After the collapse of Zuo Liangyu's department, in the Huguang area, there is basically no large-scale strength of the official army, and the rest is mostly the defenders in some places, these defenders are negligent in training all the year round, and their combat effectiveness is extremely weak, and they are not the opponents of the Xingtian Army at all, although Wuchang is the provincial capital of Huguang, but over the years, Huguang has been consuming a lot of troops from all walks of life during the period of continuous use of soldiers from all walks of life, and because of poor military salaries, many officers and soldiers have fled or defected to various righteous armies, but the local gentry in order to protect themselves, After all, they have the money to buy people to work hard for them, and at the same time, they are willing to spend money on weapons, and many of them are their clansmen, and they dare to fight hard to protect their families.

However, the problem is that these local armed forces are fighting their own battles, do not listen to the orders of the government, only consider the issue of self-preservation, and even directly resist the harassment of the official army.

Xiao Tianjian sat in the big tent, and his subordinates Li Xin and others analyzed the current situation, and Jiang Qin also sorted out the news that he had recently spilled back and informed everyone present.

"How many officers and troops are stationed in Yuezhou now? This is crucial! And what about the number of Jianli and Huarong officers and soldiers along the way and the number of warships on the river? What is the number of official and military warships in Dongting Lake? Xiao Tianjian frowned and asked Jiang Qin.

Jiang Qin hurriedly replied: "Lord Qi, at the moment the official army of Yuezhou is probably less than 10,000 people, the main general is the chief soldier Kong Xigui, this person is currently sitting in the city of Lingji outside Yuezhou City, the number of sailors is less than 1,000, there are less than 100 warships of all kinds, as for Dongting Lake, there are basically no warships at the moment, but there are many lake thieves, often out of Dongting Lake to plunder the Yangtze River, the people under the lowly command have contacted several of the lake bandits, they heard that our army is going to pass through Yuezhou, they are willing to submit to the lord, help attack Yuezhou City!"

As for Jianli and Huarong, the officials and soldiers can basically say that there is no, and there is no need to talk about the warships, many rich people along the river are now fleeing by boat to Wuchang Mansion downstream, don't worry about the lord!

At present, it is estimated that Jingzhou is lost, and the news of the annihilation of Zuo Liangyu's entire army has arrived in Wuchang, and Song Yihe is estimated that he will not come up against the current to aid Jingzhou and Chengtianfu! He thought that Song Yihe would definitely gather troops in order to fight a decisive battle with the lord in Wuchang and Hanyang! ”

After Xiao Tianjian and Li Xin glanced at each other, they nodded and said, "It seems that as soon as Zuo Liangyu dies this time, Huguang will basically have no generals!" Song Yihe is a capable person, but he can't be despised too much! Jiang Qin, you have to keep an eye on the news sent back from Wuchang, especially the troops and subordinates gathered by Song Yihe, etc., you must write down and report to me in detail!

In addition, according to what Jiang Qin said, Kong Xigui in Yuezhou is a stubborn and self-serving incompetent, and he is also a scourge in the Yuezhou area, this time we will go south to get rid of him for the common people! Once Yuezhou is laid, it will be much easier to take Changsha in the future!

Now, as far as I can see, we have sufficient troops at the moment, and with Liu Yaoben leading 10,000 infantry troops, it is enough to go to Yuezhou by boat with me! As for the others, I think we can divide our troops and attack eastward along the Han River, take Chuyang, attack towards Wuchang Mansion, and join up with Luo Lisuo's department at Hanyang! Otherwise, everyone gathers troops together, and if such a city is attacked one by one, I don't know when we will be able to take down the entire Huguang! I don't know what you guys think? ”

After listening to Xiao Tianjian's words, Li Xin also nodded again and again, now their soldiers and horses after a series of battles, although there are losses, but the replenishment of more people and horses, when they came out of Xiangyang, they were only more than 20,000 people, now after the integration and expansion, the strength has been nearly 40,000 people, and the main force has not lost much, so all concentrated together to act, one is that the materials needed are too large, and the other is too wasteful of resources, and too much delay.

Therefore, at this point, after Zuo Liangyu, the largest military force in Huguang, has been destroyed, there is no problem in dividing troops to attack, so that Huguang can be pocketed as soon as possible, and in just one year, the Xingtian Army can completely solve the problem of shortage of grain supply.

After hearing this, the generals also said that there was no problem, and asked Xiao Tianjian to just give the order.

Xiao Tianjian immediately ordered to divide the men and horses under his command into two, Liu Yaoben led a single one, set out from Chengtianfu, led the army to rely on the fleet on the Han River, went down the Han River, captured Jingling and Chuyang along the way, and finally arrived at Hanyang, and joined Luo Li's department to capture Hanyang.

At the same time, he sent an order to Luo Li, ordering him to immediately lead his troops south from Gwangju, first take Yingshan, and then directly take De'an Mansion, and after capturing De'an Mansion, sweep away the officials and troops around De'an Mansion, and Liu Yao's division to capture Hanyang.

The remaining soldiers and horses were led by Xiao Tianjian, down the Yangtze River, first capturing Yuezhou, and then attacking Tongcheng, Chongyang, Jiayu and other counties along the way, approaching Wuchang, and finally joining forces with Liu Yaoben and Luo Li in Hanyang to conspire with Wuchang Mansion!

After the agreement, the generals did not delay, and immediately began to prepare, Liu Yaoben was very excited, this time Xiao Tianjian let him lead the whole way of action, in addition to the trust in him, but also a test for him, and Xiao Tianjian in the division of troops, the cavalry was allocated to him half, at the same time the heavy artillery was also divided into two, given him half, let him lead nearly 10,000 people to act on his own, and at the same time allowed him to expand his forces along the way, so that in the future, the Guards Division is likely to be divided into two, and he will become the orthodox at that time, can be on an equal footing with Luo Li and others.

Therefore, Liu Yaoben was both excited and a little nervous, and while preparing, he discussed his advance plan in detail with Li Xin and other staff members, and then said goodbye to Xiao Tianjian, led his troops back towards Chengtianfu, and led the fleet down the Han River from there.

And Xiao Tianjian did not delay too long in Jingzhou Mansion after sending Liu Yaoben away, and after the water camp was ready, he immediately ordered troops to board the ship and rushed towards Yuezhou.

When passing through Jianli County along the way, Jianli Zhixian didn't say a word, he took the initiative to open the city gate and surrender to the Xingtian Army, without organizing any resistance at all, Xiao Tianjian sent Situ Liang to Huarong County, and Huarong Zhixian learned the news, and immediately abandoned the city and fled, Huarong County basically broke itself, and was immediately controlled by the Xingtian Army.

When Xiao Tianjian left Jingzhou, he picked out a battalion general called Gao Dashan from the war camp to sit in Jingzhou City, leaving him with two battle companies and two reserve battalions to sit in Jingzhou City, to prevent the remnants of Zuo Liangyu from counterattacking Jingzhou City, and at the same time ordered him to recruit a small number of men and horses on the spot for training and sit in Jingzhou City.

As for the two counties of Jianli and Huarong that were taken, Xiao Tianjian left two brigades of more than 100 soldiers in each of these two places to garrison, and allowed them to recruit and train the troops of the two companies on their own to defend the land of these two counties and at the same time eliminate the local resistance forces.

Of course, while staying in the garrison, Xiao Tianjian will naturally not forget the civil affairs, and since the Xingtian Army has become an army, the military and civilian affairs have been handled separately and supported each other, but they do not interfere with each other, in terms of civil affairs, Xiao Tianjian's trip to the south has a strategy, and the army has already prepared hundreds of scribes, ready to take over the new land, so whenever the Xingtian Army occupies a new place, there will immediately be officials in charge of civil affairs to take up local duties, take over local civil affairs, and cooperate with the military to control and manage the newly occupied territory. In short, there is only one requirement, one is to defend the territory, and the other is to subdue the people's will, restore agricultural production as soon as possible, and remove hostile forces from these boundaries, so that these areas can be completely brought under Xiao Tianjian's rule as soon as possible, so that they can provide material support for the Xingtian Army.

And the general soldier stationed in Yuezhou, Kong Xigui, in fact, has already become a frightened bird when Jingzhou was broken, he led his troops to garrison the Chenglingji on the riverside outside Yuezhou, and Chenglingji has been the wharf of Yuezhou since ancient times, even in later generations, it is also the largest port on the Yangtze River in Hubei, because the merchants who come and go on the Yangtze River, the ships have to dock here, so it is quite prosperous here, but at this time, Chenglingji looks a lot colder, and the businessmen learned that Jingzhou City was broken by the Xingtian Army, and after the news that Zuo Liangyu's whole army was destroyed, They boarded the boats and fled along the river, either running to Wuchang to avoid the disaster of war, or even going straight down to Nanjing, running to Nanjing to avoid the disaster, which made the prosperous city of Lingji in the past suddenly become much colder, and even the people in the city who could run away also ran away, leaving only some officers and soldiers to guard here.

Kong Xigui has been inquiring about the news of Jingzhou from the ships coming down from the river, and when he learned that most of Zuo Liangyu's water camp turned against the water and took refuge in the Xingtian Army, Kong Xigui was immediately frightened half to death, counted the warships on his hand with his fingers, and then looked at the troops at hand, inspected the small Lingji City, and immediately knew that he was in the small city of Chenglingji, and he could not stop the Xingtian Army.

So without saying a word, he abandoned Lingji City, leaving only the navy to order him to block the fleet of the Xingtian Army at the mouth of Dongting Lake, and he led nearly 10,000 horses and horses to go straight to Yuezhou.

And Yuezhou Zhizhou Huang Mingxuan is afraid of death, I heard that Kong Xigui led his troops to Yuezhou to defend the city, and he was busy inviting Kong Xigui into the city, and Yuezhou is an important town of the Yangtze River since ancient times, in addition to playing the role of a gateway to Wuchang downstream, for Changsha in the south, it is also a gateway, once Yuezhou is overcome, the Xingtian army can take Wuchang down the river, and Dongting Lake can enter the Xiangjiang River to approach Changsha in the south, so Song Yihe ordered Huang Mingxuan and Kong Xigui to defend Yuezhou when the Xingtian Army did not defeat Jingzhou, once Zuo Liangyu lost Jingzhou, He also retreated to Yuezhou, relying on the navy to prevent the Xingtian army from going down the river to Wuchang Mansion on the Yangtze River, and at the same time to prevent the Xingtian army from entering the Xiangjiang River through Dongting Lake and forcing Changsha.

But what they didn't expect was that Zuo Liangyu, who had such a strong army, not only did not hold Jingzhou City, but even he himself failed to escape from Jingzhou, and was defeated and died in Jingzhou, and his troops were basically wiped out by the Xingtian Army, and only less than one or two thousand people fled to Yuezhou, which really scared Huang Mingxuan and Kong Xigui half to death.