The army sent to collect grain and grass has returned, Huguang is worthy of being the land of fish and rice, although Zuo Liangyu is poisoned in Wuchang, it is still much easier to collect grain and grass than in the north.

A few days later, Bai Wang led the Shun army of Jingzhou to Wuchang, and hundreds of ships of various types came with the army, and the ships of the Eastern Expedition were enough. However, most of Jingzhou's troops were taken out by Bai Wang, leaving only a few men and horses to defend the city, and if the Qing troops attacked Jingzhou, they would definitely not be able to withstand it.

In this way, the Shun army is equivalent to giving up all the base areas and concentrating all the men and horses that can be concentrated to go east, which can be described as a desperate gamble.

From Wuchang to Nanjing, the waterway is the most convenient, the south bank of the Yangtze River is rugged, there is no path at all in many places, Huguang is better to walk here, to the Jiujiang area of Jiangxi, there are many hills and mountains, and the river bank is even more unable to march.

In addition, the Shun army was not only an army, but also an old battalion composed of tens of thousands of family members, if there were not enough ships, it would not be possible to go to Nanjing smoothly.

Now that the grain has been collected, enough for the army for half a month, and the ships are ready, the road to the east will no longer be stopped. No, it can't be so absolute, it is God who can stop the Shun army, and the day after Bai Wang arrived in Wuchang with the fleet, dark clouds were in the sky over Wuchang, and it suddenly rained.

At first, it was a gentle drizzle that fell on the ground like a thin line. Li Zicheng wanted to give the order to set off in the rain, but the military advisor Song Xiance told him that this drizzle was only the beginning, and there would be more rain soon.

It is impossible for all of the more than 200,000 troops to be taken by boat, and there must be many people walking along the coast, and if it rains heavily, it will not be possible to march at all. Heavy rain accompanied by strong winds, and the river swelled at that time, and the ship was in danger of capsizing.

Sure enough, the rain became heavier and heavier, from a continuous drizzle to a pouring rain, and it continued to rain for more than ten days without stopping. Li Zicheng could only sigh that the weather in the south of the Yangtze River was different from that in the north, so he could only stay in Wuchang and march after the rain passed.

Gu Junen found Li Zicheng again, and said that Huguang could not be let go like this, otherwise once the Shun army attacked badly, they would not even be able to get a place to retreat.

"Although there is a puppet Ming Huguang governor He Tengjiao stationed in Changsha in the south of Huguang, but although He Tengjiao's troops are many, they are all local armies with extremely poor combat effectiveness, as long as His Majesty sends a partial division, there is no problem in defeating Yuezhou, Changde, and Changsha Mansions, so that it can be trained with Jingzhou and can be used as the rear of our army."

Gu Junen said bitterly.

Li Zicheng thought about it carefully and felt that since Gu Junen was so insistent, he might as well leave a partial division to run Huguang. He nodded and agreed to Gu Junen's request.

When asked who would like to stay, the generals looked at each other, but no one spoke. Just when Li Zicheng was about to be assigned, Hao Shaoqi suddenly stood up and expressed his willingness to stay in Wuchang and attack Huguang for Dashun.

Li Zicheng thought about it, and felt that Hao Shaoqi's subordinates were all composed of defeated soldiers, and their combat effectiveness was gone, and they couldn't play much of a role with themselves, so it didn't hurt to stay, since the other generals didn't want to stay, then let him stay.

So Li Zicheng ordered Hao Shaoqi to be the envoy of the Wuchang Festival, responsible for the attack on Huguang.

Gu Junen also wanted to stay, he was not very optimistic about this crusade, but was vetoed by Li Zicheng. Gu Junen is good at strategy, and Li Zicheng also needs him to give advice for himself.

The rain was blurred, falling on both sides of the Yangtze River, falling in the river, splashing countless splashes, washed away by the water and disappearing.

On the north bank of the river, there was a cavalry marching in the rain. The mountain road by the river was extremely slippery by the rain, and the knights led their horses on the riverbank, and everyone wore robes, and the procession was ten miles long.

This cavalry was the Eight Banners Cavalry, a subordinate of the Manchu Ying Prince Azig, and Wu Sangui accompanied him with the Guanning Iron Cavalry.

Although he defeated the palace troops led by Liu Zongmin in Hanchuan, he failed to complete the strategic intention of annihilating the Shun army. Now that the Shun army has crossed the Yangtze River to the south bank, Azig can only look at the river and sigh.

Although the Qing army also had a lot of ships, they were collected all the way from Xiangyang through the Han River. However, there were more than 40,000 soldiers under Azig under the Eight Banners of the Mengmanchu and Han Banners, most of whom were landlubbers and were unwilling to take risks to cross the river by boat to attack Wuchang. There are as many as 200,000 Shun troops on the other side, and thousands of ships, if you fight by boat in the Yangtze River, although the Eight Banners are brave but not good at it.

Azig stayed in Hanyang, Jiangbei, for several days, and sent people to cross the river quietly around the river in the rain to watch the movements of the Shun army, Wu Sangui's Guan Ning army was originally stationed in Ningyuan City on the Bohai Sea, and there were many people in the army who were good at boating in the water.

According to the report of the spies sent, the Shun army first sent people to collect grain and grass, and then hid in the city to avoid the rain, and there was no more movement.

After careful consideration, Azig believed that the next move of the Shun army must be to move east along the river, otherwise it would be impossible to explain the behavior of his entire army staying in Wuchang. If Li Zicheng wanted to pass through Huguang, he would have left Wuchang with his army and marched south, and there was no reason for the whole army to stay in Wuchang.

Moreover, the Shun army has mobilized so many ships, and the south side of the Yangtze River is densely packed with warships, so why is it useless to transfer so many ships along the river? Now that he had judged the strategic intentions of the Shun army, Azig decided to set out first and attack eastward along the land route on the north bank of the Yangtze River. Taking advantage of the fact that the Shun army was hiding from the heavy rain, he went around to the lower reaches of the river, captured Jiujiang and blocked the Shun army in the west of Jiujiang. Then wait for the opportunity to annihilate the Shun army.

So, just as the 200,000 Shun troops were sheltering from the rain in Wuchang City, the Qing army in Jiangbei was setting off in the rain. The vast heavy rain fell on the earth, falling in the mighty river, and the rain curtain also cut off the sight of the north and south of the river. As a result, the Shun army was ignorant of the actions of the Qing army, completely unaware that the Qing army had left Hanyang.

The rain continued to fall for more than 20 days before it gradually stopped, and when the rain had passed, the soldiers of the Shun army packed up and prepared to set off.

Nearly 1,000 ships carried old and weak men, some of whom walked along the south bank. The 200,000 Shun troops advanced by land and water, and the fleet was twenty miles away in the river, and began to march downstream.

Outside Wuchang City, Hao Shaoqi took his own soldiers to see off the army, looking at the fleet going east, Hao Shaoqi's heart was shaken, and he didn't know whether he chose to stay right or wrong.

"He Tengjiao, the governor of Changsha, still has tens of thousands of troops under his command, it is not easy to do it, most of your soldiers are untrained, you must be careful. Although Wuchang is broken enough to support your 30,000 troops, you can accumulate strength and slowly develop. ”

Gu Junen instructed Hao Shaoqi, and in the end, he could only sigh and leave. At first, he thought that he could stay and run Huguang, and with his own strategy, Gu Junen was sure to defeat He Tengjiao and completely occupy the land of Huguang. But who knew that Li Zicheng didn't allow him to stay, it was really in vain!