Chapter 266 A violent battle is ten times more expensive than farming
The Han River in the upper reaches of Xiangyang is busy and lively.
Countless people and goods moved along the water and land, and Gucheng, which was more than 120 miles away from Xiangyang, became an important transfer station.
Wen Anzhi, the governor of the capital, erected his military flag at the top of the city, where he was responsible for transporting population and supplies. Many large ships from Xiangyang, after arriving at Gucheng, found it difficult to continue sailing upwards.
The waterway from Xiangyang to Gucheng, which is more than 100 miles away, is relatively smooth. However, from Gucheng to Junzhou, there are many sandy beaches. From Junxian to Yunyang, and even up to Yangxian in Hanzhong, there are all rocky beaches.
From the county to Nanzheng, Hanzhong Prefecture, there are beaches.
The beach section is wide but shallow and sandy, while the rocky section is mostly a canyon-shaped river with two mountains facing each other and rapid currents, making it unsuitable for navigation.
As the saying goes, the Han River is curved and curved, and there are beach after beach everywhere, including 360 famous beaches and 360 nameless beaches.
There are ten miles of Hanjiang River and nine miles of beach. Crossing the beach is like crossing a border.
The many shoals and dangerous currents make it difficult for boats on the lower reaches of the Han River and the Yangtze River to sail here, so they have to change to smaller boats.
When crossing dangerous shoals, you have to cross the shoals to hang up.
When going to the beach, the ship's bow has to be turned around and held by trackers and lowered slowly. When going to the beach, it is even more troublesome. The cargo has to be unloaded and transferred by mules, horses or porters, and the guests have to disembark and run on the beach.
If you are not careful, the ship will be damaged, the cargo will be damaged, and even people will die.
Therefore, on the more than a thousand miles of Han River from Gucheng to Yunyang and then to Hanzhong, transportation is carried out in separate lanes. Each section has specialized boatmen, trackers, caravans, etc., and only one section of the river is familiar to them.
Those trackers are the poorest and most laborious. Because they have to constantly go down the river and onto the shore, they are naked and without clothes. They are exposed to the wind and sun all day long and are like black coal. They do the most strenuous work.
The minimum amount of money and food is enough to barely survive.
Along the river, some small wharves have naturally sprung up on the beaches that need to be transferred. There are caravans and porters who take jobs, as well as low-end brothel shops that specialize in boatmen and caravans and other businesses. Simple sheds, three, three, two or two years old.
A woman with faded looks is leaning against the door and showing off her smile.
Some tea shops and restaurants are also very cheap, the tea is tea foam, and the food is simple.
Only in cities such as Gucheng and Junzhou can there be some better restaurants and girls.
However, at this time, the countless people and materials evacuated from Xiangfan were too much, so the Han River was now blocked, and everyone moved slowly.
After the big ship arrived at Gucheng and unloaded its cargo, Wen Anzhi had someone push the ship ashore and hide it, or even dismantle it and transform it into a small boat.
The people carried the great migration on their backs.
The situation was actually very difficult. Wen'an sent people to set up porridge stations along the way to serve porridge to the people who were migrating and ensure that they could go all the way to Yunyang.
There are many forces on the Han River that rely on the river. Whether they are prostitutes, trackers, sailors, or porters, they all have to divide the land and draw water from it. These control a section of the river, or a small area.
Guys in this industry hired thugs and colluded with the government. They not only oppressed those who relied on the river for survival, but also stole goods, even kidnapped and extorted money. They deliberately seduced bandits in the mountains. They even deliberately opened financial stalls, set up scams, and then used loan sharking, etc.
Wait and become a swarm of blood-sucking locusts.
Wen'an was stationed in Jiegucheng, and while attending to the people and transporting supplies, he also sent out his newly-built model soldiers to sweep away these treacherous and unscrupulous people.
Then troops were sent deep into the mountainous areas to recruit bandits and bandits, and those who refused to surrender were sent to clear out and sweep away those who refused to surrender.
Countless trackers, porters, sailors, etc. came and volunteered to join the army. Wen Anzhi screened them, formed many regiments, and deployed them along the Han River to protect the waterway, protect the country, and even let them also serve as freight.
A large number of duck boats, shovel boats, loach boats, roughboard boats, shuttle boats, etc. that are suitable for navigation and transportation on the upper reaches of the Han River converge in Gucheng, loading goods day and night.
These ships generally have a flat bow, a wide bottom, a high body, good stability, and can carry a lot of cargo. However, these ships are also bulky, not flexible enough, have a deep draft, and are not familiar with the channels and reefs, so they are prone to running aground, or even
Shipwrecked.
Wen Anzhi specially set up a porridge shed by the river, and people were reading newspapers all the time beside the porridge shed, promoting the success of the Ming Dynasty and Zhongxing, and the new policy of supervising the country.
They even preached the New Deal to the people who moved to the Xunyang Mountain area. For example, they went to Xunyang to divide their fields and grant land. Many fields were cultivated there before, but the population loss was serious during the civil unrest in Chongzhen, and most of the land was deserted. Now it has passed.
Divide the fields directly.
Moreover, it is a good policy to benefit the people by exempting cultivated land from taxes for three years and newly reclaimed land for ten years.
The same policy was implemented over there, so there was no longer a single levy of dingyin. The poor people in the past did not have all kinds of exorbitant levies and miscellaneous taxes, so the burden would be very light.
These good news and good policies have lifted the spirits of the people on the migration road.
There are also some wealthy gentry who originally had a good industrial and family background in Xiangfan, but now they are forced to move here. They feel dissatisfied but have no choice but to do so. After all, it is a forced move.
They can only be coerced into joining this army of immigrants.
Fortunately, their personal safety is guaranteed for the time being, and even the property they carry is safe for the time being. Those soldiers cannot be said to have good military discipline, but with the sword-carrying supervisor Wen An, they are not too bad after all.
The newly recruited soldiers will also be assigned a share of land, and Wen Anzhi is still helping them find brides and help them get married.
Wang Guangtai led 3,000 men and was stationed between Gucheng and Xiangyang, but he never saw the Qing army pursuing him.
Ye Busuo discovered Luo Xiujin's more than 3,000 troops, but they finally stopped on the north bank of the Han River. After spending the night in the ruined Fancheng, they retreated to Dengzhou in the north.
After receiving the news, Wen Anzhi was relieved. A few days later, Gao Doushu, Xu Qiyuan, Wang Guangen and others from Yunyang rushed to Gucheng to meet up and after some discussion.
In the end, it was decided that Wang Guangtai would retreat to Gucheng, command 3,000 troops, and organize them into Gucheng Xiezhen, and be awarded the title of Commander-in-Chief.
Wang Bin was stationed at Fangxian and Baokang in the upper reaches of the Hanjiang tributary where water was built, and he also commanded three thousand troops. They were organized into Xiezhen of Fangxian and awarded the title of chief soldier.
Liu Tiaoyuan was stationed in Junzhou, commanding three thousand troops, and was awarded the title of General Soldier.
This chapter is not over, please click the next page to continue reading! In the end, there are Gucheng, Junzhou, Fangxian, Yunxi, Zhuxi, Jinzhou, Shangjin, Baihe Baxie Town, plus Yunyang General Town.
Nine towns people and horses.
The general soldiers of Baxie Town each raised 3,000 troops, and the admiral Wang Guangen of Yunyang commanded 5,000 troops.
Wen Anzhi, the governor of the capital, Xu Qiyuan, and Gao Doushu were the governors. They divided patrol troops and prepared Zhu Yi braids, each commanding three thousand battalions.
Nominally, Zhongkai Town has a total of 41,000 troops, but the situation here in Yunyang is special. There are only 4,000 remaining soldiers in Yunyang, and the situation here is also relatively remote and backward, so the 13th battalion has been organized.
In fact, they are both soldiers and civilians, fighting in separate areas.
They were stationed in various places, farming and fighting.
When the enemy did not come, they plowed the fields and trained in their spare time. When the enemy came, they gathered and went out to fight.
If there is a mission, troops will also be mobilized to fight.
Gao Doushu was stationed in Jinzhou (Ankang), which was already the boundary of Hanzhong. The imperial court once set up Xing'an Office here. He, the governor of Hanzhong, and a general of the army were stationed here, with a total of 6,000 people.
Wen Anzhi and Wang Guangtai were stationed in Gucheng, which was the first gateway from Xiangyang to Yunyang from the north. At that time, Zhang Xianzhong went to Gucheng to ask for surrender, and later he killed officials and rebelled here.
Xu Qiyuan, the governor of Xunyang, and Wang Guangen, the admiral, were both stationed in Yunyang.
The patrol troops were stationed in Shanyang, which is close to Shangluo and Wuguan and is an important gateway to Guanzhong.
"In the battle of Jingzhou and Wuchang, do we really not need our troops to support you?" Xu Qiyuan asked.
Wen Anzhi told him, "The good news I just received is that His Royal Highness the Governor has sent troops to capture Hangzhou. After besieging the city for more than half a month, the governor of Hangzhou was afraid of committing suicide, and the remaining officials surrendered to Kaicheng and captured it without bloodshed."
"The siege in Jingzhou has been going on for almost a month. Nine generals led 200,000 soldiers and civilians to besiege the city and attack day and night. Zheng Siwei can't hold it anymore. Wuchang is too busy to take care of itself and has no troops to reinforce him. It is estimated that Jingzhou will soon
I can take it."
He smiled and said, "General Li Chixin, Marquis of Xingguo, wrote a letter saying that we don't need to work hard to go south. By the time we go south for thousands of miles, they will probably have finished fighting and retreated."
"Isn't Jingzhou also guarding it?"
"If you don't defend, these days, Xing Guohou and his nine towns are actually surrounding Jingzhou and raiding the outskirts of Jingzhou. Like us, they are also relocating people and transporting money and food. After taking Jingzhou, they will demolish the city of Jingzhou and then retreat to
Yiling, Guizhou, Xingshan, Changyang, and even Wushan, Daning, etc. in the Badong Three Gorges area."
Xiangyang was captured and abandoned, and now Jingzhou will also abandon its defense.
This is somewhat surprising.
"The latest information is that the Tatars are really serious this time. They are dispatching elite Manchu and Mongolian Eight Banners from the north and even outside the Liaodong Pass to go south to the battlefields of Huguang and Jiangnan. The Supervisor State has sent people to urgently pass the order, telling us to be careful, saying that we don't want to
Fight hard with them, then leave after the fight, retreat to the more dangerous mountainous areas, and fight the Tatars."
"Relying on favorable geographical conditions, lure the enemy deep into the enemy's territory, block them layer by layer, and defeat them one by one without fighting them head-on."
Gao Doushu was the one who held the siege of Yunyang, and he was very good at using troops. "Why don't we take Jingzhou, gather the troops from Yunyang and Jingzhou, go down the Han River and Jingjiang River, go straight to Wuchang, and join forces with Commander Zhu
The troops defeated Wuchang, then moved down the river to Jiujiang, Nanchang, and Anqing, and finally broke into Nanjing city?"
"Gao Fuyuan's idea is good, but in fact we just caught the Tatars off guard this time. We took advantage of the enemy's emptiness, but now the main force of the Tatars has gone south, so we will stop when we are ready. The next step is
We need to integrate people from all walks of life, intensify training, and add better equipment..."
"Not to mention anything else, let's just say that our Yunyang Zhongkai Town now has more than 40,000 troops in the Thirteen Towns, but it has actually expanded ten times. Many of the soldiers have just been recruited, and they only have a dog-beating stick in their hands.
, there is a lack of officers, no training, and even basic flag commands are not understood, how to fight?"
"So we have to first garrison in various places, train while working in the fields, and step up the building of ordnance. It will take more time to transform these soldiers into combatable soldiers. Otherwise, if we are now dragged to Jingzhou or Wuchang, we will be
The Qing army may collapse in one attack."
Xu Qiyuan asked worriedly, "The main force of the Tatars is now moving south. We have taken the initiative to abandon the defense of Xiangyang, Jingzhou and other strong cities and towns, but they continue to attack us after they occupy it. How can we defend ourselves?"
"To supervise the country's decree, when the enemy advances, we retreat, when the enemy is stationed, we harass, when the enemy is tired, we fight, and when the enemy retreats, we pursue them. These mountainous areas in Yunyang are not where they can come and leave as they please. Marching, supply,
It will be very difficult, and we will have the opportunity to consume, repel or even annihilate them."
