convinced but also very disapproving. Anqing was a prefectural city that had been in the vortex of war for many years. It had already developed a complete and mature copper wall and iron wall defense facilities. It would be extremely difficult to break the city without tens of thousands of troops besieging it for ten and a half months. It would be extremely difficult to win, and even more
Regardless of its geographical advantages, if you want to attack the city, you should first touch the city wall.
Since the officers and soldiers are planning to use troops on both sides of the Taiwan Strait to attack on both sides, why don't you take advantage of the situation and take advantage of the situation? I will encircle Wei and rescue Zhao. Anqing will have no worries for a while. However, he does not return troops to rescue. Instead, he continues to increase his troops and march north to fight at the gate of Nanjing to see if you are panic or not.
Withdraw or not, Anqing’s troops and horses return reinforcements?
The officers and soldiers only relied on deceit and deception to capture the city of Wuhu, so I surrounded the city with a large army and retaken it with force, letting the officers and soldiers in Nanjing see my strength! Bai Wang stared at the topographic map on the table with a smile on his face.
sneer.
But soon he frowned again. There is Qingge River in the south of Wuhu City, which is a natural danger. Now that Wuhu City is lost, the defense of this river cannot be lost. If the officers and soldiers advance and defend the river defense line, it will be difficult for him to fight through. He should quickly send an order to
In the royal body, Wuhu City must be surrounded tightly so that the officers and soldiers have no chance to leave the city... At the very least, they cannot retreat to the south bank of the Yangtze River.
Unexpectedly, just as he was about to send someone to deliver the order, the soldiers outside shouted that there was urgent news.
Wang Tizhong is about to surrender, and the people from Dongchang are coming to massacre!
There was a sound in the king's body, and he stood up and grabbed the soaked thief: "What are you talking about? Tell me clearly."
This bandit army was one of the sixteen people he placed around Wang Ti Zhong. After he saw that Wang Ti Zhong was thinking of surrender, he discussed it with the others and reported it first so that Bai Wang was mentally prepared, so he told everything he knew.
This is most likely what Wang Tizhong and Wang Zamao discussed: "I'm afraid Wang Tizhong has already surrendered by now."
Bai Wang was stunned, staggered back a few steps, sat down on a chair, and stared at the dark night sky outside the door, speechless for a long time.
In the king's body, his most trusted and strongest subordinate actually betrayed him. This made him unable to accept it for a while, and he couldn't understand why he wanted to surrender!
Also, the eunuch of Dongchang, who had defeated Li Zicheng several times in a row in the north and was known as the massacre, had led reinforcements southward. It was obvious that the loss of Wuhu City was his work.
No wonder, no wonder! Even Lu Daqi and the bunch of idiots in Nanjing City don’t have the means and ability!
Bai Wang was very sad and angry, but he reminded himself in his heart that he must be calm, he must be calm. Although Wang Ti Zhong is hateful, the situation at the moment is more important. He must deal with it calmly, otherwise, if he makes a wrong step, he will be in catastrophe.
The reinforcements from the north on the west bank of the Yangtze River are on their way to Anqing as expected, but they will not be able to help Anqing Mansion for a while, but things are much more complicated on the east bank now. If Wang Tizhong surrenders, he will lose his arm.
, his sudden betrayal suddenly made him very passive, and the situation became very unfavorable.
Although it is not yet certain that Wang Tizhong will surrender, he must prepare for the worst. After he surrenders... Chizhou Mansion!
Bai Wang stood up and walked to the door and shouted: "Go and call the King of Hell."
The king of hell, whose surname is Wang Yi'en, was one of Bai Wang's subordinates. He was cruel and vicious, so he called himself the king of hell. When he was summoned late at night, Wang Yi'en knew that there must be something important, but he didn't expect that Wang Tizhong surrendered.
"What a bastard, the commander is so kind to him... a wolf-hearted thing..." Wang Yi'en cursed endlessly, Bai Wang smiled bitterly: "The best plan at the moment is that he just pretended to surrender and killed the entire army.
The worst-case scenario is that he has already surrendered... My people discovered the secret only in the afternoon. At that time, the officers and soldiers were preparing to attack. If the king is undefeated, he may not surrender. If he surrenders, I'm afraid they will have already sent troops south!"
"Even if he surrenders, will the officers and soldiers go south so quickly?" Wang Yi'en frowned: "I have seen many officers and soldiers grinding and complaining for so many years, but I have never seen anyone so cheerful."
Bai Wang smiled bitterly: "If it's other people, let's talk about it differently, but the man who slaughtered the eunuch is another matter. He can defeat King Chuang's hundreds of thousands of troops by himself. How can he be a good person? He will take the opportunity to send troops south to take advantage of me.
Before he could react, he occupied Fanchang and Tongling!" He said with a wry smile and said: "If this is really the case, I'm afraid Fanchang has fallen into his hands by now."
Wang Yi'en finally understood: "The commander-in-chief means that we should quickly send troops to capture Tongling before he does?"
Bai Wang nodded: "Soldiers are valuable and quick. You immediately bring two thousand cavalry and rush to Tongling as quickly as possible. You must not let the officers and soldiers occupy Tongling first. Otherwise, once the officers and soldiers occupy Tongling, they will attack Chizhou with a large army. We will be attacked on both sides.
, if Chizhou also loses its retreat, it will be over!"
"Don't worry, Commander, even if Tongling is occupied by officers and soldiers, you will take back a humble position!" Wang Yi'en gritted his teeth and did not forget to curse Wang Tizhong.
"You go first, I will arrive soon!" Bai Wangqian warned Wan: "Remember, never let Tongling fall into the hands of officers and soldiers!"