"Poyang Lake has beautiful scenery and wonderful mountains and rivers. Countless literati and poets have visited here since ancient times. To the west of the lake, there is a famous mountain, Lushan Mountain, in Xingzi County. There are waterfalls in the mountain. Li Taibai once wrote a poem that made it famous all over the world. The Du Highway passes through it.
, why don’t you go and have a look?” Li Muxian looked ready to move, Chang Yu nodded: “This is the largest freshwater lake in the Ming Dynasty, so I want to feast my eyes on it, but official business is important at the moment. How about we take a dip after that?
"Everyone nodded in agreement, and Li Yan asked curiously: "The general once heard that there is a lake in the far west of Xining where Wei Lao Hui lives, which is the largest lake in the Ming Dynasty. Is it possible that the rumor is wrong and it is not as big as Poyang Lake?
"
"They say it's a sea, of course it's bigger than a lake." Gao Jie shouted, Chang Yu rolled his eyes: "Don't talk if you're not literate, Haizi is the name of the lake by the people of Yunnan or Tibet, so the name is Yiyi, Haizi Haizi Hai
Of course it’s a lake.” Gao Jie scratched his head in embarrassment, while Huang Degong gloated: “If you’re not educated, don’t talk nonsense to make you laugh.” Gao Jie was furious: “You’re educated, but you can’t even read a single Chinese character, right?”
”.
Huang Degong shrugged: "I don't know how to read or write, but I don't know how to pretend to understand."
The two began to argue again, and Chang Yu didn't bother to care. He said to Li Yan: "That Haizi is called Qinghai Lake. It is indeed the largest lake in the Ming Dynasty. It is at least thousands of square meters larger than Poyang Lake. However, Qinghai Lake is a saltwater lake and sea water.
It is also salty, but Poyang Lake is fresh and drinkable. But in fact, the largest lake in China should be Lake Baijia. It is more than 30 times the area of all the lakes in the Ming Dynasty combined. It is a pity..." Chang Yu sighed
tone.
Li Yan and Li Muxian raised their eyebrows and shook their heads. They had never heard of Lake Baikal. Chang Yu exhaled: "Beihai, the place where Su Wu herds sheep."
The two of them were surprised by the young eunuch's extensive knowledge, so they started chatting. They all traveled under the stars and stayed up all night. They entered Hukou County and prepared to sleep before leaving.
As the name suggests, Hukou County is located at the mouth of Poyang Lake. It is a small town similar to Dongliu County. The county seat is in Xiaoyang (southwest of today's Shuangshuang Town, which is completely different from the current city center).
There were more than a hundred officers and soldiers in the city. Chen Suole didn't ask them what army they belonged to, and directly asked them to lead the way to the Yamen to rest. The guards didn't know where they were from, but looking at the aura of this group, they knew they were big shots, so they hurriedly led them away.
yamen.
The yamen was very clean. Although I don't know if it was always like this or if it was just cleaned recently, it was very clean. Chang Yu and his party had a hasty breakfast and fell asleep with their heads covered.
After sleeping until noon, everyone got up one after another. Seeing the scorching sun hanging high above their heads, they couldn't help but sigh. After everyone washed up and had a meal, they left the city and went straight to Jiujiang Ferry. The total waterway there was still seventy or eighty miles away. It was estimated that
We can arrive in Jiujiang City in the middle of the night.
In the third year of Hongwu's reign in the Ming Dynasty (1370), Changzhou was demoted and Ningzhou became a county; in the ninth year (1376), the province of Jiangxi was renamed Jiangxi Chengxuanzhengshisi. The province was divided into 5 provinces and 13 prefectures, including Jiujiang Province.
It governs the three prefectures of Jiujiang, Nankang and Raozhou; Jiujiang Prefecture governs the five counties of Dehua, De'an, Ruichang, Hukou and Pengze; Nankang Prefecture governs the three counties of Xingzi, Duchang and Jianchang; Ning County and Wuning County
It belongs to Nanchang Prefecture. In the 16th year of Hongzhi (1503), Ning County was restored to Ningzhou. In the 13th year of Zhengde (1518), Chang was divided into Anyi County and placed under the jurisdiction of Nankang Prefecture.
Zuo Liangyu was stationed here two years ago. When he heard that Zhang Xianzhong had defeated Wuchang, he ran eastward to Wuhu. Then Yuan Jixian ran to persuade him to attack Wuchang. Then he stationed in Wuchang to support his troops and watch, and Jiujiang became
He left the East Bridgehead, which was within his sphere of influence, to be stationed by his confidant Jin Shenghuan. However, the imperial court naturally saw through this little thing about him. Although there was nothing they could do about him, they had to put obstacles in place to guard against him. So not only did Yuan Jixian stay in office, but he also
Lu Daqi was transferred to handle military affairs.
Although these two people have no military power and no outstanding talents, they are both old foxes. Zuo Liangyu cannot be beaten head-on, but they still have the ability to use some tricks. Otherwise, how could they have kicked Jin Shenghuan as far as Xuzhou with one kick?
He was going to suppress bandits, but he was accidentally picked up by Chang Yu who was on his way to Xuzhou. He took it with him and used it quite smoothly. The important thing was that he had assimilated Comrade Xiao Jin. Now all he could think about was following the little eunuch to do big things. At this time
In his eyes, Zuo Liangyu... I'm sorry, who is he?
As the prefectural city of Jiujiang, the bridgehead of Zuo Liangyu's forces, and Bai Wang who still has to keep an eye on the mountains, Jiujiang has thousands of troops garrisoned, sometimes more than 5,000 at most. Lu Daqi had 3,000 troops in the city at that time, so he sent Jin Shengheng to Xuzhou
With more than a thousand and only two thousand left, Hou Baiwang went out to Shandong to attack. The troops were divided into two groups. The main force crossed the other side of Poyang Lake and went straight to the mouth of the lake. The other group went to the west bank and first went to Xingzi County to attract Jiujiang officers and soldiers.
Lu Daqi was indeed fooled. Hearing that Xingzi County was besieged, he hurriedly led his troops to come to the rescue. As soon as he arrived, he heard that Hukou had been defeated by the bandit army and hurriedly turned back to help. The bandit army had been waiting at the mouth of the river for a long time. In addition, the bandit army from Xingzi County was attacking from behind.
Defeated and retreated to Jiujiang.
Seeing that Bai Wang's purpose was to go east along the Yangtze River, Lu Daqi knew his purpose and organized several pursuits but were all defeated by Bai Wang. As a last resort, he ordered the army to return to Jiujiang, while he took a detour and sneaked to Nanjing to mobilize reinforcements. Now the hero has returned...
The wily Lu Daqi and the capable Jin Shenghuan were gone, leaving only Yuan Jixian in Jiujiang.
Old Yuan came to power in his fifties this year. He was a serious civil servant (he published many books) but also had some knowledge of military affairs. When he was serving as Huguang Councilor in the 10th year of Chongzhen Emperor's reign, he once defended Wuchang, pacified the Yangtze River water thieves and rejuvenated the country.
He captured more than a thousand people. Later, he offended the eunuch Yang Xianming and was demoted two levels. At that time, Yang Sichang stayed with him as an exhibitor because he knew military skills, so Yang Sichang was one of his backstage. Now that Yang Sichang is dead, he has another backstage
, Wu Xuan, the then governor of Shanxi, is now the second assistant to the cabinet and the second-in-command in the imperial court!
Of course, Yuan Jixian is not the kind of person who is arrogant when he has a backer. Wherever you leave him, he will take root and run the business well. Now that he is in Jiujiang, he is walking on thin ice, not because of the rebel army. Bai Wang's purpose is very clear.
He went to the east to open up territory and expand his territory. Zuo Liangyu in the west was burning incense if he didn't deal with him. He had no reason to provoke Zuo Liangyu and went to attack Jiujiang. Naturally, he also knew that Zuo Liangyu was waiting to watch with troops. Don't mess with me.
, I won’t deal with you either.
Bai Wang was very sensible and did not mess with him. Yuan Jixian was guarding against Zuo Liangyu. Will he suddenly set up his own business while Bai Wang was causing trouble? If so, he would immediately send generals and troops to Jiujiang. After all, it was Zuo Liangyu.
The bridgehead must be firmly held in hand.
Fortunately, Zuo Liangyu has been waiting and watching. He wants to wait until Li Zicheng reaches Beijing or Bai Wang reaches Nanjing before raising the banner, so the soldiers are not in a hurry to send more troops to Jiujiang. After all, if Bai Wang fails to succeed,
, his sending additional troops to Jiujiang will misunderstand Bai Wang.
No one expected that the situation was so unpredictable and dizzying. All kinds of bad news came every day. The bandits were so powerful that they reached Baoding in the Eastern Expedition. The Tatars from outside the customs entered the customs again. After Bai Wang broke through Anqing, he
He broke through Chizhou and once reached Taiping Mansion... Yuan Jixian frowned every day, feeling so depressed that he could hardly breathe. Is the Ming Dynasty really about to end...
Unexpectedly, the sky suddenly started to clear up, good news came one after another, and the little eunuch's prestige was also heard in his ears. When did such a powerful internal official appear? Could it be another Wei Zhongxian... Bah, bah, bah, bah,
Wei Zhongxian doesn't know how to fight. His only hobby in life is to show off his authority and punish officials, which is to make money.
The Tatars were driven out of the customs, and Li Zicheng was beaten back to Xi'an. The officers and soldiers traveled thousands of miles south, marching all the way to Anqing on the north bank of the Yangtze River, borrowing troops from Nanjing and marching westward along the Yangtze River. Suddenly, suddenly, suddenly, suddenly, they reached Chizhou, suddenly, suddenly, suddenly, suddenly.
, ah, Peng Ze also recovered, suddenly... ah, the legendary little eunuch sent people into the city to meet him.
That is, Kuang Ren passed by here on his way to Wuchang to deliver a letter.
Kuang Ren sent a few words, asking Yuan Jixian to monitor those closely related to Zuo Liangyu in Jiujiang City, place them under house arrest if necessary, and upgrade the city defense to a state of combat readiness.
Yuan Jixian was shocked. His first reaction was that Zuo Liangyu had rebelled. However, Kuang Ren said that he had been ordered to go to Wuchang to deliver a message. Only then did Old Yuan realize that this was the eunuch's plan in advance. He had always been on guard against Zuo Liangyu.
After learning of Chang Yu's intentions, he immediately declared martial law, sealed the four gates and imposed a dark curfew, and placed all officials and generals who he believed to be Zuo Liangyu's agents in Jiujiang under house arrest.
Yuan Jixian has been extremely cautious and nervous these days. He only sleeps for two or three hours at night. He is afraid that there will be some chaos in the city. He also wants to know what the little eunuch will do when he sends people to Wuchang. Zuo Liangyu will react there. He is waiting.
information.
Surprisingly, before the news in Wuchang arrived, the little eunuch suddenly came.