200,000 Shun troops went out of Kuizhou, pulled out Yiling, besieged Jingzhou, and the news quickly spread to Yueyang, causing He Tengjiao, the governor of Huguang, to be shocked.

He Tengjiao Ziyuncong, a native of Liping Mansion (now Liping, Guizhou), was formerly the governor of Huguang. The Qing army of the Shun army marched south, Zuo Liangyu did not dare to meet the battle, and fled to Jiujiang with his troops, He Tengjiao was unwilling to flee with Zuo Liangyu, so he left Wuchang and came to Changsha.

It is precisely because he did not follow Zuo Liangyu to make mistakes at the critical moment, and he was not liquidated afterwards, and when Chen Yue was the governor of Jiangbei in the past, He Tengjiao actively helped Yangzhou buy and transport grain, and made contributions to Chen Yue's solution to the salt area riots and control Huaiyan, Chen Yue spoke for him in the court through Lu Zhenfei and Qian Qianyi. He Tengjiao won the trust of the imperial court and changed from a governor to a governor.

However, Wuchang first passed through the scourge of Zuo Liangyu, and was occupied by the Shun army, which had long been dilapidated and could not continue to be the capital.

Li Zicheng's army was defeated, and the rest of more than 100,000 Shun troops poured into the south of Huguang, and He Tengjiao led his troops to sit in Changsha to ensure that the provinces of Hunan were not lost. Later, Huguang's Shun army went west to join forces with Li Guogao, and He Tengjiao moved to Yueyang and assigned troops to deploy along the river to prevent the Shun army from escaping.

He Tengjiao is a little selfish, but his ability is not bad, under his planning, the Huguang defenders strictly guarded and blocked the Shun army in the Kuizhou Mountains and could not leave the Three Gorges.

The Great Western Army and the Shun Army were blocked in Kuizhou, Sichuan, respectively, and there were no thieves in the heart of the Ming Dynasty. The two Huai salt profits were collected by the imperial court, and the two lakes in the south of the Yangtze River and Jiangxi obtained a rare harvest in the autumn.

The food and salary were sufficient and the troops were complete, and it was precisely because of this that the Northern Expedition was later raised.

Huguang is out of the first line of blockade of the thief and the thief in the west, and Huguang is the granary of the Ming Dynasty, He Tengjiao's status can be seen, after Chen Yue Shouxiao, he is actually the first person to be the local governor.

In fact, as soon as the Shun army came out of Kuizhou to attack Guizhou, He Tengjiao learned the news, but he didn't care too much. thinks it's just because of the lack of food and clothing, the weather is cold, and the thieves in the mountains can't get by, and they come out to loot.

However, the development of the matter was completely unexpected by He Tengjiao, the thief poured out of the nest to besiege Jingzhou, and Hao Yongzhong, the Marquis of Annan, sent someone to ask for reinforcements, indicating that this time the thief was not a small fight, but came to the real thing, and it was clear that if he took advantage of the midwinter season to take advantage of the New Year to attack Kuizhou and seize the land.

He Tengjiao is the governor of Huguang, if the thief captures Jingzhou and makes Huguang erosive, he, the governor, will not be able to get rid of it, and the end may be worse than Lu Zhenfei! After all, in Chongzhen's heart, he was forced to flee south in a hurry after capturing Beijing, and the thief was even more hateful than Mantar. Therefore, after Chen Yue recruited Hao Yongzhong, He Tengjiao once imitated Chen Yue's old wisdom and intended to surrender the lost leader to the thief, but was directly rejected by the imperial court.

Therefore, He Tengjiao must immediately send troops to rescue in order to defeat the thief.

Of course, there are 70,000 troops in Jingzhou City, and it is not so easy for the thieves to capture it, and it is terrible to be afraid that the Shun army will not be able to attack the city and divide the troops to wash and plunder all places, and in the midwinter season, the states and counties in various places are not fortified, and there will inevitably be many places to fall. And the reconquest is also very troublesome. Therefore, the best way to do it is what Hao Shaoqi said in his letter asking for help, that he and Hao Shaoqi will unite inside and outside to annihilate the thieves under Jingzhou City, which is a one-and-done move.

The plan has been decided, He Tengjiao immediately convened the deputy envoy of the inspection Changsha Bingbei Road to block Yinxi, the Senator Fu Shangrui of Hunan Province of Yushi Hunan Province, and the general soldier Wan Dapeng and other civil and military forces to discuss the dispatch of troops.

Changsha soldiers are ready to block Yinxi and said: "The thief is pouring into the nest, and its momentum is sharp, and it is not appropriate to fight it at this moment." However, it is only necessary to wait for more than a month, and the weather is cold and the grain and grass are not enough, and it is not known whether half of its 200,000 army will survive if it does not attack.

Sending troops in severe cold weather, the troops will inevitably complain, the heavy snow will close the road, and the army will go more than 200 miles from Yueyang to Jingzhou. ”

He Tengjiao was displeased when he heard this: "The thief can brave the heavy snow to travel thousands of miles and attack Jingzhou from Kuizhou, why can't the army of the imperial court march for 200 miles with enough food and clothing?" Could it be that the army of the imperial court is not even as good as a group of thieves who lack food and clothing? ”

The thieves can't survive in the mountains, so they come out and fight hard, how can the army of the imperial court compare with it! However, seeing the Governor's resolute attitude, Du Yinxi could only be silent.

However, blocking Yinxi's words still made He Tengjiao a little more vigilant, just in case, he ordered to mobilize troops from Changsha Changde and other places to come to Yueyang to garrison, and he personally led Yueyang garrison 100,000 to Jingzhou.

Because his opinions did not agree with He Tengjiao's wishes, he was ordered to stay in Yueyang and lead the Changsha Changde reinforcements.

Du Yinxi led 100,000 troops from Lizhou, crossed the Yangtze River through Songci, approached behind the thief, and the Ming army Hao Shaoqi of Jingzhou attacked the 200,000 Shun army under the city of Jingzhou.

At this time, the Shun army had been under the city of Jingzhou for seven days, attacking the city day and night, and the corpses on and off the city were piled up.

After days of fighting, the weather was freezing cold, and at this moment, the Shun army under Jingzhou City was on the verge of collapse.

Every morning, there are countless soldiers who are so frozen that they can no longer wake up, and many soldiers would rather die under the sword of the Ming army in the siege of the city, just to have a full meal before the siege.

Although the Great Western Army provided a batch of grain and grass, it was only enough for more than 100,000 people to eat for half a month. Zhang Xianzhong was not so merciful, and the condition for providing grain and grass was to use the Shun army as the pioneer, forcing the Shun army to take Jingzhou and open the way to the hinterland of the Ming Dynasty for the Great Western Army.

This is also the reason why the Shun army attacked Jingzhou to the death and did not divide the troops to loot. Once the soldiers are divided, it will be difficult to collect them. If you can't defeat Jingzhou, there will be no way back, and the only way to wait for the Shun army to be annihilated by the Ming army is to be separated. In this regard, Li Guogao and Yuan Zongdi's generals all knew it.

Therefore, whether it is for the promise of Zhang Xianzhong or for the future of the Shun army, Li Guo and others gritted their teeth to support it, even if hundreds of soldiers froze to death every day, even if thousands of soldiers died in the cruel siege every day.

If you can capture Jingzhou, the army will be able to enter the city to repair, and if you can't beat Jingzhou, you can lure the main force of Yueyang's Huguang Army to come, as long as the main force of the Huguang Army is eliminated, there is no more strength in Huguang that can compete with the Shunxi Coalition Army, and Jingzhou's relationship between the lower and the lower is not too big!

Now that the fish has finally taken the bait, the next step is to reel in the net.

Among the generals of the Shun army, Li Guo's title and official position was not the highest, but he had the most troops in his hands, and he was the nephew of Emperor Li Zijing, and was deeply trusted by the Empress Gao, so he served as the commander of the Shun army.

After receiving the news that He Tengjiao led his troops to cross the river, Li Guo immediately ordered that all the troops besieging the city be withdrawn, leaving 30,000 soldiers to guard the camp, and the army forced He Tengjiao's reinforcements from the west, putting on a decisive battle posture.