Guangxi, Hezhou City.

The city is built along the He River, and the water wharf is just outside the east city gate. The river surface of the Hejiang River in Hezhou is about 50 meters wide, and it can pass flat-bottomed river boats with a load of more than 10 tons.

The state city is about 1,000 meters long from north to south and about 5600 meters wide from east to west, and its shape is irregular, similar to a rectangle. Within the city walls are official facilities such as county offices, prisons, and granaries, and most of the rest are private residences and ancestral halls.

The city wall is about 5 meters high, and the battlements are more than 2 zhang high. The masonry rammed earth structure is in the shape of a trapezoidal shape that is wide at the bottom and narrow at the top. In addition to the east city wall near the He River, the other three sides are dug with moats, and the He River is connected.

The side of the moat near the city wall is about one meter higher than the opposite bank, which is condescending. The city wall has a slight arc, there are piers protruding, and the brick and stone structure enemy tower is built on it, which is more than ten meters high, and there are shooting holes or observation holes. The width of the city wall is about ten steps, and the width of the pier is about fifteen steps.

At the intersection of the southern section of the city wall and the west side of the city, there is a five-storey stone tower, which is the commanding height of the whole city. A battle flag flutters in the wind at the top of the tower.

Standing at the top of the tower and looking out of the city, the traces of the ravages of the Loyalty Camp are still in front of you. The south of the city is the hardest hit area, and the Zhongzhen camp is the Hezhou that crosses the watershed between the Beijiang River and the Hejiang River from the south of the city.

Zhang Shijie, the chief soldier of Hezhou, looked at Zhizhou Xie Yuanbian's bloodshot eyes and sighed softly.

Zeng Ying gave Hezhou a full set of teams, and the civil and military officials were headed by the two.

After the military disaster, Xie Yuanbian tried his best to organize the production of the whole state and rush to plant autumn grain. The golden rice fields outside the city are the brainchild of this governor for months.

"Brother Liang, don't blame me for being ruthless, the big war is coming, I must give priority to ensuring that the military food is sufficient. In the first few months, it was impossible to open a warehouse to release grain, which was really a last resort. ”

Xie Yuanbian snorted coldly, "Mr. Zhang, don't mention the past." At present, our top priority is to take advantage of the autumn grain market to buy grain, build guns, artillery, and build ships this winter, and step up the formation and training of the new army. ”

The Loyal Battalion has scooped up half of the summer grain in the wilderness of Hezhou, and as a local pro-people official, the first priority after the military disaster is to provide relief to the victims. He made two requests to Zhang Shijie, sending troops to the township to suppress the bandits who took advantage of the fire to rob, and sent military rations to set up porridge farms.

Zhang Shijie agreed to send people, but categorically refused to take out food. Xie Yuanbian had to visit the governor's rich households, fight the autumn breeze from house to house, get some food, and save one by one.

Fortunately, the camp did not have long been in Hezhou and went south to the more affluent Wuzhou and other places, and did not pull the net as carefully as in some parts of Hunan. Hezhou suffered heavy losses, but there was still some vitality left. Xie Yuanbian estimated that this year's autumn grain can barely reach two-thirds of the harvest of previous years.

The contradiction with Zhang Shijie made Xie Yuanbian realize that he had to train his army. The army was obviously unlikely to be effective in the short term, and Xie Yuanbian decided to build an inland water division relying on boatmen and fishermen on the Pearl River. He recruited a group of relatives and friends from his hometown, all scholars, and formed a team with the scattered rout of Huguang and the loyal battalion that were successively recruited. Just wait for the autumn grain harvest to be rich and the flag will be erected to recruit troops.

The civil and military suspicion has been completed, and Zhang Shijie can only sigh secretly in his heart.

"Dong Fangce, the chief soldier stationed in Deqing Prefecture, sent people again, threatening that if we don't let go of Feng and Kaier County, he will raise troops to fight. Feng and Kai two counties belong to Guangdong, we are not good to occupy for a long time, please Zhizhou as soon as possible to organize people to harvest autumn grain. After collecting the grain tax, we will return the land to Li Chengdong's people. ”

The loyal battalion went south, and the Hezhou Ming army followed behind them to take over Fengchuan in the lower reaches of the Hejiang River and build two counties, for this batch of autumn grain.

"Mr. Zhang, I have already sent Tongzhi to seal and open."

"Xie Zhizhou, it's not me who forced you. He Huchen sent a letter, the military situation on the Huguang front line is very urgent, and after harvesting this batch of autumn grain, I have to lead troops to reinforce Fuchuan County. ”

"Xie is a scholar, he doesn't understand war, and General Zhang can do his own when he arrives."

"The Weapon ......"

"Going north to fight against Qianhu, naturally we can't let the soldiers lose their blades. Mr. Zhang doesn't have to worry, I promise you that there will be no shortage of knives and guns. ”

After Xie Yuanbian finished speaking, he turned around and went down the tower.

Zhang Shijie stroked the brand-new Franc machine beside him. The governor who was a partner with him handed over all the routine affairs of the state to the same governor and general judge, and he himself only focused on recruitment, armament, and shipbuilding. If it weren't for Xie Yuanbian's urging craftsmen to desperately build Fran machines and knives and guns from the beginning of his tenure, Hezhou might not have been able to survive under the front of the loyal battalion. It was precisely by relying on the newly created weapons in the past six months that Zhang Shijie's strength doubled.

In the following days, all the Ming troops in Hezhou were dispatched, put down their armor and guns, and went to the field to cut rice. The military discipline of the Ming army in Qiongzhou is relatively good, and most of the recruits are local children of Hezhou, and only a few people dare to do their hands and feet during the harvest.

There were more than 3,600 people in the Ming army in Hezhou, and Xie Yuanbian planned to recruit another sailor of more than 1,000 people to gather 5,000 people. Based on the military salary of 10 stone of grain per capita a year, a total of 50,000 stone of grain is needed. Xie Yuanbian squeezed out nearly 20,000 stone autumn grain in four counties on both sides of the Hejiang River. Hezhou took out all the silver deposits of 20,000 taels and bought grain openly, and he could also receive about 10,000 stones. Careful budgeting, barely able to last 6 months, at least to solve the immediate urgency.

Zhang Shijie left more than 600 people in Hezhou, and led 2,000 people north to Fuchuan County. Because Hezhou City shielded the main force of the loyal battalion, the two banks of the river from Hezhou to Fuchuan were not seriously damaged. Most of the warships of the Ming army had been towed to Bucheon County to avoid being coerced by the loyal battalion.

The county seat of Bucheon is located at the foot of Xiping Mountain in the remaining veins of Du Pang Ridge and next to the Gaoling Ridge in the upper reaches of the Fu River. The circumference of the city wall is 2113 meters, 6 meters high, 2.7 meters wide, 909 battlements, 500 meters from east to west, 600 meters from north to south, the total area is 0.3 square kilometers, and there are moats outside. There are seven-storey ancient pagodas in the south of the city, and there is Ciyun Temple under the tower, which confronts Panlong Mountain in the north of Chengbei and Ma'anshan in the east of the city, forming a natural barrier. It is an ancient military city that can be attacked and defended.

The area of Bucheon is smaller than that of Hezhou City, because it used to be the front line of anti-Yao, and the city wall is no less solid than Hezhou. In fact, due to the abundance of masonry materials, the cities built by the Ming Dynasty in the south were generally strong. It's just that because of the design, the height and thickness are insufficient, and the ability to resist heavy artillery is a little worse. If the enemy does not have siege guns of 12 pounder or more, these masonry walls in the south will be very difficult to destroy.

Not only the state and county towns, but also the Ming Dynasty built a large number of secondary military forts in the south. There are 4 inspection divisions in Hezhou and Bucheon, all of which are fortresses built of stone. For example, the south of Hezhou and Guangdong separated the Xindu inspection division, the city rises from the ground in the majestic and steep karst stone mountain, showing the natural encirclement of both sides, there is Jinji Mountain as the screen in the east, Wuzhi Mountain as the barrier in the west, ring into a huge bracket, only two natural openings on the north and south sides. The Ming Dynasty built a wall to build a confrontational gatehouse at the key point, set up a fort on the top of the mountain, and dug a moat outside the mountain.

Zhang Shijie led his troops into the county seat of Fuchuan.

The city cone is neat and dark. The ancient streets in the city gate are tic-tac-toe, all paved with cobblestones, and have money patterns, which are quaint and chic, and you can see its traces when you are on the spot.

Fei Changtong, who was in charge of Bucheon's military and political affairs with the rank of Hezhou Tongzhi, greeted him, "General Rong." ”

"Huo Shan, where is He Huchen?"

"There are several Huguang rout troops gathered at the Taochuan Senhu House on the other side of the mountain, and according to the news they brought, Ma Jiaolin, the chief officer of the Chang army of Qihu Chen, is behind the rout and is rushing towards Zhenxia Pass. Deputy General He took almost all of our men and horses to reinforce the city of Zhaixia City to inspect the city and defend the mountain pass. ”

Zhang Shijie has been guarding Hezhou for many days and is well aware of the nearby traffic terrain.

There are 6 roads in Lingbei that enter Liangguang.

Needless to say, the famous Lingqu and Meiguan are not too much.

The third is between Chenzhou, Hunan and Lianzhou, Guangdong, across the Tianling, the Xiaoshui of Hunan is connected to the Huangshui, that is, the Lianjiang River, also known as the Xiaobei River. This line, the Western Han Dynasty belonged to Guiyang County, with Yangshan Pass and Huangxi Pass, the Western Han Dynasty southward army "out of Guiyang, down Huangshui" refers to this communication line.

The fourth is between Hunan Yizhang and Guangdong Lechang (Shaozhou Mansion), along the Wushui River and into the Beijiang River, Jiulong Eighteen Beaches, the Tang Dynasty Han Yue went south to take this road.

The fifth is between Xunwu County in Dingnan County in Jiangxi Province and Longchuan County in Guangdong, and is connected by Dingnan Water, Xunwu Water and Dongjiang Water.

Sixth, the Hezhou Ancient Road is a 170-kilometer passage built in the Qin and Han dynasties at the junction of Shuangchun Pavilion and Fuchuan Gebo Town on the border of Hunan and Guangxi, that is, at the junction of Shuangchun Pavilion and Fuchuan Gebo Town. This passage passes through two of the five mountains of Lingnan; At the junction (that is, the demarcation) of Dupangling and Mengzhuling, Pushui, one of the Xiangjiang water systems in the Yangtze River, and the Hejiang River, a tributary of the Xijiang River in the Pearl River system, are connected by water and land transportation.

Between the north-east-trending Dupang Ridge and the Mengzhu Ridge, there is a relatively low north-east-trending mountain valley. The western part of the valley is Pangling, with an elevation of more than 2,000 meters; The eastern Mengzhu Ridge has an elevation of more than 1,700 meters. The valley elevation is below 200 meters, and it is the largest mountain valley in the entire Nanling Mountains.

Cao Zhijian's main force was placed on the Zhenxia Pass. Hezhou Road is divided into two roads in Hunan, all the way to Zhenxia Pass, all the way down to Fuchuan County. Zhenxia Pass and Buchuan County once faced the Yao Rebellion, and whoever fought here had to rely on the Yao people in the surrounding mountains.

"What is Cao Zhijian doing?"

"Expand the army and build more fortresses."

Cao Zhijian was relatively wealthy among the warlords, and he did a few business-free businesses that made a fortune. Plugging Yinxi led nearly 3,000 pacesetters and their families to rely on Cao Zhijian. The two had no problems at first, but later Cao Zhijian suddenly sent troops to attack on the grounds that Yinxi led the loyal battalion south, and all the pacesetters of Yinxi were killed. Sufu himself almost died under Cao Zhijian's knife.

"It's not a way to stay in the gate and the inspection department, the Yao people know the mountain paths, if they provide a guide for the Qianhu, we will be in danger."

Zhang Shijie frowned.

The Huguang Ming Army did not have a unified command, and some generals were stationed in the prefecture and county military forts in the south of Hunan, while others chose to flee back to Guangxi and Xiangxi.

The armies that insisted on fighting in Hunan were basically in a situation of fighting on their own. The situation is disturbed, and the information and intelligence are varied, and it is really difficult to find out the situation of the enemy forces. The Ming army could not confront the Tatars for long periods of time in the field, and the lack of contact meant a lack of reliable information.

"This is what Vice General He means, Zongzhen," Fei Changtong said, "Cao Zhijian gave 20,000 silver, recruited Xuanfeng in Guanshang, and prepared to fight a dozen Ma Jiaolin." He sent someone to ask if we could send troops together, and my opinion with Adjutant General He was that we might as well give it a try. ”

Zhang Shijie quickly weighed the pros and cons, the Ming army in Qiongzhou was well equipped, and there must be brave men under Cao Zhijian's heavy reward, and the combined strength of the two armies should exceed that of a Tatar green battalion.