It took a total of ten days from the time when the imperial court received the rebellion of Wu Bikui to when Mu Tianbo received the secret order. Within these ten days, Wu Bikui attacked two cities again. It can be said that the attack was fierce. Within these ten days, Prince Mu's Mansion and the governor's Yamen formed a coalition army and arrived at
Outside Kunming, the reaction was also extremely fast.
Similarly, Chang Yu spent more than ten days running non-stop for nearly two thousand miles. He could have visited friends along the way but had no choice but to pass through. He only stopped for a while in Anqing to have a meal with Huang Degong and then
I changed horses and went straight to Jiujiang, which was a desperate effort. But when I got to Jiujiang, I had reached the limit. No matter how hard I drove, the horse would die, and the man would die.
Jiujiang is a place that you just leave and come back to again.
But it has changed a lot. Back then, in autumn, the scenery was still all the eyes could see, but now the eyes were full of desolation, but there was energy and spirit.
There was originally an army of thieves watching eagerly next to the bed, but now they are all dispersed, and the big bandit who made the officers and soldiers in Jiujiang City frightened suddenly became the lord of the city.
This big thief is the bravest thief general under Bai Wang in the king's body.
Now he is the admiral and commander-in-chief of Jiangxi Province, and was granted the title of earl by the imperial court. He is the envy of many people. Even Wang Ti Zhong himself feels as if he is in a dream, thinking that a few months ago he was still hiding in the mountains and being ashamed to see his ancestors.
Everything changed for the thief and bandit overnight. He became an upright official of the imperial court and was awarded the title of Guangzong Yaozu. It is said that he cried and cried all night long when the imperial edict of the title came.
When Chang Yu came, Wang TiZhong directly kowtowed to him, and the dignified earl kowtowed to the eunuch. This would cause an uproar in the government and the public if word got out, but no matter how many Wang TiZhong had, what he had now was given by this eunuch, and he gave it to himself.
He knew how to be grateful for the opportunity to be a new person. As for whether he felt guilty towards Bai Wang, only he knew in the dead of night.
Jiujiang was originally a bridgehead used by Zuo Liangyu to monitor Bai Wang, but now it is used to monitor him. In addition to Wang Tizhong, an old rival, there is also one of his subordinates, Jin Shenghuan. Zuo Liangyu uses him not only to defend Jiujiang
There was also surveillance of Lu Daqi and Yuan Jixian, but Xiao Jinzi's skills were obviously not as good as those two old youtiaos and he was kicked to Xuzhou to suppress the bandits. However, he was brought over by Chang Yu to serve as a pawn and ended up becoming a big fan. Now he doesn't care about Zuo at all.
Liangyu wanted to hang out with the little eunuch, but Chang Yu didn't treat him badly, and the Jiujiang commander was firmly established.
The sworn enemies turned into colleagues. Zuo Liangyu, who was based in Jiujiang and monitored Wuchang, continued to clean up the remnants in the surrounding areas. However, Jiujiang was obviously not the only one for them. There was also the governor of Jiangxi, Yuan Jixian. The three enemies who were fighting openly and secretly have now become Jiujiang.
The iron triangle of the government.
At night, everyone who had been running for ten consecutive days went to bed early. In the study of Yuan Jixian of the Governor's Yamen, Chang Yu, Jin Shenghuan, and Wang Tizhong were still drinking tea and chatting. To be precise, Chang Yu was listening to the report about Zuo Liangyu in Wuchang.
Months of action.
A few months ago, a large number of Jin Yiwei were stationed in Wuchang, and with the various informants of the three people from Jiujiang, Zuo Liangyu's every move was clearly known. Under Chang Yu's coercion, this veteran who was wandering on the edge of rebellion finally gritted his teeth and held back.
, and was ordered to attack Jingzhou.
Jingzhou is located upstream of Wuhan. Needless to say, its strategic location has been a battleground for military strategists since ancient times. If you take the water route, the Yangtze River meanders, it will be far away. If you take the land route, the straight-line distance is only more than 400 miles. As one of Li Zicheng's previous bases,
Heavy troops were also garrisoned here, led by bandit generals Niu Wancai and Ta Tianbao (historically Liu Tichun was stationed there). The Xiangyang base camp on the bank of the Han River, four hundred miles to the north of Jingzhou, was stationed by Yuan Zongdi.
The land of Jingxiang was Li Zicheng's base. It was from here that he stood firm and conquered his territory of Dashun all the way to the northwest. Therefore, he valued the Jingxiang area very much. He could attack and retreat and defend, even if he was frustrated when he entered the northwest.
You can come back again, and when you conquer the northwest, this place still needs to be heavily defended. In addition to being his place of Longxing, the main reason is to guard against Zuo Liangyu, who is eyeing Wuchang. Because he also wants Wuchang too much.
It's very simple. Since ancient times, if you want Xiangyang to be safe and secure, you have to hold Wuchang or Jiangling (Jingzhou) in your hands so that you can sleep soundly. Jingzhou is now in your hands, but Li Zicheng wanted to get a double insurance, so he
and Zuo Liangyu coveted each other's territory.
Although Zuo Liangyu respected his troops in Wuchang, he had not rebelled yet. Li Zicheng was not an ally, so he sent troops to harass him from time to time. Firstly, at least to show off to the court, and secondly, he really wanted that quick territory.
Why are Jingzhou and Xiangyang usually called together? Because the strategic positions of the two places complement each other. For example, in history, when Xiangyang City fought against enemies from the north, Jingzhou was usually used as the rear area, but now Jingzhou is facing
Zuo Liangyu of Wuchang wanted to use Xiangyang as his rear area.
Under Chang Yu's coercion, Zuo Liangyu was very happy, at least on the surface, he was very happy to send troops. He ordered Ma Jinzhong and Wang Yuncheng to lead 5,000 soldiers and horses, claiming to be 20,000, to attack Jingzhou.
As for Xiangyang, he did not send troops for the simple reason that there was no peace in Xiangyang.
It is said that after Li Zicheng captured Xiangyang, he began to exert his strength. For a time, all thirteen counties in Hunan and Hubei were in the hands of thieves, but there was only one place that stood out, that is, Xunyang (now Xunyang District, Shiyan City).
Lu Yingbiao led his troops in a three-year siege but failed to defeat it. In the end, Lu Yingbiao was attacked and killed.
Just because there are two fierce men in the city, one is good at defense and the other is good at offense. The one who is good at defense is Xu Qiyuan, a civil servant (many sources write him as Xu Qiyuan, although they are contemporaries, they are not the same person. Xu Qiyuan is a missionary). He was originally the prefect of Xunyang Prefecture.
, was later promoted to governor for his meritorious service in guarding Xunyang. The one who was good at attacking was Wang Guangen. He was originally a bandit, and his thief name was Hua Guansuo. He was later recruited by Gao Doushu and became the general soldier. He led his two younger brothers Wang Guangtai and Wang Chang in the army.
Xunyang and Xu Qiyuan cooperated tacitly. Li Zicheng was gnashing his teeth because he failed to capture Xunyang. Instead, he was told that he did not send troops to harass Xiangyang.
You must know that Xunyang is in the deep mountains and old forests, and is separated from Xiangyang by the Wudang Mountains. It is difficult for the rebels to attack him by mountain roads, and it is also far from the Han River by water. Anyway, it is easy to defend but difficult to attack. It is indeed safe to hide inside, but
He actually dared to go out and harass Xiangyang, which must be said to be very impressive.
However, it is Yuan Zongdi who guards Xiangyang. It is extremely difficult for the Wang Guangen brothers to break Xiangyang, but they also have Xiangyang contained. As for Jingzhou, Ma Jinzhong and Wang Yuncheng are also strong generals. As long as they fight hard, they may be able to break it.
City, the question is, who knows whether they are really serious about it? Anyway, Normal Yu knows that in history, when Li Zicheng was defeated in Beijing and fled back to Xi'an and then to Xiangyang, and then fled from Xiangyang to Jingzhou, Ma Jinzhong and Wang Yuncheng were besieging Jingzhou City. Li Zicheng
I had to fight them off first before I could enter the city.