It was the birthday of a tiger plum, and the generals of the two towns of Zhongzhen and Zhongyi came to celebrate his birthday.
Yilingzhou City.
The water is barren here, and the mountains are mausoleum here. This is the gateway to the Three Gorges, the throat of Sichuan and Hubei, leading to Bashu in the upper part and Jingxiang in the lower part. Not long ago, the Duke of Xingguo summoned the two towns of Zhongzhen and Zhongyi to recover it with a joint force.
After three months of siege, the Qing troops in the city suffered heavy casualties and were finally captured. In this battle, the original Shunying troops once again showed their toughness and fought hard for three months without flinching.
Zhu Shengli, the commander of the downstream camp, turned out to be Li Chixin's adopted son, so he was naturally very cooperative. He led his troops to approach the outskirts of Jingzhou, forcing the defenders of Jingzhou City not to dare to advance westward. The commander-in-chief Zhu Dadian and the governor-general Du Yinxi also led their troops.
We stationed troops in Baling, Yuezhou, and pointed our sword at Wuchang.
Li Chixin and Gao Bizheng led two towns to storm Yiling in March. No soldiers from Jingzhou, Wuchang, and Xiangyang rushed to the rescue, and the city of Yiling was finally destroyed.
After the destruction of Yiling City, all Shangjingzhou was recovered by the Ming army.
The Qing troops in Jingzhou City were frightened three times a day and were in panic all day long.
In early winter, the docks along the Yiling River are busy.
Countless ships came from the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, carrying boatloads of salt, grain, cloth and other military supplies into Huguang and Bashu. After Yiling was captured, it became an important transit terminal.
Yiling was originally the starting point of the Three Gorges of the Yangtze River. As an important water and land link between Sichuan and Chu, it naturally became prosperous and lively after being controlled by the Ming army.
At the wharf, ships are moored in a row, and goods are constantly coming in and out.
In the city, people selling vegetables and goods on the street also hawk their food on the street, giving it an air of urban fireworks.
Six of the eight city gates in Yiling are built along the river.
It leans on the Yuquan Mountain to the north and faces the Yangtze River to the south. Down the river is the vast Jianghan Plain, and up the river is the infinitely beautiful Three Gorges of the Yangtze River, which leads directly to Shu.
This area is where three rivers converge, with convenient transportation and fertile land. It has both dangerous points to defend and fertile soil for farming.
For the Shunying generals, taking Yiling was a great achievement.
Since the failure of the second attack on Jingzhou, Zhongzhen Camp has also experienced a period of trough.
He accepted the imperial court's call for peace, received support, and finally captured Jingzhou and executed the traitors.
However, we did not have the strength to defend it at that time, so we could only withdraw all the money and food before abandoning the defense.
The soldiers and horses retreated to the mountainous areas of western Hubei. Later, after they collaborated with Zhu Dadian and others to put down the rebellion, the imperial court divided more territory for them. From western Hubei to western Hunan, although they were all home to the chieftains and barbarians, and the mountains were high and the rivers were dangerous, after all, the territory was divided.
The territory given to them is very large.
Li Chixin was the head of the Shunying tribes, especially after Li Zicheng's younger brother Li Zijing and general Tian Jianxiu rebelled and surrendered to the Qing Dynasty. As Li Zicheng's nephew, although he was six years older than his uncle Li Zicheng, he was able to win the title of Shun by virtue of his power in Shun.
His seniority in the camp, as well as his being favored by the Ming court after he advocated recruitment, made him the first brother of Shunying.
Li Chixin had previously been stationed in Badong County. After a period of development, he led his troops eastward and captured Guizhou City and Xingshan and other places.
In the end, the two towns merged into one, and the old brothers gathered together, gathering a small hundred thousand troops, and finally took Yiling, an important town, in three months.
After capturing Yiling, the city belonged to Li Chixin, and the other brothers distributed food, armor, weapons, and even many cattle, farm tools, and people.
Li Chixin's territory greatly increased, starting from Badong in the west, bordering Wushan in Kuizhou, Sichuan, and reaching Huya Mountain in Yilingzhou in the east, overlooking Jingzhou from a high position.
Going south, we reach the north bank of the Qianjiang River, where it meets the two chieftains of Shuiyuan Tongtapingsi and Wangfeng Shibaosi. To the north, we reach Maoerguan, and Jinxiangping borders Xunyang Prefecture, Xiangyang Prefecture, and Jingmen Prefecture.
The imperial court specially designated Li Chixing's current territory as Yiling Prefecture.
The forty-five-year-old Li Chixin has completely turned over now. I think more than a year ago, he was behind the throne in northern Shaanxi, and finally went south through Gansu through hard work. He was blocked by He Zhen in Hanzhong, and finally fought his way out.
They took the route from Sichuan to Huguang and failed to attack Jingzhou twice.
At the last moment, he decided to accept the Ming court's recruitment. At that time, many brothers did not understand.
But now, he has eight thousand soldiers under his command. The entire army's armor has been brand new, everyone is wearing armor, and they even have a lot of muskets. He even restored a cavalry force and built a new navy.
This strength is much stronger than when he first arrived in Huguang. At that time, many of his subordinates even lost their weapons, let alone wore less armor.
Now he wants territory and territory, and he wants soldiers and soldiers.
"Father, Uncle Gao and the others are here!"
Gao Yigong, the admiral of Zhongyi Town, was Li Zicheng's brother-in-law. Although he was younger than Li Chixin, regardless of age, even though Li Chixin was several years older than Li Zicheng, he had to call Gao Yigong uncle.
"Thank you for your hard work on the road!"
Li Chixin went to the pier to greet him in person. Gao Yigong gave him the imperial title of Gao Bizheng. He was now promoted to An Guogong, admiral of Zhongyi Town, sealed as General Longxiang, and the right minister of the Ministry of War.
He had been joining hands with Li Chixin in the Zhongzhen Camp. Previously, Li Zijing, Tian Jianxiu and others surrendered to the Qing Dynasty, which caused the Zhongyi Town to collapse. Later, Liu Tichun, who was originally in Zhongyi Town, waved the flag, and Yuan Zong's generals were still loyal.
After Yang Wang Guangen's rebellion, the emperor ordered the restoration of Zhongyi Town, and appointed Gao Bizheng as the admiral.
The territory was divided into the north of Jingjiang River and the south of Hanshui River, within the two prefectures of Xun and Jing.
Before attacking Yiling, Gao Bizheng also launched a battle in Xing'an. Several people from Zhongyi Town fought against King Guangen of Xunyang in Xing'an. Li Chixin also led the Zhongzhen troops to rush for reinforcements and joined forces with He Zhen, Sun Shoufa and others to fight. Finally,
Not only did he repel Wang Guangen, but he also repeled Marco and Bai Guangen who came to help.
As a result, He Zhen and others had finally established a foothold in the eastern part of Hanzhong, and the imperial court also established Xing'an Prefecture, which started from Cha Town in Shiquan County in the west, Pingli in the east, and Daba Mountain in the south.
Although Shunying had old grudges with people like He Zhen and Sun Shoufa, He Zhen was originally a Ming general. Later, due to circumstances, he was forced to surrender to the Shun army, but in the end he stabbed the army in the back and surrendered to the Qing Dynasty to stop Li Chixin and the others. But Sun Shoufa
What's even more strange is that he was also a military general of the Ming Dynasty.
In his early years, he served as a garrison under Hong Chengchou, and participated in the capture and killing of Bu Zhanni. Later, he served as a general in the battle against Zhang Xianzhong. At the end of Chongzhen, he was the deputy commander-in-chief of Shaanxi. Li Zicheng captured all of Shaanxi. Many Ming generals surrendered, but he refused to surrender and hid.
Even if they go into the Zhongnan Mountains of the Qinling Mountains to fight guerrillas, they will not surrender.
Miao Shihua, who had surrendered to the Qing Dynasty with Wang Guangen's rebellion, was originally a general in Sun Shoufa's ministry. He recruited troops in the mountains to resist Li Zicheng, and did not forget to send Miao Shihua to lead troops to Xunyang for reinforcements.
After Li Zi succeeded or failed, Sun Shoufa still led his troops in Zhongnan Mountain to call for rebellion against the Qing Dynasty. He was a quite remarkable figure.
However, Li Chixin and Gao Bizheng still sent troops to rescue Xing'an, regardless of their past grudges. After all, they were now ministers of the Ming Dynasty.
This battle was fought well. The main force of Hauge and Wu Sangui were fighting against Zhang Xianzhong in the west. They did not have the energy to pay too much attention, so they only sent two traitors, Ma Ke and Bai Guangen, to lead troops to reinforce Wang Guangen.
As a result, the Ming Army Zhongzhen and Zhongyi Town came to the rescue with all their strength regardless of their previous grudges. Wang Guangen's younger brother Wang Guangtai even instigated the rebellion of his younger brother Wang Changdu, who was sent by his elder brother to contact him, and proposed a strategy to Gao Doushu to use the general's strategy.
Wang Guangen really thought that his brother was acting as an inside job in Xing'an, but he was deceived into an ambush and was defeated.
Gao Bizheng and the others also circled back and cut off his food route, beating Wang Guangen so hard that he almost didn't even return home. They managed to defeat Xunyang and defended this important town.
But after this battle, everything on the south bank of the Han River in Yunyang Prefecture was lost.
After the war, generals Gao Doushu, He Zhen, Sun Shoufa, Wang Guangtai, Wang Bin, and Chen Jiao were ordered by the imperial court to garrison Xing'an Prefecture and restore Zhongkai Town.
Gao Bizheng and others occupied the area south of the Han River in Yunyang Prefecture. Afterwards, Gao Bizheng and others handed over all the original territory in Jingzhou Prefecture north of Badong to Li Chixin.
Hence the current structure, with Gao Doushu and his loyalists stationed in Xing'an Prefecture, Gao Bizheng and his loyalists stationed in Yunyang Prefecture, and loyal Li Chixin stationed in Yiling Prefecture.
The rest of the Shunying generals were stationed in Shizhou and other border areas.
Among the thirteen loyal families, Li Chixin's family occupies one of them, with eight thousand soldiers, making them the strongest.
The imperial camp Zhu Shengli was stationed in Yueyang and Changde, the governor Zhu Dadian was stationed in Changsha and Baoqing, and the governor Du Yinxi was stationed in Hengzhou, with jurisdiction over Chenzhou and Yongzhou.
Originally, Li Chixin's Zhongzhen Town had only 5,000 troops last time, but now he has 8,000 troops alone, and the other twelve families have tens of thousands in total.
"Tiger, I've heard some rumors recently, and I can't sit still." Gao Bizheng said directly when he saw Li Chixin.
"Let's go to the city first. There are many people talking at the dock." Li Chixin knew what he was going to say.
We went all the way to Yiling City and entered Li Chixin's Admiral's Mansion.
"I heard that the imperial court is reestablishing Zhongwu and establishing a new Zhongzheng camp?" Gao Bizheng asked as soon as he sat down.
"I have heard some rumors, but one thing is certain. Governor Zhu Dadian will return to the court. From now on, the governor and governor of Huguang, He Butang, will be in charge of the overall situation." Li Chixin said.
"Why is the imperial court so busy every day? Isn't this some kind of order that changes every day? Earlier, we were given thirteen battalions for Zhongzhen, and then two towns were divided into two. Then the limit was eight thousand, and then the limit was five thousand. Now what should we change?"
Gao Bizheng was very dissatisfied, grumbling, and even showing signs of anxiety and worry.
He always felt that the imperial court's constant changes reflected its distrust of the generals like them.
"I heard that the emperor even changed his titles?"
"Well, I've made some adjustments. The biggest change in the title is the clan title. It has been changed to the tenth grade, and it is no longer hereditary. What's especially shocking is that this time, almost all the clan titles have been cut, leaving only
Thirty-one county kings were born."
"Our knights with different surnames are in the seventh rank. There will be no hereditary succession in the future. We will be reduced to one rank every time and only be awarded two ranks for life."
"What about the dukedom of our country?" Gao Bizheng asked.
"I don't know the specifics of this yet. There is no news yet. I guess it may be the first-class descendant in the world."
Gao Bizheng felt a little uncomfortable. He felt that the emperor was not keeping his word. This was not a good sign.
"Does the emperor feel that we are no longer needed?"
Li Chixin didn't think so, "I think His Majesty treats us very well, doesn't he?"
Hao Yaoqi and Hao Yongzhong, who had gone to see the emperor before, nodded, "Indeed, there's nothing to say about this."
Gao Bizheng had never met the emperor, "But what's going on now?"
This time Li Chixin celebrated his forty-fifth birthday, so there was no need to make such a big fanfare, but everyone had heard some rumors, so they took this opportunity to get together and have a good discussion.
"I think this is not a bad thing. The twelve families in western Hunan have Zhongwu and Zhongzheng. This is also a good thing."
Hao Yaoqi had a different view at this time, "I don't think things will be that simple. Judging from the rumors we have received now, the emperor is stepping up the expansion of the royal camp and his own troops. I heard that the Huguang camp in Laiheng will be split into Huguang and
The two-line camps in Jiangxi and the provincial camps in various places are going to be merged, and even the directly affiliated standard camps such as governors, governors, patrols, sub-inspections, etc. seem to be cancelled. How can you say that under such circumstances, we will expand the number of camps?"
Liu Tichun said, "The news I heard seems that except for the imperial camp, all the other troops and horses from all over the country will retain seven outer towns. We people used to leave only one outer town for tigers. Why do we now say that we will set up Zhongwu again?"
Loyal?"
Several people couldn't understand it for a moment.
"Where's Laiheng? He probably knows more about the affairs of the eastern court than we do. Ask him."
