Lightly taking Jishui County, eliminating 500 thieves, and seizing hundreds of weapons and a large amount of materials, Yan Yingyuan took his army to temporarily live in Jishui County, sent spies to investigate the news of the nearby thief army, and mobilized the people of Jishui to resist the thief army.

The thief army had not yet entered Jiangxi and had not yet established a firm rule, but had captured most of the prefectures and counties, but the vast countryside had not yet had time to go.

Some time ago, the thieves carried out several raids that deeply hurt the feelings of the gentry and the common people, and most of the gentry living in the city were killed by the thieves and their property was looted, while many of the gentry living in the countryside escaped. Now Yan Yingyuan called on them to resist the thief army, some gentry gladly obeyed, and sent Zhuang Ding Jiading to Jishui County to gather, some gentry did not dare to resist the thief army openly, but also secretly donated food and materials.

In order to fight a decisive battle with the Ming army, Zhang Xianzhong gathered most of the troops in Nanchang, but he did not give up various prefectures and counties, after all, the hundreds of thousands of troops in Nanchang needed a large amount of food and supplies, and these materials needed to be looted in various prefectures and counties to provide them.

Therefore, in each prefecture and county, there are some troops stationed, most of them are two or three thousand, and some are hundreds, and some thief officials are sent to replace the officials appointed by the Ming court.

In the case that most of the original Ming troops in Jiangxi were annihilated, these armies were enough to maintain the rule of the thief army over Jiangxi.

However, Zhang Xianzhong's greedy and brutal personality determined that it was difficult for his army to gain the support of most of the people. Jiangxi was originally a wealthy township, and the ordinary people here were still able to get by, and there were few people who took risks to rebel and follow the thieves. This is completely different from the situation when Li Zicheng was in the Central Plains.

Therefore, in Jiangxi, most of the people lived a fairly stable life, and the real rulers of the Ming countryside were the squires who owned a lot of land. The looting and killing of the squires by the Great Western Army made him unable to gain the support of the squires, so he had no basis for rule.

Although Yan Yingyuan is only a small Jiupin master, he represents the imperial court, and for those rural gentry who are always worried that the thief army will go to the countryside to loot, Yan Yingyuan, who defeats the thief army and recovers Jishui, is their hope. Therefore, when Yan Yingyuan sent someone to contact, even the stingy squire would generously donate silver and grain.

And with the support of the squires, Yan Yingyuan is naturally like a fish in water, and the strength of his subordinates is expanding rapidly every day, and at the same time, a large amount of information is gathered, and the dynamics of the nearby provinces are in his heart.

According to the intelligence, Yan Yingyuan sent troops to fight several times, and intercepted four or five thief troops to Nanchang to transport grain, killed more than 1,000 thief troops, and expanded his army to more than 3,000 people.

Then Yan Yingyuan went out with 3,000 troops and captured Yongfeng and Anfu counties successively. Yan Yingyuan, who was good at defending the city, naturally knew how to attack the city, and the strategy of sneak attack and internal and external cooperation made it easy for him to conquer two county towns.

Encouraged by Yan Yingyuan's successive victories, the squires of other counties in Ji'an Prefecture were ready to move, and they sent people to contact Yan Yingyuan one after another, asking Yan Yingyuan to send troops to support and drive out the thief army.

"Lord Yan, now that the entire Ji'an Mansion is surging, and most of the prefectures and counties have been recovered, the situation is really good!"

Squire Wang Pu smiled at Yan Yingyuan. Feeling Yan Yingyuan's anti-thief move, Wang Pu decisively gathered more than 300 Zhuang Ding, and went to Yan Yingyuan with a large amount of food and materials, and was regarded by Yan Yingyuan as a confidant.

"It seems that the situation is very good, but in fact, it's just that the thief army is busy confronting the army of Qi Guogong and has no time to take care of Ji'an Mansion. Once it has its hands freed, it is only necessary to send an army of thousands over, and it will be difficult for us to resist. Yan Yingyuan shook his head and said.

Yan Yingyuan naturally knew that although his subordinates were rapidly expanding and growing, most of them were young and strong people who had just put down their hoes, and they couldn't fight any tough battles without any training. Now relying on the main force of the thief army to take care of Ji'an in order to stir up the wind and rain, once it becomes bigger, I am afraid that the thief army will not ignore it again.

The total strength of the thief army is as much as 300,000, and if you send one or two hundred thousand people over at will, these rabble in Ji'an Mansion will not be able to stop the thief army from striking at all. Because the counties that have been recovered in Ji'an now have a huge problem, that is, the orders are inconsistent, and even Yan Yingyuan cannot achieve unified command.

Yan Yingyuan is just a county lord, and he does not have any fame himself, and most of the squires have the reputation of showing off their talents, or someone in the family is an official in the court, how can they be willing to obey Yan Yingyuan's assignment. Therefore, although several county towns were recovered, except for Jishui County at the beginning, most of the county towns were under the control of the county gentry.

Seeing that the situation was very good, in order to compete for credit, Ma Shoude, the prefect of Ji'an, was not willing to be lonely, and directly intervened in the affairs of the recovered counties. Ma Shoude was appointed by the imperial court as the prefect of Ji'an, and his management of the counties was justified, and even Yan Yingyuan could not compete with it.

Therefore, there are many problems facing us now, and it is very troublesome.

"In my opinion, Lord Yan should directly send someone to Jiujiang to contact Qi Guogong, tell Qi Guogong all about the situation of this Ji'an Mansion, and ask him to authorize your Excellency to handle the military affairs of this Ji'an. Ma Fuzun didn't know any military affairs at all, how could he let him control Ji'an's army? Wang Pu suggested to Yan Yingyuan.

"This official has this intention, so I will write to Lord Jingluo, but I still need your signature on it, Squire Wang." Yan Yingyuan said.

Yan Yingyuan knows his own affairs, he is just a master with no merit, and there are bigwigs at all levels of the county prefect, although he has made a little achievement, he may not be able to attract the attention of Chen Yue, the prince of Qi Guogong of the Five Provinces, to appoint him with full authority to handle the military affairs of Ji'an and even the nearby prefectures?

Therefore, in order to win the trust of Chen Yue, the Duke of Qi, in addition to telling about the merits of what he has done these days, he also needs to have the support of local powerful people, such as some local squires. And Wang Pu, the squire who took refuge in himself, has a reputation for raising people, and is a famous person in Jishui County, which is the best candidate.

Hearing the sound of the strings and knowing the elegant meaning, Wang Pu of course knew Yan Yingyuan's intentions, and readily agreed at the moment, and promised to persuade some acquaintances of the squire to jointly nominate Yan Yingyuan to preside over the anti-thief affairs in Ji'an Mansion.

Yan Yingyuan personally wrote a letter, reporting the current situation in Ji'an Mansion, and told that he defended Ji'an City, led troops to conquer Jishui and recovered the counties, and said that the thief army gathered in Linjiang Mansion and had the intention of attacking Ji'an, and asked Chen Yue, the Duke of Qi, to send troops and manpower to preside over the anti-thief affairs in Ji'an Mansion.

Ji'an Mansion and Jiujiang, where Chen Yue, the Duke of Qi, is located are hundreds of miles away, and there are hundreds of thousands of thieves entrenched in Nanchang Linjiang Mansion in the middle, Chen Yue naturally could not send troops to support, Yan Yingyuan's letter was actually to Chen Yue's self-recommendation.

And Wang Pu also invited several squires who knew each other to write letters together, recommending Yan Yingyuan to Chen Yue, the Duke of Qi in the five provinces, as the best candidate to lead the army against thieves. For the squires of Ji'an Mansion, it was Yan Yingyuan who led people to recover the counties, which changed the situation in Ji'an Mansion in one fell swoop, so they naturally supported Yan Yingyuan.

Although there is a thief army from Jishui County to Jiujiang Province, it is not much of a problem for locals who are familiar with the terrain to avoid the thief army and go around to Jiujiang. The messenger sent by Yan Yingyuan left Jishui County, crossed the mountains and mountains all the way, avoided Nanchang Mansion, where the thieves were heavily entrenched, and detoured to Yuanzhou and Ruizhou to Jiujiang, and sent Yan Yingyuan's letter to Jiujiang City.