Located in the Huainan land in the north of the Yangtze River, it is also a large area of flat and undoubted water towns, and Yangzi County is only thirty or forty miles away from Yangzhou Prefecture City - Jiangdu/Jiangyang Dayi, and most of the day's rapid march can be a straight line distance, if you add the Yangtze River and Caohe Ancient Road that go directly to Yangzhou City, it doesn't even take so much time.

But all this was completely destroyed by a man-made flood; Although the water in Yangzhou gradually retreated along the river course, the large swamps and floods left behind by it became the biggest problem that the peasant army trying to besiege and attack Yangzhou Prefecture had to face.

In fact, by talking with the leaders of the rebel army who came to greet him in Yangtze County, Zhou Huai'an sensitively found that he had brought this reinforcement army; They were more concerned about the assistance and trade they could get from the Taiping army.

At present, the Taiping Army, which maintains a scale of about 30,000 in the Runzhou area, only brings more than 10,000 people to Jianglai, which is composed of eight battle battalions and four garrison battalions. It was only in particular that the cavalry, chariot formations, and heavy equipment were strengthened.

The other more than 20,000 people who were relatively light and normalized were left in Jiangnan to be responsible for the division and acceptance, and after all the parts of Gai Hong crossed the river in the north, there was a blank space left behind; At the same time, a new round of social clean-up and resource collection will be carried out in the three prefectures of Hu, Chang and Run.

The horses that crossed the river with Zhou Huai'an were also under the First and Third Armies, which had fought for a long time in the south of the Yangtze River, and each left a battalion with an exclusive name, and from the Second Army to the Fifth Army, which had completed the formation and reorganization, each selected a number of troops to enrich it, so as to achieve the purpose of training in rotational warfare.

Therefore, under the optimal combination of the newly arrived cutting-edge troops and the veteran troops who have been fighting for a long time, this army that has crossed the river can basically be regarded as a new force representing the peak state above the average level of the Taiping Army.

However, as we get closer and closer to the city and river capital of Yangzhou Prefecture, the smell of water in the air on both sides of the road, and the mosquitoes, flies and insects that rise with transpiration, are almost free of all kinds of rancid smells, and they are clearly mixed together; It makes people frown.

It seems that these rebels are also filthy or blind in the prevention, control and management of the corresponding post-disaster situation. You must know that now after the battle of Zhenhai in the south of the Yangtze River, one of the aftermath measures that the Taiping army spent the most effort to carry out; It is to take out food and recruit local laborers to search and bury the bones of the corpses in various wildernesses, cities and villages.

On the one hand, it not only won a good reputation for the Taiping army and facilitated propaganda, but also to prevent and control the probability of epidemic plague caused by a large number of dead people after the war. to obtain a buffer time for the corresponding population to recuperate. Therefore, if there are people on the Cao River in the Xuanrun area at this time, they will see many new and old color filling pits and fireworks burning abandoned houses.

But here, all Zhou Huai'an can see is chaos and disorder. From time to time, teams of various banners scurried along the road, but the vast majority of them were oblivious to the terrible conditions in the vicinity; Even directly into those fields and ditches that have obviously not been purified, directly take water to quench thirst and replenish, or dump filth.

Well, in Zhou Huai'an's eyes, these situations are simply the source of the humanoid plague that walks unconsciously. You must know that the whole spring is over, and the upcoming summer will be a season when all kinds of epidemics are rampant and rampant. Therefore, for the first time, he also regretted leading his troops north to Huainan territory.

But he can only restrain his subordinates more strictly, and enforce all kinds of castration and harsh health and epidemic prevention regulations to ensure that he is as alone as possible in this situation. With this sigh in mind, the carriage that accompanied the march by the brigade suddenly shook and slowly stopped. Then there was a report from outside:

"In the army, this formation has arrived outside Yangzhou. I am waiting to be instructed. ”

Zhou Huai'an moved his legs and feet, which became a little numb after sitting on the case, slowly climbed the stairs and got out of the car, and breathed in the warm afternoon air that was warmed by the sun, well, at least the compound smell here is not very obvious.

The temporary rest camp where Zhou Huai'an parked was on the bank of a wooden bridge across the river, and in the distance to the east was a giant city that was larger, more magnificent, and more majestic than Dantu City.

It's just that on the blue-gray moats and gray-white wall platforms that have not been war-torn for a long time, there are still many patches of wild grass and moss that have not yet had time to be cleaned up, like a giant whale lying on this Huainan Plain; This is where the world's first-rate prosperity lies in the history books, which is known as "Yang Yi Yi Two"; The "Huaizuo Famous Capital" that has been repeatedly praised and nostalgic in the mouths of countless literati and ink writers with famous sentences.

For example, Li Bai's "Fireworks go down to Yangzhou in March", Du Mu's "Yangzhou Dream of Ten Years", "Twenty-four Bridges and Bright Moon Night", "Spring Breeze Ten Miles Yangzhou Road", and Xu Ning's "The world is divided into three bright moonlit nights, and two points of scoundrels are Yangzhou." Zhang Hu's "Life is only in Yangzhou and death", Su Shi's "Ask your partners in Jiangnan, who is like me, drunk Yangzhou." ”。。。。 It is not enough to completely exhaust the prosperity and rhyme of it.

However, after Zhou Huai'an personally inspected and saw the situation outside Yangzhou Prefecture, his feelings of nostalgia and yearning were somewhat diluted. The large fertile fields, Fangshi villages and many scenic spots and historic sites outside Yangzhou City have almost been turned into muddy ground by a big flood; After drying on the surface, the dust does not stop, and everything is stained with a dull yellow tone.

Even walking on the road is full of potholes that are one foot deep and one foot shallow, and even if you are not careful, you will sink people's feet and horses' hooves into the mud that seems to be dry and solid, but can reach the ankle.

Of course, the sequelae of this flood are also a great trouble for the Huainan army guarding the capital of the river. The remnants of mud and water all over the ground, although the rebel army that had regrouped near Jiangdu and even in Yangzhou was really unable to properly set up camp and rearm for routine long-term siege and siege.

However, it is also quite difficult for the Huainan army in the city to kill it, and even take advantage of the situation to counterattack and pursue. Just the mud and mudflats all over the ground are enough to make the struggling ones a good target for bows and crossbows.

In this case, it is sufficient to maintain a few posts above the terrain; Theoretically, there was no need to gather heavy troops under the city.

"Lao Pang, this Yangzhou City can't be beaten in a while. Not to mention the equipment that was built.,Even if a person walks up, it's enough to choke.。。 ”

Zhou Huai'an said to Pang Shigu, the former military envoy who came to visit.

"Void. Brother Zhou also thinks so? So we don't expect much from this place; ”

Pang Shigu, who is now the commander of most of the rebel armies in Yangzhou, is not surprisingly successful.

However, the vastness of the fourteen states in Huainan, in addition to Yangzhou, is actually promising. This time, Brother Zhou was invited to lead the troops to come, and it was also to solve some problems that we could not attack for a long time or could not be defeated. ”

"Everyone said that the people of the Taiping army were the best at using weapons and fire attacks; Not only did he defeat a strong city like Dantu, but he also lost a piece of armor to the Huainan Guangou's sailors. ”

"That's very good."

Zhou Huaian smiled slightly. One of the main motives for leading troops to Huainan at the invitation of the Righteous Army this time was not for the resources that these rebels had collected and plundered in Huainan.

The southeastern wealth that the Tang Dynasty relies on to maintain accounts for half of it in the 14 states of Huainan alone; There is also Yangzhou, which is the hub of the world, where the wealth and goods of the four directions are gathered, which can be said to be more familiar than Jiangdong and Zhejiang.

Moreover, compared with the land of Jiangzuo, where there are many local regiments with the surname Hao, Huainan has not suffered from war for a long time; Even the Huangchao Peasant Army, which had previously moved south, swept through the border and went straight to Jiangxi, Jiangdong, and Fujian. Therefore, the local scenery that has been preserved is generally intact.

So on the normal historical line. Huangchao gathered hundreds of thousands of troops from the south of the Yangtze River, and only relied on the income and income obtained from Huainan, which was known as the army's elite food and sufficient food; Since then, there has been a long drive down to Chang'an for several years, and there is no longer a shortage of food and equipment.

It is the so-called "thieves are overflowing, and they go from the north of Huai to the whole people, do not steal money, but drive Ding Zhuang as a soldier" "Old Tang Dynasty Book and Xi Zongji". This is also the last time Zhou Huai'an can borrow strength and shine from the momentum of the righteous army.

Although most of the generals of the righteous army were still wary and wary of Gao Bohai in Yangzhou City, who had defeated them in the early years; But Zhou Huai'an, who remembers the corresponding historical trend a little, knows how the last famous general of the late Tang Dynasty was so dim and old and weak that he dug his own grave.

And Huainan Dao, which is destined to perish in the future under his governance, is simply a ready-made experience gift package and transportation captain. It's worth digging and harvesting.

Naturally, according to the obscure rhetoric in Pang Shigu's words, the vanguard of the rebel army has now suffered a major defeat; But in fact, it did not hurt many of the old camp brothers' fundamental strength; Especially after the Huangchao main formation and the rear team also crossed the river, the towns and garrisons that passed through were almost out of the wind and invincible.

But for some of the larger towns and towns, these lightly armed peasant armies, which were mostly lightly armed, were really powerless. Therefore, after hearing about the Taiping army's experience of designing a counteroffensive and capturing the city under the city of Dantu, he invited troops to help in the battle in the name of the general's mansion, which also meant using the corresponding equipment and force.

In this regard, Zhou Huai'an is of course happy to see it, and it is also the result of his ability to let people spread the news.

However, since the other party took the initiative to propose a seller's market where strange goods can live, the corresponding difficulties and grievances must be exaggerated, and the prices and conditions formed by this must be sufficient.

(End of chapter)