Huguang is the land of fish and rice, and there is the beautiful scenery of Dongting Lake, the Yangtze River that is surging endlessly, there are plains in the north, there are mountains in the south, it is a rich land since ancient times, it can not only show production, but also can be trained by troops, accumulate strength, the northern plains can carry out large-scale cavalry training, and the southern mountains can be trained in mountain warfare and jungle warfare, it is really a feng shui treasure land to show strength. ( Bayi Middle School [{文〈网 〈 >)].? ８>１?Ｚ〕〕．ＣＯＭ

However, if this piece of feng shui treasure land falls into the hands of Wang Jiayin and other thieves, at most it will become their temporary pleasure field, and when everything that can be grabbed is gone, this group of locusts will rush elsewhere and continue to be the party to the disaster.

Unless, there are one or two strong and knowledgeable leaders among the thieves, adjust the swarm of plundering methods, realize the power of the people, strictly enforce military discipline, grow steadily and steadily, and rely on the support of the people at the bottom to fight against the imperial court.

Don't say it, there really is.

This man is the king's own use.

Wang Ziyong is a native of Suide, Shaanxi, Chongzhen in the first year of the uprising in Shaanxi with the King of Chaotian and others, self-named Zijin Liang, and then joined forces with Wang Jiayin, elected Wang Jiayin as the leader of the 36th battalion, Wang Ziyong was in the second position, and called the two kings.

Wang Ziyong read less poetry and books, had a strategy in his belly, and was a rare Confucian general in the peasant army, and his requirements for his subordinates were stricter than those of the peasant armies of other battalions, and the military discipline was also the best, and the combat effectiveness was also the strongest. Gao Yingxiang, Li Zicheng, and Zhang Xianzhong were all his generals, and later chose to start anew because they couldn't accept the military discipline used by Wang, but at present, Zhang Xianzhong is still nominally his subordinates, and can obey the command and cooperate in combat, but the means of acting are different.

Wang Ziyong believes that if you want to get a long-term exhibition, you can't do without the support of the people, and no army has ever been able to successfully grasp power by force and bloody massacres alone.

Therefore, when he was defeated by Lu Xiangsheng in Henan, Wang Zili went south to Huguang, captured Huguang and slowly operated, showed his strength, and then relied on Huguang's geographical advantages to compete with the imperial court and become a country of its own.

Wang Ziyong, who had already begun to have a sense of national awareness, was well aware of the importance of the people's will, and from the very beginning, he tried his best to dissuade the peasant army in each battalion from killing too heavily and killing innocents indiscriminately, in an effort to accumulate the morale of the people. However, the composition of the peasant army was too complicated, and whether it was Wang Jiayin or Wang Ziyong, they could no longer control the crazy plundering of the subordinates.

Under his strict orders, his 9,000 troops basically did not slaughter the people, and the looting was only to rob the rich of the official government, and rarely attacked the common people.

In this way, compared with the two, Wang Ziyong's peasant army has won more support from the people, and the team exhibition is also very fast, in just one month, including Zhang Xianzhong's department, Wang Ziyong has raised an army of sixty or seventy thousand.

At the beginning, after Xinye and Wang Jiayin, Hui Dengxiang and others divided their troops, Wang Ziyong, Zhang Xianzhong, Ma Shouying and others quickly broke through Guanghua, Gucheng, Baokang and other cities, and there were many followers.

After capturing Gucheng, Ma Shouying insisted on continuing to kill Junzhou and Yunyang, because after taking Yunyang, he could not only go north to Shaanxi to join Gao Yingxiang and others, but also continue to go south to Huguang, and Yunyang was far away from Wuchang, the political envoy of Huguangcheng announced that the government was in Wuchang, and the official army was weak.

Wang Ziyong couldn't persuade Ma Shouying, so the two divided their troops, and he and Zhang Xianzhong continued to go south to capture Baokang, Nanzhang, Yicheng and other places, echoing with Wang Jiayin's department, and then waiting for an opportunity to capture Xiangyang Mansion.

Wang Ziyong, Zhang Xianzhong and others swept through the prefectures and counties around Xiangyang Prefecture, and soon raised an army of 100,000 and besieged Xiangyang City.

On the other hand, Ma Shouying also led more than 30,000 of his subordinates to capture Junzhou, and then surrounded Yunyang Mansion, burning and looting all the way, making chickens and dogs jump, and wailing everywhere.

Mo Li learned of the siege of Xiangyang on the morning of his third day in Xinyang. After receiving the report, Mo Li was stunned, and after a little thought, he ordered Cao Bianjiao to give up attacking Liu Xiyao, who was attacking Meiyuan Town, and first went to relieve the siege of Xiangyang City.

Xiangyang City is inhabited by the Ming Dynasty vassal king - Xiangwang Zhu Yiming, if the thieves break through Xiangyang City and capture and kill the King of Xiang, not only the Huguang governor will be in trouble, but he Moli will also be charged with ineffective rescue, and it is unknown what he will do with the anger of the Son of Heaven.

After Cao Bianjiao failed several times in the attack, he was about to change his tactics and strive to conquer Meiyuan Town, when he received an order from Mo Li, and had no choice but to retreat to Xinyang City with a large army.

The next morning, Mo Li ordered He Zhendong, Bai Zhicheng, Ba Laodao and others to lead 5,000 Xinliao troops and more than 1,000 Xinyang defenders to garrison Xinyang, and Lu Hanzhang and others also stayed in Xinyang on the grounds that the battlefield was dangerous.

Liu Yin was also arranged in Xinyang City, waiting for the army to rescue her fiancé, Master Zhou.

Subsequently, Mo Li personally led Guan Feng, Cao Bianjiao, Ma Jinzhong and other generals with a total of 19,000 men and horses to Zaoyang, joined forces with Du Geng's troops, defeated the thieves in Zaoyang, and then went to Xiangyang to rescue.

Outside the city of Xinyang, nearly 20,000 troops rushed towards Zaoyang, a group of majestic cavalry took the lead, the soldiers were high-spirited, the armor was shiny, the flag covered the sun, and the dust and smoke were rolling.

After the 3,000 cavalry, there were more than 10,000 infantrymen, all of them in high spirits, and followed the cavalry to the west with neat steps. The thunderous footsteps, coupled with the galloping of three thousand war horses, shook the entire Xinyang City wall as if it were reverberating, and there was a feeling of suffocation.

Lu Hanzhang, He Zhendong and others bid farewell to the army at the gate of the city. Lu Hanzhang looked at the 20,000 elite soldiers in bright armor and imposing like a rainbow, with a calm look on his face, he stepped forward with a smile and said to Mo Li: "General Mo, since the general is sympathetic to our family's weakness and let our family garrison Xinyang City, then our family will thank you in advance, and wish the general a victory and relieve the siege of Xiangyang City in one fell swoop!" ”

Mo Li smiled and said: "Father-in-law, please rest assured, it is within Mo Li's duty to suppress the thief and pacify the Kou, and Mo Li must do his best to help Xiangyang City!" ”

As he spoke, Mo Li arched his hand towards Lu Hanzhang, then turned over and got on his horse, leading Liang Peijun, He Zhenbei, Sima Jian and other guards to catch up with the team.

Liu Yin was also standing at the gate of the city, and at this time he also shouted in the crowd: "General Mo, please save the husband of the people's wife, please!" ”

Mo Li heard it from afar, glanced back, waved his hand at Liu Yin, and then rode his horse and whipped away.

At this time, it was early spring, the snow outside Xinyang City had not yet melted, and there was white snow everywhere, Liu Yin watched the army go west like an iron stream, and there was a burst of anticipation in her heart, as for what to expect, she herself seemed to be a little unclear.

The army stayed overnight and camped outside a small town called Lianshan in the evening.

Du Geng sent someone to send a message to report, saying that in the morning in Zaoyang Lutoudian encountered He Yilong's thief ambush, the two sides fought a big battle, regardless of the winner or loser, and now the two sides are facing each other in Lutoudian.

Du Geng and the others were caught off guard by the sudden ambush, and were a little stunned by the thieves at first. The soldiers under their command were still short of time to receive training from the New Liao Army, and their reactions were half a beat slower, and they were suddenly knocked down by hundreds of thieves with arrows and firecrackers.

However, the new Liao army is the new Liao army after all, Tang Botao followed closely behind Yang Shouli with 2,000 soldiers, and immediately organized the soldiers to fight back on the spot.

Du Geng, Zhou Yuji, Su Hansheng and other generals also hurriedly commanded their soldiers to fight with the thieves who were ambushed on both sides of the road, and it didn't take long to stabilize their positions.

The two sides launched a fierce battle on the hillside outside the town of Lutoudian, the thieves did not expect the official army to be so able to fight, and thought that they were as weak and incompetent as other Ming troops encountered in Henan, Huguang and other places, and there were many people, advanced weapons, which made the thieves occupy the advantage of the terrain and the opportunity to ambush, but still caused a lot of casualties.

Although the new Liao army caused a lot of casualties to the thieves, its own casualties were not small, and Du Geng decided to withdraw his troops first.

It is only a few dozen miles away from Lutoudian, and Mo Li decided to join forces with Du Geng tomorrow and then attack the thieves of He Yilong's tribe to destroy the enemy of Zaoyang.

However, according to intelligence, Tongbai's Wang Jiayin Department seems to be also marching towards Lutoudian, wanting to besiege the new Liao army of Du Gengbu, and the battle is imminent.

Early the next morning, Mo Liqin led the army to Lutoudian.

Lutou shop is located in the east of Zaoyang, on the riverside. He Yilong's subordinate Chen Kai led an army of more than 10,000 thieves to fortify along the south bank of the Binhe River to resist the new Liao army led by Moli and Du Geng.

In Zaoyang City, He Yilong led thousands of his subordinates to catch strong men everywhere, preparing to withdraw to Zaoyang City in case Chen Kai was defeated by the official army, relying on Zaoyang City to hold on, confront the official army, and wait for the arrival of Wang Jiayin's troops.

Zaoyang City has just been broken by the thieves for less than three days, in the past two days, the thieves have wantonly looted food and property in the city, raped and plundered, and did all kinds of evil, making Zaoyang City chickens and dogs jump, complaining, and now they are everywhere to catch strong men, and the people of Zaoyang City are even more unbearable, and the wails are endless.

Cao Bianjiao led 8,000 vanguard troops to Lutoudian, passing through a place called Qifeng Mountain, the soldiers were tired, so they stopped at the foot of Qifeng Mountain to rest for a while, and recovered the strength of the horses.

Binhe made a turn at the foot of Qifeng Mountain and continued to flow south. At the turn, a three-way intersection is formed, and the other road is the official road connecting Zaoyang and Tongbai.

Cao Bianjiao was about to give the order to set off, when suddenly, he saw his own soldiers hurrying to report: "General Qiqi, there are thieves in the direction of Tongbai in front!" ”

Sure enough, I saw a thunderous sound of horses' hooves and shouts of killing on the official road in the north, and the sand and dust were so loud that I couldn't see how many people and horses there were.