Zhang Xianzhong, the emperor of the Great Western Kingdom, had many righteous sons, and Zhang Dingguo was one of them. Cunning and suspicious by nature, Zhang Xianzhong did not trust his generals very much, and in order to be able to control the army, he handed over most of the military power to a few righteous sons. Among them, Zhang Kewang, Zhang Dingguo, Zhang Wenxiu, and Zhang Nengqi are the most valued.

And Zhang Kewang and the others only grew up in the children's battalion in the army, and after standing out, they were accepted by Zhang Xianzhong as their righteous son and granted military rights, so they were naturally extremely loyal to Zhang Xianzhong.

Among the four righteous sons, Zhang Kewang and Zhang Dingguo are the most capable. Zhang Kewang was appointed as the supervisor of the state in Sichuan to guard the back road for Zhang Xianzhong. And Zhang Dingguo was appointed as the commander of the first army, leading an army of 100,000 to attack Huguang. It is mainly the area south of the Yangtze River in Huguang, because according to the agreement with the Shun army, the north of the Yangtze River is the direction of the Shun army's strategy.

He Tengjiao's more than 100,000 Huguang troops have been annihilated in one fell swoop under Jingzhou City, Huguang is naturally extremely empty, and there are not many troops in the prefectures and counties at all, how can they resist Zhang Dingguo's 100,000 army?

Zhang Dingguo led his troops to quickly advance and broke through the prefecture all the way, in addition to Chenzhou, where Yinxi fled, Yuezhou Mansion, Changde Mansion, Changsha Mansion, Baoqing Mansion, Yongzhou Mansion and Hengzhou Mansion were occupied by Zhang Dingguo successively. Zhang Dingguo even conquered Chenzhou, the southernmost part of Huguang, and then crossed the Nanling Mountains to the south to Guangdong.

Occupy Guangdong, return to the north to attack Fujian and Zhejiang, and face the situation of Nanjing and Jiangdong from the south.

However, before Zhang Dingguo's troops left Chenzhou, Zhang Xianzhong's order came, ordering him to lead the army to Wuchang, exert pressure on Jiujiang from the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, and attack the army of the puppet Ming Qi Guogong with Zhang Xianzhong on both sides, breaking the main force of the Ming army in one fell swoop.

Zhang Dingguo instinctively rejected Zhang Xianzhong's strategy, because in Zhang Dingguo's view, the decisive battle with the Ming army in Jiujiang was completely based on his own shortcomings against the enemy.

The Ming army had Jiujiang fortified cities to defend, and ships and artillery to blockade Poyang Lake and the Yangtze River, while the richest places such as Nanzhili, Jiangdong, and Zhejiang were still under the control of the Ming court, and there would be a steady stream of material soldiers to help Jiujiang. Whether it is a siege or a water battle, I am afraid that the Western Army is not the opponent of the Ming Army.

And what the Western Army is best at is not siege, but mobile warfare, involving the nose of the Ming army, and then taking the opportunity to eliminate the Ming army in the movement.

Now the Great Western Army is actually using its own shortcomings to face the enemy's strengths, vainly trying to destroy the main force of the Ming army in a war to determine the situation, how stupid is this? Zhang Dingguo was very suspicious that it was a bad idea from Wang Zhaolin, the left prime minister next to Zhang Xianzhong!

According to Zhang Dingguo's idea, there is no need to fight hard with the Ming army, the Ming army occupies Jiujiang, let him occupy it, and his father-in-law Zhang Xianzhong can occupy the south of Poyang Lake, relying on the vast territory of Jiangxi for thousands of miles to resist the Ming army.

Why take the initiative to attack Jiujiang, why not let the Ming army send troops to attack the Western Army, and then consume the strength of the Ming army in the vast mountains of Jiangxi! The Western Army has 300,000 troops in Jiangxi, how many troops does the Ming Army have to draw to capture Changsha and defeat the main force of the Western Army?

And when the main force of the Ming army is contained in Jiangxi, he can take the opportunity to lead the army to attack Guangdong, sweep the south of the Ming Dynasty, and then wave his army north to Fujian, should the main force of the Ming army retreat from Jiangxi?

And this is the strategy formulated by the Western Army at the beginning, but I didn't expect that now Zhang Xianzhong would easily overthrow it, and he planned to fight a decisive battle with the Ming army!

It's a pity that Zhang Dingguo led his troops in Chenzhou, which was too far away from Zhang Xianzhong, and it would take several months for the messenger to come and go, so he couldn't make his intentions clear to Zhang Xianzhong.

According to Zhang Xianzhong's character, if Zhang Dingguo dares not to obey orders, he will definitely be suspected of not having a good end. After all, a righteous son is just a righteous son, not a own son.

So even though he was unhappy, Zhang Dingguo still had to lead his troops back north.

Who knew that as soon as he crossed Dongting Lake and arrived at Yuezhou Mansion, he received the news that the rear army was defeated by Plug Yinxi and Changsha was lost.

There are 20,000 or 30,000 troops in Duyinxi, most of them are Tusi wolf soldiers, and their combat power cannot be underestimated, if they don't pay attention to it, I am afraid that the provinces south of Dongting Lake that have just been captured will fall one after another, after all, Zhang Dingguo did not have many troops left.

But if you lead troops to attack Plug Yinxi, you won't be able to reinforce Jiujiang, after all, Plug Yinxi has an army of 20,000 or 30,000, which is not so easy to deal with.

But if Yinxi is not defeated, it will be a great trouble if he leads his troops to follow him all the way.

What to do? Zhang Dingguo pondered for a long time, and a smile appeared on the corner of his mouth.

......

Changsha Prefecture, located in the south of Dongting Lake, is an important town in the south of Huguang. And now the city of Changsha has just been recovered by the Ming army.

After experiencing the robbery of the thief army, the vitality of Changsha Mansion City was greatly damaged, the gentry and rich households in the city were plundered, the treasury was empty, and more than nine of the ten shops on the street were closed.

Although it cannot be said that the ten rooms are empty, the people are also waiting to be fed after the looting.

In this case, if others are sure that one head is two big, but blocking Yinxi is extraordinary. The rich gentry in the city were plundered, so Du Yinxi contacted the gentry in the countryside and used the houses and shops of the killed gentry in the city as bait to induce the squires to contribute food and wages. Soon, a large amount of food and materials were raised, and the situation was stabilized.

In terms of the next move of the army, Du Yinxi and his subordinates had different opinions.

"The thief army is powerful, there are more than 100,000 troops, we only have more than 20,000 people, most of them are still wolf soldiers, and they have no ability to meet the thief army at all. Therefore, we should take advantage of the retreat of the thief army to send troops to recover the provinces, which is what we should do. He Gang, a staff member, suggested, and He Gang's words represented the opinions of most of the civilian and military generals under Gu Yinxi.

The thief army is powerful, and it is not much advantage to fight with them, so it is better to attack the prefectures and counties where there are not many thieves guarding when the thief army retreats, which is an easy credit.

"What Mr. He said is certainly reasonable, but it is not in line with the current trend." Du Yinxi shook his head and said, "What did the thief army go north for?" It is to cooperate with the main force of the thief army in Jiangxi to flank the army of Qi Guogong. The army of Qi Guogong is one of the few elites of my Ming Dynasty, and if it is defeated, the Ming Dynasty will be in danger.

If the Ming Dynasty is in danger, what is the use of recovering more prefectures and counties? Once the thieves return, what will we resist? ”

The people who questioned Yinxi's words were speechless, and could only accept his strategy of sending troops to follow and attack Zhang Dingguo.

The tactic of blocking Yinxi is very clear, that is, to contain Zhang Dingguo's 100,000 troops and prevent them from threatening the main force of the Ming army in Jiujiang.

However, Changsha is an important town and cannot be easily discarded, so he arranged for thousands of new troops to be garrisoned, and he led more than 20,000 main forces to march to Yueyang Fucheng.

The army marched along the Xiangjiang River by land and water, and stopped when it reached Xiangyin County. Further north is Dongting Lake, and Zhang Dingguo's main army is in Yueyang Mansion City on the northeast side of Dongting Lake.

However, according to the report from the spies, Zhang Dingguo had already left Yueyang Mansion City with his troops and went to Wuchang, leaving only two or three thousand troops stationed in Yueyang City.

"It seems that the war in Jiujiang is very urgent, and Zhang Thief Dingguo has to lead his troops to go quickly, and he can't even take care of the back road! Lord Bingxian can lead his troops to Yueyang as soon as possible, attack and occupy it, and cut off the back road of the thief army. Staff member He Gang said lightly.

Zhang Dingguo led the army to Wuchang, of course he couldn't delay, but whether to attack Yueyang Mansion City, or bypass Yueyang Mansion and go straight to Wuchang to continue to follow and attack Zhang Dingguo, blocking Yinxi was very hesitant.

Plug Yinxi knew that He Gang was for his own good, compared to following Zhang Dingguo, attacking Yueyang Mansion, which was guarded by only a few people, was the best way to earn credit, after all, it was a great achievement to recover the lost territory!

However, if once Yueyang Mansion could not be attacked for a long time and delayed time, and Zhang Dingguo ignored the rear, how could he follow Zhang Dingguo and contain him in Huguang?

Just when Du Yinxi hesitated, someone suddenly came to the army from Yueyang, but it was the gentry in Yueyang City who sent a secret letter, asking Du Yinxi to lead the troops to Yueyang, and the gentry in the city would mobilize their families to respond and help the officers and soldiers to capture Yueyang City.

If there is an internal response, it will not take much time to capture Yueyang. Not only can he make a contribution to recovering the city, but he doesn't have to worry about the back road, and he doesn't delay following Zhang Dingguo's army. After thinking about it, he decided to attack Yueyang Mansion first.

The thieves are brutal and poisonous, most of the gentry are committed to the court, and they are cleaning up when they make a move to cooperate with the outside world, and the gentry of Yueyang Mansion who sent people to deliver letters and many officials and staff under the account of Du Yinxi are acquaintances and friends, and they are also very familiar with Du Yinxi, and judging from the handwriting, it is indeed written by the gentry himself, there is nothing to doubt, which is also another reason why Du Yinxi decided to send troops.

The army from Xiangyin to Yueyang Lake by boat to Yueyang Mansion, than by land is much smoother, Zhang Dingguo's army has left Yueyang, plugging Yinxi does not need to hide the traces, if Zhang Dingguo learned that the Ming army attacked Yueyang will lead the troops back to help, it is in the middle of the Yinxi arms.

All the way to the waters of Yueyang Fucheng with great fanfare, the army abandoned the boat and went ashore to surround Yueyang Fucheng, until this time there was still no trace of Zhang Dingguo's army, and according to the spies to report, as early as three days ago, Zhang Dingguo had led his troops into the Yangtze River by boat, and went to Wuchang.

It's just a three-day journey, and Du Yinxi nodded slightly. Tailgating and chasing is not to follow closely behind the thief army, it is best to have a two- or three-day journey like now, which not only cuts off the retreat of the thief army but will not be too dangerous, and makes it impossible for the thief army to go to Jiujiang safely.

The thief army is the thief army, they don't know the art of war, they don't care about their heads, even if they can reach Jiujiang like this, what can they do?

The cities in the rear were captured by themselves all the way, they arrived at Jiujiang, there was an army under the command of the Duke of Qi in front, and there was a strong city in Jiujiang to block it, and the back was cut off by themselves, and the food and salary supplies were not settled, and it would not take much time for them to collapse without attacking!

On the day when the army arrived in Yueyang City, the gentry in the city sent another letter, agreeing that at the third watch in the middle of the night, he would lead his family to open the city gate and lead the army into the city. There are only 2,000 thieves in Yueyang City, as long as the city gate is opened, there is no problem in entering the city and occupying the entire city!

Plug Yinxi then ordered the whole army to rest early, and wait for the third watch to attack the city.

At night, the entire Ming army camp was silent, and in the Chinese army tent, Du Yinxi sat in a little daze under the candlelight, and a bad premonition came to his heart, as if there was a great danger about to happen, and it seemed that there was a fierce giant beast peeping at him in the dark, which made it difficult for him to sit still.

After carefully sorting out the causes and consequences of the siege battle that was about to take place, Du Yinxi faintly found that what made him uneasy was that everything was too easy.

Zhang Dingguo left Yueyang City with a large army, and then the gentry in the city sent people to contact him to ask him to attack the city, and the siege was the best strategy for him.

At first glance, there is nothing wrong with the matter, but after careful analysis, the problem is obvious, but he was blinded by the temptation to easily capture Yuezhou.

The question is how can the gentry in Yueyang City have the ability to launch an attack on the thief army after they have experienced some looting, and how can they have the ability to cooperate with the outside to assist themselves in attacking the city?

After recovering Changsha Mansion, Du Yinxi knew how cruel the thief army was to the gentry, and many gentry had their entire families killed and their property looted. Even if he can save his life, he can't keep his family property, so he doesn't have the ability to gather hundreds of families.

Of course, the gentry said in the letter that he had made a false appointment with the thief army and pretended to join the thief army, and the thief army lacked local civil officials to govern the place, so he accepted him and kept his home. This argument makes sense, but Du Yinxi didn't believe that Zhang Dingguo was so stupid, and he led the army away, not only did he not take the gentry away, but he actually allowed the gentry to have the strength to threaten Yueyang's city defense!

Think about it a few years ago, the governor He Tengjiao led the army across the Yangtze River, and wanted to join forces with Hao Shaoqi in Jingzhou City to annihilate the Shun army under the city in one fell swoop, but he fell into the trick set by the Shun army and Zhang Dingguo, and ended up with a dead army.

And Zhang Dingguo led the army to lurk in the ice and snow for several days, and avoided the spies of the Ming army. Du Yinxi doesn't believe that such a person would make such a mistake!

It's just another trick, and Du Yinxi couldn't help but sneer.

Using Yueyang City as a bait to lure himself to lead a large army here, I am afraid that he has already set a trap in the city, and when the city gate is opened and he leads people to rush to the city, he will be hit by the trap, and none of the troops who enter the city will want to come back.

And there may be an army of Zhang Dingguo lurking in the darkness, peeking at him. Once they fall into the trap, this army is afraid that they will take the opportunity to sneak attack their camp.

In order to hide his traces, Zhang Dingguo can't have too many troops lurking outside the city, otherwise he won't hide from his own spies, and how easy is it for the 100,000 army to hide?

Therefore, there is no doubt that the main force of Zhang Dingguo's thief army really left Yueyang along the Yangtze River and walked for three days.

But it was not all the army of the thief army that walked, but one army was quietly lurking, maybe in a nearby valley, maybe it was the island of Dongting Lake, waiting for the Ming army to slack off and make a sudden blow.

In the siege of the city, the large battalion was raided again, and I am afraid that the whole army will be dispersed waiting for him!

What a ruthless trick! The corners of his mouth sneered, but since he saw through the tricks of the thief army, everything would be different! The ambush inside the city, the thief army lurking outside the city, is nothing!