Yang Sichang was on a boat on the Yangtze River. The current was turbulent and the boat was like an arrow. Now he had to rush to Shashi as quickly as possible to know the whereabouts of Zhang Xianzhong and decided to continue pursuing the strategy. He sat alone in the big cabin for a long time.
He looked out the window at the river, not allowing anyone to come in and disturb him. Then he sighed softly and said to himself: "Your Majesty, I am exhausted!"
Last year, he forced various peasant armies to areas in eastern Sichuan and western Hubei. The army surrounded them on all sides and recaptured Yiling. Prime Minister Hui Deng and Wang Guangen and other units surrendered one after another. Luo Rucai also decided to surrender.
He thought that only Zhang Xianzhong was left, and they were surrounded in the mountains between Kui and Wu. It would not be difficult to annihilate them.
Unfortunately, first of all, Shao Jiechun, the governor of Sichuan, did not deploy troops in accordance with his combat strategy. Secondly, the Qin army made noise in Kaixian and rushed back to Shaanxi, leaving the troops blocking the west road empty.
Zhang Xianzhong persuaded and coerced Luo Rucai, so that Luo Rucai no longer surrendered and joined forces to break into the interior of Sichuan.
He personally rushed to Chongqing, intending to drive Zhang and Luo to a remote place in northwest Sichuan, surrounded and annihilated them. However, they had no choice but to kill them, the soldiers had no fighting spirit, Shang Fang's sword did not work, and all the plans to block and suppress them all came to nothing.
Within half a year, Zhang Xianzhong and Luo Rucai marched from eastern Sichuan to northern Sichuan, returned to attack Chengdu, then went south along the Tuojiang River to Huzhou in southern Sichuan, then returned from southern Sichuan to the north, bypassed Chengdu, headed east to the Tongjiang River, and quickly headed south with a mysterious whereabouts.
The news disappeared, and after the end of the day, they suddenly appeared in Huangling City, Kaixian County, wiped out the interdicting troops led by General Meng Ruhu, and left Sichuan from Kuizhou and Dachang.
Since he was ordered to supervise the division, he has spent millions of dollars on military pay and a year and a half of hard work, but it has been ruined in one day!
He looked at the river and continued to think for a long time. He was troubled by not knowing where Zhang Xianzhong was going, and also troubled by not being able to think of any good ideas. He felt that he had many things to say to the court, but as the saying goes, "Once you go abroad, you will travel thousands of miles away."
, now I have to listen to criticism from others!
His mood was depressed and heavy, and he unconsciously whispered: "Your Majesty! Your Majesty!..."
Many past events since Yang Sichang took charge of the army kept coming to mind. Last year, he recaptured Yiling and recruited and surrendered the bandits in western Hubei. Yang Sichang paid the most attention to Wang Guangen's battalion. He received him on the big ship and gave him silver coins and good words.
Soothe.
Wang Guangen also kowtowed and wept, and swore allegiance to the imperial court and would never change his mind. His troops in the camp had recently died, and about half of them were injured or fled. Yang Sichang ordered him to select some elite soldiers to follow the army in pursuit, and he led the rest to Yunyang.
He was stationed in Junzhou, reorganized and trained, and returned to Yunyang to be governed and dispatched.
After meeting Wang Guangen, Yang Sichang reviewed documents on the big ship. He knew that Zhang Xianzhong and Luo Rucai continued westward after defeating Dachang not long ago. He still didn't understand Zhang and Luo's combat intentions, but it confirmed his original attitude towards his aides.
He once said: "If the two thieves Xian and Cao join forces, the suppression of the situation will be more difficult."
That night, after discussing with his staff, he issued two urgent messages: one to Zuo Liangyu stationed in Zhushan, ordering him to rush to Zigui tonight so that Zhang Xianzhong would not re-enter Huguang from Kuidong; the other to Sichuan
He appeased Shao Jiechun and ordered him to hold on to Liangshan so that Zhang Xianzhong could not attack Chongqing.
At dawn the next day, the Wu Gorge was dark and dark. Only three cannon shots were heard, and the drums and horns of the big ship at the front were blasting. After a while, the fleet weighed anchor and began to head for Kuizhou.
Wushan County civil and military officials, gentry and newly surrendered generals such as Wang Guangen knelt on the shore to see him off.
However, Yang Sichang did not step out of the cabin, but ordered a Chinese military officer to stand on the bow of the ship and tell the local officials not to send him away, and that it was important to strictly guard the city.
Each big boat has many lanterns and torches, shining in the river, showing flags big and small fluttering, like a giant dragon more than a mile long, winding its way westward in the rapids, which is very spectacular.
In order to arrive in Kuizhou early, today every boat has added trackers. Halfway up the cliff, sparse lanterns are swaying in the shadows, and the trackers' trumpets can be heard one after another.
Yang Sichang stuck his head out of the boat window and looked down. The water was turbulent, and lights flashed in the waves. There was darkness a few feet away. Looking up, he saw dark peaks reaching into the sky. Although on the highest peak,
There is already a light dawn and glow, but it seems very far away and does not belong to this deep and narrow world in the gorge where there is always the danger of shipwreck.
As soon as the boat turned its head, even the peaks stained with dawn were no longer visible.
He had already passed many dangerous reefs and shoals along the way. From then on to Kuizhou, he had to pass through Qutang and go around Yandui. If he made a mistake, he would die on the difficult and dangerous journey. He was thinking wildly when he suddenly heard the sound coming from a high cliff.
Several ape cries came up and down, the sounds were pure and bitter. His heart moved, he sighed, and unconsciously chanted:
“The Badong Three Gorges and Wu Gorge are long,
The ape cried three times and shed tears on his clothes!"
Due to his heavy and sad mood, Yang Sichang had no intention of looking at the river view anymore and retracted his head into the cabin. He had discussed military affairs with his staff last night and had very little sleep. He wanted to take advantage of this moment to lean on the pillow and fall asleep for a while. But as soon as he closed his eyes, he was faced with various military problems.
A sudden thought came to his mind, and at the same time, the sound of apes, water, oars, and the boatman's whistle came from outside the cabin, making his mind even more confused.
He quickly got up and called his servants to come in to comb his hair. At the same time, he sighed in his heart: "How many of the princes in the court know how hard I have worked for the country!"
After only half a year, Yang Sichang went from hope to disappointment to loss of confidence. At this time, he did not know that Luoyang had been lost or that the situation in Henan had changed drastically. All he cared about was the whereabouts of Zhang Xianzhong and Luo Rucai, so he rushed to Shashi and returned to the city again.
Deploy military force.
He was indeed a shrewd and capable man among the ministers of the Manchu Dynasty at that time. After entering Sichuan from Yiling last year, although there were no rebel activities in Yun and Xiang areas in northern Hubei, he could not forget that Xiangyang was a fundamental military base and a pro-vassal fiefdom.
. He ordered Wang Shuzeng, the prefect of Xiangyang, to be responsible for guarding Xiangyang City, but he often felt uneasy and wrote to Wang Shuzeng himself several times, telling him not to be careless.
Now that Zhang Xianzhong had left Sichuan, he thought of Xiangyang again, and was even more worried, but he did not mention it to any staff. When he went to bed in the middle of the night, several close staff members had left, except for his son Yang Shansong. He sighed while there was no one around him.
He asked in a low voice: "What do you think of Wang Shuzeng?"
Yang Sichang's son Yang Shansong replied respectfully: "Your Majesty is the best at understanding people. It is naturally better to use Wang Shuzeng as the magistrate of Xiangyang than his predecessor. He is young and promising, has the courage to take on tasks, and was personally promoted by Your Majesty. I am very grateful. I just heard that since Your Excellency,
After leaving Xiangyang, he sometimes behaved erratically and was not as diligent as before. It was also said that he sometimes used the pretext of personally inspecting the prison to take two beautiful concubines who were sacrificed to thieves from prison for questioning. If time goes by, it is inevitable that he will not come out.
Error."
Yang Sichang said: "The current war situation is changing. The defender of Xiangyang must be mature and prudent. If he is a little frivolous, even if he is still capable, he will easily get into trouble. So I am a little worried about Xiangyang."
"My lord, why don't you quickly give the prefect Wang some advice and tell him to be extra cautious and guard the city to guard against spies?"
Yang Sichang shook his head and said softly: "If the changes in the war situation in central Sichuan are not stated in the letter to the prefect, he will not attach great importance to it. It will be inconvenient to explain it to him. It is the time when rumors are spreading, so Xiangyang must not know about it.
The truth aroused people's panic and gave the descendants and refugees living in Xiangfan an opportunity to take advantage of it.
"Moreover, many people in the imperial court are out of sectarianism, regardless of the safety and interests of the country, and only attack and criticize. If we are not careful, we spread the recent changes in the war situation in central Sichuan, and the officials in the capital know about it, and they attack each other in an uproar, and the emperor
He has always been impatient and easily angered..."
Yang Shansong turned to ask: "What if we don't take advantage of this moment to teach the Wang Zhifu and tell him to be careful about city defense, in case the traitor escapes from Sichuan?"
Yang Sichang was silent for a while and said: "Currently, the two thieves Xian and Cao are also exhausted. There are fewer people and horses. There are only three or four thousand people left. Even if they can escape from Sichuan, they may not dare to attack Xiangyang; even if they attack Xiangyang, as long as the Xiangyang city gates are strictly inspected,
, even if the spies can't get in, nothing will go wrong. Although Wang Zhifu is a bit frivolous, Zhang Bingbei is known as a sophisticated man. It seems that my worries are overblown."
Yang Shansong saw that his father was in a better mood and very sleepy, so he quietly left.
Some terrible premonitions weighed on Yang Sichang's mind. After a long time, he was unable to sleep, so he simply got up and left the cabin, standing on the bow of the ship.
The bright moon was in the sky. The wind on the river was cold. The dark mountains stood abruptly on both sides of the river. The waves crashed on the shore beside the boat, making a roaring sound. He looked at the shadows of the mountains on both sides of the river and then at the roaring river. He felt that the future was unpredictable, but he had no idea. His old servant
Yang Zhong and his son Shan Song stood behind him, trying to persuade him to go back to the cabin to rest, but they did not dare to say anything.
After a long time, they heard him sigh softly and utter four words: "Heaven! Heaven!"