"His Royal Highness the Prince! The front is already Gong'an County, and the sentry horses in front of our battalion have seen the banners of the armies on the south bank of the Yangtze River, and we have arrived! ”

A few fast horses rushed back from the front, although the weather was the hottest time, but the knight on horseback still wore armor, carried a slender horse pistol, and carried an arrow bag and a Kaiyuan bow, and did not dare to relax a little. The brigade of men and horses marching with Zhu Cihong was resting on the ground, and they were all sitting quietly and neatly, silently eating the marching rations. Everyone looked tired, the long journey of seven hundred miles, and there was also a high degree of vigilance, beware of the ambush of the Dashun army that might cross from the north bank of the Yangtze River. However, in order to let Zhu Cihong rush to Gong'an County on the south bank of the Yangtze River as soon as possible to clean up the Jingnan garrison, this risk still has to be taken.

The troops now concentrated in the Jiangnan area of Jingzhou Prefecture, in addition to the elite of the first division led by Wu Guoyong, who are Zhu Cihong's descendants, there are also as many as 70,000 or 80,000 miscellaneous troops. Although it is a miscellaneous card, it is the key to the victory and defeat of this Huguang battle.

If it weren't for them, the lineage of the three divisions brought by Zhu Cihong to Huguang alone, but the army in the early 40,000s, would not be enough in any case.

Now the Huguang battlefield has been divided into four stalls, one stall in Hanyang and Wuchang, one stall in Xiangyang and Nanyang, one stall along the Yangtze River in Yuezhou, and one stall in Jingzhou Mansion. Relying on the Lu division in his early 40,000s, he was divided into four and managed one stall, which was really a bit reluctant.

So Zhu Cihong had no choice but to grit his teeth, under the command of about 3,000 knights (including 2,000 regular soldiers, 1,000 auxiliary soldiers, and about 5,000 war horses and pack horses), day and night, rushing wildly, and by the way, he had to think carefully about how to fool the leaders of the Jingnan armies - it's really helpless to think about it, who are those people? Zuo Mengmei, who played brother and sister killing, shouted all day and night to deal with his good brother Zhu Cizhao, He Tengjiao, an expert in internal fighting, Jin Shenghuan, who was a traitor in history and was anyway, and a hardcore traitor in the Qing Dynasty in history, the head of the four generals in Hexi Daniel Zhang...... Only one plug Yinxi is slightly better, but it is a big landlord in Wuxi and the successor of Donglin! To put it mildly, it is Prince Zhu's class enemy!

Why don't there be any good people, they are all chaotic ministers and thieves?

It is said that people gather like likes, and he is the number one filial son in the world, and he has done so many good things for the country and the people, how can a large group of loyal ministers and pillars around him be used?

Could it be that the more capable Zhongliang of the Ming Dynasty became a loyal martyr to Chongzhen, so he has no good people available?

Fortunately, Zhu Cihong has the ability to package loyal ministers - he can package traitorous ministers and chaotic ministers as loyal ministers! Although the people gathered in Jingnan now are not good people, they are lucky to meet Prince Zhu, and they will be allowed to leave their names in the history of the Ming Dynasty in the future.

And in order to leave a good impression on the future Zhongxing ministers, after approaching Gong'an County, Zhu Cihong ordered to rush more than 600 miles, and the already exhausted team stopped to rest, tidy up the military appearance a little, and by the way, sent a sentry to feel the situation, if there was anything wrong, don't bump into it......

When the sentry returned, Prince Zhu was sitting cross-legged on the ground, struggling to deal with a piece of baked hard naan, choking on a few bites, and hurriedly asked Wu Sanmei for water to drink - Wu Sanmei doesn't seem to be a blessed life, how long has it been since she gave birth? He accompanied Prince Zhu to march and fight again.

Originally, Jing Nan didn't have to be accompanied by her on this trip, but in order to facilitate dealing with Zuo Mengmei, Zhu Cihong still decided to take her.

Just when Zhu Cihong was drinking water, his foreman guard Yan Yingyuan had already asked: "Whose banner is the big camp you saw?" ”

Several cavalrymen had already dismounted, and one of them reported loudly: "It's a pair of Lingqi with yellow letters on a red background, I don't know whose it is." ”

Yan Yingyuan's voice sounded beside Bijiucheng again: "This is the prince's order banner, and it is the camp of the king of Chu!" ”

Zhu Cihong traveled along the Yangtze River, from Huarong County in Yuezhou Prefecture into Jingzhou Prefecture, and then bypassed Shishou County and entered Gong'an County. And Gong'an County is one of the cores of the territory of the Chu Wangfu, and after losing Jiangling County, Zhu Cizhao and Zuo Mengmei naturally moved to Gong'an.

"How many people are there in the King of Chu? Who is in control? Zhu Cihong asked.

Bi Jiucheng replied: "The headquarters of the King of Chu is the palace guard, which is adapted from the regimental training of Qiu Lei, the chief soldier of Jingzhou Mansion, and the Jingzhou prefect Du Yinxi, which is not enough. However, He Tengjiao's secret fold said that Princess Chu and Daniel Zhang had sworn brothers and sisters with different surnames, and Daniel Zhang's 8,000 Shaanxi army was very capable of fighting! ”

Although Bi Jiucheng's official position is a bachelor of Hanlin, he has been an old man who has followed Zhu Cihong since Beijing City, and has been in charge of military affairs-related reports and orders, so he is very familiar with the situation of the armies, and he can be regarded as half a chief of staff.

Zhu Cihong looked at the foreman guard Yan Yingyuan again. Yan Yingyuan is a military jinshi, Zhu Cihong's hometown (born in Tongzhou Sanwei), and the first phase of the martial arts hall, and one of the few "good people in history" around Prince Zhu, of course, he is the key training object!

So Prince Zhu now wants to hear his opinion.

"Chitose Lord, we have three thousand iron horses!" Yan Yingyuan said, "They are all elites who have killed Tartars...... Daniel Zhang's 8,000 men are no match. His Royal Highness might as well follow Emperor Guangwu's strategy of soothing the bronze horse, first riding with iron, and then entering the public security county to fuzhi. In this way, the Chu army will definitely be happy and convinced of His Highness, and be willing to take the lead! ”

"Good!" Zhu Cihong nodded, and glanced at Bi Jiucheng, "Write it down, and it will be written like this in the history of the future in the future!" ”

"Whoa!" Bi Jiucheng immediately took out a small notebook and brush, licked the dry tip of the pen with his tongue, and then recorded it in the small notebook.

Then Zhu Cihong said to Yan Yingyuan: "Liheng, you remember to me that people's hearts are not used to test!" When there is no opportunity for corruption, civil servants are good officials who are as honest as water. At the moment of life and death, the generals are also loyal and courageous. If there is no chance to go further, the brothers of this palace are all loyal and virtuous kings.

Therefore, on the Jingzhou front, there will only be good officials, loyal ministers and virtuous kings, and nothing else! ”

Zhu Cihong is such a person, always full of malice to figure out people's hearts.

"The minister knows what to do!" Yan Yingyuan said, "The minister immediately sent someone to bypass the public security and contact Wu Guoyong, the commander of the right division. ”

Zhu Cixi nodded, "Scatter more cavalry out, patrol the sentry in all directions, and don't let Zuo Mengmei and Daniel Zhang know our reality!" ”

"Whoa!"

......

"Why haven't you come back yet?"

Qiu Lei stomped his steps in the lobby of the palace in the county seat of Gong'an, his steps were heavy and fast, and he was full of impetuousness.

Since the infighting in Jiangling, the Ming army, which retreated to the south bank of the Yangtze River, was divided into two parts, intentionally or unintentionally. The three armies of Qiu Lei (the royal guard), Daniel Zhang, and Jin Shenghuan, who were separated from the Zuojia army, were stationed near the county seat of Gong'an.

The three armies of He Tengjiao, Chang Yanling, and Wu Guoyong were stationed at Hudukou on the south bank of the Yangtze River, Xiabailizhou, an island in the Yangtze River waterway between Jiangling City and Hudukou, and the bridgehead camp on the north bank of the Yangtze River.

This method of dividing the troops into two places makes it clear that He Tengjiao, Chang Yanling, and Wu Guoyong still don't believe in the old left army, so they let them stay away from each other to be on guard.

And now the eldest prince Zhu led his troops to gallop more than 700 miles to Jingzhou Mansion, not only bypassing the public security county where the camp of the King of Chu was located, but also sending a large number of cavalry to patrol and guard the army in all directions, so as not to let the scouts sent by the King of Chu Mansion get close to snoop.

After discussing with Zuo Mengmei, Qiu Lei simply withdrew the sentry horse and let Prince Zhu pass through the defense area, and at the same time asked the governor of Jingzhou Prefecture, who had connections at both ends, to come forward to greet Zhu Cihong. He also cleaned a luxury villa outside the county town that originally belonged to King Hui's Mansion and used it to entertain Zhu Cihong.

But Du Yinxi went for two days, and there was not even a reply, and of course Zhu Cihong did not stay in the palace villa outside the county of Gong'an...... What does this Prince Zhu want to do?