At that time, Zhang Xianzhong had an urgent need to solve the military food problem, but he did not have many options at his disposal.
Shao Jiechun in the west was tightly guarded and could not get out, so Zhang Xianzhong's troops could only attack as far as Wushan County outside Qutang Gorge. Shao Jiechun's veteran general Zhang Ling had been guarding Qutang Guard in Kuizhou Prefecture for more than a year with a force of 20,000 to 30,000 troops.
If there are geography novices who are not familiar with these place names, they can easily understand their dangers with a few examples - Qutangwei is the Baidi City of Yong'an at the end of the Han Dynasty. When Liu Bei was defeated and fled back to Baidi City, Lu Xun could not pursue him.
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Qutang Gorge has always been the most dangerous place in the Three Gorges of the Yangtze River. The Baiyan Mountain and Chijia Mountain on both sides of the river are as high as 500 feet above the river. They are both cliffs that plunge directly into the river. They are known as "the sky opens with a line and the gorge opens with a gate."
The allusions of "Iron Cable Across the River" in subsequent dynasties all came from here. Whether it was Wu Yan, the prefect of Jianping County in the Eastern Wu Dynasty at the end of the Three Kingdoms, or Dai Shou, the prime minister of the Ming Yuzhen regime in Sichuan who was defeated by Zhu Yuanzhang in the late Yuan Dynasty, they all came here.
Pulling an iron cable across the Yangtze River.
Therefore, unless the Sichuan army's own command errors reveal flaws, it is impossible to enter Sichuan by storming here.
There is nothing we can do about the west, so we have to look east.
It's a pity that Zhang Xianzhong can't defeat Fang Kongzheng and Shen Shuren in the east.
Although the terrain in Yiling and other places is not as dangerous as Qutang Gorge, Shen Shuren's army is much stronger than Shao Jiechun's. It is said that the number of troops alone is at least twice that of Shao Jiechun's, not to mention that the Shen family's army seems to be well-equipped.
Zhang Xianzhong was in a dilemma. In the end, he had no choice but to cross the Yangtze River south between the Wu Gorge and Xiling Gorge of the Three Gorges of the Yangtze River and divide his troops to raise supplies.
Both sides of the Three Gorges of the Yangtze River are dangerous places with mountains. The north bank is relatively better. There are several basins that can support Wushan County, Zigui and other county towns. They have also been inhabited by Han people since ancient times - at least as early as the Three Kingdoms period, when Liu Bei conquered Wu.
We can rely on these county towns to carry out a continuous operation of 700 miles out of Sichuan.
(Wushan County is between Qutang Gorge and Wu Gorge, Zigui County is between Wu Gorge and Xiling Gorge, that is, the gentle zone between each two gorges of the Three Gorges, there are basins that can form a county)
The canyon area on the south bank of the Yangtze River is even more dangerous. Since ancient times, there have been no Han people living there. Even in the 21st century, that area is only an autonomous area for the Tu ethnic group in Enshi, Hubei.
At the end of the Ming Dynasty, the Enshi area did not even have a "prefecture"-level administrative agency. There was only one Badong County. The rest were guard posts to intimidate chieftains, such as the "Shizhou Guard".
Shizhouwei was responsible for more than twenty Xuanfu divisions and barbarian chieftains. To put it bluntly, they were some Tu chieftain chiefs who nominally submitted to the Ming Dynasty. Historically, it was not until the Yongzheng period of the Qing Dynasty that they completely returned to their native land.
Further south from Shizhouwei, we entered the territory of Hunan in later generations, which was the territory of the Miao people in western Hunan. In the Ming Dynasty, they were still a bunch of chieftains who had not yet changed their land and returned to their hometowns, similar to Wuling barbarians.
Zhang Xianzhong was forced to do nothing in the east and west directions, and he could not cross the vast mountains of Shennongjia to the north, so he had to divide his troops to cross the river and go south, fight bloody battles with these barbarian chieftains, kill the barbarians to steal food, and solve the problem of feeding the army.
Zhang Xianzhong had already started this operation at the end of February, sending his third adopted son Li Dingguo to raise food and kill people, which was done in a relatively secretive manner.
The officers and soldiers didn't seem to realize it at first, but after two or three months, even if the news was blocked, the officers and soldiers should have noticed it. After all, some of the chieftain tribesmen who were attacked and slaughtered by Zhang Xianzhong always escaped alive.
Asking the government for help.
It’s just that Fang Kongzhen, the governor of Huguang, felt that the barbarians themselves were not converted into kings and were almost self-reliant. Since those who were not officially tax-paying subjects of the imperial government and registered households, have not yet returned to their hometowns, leaving them and Zhang Xianzhong to consume each other.
The government did not have to go on a thousand-mile expedition deep into the Miao village to rescue them.
(Note: At the end of the Ming Dynasty, the southwestern barbarian chieftains were also very separatist. Historically, after Zhang Xianzhong’s army entered Sichuan, he and the barbarian chieftains fought and killed each other for many years. In fact, it made it easier for the Qing Dynasty to return to their native land, because
Zhang Xianzhong slaughtered too many native people, and his power and population dropped sharply.
After Sichuan was wiped out, the Qing Dynasty "moved to Hunan and consolidated Sichuan". In fact, the main immigrants were Xiangxi Miao and Shizhou natives. These residents in the Three Gorges area were closest to Sichuan and were easiest to move.
They tend to be relocated first. After the main population is moved out, Western Hunan and Western Hubei will completely change the situation.)
Therefore, Fang Kongzheng turned a blind eye to Zhang Xianzhong's quarrel with Zhang Xianzhong. He just passed the relevant information back to Shen Shuren, shared the information together, and waited to see what would happen.
Now, after the bloody battles in March and April, Li Dingguo has basically killed almost all the Tusi chieftain tribes in Shizhouwei, and snatched all the food of the Tu people to supply the army.
Beginning in May, Zhang Xianzhong's army launched further attacks on the Miao District of western Hunan further south.
Because of the unsuitable climate and soil, miasma and poisonous insects were rampant in the southern mountainous areas. Many soldiers under Zhang Xianzhong's command fell ill, suffered from plague, and lost their combat effectiveness.
But he had no choice but to go there for supplies. The soldiers would starve to death if they didn't grab food anyway, so it would be better to die in the process of killing people.
Even if so many of his own people died, the former way of death would be in vain, while the latter way of death would at least accumulate experience points for killing people.
As for these Miao people and native chieftains, they don't have muskets, sophisticated weapons, or strong city walls. At most, they are good at using poison weapons. It is easy to solve them at the military level. As long as Zhang Xianzhong is not afraid of killing people due to the plague, he will kill people inside.
You can always get it.
The original Ming Dynasty government was unable to establish effective rule in Shizhouwei and Xiangxi. This was because the Ming Dynasty was based on tax collection, and the cost of long-term tax collection and governance was too high.
Zhang Xianzhong did not have these problems. He was just here to kill people and rob. He made a one-time deal without having to worry about the long-term management of the mess, so it was very convenient.
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And just when the massacre of the Miao people in western Hunan was in full swing, Zhang Xianzhong received two pieces of good news almost on the same day:
Early that morning, he first received a report from Li Dingguo that he had slaughtered two more barbarian chiefs in western Hunan, and he had robbed at least enough grain for the autumn harvest of more than 10,000 people.
During lunch, Xi Zuo, who was lurking on Yang Sichang's side, came back to report and informed Zhang Xianzhong: A considerable part of Shen Shuren's main force has been transferred north by Yang Sichang. It seems that there is also a force on Shao Jiechun's side that will be transferred to Shaanxi by Yang Sichang and return.
Sun Chuanting's temperance.
After receiving these two pieces of good news, Zhang Xianzhong swept away the gloom of more than a year, drank down the remaining wine in the bowl, smashed the bowl, and released the turbid air in his chest.
"There is no way out! Li Zicheng has finally opened up the situation! Yang Sichang has transferred all the main forces of Shen Shuren! God is helping me!"
Zhang Xianzhong made some calculations and quickly asked his eldest son, Sun Kewang, to be found by his followers, and gave a few instructions:
"Let the second child come back immediately! Discuss the next battle plan! No, let him go back to Shizhou Guard first. I will go south to check with him personally! In addition, let the third child prepare too! You will be responsible for staying in Zigui!"
"My son, I obey." Sun Kewang first agreed and expressed his attitude, and then asked, "I wonder how many troops and horses my father will need to prepare when he goes south this time? My son, it is better to allocate food and grass in advance."
Zhang Xianzhong: "You will first keep 30,000 people, mainly the new vassal troops, to guard Zigui, Wushan, and Badong. The rest may be taken away one after another, but it is not certain yet. I went to western Hunan to learn about the current situation of the war.
After the enemy situation is distributed, it can be finally determined, and then the troops can be sent south in batches.
If the chieftains in western Hunan are really weak, and Chen Shuren and Fang Kongzhen’s troops are indeed weakened due to redeployment, the main force of our army will naturally take the opportunity to infiltrate into the rich hinterland of Huguang.”
After Sun Kewang asked clearly, he retired and began to mobilize and deploy. Early the next morning, Zhang Xianzhong took the elite of his direct lineage, crossed the Yangtze River south, and went to Shizhou Guard via Badong County.
Naturally, the outpost messengers he sent had traveled hundreds of miles a day to notify Li Dingguo. Li Dingguo also handed over the war ahead to his subordinates and returned with hundreds of light cavalry to greet his father in the fortress left by Shizhou Guard.
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Because he had been fighting in the barbarian land for a long time in the past two or three months, Li Dingguo was not very well-informed, so he did not know that the Huguang Fang Kongzhen and Chenshu people were weak.
Zhang Xianzhong hurriedly came to inspect the army, which surprised him, thinking that his father was worried about something.
After the two met, Li Dingguo was very polite and Zhang Xianzhong told him. Only then did he find out that the main force of Shen Shuren had been transferred to Henan by Yang Sichang.
Then, Zhang Xianzhong looked at the map and chased him for questioning: "I got the good news you sent back yesterday. I defeated the Shinan Xuanfu Division and the Gaoluo Appeasement Division. In addition, I defeated the Dongxiang Fifth Road Appeasement Division, the Longtan Appeasement Division, and the Jin Dynasty Appeasement Division.
At least seven or eight tribes in Shizhouwei have been wiped out by us, including Dongpingsi and other chieftain tribes.
Looking at the map, the only two chieftain tribes separated from Yuezhou Prefecture are Zhongdong Appeasement Division and Zhongjian Xuanfu Division - how long do you think it will take to win?
Also, after capturing these two chieftains, is it difficult to cross Longshan and Baiyadong? If the army only carries provisions and no heavy vehicles, it should be able to cross the mountains and enter Yuezhou Mansion, right?
If he didn't want to alarm the officers and soldiers too quickly, Gu Dao also considered that after defeating the Zhongjian Xuanfu Division, he would continue to go south and attack the chieftains in the Yongshun Xuanwei Division. Then he would go east over Tianmen Mountain, whether heading north.
Either take the Lishui River to Yuezhou, or go south to the Yuan River to Changde, you can finally go straight to Changsha - Brother, what do you think of this plan?"
Zhang Xianzhong's words can be regarded as being made after a little understanding of geography, and they are not just "opening up new territories through maps".
Yuanshui and Lishui are two rivers on the west side of Dongting Lake, which will eventually flow into Dongting Lake. Lishui in the north is the largest river in Yueyang, and Yuanshui in the south is the largest river in Changde.
In Qu Yuan's poem, "There are orchids in the Yuan and Zhi in the Li, I miss the young master but I dare not speak." It is said that there are fragrant grasses such as orchids growing on the banks of these two rivers. It can be seen that in a broad sense, they are part of the Xiangjiang River system.
, otherwise Qu Yuan would not have written it into "Mrs. Hunan".
Along these rivers, large-scale marches can be carried out relatively quickly. Even though Zhang Xianzhong's troops originally crossed the mountains on the south bank of the Three Gorges from the north and could not carry vehicles and ships, they could only temporarily cut wood and build rafts in the mountains.
Rows can also facilitate the transportation of personnel and materials.
As for the source of supplies, the bandits did not need to bring much military rations. Zhang Xianzhong had already finished the food in Guizhou. He was originally killing people to steal food and fighting to support the war, so he directly took the Shizhou Guards and Yongshun Xuanwei Division.
The folk food in the two places can be used to fight the war.
The normal marching route of the army will be restricted by the food road to a large extent, but the bandits have a much easier time in this regard. They can eat wherever they kill.
After listening to this, Li Dingguo roughly understood what his adoptive father wanted to do: "My father felt that... Fang Kongzhen did not have enough troops. He had been wary of Yiling, Jiangling and other places where the Yangtze River came out of the gorge, and neglected the Xiangjiang River and Dongting areas in the south.
Prevention?
And Shen Shuren's jurisdiction only extends to Wuchang Prefecture. In addition, when he was originally a soldier preparing for the road, he was only a "Hubei soldier preparing for the road" at the beginning. He did not cultivate any loyal forces in Hunan, so our army should take the opportunity to attack its emptiness?
"
Of course Zhang Xianzhong would not explain nonsense to his adopted son. He just nodded casually and pressed: "How about it? Are you sure?"