The 200,000 Jingren officers and soldiers who were besieging Anzhou were now surrounded by enemies from both sides, especially the uncooperative attitude of the local gentry, which made them feel as if they were in danger, as if they had a sharp edge at their backs.
Especially the officers and soldiers from Xiaoshui, Baipu, and even Maoyun Province were in a dilemma.
Their hometown has become a bandit, and now they are still here to suppress bandits...
The officers and soldiers at the top and bottom were extremely confused, and the officers and soldiers from other provinces were also wary of them with various doubts.
Representatives of various forces were in and out of various military camps.
It also made the atmosphere in each army extremely abnormal!
Soon, the looks of the various Han troops looking at the Jingren bannermen became more and more strange.
Under such circumstances, the Jingren banner soldiers simply could not believe these Han troops, and even made a foolish move, intending to collect all the fog from the Han troops to prevent them from rebelling.
So a rumor spread among the various departments of the Han army, saying that the people in Jing did not believe the Han army and planned to confiscate the weapons of the Han army and then execute them all.
Anyone with a brain will know that such a ridiculous statement is impossible.
However, as the atmosphere of panic continues to spread, not many people can still remain sober and rational.
Not to mention those big-headed soldiers in this era!
As a result, riots broke out quickly. After a senior member of Jingren was assassinated, the two sides immediately broke out into fire and conflict...
Under such circumstances, the Sanyang Cult army suddenly launched a surprise attack.
The fighting was in chaos, although some troops remained neutral and reluctantly tried to interfere.
But at this time, it is impossible to rescue. The soldiers have no fighting spirit and are fighting on their own.
As a result, the nearly 200,000-strong bandit-suppressing army collapsed in one battle, and each unit withdrew from the battlefield and was defeated.
Officers and soldiers from Xiaoshui, Baipu, Mao'an and other provinces went to join the rebel divisions led by Wang Youxun and other commanders.
Some of the officers and soldiers in other provinces defected to the rebels, while others withdrew.
Hundreds of thousands of troops dispersed like this!
Moreover, they also allowed the rebel army's partial divisions to join forces with the Sanyang Sect's army to form a unified force.
The entire heartland of China under the rule of Jingren's imperial court has been in ruins!
At this time, Tao Xiaowu had established himself as King Xi and Jianyuan Hongwu in Jian'an City.
The provinces south of the Yangtze River surrendered without a fight, and surrendered to the Xi State one after another.
For a time, the Xi Kingdom had occupied the entire world's wealthiest land and the most important grain producing area.
With soldiers, money and food, everything seemed to be going extremely smoothly, as if it could sweep the world at any time, or at least separate the South.
With such favorable conditions, almost all the recalcitrant people in the south surrendered.
It can be said that Tao Xiaowu almost copied the tactics of the heavenly army from another world.
The only difference lies in two points. One is that the Heavenly Army started with Shintoism, established Shintoism, and also practiced foreign religions. This caused a great conflict with Confucian consciousness and could not get the support of the gentry and bureaucrats.
Although Tao Xiaowu, a real person from Cihang, also started out as a Shintoist, everything followed the path of the Humane Dynasty, and Shinto was only a supplement.
In addition to respecting Confucianism, he also respected the interests of the gentry everywhere.
This has already bribed the gentry and bureaucrats everywhere.
Secondly, times are different. When the Heavenly Army rose up, it was already after the great powers had knocked on the door of the country with strong ships and cannons.
The great powers have great interests and various constraints in various areas along the coast.
The combination of the two prevented the Heavenly Army from monopolizing the wealth and income of the South.
So much so that the great powers were always able to support the Manchus in terms of customs duties, arms, etc., making them sigh, and finally dragged down the Heavenly Army to death.
However, Tao Xiaowu did not have any restricting enemies in these two aspects. In this era, the Luoba powers did not invade.
What Tao Xiaowu faced was still the traditional model of fighting for the world.
Although the soldiers and horses under his command are already a team of hot weapons!
Therefore, within a short period of time, the Xiguo regime stabilized.
Even the Sanyang Sect quickly accepted the leadership of King Xi and became vassal to King Xi.
In less than half a year, Xi's power not only occupied the entire south, but also established a center in the heart of Jingren's court.
But it was at this time that the Jingren court launched its first swift and violent counterattack, and probably its craziest counterattack.
Three hundred thousand Jingren troops came from the north, divided into two groups, marched all the way to Nanzhen, and went straight to the direction of Anzhou to deal with the Sanyang Sect's troops.
On the other hand, they went all the way to Yiyang, passed three passes, and then went straight to Yingzhou to deal with the Xiguo army.
The important town of Yingzhou is surrounded by rivers and has numerous water systems, which is not conducive to northern cavalry.
But the direction of South Town is different. It can be said that it is a flat plain, and at most it is just some hilly areas.
Fortunately, there is an important town near Anzhou, namely Wannan.
This place is the boundary of Wanyang County in the Dayu era. Wanyang County was the first county in the world during the Dayu era, and a county can be regarded as a state in other places.
Therefore, Marquis Wanyang is also the most noble among the princes!
At this time, Wanyang County had already been divided into Wanbei and Wannan, which belonged to two different provinces.
This is the method of dividing administrative regions in later generations, with interlocking teeth, checks and balances, and preventing rebellion.
Wannan belongs to Maoyun County, while Wanbei belongs to Tianzhong Province.
At this time, Jingren officers and soldiers came directly from Wanbei in Tianzhong Province and attacked Xiangwannan.
However, the important town of Wannan is a famous Xiongguan town in the world. It is surrounded by mountains on three sides and is easy to defend but difficult to attack.
The Sanyang Sect retreated to Wannan and began a stalemate with Jingren's army.
The Jingren court spent a lot of money this time, bringing hundreds of various siege cannons.
But as I said before, the Jingren Cannon was inherited from the previous Daqi Dynasty, and the wrong technology tree was clicked from the beginning.
During the previous Daqi Dynasty, they were copied from the naval guns salvaged from the sunken Hongyi ship. They were basically naval guns, not siege guns, let alone field guns.
In addition, two hundred years have passed, and the technology of these things has not progressed at all, and has even regressed.
As a result, each cannon weighed several thousand kilograms and required a large amount of livestock and manpower to carry it.
As a result, the artillery fell far behind the army's brigade, and it was only after almost half a month of besieging Wannan that these artillery pieces finally arrived.
However, as these artillery pieces were set up under Wannan City, the entire Wannan City began to be in danger.
Just when the war was in danger near Maoyun, the whole Jian'an was in a state of excitement, with scholars everywhere coming to take the exam.
Because the first thing Tao Xiaowu did after taking Jian'an was to respect Confucianism, win over the hearts and minds of the gentry and bureaucrats, and open up new schools to recruit scholars and establish political power.
As a result, scholars from all over the south came one after another. Even many scholars from the north were optimistic about Xi State and secretly came to take the exam.