On the banks of the rivers of Changsha and Tanzhou, a large number of naval warships were gathered. From the shore, it looks as if a floating city has been built out of thin air on the water.

Xue Lujun, Tan Zhongjun, and Chen Maojun, with a total of 200,000 cavalry, will soon arrive near Changsha and Tanzhou; These warships were preparing to transport the soldiers of various units to the west bank of the Xiangjiang River.

At this time, Zhang Fu received a report from the civil official of the Chinese army, and after reading it, he said: "King Min is coming to Changsha Mansion with more than 6,000 people. ”

Immediately, some generals muttered and complained: "When King Min arrives at this time, isn't it delaying the army to cross the river?" ”

Zhang Fu was not happy in his heart, but he didn't say it, only said: "Arrange some boats, transport a group of soldiers to the west bank, and then send King Min's men and horses over." ”

King Min's previous vassal kingdom was in Yunnan, and Yongle was occupied by King Han at the beginning of the year, so King Min was ordered to go to Wugang Prefecture, Huguang Province.

Wugang Prefecture is just southwest of Baoqing Province. King Min is also quite knowledgeable, and must have seen that there is going to be a big war in Baoqing Mansion; That's why King Min abandoned his palace at this time and fled to Changsha.

Since Zhu Gaoxu, the king of Han, raised his army, in order to avoid making more enemies, he has treated his vassal relatives quite favorably. King Min and King Han have no enmity, so they don't have to run away without permission, but King Min has a grudge against Xiping Hou Musheng!

Mu Sheng made great contributions at the beginning of the Han Dynasty's army, and he must be a person of status in the Han Palace. Therefore, King Min was reluctant to fall into the hands of the Han army, and it was the Mu family who was jealous.

However, it was not a coincidence when King Min came, it was when Zhang Fu carried out a large-scale transfer and deployment......

At this time, Zhang Fu had already formulated a strategy for a major war in the Baoqing Prefecture area.

His Chinese army of more than 40,000 people served as the vanguard, and was reinforced by 10,000 cavalry drawn from various departments, and took the lead in marching to Xinhua County (northwest of Baoqing Province); Xue Lujun, Tan Zhongjun, and Chen Maojun had 200,000 troops, and then they also had to cross the Xiangjiang River and move to the southwest to the Baoqingfu area; After Liu Sheng's army of 100,000 troops arrived in Yiyang County, he changed its route and marched southward, advancing to the west of Xinhua County.

He also transferred 100,000 people from He Fubu, the deputy general of the left, to the west and moved closer to the direction of Baoqing Fucheng.

Zhang Fu made such a deployment based on speculation and judgment of the rebel Qu Neng's department, believing that Qu Neng would take the road of Xinhua County!

Zhang Fu was gathering superior forces to intercept and besiege the Qu Neng rebels between Xinhua County and Zishui near Baoqing Fucheng. The intention was to destroy Qu Neng all the way in the early stage of the Huguang Campaign.

Then the army spread out in an east-west horizontal plane, marching from north to south to the vicinity of Baoqing Fucheng; He Fujun marched west from Hengzhou Mansion, and after joining the main force of the official army, it became the left wing of the army. The various units lined up in the direction of Yongzhou to meet the main force of the rebels......

A few days later, on the third day of the tenth lunar month, King Min and his guard of honor took the lead in crossing the Xiangjiang River and arrived at the city of Changsha. Zhang Fu had to go to visit, and according to the rules set by Emperor Taizu, Zhang Fu bowed outside the door and reported the name of the official; Only then was he allowed to enter the place where King Min was staying.

King Min on the upper seat was wearing a red regimental dragon suit, and he was also quite polite to Zhang Fu, and his voice was very kind: "The British official is exempt, please take a seat." ”

"His Royal Highness King Xie Min, the last general." Zhang Fu bowed and sat down on a stool on the side.

King Min immediately sighed and said, "I have already played the court many times, and Mu Sheng wants to rebel!" And now it turns out to be true. ”

Zhang Fuxin said: Then Mu Sheng was coerced by the King of Han to rebel, how could Mu Fu rebel alone? But Zhang Fu didn't want to argue with King Min, so he casually echoed the matter. Zhang Fu has been very busy these days, and he just wants to leave quickly after fulfilling his etiquette.

At this moment, a eunuch entered, bent down to King Min and said, "Lord, there is a military general outside the door, saying that he has something urgent and wants to come in to see the British duke." ”

Zhang Fu stood up after hearing this. King Min waved his hand and said, "Military affairs are important, let him in." ”

The eunuch bowed and said, "The slave and maid obey the order." ”

After a while, a military general walked in quickly, first knelt down on one knee to King Min, and then walked up to Zhang Fu, bowed his head and whispered: "Xinhua County came to report, scouting in Tangkou Township, northwest of the county, found a large number of rebels!" ”

Zhang Fu's face was slightly red due to emotional fluctuations, and he hugged his fists and bowed to King Min: "The last general is entangled in affairs, and he is disrespectful and disrespectful. ”

King Min said: "The British public should focus on major events, and there will be a period later." ”

So Zhang Fu said goodbye to King Min and walked out of the gate. He immediately said to the generals beside him: "You go back to the Chinese army first, ask someone to write the military order, and the commander will arrive later!"

The military order was written, and the rebels came over the mountains and mountains, and the soldiers and horses were exhausted; The Chinese infantry in Xinhua County was ordered to immediately cross west to Zishui and try their best to block the rebels' southward movement, and the cavalry brigade should be able to arrive in the near future. ”

"The last will be ordered!"

Zhang Fu rode back with his entourage to the Chinese army, and although the wind in Huguang was already a little cold, his face was still hot. The movements of the rebel Qu Neng Department were expected to appear in Xinhua County; This big battle has begun before you know it!

Judging the route of the rebels purely by speculation, Zhang Fu felt that the start was very good at the moment, and his confidence increased a few points...... However, the rebels arrived in Xinhua County too quickly, and Liu Sheng, Xue Lu and other officers and soldiers had not yet arrived at the designated position, which made this matter not so perfect.

It is impossible for the two sides to reach the same battlefield at the same time in a decisive battle with hundreds of thousands of people, and the process of a major war will always be gradually advanced from this kind of partial competition. Zhang Fu felt that Qu Neng was just like this, the general of the defeated army in the "Battle of Jingyan", and he threw himself into the net from the beginning!

Zhang Fu arrived at the Chinese army and saw that the sun was already setting in the west, so he signed the military order and said to the messenger: "As fast as possible, day and night, send it to Xinhua County as soon as possible!" ”

He then issued several military orders in succession. ordered the Liusheng Division, which was located south of Yiyang County, to move the cavalry forward first and rush to Xinhua County for reinforcements; Ordered the armies that had arrived on the west bank of the Xiangjiang River to dispatch cavalry to Xinhua County.

Zhang Fu believed that with more than 40,000 Chinese troops in Xinhua County, plus the cavalry brigades that were reinforced one after another, they could directly destroy the exhausted Qu Neng Division!

He also ordered his own soldiers to guard the cavalry and set off tomorrow morning! Zhang Fu was ready to rush to Xinhua County to supervise the battle in person.

…… Qu Nengbu's three-way cavalry, consisting of about 70,000 horses, all walked out of the mountains in early October and gathered at a nearby place called Tangkou Township.

He sent people to inquire about the strength of the enemy army in Xinhua County several times, and judged that the enemy army was only 40,000 or 50,000 people, so he waited in Tangkou Township for two more days. One is to let the soldiers who have crossed the mountains and mountains take a break, and the other is that the previous road is not easy to walk, and some horses have fallen behind, and waiting for two days can reduce the losses caused by the difficulty of marching.

On the afternoon of the fourth day of October, Qu Neng led his army to cross a tributary of Zishui and arrived at the west of Zishui in Xinhua County. The scouts reported that the enemy had crossed the water and camped on the south bank of an unnamed small river, where fortifications were being constructed.

Qu Neng led a group of cavalry and went straight south to the north bank of the Xiaohe River. He looked east, but for a moment saw no sign of a large number of enemy troops. The scout general said: "Great marshal, the enemy army is about seven or eight miles to the east, on the south bank of this river. ”

"You two, run across the river from here!" Qu Neng pointed with a horsewhip and ordered.

The river in front of us is narrow, and the water looks almost dry in winter. The two horsemen rushed into the river, and suddenly the water splashed, and the river soon became muddy, and the horses' hooves stepped on the silt at the bottom of the river.

In a few moments, the two horsemen crossed the creek and reined in their horses and ran back again.

Qu Neng said: "Order the forward to go to the northwest of the enemy camp, and find a place where the enemy can camp a few miles away." ”

A pro-soldier took the order flag with Qu Neng's own handwriting, "The military order is like a mountain", hugged his fists and said: "Get the order!" ”

Qu Neng led the crowd back and found the army and horses, and he immediately ordered the generals of all departments to march in the direction where the officers and troops were stationed!

After a while, several generals came over here, and someone asked: "Marshal, are we going to attack the enemy army in Xinhua County?" ”

Qu Neng shook his head and said: "There are a lot of puppet Korean troops here in Huguang, and there must be horse teams and large armies behind to help." We don't have artillery, we have very little arrows and ammunition, and we can't hold on to military rations for a long time, so it's too late to deal with the enemy army in Xinhua County. However, we have a lot of people, and we can scare the enemy. ”

As soon as the words fell, there was a shout of "report" on the road ahead.

After a while, the scout generals came over and brought the sergeant over. The sergeant dismounted and knelt down on one knee and said, "Sir, brothers saw a lot of enemy horsemen in the east of Xinhua County this afternoon, all of them horsemen!" There are not fifteen thousand, there are ten thousand rides! ”

The generals around him asked, "Has the marshal changed the military order?" ”

Qu Neng thought for a while, looked up at the sun near the top of the mountain in the west, shook his head and refused.

When Qu Neng was in Chenxi County, he decided to take the road of Xinhua County, and estimated the position of the various armies of the official army in advance, and felt that there was a certain opportunity; But the news is difficult to be accurate, the whole march itself is risky, and at the moment he is also very bold.

The army had marched for several miles, and in front of it you could see the men and horses of the vanguard army and the baggage battalion, which was at work and helping to build the camp. So the generals of the various departments found a good place and ordered to camp and rest.

The distance between Qu Neng's army and the puppet official army was only about six or seven miles. By dark, there was no sign of movement of the enemy's camp; However, because they were too close, the scouts had already reported casualties.

At this time, Qu Neng summoned the generals above the commander of the guard to discuss matters in the temporary line. When everyone arrived one after another, Qu Neng said straight to the point: "At this time, there must be a large number of enemy infantry and cavalry, which will arrive in the vicinity of Xinhua County one after another; Baoqing Province, south of Xinhua County, will also be intercepted by enemy troops. Therefore, our troops should not delay in the slightest and should get rid of the enemy forces in Xinhua County as soon as possible.

Tonight you will march out of camp overnight into the mountains to the south. The terrain on this side of the road is flat and spacious, and it is about thirty miles later into the mountain, when it is dawn. After the army entered the mountain, it was not conducive to the deployment of cavalry, and the enemy's horse team could not help us. ”

The generals chimed in.

Seeing this, Qu Neng immediately began to arrange the most elite guard as a defender.