The water system in Hunan is developed, and the rice and river fish that are abundant in the territory will be transported down the river into Dongting Lake along the Xiangjiang River, Yuanjiang River, Lishui and other water systems, and then transported to the south of the Yangtze River waterway.

Yuezhou just chokes the position of the mouth of Dongting Lake, and occupying Yuezhou is equivalent to controlling the export of Hunan's granary in disguise.

Gao Yihuan is bound to win this city, and he must take this city, control the land of northern Xiang, and let the resources of Hunan be used by him.

However, the strategic location of Yuezhou is very important, it is the gateway of Sanxiang, the city is high and the wall is thick, there are many elite soldiers in the city, and the food, weapons, and silver money are also very sufficient.

Gao Yihuan led the generals to peek at the city wall of Yuezhou, and knew that he had finally encountered a hard stubble.

The cost of siege warfare is huge, and it is not a special case, Gao Yihuan will not let the soldiers storm the city.

This time was no exception, after observing Yuezhou, Gao Yihuan's 20,000 troops and nearly 10,000 people first set up a large camp outside Yuezhou City.

In the wilderness, military tents spread, men and horses shuttled, and the momentum was huge.

A black flag several feet high was erected in the center of the camp, embroidered with the word "high" in a big bucket.

He stood in the camp and said to several generals: "This Yuezhou is not very easy to fight, and you have to wait for the artillery and the prisoners of war of the left army to come before you can start the attack." During this time, Xu Heihu, you have to pay attention to the direction of Wuchang, if there are soldiers and horses coming, no matter what, it will be the horse army that suddenly swoops and tramples on the turtle grandson. The other ministries hurried up to prepare their weapons for the siege. ”

Xu Heihu and the others immediately clenched their fists and took their lives.

Gao Yihuan said again, "In order to save time, the artillery was transferred from Jingzhou, and it would not take a few days to go down the river." Then let the navy cross the river, and take a group of prisoners over as soon as possible. ”

Gao Yihuan estimated that someone from Nanjing would come over soon, and the larger the place he occupied, the more advantageous it would be to talk.

Yuezhou City is the gateway to Sanxiang and is the fortified city in Hunan second only to Changsha.

Previously, Yuezhou's mission was to defend Zhang Xianzhong, and after the Western Army entered Sichuan, his main role was actually to guard against Wuchang Zuozhen, not to guard against Wei Wujun.

This time, the Wei Wujun suddenly killed the whole Yuezhou and the whole of Yuezhou, but since the Wei Wujun had already killed the city, they could only fight according to the city.

Gao Yihuan's mighty army, with a hint of the characteristics of a peasant army, their political demand is to break the order and redistribute benefits, which makes them naturally disagreeable with the ruling class, and no one wants to be redistributed by them.

The gentry and merchants in Yuezhou City did not welcome Gao Yihuan, so the defenders had the necessary public opinion base to defend the city.

After deciding to stick to Yuezhou, Wu Jinxi sent men and horses to ask for help, and on the other hand, asked the soldiers to prepare to roll wood and stones, arrange artillery, fire guns, make stone throwers, actively prepare for war, and wait for battle.

For a time, the Wei Wu army outside the city rushed to make equipment and prepared to attack the city, and the defenders in the city were also busy preparing to meet the battle.

Four days later, in the evening, the sky was covered with dark clouds, obscuring the stars and moon, darkness covered the earth, and the wilderness outside the city was pitch black.

In the distance in the camp of Wei Wujun, the soldiers with torches patrolled back and forth, like flaming snakes wandering.

Hundreds of soldiers at the head of the city also patrolled back and forth with torches, vigilant against the Wei Wu army stealing the city, and the Ming army's sentry boats in the moat were quietly parked in the river, and the defense was very tight.

On the third watch, on a sentry boat in the river, a soldier stood at the bow of the boat, took out the little brother, and poured the yellow cancan liquid into the river, trembling, and his heart was easy to get angry if he stayed up all night.

Suddenly, a black figure appeared on the bank, pushing all the antlers on the edge of the moat into the river, and then a group of black figures, carrying wheelbarrows on their shoulders, and pouring bags of dirt into the water.

Although there was cover of night, the movement of filling the river was very large, and the soldiers on the boat were slightly stunned, and suddenly sounded the alarm bell hanging on the bow of the boat.

The sound of "Dangdangdang" broke the silence of the night, and there was a commotion on the city, and a large number of soldiers with torches climbed to the top of the city.

Gao Yiyan pressed the hilt of the knife with one hand and held the iron helmet with the other, came out of the city tower, saw the soldiers running on the city, and shouted loudly, "What's the matter? ”

At this time, the city had already received a report from the sentinel boat, and a hundred households hurriedly ran over and reported: "Thousand households, it is Wei Wujun who is filling the river!" ”

Gao Yi's expression changed, he stretched out his hand to separate the soldiers in front of him, and came to the edge of the wall to look out, but he couldn't see the situation outside the city clearly, he could only be sure that there were a large number of black shadows moving, and he could also hear the sound of dirt and stones rolling into the water.

"Bring in a team of firearms!" Gao Yiyan immediately turned his head and shouted.

The key to defending the city is not to let the enemy approach the city wall, once it is close to the city wall, the cost of casualties on the city will increase, and it will enter the stage of fighting and attrition, and the city will be dangerous.

~~~~~~

In Nanjing City, in the imperial city, the recent emperor Zhu Cihong finally experienced a little bit of what it was like to be an emperor.

A few days ago, Qian Qianyi and others caused a huge scandal in the court, and actually instigated the left army to attack friendly troops, and intended to frame Gao Jingzhong to make the first move, but the matter was exposed.

Although Qian Qianyi and others are the leaders of Donglin, this kind of thing is an unsightly thing after all, not all Donglin Party members participate, just a few bigwigs to decide, a few people to implement, most of the middle and lower Donglin Party people do not know the truth, thinking that they occupy morality, and it is indeed Gao Jingzhong who rebelled and wanted to seize Wuchang.

This scandal was exposed in the court, making people have nothing to say, Qian Qianyi was dismissed from his official position, handed over to the criminal department for custody, awaiting trial, and the university scholar Wang Duo was also imprisoned.

Although the specific conviction can only be decided after the trial, Donglin's vitality was greatly damaged and the main and faction was defeated, which is a fact that every discerning person can see.

For a time, the hearts of Donglin people were scattered, and the eunuch party and the imperial party took the opportunity to attack, and many people went to the wilderness one after another, or were squeezed out of the imperial court.

Zhu Cihong finally experienced the taste of decisiveness in killing, and took the opportunity to issue an order to exempt many people from official positions.

In this way, many seats were vacated in the DPRK and the central government, and the eunuchs and the imperial party were busy competing for interests, so that the affairs of Gao Yihuan and Zuo Zhen were put aside.

At this time, in the imperial study, several imperial party cadres stood in front of Zhu Cihong.

Wang Yan glanced at Zhu Cihong, who was sitting behind the imperial case, and then bowed down and said: "Your Majesty, Ma Shiying and Ruan Dacheng want to lead Yang Wencong into the cabinet, and other important official positions such as the head of the household department and the squire of the military department have also been taken away by Ma Ruan's faction, so it is not a good thing to go on like this." Now that Donglin is scattered, the minister thinks that he can stop it for the time being. ”

Originally, the eunuch party belonged to the imperial party, but although Ma Ruan was said by Donglin to be a eunuch party, he represented the interests of the Jiangbei warlords, and he was no longer the eunuch party of Wei Zhongxian's time.

Zhu Cihong frowned slightly, this political incident made him learn a lot, and he immediately understood what Wang Yan meant, so he nodded, "Well, it's been a long time, it's time to stop." ”

Zhu Cihong understood that the strength of the imperial party was still too small to eat too much, and continuing would only make Ma Ruan dominant, so he was as good as a stream and adopted Wang Yan's suggestion.

Suddenly, Zhu Cihong asked: "By the way, what do you think of the contradiction between Gao Jingzhong and Zuo Liangyu!" ”

Several people glanced at each other, and Lu Zhenfei said: "Your Majesty, this matter is the Han Gong, An Li said that Zuo Liangyu should be punished, but the minister thinks that Zuo Liangyu is in Wuchang, which is good for the imperial court, and the imperial court should appease the Korean Gong, but it is not appropriate to deal with Zuo Liangyu excessively!" ”

Zhu Cihong frowned slightly, and then nodded again, "Well, this is a check and balance!" ”

As he was talking, the chamberlain suddenly came to report: "Your Majesty, He Ge Lao asks to see!" ”

(Thank you for the 10,000 reward of the big guy dancing the three armies, thank you very much, Mo Mo Da.) ）

(End of chapter)