Guo Junzhen and Zhang Pili brought most of the field troops originally stationed in Yingshan County and Niuxin Village back to Suizhou, leaving only more than 200 old soldiers locally, plus six more reliable troops. Seven tenant slave villages assisted and maintained a relatively stable situation.
When nearly a thousand veterans of the rebel army rushed back to Suizhou from Yingshan County, there was another group of people rushing in the opposite direction on the highway from Suizhou to Huangma.
The leader is Xiao Weisong, the big shopkeeper of Kendeji who is in charge of the export channels for the spoils of the invaders. This young medicinal materials merchant has already rich experience in business. The Jiangyou Merchant Gang has been deeply involved in Huguang for many years and controls medicinal materials, grains, cloth, etc. As a businessman from Jiangxi Province, Xiao Weisong is naturally familiar with the business context of the jute area.
He had more than 20 coolie men who had nothing to do with the Chuang Army, and five or six Chuangjun brand sword warriors as escorts. These people drove a large convoy of nearly ten horses and first arrived at De'an Prefecture, which is about 100 meters away. Goods were sold in Pingli City, the nearest market in Anlu. After setting up a shop there, they took the remaining valuable materials across the Sheshui River and went to Dachengtan Town for sale.
Dachengtan Town is adjacent to the Sheshui River in the east and Xiaozhai Mountain in the south. During the Sui and Tang Dynasties, this place was called Zhuchengzhai. Later, because a new city was built next to the deep pool of the Sheshui River, it was renamed Dachengtan Town.
The waterway of Yishui is very developed. Not only is the river wide, deep and clear, but it is also close to the Yangtze River. Dachengtan Town is close to Yishui. It not only has a stone city but also has a wide moat. With convenient water and land transportation, it has become the center of Huangzhou Prefecture and Northern Hubei. One of the best commodity distribution centers in the region.
However, for Chuang Jun, the convenient business conditions of Dachengtan Town itself are secondary. More importantly, it is very close to Macheng. Almost all the wealthy officials, gentry and merchants in Huang'an and Macheng have shops in Dachengtan Town. Intelligence is gathered and well-informed, and many merchants have close ties with Shen Zhuangjun.
The bustle in the world is all for benefit; the hustle and bustle in the world is all for benefit.
As long as the profits are sufficient, these wealthy officials, gentry and businessmen will naturally sell the rope that strangled Shen Zhuangjun and Mei Zhihuan to Chuang Jun. If there is full and free market competition, the price of the rope will be even lower!
Xiao Weisong took this convoy to escort a large number of valuable goods to Dachengtan Town, in order to establish a new stronghold of the Red Team and Kendeji there. And through this new channel, he helped Li Laiheng defeat the enemy without fighting. Lay the foundation for tactics.
Tired from the journey, the team walked half way east from Pingli City and stopped at a nearby market called Xiaohexi to rest. This market was not as important as Pingli City and Dachengtan Town, so the red team also Before the secret stronghold of the Chuang Army was established here, Xiao Weisong used his own money to let everyone rest in a teahouse, and during lunch time, they went to a restaurant in the center of the market to have a tooth ceremony.
At the end of the Ming Dynasty, Huaiyan salt, grain, bamboo and wood bulk trade flourished in Huguang, forming a large number of new markets centered on Hankou Town.
The common feature of these markets is that they are all very low in administrative level. For example, Hankou Town is known as one of the four famous towns in the world. There is no shortage of grain, salt, oil, tea, leather, medicinal materials, cotton, general groceries, etc., and it is densely populated. , industrial and commercial secrets, but it is not even a county seat in terms of administrative level.
Xiaohexi, a little-known nameless market, is also crowded with merchants from all over the country. The villages and settlements are only a few miles away, but they are full of dazzling things. Tea from Hunan and southern Hubei, cotton and cloth from the Han River Basin, There are silks and seafood from Wu and Yue, cattle and sheep fur from Shanxi and Shaanxi, the four treasures of the study from Anhui, porcelain from Jiangxi and Fujian, fungus raw lacquer from Yunnan and Guizhou, etc. The number of products is almost dazzling.
Xiao Weisong also paid special attention to a group of businessmen who spoke with Henan accents, because the famine in Henan in recent years has been too serious. For more than ten years, there have been major disasters such as floods, droughts, insects, earthquakes, and epidemics every year. Businessmen in the Central Plains also had to They left their hometowns and went south to Huguang to run business. Not to mention a business trip with some capital, even the victims who had lost everything were trying to get out. However, the victims became refugees. Unless they were organized like this by the invading army, most of them would starve on their own on the way. All dead.
Many of the Central Plains merchants from Henan came from Huaiqing Prefecture to sell medicinal materials. Xiao Weisong was originally a medicinal material merchant in Jiangxi and was a disciple of Liu Jingting, the great storyteller. He was a good talker, and after just a few words, he became one with this group of Henanese.
Most of them were talking about the recent rumors about the battle between the official army and the "rogue bandits". The Huguang Army and the Central Plains Army had been separated for some time. Suizhou did not know much about the specific battle situation in Kaifeng.
Although most of what the merchants said were just rumors, and few had completely reliable first-hand information. But compared to the Chuang army in Huguang, their information was definitely much newer. Xiao Weisong deliberately guided and inquired about it. , the businessmen and travelers told all the rumors about Li Zicheng's current situation.
Judging from their information, after Li Zicheng and Luo Rucai returned north from Tongbai Mountain in September, their army crossed Nanyang and Runing and headed straight for Kaifeng. At that time, the main force of the government and army were still concentrated in the Huguang area, and only Henan troops were in Kaifeng. Some social warriors organized by patrol commander Gao Mingheng were simply unable to deal with the main force of the invading army.
As a last resort, Fu Zonglong had no choice but to lead the main force of the army to the north at night for reinforcements. In order to rush back to Kaifeng before the Chuang army, he abandoned a large number of baggage and artillery, and the team was exhausted during the long march. The Chuang Cao coalition army was waiting for work in Xiangcheng. , Luo Rucai ambushed his troops in the dense forest, while Li Zicheng personally led a small number of troops to Nihe to lure the enemy. When the officers and soldiers crossed the river to pursue, they were attacked by Cao Ying's ambush troops and were routed, resulting in numerous casualties.
After the victory of the Battle of Xiangcheng, the Allied Forces of Chuangcao captured countless equipment and recruited nearly 10,000 surrendered troops. On the official side, because Fu Zonglong died in the Battle of Xiangcheng, He Renlong fled back. Shaanxi, without a leader, could only gather its troops to Kaifeng and wait for reinforcements.
Li Zicheng surrounded Kaifeng with a force, and the main force merged with Yuan Shizhong, Li Jiyu, Shen Wandeng and other Henan civilian troops, conquered Chenzhou, returned to Germany, and swept through southern Henan. In one month, he conquered more than ten prefectures and counties. The military and material resources have increased significantly. It is said that the current number of soldiers of the Chuang-Cao coalition is between 40,000 and 50,000. Their strength is so strong that Chongzhen had to order the new governor of the three sides, Wang Qionian, to mobilize them at all costs. The entire main force of the Qin army came out to meet the enemy.
"How is Governor Wang's current situation? The intruders have besieged Kaifeng for such a long time, and I don't know what the situation is like in the city."
While Li Zicheng was besieging Kaifeng, Wang Qionian was also organizing troops in Xi'an to prepare for a rescue mission. Chongzhen gave him the huge power to mobilize all the powerful Qin troops to come out for a decisive battle. But even so, Wang Qiaonian still shrank from advancing. He knew full well that the invasion of Cao's coalition forces After the victory at Xiangcheng, their strength doubled, and they were deeply afraid that they would repeat Fu Zonglong's mistakes, so they used He Renlong and other townsmen to disobey orders and stayed in Luoyang, delaying in breaking the siege.
Another businessman talked to Xiao Weisong: "Everyone knows that Governor Wang is afraid that he will become the second Fu Zonglong. How could the emperor not know about his little thoughts? I heard that the emperor has been urging him to send troops to fight with three or four gold medals a day. In order to delay the dispatch of troops as much as possible, Governor Wang came up with a brilliant strategy."
Xiao Weisong shrugged and said nonchalantly: "How many people can Governor Wang have? I estimate that He Renlong and Niuchenghu are the two main towns, and maybe a few soldiers from Zheng Jiadong are added. But the rogue bandits are not what they used to be, and their strength is Increasing day by day, I wonder what clever plan the Taiwanese master can come up with to deal with the intruders?"
"This shopkeeper doesn't know something," the businessman deliberately lowered his voice and looked mysterious, arousing the curiosity of Xiao Weisong and others, "This matter has become a household name in Xi'an and Luoyang. Everyone knows that this is really a great move."
"oh?"
Xiao Weisong and several guards looked at each other, and their expressions became cautious. What good strategy did Wang Qiaonian come up with to deal with the intruders?